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Submission + - EU Project Aims To Switch Data Centres To Second Hand Car Batteries (techweekeurope.co.uk)

judgecorp writes: An €2.9 million European Commission funded project aims to make data centres more efficient, and one of its ideas is to use second hand car batteries to power data centres. The GreenDataNet consortium includes Nissan, which predicts a glut of still-usable second hand car batteries in around 15 years, when the cars start to wear out. Gathered into large units, these could store enough power to help with the big problem of the electricity grid — the mismatch between local renewable generation cycles and the peaks of demand for power.

Submission + - The Poor Neglected Gifted Child

theodp writes: "Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore," explains The Boston Globe's Amy Crawford in The Poor Neglected Gifted Child, "have national laws requiring that children be screened for giftedness, with top scorers funneled into special programs. China is midway through a 10-year 'National Talent Development Plan' to steer bright young people into science, technology, and other in-demand fields." It seems to be working — America's tech leaders are literally going to Washington with demands for "comprehensive immigration reform that allows for the hiring of the best and brightest". But in the U.S., Crawford laments, "we focus on steering all extra money and attention toward kids who are struggling academically, or even just to the average student" and "risk shortchanging the country in a different way." The problem advocates for the gifted must address, Crawford explains, is to "find ways for us to develop our own native talent without exacerbating inequality." And address it we must. "How many people can become an astrophysicist or a PhD in chemistry?" asks David Lubinski, a psychologist at Vanderbilt University. We really have to look for the best — that's what we do in the Olympics, that's what we do in music, and that's what we need to with intellectual capital."

Comment What if this wasn't a child porn case... (Score 1) 417

What if the defendant was a journalist accused of some sort of snooping/hacking offence. The police have evidence suggesting that proof of guilt may reside on the laptop, but the journalist refuses to unlock it because it contains other secrets that may or may not be even related to this case: - Their list of sources, for example, or evidence to do with other stories that have yet to be published. When you remove the child porn aspect, it seems pretty unreasonable to force the defendant to unlock the data.

Comment Meh... old phones are better. (Score 1) 349

I still use a Nokia 6310 most of the time. Sure, it doesn't have any internet connectivity, but it's a better phone than anything being sold today, the battery lasts for a week, I can drop it without it breaking, and no one's going to steal it. There's certainly no shame involved. Quite the opposite in fact. When people are boasting about their new phones and I pull my old Nokia out the reaction is: "Wow! I used to have one of those. Now that was a good phone!"

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