quizteamer - Slashdot User

Comment Re:the real question: should you use a textbook (Score 2, Informative) 361

by quizteamer on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @06:04AM (#24840241) Attached to: Computer Textbooks For High Schoolers?

While this is a good suggestion, this teacher should really be checking with their school about his options. I work at a private high school and when I was choosing a textbook (for an intro physics class) I wanted to forget about the textbook idea and use Feynman and a variety of problems (some my own some borrowed). The idea was shot down because the administration was worried about not being reaccredited. I ended up using an older version of a popular college level text book and Feynman.

Feed Engadget: Toyota details research plans for plug-in Prius, won't lease batteries (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed on Sunday November 11, 2007 @05:52PM

Filed under: Transportation

Earlier this year, we got word that Toyota was likely to test the waters with a plug-in version of its oh-so-trendy Prius, and now the auto maker has stepped forward and doled out a laundry list of details about the plan. Reportedly, the outfit will be delivering a single "modified Prius" to the University of California, Berkeley and University of California, Irvine for a three-year study designed to "speed up development of plug-in versions of the hybrid." The Golden Bears will be focusing on consumer behavior / lifestyles, while the Anteaters will research technical issues, such as how much juice will be sucked from the power grid when thousands of drivers plug-in their rides for the evening. On another interesting note, Toyota also mentioned that it had "no intention of leasing more expensive batteries for next-generation hybrids separate from the vehicle," which contrasts the view of several competitors (like GM) who are least mulling the idea. Unfortunately, we've no idea if the still-elusive plug-in Prius will land before / after the Volt, but we're sure folks at Toyota won't sit idly while Chevy cashes in for too long.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Submission + - Wal-Mart's $200 Linux PC Sells Out (ecogeek.org)

Submitted by

hankmt

on Sunday November 11, 2007 @04:49PM

hankmt writes: "About a week ago Wal-Mart began selling a $200 linux machine running on a 1.5 ghz Via C7 processor and 512 megs of RAM. While the specs are useless for vista, it works blazingly fast on Ubuntu with the Enlightenment Window Manager. The machine is now officially sold out of their online warehouses, and the product sales page at WalMart.com is full of glowing reviews from new and old linux users alike."

Submission + - Taking STM images 100 times faster

Submitted by

Roland Piquepaille

on Sunday November 11, 2007 @01:10PM

Roland Piquepaille writes: "Very few of you have used a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), an essential tool to study nanoscience. And you might think that it's as easy to take a picture of an atom with an STM as it is to take a shot with your digital camera. In fact, the imaging of individual atoms with a STM is awfully slow. But now, U.S. researchers had a very simple idea to accelerate this process. By adding a simple radio transmitter, they are able to make atomic-level microscopy at least 100 times faster. A typical STM has currently a sampling rate of about one kilohertz. This new radio-frequency scanning tunnelling microscopy can operate a thousand times faster. Very bright idea! But read more for additional details and a picture of a scanning tunneling microscope. I'm sure it's different from your expectations."

Submission + - Top Ten Strangest or Cruellest Science Experiments 1

Submitted by

aalobode

on Friday November 02, 2007 @11:38AM

aalobode writes: "The Times of London has a current story based on the review of a book by Alex Boase, Elephants on Acid and Other Bizarre Experiments. There they list the top science experiments — including the one from which the book gets its name — that were conducted by otherwise sane humans who tragically or otherwise ignored the effect of their research on the subjects themselves. Nowadays, most institutions have a review board for research on human subjects which would flag most proposals that could lead to harm for the subjects, but not so in the past. See for yourself at the url http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2779808.ece?OTC-HPtoppuff&ATTR=elephants"

Submission + - CNET tracks the history of the digital camera

Submitted by Abby Donivosif on Friday November 02, 2007 @11:35AM

Abby Donivosif writes: There's a really interesting article up on CNET about the history of the digital camera. It's incredible when you look through it how much things have changed in a relatively small amount of time and how evolved the technology is. Who would have thought 30 years ago that we would all be storing our pictures online and that our cameras would store hundreds of pictures, instead of just 36.

The New Wireless Wars 87

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday May 15, 2006 @09:33PM from the always-declaring-war dept.

An anonymous reader writes "BusinessWeek has a story on the coming wireless wars. It's a look at how the upcoming government auction of wireless spectrum will open the door to a new crop of competitors. The new players, from Google and Microsoft to Intel and Craig McCaw's Clearwire, will compete in new wireless voice services and in wireless broadband. Look out Cingular, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint-Nextel."

Advances in Bio-weaponry 279

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Sunday April 09, 2006 @06:26PM from the more-governmental-control-obviously-necessary dept.

kjh1 writes "Technology Review is running an eye-opening article on how biotechnology has advanced to the point where producing bio-weapons that were once only possible with the backing of governments with enormous resources is now possible with equipment purchased off eBay. You can now purchase a mini-lab of equipment for less than $10,000. The writer also interviewed a former Soviet bioweaponeer, Serguei Popov, who worked at the Biopreparat, the Soviet agency that secretly developed biological weapons. Popov has since moved to the US and provided a great deal of information on the types of weapons the Soviets were developing."

On Apple vs Apple 324

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday April 02, 2006 @10:55AM from the ridiculous-court-cases dept.

Since nothing else really interesting is happening, here is a CNN story about Apple vs Apple where you can read about the latest developments in the latest round of the never ending court battles as two bazillion dollar companies fight over who gets to use the word 'Apple' to sell music.

How to Discover Impact Craters with Google Earth 158

Posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday March 11, 2006 @10:33AM from the for-fun-and-more-fun dept.

Maikel_NAI writes "Believe it or not, Emilio Gonzalez, a Spaniard amateur began his crater search at home after reading an article about the discovery of Kebira, the biggest one found in the Sahara. After a couple of minutes he located two craters. After checking the records, he realized these were completely new, and now two geologists confirm his findings. And there is more, these craters may be part of a chain studied by NASA geologist Adriana Ocampo, so if it's confirmed that these new ones are part of the same episode, it could mean the definitive evidence for her theory of an asteroid broken into pieces fallen in that area."

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