Comment oh come on! iRiver clearly had the best! (Score 1) 84
iFP Series FTW!!!!
Comment Re:Results from Mountain View, not promising for N (Score 1) 67
Sounds like he has had much better results then I do with Google's wireless in Mountain View.
I've lived at 3 different places in Mountain View, Google's free wifi is complete garbage.
Microsoft's Multitouch Coffee Table Display 466
longacre writes "Popular Mechanics takes the Microsoft Surface system for a hands-on video test drive. To be announced at today's D5 conference, the coffee-table-esqe device allows manipulation from multiple touch points, while infrared, WiFi and Bluetooth team up to allow wireless transfers between devices placed on top of it, such as cameras and cell phones. Expected to launch before the end of the year in the $5,000-$10,000 range, the devices might not make their way under many Christmas trees, but will find the insides of Starwood hotels, Harrah's casinos and T-Mobile shops."
Shaking a 275-ton Building 110
Roland Piquepaille writes "If you want to predict how a tall building can resist to an earthquake, some researchers have better tools than others. Engineers from the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) have built a full-size 275-ton building and really shaken it to obtain earthshaking images. The building was equipped with some 600 sensors and filmed as the shake table simulated the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles, California. It gave so much data to the engineers to analyze that they needed a supercomputer to help them. Now they hope their study will yield to better structure performance for future buildings in case of earthquakes."
Submission + - New Laws of Robotics proposed for US kill-bots
jakosc writes: The Register has a short commentry about a proposed new set of laws of robotics for war robots by John S Canning of the Naval Surface Warfare Centre. Unlike Azimov's three laws of robotics Canning proposes (pdf) that we should "Let machines target other machines and let men target men." although this sounds OK in principle, "a robot could decide under Mr Canning's rules, to target a weapon system such as an AK47 for destruction on its own initiative, requiring no permission from a human. If the person holding it was thereby killed, that would be collateral damage and the killer droid would be in the clear.."
Submission + - DIY mid-air pointing device
Werner Heuser writes: "From Linuxdevices: "Three researchers at Microsoft Research have created an innovative handheld pointing device that works in mid-air. "Soap", which resembles a bar of soap, is based on hardware found in a common wireless optical mouse, and is relatively easy to make, according to its inventors. Imagine numerous situations in which one might wish to control an appliance while standing or walking, for example, when giving a slide presentation or interacting with a wall-sized display...". There is a YouTube video showing the Soap in action and detailed instructions to make your own Soap."
Submission + - Evolution under fire in Russian schools
sdriver writes: If you thought it was only the US giving Darwin a hard time, Russia has its own problems starting with evolution. A student has "sued the St. Petersburg city education committee, claiming the 10th-grade biology textbook used at the Cervantes Gymnasium was offensive to believers and that teachers should offer an alternative to Darwin's famous theory." The court held hearings today.
Submission + - New Animated Star Trek In The Works
Philias writes: A new web-based Star Trek Animated Series may be in the works. CBS are considering a pitch by veteran Trek producer Dave Rossi for a 'Clone Wars' style animated series for StarTrek.com. Like Clone Wars the episodes would be just a few minutes long. Unlike the old animated Trek show from the 70s, this one would be with a whole new crew set in a new time period. The setting is to be a war-torn post-9/11-like Trek universe 150 years after the time of Picard. Details and artwork at TrekMovie.com
New Mars Discoveries 109
sighted writes "The fleet of five active spacecraft examining Mars (in addition to the recently-missing Mars Global Surveyor) have been working overtime. On the heels of last week's finding of possible flows of liquid water, the ESA has announced that an entire hidden landscape exists just beneath the surface of the Red Planet, and NASA has released some really amazing images of layered topography that will yield many clues to the history of this strange world."
Skype's Free Phone Call Plan Will Soon Have Annual Fee 171
The New York Times is reporting that Skype has said it would begin charging $30 a year for unlimited calls to landline and mobile phones within the United States and Canada. From the article: "As a promotion, Skype began allowing its users to place free domestic 'SkypeOut' calls from their computers to traditional and mobile phones last May. At the time, the company said the promotion would extend only through year's end. The company is offering a half-price subscription to those who sign up before Jan. 31. Calls from one computer to another have been and will continue to be free."
Submission + - Approaching Solar Storm forces ISS to take cover
vichyschwa writes: "A Coronal Mass Ejection resulting from an X3 Solar Flare earlier today is forcing the ISS and Shuttle astronauts to take cover and may result in communication disruptions. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/061213_solar _storm.html
From the Article:
"We're looking for very strong, severe geomagnetic storming" to begin probably around mid-day Thursday, Joe Kunches, Lead Forecaster at the NOAA Space Environment Center, told SPACE.com this afternoon.
Last week, the same sunspot generated what astronomers described as a rarely imaged solar tsunami. The activity began with an X-9 flare Dec. 5.
According to Spaceweather.com, "satellites may experience some glitches and reboots, but astronauts are in no danger." However, the astronauts were ordered to a protective area of the space station as a precaution."
From the Article:
"We're looking for very strong, severe geomagnetic storming" to begin probably around mid-day Thursday, Joe Kunches, Lead Forecaster at the NOAA Space Environment Center, told SPACE.com this afternoon.
Last week, the same sunspot generated what astronomers described as a rarely imaged solar tsunami. The activity began with an X-9 flare Dec. 5.
According to Spaceweather.com, "satellites may experience some glitches and reboots, but astronauts are in no danger." However, the astronauts were ordered to a protective area of the space station as a precaution."
Submission + - Where Should I Get My Job Interview Code Samples?
crlove writes: "I'm preparing for an upcoming job interview and my interviewer will want to see some code samples. Unfortunately, all of the coding I've done work-wise since college is not only proprietary, but often classified. And to be honest, with long days at work and a busy life outside of it, I haven't had much time to code on my own.
So, what should I show my interviewer? Should I start working up some code samples? And if so, what would be considered sufficiently complex to take to an interview?"
So, what should I show my interviewer? Should I start working up some code samples? And if so, what would be considered sufficiently complex to take to an interview?"
Bookmark Test Center Daily | InfoWorld | Review: IBM and Yahoo give the gift of free sear (infoworld.com)
Submission + - PHP security expert resigns
juct writes: "PHP security holes have a name — quite often it was Stefan Esser who found and reported them. Now Esser quit the PHP security team. He feels that his attempt to make PHP safer "from the inside" is futile. Basic security issues are not adressed sufficiently by the developers. Zeev Suraski, Zend's CTO of course disagrees and points his finger at inexperienced programmers. But given the number of remote code execution holes in PHP apps this year, Esser might have a point. And he plans to continue his quest for security holes in PHP. Only that from now on, he will publish them after reasonable time — regardless if a patch is available or not."
Journal Journal: The Israeli Army Hates D&D
Does the Israel Defense Forces believe incoming recruits and soldiers who play Dungeons and Dragons are unfit for elite units? Ynet News has learned that 18-year-olds who tell recruiters they play the popular fantasy game are automatically given low security clearance. "We have discovered that some of them are simply detached from reality," a security source told Ynet. Most soldiers who play Dungeons and Dragons simply do no
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"By the time they had diminished from 50 to 8, the other dwarves began to suspect "Hungry." -- a Larson cartoon
