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Feed UK's CIS Solar Tower garners 390-kilowatts from the sun (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We're not entirely sure if Manchester's CIS Solar Tower will be the world's grandest solar tower, but in terms of buildings have moved beyond the drawing board, it definitely packs a punch. Reportedly, the flaky construction led to dilapidating walls, which were then replaced by a much greener solution -- 7,244 Sharp 80W photovoltaic panels, to be precise. Curiously, only 4,898 of the modules are actually functional, but they still soak up enough sunlight to generate 390-kilowatts of energy, or in layman's terms, enough juice to "power 1,000 PCs for a year." Additionally, the roof is home to two dozen wind turbines that generate 10-percent of the total power used in the building. Of course, such an endeavor did ring up at a steep £5.675 million ($11.4 million), but we're pretty certain this solar panel makeover was concerned with matters other than dollars and cents. Click on through for a top-down shot.

[Via MetaEfficient]

Continue reading UK's CIS Solar Tower garners 390-kilowatts from the sun

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

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

Submission + - Is your printer ripping you off?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Are original inkjet cartridges really worth the high cost? Do third party refill inks do as good a job? This article looks at printers from Epson, HP, Canon and Lexmark, with a combination of original inks and the top selling the top selling third pary options, using a whole host of different papers. A panel of printer users judged the ouput in a blind test — the printer manufacturers may not be happy with the results! http://www.trustedreviews.com/printers/review/2007 /04/21/The-Inkjet-Investigation/p1
GNU is Not Unix

Submission + - Sun looks to GPL3 for Java, Solaris

Submitted by daria42
daria42 writes: Will Sun change the licence for Java and Solaris to the GNU GPL version 3? This article has some insightful comments from Sun boss Jonathan Schwartz. "Will we GPL Solaris? We want to ensure we can interact with the GPL community and the Mozilla community and the BSD community," he says.
Businesses

Submission + - are unfinished products becoming the norm?

Submitted by Paul
Paul writes: Long ago when digital synthesizers first became commonly available, I recall a reviewer lamenting how he was getting more and more products to test whose software was unfinished and buggy and would require updates and fixes (this, before the internet allowed easy downloads, would have meant a journey to a specialist repair centre). The review also commented how this common problem with computer software (he wrote even before windows 95 was out) was spreading, and asked if it was going to become the norm.

These days it seems ubiquitous, with PDAs, digital cameras, PVRs and all manner of complex goods needing after-market firmware fixes often simply to make them have the features promised in the adverts, let alone add enhancements.

Are we seeing this spread beyond computers and computer-based products; jokes apart, will we be booting our cars up and installing flash updates every week to prevent comoputer viruses getting into the control systems?

Can slashdot readers comment on any recent purchases where they've been badly let down by missing features, or are still waiting for promised updates even whilst a new model is now on the shelves? How can we make the manufacturers take better responsibility?

Apart from reading every review possible before making a purchase, what strategy do slashdot readers have, or propose, for not being caught out? With software, people say "never buy v1.0", but this is not possible with say a digicam.

Feed High Security for $100 Laptop (feedburner.com)

From feed by wiredfeed
The security guru for the One Laptop Per Child program unveils his plan to make the rugged machines uniquely resistant to spyware and hack attacks. Ryan Singel reports from the RSA Conference.


User Journal

Journal SPAM: US refuses to sign UN ban on renditions and secret detention 4

Journal by Jeremiah Cornelius

Fifty-seven countries signed a UN treaty on Tuesday that bans governments from carrying out forced disappearances and holding individuals in secret detention. Washington, as well as a number of European governments, including Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy, refused to sign.
Security

A New Approach to Mutating Malware 80

Posted by Zonk from the bigger-hammers dept.
mandelbr0t writes "CBC is reporting that researchers at the Penn State University have discovered a new method of fighting malware that better responds to mutations. From the article: 'The new system identifies a host computer with a high rate of homogeneous connection requests, and blocks the offending computer so no worm-infected packets of data can be sent from it.' This is a change from previous methods, which compared suspected viruses against known signatures. Mutations in malware took advantage of the time-delay between the initial infection and the time taken by the anti-virus system to update its known signatures. This new system claims to be able to recognize new infections nearly instantly, and to cancel the quarantine in case of false alarm."
Role Playing (Games)

How D&D Shaped the Modern Videogame 128

Posted by Zonk from the roll-to-save-vs-awesome dept.
PC Gamer UK, via the CVG site, has a feature up on the influence Dungeons and Dragons had on the development of videogaming. The role D&D has had in inspiring gamers is fairly well known; Masters of Doom chronicles the inspiration the Johns' campaign had on the creation of Doom and Quake. The article discusses more recent confluences of the tabletop game and videogame development, such as Obsidian's use of pen-and-paper to develop the early areas of Neverwinter Nights 2. Ideas for the late, lamented, Fallout 3 were sparked by a number of tabletop roleplaying moments from developer campaigns.
Microsoft

Apple, the New Microsoft? 703

Posted by Zonk from the rolling-stone-obviously-an-authority-on-this dept.
VE3OGG writes "Apple, the ultimate source of cool. The marketers of slick. The next 'evil empire'? While it might sound goofy at first, Rolling Stone magazine is running an article that summarizes some very interesting points that detail how Apple could become the next technology bad guy. Among the reasons given: Apple's call to be rid of DRM (while continuing to use it in iTunes); Apple's perceived arrogance when they warned consumers not to upgrade to Vista, while not rushing to fix the problem themselves; and Apple's seemingly unstoppable market dominance in the form of the iPod. The iPhone featured heavily as well, a product that is months from release but steals the press from more competitive products. What do you think, could Apple eventually take the place of Microsoft?"
HP

Journal Journal: Eco-disaster! HP uses Vista to enforce product obsolesence.

Journal by Ecowarrior42
HP Printer and Scanner owners should beware of buying a new Vista PC or upgrading to Vista.
Douglas Adams had it wrong when he predicted that the alien archaeologists would find a shoe layer, they are more likely to find a Vista induced Printer and Scanner layer! A large number HP printer and scanner owners that have chosen to upgrade to Vista will receive the following message when attempting to download Vista drivers for their Scanners and Printers:
"We are sorry to inform you that
Privacy

Some States Say National ID Cards 'Make Life Easier' 287

Posted by Zonk from the that's-one-opinion dept.
VE3OGG writes "Some places, like Maine, have outright rejected the idea of a nationally mandated ID card amid privacy, legal and security concerns. On the other side of the fence some states, such as California and New Jersey, have said that they welcome the National ID card and that it will make 'life easier'. One New Jersey official said 'All you are getting in e-government for the most part are things that don't require strong two-factor identification,' the official said referring to security that requires something beyond a user name and password. 'But as we move forward and start to deliver more and more complicated services, I think that people for the most part will want to know their government has implemented strong measures [with National ID cards]'."

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