teflonscout - Slashdot User

Submission + - Polyethylene Bulletproof Vests better than Kevlar

Submitted by teflonscout on Monday May 21, 2007 @07:44PM

teflonscout writes: When I think of bulletproof vests, the first word that comes to mind is Kevlar. Wired is running a story on Dynema SB61, a bulletproof material that is made of polyethylene. It is a higher grade of the plastic found in Tupperware. The story also mentions the recall of Second Chance bulletproof vests that were made from Zylon, a material that degraded slowly when exposed to moisture. At least one police officer was injured when a bullet penetrated his Zylon vest. Polyethylene is impervious to moisture. The first vests made from this new material are 5mm thick and can stop at 9mm bullet traveling at 1777 feet per second, which is slightly better than other top of the line vests.

Submission + - Piracy Economics

Submitted by Anonymous Coward the younger on Monday May 21, 2007 @06:40PM

Anonymous Coward the younger writes: Mises.org has an article on The Market Functions of Piracy. Including a link to another article about the Ludwig Von Mises Institute's experience with giving things away for free Books, Online and Off.

Vista's 40 Million License Sales In Context 225

Posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, 2007 @11:41AM from the a-bit-of-background dept.

Overly Critical Guy writes "Microsoft's figure of 40 million Vista OEM licenses sold has less impact when weighed against the expanded size of the PC market, according to IDC numbers. The myriad of factors involved in determining success in the market makes Microsoft's constant comparisons to Windows XP less reliable as a growth indicator — particularly with Microsoft refusing to reveal the number of actual activated Vista licenses. 'HP reported year-over-year PC sales growth of about 24 percent, or about twice worldwide PC sales growth. Whatever HP is doing right, it's more than just Vista ... If Microsoft wasn't so hung up on XP comparisons as the benchmark, it could really demonstrate that Vista sales are increasing. The first 20 million figure really represented four months of sales, and that could have been positive data because Microsoft protected its customers' holiday investments. For free! Instead of making that point, Microsoft got carried away with making comparisons back to XP.'"

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