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Comment Re:communications system? (Score 1) 149

by toughguy (#44801583) Attached to: Cadillac SRX Converted Into Self-Driving Car

I'd love to see these systems handle someone in the right turn lane with their signal on swooping over 3 lanes and turning left...

Sorry, but this is such a stupid argument. It is unfortunate that human drivers do stupid stuff like this. It is unfortunate that those around such stupidity have to get into accidents because of it. My thoughts on self driving cars is the following:
1) Human driven car A does a stupid manouver
2) Human driven car B tries but maybe fails to avoid, accident ensues.
Result: No one is at fault because everyone blames each other. Stupidity on the roads continues. Accidents continue to kill and harm people. Insurance rates continue to rise, etc. Status quo.

In the alternative world with some self driving cars:
1) Human driven car A does a stupid manouver
2) Computer driven car B tries to avoid, but fails, accident ensues.
Result: Recordings from onboard computers prove who was at fault (car A). Blame is delivered, just their insurance rates rise, and only their record is ruined. Hopefully they learn they're lesson and either (a) drive better or (b) get a car that'll drive for them. End result is that overall driving safety is improved.

The (safe) assumption with all of this is that a computer driven car would be recording data equivalent to an aircraft's black box (probably in much much more detail really). Use the data on that recording to figure out what happened, if a human driven car (car A) caused an accident that wasn't avoidable by the other car assuming a reasonable human driver then, car B deserves no blame (whether it was driven by human or computer). The recorded information allows you to recreate the accident and make a reasonable judgement as to the circumstances. The system (police, courts, insurance, society) can dish out blame and punishment on a much more reasonable basis then.

The dashboard cam craze is the same thing, it provides a recording so that you can prove you are driving reasonably and whatever happened was the result of someone else making a mistake. All of this is big-brother-ish, but if we all really are such good drivers (everyone thinks they are better than average), then feel free to be recorded so that your own recorded evidence can set you free.
Patents

Patent Claim Could Block Import of Toyota's Hybrid Cars 451

Posted by timothy from the advancing-the-useful-arts-and-sciences dept.
JynxMe writes "Paice is a tiny Florida company that has patented a way to apply force to a car's wheels from an electric motor or internal combustion engine. Paice thinks that Toyota is infringing on its technology, and is going after the automaker in court. The legal spat became much more serious for Toyota this week, when the US International Trade Commission decided to investigate the matter. In the worst-case scenario for Toyota, the commission could ban the hybrid Camry, third-generation Prius, Lexus HS250h sedan and Lexus RX450h SUV."
Music

Brian Eno Releases Second iPhone App 196

Posted by CmdrTaco from the oblique-strategies-ftw dept.
Brian Eno, or as he is known to many in my office, "God," has released his second iPhone App. A followup to Bloom, this one is called Trope and supposedly creates darker music. You create music by drawing shapes on the iPhone's screen.
PlayStation (Games)

Are Game Consoles Ruining DLC? 399

Posted by Soulskill from the download-the-rest-of-this-summary-for-five-bucks dept.
A round-table discussion at Gametopius looks into the state of downloadable content for games as it has evolved over the past several years, going from an occasional, welcome supplement to being a common marketing strategy for most of the industry, frequently causing irritation over pricing and availability. "All of the map packs so far released for the Call of Duty games have been $10 each to download on consoles through closed networks, while PC gamers could download those same packs for free off of FileShack or somewhere else. Valve's own Team Fortress 2 has received a significant amount of DLC that's been completely free on the PC. Xbox owners of the same game, however, have only received perhaps half of that content, and they have had to pay for it in $5 packs. Why is this? The idea of this kind of content delivery was scarcely heard of on consoles, so console gamers see no reason not to pay for it. But on the PC, these amounts of content are usually just considered parts of patches. Furthermore, why pay for a few extra maps and costumes when modders are making and offering new ones for free all the time?"
The Military

The Military Plans To Regrow Body Parts 257

Posted by kdawson from the anything-salamanders-can-do dept.
Ponca City, We Love You writes "The Department of Defense has announced the creation of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine to 'harness stem cell research and technology... to reconstruct new skin, muscles and tendons, and even ears, noses and fingers.' The government is budgeting $250 million in public and private money for the project's first five years, and the NIH and three universities will be on the team. The military has been working on regrowing lost body parts using extracellular matrices and scientists in labs have grown blood vessels, livers, bladders, breast implants, and meat and are already growing a new ear for a badly burned Marine using stem cells from his own body. Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker explained that our bodies systematically generate liver cells and bone marrow and that this ability can be redirected through 'the right kind of stimulation.' The general cited animals like salamanders that can regrow lost tails or limbs. 'Why can't a mammal do the same thing?' he asked."
Linux Business

Submission + - Torvalds on where Linux is headed in 2008

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: In this new interview, Linus Torvalds is excited about solid-state drives, expects progress in graphics and wireless networking, and says the operating system is strong in virtualisation despite his personal lack of interest in the area.

From the article: "To get some perspective on what lies ahead in 2008, we caught up with Linus Torvalds via email. His responses touched on the Linux development process, upcoming features, and whether he's concerned about potential patent litigation."

Torvalds on Linux biggest strength: "When you buy an OS from Microsoft, not only you can't fix it, but it has had years of being skewed by one single entity's sense of the market. It doesn't matter how competent Microsoft — or any individual company — is, it's going to reflect that fact. In contrast, look at where Linux is used. Everything from cellphones and other small embedded computers that people wouldn't even think of as computers, to the bulk of the biggest machines on the supercomputer Top-500 list. That is flexibility. And it stems directly from the fact that anybody who is interested can participate in the development, and no single entity ends up being in control of where it all goes.
Mozilla

Submission + - Google's Shadow Over Firefox (iht.com)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "Mozilla's chief executive now earns roughly half a million in pay and benefits. But where did the $70 million in assets that they had in 2006 come from? Well, 85 percent of their $66 million in revenue for 2006 came from Google. While it's clear that the community's code is what makes Firefox successful, people are worried that Mozilla is becoming dependent on this cash and — even worse — that Firefox is just a pawn in Google's cold war with Microsoft."
Java

Submission + - Netbeans 6b2 Now Dual Licensed under GPLv2, CDDL (eweek.com)

Submitted by Lally Singh
Lally Singh writes: Interested in the new Netbeans 6, but didn't trust Sun's (already OSI-approved) CDDL? Sun just Dual-Licensed it under the GPL (v2) with Classpath Exception. Keep your karmic license purity and mix in all the (now compatible) GPL code you want! If you've been using Eclipse, Netbeans 6 is really worth a look. Lean, well-featured, and fast.
Intel

Submission + - Intel's 45nm patch machinery exposed (tweakers.net)

Submitted by
Roboticles
Roboticles writes: "Tweakers.net has paid a visit to Intel's laboratories in the Californian town of Folsom, the birthplace of the 45nm CPU. We spoke to lead architect Stephen Fisher about the development of the Penryn chip and the day the first A0 version arrived. We were shown the machinery used to test and patch the 45nm processor, which is currently being manufactured in Arizona for release next month."
Quickies

Submission + - Big 'Ocean' Discovered Beneath Asia

Submitted by anthemaniac
anthemaniac writes: Seismic observations reveal a huge reservoir of water in Earth's mantle beneath Asia. It's actually rock saturated with water, but it's an ocean's worth of water ... as much as is in the whole Arctic Ocean. How did it get there? A slab of water-laden crust sank, and the water evaporated out when it was heated, and then it was trapped, the thinking goes. The discovery fits neatly with the region's heavy seismic activity and fits neatly with the idea that the planet's moving crustal plates are lubricated with water.

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