wo234lf - Slashdot User

Microsoft Rebrands Live Search As "Bing" 443

Posted by timothy on Thursday May 28, 2009 @01:01PM from the after-sherlock-holmes'-more-obscure-brother dept.

JacobSteelsmith writes "Microsoft is attempting to re-brand its Live Search, also known as Kumo. Bing, as it's known, is another attempt by Microsoft to lure consumers away from Internet search leaders such as Google. Microsoft has posted a quarterly loss in its online advertising business, compared to Google's sales, $4.7 billion in the first quarter. According to the Live Search blog, Bing goes 'beyond the traditional search engines to help you make faster, more informed decisions' by combining a 'great search engine' with organized results. It also adds unique tools to help the user make important decisions. It is being touted as a 'decision engine.'"

White House To Appoint "Internet Czar" 205

Posted by timothy on Tuesday May 26, 2009 @09:36AM from the with-enough-czars-all-things-are-possible dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Washington Post reports that President Obama is set to appoint a 'Cybersecurity czar with a broad mandate': 'The adviser will have the most comprehensive mandate granted to such an official to date and will probably be a member of the National Security Council but will report to the national security adviser as well as the senior White House economic adviser, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations are not final. The announcement will coincide with the long-anticipated release of a 40-page report that evaluates the government's cybersecurity initiatives and policies. The report is intended to outline a "strategic vision" and the range of issues the new adviser must handle, but it will not delve into details, administration officials told reporters last month.' Cynics are expecting the appointee to be a lawyer for the RIAA."

Video Game Adaptation In the Works For A Song of Fire and Ice 183

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday May 14, 2009 @05:52AM from the goons-everywhere-rejoice dept.

On Wednesday, French game development studio Cyanide announced that they will be working with George R. R. Martin to bring his popular fantasy series, A Song of Fire and Ice, to the realm of video games. The press release implies that there will be more than one game, and the games will come out for PCs and "next-gen consoles." Apparently an HBO television series is in the works as well, in addition to board and card games related to the books.

Visualizing Data Inside the 30-ft Allosphere 131

Posted by timothy on Wednesday April 15, 2009 @04:49PM from the bah-I've-seen-bigger dept.

TEDChris writes "The Allosphere, being created at UC Santa Barbara, is the most ambitious attempt yet at creating powerful 3d visualizations of raw scientific data, such as the structure of a crystal, or how quantum effects take place. Researchers watch from a bridge inside the 30-foot sphere, looking at data projected 360 degrees around them and listening to 3D sound. The first major public demo of the facility has just been posted at TED.com. Optimists would argue that many of the greatest scientific breakthroughs happened through a new visual way of imagining data. Penicillin and relativity come to mind. So this is either a killer new research vehicle, an incredible toy, or just an insanely expensive art project."

Comment fMRI Studies are like... (Score 1) 448

by wo234lf on Thursday December 06, 2007 @04:14PM (#21602247) Attached to: Brain Changes When Viewing Violent Media

Sledgehammers. They provide gross oxygen levels provided by the blood in particular brain regions. A good control has to be given to subtract the actual data recordings from - because the brain is constantly activated all over, and constantly provided blood. If the controls are wrong, the study is usually not proving anything, though sometimes the reader has to figure it out. That said, fMRIs also assume that in different people, the brain is organized EXACTLY the same, which just isn't true - if it were, then among other things, we'd all have the same memories.

So, let's find another source before we believe anything an fMRI study suggests.
And don't even get me started on which brain region "does" what. Because even that isn't exactly well established. For example, how is this possible: http://www.eurekalert.org/images/release_graphics/pdf/brain.pdf (PDF warning).

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