Comment Robotic plane/airship (Score 1) 312
Isn't that called autopilot?
ICANN To Allow .brandname Top-Level Domains
300
AndyAndyAndyAndy sends in this excerpt from a Reuters report:
"Brand owners will soon be able to operate their own parts of the Web — such as .apple, .coke or .marlboro — if the biggest shake-up yet in how Internet domains are awarded is approved. After years of preparation and wrangling, ICANN, the body that coordinates Internet names, is expected to approve the move at a special board meeting in Singapore on Monday. ... The move is seen as a big opportunity for brands to gain more control over their online presence and send visitors more directly to parts of their sites — and a danger for those who fail to take advantage."
Scientists Turn T-Shirts Into Body Armor 213
separsons writes "Scientists at the University of South Carolina recently transformed ordinary T-shirts into bulletproof armor. By splicing cotton with boron, the third hardest material on the planet, scientists created a shirt that was super elastic but also strong enough to deflect bullets. Xiaodong Li, lead researcher on the project, says the same tech may eventually be used to create lightweight, fuel-efficient cars and aircrafts."
OpenOffice Tops 21% Market Share In Germany 252
hweimer writes "A novel study analyzes the installed base of various office packages among German users. (Here is the original study report in German and a Google translation.) While Microsoft Office comes out top (72%), open source rival OpenOffice is already installed on 21.5% of all PCs and growing. The authors use a clever method to determine the installed office suites of millions of web users: they look for the availability of characteristic fonts being shipped with the various suites. What surprised me the most is that they found hardly any difference in the numbers for home and business users."
Robot Composed of "Catoms" Can Assume Any Form 168
philetus writes "An article in New Scientist describes a robotic system composed of swarms of electromagnetic modules capable of assuming almost any form that is being developed by the Claytronics Group at Carnegie Mellon. 'The grand goal is to create swarms of microscopic robots capable of morphing into virtually any form by clinging together. Seth Goldstein, who leads the research project at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, in the US, admits this is still a distant prospect. However, his team is using simulations to develop control strategies for futuristic shape-shifting, or "claytronic", robots, which they are testing on small groups of more primitive, pocket-sized machines.'"
It's Official Dell Acquired Alienware 361
robyn217 writes "Dell just confirmed today that it had acquired boutique PC vendor Alienware. Alienware's Nelson Gonzalez said that his company will continue on with its own brand, design, sales and marketing, and support, though, so Alienware isn't going anywhere just yet. Gonzalez also said that Alienware PCs would not carry a Dell logo, and that he would report directly to Jim Schneider, Dell's chief financial officer. "I think that you'll find it very hard to find the Dell name on the [Alienware] web site," he said." The rumor is now fact.
Comment Re:It's a trick. (Score 1) 288
Their sole motivation is to gather more customer data.
Believe it or not, there's another reason that doesn't require a tinfoil hit.
Believe it or not, there's another reason that doesn't require a tinfoil hit.
One of my best friends is a corporate manager for one of the largest chains in the country that has plans to implement a similar strategy. The reason is like anything else--to cut costs and maximize profits. If you have a cart that can scan as you go and keep a total, all you need is a credit or debit card tied to your store savings card and you can go right from the shelf into a bag. When you're done, you walk out the door.
This does have the negative side effect of making all of those checkers and baggers obsolete (and therefore unemployed), but from a shoppers perspective it's great. You can just walk in, get what you need and leave. No lines, no waiting, no stoned bagger putting the liquid laundry detergent on top of your carton of eggs.
One drawback you might notice is that it depends on shopper honesty to scan everything that goes into their cart. In test stores, apparently, it works quite well as most shoppers are either too honest or too paranoid to try to cheat the system. There is a degree of loss, but it's more than compensated for by the savings on payroll that used to go to pay the extra checkers and baggers. Additionally, they have relatively short term plans to implement RFID (3-5 years out) which will make the system much effective. The stores aren't stupid though, they plan on rolling these out only in stores in nice neighborhoods. There, the rate of theft is projected to be low enough as to not impact the bottom line.
If you already use a shopper's card or pay with a credit card, the supermarkets already have all the data on your shopping habits they need. If you're too paranoid to use either of those when shopping, then this new system won't impact you at all. There will undoubtedly still be a line for you to stand in to pay cash.
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