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Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Robot P***s and Helicopters Taught Aerobatics
* Methane-Eating Bacteria Could Combat Global Warming
* Interconnecting Wind Farms To Smooth Power Production
* The Gap Between Stats and Understanding In Flu Cases
* Technology Leveling The Playing Field In Modern War
* Online Nicknames Google better than Real?
* Russian Police Seize Kasparov
* Amazon Patents Bad Service For Bad Customers
* Liquid Crystal Phases of DNA, Beginning of Life?
* Houston Police Test Unmanned Surveillance Aircraft
* Mapping the Brain's Neural Network
* Intel, Microsoft Despised the XO Laptop
* New Software Could Warn Sailors of Rogue Waves
* iPhone Signal Strength Problems In the UK

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Robot P***s and Helicopters Taught Aerobatics |
| from the educating-the-bots dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 23, @20:39 (Robotics) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/24/0053218 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

holy_calamity writes "MIT and Georgia Tech researchers are [0]teaching
small robotic aircraft some impressive stunts. MIT's RC p***'s can take
off and land from vertical perches ([1]video), while the Georgia Tech
helicopter can land on slopes of up to sixty degrees, by flipping
backwards into freefall as it lands ([2]video)."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/24/0053218

Links:
0. http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn12955-perching-aircraft-train-for-tricky-landings.html
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuSqwb13iw0
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsR2nsz2QQ4


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Methane-Eating Bacteria Could Combat Global Warming |
| from the now-just-need-to-work-on-oil-eating-bugs dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 23, @22:28 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/24/0046248 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

realwx writes "New Zealand scientists have found a bacterium, named
'Methylokorus infernorum,' that [0]eats a key global warming chemical.
Found in a hot spring, the bug lives off of methane emissions from
geothermically active areas. A scientist quoted in the article stated
that a cubic meter of liquid containing the bacterium would consume about
11kg of methane each year. 'But Dr Stott cautioned that such an
application was probably some years into the future. He said it was
unlikely the micro-organism, which prefers acidic conditions of about
60C, could ever be added to sheep or cows' food to stop the animals
releasing methane.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/24/0046248

Links:
0. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22808426-5001028,00.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Interconnecting Wind Farms To Smooth Power Production |
| from the sounds-like-a-plan dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday November 24, @02:22 (Power) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/24/0048218 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Roland Piquepaille writes "Wind power is one of the world's fastest
growing electric energy sources, but as wind is intermittent, a single
wind farm cannot deliver a steady amount of energy. This is why
scientists at Stanford University want to [1]connect wind farms to
develop a cheaper and more reliable power source. Interconnecting wind
farms with a transmission grid should reduce the power swings caused by
wind variability and provide a somewhat constant and reliable electric
power (or 'baseload' power) provided by other power plants."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/24/0048218

Links:
0. http://www.primidi.com/2007/11/23.html
1. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-11/ams-tpo112107.php


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Gap Between Stats and Understanding In Flu Cases |
| from the we-need-more-science dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday November 24, @04:17 (Math) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/24/0629248 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]KentuckyFC writes "Bird flu gets all the headlines but ordinary flu
kills several orders of magnitude more people each year and represents a
significant threat to our society. The frightening thing about ordinary
flu is how little we understand about how it spreads. According to a
report at the physics arXiv blog, researchers trying to model this
process say [1]they still don't know some basic probabilities associated
with infection ([2]pdf, [3]abstract). For instance, given that the
disease has manifested itself clinically in an individual, what are the
chances of that person dying? And if a virus can be caught from a number
of different host species (as it might eventually be with bird flu) what
is the probability of transmission?"

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/24/0629248

Links:
0. http://www.arxivblog.com/
1. http://arxivblog.com/?p=135
2. http://arxiv.org/pdf/0711.3088
3. http://arxiv.org/abs/0711.3088


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Technology Leveling The Playing Field In Modern War |
| from the to-the-detriment-of-the-armed-forces dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday November 24, @06:12 (The Military) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/24/0653238 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

The IEEE spectrum site has up an article written by the author Robert N.
Charette describing the 'empowerment of the individual to conduct war'
through technology. In the piece, entitled [0]Open-Source Warfare,
Charette describes the cheap, inexpensive, but clever ways that militants
are adapting to modern warfare. "As events are making painfully clear,
[counterterrorism expert John Robb] says, warfare is being transformed
from a closed, state-sponsored affair to one where the means and the
know-how to do battle are readily found on the Internet and at your local
RadioShack. This open global access to increasingly powerful
technological tools, he says, is in effect allowing 'small groups
to...declare war on nations.' Need a missile-guidance system? Buy
yourself a Sony PlayStation 2. Need more capability? Just upgrade to a
PS3."

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/24/0653238

Links:
0. http://spectrum.ieee.org/nov07/5668


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Online Nicknames Google better than Real? |
| from the never-really-thought-about-that dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday November 24, @08:49 (The Internet)|
| http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/24/131213 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "I was recently laid off, and during several
of the interviews looking for a new job as a mid level IT manager, I was
asked "So, I can just Google your name and find some of your work?" The
answer is "yes", but searching for my name doesn't really bring up many
results compared to searching for my online nickname which I have been
using for about a decade. I am very tempted just to put that nickname on
my resume. Is the professional, albeit technical, world ready for this
step? Where should I put it? At the top or somewhere in the body?" And
the other problem- how hard will it be to get a job when your nickname is
something ridiculous. Boy I wish I would have thought of that in 95 ;)

Discuss this story at:
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/24/131213


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Russian Police Seize Kasparov |
| from the only-a-matter-of-time dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday November 24, @09:41 (Supercomputin|
| http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/24/1334251 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "[0]Russian police seized Garry Kasparov, the
Russian chess champion, for staging a political rally against Vladimir
Putin. IBM's Deep Blue computer was the first to beat a world champion
when it defeated Kasparov, who is one of the strongest players in
history." He's also been a giant critic of the Russian administration
which is increasingly restricting free speech.

Discuss this story at:
http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/24/1334251

Links:
0. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7110910.stm


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Amazon Patents Bad Service For Bad Customers |
| from the well-not-quite-but-still dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday November 24, @10:51 (Patents) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/24/1532231 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]mikesd81 writes "[1]Techdirt reports that Amazon has been awarded a
patent for [2]Generating Current Order Fulfillment Plans Based on
Expected Future Orders. Essentially, if Amazon deems that you won't be a
long time customer or ordering again soon, your order will take longer to
be expedited."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/24/1532231

Links:
0. mailto:mikesd@@@ptd...net
1. http://techdirt.com/articles/20071120/015521.shtml
2. http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=7,295,990


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Liquid Crystal Phases of DNA, Beginning of Life? |
| from the lot-better-than-my-theory-of-gum-and-scotch-tape dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday November 24, @12:00 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/24/1556245 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "A team led by the University of Colorado at
Boulder and the University of Milan has discovered some unexpected forms
of [0]liquid crystals of ultrashort DNA molecules immersed in water,
providing a new scenario for a key step in the emergence of life on
Earth. CU-Boulder physics Professor Noel Clark said the team found that
surprisingly short segments of DNA, life's molecular carrier of genetic
information, could assemble into several distinct liquid crystal phases
that "self-orient" parallel to one another and stack into columns when
placed in a water solution. Life is widely believed to have emerged as
segments of DNA- or RNA-like molecules in a prebiotic "soup" solution of
ancient organic molecules.

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/24/1556245

Links:
0. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-11/uoca-lcp112007.php


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Houston Police Test Unmanned Surveillance Aircraft |
| from the all-watched-over-by-machines-of-loving-grace dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday November 24, @13:18 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/24/1638204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]54mc writes "The Houston Police Department was filmed [1] testing an
unmanned aircraft in a secretive gathering on Wednesday. The media were
not allowed into the event; however they were told that the aircraft
would be used for 'mobility' and 'tactical' issues, and possibly even for
writing traffic tickets. The aircraft has a wingspan of 10 feet and is
said to cost from $30K to $1M. Pictures and video are available at the
link." The article mentions that the craft was being operated by staff
from a private firm called [2]Insitu, Inc.. The device in the video looks
like the firm's [3]ScanEagle.

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/24/1638204

Links:
0. http://thecravenoneampgmailcom/
1. http://www.click2houston.com/investigates/14659066/detail.html
2. http://www.insitu.com/
3. http://www.insitu.com/scaneagle


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Mapping the Brain's Neural Network |
| from the next-to-figure-out-the-programming dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday November 24, @14:40 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/24/1831236 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Ponca City, We Love You writes "New technologies could soon allow
scientists to [1]generate a complete wiring diagram of a piece of brain.
With an estimated 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion synapses in the
human brain, creating an all-encompassing map of even a small chunk is a
daunting task. Only one organism's complete wiring diagram now exists:
that of the microscopic worm C. elegans, which contains a mere 302
neurons. The C. elegans mapping effort took more than a decade to
complete. Research teams at MIT and at Heidelberg in Germany are
experimenting with different approaches to speed up the process of
mapping neural connections. The Germans start with a small block of brain
tissue and bounce electrons off the top of the block to generate a
cross-sectional picture of the nerve fibers. They then take a very thin
slice, 30 nanometers, off the top of the block. 'Repeat this [process]
thousands of times, and you can make your way through maybe the whole fly
brain,' says the lead researcher. They are training an artificial neural
network to emulate the human process of tracing neural connections to
speed the process about 100- to 1000-fold. They estimate that they need a
further factor of a million to analyze useful chunks of the human brain
in reasonable times."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/24/1831236

Links:
0. http://poncacityweloveyou.com/
1. http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/19731/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Intel, Microsoft Despised the XO Laptop |
| from the immune-response dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday November 24, @15:59 (Education) |
| http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/24/2015229 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]gregsim writes "The Wall Street Journal today reports that the new XO
laptop, centerpiece of the One Laptop Per Child project, is
[1]stimulating an active response from both Intel and Microsoft. The
companies evidently feel threatened by the little upstart, intended to
help third-world children. (The XO runs Linux and uses AMD chips.)
Microsoft has cut their software to $3 each and Intel has designed their
own laptop called the Classmate to sell between $230 and $300, nearly
double the XO's price. Rather than defend the relative merits of his
creation, professor Negroponte is crying foul and (if the article is to
be believed) not even arguing the technical merits. The initial demand
for the XO has fallen well below Mr. Negroponte's projections as Intel
and Microsoft have successfully argued that their entries are superior.
45,000 have been ordered through the Give One, Get One campaign. I am
happy that I ordered mine ?€? it will be a landmark model in any case."

Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/24/2015229

Links:
0. mailto:gregsim@telerama.com
1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119586754115002717.html?mod=home_we_banner_left


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| New Software Could Warn Sailors of Rogue Waves |
| from the that's-no-wave dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday November 24, @17:20 (Software) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/24/2150220 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Reservoir Hill writes "Sailors have been telling stories for centuries
about [1]monstrous ocean waves that tower over a hundred feet in the air
and toss ships around like corks. While these were once dismissed as
nautical myth, but a few years back synthetic aperture radar from ESA's
ERS satellites helped establish the existence of these 'rogue' waves and
study their origins. Such waves were far more common than anyone had
expected. Now a researcher in Madrid has developed software that can
[2]detect rogue waves from radar images, with the possibility of
providing advance warning to ships at sea. The software uses a
mathematical model to evaluate and process the spatial and temporal
dimensions of waves inferred from the interaction between the radar's
electromagnetic energy and the sea surface. The result is displayed in a
color-coded image."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/24/2150220

Links:
0. http://reservoirhill.org/
1. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/07/040721084137.htm
2. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071117091502.htm


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| iPhone Signal Strength Problems In the UK |
| from the no-bars-for-us-we're-british dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday November 24, @18:41 (Cellphones) |
| http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/24/2248249 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "British iPhone users, who bought the Apple
phones when they went on sale in England on Nov. 9, are reporting
[0]persistent problems with signal strength on O2, the UK's only iPhone
service provider. The [1]complaints started only 2 days later. InfoWeek
blogger Alex Wolfe says there's a debate as to whether O2 or the iPhone
is at fault; it appears to be the handset, which is unusual since US
users haven't reported similar problems. Some 02 customers report that
getting a replacement phone fixes things; others have had to do a
software restore back to version 1.1.2 of the iPhone software."

Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/24/2248249

Links:
0. http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/11/british_iphone.html
1. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1233355&tstart=0



Copyright 1997-2006 OSTG. All rights reserved.


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