[Slashdot] Stories for 2007-11-09

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Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Bill to Require Open Access to Scientific Papers
* Grid Computing Saves Cancer Researchers Decades
* Monkeys and Cognitive Dissonance
* NASA Satellites to Predict Disease Outbreaks
* New Parental Controls Limit Xbox Time
* FTC Announces Crackdown on Do Not Call Violators
* Is the Future of the Electric Car Industry in Silicon Valley?
* Ballmer Calls Android a "Press Release"
* Crater From 1908 Tunguska Blast Found
* AM3 Reference Diagram Disclosed
* US, Aussie Officials Yank GHB-Producing Toys
* Expanding Fair Use To Reform Copyright Law
* A Panoramic View of Your Insides
* Encrypted Torrents Growing Fast In the UK
* Japanese Probe Returns First HD Video of the Moon
* EFF Documentation Victory in Telco Spying Case
* Why the US Consumer Doesn't Deserve A Decent Robot
* Red Hat Releases RHEL 5.1, Includes Virtualization
* The Dumber Android Is, the Better Say Experts
* One SimCity Per Child
* Consumers Starting To Realize Gadgets Can Be Fixed
* Hard Drive Prices Hitting New Lows
* Evidence of Historical Zombie Attack at Hierakonpolis

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Bill to Require Open Access to Scientific Papers |
| from the share-your-answers dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday November 07, @20:36 (The Almight|
|

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/07/2318208

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Ponca City, We Love You writes "Congress is expected to vote this week
on a bill requiring investigators funded by the National Institutes of
Health (NIH) to publish research papers [1]only in journals that are made
freely available within one year of publication. Until now, [2]repeated
efforts to legislate such a mandate have failed under pressure from the
well-heeled journal publishing industry and some nonprofit scientific
societies whose educational activities are supported by the profits from
journals that they publish. Scientists assert that open access will speed
innovation by making it easier for them to share and build on each
other's findings. The measure is contained in a spending bill that boosts
the biomedical agency's effective budget by 3.1%, to $29.8 billion in
2008. The open-access requirement in the bill would apply only during
fiscal year 2008; it would need to be renewed in yearly spending bills in
the future."

Discuss this story at:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/07/2318208

Links:
0. http://poncacityweloveyou.com/

1. http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071107/full/450148a.html

2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/31/AR2007103102668.html?hpid=moreheadlines

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Grid Computing Saves Cancer Researchers Decades |
| from the begin-the-beowulf-cluster-comments dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday November 07, @21:41 (Supercomput|
|

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/07/2325214

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Stony Stevenson writes "Canadian researchers have promised to squeeze
[0]"decades" of cancer research into just two years by harnessing the
power of a global PC grid. The scientists are the first from Canada to
use IBM's World Community Grid network of PCs and laptops with the power
equivalent to one of the globe's top five fastest supercomputers. The
team will use the grid to analyze the results of experiments on proteins
using data collected by scientists at the Hauptman-Woodward Medical
Research Institute in Buffalo, New York. The researchers estimate that
this analysis would take conventional computer systems 162 years to
complete."

Discuss this story at:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/07/2325214

Links:
0. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/64560,cancerbusters-tap-into-grid-computing.aspx

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Monkeys and Cognitive Dissonance |
| from the when-you're-right-you're-right dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday November 07, @23:00 (Biotech) |
|

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/07/2340255

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Hugh Pickens writes "People deal with cognitive dissonance ��� the
clashing of conflicting thoughts ��� by eliminating one of the thoughts.
Psychologists have suggested we hone our skills of rationalization in
order to impress others, reaffirm our "moral integrity" and protect our
"self-concept" and feeling of "global self-worth." Now experimenters at
Yale have demonstrated that [1]other primates employ the same
psychological mechanism. In one experiment, a monkey was observed to show
an equal preference for three colors of M&M's and was given a choice
between two of them. If he chose red over blue, his preference changed
and he downgraded blue. When he was subsequently given a choice between
blue and green, it was no longer an even contest ��� he was now much more
likely to reject the blue. Rationalization is thought to have an
evolutionary utility; once a decision has been made, second-guessing may
just interfere with more important business. "We tend to think people
have an explicit agenda to rewrite history to make themselves look right,
but that's an outsider's perspective. This experiment shows that there
isn't always much conscious thought going on," said one researcher."

Discuss this story at:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/07/2340255

Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/science/06tier.html?ex=1352091600&en=8dd85ab605098dbc&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NASA Satellites to Predict Disease Outbreaks |
| from the doctor-eye-in-the-sky dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday November 08, @00:31 (NASA) |
|

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/07/2345253

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]coondoggie writes "NASA and its Applied Sciences Program will be using
[1]14 satellites to watch the Earth's environment and help predict and
prevent infectious disease outbreaks around the world. Through orbiting
satellites, data is collected daily to monitor environmental changes.
That information is then passed on to agencies such as the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Defense who then
apply the data to predict and track disease outbreaks and assist in
making public health policy decisions. The use of remote sensing
technology helps scientists predict the outbreak of some of the most
common and deadly infectious diseases such as Ebola, West Nile virus and
Rift Valley Fever."

Discuss this story at:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/07/2345253

Links:
0. mailto:mcooney@nww.com
1. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/21654

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| New Parental Controls Limit Xbox Time |
| from the saying-no-is-hard dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday November 08, @02:24 (Microsoft) |
|

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/0536222

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "As part of a new marketing blitz to promote
the Xbox 360 as a "family friendly" video game console, Microsoft on
Wednesday rolled out a new feature called Family Timer, which will show
up in the Family Settings Screen. The Timer will let parents limit the
number of hours their kids can play the Xbox on a daily or weekly basis.
When the time limit is reached, [0]the console will automatically shut
off, ostensibly after saving the game."

Discuss this story at:

http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/0536222

Links:
0. http://www.betanews.com/article/New_Parental_Controls_Limit_Xbox_Time/1194467562

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FTC Announces Crackdown on Do Not Call Violators |
| from the no-means-no dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday November 08, @05:27 (Privacy) |
|

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/0542246

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Tech.Luver writes "The Federal Trade Commission today announced a law
enforcement [1]crackdown on companies and individuals accused of
violating the requirements of the National Do Not Call Registry,
resulting in six settlements collectively imposing nearly $7.7 million in
civil penalties, along with an additional complaint that will be filed in
federal district court. The actions, brought by the Department of Justice
on the FTC's behalf, are against companies ranging from adjustable bed
seller Craftmatic Industries, to alarm-monitoring provider ADT Security
Services and lender Ameriquest Mortgage Company. To date, consumers have
put more than 145 million numbers on the Registry, indicating they do not
want to receive calls from telemarketers at home."

Discuss this story at:

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/0542246

Links:
0. http://techluver.com/

1. http://techluver.com/2007/11/07/ftc-announces-law-enforcement-crackdown-on-do-not-call-violators/

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Is the Future of the Electric Car Industry in Silicon Valley? |
| from the going-green dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday November 08, @08:57 (Businesses) |
|

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/0556216

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

fiannaFailMan writes "The San Jose Mercury News is speculating about
Silicon Valley's potential for [0]becoming the Detroit of a future
electric car industry. Among the valley's strengths is an ability to
adapt to rapidly changing business environments and develop new business
models, something that the Big Three can hardly be accused of. On the
downside, it's a capital-intensive business and isn't like raising $40
million and having an IPO. Apparently there are five companies in the
valley already pursuing electric car technology, most notably Tesla
motors."

Discuss this story at:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/0556216

Links:
0. http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_7392438

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Ballmer Calls Android a "Press Release" |
| from the laugha-while-you-can dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday November 08, @09:34 (Microsoft) |
|

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/1326234

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Bergkamp10 writes "Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer tried to shoot down
[0]Google's new mobile platform at a press conference in Tokyo. Ballmer
called Android [1]a mere 'press release' at present, and said the mobile
platform market is 'Microsoft's world.' Ballmer dodged requests to
comment on specifics of the Android software platform, preferring instead
to highlight the successes of the Windows Mobile platform which he said
is on 150 different handsets and is available from over 100 different
mobile operators. 'Well of course their efforts are just some words on
paper right now, it's hard to do a very clear comparison [with Windows
Mobile],' Ballmer said. 'Right now they have a press release, we have
many, many millions of customers, great software, many hardware devices
and they're welcome in our world,' he added."

Discuss this story at:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/1326234

Links:
0. http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/06/0223211&tid=217

1. http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1807448826;fp;2;fpid;1

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Crater From 1908 Tunguska Blast Found |
| from the fire-came-by dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday November 08, @10:16 (Space) |
|

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/1340207

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

MaineCoasts writes "A team of scientists from the Marine Science
Institute in Bologna [0]claims to have found the crater left by the
aerial blast of a comet or asteroid in 1908 in the Tunguska region of
Siberia. The blast flattened 770 square miles (2,000 square kilometers)
of forest, but to date no remains or crater have been found. This has
left open the question of what kind of object made the impact. The team
believes that, contrary to previous studies, nearby Lake Cheko is only
one century old and 'If the body was an asteroid, a surviving fragment
may be buried beneath the lake. If it was a comet, its chemical signature
should be found in the deepest layers of sediments.' The team's findings
are based on a 1999 expedition to Tunguska and appeared in the August
issue of the journal Terra Nova."

Discuss this story at:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/1340207

Links:
0. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071107-russia-crater.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| AM3 Reference Diagram Disclosed |
| from the things-to-come dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday November 08, @10:54 (Graphics) |
|

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/1357246

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]psyph3r writes "[1]Chilehardware has released what appears to be a
confidential image showing the future customer desktop AM3 reference
boards for AMD and ATI. Here is an [2]English site talking about this
reference design image and the features it enables. 'The biggest
improvement for this generation of chipsets is the audio and video
capabilities integrated into the motherboard. The new features packed
into these chipsets are beginning to look like standalone platforms. The
RS780 supports DirectX 10 and has a UVD, which is similar to most
High-end cards of today.'"

Discuss this story at:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/1357246

Links:
0. mailto:psyph3r@gmail.com
1. http://www.chilehardware.com/foro/exclusivo-placa-madre-t124173.html

2. http://www.fastsilicon.com/latest-news/am3-reference-diagram-discovered.html?Itemid=60

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| US, Aussie Officials Yank GHB-Producing Toys |
| from the glass-bead-game dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday November 08, @11:31 (Toys) |
|

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/1440208

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]theodp writes "Questioned about concerns over China-made toys, Toys
'R' Us CEO Jerry Storch predicted '[1]this will be the safest holiday
season ever.' Oops. On the same day Storch's interview ran in Fortune,
Toys 'R' Us joined other North American and Australian retailers to pull
millions of [2]Chinese-made toy bead sets from shelves after scientists
found they contain a chemical that when ingested [3]metabolizes into GHB,
the date-rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. Two children in the US and
three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the beads."

Discuss this story at:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/1440208

Links:
0. mailto:theodp@aol.com
1. http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/05/news/companies/toys_storch.fortune/?postversion=2007110607

2. http://www.mooseworld.com.au/content/Bindeez2/home.aspx

3. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/08/america/NA-GEN-US-Toys-Date-Rape-Drug.php

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Expanding Fair Use To Reform Copyright Law |
| from the distilled-common-sense dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday November 08, @12:08 (The Media) |
|

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/151220

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Hugh Pickens writes "Gigi Sohn, President of Public Knowledge,
presented a six-step program for [1]reforming outdated US copyright laws
in a speech at the New Media conference at Boston University. Sohn
expressed no patience with the 'disconnect between the law and the
technology' of media production and distribution. He puts Fair Use at the
top of the list for changes that will help return balance to copyright
laws that have limited innovation, scholarship, creativity, and free
speech. In addition to the [2]four-part legal test for fair use currently
on the books, Sohn recommends that Congress add incidental,
transformative, and non-commercial personal uses to the list of fair uses
enumerated in copyright law, and in addition expressly provide that
making a digital copy for the purpose of indexing searches is not an
infringement. Beyond Fair Use reform, Sohn advocates punishing copyright
holders who 'knowingly or recklessly' send out false takedown notices,
protecting the manufacturer of a technology from liability for the
infringing activity of others if the technology has substantial
non-infringing uses, promoting fair and accessible licensing of
copyrighted works, limiting damages for the use of orphan works, and
requiring copyright holders to provide notice of any limitations on
users' ability to make fair or lawful uses of their products."

Discuss this story at:

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/151220

Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/

1. http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1244

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#Fair_use_under_United_States_law

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| A Panoramic View of Your Insides |
| from the fantastic-voyage dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday November 08, @12:48 (Biotech) |
|

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/1634231

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]deepcleanfun writes "Researchers from New Mexico and Taiwan have
invented a [1]tiny probe ��� about the size of a rice grain ��� equipped with
an ultrasound scanner that can travel through veins and arteries, taking
ultrasound images of its surroundings. Unlike previous probes that travel
through the body, which provide a view from only one direction at a time,
the new device has seven imagers integrated onto the hexagonal prism that
can see nearly everywhere at once."

Discuss this story at:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/1634231

Links:
0. http://inventorspot.com/

1. http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn12882-tiny-probe-gives-wideangle-view-of-your-insides.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Encrypted Torrents Growing Fast In the UK |
| from the deeply-inspect-all-you-want dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday November 08, @13:31 (Encryption) |
|

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/1618229

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

angryphase writes "The British Phonographic Institute (the UK's RIAA) has
noticed a [0]significant increase in the amount of encrypted torrents ���
from 4% of torrent traffic a year ago to 40% today. Whether it follows a
trend for hiding suspicious activities or an increased awareness of
personal privacy is up for (weak) debate. Either way, this change of
attitude is catching the eye of ISPs, music industry officials, and
enforcement agencies. Matt Phillips, spokesman for the UK record industry
trade association explains, 'Our internet investigations team, internet
service providers and the police are well aware of encryption technology:
it's been around for a long time and is commonplace in other areas of
internet crime. It should come as no surprise that if people think they
can hide illegal activity they will attempt to.'"

Discuss this story at:

http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/1618229

Links:
0. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/08/bittorrent_encryption_explosion/

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Japanese Probe Returns First HD Video of the Moon |
| from the finally-we-can-see-the-cheese dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday November 08, @14:11 (Moon) |
|

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/1743226

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Riding with Robots writes "The [1]Kaguya probe, now in lunar orbit,
has sent down the first [2]footage of the moon's surface from its onboard
high-definition TV camera. The Kaguya mission, which consists of a main
orbiter and two smaller satellites in a 100-km-high, polar orbit, is
slated to officially begin its science phase in December."

Discuss this story at:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/1743226

Links:
0. http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/

1. http://www.selene.jaxa.jp/index_e.htm

2. http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/11/20071107_kaguya_movie_e.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| EFF Documentation Victory in Telco Spying Case |
| from the keeping-things-on-the-up-and-up dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday November 08, @14:52 (Privacy) |
|

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/182209

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Krishna Dagli sent on a link to Ars Technica's coverage of [1]an EFF
victory in a court case related to the NSA/Telco spying scandal. "Judge
Vaughn Walker ruled today that AT&T, Verizon, Cingular (now part of
AT&T), Sprint, and BellSouth (also part of AT&T now) must all maintain
any data or papers related to the NSA spying case that Walker is
overseeing in California. The EFF had requested the ruling out of concern
that documents would be destroyed as part of routine data deletion
practices before the case could even progress to discovery."

Discuss this story at:

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/182209

Links:
0. mailto:krishna.dagli@gCHICAGOmail.comminuscity
1. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071106-judge-forces-telcos-to-retain-data-in-nsa-spy-case.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Why the US Consumer Doesn't Deserve A Decent Robot |
| from the little-dire-don't-you-think dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday November 08, @15:27 (Businesses) |
|

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/199242

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]SkinnyGuy writes "PC Magazine has up a lengthy look at how differing
cultural approaches and expectations for robots are setting the stage for
Amercian consumers to [1]miss out on the best robots have to offer. The
first paragraph is kind of funny: 'Someday the robots will rise up and
kill us all. They'll record our lives, obliterate our privacy, set off
nuclear war, and eventually turn on us and eat our brains. If any of this
ever did happen, it would serve us right. We, at least American
consumers, don't deserve the future that robots really have to offer.'"

Discuss this story at:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/199242

Links:
0. mailto:dedownman@hotmail.com
1. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2212839,00.asp

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Red Hat Releases RHEL 5.1, Includes Virtualization |
| from the you-can't-beat-better-toys dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday November 08, @16:09 (Red Hat Software)|
|

http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/1919258

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]eldavojohn writes "Red Hat has [1]announced their release of Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5.1, which includes integrated virtualization. Also of
note, 'Red Hat Enterprise Linux is also available on Amazon's Elastic
Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), a web service that provides resizeable
compute capacity in the cloud. This collaboration makes all the
capabilities of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, including the Red Hat Network
management service, world-class technical support and over 3,400
certified applications, available to customers on Amazon's proven network
infrastructure and datacenters.'"

Discuss this story at:

http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/1919258

Links:
0. mailto:my/.username@@@gmail.com
1. http://www.linuxelectrons.com/news/linux/14145/red-hat-releases-enterprise-linux-5-1

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Dumber Android Is, the Better Say Experts |
| from the are-we-talking-lore-dumb-or-kryton-dumb dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday November 08, @16:53 (Security) |
|

http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/1950206

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]ZDOne writes "ZDNet UK is reporting that it will not be known until
the Android software development kit comes out on Monday whether the
Gphone will be strictly Java-based, but security experts claim that
[1]the less smart a phone is, the less vulnerable it is. Android
developers should stick to a semi-smartphone platform because the Java
sandbox can protect against the normal kinds of attacks, experts claim.
The article also discusses some of the pros and cons of open vs. closed
source security. 'The debate about the relative security merits of
open-source as opposed to proprietary software development has been a
very long-running one. Open-source software development has the advantage
of many pairs of eyes scrutinizing the code, meaning irregularities can
be spotted and ironed out, while updates to plug vulnerabilities can be
written and pushed out very quickly. However, one of the disadvantages of
open-source development is that anyone can scrutinize the source code to
find vulnerabilities and write exploits. The source code in proprietary
software, on the other hand, can't be directly viewed, meaning
vulnerabilities need to be found through reverse engineering.'"

Discuss this story at:

http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/1950206

Links:
0. http://www.zdnet.co.uk/

1. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39290646,00.htm

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| One SimCity Per Child |
| from the now-that's-edumacation dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday November 08, @17:30 (Education) |
|

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/200234

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]SimHacker writes "Electronic Arts has [1]donated the original
'classic' version of [2]Will Wright's popular [3]SimCity game to the
[4]One Laptop Per Child project. SimCity is the epitome of
[5]constructionist educational games, and has been widely used by
educators to [6]unlock and speed-up the transformational skills
associated with creative thinking. It's also been used in the [7]Future
City Competition by seventh- and eighth-grade students to foster
engineering skills and inspire students to explore futuristic concepts
and careers in engineering. OLPC SimCity is based on the [8]X11 TCL/Tk
version of SimCity for Unix developed and adapted to the OLPC by Don
Hopkins, and the GPL open source code will soon be released under the
name "[9]Micropolis", which was SimCity's original working title. SJ
Klein, director of content for the OLPC, called on game developers to
create '[10]frameworks and scripting environments ��� tools with which
children themselves could create their own content.' The long term agenda
of the OLPC SimCity project is to convert SimCity into a scriptable
Python module, integrate it with the OLPC's [11]Sugar user interface and
[12]Cairo rendering library. Eventually they hope to apply [13]Seymour
Papert's and Alan Kay's ideas about constructionist education and
teaching kids to program."

Discuss this story at:

http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/200234

Links:
0. http://www.donhopkins.com/

1. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=16162

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Wright_(game_designer)
3. http://www.donhopkins.com/home/olpc-simcity-06.jpg

4. http://www.laptop.org/

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructionism_(learning_theory)
6. http://www.csupomona.edu/~dnelson/cbe.html

7. http://www.futurecity.org/

8. http://www.donhopkins.com/drupal/node/24

9. http://simcity.ea.com/community/events/will_wright_01_08_04.php

10. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=13017

11. http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Sugar

12. http://cairographics.org/

13. http://www.donhopkins.com/drupal/node/129

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Consumers Starting To Realize Gadgets Can Be Fixed |
| from the better-than-the-trash-heap dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday November 08, @18:15 (Portables) |
|

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/2134213

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "Consumers seem to be paying more attention to
the possibility of [0]fixing gadgets instead of sending them to the
landfill. It may be because 10gb in your iPod is more than enough for any
normal person, it may be a deep, abiding love for the environment or it
may just be the price. A New York Times article explores how new sites
like [1]FixYa and old standbys like [2]Macintouch can aid the average
user in restoring their 'slightly used' gear. Practically every gadget
has their own website devoted to helping owners help each other deal with
problems that arise. I personally like [3] AVS Forum for my living room
needs. From the article: 'Most other gadgets come with batteries that are
easy to replace without custom tools. Replacement batteries for
cellphones are often marked up by the devices' manufacturers, while
third-party replacements are often available for 60 percent to 80 percent
less. Companies offering replacement batteries for iPods often offer
better batteries with higher capacities and longer lifetimes.
Ipodjuice.com, for instance, sells a 1,200-milliamp-hour battery that
will replace the 600-milliamp-hour battery that shipped with a
fourth-generation iPod -- an improvement that lets the Web site claim
that the repaired iPod will "last 100 percent longer."'"

Discuss this story at:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/2134213

Links:
0. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/technology/personaltech/08basics.html

1. http://www.fixya.com/

2. http://www.macintouch.com/

3. http://www.avsforum.com/

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hard Drive Prices Hitting New Lows |
| from the get-em'-while-they're-cheap dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday November 08, @18:53 (Data Storage) |
|

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/2136243

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Lucas123 writes "The average [1]price of notebook hard drives tumbled
to $53 in the third quarter of 2007, from $86 in the same period during
the previous year, according to a survey by a market research firm. The
price drop can be accredited to competition among six vendors, enormous
demand for PCs and consumer electronics as well as evolving flash memory
drives. 'Lower-capacity notebook drives showed smaller price drops, while
newer high-capacity drives saw massive price drops ... Notebook drives
with 320GB of storage will drop as a result of the addition of new
features, while prices will stabilize on lower-capacity notebook storage
devices like 80GB hard drives.'"

Discuss this story at:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/2136243

Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/

1. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=storage&articleId=9046002&taxonomyId=19&intsrc=kc_top

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Evidence of Historical Zombie Attack at Hierakonpolis |
| from the where's-a-good-pub-when-you-need-one dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday November 08, @19:29 (It's funny. Laug|
|

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/2221232

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

sertsa writes "A tongue-in-cheek article just published by the
Archaeological Institute of America hypothesizes that the formation of
ancient Egypt is linked to [0]recurrent Predynastic zombie attacks due to
outbreaks of Solanum virus. 'From the very beginning of Predynastic
research, Sir W.M. Flinders Petrie reported several headless, but
seemingly intact, burials during his famous excavations at Naqada in
1895. Further excavations at Gerzeh and other sites revealed more of
these curious burials, but no satisfactory explanation could be proposed
at the time. More recently, excavations in the non-elite cemetery at
Hierakonpolis (HK43), undertaken from 1996 to 2004, have uncovered more
of these strange headless burials in addition to 21 individuals whose
cervical vertebrae bear cut marks indicative of complete decapitation.
The individuals include men and women ranging in age from 16 to 65. The
number and the standard position of the cut marks (usually on the
second-fourth cervical vertebrae; always from the front) indicate an
effort far greater than that needed simply to cause the death of a normal
(uninfected) person. The standard position also indicates these are not
injuries sustained during normal warfare.'"

Discuss this story at:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/08/2221232

Links:
0. http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/hierakonpolis/zombies.html

Copyright 1997-2006 OSTG. All rights reserved.

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