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HP also reported that it plans to announce that its board of directors has authorized the exploration of strategic alternatives for its Personal Systems Group (PSG). HP will consider a broad range of options that may include, among others, a full or partial separation of PSG from HP through a spin-off or other transaction.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110818006301/en/HP-Confirms-Discussions-Autonomy-Corporation-plc-Business

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20070223005120/en/GE-Announces-Advancement-Incandescent-Technology-High-Efficiency-Lamps

I'd guess they are not on shelves yet, but will be by the time the 'ban' takes effect.

But they already have (for "Internet video free to end users" -- other uses were never royalty free).

It's coming to PC with or without Microsoft. Primesense, the company who actually own the technology have teamed up with Asus. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110103005276/en/PrimeSense-Teams-ASUS-Bring-Intuitive-PC-Entertainment

Yes ... won't plug in to virtually any SATA connectors, apart from the mini-SATA connectors. Just like mini-USB doesn't connect with virtually any USB connectors (apart from mini-USB), right?

And it's not like mini-SATA is a new connection either.

September 21, 2009 08:00 AM Eastern Time ; SATA-IO to Develop Specification for Mini Interface Connector mSATA Extends Benefits of SATA Interface for Small Form Factor Applications

Obviously Intel is trying their best to screw over people by dreaming up some completely non-standard and completely new interface for their tiny SSDs

Yes ... won't plug in to virtually any SATA connectors, apart from the mini-SATA connectors. Just like mini-USB doesn't connect with virtually any USB connectors (apart from mini-USB), right?

And it's not like mini-SATA is a new connection either.

September 21, 2009 08:00 AM Eastern Time ; SATA-IO to Develop Specification for Mini Interface Connector mSATA Extends Benefits of SATA Interface for Small Form Factor Applications

Obviously Intel is trying their best to screw over people by dreaming up some completely non-standard and completely new interface for their tiny SSDs

http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20101122005908/en/Kendall-Law-Group-Investigates-Novell-Acquisition-Shareholders
(came across that link in a Groklaw comment)

It appears you are in luck then...they have made color e-ink displays.

yup. wasn't actually "official" after dell declined to at least match hp's offer.... which dell announced they would not be doing on sept 2:

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100902005854/en

Here is what AMD was doing last year with liquid helium, which would put the temp at about 5 degrees Kelvin (about -450 degrees Fahrenheit) and running at 7 giga-hertz

Here is an AMD news blurb
http://eon.businesswire.com/portal/site/eon/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20091105006606&newsLang=en

And a nifty video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6Hf6d404QY&f=22

Here are a few more sources for info. regarding the contract...posted for no other reason than my own annoyance with Inhabitat =P

DOE Press Release with Media Contact Number

Sustainable Business Blog, apparently the initial plant will produce 49.5 MW in capacity

Home website of NGP, the contract winner

Write up from EON, with quite a bit more info, including contact info. for various parties involved.

Guess what?

Anyone writing an app that takes more than 1 person two weeks to create, like those real, groundbreaking apps that aren't rehashes of another app that's already been done, aren't going to waste their time with a company as inconsistent as Apple when they have other platforms to develop for.

Especially when there's reason to believe that Android is beginning to exceed the iPhone.

Another choice that might be better geared to students is the Entourage eDGe. If memory serves it was created with students, especially in science fields, in mind. It has one ePaper screen and one tablet-esque LCD screen, and apparently it's received decent reviews from students, though I have no personal experience therewith.

Recent article
Official site

Excerpt from article:

The enTourage eDGe is the first device to merge an e-paper and LCD screen to create a dual-screen device that combines the functionality of an e-reader, tablet netbook, notepad and audio/video recorder and player in one inclusive device. These two displays work together to allow students to access and enrich information in a way that they previously couldn’t. Students can access their textbooks and make notes in the margins or highlight text while they simultaneously look up further information on the subject via the Web on the LCD side.
[...]
The two screens of the enTourage eDGe interact so that users can open hyperlinks that are included in an e-book text and view the content on the LCD screen, or ‘attach’ Web pages to passages in an e-book to be referenced at a later point. Additionally, as the enTourage eDGe uses E-Ink technology for easy digital reading, images will appear in gray-scale on the e-paper side of the device; however, users can load these in color on the LCD side, ideal for viewing colored charts and graphs from course materials. A built-in camera and microphone captures audio and video content that users can store and play back later. Included Documents To Go software makes Microsoft Office documents available for creating, viewing and editing for notes or school papers. The enTourage eDGe runs on the Google Android operating system and backs up all content on enTourage Systems’ servers for safe keeping. The device folds a full 360 degrees and orients its displays horizontally or vertically, to view as a book, single screen, or prop up laptop style.

It is going to matter only until price for SolidStateDisks becomes in line with what it should be

Because it didn't make it to /. but is relevant: Amazon's Press Release about Royalty Hikes from yesterday.

Matching Apple's 70% royalties is another major sign of Amazon's Apple envy- but also a strong financial incentive for authors and publishers to be "well behaved" when pricing their Kindle books, as in keep prices lower than paper, offer TTS, etc.

Piracy in the case of copyright infringement is about redistributing works that are under copyright protection.

The more copyright is extended to questionable terms, the more people will rebel against the concept entirely.

I believe in copyrights but I totally disagree with how long they last now. Copyright protection is meant to encourage creation, but you can't create anymore once you're dead. You are encouraged to continue the act of creation by keeping money coming in. I no longer do, other than here on slashdot and elsewhere online, but I used to write and now I want to start a business as a photographer and I believe in copyrights but I would make a copyright term about 5 to 7 years. If you can't make enough money in that tyme then you should consider doing other work. Of course if you're creating things as a hobby, and have another income, then the length of copyright terms shouldn't matter.

I believe in copyright as a premise, same with patents, just not how they are now applied.

While I believe in copyrights I don't believe in patents. Though not everything invented is expensive to manufacture it is a barrier to a lot. Not just anyone can build a fabrication plant and make Intel CPUs, such a plant can cost billions of dollars. No, with the First mover advantage inventors have an incentive to get quality products out of the door as well as constantly improving designs. Some economic studies have actually concluded patents reduce innovation and inventions. Here's a brief article from Business Wire, "Study Finds Patent Systems May Not Be an Effective Incentive to Encourage Invention of New Technologies".

Falcon

GE was working on a more-efficient version of the incandescent bulb. It was to start out twice as efficient as current bulbs and eventually be four times as efficient; comparable to CFLs. I'm guessing they planned to replace the tungsten filament with a tungsten photonic lattice. Alas, stupid laws that banned incandescents outright -- instead of banning inefficient bulbs -- caused them to drop the project.

IMHO, CFLs suck. I've had nearly a dozen (various brands and price ranges) fail in the last 18 years. One of them (a ring-shaped bulb made by Lights Of America) came close to bursting into flames. Because of that, I no longer trust them.

The article refers to bulbs made by Feit. I bought an LED night light made by them which failed after 1 year.

Well I guess you've been lucky then. First I tried Lights of America bulbs, all of which died in my upside-down kitchen lights due to heat. Then I went back to incandescents. Then I found Philips bulbs in Walmart that I decided to try because they are a known-good brand. Well they did last longer, but it didn't take long for them to start flickering when lit and then die completely. I opened them up, and all the caps were leaking fluid - a sure sign of overheating from being placed upside-down. So I'm back to the incandescents.

It seems the ONLY fixture where CFLs will work for me is a well-ventilated lampshade-type lamp. They won't work in upside-down fixtures, high-humidity areas like my bathroom, or outside in the cold porch light (they don't die; they just refuse to ignite).

If you think I'm lying (or that my problems are unique), then take a look at google: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=problems+with+CFLs ----- As for the "mythical half-power incandescents" you could have looked that up on wikipedia instead of calling bullshit. Or you could google it. Or you could read this article: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/ge/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070223005120

Here's another technique that reduces incandescent power to 70% (i.e. a 42 watt Edison bulb can produce the same light as a 60) - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/06/business/energy-environment/06bulbs.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Rupert loves his Fox News and has plenty of assets to support this no matter what happens.

Fox News needs no such support, for it is gaining viewership and turning profit — unlike the other outfits, which have exposed themselves as liars last year.

Sesame Street is better WITHOUT McDonald's commercials in my humble opinion.

I don't appreciate NPR's constant begging for donations "from listeners like you" any more, than I like commercials.

But letting the government run TV or radio (and thus free us from all solicitations) is gravely dangerous and may lead to totalitarianism within a generation. After a short thaw, for example, Putin's Russia has retaken control of all TV stations — it is not a pleasant place. Similarly, Chavez will soon eliminate the last dissenting TV channel. Do you, seriously, want an "official" government channel to be controlled by the Executive?

Capitalism is great, but we needn't prostrate ourselves to it. Nor should we have blind allegiance to it.

For you, evidently, Capitalism exists to provide us with great things (and be discarded, if it fails — or appears to). In fact, its existence derives from Human Rights — those, with which we are endowed by our creator. It is my right to bake pizza, write software, issue stock and buy it. The society is not suposed to allow me to do it merely for fear of not having pizza — it must allow me to bake it, because it is my right as a free man to do so, or anything I please (which is not actively harming others).

Sadly, this view is getting eroded over the years, and we are worse off because of it. But that's why the US is Capitalist to begin with — it is not written anywhere in the Constitution, that we must be such, we just are. China, for a counter-example, became Capitalist deliberately, because they've decided (correctly), that it is the most efficient way of running an economy...

yet a smart government that is investing in our future is my dream.

The better term is "utopia". Whether it is nice or not, the Government, however smart, is simply not allowed by the Constitution to "invest in our future". There is a fairly limited number of things they are allowed to do, while all other power are left to States and the individuals. If you like the idea so much, push for a Constitutional Amendment — until then, you — and your President — are "shredding the Constitution"...

Apple and Amazon have finally moved to music download services free of copy protection

I'm sorry, I was under the impression that Amazon's music service has always been DRM free. Could you please point me to a source showing that their service was ever under DRM? Did they offer a music service before Amazon MP3?

I don't know why everyone got excited when Apple went DRM-free, I've been buying DRM free MP3 singles from Amazon for over a year.

I don't think Microsoft is alone in their cling-to-DRM mentality. I think this will bomb but does it really even matter? It's just going to be another Zune/XBox bomb all over again offset by their other divisions so it's here to stay whether the market & investors say it should be or not. Oh well, if they want to lose money, let 'em. It does take more work for me to put my MP3s on my phone, maybe joe consumer won't put up with that and live with the DRM? We'll see after an upgrade though ...

(hands free = no driving problems)

Wrong.

Most of the time when I hear crap like "By most estimates..." with out any sign of a source to back it up, I attribute the remainder of the sentence the same amount of credence as the sound of my coworker's ass cheaks flapping together after an especially hanious fart.

Maybe he's right, but with out anything to back up his opinion, he just looks like some shill who is lobying for some organization with a strong financial incentive for not seeing net nuetrality laws and being allowed to run deep packet inspection.

The best I can find is Ellacoya's June 2007 report that put P2P at 37% of total bandwidth. http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070618005912&newsLang=en

A wee bit shy of the 50% the author is claiming.

Another obvious way to see what the impact is would be to look at a tool like http://www.internettrafficreport.com/30day.htm to see if the change to UDP and expected rise in bandwidth actually effects TCP communication. If it is as gloom and doom as the author makes it out to be, we should see a steady rise in lost packets as the P2P users upgrade to the new UDP defaulting version.

This report from March 2008 http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,342988,00.html sites Arbor Networks (they bought out Ellacoya in early 2008) claims P2P traffic represents about a third of internet traffic.

I'm all for making a plan to be able to react if a problem is detected. But lets not get all worked up over someone's questionable theories.

-Rick

The ComputerWorld article says "and are available for resellers today". The Samsung press release says, "announced today that it has begun mass producing". I couldn't find them in any of the usual places.

The Samsung website is particularly un-useful and hard to navigate, though I suppose it's appropriate that they require you to use Flash for this one.

oh i dunno, maybe honesty has something to do with it? not everyone is obsessed with advertising/marketing double-speak.

besides, why intentionally take 10% off of your advertised battery capacity? i think most consumers would be able to do the math and see that the competitor's 10 min. 90% charge is exactly the same as your 10 min. 100% charge--except the competitor's battery has 111% the capacity of your battery. that could be an extra 2 hrs. of music or games.

on a somewhat related note, a came across an interesting article while researching Li-ion batteries on wikipedia. apparently some Li-ion batteries are capable of being _fully_ charged in 10 minutes. so maybe this isn't as big of a breakthrough as it initially seemed?

Why not look at the high-res version and see that there are at least 3 people riding on it? His weight won't change anything. He's certainly there to monitor the move, to make sure it doesn't shift or something.

Replying to myself since I found a nice link with high-resolution versions of the 125,000 gallon tank photo, which make it much clearer that it's NOT a photoshop job.

I just saw this link today, and it looks like it might fit the bill. The range is up to 5 mi, and it's powered via the ethernet cable. The downside is the $318 price tag.

What you need is the "HD26200" from "HD Communications". It costs US$318, an extends your WiFi range for up to 5 Miles.

The only requirement is that you have line-of-sight between the two end-points. If you do, all you do is connect on of these boxes on your friend's end, and then another in your home, and you're set.

See this link for details: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080521005391&newsLang=en

If you've tried every antenna and extender on the market today with subpar results, HD Communications is apt to become your new best friend. The outfit has just revealed its HD26200, a "complete outdoor wireless network bridge in the 802.11b/g unlicensed 2.4GHz band that sells for only $318." Said device bridges wireless internet between two locales up to 5 miles apart without requiring a single RF cable, being that both Ubiquiti network radios are powered over Ethernet. If you're looking for the catch, the bridge does require a direct line of sight between the two locations, but the firm is reportedly looking to expand its non-line of sight family by the summer's end.

I was curious too, so I looked on Google Finance. Most of their visible activity does seem to be dedicated to blogging and thwarting Microsoft, pretty much like IBM -- big iron and enterprisey stuff. But actually, the financial headlines do a much better job than sun.com at explaining how they make money. Here's a press release from today:
Sun Expands Sun Streaming System to Deliver Industry's Most Scalable and Flexible Video Delivery Over IP Platform

This was released today. The releases on this and OMS don't mention each other by name, but I think it's pretty clear what they're planning to do with the finished media stack.

I haven't read this fully.
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/ge/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070223005120&newsLang=en&ndmConfigId=1001109&vnsId=681

Also ...
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-hei-bulb.htm

Sigh. Your point does not remain valid. You argued that prior art was trivial because Nakamura invented the processs before her. You also argued that five minutes on wikipedia would back this up. I have not provided prior art, I provided a link that refutes your prior art claim.

I can't find the new story that claimed that the 1990 patent was one in the case - but other than the claim in the article (which isn't backed up anywhere on the web) there is no evidence that the suit is based on the 1993 patent. What is more likely is that the suit is based on both, as this is how she got a settlement in the last round of suits. The point being that she has not patented blue lasers, nor has she claimed that she has. As the other reply notes she has patented the manufacturing process that would be needed to produce the lasers cheaply enough for consumer electronics.

It is natural to assume that everyone with a patent is a troll after most of the crappy stories that make to slashdot. But in this case we have a scientist who did some commercially valuable work. Then patented it. Then notified the infringing companies straight away when they started to use it (back in 1995), and who has fought through the courts to stop these large corporations from walking all over her.

This is how the patent system should work, and your original claim that the FTC should have dismissed the patent after five minutes on wikipedia is as asinine as ever.

Given the context of the situation and what happened, I think the OP meant Dynadot (the US DNS outfit), not Wikileaks, as the injunction was effectively against Dynadot, not Wikileaks.

Dynadot did issue a statement: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20080220005582/en

• The Huffington Post
• Fortune (CNN/Money)
• An auction of such patents
• Software patents allowed in the UK (Previously covered on Slashdot

Paul is leading in Alaska

"Congressman Paul is also the highest-polling Republican presidential candidate in Alaska. In December's KTUU presidential preference poll, Ron Paul placed first with 29 percent of the vote. "

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080128006385&newsLang=en

Rumor has it he basically won in Louisiana, so everyone else put their votes together and claimed first.

"The results are still unconfirmed but it looks like Ron Paul has scored at least 46 of 95 alternates selected. ... The delegates and alternates chosen yesterday will pick 24 of the National Convention delegates are and are slated to pick 20 more delegates later. ... The only way that can change is if some candidate gets a majority of the primary vote on Feb. 9th- an unlikely prospect at this point. It would seem that the Huck, Romney, Benito, McCain, and Thompson campaigns have pooled together to form the Pro-Life/Pro-Family ticket in order to defeat Ron Paul."

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080126005008&newsLang=en

"The initial failure of the Louisiana GOP to properly determine who was and wasn't eligible to vote threw this entire process into disarray," said Ron Paul campaign manager Lew Moore. "However, voter eligibility was just one of many irregularities with the caucus process. We are filing this contest to ensure that we can challenge the results if it appears that delegates were improperly selected."

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080126005008&newsLang=en

and this is on top of being the #1 GOP fund raiser in the fourth quarter.

and winning just about every phone and online poll there is.

Paul is leading in Alaska

"Congressman Paul is also the highest-polling Republican presidential candidate in Alaska. In December's KTUU presidential preference poll, Ron Paul placed first with 29 percent of the vote. "

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080128006385&newsLang=en

Rumor has it he basically won in Louisiana, so everyone else put their votes together and claimed first.

"The results are still unconfirmed but it looks like Ron Paul has scored at least 46 of 95 alternates selected. ... The delegates and alternates chosen yesterday will pick 24 of the National Convention delegates are and are slated to pick 20 more delegates later. ... The only way that can change is if some candidate gets a majority of the primary vote on Feb. 9th- an unlikely prospect at this point. It would seem that the Huck, Romney, Benito, McCain, and Thompson campaigns have pooled together to form the Pro-Life/Pro-Family ticket in order to defeat Ron Paul."

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080126005008&newsLang=en

"The initial failure of the Louisiana GOP to properly determine who was and wasn't eligible to vote threw this entire process into disarray," said Ron Paul campaign manager Lew Moore. "However, voter eligibility was just one of many irregularities with the caucus process. We are filing this contest to ensure that we can challenge the results if it appears that delegates were improperly selected."

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080126005008&newsLang=en

and this is on top of being the #1 GOP fund raiser in the fourth quarter.

and winning just about every phone and online poll there is.

Paul is leading in Alaska

"Congressman Paul is also the highest-polling Republican presidential candidate in Alaska. In December's KTUU presidential preference poll, Ron Paul placed first with 29 percent of the vote. "

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080128006385&newsLang=en

Rumor has it he basically won in Louisiana, so everyone else put their votes together and claimed first.

"The results are still unconfirmed but it looks like Ron Paul has scored at least 46 of 95 alternates selected. ... The delegates and alternates chosen yesterday will pick 24 of the National Convention delegates are and are slated to pick 20 more delegates later. ... The only way that can change is if some candidate gets a majority of the primary vote on Feb. 9th- an unlikely prospect at this point. It would seem that the Huck, Romney, Benito, McCain, and Thompson campaigns have pooled together to form the Pro-Life/Pro-Family ticket in order to defeat Ron Paul."

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080126005008&newsLang=en

"The initial failure of the Louisiana GOP to properly determine who was and wasn't eligible to vote threw this entire process into disarray," said Ron Paul campaign manager Lew Moore. "However, voter eligibility was just one of many irregularities with the caucus process. We are filing this contest to ensure that we can challenge the results if it appears that delegates were improperly selected."

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080126005008&newsLang=en

and this is on top of being the #1 GOP fund raiser in the fourth quarter.

and winning just about every phone and online poll there is.

...By creating a metrics-based standard, it is open to be used to measure innovation.

Creating a "standard" through the banning of a technology restricts innovation. And GE's announcement of high efficiency incandescent bulbs shows how short-sighted and misdirected implementation-based standards are.

This is very similar to how FLOSS software has been excluded from many governments and other organizations: the "standard" that is applied is one defined by a particular implementation, such as "must comply with Software X from Big Vendor Y", not a measurable metric or agreed-on open standard. With such fuzzy, incomplete or completely opaque "standards" -- often obfuscated by interested parties -- compliance is not possible and the standard itself is an impossible moving target...

The cost of solar and wind have been going down fast for three reasons:
- improved technology (larger wind turbines, better generators, new solar cell types)
- more efficient production techniques (production of larger solar panels see: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/appliedmaterials/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&newsId=20060905005378&ndmHsc=v2*A1167656400000*B1178676791000*C4102491599000*DgroupByDate*J2*N1002992&newsLang=en&beanID=547561197&viewID=news_view) or check out eSolar's modular approach to thermal solar
- economies of scale as production volumes increase

Government subsidies have reduced the cost to consumers in certain markets such as Germany and California, but are not the primary driver of the price decreases we have seen in these two technologies over the last three decades. Currently, demand is so high for solar electric, that suppliers cannot keep up and prices are inflated and will remain so until more of the planned and in-progress photovoltaic production plants come on line. The solar industry is looking to grow beyond their current marked of subsidized installations and specialty installations (off grid, mobile power, etc). Solarbuzz.com states: "As a guide, the industry is looking to drive module prices down to $1.50 - $2.00/Watt over the next decade, if it is to make large inroads in to the grid tied electricity market, without subsidy." The price is currently $4-5/Watt range. In 1982 it was $27/Watt. The goal is aggressive, given that current price is affected by the supply constraint and the amount of investment in alternative power that is occurring, we may be pleasantly surprised.

The purpose of these subsidies to to grow the industry to the point where the economies of scale are large enough and the technologies are improved enough that the subsidies become unnecessary to the continued growth of the market. We are not at that point yet, but the cost reductions in both solar and wind have been dramatic. Currently industrial solar installation cost $0.21/KWh and produce their peak power at times of peak demand, increasing the value of their power. (Figures from solarbuzz.com . Distribution charge, typically $0.05/KWh, might not be included here). The US national average electric rate is $0.095/KWh. Tuscon Electric Charge residential customers with time of use meters $0.184/KWh in the daytime in summer and $0.126/KWh in the winter peak power times. These prices are getting pretty close to where unsubsidized solar costs currently are. Further increases in fossil fuel prices and improvements in solar will help to close this gap.

There is another justification for subsidies as well. If we were to take an economist's perspective on this issue, we might see that there are certain "externalities" in traditional energy production. An externality is a cost that is not reflected in the price of a product. For instance, the price of electricity from coal does not include the cost of treating people for asthma caused by coal plant emissions. While few would propose charging power companies a surcharge for their health effects, since this calculation would be extremely difficult to get right and politically impossible to implement, this lack of a surcharge can be seen as individuals and governments subsidizing the cost of coal power generation through their health care expenditures as well as through damage to their citizen's health. The government will actually save some money in health care costs by subsidizing alternative energy which would replace dirty coal plants and might see an interest in protecting the health of its citizens. Clearly certain subsidies would have more impact in reducing external costs than others. Some people might want to include other externalities such as

For people in the business, I'm sure this particular machine is not news, because they are aware of the general trend and this doesn't indicate a big bump or sudden change in the trend.

But my impression of the original comment was that it was made by someone who wasn't even aware of the importance of the general trend of multislice CT machines towards faster, better, and lower-radiation imaging, and thought vaguely that the whole trend was merely towards a more expensive and flashier way to diagnose knee problems in NFL running backs.

I do have the ATI card, and I had the same problem with Feisty Fawn. However, with a Google search, I found a work around. The problem's gone in Gutsy Gibbon. However, I agree... it's a PITA to install any linux distro when the machines are all different, and the supplier doesn't even care about BIOS bugs unless they effect Windows. On the other hand, things are changing. Dell has inspired ATI to properly support their linux driver, and they actually heard their linux users when they fixed their Dimension E521 BIOS back in January. The new relationship between Dell and Ubuntu seems to be slowly bringing industry support to a reasonable level. I'm actually pushing Dell for clients who want good Linux support on desktops (HP for servers).

Just because your own networking site (friends.ac) hasn't been written about doesn't mean that sites which are written about paid for their coverage (I have put as much sweat and blood into Yuniti as you have into yours). And let me assure you, there was no paid journalism here - I contacted the SNL author telling them about our latest feature, ValidateID, which allows user to prove that they are who they say they are (press release here http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070821005651&newsLang=en). She was very interested in the subject, and figured it was newsworthy. Perhaps you should read the article and research the subject before making presumptions. Secondly, how do you think MySpace and Friendster get so much coverage? You don't think they have their PR people constantly trying to get stories published? If you really think it's so easy to just "pay off journalism", I suggest you to try it. I assure you that you'll find journalists and authors have a lot more ethics than you presume they do.

Two key differences are that this is a collaboration of the Dojo Offline project and Google (which grew out of dojo.storage which is based around flash storage) and is using a relational DB (SQLite) as opposed to a flat-file data store.

It's also Open Source and they have support from Adobe, Mozilla and Opera (as mentioned in the Press Release).

"Fred Anderson has a long-standing impeccable reputation and is widely regarded as one of the most ethical CFO's in the nation whose extraordinary contributions to Apple's success during his eight-year tenure are unquestioned. He is accurately recognized by many current and former Apple employees and throughout the industry as a man of exceptional ability, achievement and integrity. "With respect to today's announced settlement by the SEC of its complaint against him, Fred is pleased to put this matter behind him. "In the settlement Fred makes no admission or denial of the claims by the SEC. The terms of the settlement permit Fred to continue to act as an officer or director of public companies and do not bar him from practicing before the SEC. The claims against him also do not include fraud under the two antifraud provisions of the securities laws requiring proof of knowing misconduct. "With respect to the Executive Team grant that is the subject of the complaint against him: * Fred was told by Steve Jobs in late January 2001 that Mr. Jobs had the agreement of the Board of Directors for the Executive Team grant on January 2, 2001. At the time Mr. Jobs provided Fred this assurance, Fred cautioned Mr. Jobs that the Executive Team grant would have to be priced based on the date of the actual Board agreement or there could be an accounting charge. He further advised Mr. Jobs that the Board would have to confirm its prior approval in a legally satisfactory method. He was told by Mr. Jobs that the Board had given its prior approval and the Board would verify it. Fred relied on these statements by Mr. Jobs and from them concluded the grant was being properly handled. * Fred understood that, under Apple's stock option plan and accounting rules at the time, a grant date could be moved to a later date than the date of the actual grant decision and that there would be no compensation expense as long as the stock price on the new date was higher than the price on the original date. Apple's 1998 Executive Officer Stock Option Plan provided in Section 16 that 'The date of grant of an Option...shall be, for all purposes, the date on which the Administrator (in this case the Board) makes the determination granting such Option...or such later date as is determined by the Administrator '. Mr. Anderson understood that the date of grant was to be moved forward pursuant to this provision from January 2 to January 17 to avoid any appearance of impropriety that might arise from a grant awarded just prior to the stock price rise that resulted from the 2001 MacWorld exhibition and Mr. Job's keynote speech at the exhibition on January 9. He further understood that the January 17 date was selected by Mr. Jobs and Ms. Nancy Heinen, the former General Counsel, and that the stock price on January 17 was higher than the price on January 2. * Finally, Mr. Anderson understood that the Board of Directors, which consisted of sophisticated corporate executives of national stature, including the former Chief Financial Officer of IBM, verified the January 17 date by signing in early February 2001 a Unanimous Written Consent (UWC) with an effective date of January 17. It now appears the Board may not have given the necessary prior approval to the grants, contrary to what Mr. Anderson understood from Mr. Jobs and from the Board's signing of the UWC with an effective date of January 17. "Mr. Anderson has agreed to pay disgorgement, the difference in the value of the stock between the January 17 date and the date in early February when the UWC was signed by the Board. "With respect to the October 2001 grant to Mr. Jobs that is also the subject of the complaint, Fred had virtually no involve

This article is yet another "we have a new chemistry and it's gonna be really cheap real soon now" article. Here's the real deal in solar power.

Yesterday, Mark Pinto from Applied Materials gave a talk in EE380 at Stanford on where they're going. Applied Materials is the biggest maker of semiconductor fab equipment, and they've branched out into making fab equipment for display panels and then solar cells.

To get costs down for big flat panel displays is a manufacturing technology problem. Applied Materials went at it in typical semiconductor-fab fashion - scaling up the fab size. They're now making panels of about 5 square meters in area. These are then cut up into 50-inch TV sets.

Once they got that working, they adapted the huge machinery involved to making solar panels. This turned out to work quite well. Since they're adapting a process that produces higher-quality product than a solar cell, they don't have significant quality problems. The solar-cell only makers tend to have spotty quality; he pointed out that with some solar panels, not all the cells are exactly the same color, which indicates trouble in the coating process.

With size and quality working, the next step is volume. They're about to build the first "40 megawatt fab", one that produces in a year enough solar panels to generate 40 megawatts. These are big panels, 2.2m x 2.6m. The price of the electricity produced should be just about even with peak-hour energy costs in Spain, where this is going. Energy payback (when you get more energy out than was required to make the panel) is about two years. That plant comes on line in 2008.

The next step is the "gigawatt fab", a scale-up of that plant. This is part of Applied Materials' "Solar Strategy". Their position is that the technology is here; it's just necessary to get it into volume production, real volume production. Which is what Applied Materials is good at.

Now we're talking about serious production volume. Three or four such plants could build enough solar cells to cover Southern California's air conditioning energy load in five years.

Meanwhile, they have investments in some other technologies, including a "roll to roll" flexible solar cell technology, and some exotic ideas like tinted glass windows that also generate power. But they don't need a breakthrough. The current technology is good enough to be profitable, so they can start making product and shipping it in volume, while research proceeds on lowering the cost further. Pinto pointed out that about half the cost of solar power is now installation, and that needs to move beyond "a guy with a pickup truck".

So that's what's really happening. Big machines in big factories built by big companies cranking out big solar panels in big volume. Which is how you solve big problems.

This article is yet another "we have a new chemistry and it's gonna be really cheap real soon now" article. Here's the real deal in solar power.

Yesterday, Mark Pinto from Applied Materials gave a talk in EE380 at Stanford on where they're going. Applied Materials is the biggest maker of semiconductor fab equipment, and they've branched out into making fab equipment for display panels and then solar cells.

To get costs down for big flat panel displays is a manufacturing technology problem. Applied Materials went at it in typical semiconductor-fab fashion - scaling up the fab size. They're now making panels of about 5 square meters in area. These are then cut up into 50-inch TV sets.

Once they got that working, they adapted the huge machinery involved to making solar panels. This turned out to work quite well. Since they're adapting a process that produces higher-quality product than a solar cell, they don't have significant quality problems. The solar-cell only makers tend to have spotty quality; he pointed out that with some solar panels, not all the cells are exactly the same color, which indicates trouble in the coating process.

With size and quality working, the next step is volume. They're about to build the first "40 megawatt fab", one that produces in a year enough solar panels to generate 40 megawatts. These are big panels, 2.2m x 2.6m. The price of the electricity produced should be just about even with peak-hour energy costs in Spain, where this is going. Energy payback (when you get more energy out than was required to make the panel) is about two years. That plant comes on line in 2008.

The next step is the "gigawatt fab", a scale-up of that plant. This is part of Applied Materials' "Solar Strategy". Their position is that the technology is here; it's just necessary to get it into volume production, real volume production. Which is what Applied Materials is good at.

Now we're talking about serious production volume. Three or four such plants could build enough solar cells to cover Southern California's air conditioning energy load in five years.

Meanwhile, they have investments in some other technologies, including a "roll to roll" flexible solar cell technology, and some exotic ideas like tinted glass windows that also generate power. But they don't need a breakthrough. The current technology is good enough to be profitable, so they can start making product and shipping it in volume, while research proceeds on lowering the cost further. Pinto pointed out that about half the cost of solar power is now installation, and that needs to move beyond "a guy with a pickup truck".

So that's what's really happening. Big machines in big factories built by big companies cranking out big solar panels in big volume. Which is how you solve big problems.

Is AppleTV remote really intuitive? Can you use it on any video website (e.g., YouTube) other than iTune? If you see a hyperlink on a TV commercial, do you have time to move the cursor on top of that hyperlink? Regrettably, I am promoting a new TV remote that functions like a laser pointer. http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/in dex.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070306006245& newsLang=en

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/in dex.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070306006245& newsLang=en

Well, this is cool, but what does it mean? A startup in San Diego (Luxtera) is already sampling both monolithic multi channel xfp modules made entirely from silicon (minus the laser which is indium phosphate), and also makes a silicon dwdm system as well. There have been a couple of news releases lately.

News about DWDM
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/in dex.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20061017005207& newsLang=en

Darpa Grant Continues
http://www.convergedigest.com/DWDM/DWDMarticle.asp ?ID=19886

Viisage Technology, Inc. (VSIG) headquarted in Billerica, MA won the bid to be the sole provider of the US passport RFID chips, in case anyone was interested.

"We are pleased with our second quarter results especially with respect to our bookings, which totaled $50 million during the quarter. Our healthy bookings rate reflects robust growth in our sole source US passport program and increases in our drivers' license business," said Robert V. LaPenta, Chairman of the Board of Viisage

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/in dex.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060803005845& newsLang=en

That fact doesn't appear to have done much for their stock price so far though:

http://www.google.com/finance?q=VISG