Lucas123 writes “The same Xerox lab that brought us Ethernet, the GUI and the mouse has demonstrated paper that can be reused after printed text automatically deletes itself from its surface in a day. Instead of trashing or recycling after one use, a single piece of paper can be reused up to 100 times. ‘The paper contains specially coded molecules that create a print after being exposed to ultraviolet light emitted from a thin bar in a printer. The ultraviolet bar itself is very small, so it can be used in mobile printers. The technology could also be useful for network printing.’”

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esocid writes “Researchers at HP Labs have solved a decades-old mystery by proving the existence of a fourth basic element in integrated circuits that could make it possible to develop computers that turn on and off like an electric light. The memristor — short for memory resistor — could make it possible to develop far more energy-efficient computing systems with memories that retain information even after the power is off, so there’s no wait for the system to boot up after turning the computer on. It may even be possible to create systems with some of the pattern-matching abilities of the human brain. Leon Chua, a distinguished faculty member at the University of California at Berkeley, initially theorized about and named the element in an academic paper published 37 years ago. Chua argued that the memristor was the fourth fundamental circuit element, along with the resistor, capacitor and inductor, and that it had properties that could not be duplicated by any combination of the other three elements.”

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Hugh Pickens writes “Nick Bostrom has an interesting interpretation on why the failure of the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) for the past half-century is good news and why the discovery of life on Mars could foretell our doom. Bostrom postulates a ‘Great Filter,’ which can be thought of as a probability barrier and consists of one or more evolutionary transitions or steps that must be traversed at great odds in order for an Earth-like planet to produce a civilization capable of exploring distant solar systems.”

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Several readers wrote to tell us about one of the next major projects to enter the Google-verse. We already have pretty views of the Earth and the Sky, the next target is apparently a 3D map of the oceans. “The tool — for now called Google Ocean, the sources say, though that name could change — is expected to be similar to other 3D online mapping applications. People will be able to see the underwater topography, called bathymetry; search for particular spots or attractions; and navigate through the digital environment by zooming and panning. (The tool, however, is not to be confused with the “Google Ocean” project by France-based Magic Instinct Software that uses Google Earth as a visualization tool for marine data.)”

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Interview and gameplay with Captain Sig Hansen

Sig, Edgar, and Norman Hansen, the Northwestern, Deadliest Catch. If these names and titles mean nothing to you then you're obviously living under a rock. Deadliest Catch is the number one non-fiction show on cable TV. The Northwestern is one of the featured boats on the show and the Hansen brothers operate her and head up the crew. Captain Sig Hansen, deck boss Edgar Hansen, and engineer Norman Hansen come from a family of fisherman, men who have braved the untold dangers and perils of the arctic waters of the Bering Sea, untold until now.

The Discovery Channel originally ran a ten episode pilot season of Deadliest Catch in 2005. The Northwestern was part of the inaugural season and has been a mainstay of the series ever since. The show takes place in the Bering Sea around the Aleutian Islands and the tiny fishing town of Dutch Harbor. While fishing of various species of fish and crab are a year round industry in Dutch Harbor, Deadliest Catch focuses primarily on the king crab and opilio crab seasons which take place during the brutal winter months and result in the most dangerous conditions for the ships and their crews. Sadly, it's not a rare occurrence to lose a crew member or an entire vessel to these frigid and often stormy seas.

We were fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to spend some one on one time with Sig aboard the Northwestern, and we had the opportunity to ask him some questions about the show, the soon to be released Xbox 360 & PC game, Deadliest Catch Alaskan Storm, and how it all came to be. He shared with us his thoughts on a lot of topics, and we'd like to share some of the question and answers with our readers in an effort to give them a better understanding of the man and the game.

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AlexGr notes an article by Jeff Gould where he says ” Sometimes I wonder whether Ubuntu is really an open source software company any more. Yes, yes, I realize Ubuntu is not a company at all but a free Linux distribution, GPL’d and open source by definition. But still, the Ubuntu distro is sponsored by a traditional for profit company. The answer that has recently emerged to this question is, “yes and no.” Yes, of course, because Ubuntu’s web site promises that the distro “will always be free of charge, including enterprise releases and security updates.” But Ubuntu the enterprise ecosystem — understood as the collection of desktops and servers running Ubuntu in a given organization — is not.”

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Stardock is pleased to announce the general availability of the second (and final) expansion pack to Galactic Civilizations II. The new expansion pack, Twilight of the Arnor, adds hundreds of new features, gives each civilization a unique technology tree, a unique set of planetary improvements, star base modules, ship parts, and more.

Moreover, with Twilight of the Arnor, Stardock went back and revamped the graphics for the game to bring them up to the state of the art. A new sound track has also been added along with updates to the computer AI. It also reintroduces the Terror Star, the ultimate weapon last seen in the original Galactic Civilizations as well as a new victory condition called Ascension. Online tournaments have also been added to allow people to compete at playing the same map and scenario and submit their scores to the GalCiv metaverse.

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Earlier today Sony Computer Entertainment America(SCEA) announced that due to the strengthening Canadian currency vs. the US dollar SCEA be changing the the prices of downloadable content for the Canadian Playstation Store.

“We are continually looking for ways to enhance the player experience on the PLAYSTATION®Network, and downloadable content through the PLAYSTATION Store is just one of our areas of focus,” said Grace Chen, Senior Manager for the PLAYSTATION Store. “We anticipate that this price adjustment will meet the expectations of our Canadian consumers and provide them with a better PLAYSTATION Network experience.”

Grace Chen also said the update to the prices should be done in time for tomorrows Playstation Store update.

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Tracy Mayor writes “Is a gig on an IT help desk really the career death it’s always assumed to be? Not always, this Computerworld writer found out, just don’t get comfy and stay too long. Added bonus: salary figures for various levels of help desk pros.”/i

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paleshadows writes “Pidgin, the premier multi-protocol instant messaging client, has been forked. This is the result of a heated, emotional, and very interesting debate over a controversial new feature: As of version 2.4, the ability to manually resize the text input area has been removed; instead, it automatically resizes depending on how much is typed. It turns out that this feature, along with the uncompromising unwillingness of the developers to provide an option to turn it off, annoys the bejesus of very many users. One comment made by a Professor that teaches “Collaboration in an Open Source World” argued that ‘It’s easy to see why open source developers could develop dogmas. […] The most dangerous dogma is the one exhibited here: the God feature. “One technological solution can meet every possible user-desired variation of a feature.” […] You [the developers] are ignoring the fan base with a dedication to your convictions that is alarmingly evident to even the most unobservant of followers, and as such, you are demonstrating that you no longer deserve to be in the position of servicing the needs of your user base.’” Does anyone besides me find this utterly ridiculous?

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