Archive for August, 2011

UCLA Develops Stretchable OLED Display

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

cylonlover writes "While there have been some intriguing developments recently in the field of stretchable electronics and flexible OLED displays, one thing we haven't heard much about is stretchable displays. So is it possible to make a screened device in which every part of it could be stretched. The answer ...

Record-Low Error Rate For Qubit Processor

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

An anonymous reader writes "Thanks to advances in experimental design, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have achieved a record-low probability of error in quantum information processing with a single quantum bit (qubit) — the first published error rate small enough to meet theoretical requirements for building ...

Book Review: CoffeeScript: Accelerated JavaScript Development

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

Michael J. Ross writes "For decades, programmers have written computer code in one language, and then programmatically translated that code into another, lower-level form (typically machine code that can be run directly by a microprocessor, or some sort of bytecode that can be interpreted by a virtual machine). For instance, ...

Russia Close To Findings On Soyuz and Proton

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

First time accepted submitter neBelcnU writes "It's still early, but there are findings for the recent losses of a Proton and Soyuz rockets. There was a procedural error in the Proton's flight planning, and the 3rd stage gas-generator is the center of attention in the Soyuz. From the article: 'The ...

Will Climate Engineering Ever Go Prime Time?

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

coondoggie writes "You may or may not be old enough to remember the TV commercial for margarine that had the tag line: 'It's not nice to fool Mother Nature.' But that commercial came to mind as I was reading a report out recently that looked at the viability of large ...

Chinese Want To Capture an Asteroid

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

geekmansworld writes "The Chinese want to capture an asteroid into earth's orbit and mine it. From the article: 'At first glance, nudging an asteroid closer to Earth seems like one of those "what could possible go wrong" scenarios that we generally try and avoid, and for good reason: large asteroid ...

Apple’s Chinese Suppliers Accused of Causing Significant Environmental Damage

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

itwbennett writes "Environmental watchdog groups in China on Wednesday released a report detailing a 5-month investigation on electronic suppliers that they believe are used by Apple. According to the report, accessory manufacturer Kaedar Electronics and printed circuit board maker Unimicron have allegedly been discharging waste water and harmful gas from ...

Justice Dept. Files Antitrust Complaint Against AT&T and T-Mobile Merger

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

Hitting the front page for the first time, AngryDeuce writes with a piece of exciting news hot off the news wire. From the article: "The Justice Department is blocking AT&T's $39 billion deal to buy T-Mobile USA, saying the acquisition of the No. 4 wireless carrier in the country by ...

Sixteen Years Later: GNU Still Needs An Extension Language

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

Fresh from the 2011 GNU Hackers Meeting, Andy Wingo has written a long piece on the status of Guile Scheme, the woefully underutilized official user extension language of GNU. Wingo argues that Guile is the best choice for extension in GNU given the ability of Scheme to adapt to change ...

Panda Poo Yields Key To Cheaper Biofuels

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

An anonymous reader writes "A new study unveiled at the American Chemical Society points to panda poop as a source of remarkably efficient enzyme-producing bacteria that are able to break down plant materials for cheaper and more efficient biofuel production. Inspired by the giant panda's voracious appetite for bamboo, scientists ...