First time accepted submitter Texaskilt writes "I am looking to put together a mobile mesh network for my volunteer fire department and would like some recommendations from the Slashdot crowd. Ideally, the network would consist of cheap wireless routers (Linksys WRT-type) mounted on each vehicle. From there, tablets or other wireless devices could connect to the router. When the vehicles are in the station, the routers would auto-connect to the WiFi network to receive calls for service and other updates. When out on a call, the router would form an ad-hoc network with other vehicles on the scene. If a vehicle came into range of an Internet 'hotspot,' it would notify other vehicles and become a gateway for the rest of the 'ad-hoc' networked vehicles. I've looked at Freifunk for this, but would like some other options. Recommendations please?"
After its big win against Samsung, Apple named 8 Samsung products it wanted an injunction to ban from sale in the U.S. Apple wasn't contect ; USA Today reports on the state of the expanded list: "The new list of 21 products includes Samsung's flagship smartphone Galaxy S III as well as the Galaxy Note, another popular Android phone. If the court finds those devices are infringing Apple's patents and irreparably harming the U.S. company, it could temporarily halt sales in the U.S. market even before the trial begin."
reebmmm writes "In a much anticipated patent law case, an en banc panel of the Federal Circuit overturned existing law and came out in favor a new rule for indirect infringement: you can still be liable for infringing even if no single person does all the infringement. This case consolidated two different cases involving internet patents. In McKesson v. Epic, a lower court found that Epic did not infringe a patent about a patient portal because one of the steps was performed by the patient accessing the portal. In Akamai v. Limelight, the lower court found that Limelight did not infringe because its customers, not the company itself, tagged content. This is likely headed for the Supreme Court."
An anonymous reader writes "Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley found that promiscuous mice have significantly stronger immune systems than monogamous mice, suggesting that promiscuous mice may have developed more robust immunity to protect them against the disease-causing bacteria they are exposed to from mating with multiple partners."
quax writes "In school you probably learned that the decay rate of radioactive matter is solely determined by the halftime specific to the element. There is no environmental factor that can somehow tweak this process. At least there shouldn't be. Now a second study confirmed previous findings that the decay rate of some elements seems to be under the subtle and mysterious influence of the sun. As of now there is no theoretical explanation for this strange effect buried in the decay rate data."
First time accepted submitter daltec writes "The $250,000 American Helicopter Society Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition prize, unclaimed since 1980, is now within Gamera II's reach. On Thursday, the University of Maryland's Clark School of Engineering team unofficially satisfied two of the three American Helicopter Society Sikorsky Prize requirements. The giant craft flew for 65 seconds, stayed within a 10 square meter area and hovered at two feet of altitude. New unofficial U.S. and world flight duration records were also set. The team expects to make their next attempt Saturday." That's today!
puddingebola writes "Apps released by both the Obama and Romney campaigns have been found to have 'privacy issues.' From the article: "Experts at GFI Software looked at the Android versions of both apps, discovering both to be surprisingly invasive. Obama for America and Mitt's VP request permissions, access to services and data and capabilities beyond their core mandate.""
sciencehabit writes "Before you down that pint, check the shape of your glass—you might be drinking more beer than you realize. According to a new study of British beer drinkers, an optical illusion caused by the shape of a curved glass can dramatically increase the speed at which we swill. The researchers recruited 160 Brits, and asked them to watch a nature documentary while they drank beer from straight or curved glasses. The group drinking a full glass of lager out of curved flute glasses drank significantly faster than the other group--possibly because the curved glasses impaired their ability to pace themselves while drinking."
An anonymous reader writes "AgigaTech appears to be the first company to produce a non-volatile SDRAM DIMM — an SDRAM memory module that retains its contents even without power supply. The modules combine DDR2/3 SDRAM with NAND Flash as well as a data transfer controller and an ultracapacitor-based power source to support a data transfer from the SDRAM to Flash and vice versa. If this memory makes it into production, this is something that I instantly will want and will stand in line for."
First the spec, and now the hardware: MrSeb writes "After five years of trying to convince us that 3D TVs are the future, it seems TV makers are finally ready to move on — to 4K UHDTV. At the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, Sony, Toshiba, and LG are all showing off 84-inch 4K (3840×2160) TVs. These aren't just vaporware, either: LG's TV is on sale now in Korea (and later this month in the US), Sony's is due later this year, and Toshiba will follow in the new year. Be warned, though: all three will cost more than $20,000 when they go on sale in the US — oh, and there's still no 4K Blu-ray spec, and no such thing as 4K broadcast TV. In other display-related news, Panasonic is showing off a humongous 145-inch 8K (7680x4320) plasma TV, and some cute 20-inch 4K displays — but unfortunately neither are likely to find their way to your living room or office in the near future."
judgecorp writes "Although Adobe wants to can mobile Flash, the Android Flash app has returned to the Google Play store in the UK after disappearing earlier this month. It has come back because of pressure from large organisations, in particular the BBC, whose popular iPlayer video on demand service uses Flash. The Android app is back, apparently for as long as it takes the BBC to move to HTML5."
wiredmikey writes "It seems Russia's defense ministry doesn't trust Google's tablet computers: a new Android device presented to a top Russian government official boasts encryption and works with software and a global positioning system made in Russia, the AFP reports. The OS has all the functional capabilities of an Android operating system but none of its hidden features that send users' private data to Google, addressing concerns that data stored by Google could slip into the hands of the US government and expose some of their most secret and sensitive communications. Two versions of the tablet will supposedly be made — one for consumers and one for defense needs."
Nerval's Lobster writes "Ever wanted to mine your own Facebook data? Wolfram Alpha is offering you the chance. Wolfram Alpha bills itself as a 'computational knowledge engine.' In contrast to other search engines such as Google and Bing, which return pages of blue hyperlinks in response to queries, Wolfram Alpha offers up objective data: type in the name of a person, for example, and you might receive their dates of birth and death, a timeline, and a graph of Wikipedia page hits. Now Wolfram Alpha's offering a new feature that can spit back years of your personal Facebook data sliced, diced, visualized and analyzed."
The Democrats released two new web-friendly apps to help citizens register to vote - including one that's free for anyone to modify as they like -- including Republicans.
Composer Dave Porter has done the score for every episode of and he's still hooked. On a show that wavers so much between comedy, drama, suspense, and mild insanity, that gives Porter a lot to work with ? and a huge challenge. In advance of the show's mid-season finale, Wired asked Porter how he managed to score one of the most complicated shows on television. What we got was an earful (metaphorically-speaking) on what vintage synthesizers make the best soundtracks, which instrument is used for the Walt's "Heisenberg" hat, and exactly how he scored what will (presumably) be the show's pre-break cliffhanger.
Google's daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills.
Tonight's blue moon will dazzle viewers all over the world. But for a truly unique experience, watch this live Slooh Space Camera show to get incredible telescopic close-ups of the lunar surface and a special tribute to Neil Armstrong starting at 3 p.m. PDT/6 p.m. EDT.
The eight Samsung smartphones Apple wants a U.S. judge to ban after winning its patent case might symbolize all that Steve Jobs hated about the Android competition. But according to a new report, the iPhone by one measure has already trounced the allegedly infringing handsets, ban or no ban.
Zoom in on every pebble and stone around the Curiosity rover in this amazing high-resolution interactive panorama taken on Mars.
Wired Business walks through a Uniqlo pop-up store while interviewing the company's COO Yasunobu Kyogoku.
Researchers from China's Zhejiang University have reportedly developed a system to control quadcopter drones using mind-reading technology.
You want to know a fast way to cool down a computer? Dunk it in a big tank of mineral oil. That's a technique that Intel has been testing out over the past year, running servers in little oil-filled boxes built by an Austin, Texas, company called Green Revolution Cooling.
Disney researchers and designers, housed across the world, are releasing commercial projects and academic papers at a pace that would make the Seven Dwarves proud.
Everyone from John Legend to men and women in uniform have covered Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" ? it's a really good song, count the Grammys ? but that didn't stop Jake Shimabukuro from picking up his ukulele and giving it a whirl. Wired is premiering the song here.
A federal appeals court is dealing a death blow to an upstart service that streams broadcast television over the internet, ruling that ivi Inc. is not a cable system and therefore is not protected by the Copyright Act.
Facebook is cracking down on fake "likes" associated with business pages.
Twitter's latest tweaks to its ad business ? interest-based targeting and lower bid prices ? could help it pull ahead of Facebook in its battle over advertising dollars flowing toward social networks, analysts say.
Watch Peruvian surfer Cristobal de Col carve one of the world's longest waves a record-setting 34 times in a single run.
A North Carolina man is facing first-degree murder charges after using a GPS tracker to follow his estranged wife to the home of a man he then shot.
Instapaper developer Marco Arment found signs that suggest two new iPad 2 models have been accessing his app -- and it would make sense if they were in fact the rumored 7.85-inch iPad mini.
With the Amazon Kindle just around the corner, purported photos of the yet-to-be-announced devices have emerged on the Internet. The Kindle Fire makes an appearance. While a Kindle Touch finally gets in on the rumor-mongering action.
If you're a U.S. worker, there's a 10 percent chance that you work from home at least once a week, and a 4.3 percent chance that you work from home most of the time. And if you're one of those working from home, you're likely a more productive worker, at least according to a study recently published by Stanford.
Add "controlling your bike" to the list of things the iPhone does now. The Wahoo Fitness KICKR Power Trainer is the world's first iPhone powered bike trainer, letting cyclists get a fulfilling, customized workout even during dreary weather days.
Today we do business the hard way, using phone calls and faxes and piles of papers on our desks, and we do it poorly. I'm hoping our personal clouds will enable us to do it easily and well.
Firefox 16 has entered the beta channel, bringing with it some cool new tools for web developers.
The media freaked out about China's crappy aircraft carrier and hyperventilated over the J-20 stealth fighter. But China's newest addition to its military is more subtle, and stylish. It's a 36,000-ton pleasureboat capable of disgorging thousands of troops and hundreds of vehicles held inside its belly.
In a stunning technical feat, an international team of scientists has sequenced the genome of an archaic Siberian girl 31 times over, using a new method that amplifies single strands of DNA. The sequencing is so complete that researchers have as sharp a picture of this ancient genome as they would of a living person's, revealing, for example that the girl had brown eyes, hair, and skin.
When rallying my friends to join the Read Comics in Public celebration, however, I heard a familiar response. "I've just never gotten into comics," they said. "It's not that I wouldn't, I just don't even know where to start." The good news for them, and anyone else here who would like to get into comics, is that I know exactly where to start.
It?s hard to recollect much about my first cat caf? besides the unmitigated pleasure of the whole experience. The place was called Cateriam, on the second floor of a nondescript building in Shimokitazawa, and it had the cozy feel of overpriced daycare, with lots of low stools and pillows, but also with branches chained to the ceiling, and plush beehive-shaped hidey-huts, and cats.
Tristan Spinski has been covering the Republican National Convention for his newly formed GRAIN collective along with co-founders Lexey Swall and Greg Kahn. This is his report of what it?s like to cover a huge national event with fierce competition from other media outlets.
For soldiers on the battlefield, a tomahawk is useful for breaking down barricaded doors. We find that it's also handy for discouraging people from stopping by to make small talk. This solid-steel chopper has a satisfying 44-ounce heft and a 3-inch spike so sharp that you should review the training DVD before trying to remove ...
Cat GIFs can only entertain for so long before they get old. Okay, after some exhaustive research, I've determined that the preceding statement is entirely untrue. Still there must be some reason we can make up that cat GIFs are imperfect. They require an internet connection. They're not .
The Zetas are arguably Mexico's most powerful, most vicious drug cartel. And they're about to get nastier: the new kingpin is a brutal assassin who favors cooking his enemies inside burning oil drums. In ways both subtle and not, the U.S. government is trying to defang the cartel. Here's what we know about this quiet, billion-dollar campaign.