Tag: science

Netflix Gives Data Center Tools To Fail

Nerval’s Lobster writes “Netflix has released Hystrix, a library designed for managing interactions between distributed systems, complete with ‘fallback’ options for when those systems inevitably fail. The code for Hystrix—which Netflix tested on its own systems—can be downloaded at Github, with documentation available here, in addition to a getting-started guide and operations examples, among others. Hystrix evolved out of Netflix’s need to manage an increasing rate of calls to its APIs, and resulted in (according to the company) a ‘dramatic improvement in uptime and resilience has been achieved through its use.’ The Netflix API receives more than 1 billion incoming calls per day, which translates into several billion outgoing calls (averaging a ratio of 1:6) to dozens of underlying systems, with peaks of over 100,000 dependency requests per second. That’s according to Netflix engineer Ben Christensen, who described the incredible loads on the company’s infrastructure in a February blog posting. The vast majority of those calls serve the discovery user interfaces (UIs) of the more than 800 different devices supported by Netflix.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Netflix Gives Data Center Tools To Fail

SpaceX founder unveils plan to send 80,000 people to Mars

Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of the private spaceflight company SpaceX, has announced an ambitious plan to colonize Mars by shuttling 80,000 pioneers to the Red Planet at a cost of $500,000 a trip. The first phase of the program, which is contingent on the development of reusable rocket that can take off and land vertically, would start off modestly with only a handful of explorers leaving Earth at a time. But in short order, the self-sustaining population could grow into something far greater. More »

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SpaceX founder unveils plan to send 80,000 people to Mars

How NASA might build its very first warp drive

A few months ago, physicist Harold White stunned the aeronautics world when he announced that he and his team at NASA had begun work on the development of a faster-than-light warp drive. His proposed design, an ingenious re-imagining of an Alcubierre Drive, may eventually result in an engine that can transport a spacecraft to the nearest star in a matter of weeks — and all without violating Einstein’s law of relativity. We contacted White at NASA and asked him to explain how this real life warp drive could actually work. More »

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How NASA might build its very first warp drive

That Facebook Copyright Notice Is Worthless

There’s a copyright notice people have been posting on Facebook over the past couple of days similar to privacy notice that made the rounds several months ago. Before you copy paste it on your own profile, stop. It’s bogus and unenforceable . More »

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That Facebook Copyright Notice Is Worthless

Researchers Find Megaupload Shutdown Hurt Box Office Revenues

An anonymous reader writes “We’ve heard this one before, over and over again: pirates are the biggest spenders. It therefore shouldn’t surprise too many people to learn that shutting down Megaupload earlier this year had a negative effect on box office revenues. The latest finding comes from a paper titled: ‘Piracy and Movie Revenues: Evidence from Megaupload.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Researchers Find Megaupload Shutdown Hurt Box Office Revenues

Hybrid 3D printer could fast-track cartilage implants

Most of the attention surrounding 3D printers in medicine has focused on patching up our outsides, whether it’s making skin to heal wounds or restoring the use of limbs . The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine has just detailed a technique that could go considerably deeper. By mixing natural gel put through an inkjet printer with thin and porous polymer threads coming from an electrospinner, researchers have generated constructs that could be ideal for cartilage implants: they encourage cell growth in and around an implant while remaining durable enough to survive real-world abuse. Early tests have been confined to the lab, but the institute pictures a day when doctors can scan a body part to produce an implant that’s a good match. If the method is ultimately refined for hospital use, patients could recover from joint injuries faster or more completely — and 3D printers could become that much more integral to health care. Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Via: Gizmag Source: Institute of Physics

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Hybrid 3D printer could fast-track cartilage implants

Competition to design a hydrophilic, self-filling water-bottle

A Slashdot post from Samzenpus rounds up links to a series of projects to make self-filling water-bottles inspired by the hydrophilic nodules on the Namib Desert Beetle. After a successful prototype, MIT has launched a competition to improve on the design. Water Bottle Fills Itself From the Air

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Competition to design a hydrophilic, self-filling water-bottle

“Anonymous” File-Sharing Darknet Ruled Illegal By German Court

An anonymous reader writes “A court in Hamburg, Germany, has granted an injunction against a user of the anonymous and encrypted file-sharing network RetroShare. RetroShare users exchange data through encrypted transfers and the network setup ensures that the true sender of the file is always obfuscated. The court, however, has now ruled that RetroShare users who act as an exit node are liable for the encrypted traffic that’s sent by others.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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“Anonymous” File-Sharing Darknet Ruled Illegal By German Court

Microsoft Just Messed Up and Gave Out a Free Windows 8 Activation Key

If you’ve been wanting to upgrade to Windows 8 but baulk at paying then, firstly, you’re a bad person but, secondly, now your opportunity’s here. Microsoft just screwed up and handed out a free activation key for the OS. More »

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Microsoft Just Messed Up and Gave Out a Free Windows 8 Activation Key