An Education Aggregator

For all of you who have jumped in on the open education of large universities, there is a site out there to help you manage all of them. Called Lecturefox, it's what appears to be an education aggregator. Although it seems aimed towards computer science, chemistry, mathematics, and physics, it does have more topics. I think it should have some changes to allow easy searching of more specific topics, but all in all, it has a very simple interface and should cause little confusion. I recommend checking it out, and seeing if there's a topic that interests you.

Link: Lecturefox

Shuttle Announces $199 Linux Box, $99 Barebones Kit

Shuttle has announced that they are making an adventure into people's Linux lives with a $199 dollar Linux box and a $99 barebones kit. Launch dates have not been announced yet. As you can see, these sound like awesome deals, although the specs will make or break them I guess.

Link: Engadget

A .Com Service in 24 Hours

Here is an interesting article about how the website Wigitize.com was built in about 24 hours time. It really goes to show how we are in another garage technology age at the moment.

Link: Building a .Com in 24 Hours

Bill Gate's Retirement Plans (Last Day CES Clip)

FAA Says the Boeing's New 787 May Be Vulnerable to Hackers

The FAA has said that Boeing's new 787 may be vulnerable to hackers. The vulnerability is the result of the computer architecture being utilized in the plane, being that the computer network designed to give passengers internet access is connected to the planes control, navigation, and communication systems. I'm not really sure how Boeing made this mistake. Obviously, the safest method is one that is physically isolated from the planes vital network. I wouldn't even know where to begin to use this breech of security, but I'm positive someone else would. Suddenly, internet access is becoming a nightmare for a plane's security, you would have thought Boeing of all companies would have realized this vulnerability before any FAA inspections. Boeing has taken more than 800 advance orders for the plane. The plane is due out in November, 2008.
Link: Wired
Photo: Flickr

World's First Vertical Farm

I'm not sure if this is true or not, but it doesn't sound far fetched. Apparently, the worlds first vertical farm is to be built in Las Vegas, costing 200 million dollars, and being able to feed 72,000 people per year. Annual revenue is estimated to be 40 million dollars. The farm would grow over 100 types of crops. According to the article, if all goes well, the doors could open in 2010.

Vertical farming is thought to be the next big, and logical step, in farming. The world's population is growing rapidly, and farm space is starting to become more scarce. Vertical farms have been dreamed of for a long time now, and recently have become of interest to many, including investors. Building up instead of across could solve many problems, and could be more environmentally friendly, using solar power to power the facilities, and of course, being engineered for efficiency.

Source: Next Energy News
More information on vertical farming: Wikipedia
Picture: Chris Jacob's Vertical Farm

GeForce 9800 GX2 Pics and Specs Leaked

Pictures and Specs have been released by HardOCP today for Nvidia's next video card. They appear to be 2 8800's that have been die shrunk to 65nm and SLI'd. This sounds a lot like ATI's (AMD now remember!) 3870 X2's. So, it looks like were going to have a competitive year in the video card industry, I just hope ATI hasn't given up on the high end market. With such little competition right now, it is thought that Nvidia will hold off its own next gen video cards until ATI comes out with something. The same is rumored to be happening with Intel and AMD, Intel rumored to have pushed back their second generation 45nm code named Nehalem to prolong sales of their current processors. Hopefully this year we'll see some revitalized attempts from AMD at competition so we can see some larger advancements in the consumer computer market.

Link: GeForce 9800 GX2 Exclusive Pics & Specs

Happy New Years

I would just like to wish everyone a happy New Years and hope that the year of 2008 brings more technological and scientific breakthroughs that push the boundaries of our society.