Cody Taylor

An anonymous reader writes “The folks behind the DNA-Rainbow project (discussed on Slashdot before) apparently have some time to play around with genome data. After creating amazing pictures from the human DNA code they are now transforming all chromosomes to audio and streaming them to the Internet. Every base is read and broadcasted instead converting it to a color. Seemingly this artistic project will last a while. After some math they found out that it will take them more than 23.5 years to air the whole human genome sequence.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A new study by the RAND corporation has attempted to put the focus on ‘movie piracy’ squarely on the shoulders of terrorist groups and criminal gangs. The report, which claims to have been ‘peer reviewed’, seems to show that no matter which gang, thug, or terrorist – they all pirate movies.

It’s OK, you’re in safe company. We know you didn’t buy that gadget because it could interface seamlessly with the cloud, or because it offers the best range of features for Small to Medium Enterprises, or because it has the fastest processor this side of a supercomputer. You just like touching its rubbery buttons, and the fact that it goes ‘ping.’

CWmike writes “A just-leaked build of Windows 7 lets users remove Internet Explorer, the first time that Microsoft has offered the option since it integrated the browser with Windows in 1997, two bloggers reported today. The move might have been prompted by recent charges by the European Union that Microsoft has stifled browser competition by bundling IE with its operating system, the bloggers speculated. One solution under consideration by the EU would require Microsoft to disable IE if the user decided to install a different browser, such as Mozilla’s Firefox or Google’s Chrome. Microsoft had no comment when asked to confirm whether Windows 7 will let users dump IE8 or whether the option was in reaction to the EU charges.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

AmigaMMC writes “A man who lost his sight 30 years ago says he can now see flashes of light after being fitted with a bionic eye. Ron, 73, had the experimental surgery seven months ago at London’s Moorfield’s eye hospital. He says he can now follow white lines on the road, and even sort socks using the bionic eye, known as Argus II. I wouldn’t go as far as claiming he regained his sight, but this certainly is a biotechnological breakthrough.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

coondoggie writes with an excerpt from Network World: “Software that for the first time lets users run native copies of the Windows operating systems on a mainframe will be introduced Friday by data center automation vendor Mantissa. The company’s z/VOS software is a CMS application that runs on IBM’s z/VM and creates a foundation for Intel-based operating systems. Users only need a desktop appliance running Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) client, which is the same technology used to attach to Windows running on Terminal Server or Citrix-based servers. Users will be able to connect to their virtual and fully functional Windows environments without any knowledge that the operating system and the applications are executing on the mainframe and not the desktop.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Modern text-to-speech systems are incredibly complex, and they’re improving rapidly. But reading a book with anything near the expressiveness of an actual human voice is an enormously difficult computational task—the pinnacle of speech synthesis research.

A headset that harnesses all five senses will create such a convincing virtual reality that it will be indistinguishable from real life, designers promised.

Microsoft is so often the behemoth everyone loves to hate that people overlook the stuff it does right. Here are five free hidden gems. #1 Windows Live SkyDrive – Get 25GB of online storage, at no cost, with no strings attached.

EMC became the latest IT vendor to be indicated in a case involving perhaps a dozen or more technology companies where the government is alleging that it that paid kickbacks to federal consultants as well as overcharging for hardware, software and services.