Lunch Notes 7-15-2004

[Balandar]

Science: Ammonia Could Indicate Life On Mars

Posted by michael on Thursday July 15, @01:14PM

from the interplanetary-slime-mold dept.

Young Master writes "Just seen this story on good old Auntie Beeb, apparently traces of ammonia have been found in the Martian atmosphere. Ammonia doesn't last long on Mars, so it must be constantly replenished - it could be active volcanoes (none yet found), or it could indicate life..." Along with the detection of methane, Mars is starting to look a lot less dead than had been supposed.

http://science.slashdot.org/science/04/07/...tid=134&tid=160

AOL-Yahoo-MSN Messaging Unified... in the Workplace Only

Posted by michael on Thursday July 15, @10:20AM

from the gaim-is-cheaper dept.

bakreule writes "Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo! are teaming up to link their separate instant messaging services for use in the workplace, 'the first major step by the industry leaders to enable computer users to communicate with one another no matter which of the three systems they use.' Sound to good to be true? It is. 'What this does not do,' Root said (yes, that's his name), 'is the holy grail of instant messaging, which is to allow anybody on any network to send a message to anybody on any other network.' It seems that the system, which is aimed for corporations, involves some MS software which acts as an intermediary between the different systems. Sounds like a fancy version of all the open source IM clients out there."

http://slashdot.org/articles/04/07/15/1157...&tid=187&tid=95

Your Rights Online: DHS Says Cellular Outage Reporting is Terrorist Blueprint

Posted by simoniker on Wednesday July 14, @06:51PM

from the situation-unknown dept.

Tuxedo Jack writes "U.S. landline telephone companies have to file public reports when their networks have major outages, so you would think the same would hold true for cellular providers and ISPs, right? Not if the Department of Homeland Security gets its way. CNN/AP reports that the DHS wants to make cellphone outage reports secret, claiming that they could be used as 'blueprints for terrorists.' I don't know about you, but I'd kinda like to see public disclosure on what happened if my cellphone/Internet access is down for an extended period."

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/...&tid=137&tid=99

Games: Doom 3 Reaches Gold Master, Due August 5th

Posted by simoniker on Wednesday July 14, @02:06PM

from the happy-days-are-here-again dept.

Rogerpq3 writes "Yes, this is the official word that [long-awaited PC FPS] DOOM 3 has been code released and has been approved for manufacturing! According to the .plan file of id CEO Todd Hollenshead: 'We literally just hung up with Activision and have confirmed that our latest release candidate has been mutually approved and is finally GOLD. So, the next question is release dates. Retailers in the States will be allowed to pick up games starting at 12:01 AM on August 3rd. The official street date is actually August 5th in the U.S.A., but some of your favorite stores will probably have it early for those of you who have to have it first. Check with your local retailer for that information... [internationally] the UK will probably get it first, on or about August 6th. Everywhere else will probably be Friday, August 13th (cue Twilight Zone Theme) or close to that date, with just a few exceptions (e.g. Russia and Poland)'."

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=0...tid=204&tid=206

[Rhoach]

All very interesting articles. Thankya!