RapaNui asks: "I'm working on a project that uses a remotely controlled camera for video and still work. It currently uses a small board camera and a microwave (analog) downlink for video (the video feed is only used for targeting the onboard DVcam and still camera). Anyway, the telemetry downlink has just been upgraded and we now have 50-60 Kbps available that (if possible) we would like to use for a video downlink. All we need is 1/4 frame (PAL, 384x288) at around 2-5 fps What I was thinking of is a PC/104 or similar PC, running Linux and a vid-capture card (or an old parallel port video capture box - Snappy?). Whatever it is needs to be relatively small and light. Are there any usable (under linux) PC/104 or similar video capture (or still capture) cards? Or is there a unit (like some of the cams made by Axis) that could take video (composite or S-video) in one end and dump out a serial data stream at the other end? (This would be preferable, 'cause it would mean less hardware, and complexity on that end)."

IronChef writes "Ran across a web site where someone is attempting to combine online games and cash. The difference here is it looks like it's not some big tournament where everyone gathers and the top 3 out of a field of hundreds get paid, but a small group jumps into a server for a buck or two per head, and the winner cashes out on the spot." And you thought you swear a lot when you lag now!

Start this one off with a creative hack: tim.kerby sent in just that: using a tortilla as a bread board when your local radio shack is out. Future creative hacks may involve i4u's link to camborg which tracks wearable cameras. Ant found cats and robots. You can practice by playing Kitty Lick 3, an FPS you play as a feline (thanks bjorky) But If cats aren't your pet of choice, how about pigs? Rookie sent in linkage to a story about a one in first class that you'll swear is fiction (but it isn't). radiator sent in a hilarious parody: first aid for a dying dot com. Some auctions worth noting: drDugan sent a picture autographed by Linus being sold on eBay (and donated to charity). Dirty Yanni noted that Metallica/Napster parody t-shirts are for sale on eBay. And the last auction (but not on eBay) is Spock's original ears from the original trek. Oh, and how about t-shirts mocking the MS breakin & source code theft? CArnesen noted that Anime Expo 2001 has been scheduled for this summer. I'm seriously considering going. Mothy notes that famed Rubber Chicken vendor Archie McPhee is now selling the Linux Voodoo Penguin (however the ad features a "Sysadmin" wearing a tie! Have to much free time? Ant does! He sent us a reflex tester (I've managed a .24) but thats nothing compared to Am I Hot or Not which is fun for hours on end if you're the type that amuses easily. And finally, tshell noted that that now that there is a complete O'Reily ate my balls site, the Internet is now complete. You can all go home now.

Polo writes: "Remember looking at those photos of bullets going through lightbulbs, apples and playing cards? Well, here is a fascinating digital camera from Visible Solutions that can capture images at over 1000 frames per second (with reduced resolutions up to 32000 fps!) The standard camera has 256M of memory to capture a whopping 2 seconds of video upgradeable to 1G to capture 8 seconds. You can also daisy-chain several cameras with firewire to capture an "event" from many angles. Here is the only slow-motion sequence on their site. What would you capture?" 1GB to capture 8 seconds -- sheesh! I'd like to see real slo-mo a little more affordable, but it takes extremes to create nice middles, eh?

The word "Internet" was uttered precisely once in last night's presidential debate, and I don't have to tell you the context. You already know the topic was Columbine, and you already know the Net was being blamed for mass murder. What our Republican candidate failed to mention is that his party's bogeymen, the evil Internet and its evil twin violent entertainment, have brought about a new era of peace. If we really want less violence in our schools, we obviously need more violence on our Internet.

Crusader writes: "Matt Matthews has produced an extensive series of benchmarks which examine four separate games' performance on the Voodoo5, the Rage 128 Pro, the G400 Max, and the GeForce 2 3D graphics cards under Linux. Performance against Windows 98 is also included." We also received: driveitlikeyoustoleit writes, "3dfx, NVIDIA and ATI's best are all pitted against each other in a high-end 3D video card roundup. The authors pit six GeForce2 GTS (from ASUS, Creative, ELSA and Hercules) based cards against an ATI Radeon 256 and a 3dfx Voodoo5 5500. Performance for a change isn't the only criteria in question (although the end scores are somewhat weighted in favor of fps) but also at full-scene anti-aliasing, image quality and DVD performance/quality are critically looked at. The screen shots page showing off FSAA comparisons are great visual indicators of what the cards can do."

mr.blobby writes "3dfx' long awaited "big-daddy" version of the Voodoo5, the Voodoo5 6000 has been delayed almost as long as Daikatana but according to this news story, the card (with all of its four TMUs - texture memory units) and its external power supply has been sighted at a gaming trade show in London (ECTS) and is still slated for a release. There are a few benchmarks showing it beating NVIDIA's GeForce 2 which can't be bad. The author said this "the card was hitting around 50-60 FPS at 1600x1400", which seems most impressive."

The Queen reminded me to post this: Last night's "X-Files" was a weird episode involving a video game gone wrong. It obviously was meant to promote discussion on violence in video games: "Healthy outlet for stress or promoting violence in society?" Personally I thought it was a crappy episode and not very suspenseful. Cheesy. Formulaic. Definitely sub-par for the show (even for its last few seasons), although it did have its moments. Did anyone else watch this?

ugene sent us a link to something I've never seen before: 7mm thick speakers. They claim they sound as good as conical speakers, but they project sound 360 degrees. Nifty looking if you're aestheticly anal, or low on space. I wonder if they can be removed from their stand and hung right on a wall. Update: 04/11 06:17 by CT : Cyberdiva sent me a review as did Alan Dang from 3DGaming.

An anonymous reader pointed us a a wired news article where you can read that the authors of the UltraHLE N64 emulator has had its source code released. The article talks about Nintendo considering Legal Action against the authors of the emulator, as well as the Sony/Connectix suit and the fact that another company is working on a Playstation emulator for windows. Update: 02/12 03:51 by CT : My bad. The source code wasn't actually released by the authors- the code is a disasembled bit posted by someone else. It doesn't compile. Will the real UltraHLE authors take the hint? Update: 02/13 03:04 by S : The code has been removed, although anyone could make it again with REC. In the mean time, Dextrose has an UltraHLE-on-Linux Howto which reveals that the combination of UltraHLE-Wine-Linux is faster than the original UltraHLE-Win98: with Zelda running at 21.3 fps under Linux versus 19.6 under Win98.

Rob Lanphier wrote in wondering about what happened to the AOL/RN story. Well, it appears that little digital hiccup we had today sort of, well, "lost" the story. So, in recap, AOL will be bundling RealPlayer in their latest round of pseudo-techie coasters that will be coming out soon. Additionally, the Beta 2 of the player is out, with the additional features:

• New Intel/RealNetworks video codec technology (better quality video)
• Frame Rate Upsampling (take a 15 fps video and make it look like 20-30 fps)
• Web-based server administration tool w/source (hack to your hearts delight)
• Server on multiple platforms (Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Win NT, DEC OSF, SGI Irix, Win 95)

We've got a problem on Slashdot. Along with amazing growth we've experienced in the last 6 months, we've suffered some of the same problems as usenet. Namely the signal to noise ratio on the comments is getting out of control. There are real gems in the comments section, but wading through 'I got the first comment!' crap, or huge rampant offtopic debates is wasting bandwidth and time of the thousands of readers who just want the good stuff. Keep reading to read the deal. Updated read the end

Sean McPherson wrote in to say that issue #32 of the Linux Gazette is now out. Several folks wrote in to say that the very geeky/very funny User Friendly comic strip has moved. New domain. New design. And it's funny too. I had a submission about a web site that featured the destruction of Beanie Babies, but whoever sent it in forgot the URL. Someone should definately post it in the comments if they know it. I'm all for destruction of beanie babies. Finally, you should go to this page and click on product information. It's just something funny for those of us who've read far to much badly translated tech stuff. This one takes the cake. sunDevil for sending it in. Apparently I get 72 magic powers if I buy their mobo? I can't tell. Last hit the link below to read a batch of misc. notes from todays Slashdot code changes.

Josh Plautz writes "Don 'Onethumb' MacAskill from Ritual Entertainmenthas updated his .plan file with the news that Ritual might just be looking for someone in the Dallas area who is willing to work on porting/maintaining SIN (Ritual's upcoming FPS) on Linux/BeOS. Read his comments at Planet Quake". I also got an email from Thad Parker of M8bius World Studios who talked about Millennium Diner, a sci fi edutainment game that they would like to try to port to Linux. If you would be interesting in helping that venture, go to the games's site, fill out the 'help us' form, and mention Linux. We all know Linux needs more games, perhaps a few brave souls can lend a hand filling that gap. Some (ahem) other companies could learn a lesson from these guys.