/. jgaynor writes “Citing user requests to coalesce it’s disparate services, Google today released its new personalized homepage service. It allows you to arrange your Gmail, Google News, Google Maps driving directions, weather and a few select news services (including Slashdot) on a single page. Future plans include Universal RSS support. Clearly a shot at existing services like My Yahoo.”

* Slashdot | Google’s New Personalized Homepage

/. nght2000 writes “Stanford University has created an autonomous driving robot to compete in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge Race. The race will be held on October 8, 2005 in the desert Southwest. The team that develops an autonomous ground vehicle that finishes the designated route most quickly within 10 hours will receive $2 million. The route will be no more than 175 miles over desert terrain featuring natural and man-made obstacles. The Stanford Racing Team‘s vehicle is a Volkswagen R5 turbo diesel Touareg that was donated by Volkswagen of America. The Stanford Team has been working with the Volkswagen Electronics Research Laboratory on the project.”

* Slashdot | Stanford and Volkswagen Create Autonomous Vehicle

I have been a major Star Wars fan since I was about six years old, and I can tell you quite simply: It was worth the wait!
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a magnificent ending on one of the greatest sagas of all time (including future). First I must emphasize the visuals in this movie WILL blow you away, it’s just ludicrous cool quality constantly and it is very hard to point a finger at just about any of the visuals. The sound is just as good as the first trilogy, although I must admit listening to the sweet music was not the top priority when seeing it the first time. Hayden (Anakin) does a really good job of turning evil, compared to his pretty vague performance in Episode II, you can easily tell that his skills have improved, but I’m sure his script has too!
Personally I think the ‘turning evil’ part happens a little to quick, but I guess the show must go on, this movie is just like going nuts in a candy store, sweet treats everywhere. Even though this is by far the most dark of the films, it’s quite possibly also the most laugh-inducing, being filled with small jokes and silly comments especially from our droid friends. The movie puts many things in perspective and you will be given a great deal of information that will combine the whole saga in to one mother of a force-tale…
I rate it at 9.8 out of 10, were it not for a few worrying details it would be perfect, but again nothing can be that perfect..? – Thanks Lucas, I owe you one!

I am utterly amazed and lost for words after watching the PlayStation 3 revealed during the Sony Conference at E3 Expo 2005. There is no doubt in my mind that this will make an enourmous impact on the way games and digital entertainment in general is percieved. PlayStation 3 effectively makes Xbox 360 obsolete long before it hits the streets, that’s is atleast my immediate conclusion. Furthermore PS3 will be launched in Spring 2006 opposed to the Summer 2006 rumour.

Goodies include Bluetooth, Wireless LAN (b/g), optional 2.5″ Harddisk, BlueRay, HDTV x 2!, 128bit float pr. pixel precision, Memory Stick DUO, CompactFlash, SD Flash, nVidia RSX GPU (Reality Synthesizer, said to outperform two GeForce 6800 Ultra‘s!!), and ofcourse the highly amazing Cell PowerPC Processor from Sony, IBM and Toshiba. Put into the equation the astounding bandwidths of the databuses and amazing RAM speeds clocking in at 700 Mhz and 3.6 Ghz.

See the E3 section at Gamespot for all the juicy details, movies, press conferences, screenshots and more..

* GameSpot at E3: The 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo
* E3 Insider | The Official E3 News site
* Sony Computer Entertainment Amercia | E3 2005 Website
* Wired | My Great Big Console Adventure
Read on for the full PlayStation 3 (PS3) Specifications.

(more…)

I found a great gallery of images showing stuff at all scales, from “Quarks to Quasars”.

Excerpt from 10²¹: Given an estimated age for our solar system of 4.5 thousand million years, the Sun has made about 15 to 18 orbits around the galactic core.

Bruce Bryson writes: “This is a visual journey consisting of 42 images — 42 powers of ten. At one end of the journey is the immensity of the known universe, 13.7 billion years old with a radius of at least 12 billion light years (and probably much larger). At the other end of the journey is a depiction of the three quarks within a proton.”

* Quarks to Quasars, Powers of Ten