Bag of Beans

New work argues that Hawking Radiation could carry information out of a black hole. If we are able to control the process, we could even turn a black hole into a gigantic computer. From New Scientist Space:

Nearly all of the information that falls into a black hole escapes back out, a controversial new study argues. The work suggests that black holes could one day be used as incredibly accurate quantum computers – if enormous theoretical and practical hurdles can first be overcome.

Science-fiction author Stephen Baxter uses this very idea in Exultant, the second novel in The Destiny’s Children series. He describes a massive black hole computer built by an alien species around the supermassive black hole that is believed to sit at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy.

• Link (via Reddit)

This is an interesting article that helps fill in some of the holes in the Matrix trilogy’s story.

There were four versions of the Matrix. V1 was designed by the Architect. It was a masterpiece of simplicity and beauty which collapsed nearly immediately. Why? It was boring. The humans living in it probably rebelled against their situation and within the logic of the simulation itself destroyed the environment in which they lived. The simulation failed when its internal logic required a catastrophic die-off of humans, eventually limiting at zero. Before that could happen, the Architect shut the simulation down, temporarily put all the humans into a coma, and tried again.

• Link (via Digg)

1UP.com has a nice list of free games you can find on the web, compiled by Computer Gaming World.

You don’t care how you get your fix. You just want to play a new game right now and you don’t want to pay a lot for the privilege. Thank God for the Internet, where everything (and its mom) is available for free. So, taking a break from downloading patches and porn, we set upon a journey to gaming-freebie Mecca.

• Link (via Lifehacker)

This page has some simple source files you can use to test various PICmicro controllers by making them blink a LED.

For non-embedded programmers the first thing to try on a new system or in a new programming language is to print out “hello world”. The equivalent for microcontrollers and other embedded systems is to blink a LED. When even the target circuit and the programmer are freshly put together it is wise to start even lower, with a blink-a-LED program written by someone else that is known to be working. Then when the LED does not blink (which is likely) there is one thing less to doubt about. On this page you will find 1 and 2 Hz blink-a-LED (and some other) test programs for various targets chips and circuits.

• Link (via MAKE: Blog)

Here is a good article that makes continuations in Ruby a little less confusing. But, my head still hurts.

I recently watched a video trying to explain, in simple terms, what continuations are. The quick answer was “Continuations are just the remaining work to be done.” WTF?! I had been wondering what the heck continuations were, but this answer gave me absolutely no clue. Oh! Of course! The remaining work to be done! It makes complete sense now. Unfortunately, this is one of those explanations that only makes sense if you already understand what is being explained.

• Link (via reddit)

This is a fantastic and hilarious comic set in the Half-Life universe and rendered using the Half-Life 2 engine along with Garry’s Mod.

Concerned is the story of Gordon Frohman, former Black Mesa entry-level employee, survivor of the Portal Storms and the Seven Hour War, and now earnest and hard-working citizen of City 17. Frohman is a simple guy trying to earn an honest buck in a post-apocalyptic world ruled mercilessly by hordes of heavily armed alien hybrid soldiers (called Combine) bent on draining the Earth of its last natural resource and exterminating the human race. He also enjoys playing backgammon.

Gordon Frohman arrives on the scene a few weeks before Doctor Gordon Freeman — scientist, hero, anti-citizen, and star of Half-Life and Half-Life 2 — first appears in City 17. Due to the similarity in their names, Frohman is often initially mistaken for the crowbar-wielding Freeman, though due to Frohman’s chatty nature and general incompetence the error is usually sorted out fairly quickly.

Very funny and incredibly well done.

• Link

The hotly anticipated community news site Newsvine has just finished their private beta and officially opened their doors yesterday.

Not only can you read, share and comment on news stories but, if you are so inclined, you can publish your own stories and news articles to your account. Any ad revenue it generates is shared with you.

Worth checking it out.

• Newsvine

For all the coffee-lovers, here’s a way to roast your own beans.

In today’s How-To we’ll cover converting a popcorn popper… into a home coffee roasting machine. If you love coffee like we do (and we have a feeling ya do), try upgrading your beans by roasting your own. Roasted coffee can go stale within a week or two, which is exactly why freshness is of the utmost importance when it comes to your brew. Plus, high quality green coffee beans are generally half the price of roasted, and can be easily stored throughout the year.

• Link