Trends in Ecology & Evolution (19 November 2009)

Chromosomal sex determination systems create the opportunity for the evolution of selfish genetic elements that increase the transmission of one sex chromosome at the expense of its homolog. Because such selfish elements on sex chromosomes can reduce fertility and distort the sex ratio of progeny, unlinked suppressors are expected to evolve, bringing different regions of the genome into conflict over the meiotic transmission of the sex chromosomes. Here we argue that recurrent genetic conflict over sex chromosome transmission is an important evolutionary force that has shaped a wide range of seemingly disparate phenomena including the epigenetic regulation of genes expressed in the germline, the distribution of genes in the genome, and the evolution of hybrid sterility between species.
Colin Meiklejohn, Yun Tao

Out summer on PS3, 360. How's that?

Codemasters has announced International Cricket 2010 for release this summer on PS3 and Xbox 360.

The aim [surely the wicket? -Ed] is to duplicate the UK chart-topping performance given by Ashes Cricket 2009 last summer.

But Transmission Games isn't at the crease for this instalment. Instead, newly formed Australian studio Trickstar Games will bat this out, having hired various veterans from Ashes Cricket 2009 and the Brian Lara series.

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Veterans of Australian developer Transmission Games have founded a new studio named Trickstar, with projects already planned for most major formats.

Although at the time of writing certain sections of the company's website are not functioning, it does indicate that the developer has "a number of exciting new games in production".

Support for the Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, iPhone, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade are all implied on the website.

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The US Trademark Office has issued a note of refusal to Google for Nexus One. The trademark was applied for in December of last year, and the refusal is based on the existence of the Nexus trademark to Integra Telecom, granted in December of 2008. The early company already uses the name for telecommunication services and the transmission of voice and data....

Former members of Transmission Games have established Trickstar Games, a new development studio based in Melbourne, Australia.

“Trickstar Games is Australia’s newest, but most experienced games development studio… a core assembly of some of the greatest development talent in the country,” the company said on its website.

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Physical Review A, Vol. 50, No. 5. (Nov 1994), pp. 3682-3699.

Using the Shannon information theory and the Bayesian methodology for inverting quantum data [K. R. W. Jones, Ann. Phys. (N.Y.) 207 , 140 (1991)] we prove a fundamental bound upon the measurability of finite-dimensional quantum states. To do so we imagine a thought experiment for the quantum communication of a pure state ψ, known to one experimenter, to his colleague via the transmission of N identical copies of it in the limit of zero temperature. Initial information available to the second experimenter is merely that of the allowed manifold of superpositions upon which the chosen ψ may lie. Her efforts to determine it, in an optimal way, subject to the fundamental constraints imposed by quantum noise, define a statistical uncertainty principle. This limits the accuracy with which ψ can be measured according to the number N of transmitted copies. The general result is illustrated in the physically realizable case of polarized photons.
KRW Jones

Manual transmission.

EA has announced a 14th May release date for Skate 3 in the UK.

The game's in development at Black Box for PS3 and Xbox 360.

Skate 3 aims to bring friends together online in teams. Jason DeLang, senior producer, reckons this will be "the most connected, accessible and social skateboarding experience yet". But then he would say that.

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Lucid Lynx is scheduled to be released next month, but that didn’t stop me from upgrading (clean install). This is a nice opportunity for me to test it out, as well as contribute by reporting any bugs I might stumble upon.

The default theme is refreshingly minimalistic – my wife commented it’s very inviting. There’s also a noticeable performance improvement as compared to Karmic Koala (note: I’m using a netbook here!). Applications responds quicker and the system boots and shuts down faster. As a plus, all my hardware works flawlessly.

Fixed Karmic bugs on MSI Wind

All the headaches I’ve experienced on Karmic has also been fixed on Lucid. To name a few:

• The Live CD/USB runs on my netbook.
• Webcam also works.
• Ctrl+F6 to enable/disable webcam also works.
• USB Ports also works without sacrificing the webcam.
• GNOME Power Manager flickering issues has been fixed
• Hibernation, Standby, and Lock Screen also works.

It’s not a bug, it’s a feature!

And of course, there will always be features I don’t want.

• Minimize, Maximize, Close buttons position – what’s up with that?
• Two clicks to access Empathy, incoming chat messages, and even Transmission from the Indicator Applet. There’s an existing workaround though to place the icons on the Notification Area, but you wouldn’t have access to the volume control.

And then, there’s a few non-Ubuntu hiccups I’ve encountered

• Medibuntu’s ffmpeg nonfree libraries doesn’t work on Lucid – we have to manually copy the libraries until after they’ve updated the packages.
• SmartBro’s ZTE MF627 3G USB stick doesn’t work – it installs ok, but it just won’t connect.

I took my sweet time reviewing my list… and comparing to Karmic – I’m very much satisfied with the next release. Keep it up Ubuntu Devs, you deserve a pat on your back!