We cover a lot of startups here at TechCrunch, but I don’t recall ever having covered a startup that thinks it can use artificial intelligence to predict whether other startups will be successful.... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 11:33 am
Vint Falken recently came across the Fiat car company's official presence in Second Life, and though she's not one to be easily impressed, she was in this case. So much so that she created a fun machinima... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 11:25 am
By Evan Ackerman I have a soft spot for sheep. I blame it on Poe, who was (I think) one of the first desktop screenmates, and who still keeps me company from time to time. Seamour the sheep is as Scottish... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 11:21 am
This kiosk spotted at an IKEA store in Seattle, allows you to sync your mobile phone through text messages or by scanning barcodes, giving access to coupons and information on their weekly specials.... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 11:15 am
By Evan Ackerman If, like I often do, you dream of holding up a magnifying glass the size of the planet Earth and using it to concentrate all of the sun’s energy onto a spot the size of a grain of... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 10:55 am
The space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the international space station early Monday for its journey back to Earth, ending a nearly nine-day visit to deliver, install and activate... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 10:39 am
Multiple users have written to tell us that Toshiba is planning to halt production of devices related to HD-DVD. According to Japanese broadcasting network NHK, Toshiba will lose "hundreds of millions of dollars" as the format war finally draws to a close. Regardless, investors are pleased that Toshiba has made the decision to cut its losses. This comes after a last-ditch price cut was unable to prevent Wal-mart from throwing their lot in with Blu-ray, although some sources suggest that Wal-mart was already aware of Toshiba's plans to withdraw from fight.
By Evan Ackerman Laser harps aren’t, as far as I can tell, brand new tech, but you’ve got to admit, seeing a home built one in action is pretty cool. The principle is deceptively simple; a... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 10:10 am
The space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the international space station early Monday for its journey back to Earth, ending a nearly nine-day visit to deliver, install and activate... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 10:02 am
Last.fm is generally acknowledged to be one of the best web apps of this era - its music recommendation system literally creates a personalized radio station for you. But the now CBS-owned service... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 9:59 am
By Andrew Liszewski Porsche Design has managed to get their hands into everything from sleds, to radios to toasters, but they’re clearly not going to be satisfied until there’s a Porsche version... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 9:48 am
JAKARTA (Reuters) - A 3-year-old Indonesian boy from South Jakarta has died from bird flu, taking the country's death toll from the virus to 105, a health ministry official said on Monday. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 9:37 am
Sony's Blu-ray technology is emerging as the likely winner in the format battle for the next generation of DVD players after Toshiba appeared ready to ditch its HD DVD business. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 9:28 am
Sony's Blu-ray technology is emerging as the likely winner in the format battle for the next generation of DVD players after Toshiba appeared ready to ditch its HD DVD business. Such a Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 9:25 am
By Andrew Liszewski A tablet is the only way to go if you’re a digital artist who does any kind of drawing or painting on your PC. (Even if you’re nothing more than a disembodied floating hand... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:56 am
BEIJING (Reuters) - Alibaba Group, the Chinese Internet firm, will seek a stronger voice for its management team in Microsoft's talks to acquire Yahoo, Alibaba's largest shareholder, a... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:45 am
By Kovsky, Eddie The Micron Technology Foundation has pledged to donate $1.25 million to support the development of a nanofabrication teaching and research laboratory in the new Utah Science, Technology and Research building at the University of Utah. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Anonymous A seven-state agreement was signed into law on December 13 that details how Colorado River water reductions would be imposed should the drought continue. This agreement leaves the state of California, and the Coachella Valley, in a comfortably secure position. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Anonymous Attorneys for environmental groups opposed to Entergy Louisiana's plan to burn coal and pet coke at its Little Gypsy power plant in Montz want the Louisiana Public Service Commission to withdraw project approval. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Carlson, Brad Environmental impact statements - required as a precursor to many development and infrastructure projects - might get easier to deal with depending on how the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rules in The Lands Council v. McNair. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Karen Shideler, The Wichita Eagle, Kan. Feb. 18--Three Wichitans will head to Atlanta later this month with the hope of making Sedgwick County a healthier place to live. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Greg Breining THERE are some houses or cabins that anglers would cry for. GREG BREINING goes fishing in the line of duty. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Anonymous Audubon Zoo announced the return of its five California sea lions - Sushi, Cinnamon, Katie, Lilli, and Porter - for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. Sean lion fans can visit them in their renovated lower pool beginning Thursday. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Shay, Becky A tangled dispute over leadership of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe came closer to resolution Tuesday. The Department of Interior announced that it recognizes Rick Wolfname as tribal president. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Andy Mead and Michelle Ku, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky. Feb. 18--It wasn't an extraordinary amount of rain -- less than 4 inches spread over six days last December -- but it exposed one of Lexington's dirty little secrets. By Dec. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Alan J. Borsuk, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Feb. 18--Noah's Ark has sunk, but the kids who were on board are staying afloat right where they were. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Anonymous Bion Environmental Technologies, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: BNET) announced Jan. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
NEXT Monday Hard-Fi launch the 2008 Rock Against Racism tour and to celebrate we've got 10 pairs of tickets to give away. The tour launches at The Liquidroom in Edinburgh on Monday, February 25. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
Jet Airways and American Airlines have announced a frequent flyer partnership program. With this reciprocal accrual and redemption partnership, Jet Airways's JetPrivilege will now have 12 international airline partners on which its members can earn and redeem their JPMiles. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Joel Dresang, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Feb. 18--The verdict is still out on whether the economy has slumped into recession, but Wisconsin's technical colleges say they're noticing more students, which historically occurs when jobs get scarcer. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
Search engine optimization experts, Greg Jarboe of SEO-PR and Amanda Watlington of Searching for Profit, will teach an SEO training class after this week's Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference in London. Their Optimizing for Universal Search workshop will be held on Friday, Feb. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
Text of report by Russian Gazeta.ru news website, often critical of the government, on 11 February [Report by Svetlana Bocharova: "Legislative Plug"] The senators have devised a new measure for controlling the internet. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Ryan Stotts, La Crosse Tribune, Wis. Feb. 18--Good business sense is a thing without wires. That seems to be the wave moving through La Crosse as more and more businesses give customers wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, access to the Internet. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
+--------------------------------------------------------------- ----+ | Ericsson discloses the information provided herein pursuant to | | the Securities Markets Act and/or the Financial Instruments | | Trading Act. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
A transformation continues to gain momentum in telecom, with software innovation displacing big iron as the primary source of competitive advantage. But in order to have a telco-free nirvana, the infocom... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
Cornell University geneticist Ray Wu, a pioneer in genetic engineering who developed pest-, drought- and salinity-resistant rice strains that are poised for widespread use throughout the world, died of... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
As more content is put online and broadband improves, shows could be watched without local stations or cable. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
The US space shuttle Atlantis was poised to leave the International Space Station Monday after a nine-day visit that gave the laboratory a European annex -- and a French scientist to... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 7:40 am
SoyChemist writes "Sociologists at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting have reported that China is making major investments in nanotechnology. Their aim is to 'leapfrog' past the United States in technological development by focusing on long-ranging scientific goals. So far, the Chinese government has poured about $400 million into the young field of research. Considering the low cost of equipment and labor over there, that is a very large sum of money, and China's investment is expected to 'rise considerably.'"
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Sharp Corp , fighting to remain the top maker of solar cells, will develop tools to make solar cells with Tokyo Electron Ltd amid growing demand for clean energy. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 6:57 am
LONDON (Reuters) - From Monday, people all over the world can become virtual neighbors to the residents of a Sierra Leone slum, plagued by infant mortality and rampant disease, through an... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 6:39 am
Planets as large or bigger than the Earth are waiting to be discovered at the edge of the Solar System, scientists believe. Some of them may contain warm oceans in... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 6:29 am
The longest continuous record of temperature changes in the Southern Ocean has found that Antarctic waters are warming and sea levels are rising, an Australian scientist said Monday. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Feb 2008 | 5:44 am
msim brings word that Australian legislators are considering an anti-piracy measure that would require ISPs to terminate internet access for people who repeatedly download copyrighted material. The legislation would set up a three-strikes system similar to the one proposed in the UK recently. While British ISPs resisted suggestions that they act as internet police, the response may not be the same in Australia, where the government has already tried to censor the internet. "Under the three-strikes policy, a warning would be first issued to offenders who illegally share files using peer-to-peer technology to access music, TV shows and movies free of charge. The second strike would lead to the offender's internet access being suspended; the third would cancel the offender's internet access."
Vlad Dolezal tips us to a philosophical take on why Linux hasn't grown to challenge Windows as the most popular operating system. According to the author, the reason is simple; Linux is free, and humans tend not to equate free things with being valuable. "Here's what Compy McNewb sees. He can get both OS's for free. But one of them is worth over three hundred dollars, while the other one is worth nothing. 'That's not true!' I hear you scream. 'Linux is worth a lot! It's just being offered for free!' I know it's not true that Linux is worth less than Windows. It's far more valuable to the end user in terms of getting things done. But that's not what Average Joe Computer Newbie sees. He sees a free product versus a three-hundred-dollar product he can get free. It's all about the perception!"
Rather than attacking SeeqPod, a popular music search engine, the major labels should view it as a template for how to make money on the internet, which isn't going away any time soon.
The Greek word for "at the same place" suits Frederick Soddy very well, for he has just identified disparate elements with something very big in common.
The Pickup School for Men Who Can't Get Any promises to turn any awkward geek into a womanizing pro. Meet the school's founder and some of his top students.
Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder of both the MIT Media Lab and the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child, delivers the last keynote at the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences annual meeting, focusing on the groundbreaking work of the OLPC, which has delivered thousands of laptops to children in the developing world. Alexis Madrigal reports from Boston.
As part of a session called "Seeing Science" at the 2008 AAAS conference, Chris Johnson, director of the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute at the University of Utah, presents examples of the cutting edge visualizations being produced by his group. Greta Lorge reports from Boston.
ScienceDaily is running a story about the recently discovered interaction between Saturn's A-ring and one of Saturn's small moons, Enceladus. Thanks to data from Cassini, scientists have discovered that ejected matter from Enceladus' ice geysers is absorbed into the A-ring, where it is then trapped. We discussed the geysers themselves a few years ago, and researchers have been working since then to determine where the material was going. Quoting: "This is the latest surprising phenomenon associated with the ice geysers of Enceladus to be discovered or confirmed by Cassini scientists. Earlier, the geysers were found to be responsible for the content of the E-ring. Next, the whole magnetic environment of Saturn was found to be weighed down by the material spewing from Enceladus, which becomes plasma -- a gas of electrically charged particles. Now, Cassini scientists confirm that the plasma, which creates a donut-shaped cloud around Saturn, is being snatched by Saturn's A-ring, which acts like a giant sponge where the plasma is absorbed."
GSGKT writes "Google's Anti-Malware Team has made available some of their research data on malware distribution mechanisms while the research paper[PDF] is under peer review. Among their conclusions are that the majority of malware distribution sites are hosted in China, and that 1.3% of Google searches return at least one link to a malicious site. The lead author, Niels Provos, wrote, 'It has been over a year and a half since we started to identify web pages that infect vulnerable hosts via drive-by downloads, i.e. web pages that attempt to exploit their visitors by installing and running malware automatically. During that time we have investigated billions of URLs and found more than three million unique URLs on over 180,000 web sites automatically installing malware. During the course of our research, we have investigated not only the prevalence of drive-by downloads but also how users are being exposed to malware and how it is being distributed.'"
SAN FRANCISCO Is your start-up worthy of investment? Ask the venture investor in a box. Two former Oxford University students are getting attention (and seed money) in Silicon Valley for developing new... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 17 Feb 2008 | 11:35 pm
ONLINE shoppers who cant decide whether to pull the trigger on their next purchase may be surprised at a new alternative: an offer to get it free. The offer is not a swindle, nor is it a return to the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 17 Feb 2008 | 11:35 pm
LONDON For years, Internet service providers have watched with envy as the likes of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft sliced up the online advertising pie. Selling Internet access has been a good business,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 17 Feb 2008 | 11:35 pm
SAN FRANCISCO If Microsoft succeeds in its conquest of Yahoo, what then? Microsoft would face the task of integrating the culture of Yahoo into its own. Merging corporate cultures is generally a major... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 17 Feb 2008 | 11:35 pm
SHANGHAI Factories here churn out iPhones that are exported to the United States and Europe. Then thousands of them are smuggled right back into China. The strange journey of Apples popular iPhone, to... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 17 Feb 2008 | 11:35 pm
OF all the repetitive, mind-numbing jobs in the late 19th century, cigar-rolling was special. Unlike sewing clothes, mining coal or forging steel, it was blessedly quiet. And thus cigar workers, whether... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 17 Feb 2008 | 11:35 pm
castrox writes to tell us that The Pirate Bay's legal concerns are continuing to grow. Prince and the Village People are planning to sue the popular torrent site with the help of the Web Sheriff law firm. John Giacobbi of Web Sheriff has also asked Swedish band ABBA to join the cause. The suit is seeking "millions of dollars" in damages, although it's still uncertain to whom the charges will be directed. The likely targets are the four Pirate Bay founders who were indicted a few weeks ago on charges of breaking copyright law. Prince has taken investigative action against The Pirate Bay in the past.
The crews of the space shuttle and station say a teary farewell after more than a week of working tirelessly together to build a bigger and better scientific outpost in orbit. Atlantis is scheduled to undock early Monday, its load considerably lighter than when it arrived Feb. 9 with Europe's premiere space laboratory, Columbus.
UC Santa Barbara researchers present their findings on the state of Chinese nanotechnology at the AAAS annual meeting. China aims to leapfrog the United States in technological development with substantial investment in nanotechnology, but whether those efforts will actually pay off is still unclear. Alexis Madrigal reports from Boston.
Euler points out a story about art created through mathematics. The Science News article covers selections from a recent exhibit, where over 40 artists gathered to show their work and the math behind it. The rest of the pieces are also viewable at the exhibit's website. "Michael Field, a mathematics professor at the University of Houston, finds artistic inspiration in his work on dynamical systems. A mathematical dynamical system is just any rule that determines how a point moves around a plane. Field uses an equation that takes any point on a piece of paper and moves it to a different spot. Field repeats this process over and over again--around 5 billion times--and keeps track of how often each pixel-sized spot in the plane gets landed on. The more often a pixel gets hit, the deeper the shade Field colors it."
Tendraes brings us a story about legal experts who are warning that Microsoft's "covenant not to sue" over use of the OOXML specification is both ambiguous and untested. Developers wishing to make use of OOXML are unlikely to understand the complex legal language of the Open Specification Promise, and such a document - being neither a release nor a contract - has never been tested in court. From ZDNet Asia: "David Vaile, executive director of the Cyberspace Law and Policy Center at the University of New South Wales, said that Microsoft participants at a recent symposium on the issue found it challenging to explain how an ordinary person 'or even an ordinary lawyer' could easily determine which parts of the specification were covered. 'This lack of certainty would mean a cautious lawyer may be reluctant to advise any third party to rely on the promise without extensive and potentially quite expensive analysis, and even that could be inconclusive,' Vaile said. 'In turn, this could restrict its viability as a usable standard for less well-resourced users, including small developers and many public organizations.'"
Ed. Note: the following essay is by periodic BB contributor Jasmina Tešanović; as I format this post and prepare to hit "publish," Jasmina sends a second email: "Update: groups of hooligans have thrown stones on American and Slovenian (presiding country of EU) embassies, on police members and
journalists...several people are hurt ...they are cruising town now here in Belgrade but police are controlling them...reporters are following up..."
It's starting again: the language of war is the
daily bread in
Serbia. The sirens of nationalism are turned on
again, as if nothing
had changed in the eight years after Milosevic was
toppled.
Or as if nothing had changed since the year 1389
and the mythic battle of Kosovo: a myth is a myth,
a dictator who
uses the language of myths is squandering people s
minds
as well as their lives.
Today, 17 February. at 15 hours Kosovo province
unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia.
It been ten years now since I wrote my "Diary of a
Political Idiot," a book that started with riots in
Kosovo.
Although I've tried to stop writing that book, I
have never been allowed to. The Balkan disorder
became the model of world disorder.
I can hear the voice of my dead mother, who
passed
away in 1999 after the NATO bombings, with her last
words: "take care of Kosovo." She didn't mention
her
granddaughter, my daughter, whom she loved more than
herself or me. She instead scolded me, the traitor,
severely: Kosovo is not yours and you cannot give it
away. You and your similar traitors don't have pants
on their asses and you are giving Kosovo, our
heritage,
away.
Last week in Geneva, I talked to a young Albanian
blogger. He told me: this time "independence" will
be declared for real, because it is not our
independent decision but
that of the world community. Nobody asks us
anything anymore. They just give us orders and set
rules.
Most young Serbian people have never visited
Kosovo. There is nor
reason to go to Kosovo if you are not trapped in
Kosovo already. It
is a hard place. Since the fall of national
Yugoslav radio and
television, Serbian has fallen out of use there.
The Serbs never
bothered to learn Albanian.
In Belgrade yesterday a thousand nationalists with
Serbian
flags marched downtown to the Slovenian
embassy. Today, in front of the American embassy,
potential riots were controlled by the police. In
Kosovo province,
two thousand policemen from EU mission will be
deployed for 120
days until the situation "becomes stable."
Will it ever become stable? Serbian
officials threaten to downgrade their
diplomatic relationships with anyone who
recognizes independent Kosovo, meaning
most of the world. The newly
elected president of Serbia, Boris Tadic, declared
that only "diplomatic tools" will be employed
to refuse the independence, but the same might
be said of the fraught relationship of Cuba and the
USA,
which goes on for whole lifetimes.
The president of the government with much harsher
tones accused the
US and EU of robbing Serbia of its territory, after
destroying Serbia
in 1999 with bombs. High ranked Orthodox priests
also condemn the
loss of their historical
heritage. The members of the Serbian government tour
Kosovo, encouraging Serbs to stay there. They could
have done
that eight years ago by coming to terms with the
criminal ethnic cleansing.
The last sentence in my 1999 diary was: I
hope they don't build a wall. Today I must say the
same: I hope
the Serbian population in Kosovo survives, and I
hope they
don t build a wall: them, us, their armies, our
armies, foreign armies.
After their independence declaration, they
are feasting in Pristina, while here in Belgrade it
is cold,
freezing silent and peaceful. Only small groups of
hooligans are gathering under a strong survelliance
of
the Serbian police.
May it be a beginning of new era;
may our children never have another war with their
neighbors just because they speak a different
language
and have a different sign on their graves.
The Balkans have always been a multiethnic
territory. No
matter who wins the battle, nobody will be able to
win a
war.
tringtring alerts us to news that the National Science Foundation has requested $20 million in funding to work on "Science and Engineering Beyond Moore's Law." The PC World article goes on to say that the effort "would fund academic research on technologies, including carbon nanotubes, quantum computing and massively multicore computers, that could improve and replace current transistor technology." tringtring notes that quantum computing has received funding on its own lately, and work on multicore chips has intensified the hunt for parallel programming. Also, improvements are still being made to current transistor mechanics.
