seattle-pk writes "Males are apparently clueless when it comes to interpreting sexual intent from females, according to a recent study (PDF) from Indiana University's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Men were found commonly to perceive more sexual intent in women's behavior than women were intending to convey. (A campus surveys showed that 68% of college females had an experience where a male mistook signs of friendliness for affection.) However, the study also shows that men were quite likely to misperceive sexual interest as friendliness. 'Rather than seeing the world through sex-colored glasses, men seemed just to have blurry vision of sorts, overall,' according to the article. If you're a male who ever mistook the meaning of a barista's smile, looks like you're not alone."
It’s definitely FriendFeed month in Silicon Valley. The company, founded by ex-Googlers, let you aggregate information and activity streams from all of the various services that you use on the internet... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Mar 2008 | 9:02 am
Tad Hirsch, the creator of a mass text-messaging system Txtmob used to aid protesters during the 2004 Republican National Convention is resisting releasing information on its users. The New York Times... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Mar 2008 | 8:57 am
We taped the 35th episode of The GigaOM Show this past week. I interviewed Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems where we discussed different topics including the importance of fundamental research,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Mar 2008 | 8:50 am
One of my co-presenters at this month's Media 08 event in Sydney was Benjamin Joffe, Managing Director at Asia Internet consultancy +8* and Co-Founder of MobileMonday Beijing. At Media 08 Benjamin discussed... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Mar 2008 | 8:18 am
Episode 143 of Diggnation: Hosts Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht announce the sale of Revision3 to Fox News at about the 2:05 mark. Rose says “Well, ah, we basically have a big announcement for everyone... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Mar 2008 | 7:45 am
A new kind of stretchy silicon circuit could open the door to "smart" surgical gloves, interactive clothing and flexible devices that wrap around mechanical parts such as... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Mar 2008 | 7:20 am
Human noses are adapted by evolution to sniff out danger, scientists have learned. In tests, volunteers' sense of smell became much more sensitive when they were given... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Mar 2008 | 7:20 am
Unusual properties of the squid's beak prevent the kind of self-injury caused by a knife with no handle, a study has found. Researchers now want to copy nature's trick... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Mar 2008 | 7:20 am
If you want to make your mark on the planet tonight, join the global Earth Hour. Created by the World Wildlife Fund, sign up on the site before 8:00 p.m.your time. Then turn off that computer, light... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Mar 2008 | 7:14 am
Stanislav_J writes "All you wealthy Slashdotters better start making alternate arrangements for stashing your millions. Switzerland's storied role as discreet banker to the world's tax-avoiding wealthy is under threat like never before, and this time the country ultimately may not be able to stop the rest of the world from prying into those legendary 'secret' accounts, said to contain between $1 trillion and $2 trillion. A massive German tax-evasion scandal is putting pressure on the Swiss to cooperate, and the rest of Europe is also hardening their resolve to force change upon them. Per the article, 'The official Swiss reaction has been self-conscious detachment, which they hope will deflate the issue,' but even their own citizens are not too concerned about those outside their borders: 80% of Swiss support the banking confidentiality law, but that number drops into the 40s when it is applied to foreigners. Pressure is also coming from US pols — not the 'let's pry into everyone's business' Republicans, but the 'make the rich pay their fair share' Democrats, including Illinois Senator (and presidential candidate) Barack Obama."
By Hart, John I hear a dull thud. A blue mist comes floating across the frosty fields. In the field behind the cemetery, the DOVO, the Belgian War Munition Demolition Service, has blown up another heap of First World War ammunition. They do it twice a day, one and a half tons a year. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Mar 2008 | 7:00 am
By Susanne Rust and Meg Kissinger, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Mar. 30--Like many parents, New Berlin mom Becky Fisco figures that if the chemicals sprayed on crib mattresses could make her 5-month-old baby sick, government regulators would warn her about it. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Mar 2008 | 7:00 am
By Trapp, Ralf With the second review conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) approaching in April, a raft of studies have appeared making clear that fundamental changes in science and technology are affecting the implementation of the treaty and that it must be adapted to take account of them.1 The most significant development is the revolution in the life sciences and related technologies, including a growing overlap between chemistry and biology. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Mar 2008 | 7:00 am
By Feakes, Daniel When states-parties to the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) gather next month in The Hague for their second review conference, the plenary sessions will be unusually full, and for good reason. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Mar 2008 | 7:00 am
By Meier, Oliver During April 7-18, representatives of 183 states-parties of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) will meet in The Hague for the second time to review the operation of the treaty and to find ways to adapt it for the future. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Mar 2008 | 7:00 am
By Bush, George W March 13, 2008 The Congress has agreed on legislation to extend current farm programs to April 18, 2008. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Mar 2008 | 7:00 am
By La Crosse Tribune, Wis. Mar. 30--COON VALLEY, Wis. -- The 75th anniversary of the Coon Creek Watershed, the first erosion control project in the United States, will be celebrated April 25 in Coon Valley. Starting at 10 a.m. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Mar 2008 | 7:00 am
By Jiang, Haiyan Halverson, Jeffrey B; Simpson, Joanne; Zipser, Edward J ABSTRACT Part I of this two-part paper examined the satellite- derived rainfall accumulation and rain potential history of Hurricanes Isidore and Lili (2002). Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Mar 2008 | 7:00 am
By Milius, Susan OCEANOGRAPHY A black coral collected near the Hawaiian Islands may set a new record for age among coral kind: some 4,200 years. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Mar 2008 | 7:00 am
By Perkins, Sid Isotopes can identify the regions where a person may have lived Judging people by their hair isn't shallow, it's sound science: The proportions of certain chemical isotopes in someone's tresses can help detectives pin down that individual's region of origin and recent movements, a new study suggests. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Mar 2008 | 7:00 am
Mike sends us this: "YouTube video of the oldest TV station sign-offs in existence: KTUL-TV in Tulsa, Oklahoma, February 18, 1979. Backing music is the jazz/lounge classic, 'Dreamsville,' from Henry Mancini's 'Music from Peter Gunn' soundtrack album."
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(Thanks, Mike!)
Mike sends us this: "YouTube video of the oldest TV station sign-offs in existence: KTUL-TV in Tulsa, Oklahoma, February 18, 1979. Backing music is the jazz/lounge classic, 'Dreamsville,' from Henry Mancini's... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Mar 2008 | 6:42 am
Jake sez, "Omnisio allows you to string together any number of YouTube videos, with arbitrary start and end points. This is great for making funny mashups, etc, but to me it's true potential lies in the fact that it obsoletes forever the aggravating hunt through the related links for the next part of a multipart youtube. Just upload them, string them together in Omnisio, and post a link in the first part's description."
Link
(Thanks, Jake!)
Jake sez, "Omnisio allows you to string together any number of YouTube videos, with arbitrary start and end points. This is great for making funny mashups, etc, but to me it's true potential lies in the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Mar 2008 | 6:41 am
Celtic Thunder ticket on sale Monday Tickets for an October concert by Celtic Thunder, a vocal group from Ireland and Scotland, will go on sale 10 a.m. Monday. The concert will be Oct. 24 at the Petersen Events Center in Oakland. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Mar 2008 | 5:00 am
Police arrested six children for allegedly using a social networking website to organise gang fights. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Mar 2008 | 5:00 am
By Liz Zemba Fayette County commissioners took no action on a rezoning request for a controversial church because a federal lawsuit has yet to be resolved. William D. Pritts wants a 158-acre parcel of land he owns in Bullskin to be rezoned from agricultural use to general business. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Mar 2008 | 5:00 am
By The Associated Press BEIJING (AP) - China's main mobile phone company said Friday it will launch trial service of the homegrown Chinese next-generation standard next week, possibly moving the huge market closer to the long-anticipated rollout of new services. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Mar 2008 | 5:00 am
call-me-kenneth writes "Business Week covers the soaring demand for power and cooling capacity in data centers. Electricity consumption for US data centers more than doubled between 2000 and 2006. Among the other stats: for every dollar spent on computing equipment in data centers, an additional half dollar is spent each year to power and cool them; and half the electricity used goes for cooling. Iceland, with its cool climate and abundant cheap power, is courting big users like Google and Microsoft as a future data center location. (Can't help thinking they're gonna need a bigger cable first, though.)"
When delegates to the Republican National Convention assembled in New York in August 2004, the streets and sidewalks near Union Square and Madison Square Garden filled with demonstrators. Police officers... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 30 Mar 2008 | 3:37 am
(TrendHunter.com) All around the world today, voluntary black outs will be experienced, or have already occured, as people flick off their lights and power down their electronics. The global movement... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Mar 2008 | 3:07 am
Negotiators from up to 180 countries gather here on Sunday for talks aimed at reaching the most ambitious treaty yet for sparing the Earth from the worst ravages of global warming. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Mar 2008 | 2:59 am
Lawrence Person writes "According to a story up on Writer's Weekly, Print on Demand publishers are being told to use Amazon's own BookSurge POD printer or else Amazon will disable the 'buy' button for their books. After hemming and hawing, an Amazon/BookSurge rep 'finally admitted that books not converted to BookSurge would have the "buy" button turned off on Amazon.com, just as we'd heard from several other POD publishers who had similar conversations with Amazon/BookSurge representatives... their eventual desire is to have no books from other POD publishers available on Amazon.com.' So much for Amazon's Vision Statement: 'Our vision is to be earth's most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.'"
By Melanie Carroll MOUNTAIN VIEW -- Although Google intends to build a huge office building, hotel and conference center on city-owned land, the Internet search giant has yet to show Mountain View any specific plans. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Mar 2008 | 2:00 am
An anonymous reader sends word that, even as ISP interference with BitTorrent traffic is easing in the US, the issue is heating up in Canada. Major Canadian ISPs are limiting access to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's shows, made available online using BitTorrent. This issue has burst onto the scene due to smaller ISPs, such as Teksavvy, blowing the whistle on the fact that Bell was expanding its traffic-shaping policies to smaller ISPs that rent Bell's network. These events have sparked a formal complaint by the National Union of Public and General Employees, which represents more than 340,000 workers across Canada, to the regulatory body, CRTC, and calls for change in Parliament.
A bill now before the Illinois Legislature would require computer technicians to report to police any child pornography they find. The measure would give technicians the same legal responsibility photo processors now have, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Saturday. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Mar 2008 | 11:00 pm
RECORDS of the voyage of Kylie Minogue's mother from Wales to Australia are now online. The star's Merthyr-born mum emigrated as a child in the 1950s. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Mar 2008 | 11:00 pm
By David Sommer, Tampa Tribune, Fla. Mar. 29--TRILBY -- A couple was charged with crimes against illegal aliens Friday after two immigrants complained that their car had been stolen, the Pasco Sheriff's Office reported. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Mar 2008 | 11:00 pm
Red Hat, the Linux software company, gave a nice welcome present Thursday to its new chief executive, James Whitehurst. The company, which distributes Linux and other open-source software, reported that... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Mar 2008 | 10:36 pm
An electric company plans to install a huge patchwork of solar cells, 10 times bigger than any previous such installation, on more than 100 large rooftops around Southern California. The California governor,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Mar 2008 | 10:36 pm
For more than a century, since he captured the spoken words Mary had a little lamb on a sheet of tinfoil, Thomas Edison has been considered the father of recorded sound. But researchers say they have unearthed... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Mar 2008 | 10:36 pm
WITH everyone hunched over laptops the other day, typing away inside their respective cones of silence, the place looked more like a Starbucks than my kitchen. At one end of the table, a fifth grader... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Mar 2008 | 10:36 pm
Senator Barack Obamas videotaped response to President Bushs final State of the Union address almost five minutes of Mr. Obamas talking directly to the camera elicited little attention from newspaper... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Mar 2008 | 10:36 pm
Flickr and Facebook allow you to share photos online, and desktop programs like Picasa, iPhoto and Photoshop Elements let you make the pictures look good before you upload. But starting today with its... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Mar 2008 | 10:36 pm
(Photo: Mike Groll/Associated Press) It wasn't that long ago--10 years at most--that consumers would blanch at spending $800 for a large-screen traditional picture tube TV. But today, with CRT TVs nearing... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Mar 2008 | 10:36 pm
Joe Mullin writes "We've discussed Troll Tracker here before — the anonymous blogger who was outed last month as Rick Frenkel, a Cisco lawyer. Since then, two lawyers from the notoriously patent-friendly Eastern District of Texas have filed defamation suits against Frenkel and Cisco, and Frenkel's blog has been shuttered. One of the plaintiffs, a renowned patent judge's son, may have been hunting the anonymous blogger for months. This week Cisco announced new blogging guidelines in response to the Troll Tracker fiasco. The company acknowledged that 'a few Cisco employees used poor judgment' during secret-blog-time, but they're largely standing by their man. Cisco's new rules will prohibit only anonymous blogging by employees about issues for which 'they have responsibilities at Cisco.'"
I was in a children's store today and my friend pointed out these doll sets from Plan Toys, a company that actually makes very good toys. The choices are "Asian Family," um, "Ethnic Family," and, er, "Doll Family." According to the Plan Toys site, there's also a "Modern Doll Family" available of oddly-dressed white folk. Link to Plan Toys, Link to larger photo (Thanks, Mike Messinger!)
An anonymous reader tips us to a story up at Wired reporting on what may be the first computer attack to inflict physical harm on victims. Last Saturday, griefers posted hundreds of bogus messages on the support forums of the nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation that used JavaScript and strobing GIFs to trigger migraines and seizures in users. For about 3% of the 50 million epileptics worldwide, flashing lights and colors can trigger seizures. "'I don't fall over and convulse, but it hurts,' says [an IT worker in Ohio]. 'I was on the phone when it happened, and I couldn't move and couldn't speak.' ... Circumstantial evidence suggests the attack was the work of members of Anonymous, an informal collective of griefers best known for their recent war on the Church of Scientology. The first flurry of posts on the epilepsy forum referenced the site EBaumsWorld, which is much hated by Anonymous. And forum members claim they found a message board thread — since deleted — planning the attack at 7chan.org, a group stronghold."
By Susan Young, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif. Mar. 29--They call it the Silver Tsunami. This year, the first wave of baby boomers turns 62, and begins crashing into the retirement zone. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Mar 2008 | 8:00 pm
A number of readers let us know about the Chaos Computer Club's latest caper: they published the fingerprint of German Secretary of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble (link is to a Google translation of the German original). The club has been active in opposition to Germany's increasing push to use biometrics in, for example, e-passports. Someone friendly to the club's aims captured Schäuble's fingerprint from a glass he drank from at a panel discussion. The club published 4,000 copies of their magazine Die Datenschleuder including a plastic foil reproducing the minister's fingerprint — ready to glue to someone else's finger to provide a false biometric reading. The CCC has a page on their site detailing how to make such a fake fingerprint. The article says a ministry spokesman alluded to possible legal action against the club.
Austria's glaciers retreated more than 22 metres (24 yards) on average last year, in the biggest shrinking for five years, the country's Alpine Club said Saturday. "All... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Mar 2008 | 7:47 pm
The annual Canadian seal hunt was marred Saturday by a boat accident in the ice-covered Gulf of St. Lawrence that killed members of the boat's crew, officials said. "There... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Mar 2008 | 7:43 pm
The much-ballyhooed opening of Heathrow's £4 billion Terminal 5 has been a debacle. British Airways has canceled 208 flights since Thursday, and has "stranded" between 15,000 and 20,000 bags. Area hotels are crammed with stuck BA passengers and are gouging on pricing, prompting BA to lift its stingy (and possibly illegal) £100 limit on hotels for stuck passengers. This is the terminal with the that just cancelled its crackpot fingerprinting procedure -- passengers are fingerprinted at check-in and at boarding.
And lest you think you might try to get there with a change of underwear by going hand-baggage only, think again. BA's baggage-checkers are being serious rules-lawyers about hand-luggage limits, forcing passengers to check hand-bags that are less than an inch oversize, dooming the luggage to the nonfunctional baggage system at T5.
On one of the delayed planes, passengers on flight BA0662 to Larnaca were held on the tarmac for some four hours before leaving at 1205 GMT.
One, Elizabeth Drury, told the BBC the captain said they would be leaving without any luggage.
They had been told this was because some of the bags initially put on the plane had not been screened properly.
"The whole experience has been meltdown," she said.
A group of school pupils on flight BA285 to San Francisco also said they were told by the airline that their bags were not on board and they could choose whether or not to travel. They were bound for a skiing trip.
"It could ruin it because we are scheduled to start skiing tomorrow," said one schoolgirl, Natalie Bakhurst.
Julio Diaz, a social worker, was robbed at knifepoint by a teenaged mugger in the Bronx. Instead of getting angry or scared, he offered the kid his coat, and struck up a friendship:
As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, "Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm."
The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, "like what's going on here?" Diaz says. "He asked me, 'Why are you doing this?'"
Diaz replied: "If you're willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me ... hey, you're more than welcome.
Andy Updegrove writes "The vote on Microsoft's OOXML closes today. The final result will not be announced (or leak) before sometime early next week. Meanwhile the votes of individual countries continue to come in, currently with more reported switching in favor of OOXML than against it. For the benefit of those who want to keep track of how the vote is tending until it's official, I'm posting the running tally of which votes have switched, what the net change has been, now many votes have come to light, and how many remain to be announced. It's likely that it will not be possible to know the final result until all votes are in, due to the complex double test for approval, and the complication that the final number of abstentions — and whether they move from 'yes' or 'no' votes — can decrease the total number of votes that need to switch to 'yes' in order for OOXML to be approved. For that reason, I also include the algorithm for arriving at a final result."
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland's foreign minister faced calls for his resignation on Saturday after a tabloid newspaper published a suggestive text message he had sent to an erotic dancer. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Mar 2008 | 6:02 pm
Espen sez, "I thought you would appreciate this cartoon that explains the difference between covariation and causality. In English, the caption is 'During a convivial gathering there is talk of the unhygienic aspect of using galoshes. One of those present chips in: "Yes, I've also noticed this. Every time I've woken up with my galoshes on, I've had a headache."'"
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(Thanks, Link
BioShock isn't meant to be a science lesson, but it contains some jargon and ideas that would be familiar to any life science student. Our Wired Science blog team got in touch with Ken Levine, the creative director at 2K games, to learn about the real science that he slips into an amazing game.
New York Times writer John Schwartz took a joyride in a new NASA lunar vehicle that sounds like it ought to come with a Garth Brooks CD:
IT turns on a dime and parallel-parks like a dream.
On the downside, it’s a little pricey (at $2 million or so) and its top speed is a pokey 15 miles an hour.
Still, there’s a lot to like about the concept car taking shape here at the Johnson Space Center.
Did I say car? The new moon buggy conceived by space center engineers is anything but a car or a buggy. Its official name is Chariot, and this, my friends, is a truck. A heavy duty workhorse of a truck.
“America basically created the truck,” said Lucien Junkin, the chief engineer on the project. And so, he says, why not take a truck to the moon if NASA, as planned, takes humans back, as early as 2020?
It is a beguiling idea, especially as realized in a vehicle infused with the lessons learned from the Apollo-era moon missions and the subsequent success of the Spirit and Opportunity robotic rovers on Mars. This model took a year to build. It looks kind of like what you’d get if a monster truck had a ménage à trois with a flatbed trailer and a medieval siege engine....
Joe Barr writes "Robin Miller has an exclusive video interview with Larry Rosen and Fred Popowich this morning on Linux.com about their new open source business model which includes software patents in its DNA. Their motto is 'Free for open source, everyone else pays.' Larry Rosen was once legal counsel for the OSI." Linux.com and Slashdot share a corporate parent.
In this video, an elephant is led to an easel, picks up a paintbrush, and paints a picture of an elephant holding a flower. Or at least, that's what appears to happen -- there are lots of cuts in the video and it's hard to say what's really going on. Fake or real, it's a great way to spend 8 minutes.
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Ponoko is an on-demand service that allows merchants to upload their designs and customers to purchase items based upon those designs. It's already working for one furniture maker.
Good news for gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains: They no longer need federal protection. The bad news for the animals? Plans are already in the works to hunt them. Federal... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Mar 2008 | 10:04 am
Sydney's iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge have gone dark as the first major world city to turn off the lights in this year's Earth Hour. The lights on the Harbour Bridge turned... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Mar 2008 | 9:51 am
Sydney's iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge have gone dark as the first major world city to turn off the lights in this year's Earth Hour. The lights on the Harbour Bridge turned... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Mar 2008 | 9:42 am
As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, "Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm."
