A quarter of European Union households surveyed by the bloc's executive body have turned their backs on fixed lines in favour of mobile phones, with a fifth now making calls over the Internet. Reuters... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 28 Jun 2008 | 11:01 am
AFP - As many as 300 Internet warnings of mass murder and other death threats have been posted online in Japan after a knifing rampage in Tokyo left seven people dead, media said Saturday.
Ars Technica is running a story about recently enacted legislation in Louisiana which will allow school board officials to "approve supplemental classroom materials specifically for the critique of scientific theories" such as evolution and global warming. The full text of the Act (PDF) is also available. Quoting: "The text of the [Louisiana Science Education Act] suggests that it's intended to foster critical thinking, calling on the state Board of Education to 'assist teachers, principals, and other school administrators to create and foster an environment within public elementary and secondary schools that promotes critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of scientific theories.' Unfortunately, it's remarkably selective in its suggestion of topics that need critical thinking, as it cites scientific subjects 'including, but not limited to, evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning.'"
I used to be annoyed by people who commented on my Twitter messages (tweets) in FriendFeed, rather than replying directly to me in Twitter (the platform I was using). However with the introductions of... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:35 am
According to Information Week which has knowledge of an internal AT&T; memo, the iPhone will be getting picture messaging functionality, a feature disapointingly missing from the original and the new... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:17 am
By WESLEY P HESTER A six-month tug of war over development around Swift Creek Reservoir may end at Wednesday's Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors meeting. Matoaca District Supervisor Marleen K. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:02 am
By James V. Curatalo, Ken Willis; Jim Bowman The Boy Scouts have a motto, "Be prepared." As the providers of water service to an Inland Valley population that is nearing 500,000, we share this philosophy. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:02 am
THERE was a time when the phrase "states' rights" was code for trampling on the rights of individuals. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:02 am
By Joe Rodriguez, The Wichita Eagle, Kan. Jun. 28--Tom Williams opened the door to his new studio apartment and proudly showed off his room Friday. "I love it, I love it," he said. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:02 am
By Connie Bloom, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio Jun. 28--Q -- I was wondering if you could do an article on the importance of providing water for wildlife? Birds also need to bathe to clean their feathers and cool off. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:02 am
Drought could lower lake by 5 more feet Thurmond Lake could fall to as much as 16 feet below full pool by Sept. 1, according to the latest projections by the Army Corps of Engineers. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:01 am
By Rob Pavey and Brandon Larrabee Worsening drought conditions are spreading south into the metro Augusta area, according to Georgia State Climatologist David Stooksbury. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:01 am
Fires blazing through state threaten homes BIG SUR, Calif. - Flames from a huge wildfire burning through a national forest inched toward the scenic tourist town of Big Sur, where firefighters rushed Thursday to protect historic structures and hundreds of homes. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:01 am
By Samantha Marcus, La Crosse Tribune, Wis. Jun. 28--The city of La Crosse for a third time was snubbed by the state's Main Street Program, which supports revitalization efforts in Wisconsin's downtowns. Lee Rasch, president of Downtown MainStreet, Inc. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:01 am
Blaze to char hundreds of acres, officials say SENECA, S.C. - Fire officials say a wildfire in an Oconee County state park is spreading and likely will continue to burn overnight. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:01 am
By Christopher Faille, Senior Financial Correspondent NEW ORLEANS (HedgeWorld.com) - The Children's Investment Fund Management (UK) LLP and its ally, 3G Capital Partners, Ltd., claimed victory Wednesday [June 25] on the basis of preliminary voting results from the annual shareholders' meeting of CSX Corp. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:01 am
By Paula Schleis, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio Jun. 28--A new locally produced blog invites America's parents to explore the value of play and share tips with each other. CreativePlayPlus.com has been launched by Streetsboro toy maker The Step2 Co. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:01 am
Charlanna Beresfords special mini round-up of upcoming SL5B events The cakes are baked, party dresses on, and the celebrations for Second Lifes fifth birthday are well underway! There are plenty of exhibits... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:01 am
By Victor Godinez, The Dallas Morning News Jun. 28--AT&T Inc. is moving its headquarters to Dallas from San Antonio, the telecommunications company said Friday afternoon. AT&T said the move will start immediately and be completed by the end of the year. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2008 | 8:00 am
You’ve gotta love the ideas that spawn from the gaming community. Piggybacking off the wonderful Child’s Play charity which was started by Penny Arcade, a trio of gamers have decided to band... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 28 Jun 2008 | 7:42 am
By Jonathan Kimak DXG has come up with the DXG-567V, a High Definition digital video camera that is just over 4 inches long and comes in four different colors (red, blue, black and pink). It records 720p... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 28 Jun 2008 | 6:23 am
(TrendHunter.com) In order to feed you more delicious trends, TrendHunter.com will now be publishing three times a day: 10am, 2pm and 10pm EST. Previously, we would publish all 30-60 trends each day... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 28 Jun 2008 | 6:11 am
(TrendHunter.com) It's been two years since the Lamborghini Limited Edition Murcilago LP 640 Roadster by Donatella Versace was discussed as a possible production model. Then, it was being developed as... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 28 Jun 2008 | 6:06 am
Daehenoc points out news that eBay Australia has postponed their ban on all forms of payment other than PayPal. The ban had already been delayed once, but eBay Australia has now decided to simply wait for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to determine whether or not the move is acceptable. We discussed the beginnings of this story back in April.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's booming economy has allowed it to increase spending on research and basic science, but it still has a way to go to catch up with the United States and other... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 28 Jun 2008 | 5:48 am
(TrendHunter.com) Brace yourself for how old some of the following features will make you feel! This super gallery highlights some of the best retro and old-school tech designs that have recently made... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 28 Jun 2008 | 5:11 am
(TrendHunter.com) The following gallery will evoke the inner geek who has ever engaged in gaming, as it highlights some of the modern ways retro past times have been brought back. Scroll though and you'll... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 28 Jun 2008 | 5:10 am
By Bella Jaisinghani MUMBAI: Question: Name the conservation architect who is supervising the ongoing restoration of the Gateway of India. Answer: Nobody. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2008 | 5:02 am
By JOHN MARTIN, Courier & Press staff writer 464-7594 or martinj@courierpress.com Leah Eckert's mother and father are both engineers, and she's interested in following suit. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2008 | 5:02 am
Clare O'Connor Hewlett-Packard has pulled a lucrative EMEA account out of Porter Novelli and turned instead to Edelman. The revised account, believed to be worth well into six figures, was handed to Edelman following a four-month pitch process. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2008 | 5:02 am
By LAURA SIMMONS, Courier & Press staff writer 464-7510 or simmonsl@courierpress.com Angie Tennison knows computers - she ought to. She's bought three in the last three years for nieces and nephews who've gone off to college. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2008 | 5:02 am
The Pittsburgh Housing Authority has established a hot line -- 412-456-5111 -- to address questions or concerns about the Housing Choice Voucher Program. It will be answered 24 hours a day. People also can submit questions or comments by e-mail to: hotline@hacp.org. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2008 | 5:02 am
By Valerie Kalfrin, Tampa Tribune, Fla. Jun. 27--TAMPA -- Anyone headed to see Andrew Dice Clay at the Tampa Theatre tonight should watch where they park: They might be towed. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2008 | 5:01 am
Research and Markets Laura Wood Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com Fax from USA: 646-607-1907 Fax from rest of the world: +353-1-481-1716 Logo: http://www.researchandmarkets.com Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/ 429cd7/html_xhtml_and_c) has announced the addition of the "HTML, XHTML, and CSS All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies" report to their offering. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2008 | 5:01 am
A conference in Indonesia on the international waste trade ended without breaking a 14-year impasse over the sale of hazardous waste across borders, the host's delegate said on Saturday. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 28 Jun 2008 | 4:45 am
swestcott brings us a story from Space.com about the possibility of finding evidence for ancient Earth life on the moon. A team of scientists has published work confirming that meteorites originating from Earth could have remained sufficiently intact while colliding with the moon to allow the survival of biological evidence for life. Quoting: "Crawford and Baldwin's group simulated their meteors as cubes, and calculated pressures at 500 points on the surface of the cube as it impacted the lunar surface at a wide range of impact angles and velocities. In the most extreme case they tested (vertical impact at a speed of some 11,180 mph, or 5 kilometers per second), Crawford reports that 'some portions' of the simulated meteorite would have melted, but 'the bulk of the projectile, and especially the trailing half, was subjected to much lower pressures.'"
In Make, Vol. 14, Thomas Zimmerman wrote about how to make a lensless microscope. In this episode of Make's Weekend Projects, Kipkay provides a video step-by-step. Make a lensless microscope
J. Dzhugashvili writes "Could you control a game using your jaw muscles, eye movements, and brain waves? OCZ designed its futuristic Neural Impulse Actuator controller for that very purpose, and it claims the device lets players shorten their response times and interact with games more naturally. But is it really all it's cracked up to be? The Tech Report took the NIA for a spin in order to answer that question, and it made some interesting discoveries along the way. The verdict is that the NIA works (mostly) as advertised, but getting used to it can take enough dedication and perseverance to put off many prospective users."
These cool mid-century arrow bookends just sold on eBay for $75. What a deal! They're brass and blackened steel. I love the design. Arrow Bookends(Thanks, Michael-Anne Rauback!)
Reid sez, "I, unfortunately, have an AT&T cell phone. I check my bill every few weeks. Today, I went to log in, and was greeted by a terrific new advertisement for their online billing system. It's as if their marketing department thinks that warrantless wiretapping is funny or something. "
Link, Link to screenshot
(Thanks, Reid!)
Reuters - Aerosmith fans can finally get
their chance to step into the shoes of Steven Tyler and Joe
Perry as video game developer Activision Inc released
its Guitar Hero: Aerosmith game on Friday.
Press Event to Highlight Results During NECC, June 29, 4pm, Grand Hyatt San Antonio WASHINGTON, June 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- During the past three months,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 28 Jun 2008 | 12:04 am
Tjeerd writes "There is currently a discussion going on in the Netherlands about embryo selection. The process means that when using in vitro fertilization, you can check what kind of genetic defects will definitely become activated during life. When embryos with those defects are identified, they can be avoided or destroyed. The next step the government is considering is to make it possible to select against genetic defects which might become active in life, such as breast and colon cancer. Of course, this is a very difficult discussion; where do you start, and where do you end? People are worrying that there is no real limit, and that you could potentially check for every genetic defect. I think if you're in a situation where you or your family have genetic defects, you surely want to check whether your children would have them too. What does the Slashdot community think about this?"
Watch the London community support officers (they're not real cops, but deputied volunteers who fancy themselves real ones) as they confront a videographer who has the temerity to take footage of a public street. It starts with a sudden gloved hand over the camera lens, then it's "give me a good reason why you're filming," then it's on to "papers please"; and when the guy behind the camera, sensibly enough, asks under which law he's not allowed to film there, the bully-boy hisses "shut up." Twice.
News Corp. and a private equity firm offered Friday to buy out public shareholders of News Corp.'s publicly traded subsidiary NDS Group PLC. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 27 Jun 2008 | 11:20 pm
US environmentalists said Friday they expect no breakthroughs in climate change talks from international players attending the Group of Eight (G8) July 7-9 summit in Hokkaido, Japan. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 27 Jun 2008 | 11:14 pm
According to the psychologist Sam Gosling, the minutiae of our private spaces hold the secrets of our true personality. Here he runs his test on six public figures, from John Simpson to Julian Clary Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 27 Jun 2008 | 11:06 pm
SAN FRANCISCO, June 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Fordela Corporation [ href="http://www.fordela.com">http://www.fordela.com ] has announced the launch of its... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 27 Jun 2008 | 11:06 pm
An anonymous reader writes "The MPAA must be celebrating. According to the BitTorrent news site Slyck.com, the Department of Justice is proclaiming their first P2P criminal copyright conviction against an Elite Torrents administrator. The press release notes, 'The jury was presented with evidence that Dove was an administrator of a small group of Elite Torrents members known as "Uploaders," who were responsible for supplying pirated content to the group. At sentencing, which is scheduled for Sept. 9, 2008, Dove faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.'"
There could be a brief time this summer when there is no ice on the North Pole, a US scientist said Friday, blaming global warming that has melted the Arctic ice sheet over decades. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 27 Jun 2008 | 10:49 pm
WASHINGTON, June 27 /PRNewswire/ -- TeleContinuity, a firm that provides critical government agencies and businesses with backup, survivable voice communications during... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 27 Jun 2008 | 10:29 pm
LONDON, June 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Board of NDS Group plc notes the announcement made earlier today by News Corporation and Permira Advisers LLP and confirms... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 27 Jun 2008 | 10:19 pm
TechWeb - InformationWeek - Mindreef and Iona Technologies are expected to bolster Progress' portfolio which includes management tools and business process management software. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 27 Jun 2008 | 10:19 pm
Today on Boing Boing Gadgets — a site which we suspect you'll enjoy reading even if you often find gadgets tire- and irksome (so do we!) — we spotted these top-notch crank-powered greeting cards from Hallmark, of all people; hacked sunglasses that block CCTV cameras; a book about making LEGO weapons; a human-powered party bike, complete with lights and sound system; and the Venture Bros. era-appropriate love of fancy chairs.
A team of Israeli art students made a wooden coffee grinder shaped like a cuddly tumor; a crappy newspaper made a crime spree by stupid kids the fault of Grand Theft Auto; ICANN unveiled a new plan for third level domains, putting me only $100k away from owning http://cluster.fuck.
Rob documented BBG's first word coinage; John exposed a traumatic misunderstanding of the nature of lumberjack hibernation; I got off my ass and started rounding up deals again.
One of Pixar's own made a cute Wall•E in LEGO. (And I'm going to see it tonight. I'm pumped!) AT&T may actually be adding MMS to iPhone, which for the first time allowed people on the internet to express their opinion about Apple. Nokia released some new phones, which for the second time allowed people on the internet to express their opinion about Apple.
Then there were the sexy stormtrooper boots, our enthusiasm over which only slighted muted by the acknowledgement that every stormtrooper was a clone, then brought back into vibrant excitement when reader Rob Cockerham invented the term "Fett footish."
There was a Steampunk sonic rifle. Despite indications to the contrary, use of the term did not cause the internet to implode. Yet.
Helio, a company that thought it could build a business by buying expensive phones and selling them to poor teens has — surprisingly — been sold for scrap. Perhaps they'd have been better selling buckets for making dogsicles.
Once again, someone made a dot-matrix toaster, but only in their mind. (Hey, MAKE:RS! You can do this!) World of Warcraft added a real-world security dongle to protect you from gold farmers stealing your account. Yahoo hiked domain prices in a fairly scummy manner.
And someone made a lamp from dishes which looks an awful like the stuff I used to make on the lathe when I was sequestered in wood shop for seventh-grade homeroom.
rsmiller510 writes "Last week Adobe surprised a few people with the announcement that it was including Alfresco content management services as part of its LiveCycle Enterprise Suite Update 1 package. The surprise was two-fold, that Adobe felt it was necessary to add content management services at all, and that it chose open source vendor Alfresco as its content management partner. I spoke to Alfresco CEO John Powell to get his perspective on the pact and how it can help push open source into the enterprise mainstream. Powell is understandably excited by this arrangement, and one of the main reasons, he says, is because the Adobe partnership gives his company credibility with companies that might otherwise not even sniff at an open source vendor."
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined on Friday, as investors remained unnerved over a fresh record in oil prices and turmoil in the credit markets. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 27 Jun 2008 | 10:09 pm
Wireless chip designer Qualcomm Inc. spent nearly $1.5 million in the first quarter lobbying on technology and trade issues, according to a recent disclosure report. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 27 Jun 2008 | 10:01 pm
Are your feeds well-formed? If not, maybe it's time you gave them a good scrubbing. Webmonkey offers these simple suggestions for cleaner, faster-loading Atom and RSS content. Follow our tips and you'll be validated, compressed and optimized to rule in no time.
Traveling this summer? Don't lug your data with you -- just set up your laptop to talk to your machine remotely and access your music, e-mail, photos and other files from thousands of miles away. In Wired's How-To Wiki.
InfoWorld - Sun Microsystems is sponsoring a collaborative environment for building and hosting social applications that would run on environments like Facebook and OpenSocial. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 27 Jun 2008 | 9:45 pm
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, June 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nortel Inversora (NYSE: NTL) ("Nortel Inversora" or the "Company"), the holding company of... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 27 Jun 2008 | 9:41 pm
There's a 50-50 chance that the North Pole will be ice-free this summer, which would be a first in recorded history, a leading ice scientist says. The weather and ocean conditions in the Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 27 Jun 2008 | 9:40 pm
Squint/Opera's photography exhibit "depicts imaginary scenes in London in 2090, when rising sea levels have inundated the city." They made it look like fun! Flooded London
mjasay writes "CNET is reporting that on Monday Orbitz will announce the creation and release of two open-source projects, Extremely Reusable Monitoring API (ERMA) and Graphite, both 'part of a Complex Event Processing system designed to monitor large distributed applications, analyze the data that is gathered and display that data in real-time graphs.' Though there were hints of these projects at JavaOne earlier this year, Monday's announcement adds significant context to the work Orbitz has done to create two highly compelling open-source projects, whose applicability extends far beyond the travel industry. In particular, it highlights Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst's vision that enterprise IT needs to open up and collaborate. However, as Orbitz's development team notes, it's easier said than done to participate in open source, especially when creating projects rather than simply contributing to existing projects."
Tony Markel, an engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, drives a plug-in hybrid that gets 100 mpg and gets its power from the sun. If he has his way, you will too.
A building fit for a king -- in this case, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.
In competition with some of the world’s greatest architects, Snøhetta has won the competition about designing Saudi Arabia’s new Cultural Center. Saudi Aramco – the world’s largest oil company – is the client.
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz set the cornerstone for the Cultural Center which will house a museum, library, theater, cinema and more. The building reflects the history of oil in Saudi Arabia and is different from the country’s architectonic traditions with its abstract and spectacular form.
Along with five other internationally know architect offices, Snøhetta participated in the competition and was chosen in preference to famous names as Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas.
AP - Virgin Mobile USA Inc. is buying Helio LLC, a struggling cell phone carrier that was founded to bring the advanced features of South Korean phones to the U.S. market. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 27 Jun 2008 | 9:16 pm
From one of my favorite blogs about books, Bookride, a "tall tale from the trade":
A similar tale is set in 1965 in a provincial bookshop where trade is slow. The dealer has a sale of the books upstairs, lesser books but useful stock--even after severe reductions there are 10,000 books left. Rather than haul them down to the dump he decides to give the whole lot to the young girl who comes in on afternoons when he is out doing house calls, fishing, watching cricket etc., She graciously accepts them and says she will arrange to have them out as soon as possible. He sets off to a local auction and on his return is greatly surprised to find all the books have gone. The girl explains that a guy came in from a movie company needing 10000 books - for the book burning scenes in Fahrenheit 451 that they were filming nearby. She only charged £1 per book.
While this week's wildfires might be more dramatic, California's on-road traffic generates as much carbon dioxide as all of them combined in a mere nine days.
NewsFactor - Virgin Mobile USA on Friday said it has agreed to acquire Helio, a joint venture between SK Telecom and EarthLink, for $39 million in equity. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 27 Jun 2008 | 8:51 pm
Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker, and the sad specter of the actor's premature death, are fueling ticket sales and leading theaters to add 3 a.m. screenings.
AP - On his final full day at Microsoft Corp., Bill Gates went on stage to reminisce with his longtime friend Steve Ballmer, and neither man could hold back tears as Ballmer handed Gates a large scrapbook as a farewell present.
stress_life writes "Following controversial allegations that Nvidia is cheating in 3DMark Vantage and Unreal Tournament 3 benchmarks, executives from Futuremark and Epic moved forward to clean any confusion. However, the game was not over — enthusiasts from Israel ported PhysX middleware to run on ATI Radeon cards, achieving remarkable performance. Owners of ATI Radeon cards will be able to play PhysX games as well, such as Ghost Recon 2 and already mentioned Unreal Tournament 3."
PC World - Microsoft, usually a source of software patch updates and claims about Vista adoption rates, produced a bit of sentimental... Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 27 Jun 2008 | 8:20 pm
Bill Gates retires from full-time work at Microsoft next week. We figured that would be the perfect time to put together a highlights reel showing the most entertaining, goofy and inspiring moments from his 33-year career.
mrogers writes "Today is Bill Gates' last day as a full-time employee of Microsoft. After 33 years at the company, the one-time richest man in the world will be retiring at 52 to spend more time guiding the charitable Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. What would you buy him as a retirement gift?"
A 19-year-old hacker is agreeing to plead guilty to launching a botnet attack and stealing financial data from thousands of computers. The malware program installed itself on victims' computers when they downloaded peer-to-peer file sharing software, authorities said. Jason Milmont, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, faces a maximum five-year term.
Earth is filled with incredibly strange creatures, from thermophiles like the one seen here that can survive in temperatures up to 121 degress Celsius to the bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans that thrives in 2000 times more ionising radiation than would fry a human. New Scientist features a survey of ten "extremophiles." The headline is a bit off though, reading: "The most extreme-life forms in the universe." Of course, studying these unusual organisms could give scientists insight into what life might exist on other planets, but all of the creatures in this article are found right here at home. From New Scientist:
There's hardly a niche on Earth that hasn't been colonised. Life can be found in scalding, acidic hot pools, in the driest deserts, and in the dark, crushing depths of the ocean. It has even found a toehold in the frigid polar regions and in toxic dumps.
"Life on Earth has radiated into every conceivable – and in some cases almost inconceivable – ecological niche," says Chris Impey of the University of Arizona in Tucson, US.
The very existence of these hardy organisms hints that life might be able to eke out an existence in the cold, dry climate of Mars, the icy, acidic conditions of Jupiter's moon Europa, or in countless other spots beyond our solar system.
Tyler Boudreau, who served in the Marine Corps infantry for more than a decade, wrote a fascinating personal story for Industry Standard about digital technology on the battlefield. It's an interesting story about how IT can get in the way of human initiative and common sense. Boudreau's book, Packing Inferno: The Unmaking of a Marine, will be published in September by Feral House. From the article:
Unfortunately, high-speed communications and bold initiative do not always go hand in hand. With such an abundance of information available simultaneously at all levels, micromanagement can creep unnoticed into the chain of command and pull it apart. For example, if a general is able to follow an ongoing firefight through email and IM, and he is inclined to believe he knows what's best for the units in contact, then he very well might start directing those small units from afar, consequently eliminating the need for his colonels, captains, and sergeants to do any thinking of their own.
AP - An old name in retail was hit by a modern scourge a hack of its customers' credit card numbers but didn't inform the consumers, revealing how data breaches might be heavily undercounted even with new notification laws. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 27 Jun 2008 | 6:46 pm
The man who blessed the world with Donkey Kong, Mario and the incredible Wii opens the door to his game-changing imagination. Wired.com interview by Chris Kohler and Clive Thompson.
The Bill Gates that most people are familiar with is the socially awkward nerd who strong-armed his way into becoming the head of the largest software company in the world.
In reality, Gates is a smooth operator who, despite his uncombed hair, baby face and disheveled appearance, knew exactly what he was doing every step of the way. He successfully transitioned from cocky college dropout to brass-knuckle negotiator to seasoned captain of industry, eventually becoming the richest man in the world and a model philanthropist.
"This is a guy who really morphed over time," says Mary Jo Foley, a longtime Microsoft watcher and author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-Gates Era. "When I look at other CEOs -- guys like [Oracle CEO] Larry Ellison -- they haven't changed much, but Gates has really changed. I still think he's a hard-charging businessman, though -- I don't think he's gone soft."
Here's a look at some of the tricky transitions that Gates successfully navigated over the course of his career. Each of these changes were necessary and probably inevitable for any ambitious entrepreneur. It's a measure of Gates' business acumen that he successfully pulled these off where many lesser entrepreneurs have failed.
Transition One: Coder to Negotiator
If you told the 20-year-old Gates, who co-founded Microsoft in 1975, that he actually pulled off his grand plan he probably wouldn't be surprised. And that's part of his charm.
Back in 1980, when Gates was barely old enough to rent a car, he walked into a room filled with IBM execs and sold them a product he didn't even have. IBM wanted to get into the computer business, and Bill Gates wanted to get into the software business. He didn't have any negotiating skills, but he landed a deal under which IBM licensed MS-DOS from Microsoft. It was a ridiculously advantageous arrangement since it gave Microsoft the freedom to license the operating system to any other computer maker -- which is what eventually fueled Microsoft's fantastic growth.
"He's not a rock star programmer, but he's always had a knack for seeing where the industry is going. He's not always right, but he's a visionary in terms of seeing how markets and industries evolve," Foley says.
Transition Two: Founder to Fortune 500 CEO
Many entrepreneurs are fully brilliant leaders of startups, but they crash
and burn when those companies grew beyond the startup stage. There's little
overlap between the skill sets involved in running a small startup and those
required to steer a major corporation.
Gates is one of the few to pull off both feats with aplomb.
"His management style worked really well when they were a scrappy upstart.
He brought in young smart guys like him. But he had to tone it down when
Microsoft became a big company. A ruthless management style doesn't work as
well with a company of 80,000 people," says Foley.
Gates matured simultaneously with the company. He learned to tuck his
shirt in, comb his hair, and make polite cocktail conversation.
"When I was a summer intern at Microsoft in grad school in 1989, he
hosted the summer MBA interns to a very nice backyard barbecue at his old
house, before he got married. He worked the crowd expertly, despite his
reputation for being ill-at-ease with people, and gave everyone their chance
to ask him a question or two," says Ted Weinstein, a San Francisco-based
literary agent.
Transition Three: Monopolist to Savvy Defendant
His visions didn't help when the feds came knocking in the late 1990s for one of the longest, most drawn-out antitrust cases in U.S. history. In what has been famously characterized as the 1998 "Rainman" deposition, Gates rocked back and forth in his chair, at times snapping at prosecuting attorney David Boies and generally behaving like a temperamental child. The thing is, it worked. Gates didn't give an inch. And roughly 10 years later, even Boies concedes that Gates' performance was spot on, both in the deposition and on the stand in court.
"He was the most potentially effective witness," Boies says. "Nobody knew the stuff as well as he did, and nobody had the passion for it that he did. I definitely would have called him to the stand ... He's a very smart guy."
Gates wasn't the most sympathetic witness, though, and in many ways it was a risk to let him testify.
"If you're going toe to toe with the government, and the message you want to send is, 'Come hell or high water, we're fighting this until the end,' then you do exactly what [Gates] did," says Barbara Sicalides, an antitrust attorney with Pepper Hamilton. "But in any case where you have a client the size of Microsoft, and where you have inflammatory documents, it's the sort of situation where you'd want to think twice about fighting until the bitter end ... For the most part, I think Microsoft's lawyers were exactly right."
Transition Four: Captain of Industry to 'Venture Philanthropist'
It was a peculiar situation, though, when, in his early 40s, Gates found himself one of the richest men in the world and had to start thinking about giving away his money, while he was still hungry to earn more. His initial attempts at philanthropy did not go over well.
The Gates Library Foundation, founded in 1997, was widely criticized for being too modest (he initially funded it with $200 million) and for being self-serving. And indeed it was -- the mission of the foundation was to provide libraries in low-income communities with internet access and computers. While a worthy cause, Microsoft was also a beneficiary of the foundation's work.
"I think he started the library effort because it was related to things he knew about," says Stacy Palmer, editor of The Chronicle of Philanthropy. "That's pretty typical. I think it was successful, but it was limited compared to the things he's involved with now."
It didn't take long until philanthropy became Gates' full-time occupation. In 1999 Gates folded his various charitable efforts into one organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and in 2000, Gates stepped down as CEO to spend more time on philanthropy.
"He seemed to be really interested in philanthropy from the beginning," says Foley. "He's the kind of guy who doesn't care what other people think of him, so I don't think he was bowing to pressure."
The net effect is that he has shaken up the philanthropy world. In earlier decades, industry titans often gave locally and more or less felt that their work was done at that point. Bill Gates -- and other tech-made billionaires -- have changed the landscape.
"We're seeing a growing emphasis on bringing bottom-line efficiency to venture philanthropy," says Palmer. "It's fairly dramatic -- he's trying to change the face of global philanthropy, but it started in a fairly parochial way."
AFP - As many as 300 Internet warnings of mass murder and other death threats have been posted online in Japan after a knifing rampage in Tokyo left seven people dead, media said Saturday.
These cool mid-century arrow bookends just sold on eBay for $75. What a deal! They're brass and blackened steel. I love the design.
Reuters - Aerosmith fans can finally get
their chance to step into the shoes of Steven Tyler and Joe
Perry as video game developer Activision Inc released
its Guitar Hero: Aerosmith game on Friday.
Today on Boing Boing Gadgets — a site which we suspect you'll enjoy reading even if you often find gadgets tire- and irksome (so do we!) — we spotted these top-notch crank-powered greeting cards from Hallmark, of all people; hacked sunglasses that block CCTV cameras; a book about making LEGO weapons; a human-powered party bike, complete with lights and sound system; and the Venture Bros. era-appropriate love of fancy chairs.
A team of Israeli art students made a wooden coffee grinder shaped like a cuddly tumor; a crappy newspaper made a crime spree by stupid kids the fault of Grand Theft Auto; ICANN unveiled a new plan for third level domains, putting me only $100k away from owning http://cluster.fuck.
Rob documented BBG's first word coinage; John exposed a traumatic misunderstanding of the nature of lumberjack hibernation; I got off my ass and started rounding up deals again.
One of Pixar's own made a cute Wall•E in LEGO. (And I'm going to see it tonight. I'm pumped!) AT&T may actually be adding MMS to iPhone, which for the first time allowed people on the internet to express their opinion about Apple. Nokia released some new phones, which for the second time allowed people on the internet to express their opinion about Apple.
Then there were the sexy stormtrooper boots, our enthusiasm over which only slighted muted by the acknowledgement that every stormtrooper was a clone, then brought back into vibrant excitement when reader Rob Cockerham invented the term "Fett footish."
There was a Steampunk sonic rifle. Despite indications to the contrary, use of the term did not cause the internet to implode. Yet.
Helio, a company that thought it could build a business by buying expensive phones and selling them to poor teens has — surprisingly — been sold for scrap. Perhaps they'd have been better selling buckets for making dogsicles.
Once again, someone made a dot-matrix toaster, but only in their mind. (Hey, MAKE:RS! You can do this!) World of Warcraft added a real-world security dongle to protect you from gold farmers stealing your account. Yahoo hiked domain prices in a fairly scummy manner.
And someone made a lamp from dishes which looks an awful like the stuff I used to make on the lathe when I was sequestered in wood shop for seventh-grade homeroom.
A similar tale is set in 1965 in a provincial bookshop where trade is slow. The dealer has a sale of the books upstairs, lesser books but useful stock--even after severe reductions there are 10,000 books left. Rather than haul them down to the dump he decides to give the whole lot to the young girl who comes in on afternoons when he is out doing house calls, fishing, watching cricket etc., She graciously accepts them and says she will arrange to have them out as soon as possible. He sets off to a local auction and on his return is greatly surprised to find all the books have gone. The girl explains that a guy came in from a movie company needing 10000 books - for the book burning scenes in Fahrenheit 451 that they were filming nearby. She only charged £1 per book.
AP - On his final full day at Microsoft Corp., Bill Gates went on stage to reminisce with his longtime friend Steve Ballmer, and neither man could hold back tears as Ballmer handed Gates a large scrapbook as a farewell present.There's hardly a niche on Earth that hasn't been colonised. Life can be found in scalding, acidic hot pools, in the driest deserts, and in the dark, crushing depths of the ocean. It has even found a toehold in the frigid polar regions and in toxic dumps.
Unfortunately, high-speed communications and bold initiative do not always go hand in hand. With such an abundance of information available simultaneously at all levels, micromanagement can creep unnoticed into the chain of command and pull it apart. For example, if a general is able to follow an ongoing firefight through email and IM, and he is inclined to believe he knows what's best for the units in contact, then he very well might start directing those small units from afar, consequently eliminating the need for his colonels, captains, and sergeants to do any thinking of their own.
