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Stock Market Performance Round-up: Dancing to the Same TuneThis post is a guest contribution by Prieur du Plessis, writer of the Investment Postcards from Cape Town blog. Factoring in last week's stock market rebound, I have put together a table of global stock...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 1:55 pm Yahoo settles with Icahn to avert August showdown (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Jul 2008 | 1:04 pm Internet Users Not Updating BrowserJackson writes "Security researchers from ETH Zurich, Google, and IBM Internet Security Systems have shown that more than 600 million Internet users don't use the latest version of their browser. The researchers' paper, shows that as of June 2008, only 59.1 percent of Internet users worldwide use the latest major version of their preferred web browser. Suggestions have also been made to inform users that their browser is out of date."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 21 Jul 2008 | 12:31 pm Nintendo, Microsoft stumble while Sony cruises - San Francisco Chronicle
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Jul 2008 | 12:29 pm Will CherryPal be the first mass-market cloud computer? - VentureBeat
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Jul 2008 | 12:28 pm Apple iPhone 3G remains sold out - Detroit Free Press
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Jul 2008 | 12:25 pm Startup Tries to Improve the Web Browser (PC World)PC World - Startup Vysr is trying to improve on the Web browser with an add-on that lets you access services from Web sites without...Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Jul 2008 | 12:20 pm Motorola Sues Ex-Exec; Alleges Trade Secrets Given To Apple - Washington Post
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Jul 2008 | 12:18 pm Nintendo, Microsoft stumble while Sony cruises (AP)AP - Real news from the virtual world:Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Jul 2008 | 12:15 pm Furniture from factory waste Amy sez, "Factory waste was collected in Denmark and then turned into a furniture collection. This was my graduate project at Denmark's School of Design. The pieces are made entirely out of wood and consist of a chair, a book box and 12 lamps which fit inside each other like babooshka dolls." Link (Thanks, Amy!) Source: Boing Boing | 21 Jul 2008 | 12:12 pm Using cost-benefit to evaluate aviation securityStewart and Mueller's paper, "Assessing the risks, costs and benefits of United States aviation security measures," (published by the University of Newcastle, Australia) does an amazing job of unpicking which post-911 security measures actually work and which ones are showy wastes of money and pocket-liners for slimy government contractors:Hardening cockpit doors has the highest risk reduction (16.67%) at lowest additional cost of $40 million. On the other hand, the Federal Air Marshal Service costs $900 million pa but reduces risk by only 1.67%. The Federal Air Marshal Service may be more cost-effective if it is able to show extra benefit over the cheaper measure of hardening cockpit doors. However, the Federal Air Marshal Service seems to have significantly less benefit which means that hardening cockpit doors is the more cost-effective measure.Link (via Schneier) Source: Boing Boing | 21 Jul 2008 | 12:05 pm Mr and Mrs Smith blog -- carnal pleasures taken seriouslyThe good people at the Mr and Mrs Smith travel books have started up a blog. Mr and Mrs Smith guides review romantic boutique hotels around the world -- great places to go away for a dirty weekend (and check in as Mr and Mrs Smith, natch). I've reviewed a couple hotels for them in the past -- not as a paid gig, just because it was so much fun -- and I've since become an avid fan of the guides, both for planning real trips and for daydreaming about places I might go someday. The blog is a great source of sybaritic pleasure taken very seriously indeed.Link (Thanks, Tamara!) Source: Boing Boing | 21 Jul 2008 | 12:01 pm WSO2 adds Google Gadgets to mashup server (InfoWorld)InfoWorld - WSO2 is releasing on Monday WSO Mashup Server Version 1.5, an open-source product for deploying mashup services featuring Google Gadgets support and interfaces to relational databases and other data sources.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Jul 2008 | 12:00 pm Exar Adds Next Generation Single-Channel T1/E1/J1 BITS Framer and Line Interface Unit (LIU) Combo to Industry's Most Extensive T/E PortfolioLow Voltage (1.8V), Highly Integrated, Feature Rich Solution Reduces Design Complexity for OEMs in Dynamic Markets FREMONT, Calif., July 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:45 am Exar Corporation's Fiscal 2009 First Quarter Financial Results Conference Call ScheduledFREMONT, Calif., July 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Exar Corporation (Nasdaq: EXAR) will hold its fiscal 2009 first quarter financial results conference call on July 31,...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:45 am HealthMedia Launches First-Ever Binge Eating Campaign and Intervention to Take on Nation's Top Eating DisorderWeb-Based Program Fills Large Industry Gap in Obesity and Weight Management Treatment ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthMedia, Inc., the pioneer in...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:40 am Facebook gets a facelift to help users share (AP)AP - The popular online hangout Facebook is sporting a new look to reflect changes in how its members communicate with each other and how they share photos and updates about their lives.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:33 am Universal: "Fair use" is still infringing - Ars Technica
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:32 am Nokia vs Apple in The Internet Mobile Device MarketWe've been as excited as everyone else about the iPhone 3G. But it's easy to forget that the iphone is just a tiny player in the mobile phone market. Even if it hits Steve Jobs' target of 10 million iphone...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:30 am iCAD Completes Acquisition of CAD SciencesNASHUA, N.H., July 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- iCAD, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICAD), an industry-leading provider of Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) solutions, today announced the...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:30 am Pwnage 2.0 Released: Gadget Lab Jailbreaks iPod Touch - Wired News
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:20 am It's Not Just 02 Leaking MMS Messageswiedzmin writes "A recently publicized issue with UK's O2 leaking private MMS to the Internet by making them available and searchable in Google has gained a lot of momentum and forced the company to promptly fix the problem. However a quick internet search shows that other mobile server providers, including those located in US and Canada, also make all MMS messages available in a similar manner. In fact, operators like Sprint and Boost Mobile will even let you see the phone number from which the picture or video was sent, download it, print it, forward it or reply to it from the same web page. Other operators like Canada's Bell, Solo Mobile, Verizon, Rogers and Quest appear to have removed or otherwise protected all MMS messages recently as all the cached search listings that show up for these providers are no longer available. There is no telling how many other operators' MMS listings can be accessed given correct search terms, but it looks like they are starting to get the idea and remove them from the web."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:18 am Web star famed for silly dance eyes new gig: charityNEW YORK (Reuters) - Matt Harding has won cult celebrity status by filming himself dancing badly around the world to the amusement of millions of Internet viewers but now he wants to get...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:04 am Envysion Delivers Preferred Managed Video Services Technology for Hotels and ResortsCompany makes foray into hospitality market by securing Sage Hospitality Resources and Vacation Resorts International LOUISVILLE, Colo., July 21 /PRNewswire/ --...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:04 am iLike Launches Full Song Previews - Techtree.com
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:03 am Kurani Global Restaurant Group Turns to Envysion to Help Streamline and Improve its Business OperationsRestaurant entity with 120 locations sees strong potential ROI gains as it taps Envysion's Managed Video as a Service (MVaaS) to leverage its existing video and POS systemsSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:03 am Envysion Becomes First Managed Video Company to Comply With PCI-DSS StandardsCertification provides retailers, restaurants and hospitality establishments with greater assurance against credit card security breaches LOUISVILLE, Colo., July 21...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:02 am Global Crossing Conferencing Customers 100 Percent SatisfiedFLORHAM PARK, N.J., July 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GLBC), a leading global IP solutions provider, today announced that in a recent independentSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:01 am Envysion Extends Lead in Enterprise Video Market With New Features for its Managed Video as a Service OfferingNewest additions to Envysion Video make it even easier for businesses to harness the power of video on the web for operational improvement LOUISVILLE, Colo., July 21...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:01 am 2 Drown -- 1 in a Lake, Other in the MeramecBy Elizabethe Holland, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Jul. 21--Two area men drowned in separate incidents Saturday, one while fishing on a lake in Callaway County, Mo., and the other while swimming in the Meramec River near Stanton, Mo.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Round Whitefish Restoration Going in Right Direction: Once Common, Endangered Gamefish Doing Well in Adirondack LakeBy Jeff Meyers, The Press-Republican, Plattsburgh, N.Y. Jul. 21--RAY BROOK -- Efforts to revive a dwindling population of round whitefish in New York state continue to make progress.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Failing Septic Tanks Will Be Thing of the Past in One Bluffton AreaBy Renee Dudley, The Island Packet, Hilton Head Island, S.C. Jul. 21--About 87 homes along a stretch of Buck Island Road in Bluffton could be connected to a sewer system by fall 2009, town and utilities officials said last week.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Retail Center a Collaborative EffortBy Danielle Sottosanti, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson Jul. 21--An upcoming gathering of three Central neighborhoods and an out-of-town developer will continue years of communication and understanding, despite a separation of thousands of miles.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Traffic Q&A: Nalley Valley Interchange Will Take AwhileBy Hunter T. George, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash. Jul. 21--Question: Keith Watness of Tacoma sits in traffic on northbound Interstate 5 in Tacoma and wonders about the roughly two lanes of unused pavement on the right side just before the Nalley Valley.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Waste Flows into Sound Too OftenBy Abbe Smith, New Haven Register, Conn. Jul. 21--WEST HAVEN -- The city's Water Pollution Control Facility has violated its federal discharge permit more frequently over the past year than previous years, and now city officials are trying to find out why.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Museum is Treasury of Pioneer PastBy Elizabeth Miller, The Salt Lake Tribune Jul. 21--Salt Lake City's Pioneer Memorial Museum isn't a place one would expect to see money from the Revolutionary and Civil wars.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am EDITORIAL: Olympics 2008By South Florida Sun-Sentinel Jul. 21--ISSUE: China faces another environmental challenge. Floridians may be tempted to look down on China as it faces the latest environmental problem confronting the . They shouldn't. The state has its own issues with algae.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am BRIEF: Drowning Victim Was Garner ManBy The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C. Jul. 21--PITTSBORO -- Authorities on Sunday released the name of a boater who drowned Saturday in Jordan Lake.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Bragg Picks Up an Army FirstBy Henry Cuningham, The Fayetteville Observer, N.C. Jul. 21--Fort Bragg has received the first Secretary of the Army Sustainability Award for leading the way Armywide in long-range protection of the environment and conservation of resources.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am 'Superbrands' Show How Hi-Tech is Taking Over From Home-GrownBy ALASTAIR DALTON BRITONS now put more faith in US computing giants Google and Microsoft than more traditional home-grown brands, a new survey reveals.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Man Sought in Slaying ArrestedREVIEW-JOURNAL A 47-year-old man wanted in connection with a Nye County slaying was arrested Thursday at a downtown Las Vegas hotel room , Las Vegas police said.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Presumed Presidential Nominees McCain and Obama to Make First Joint Campaign Appearance on August 16 at Saddleback ChurchLAKE FOREST, Calif., July 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, respective presumed Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, will end the primary season by making their first joint appearance of the 2008 campaign at Saddleback Church on Saturday, Aug.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am ShoreTel Certifies Interoperability of Entire Trapeze Networks Product LinePLEASANTON, Calif., July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Trapeze Networks(TM) announces that its entire product line is certified through ShoreTel's Technology Partner Program as inter-operable with the full range of ShoreTel's Pure IP Unified Communications solutions.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Google Q2 Earnings Rise 35%Google has reported a 35% increase in net income to $1.25 billion for the second quarter 2008, on revenue up 39% at $5.37 billion.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am BRIEF: Man Held on Charge of Molesting Boy, 5By The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C. Jul. 21--DURHAM -- A man was being held in lieu of $750,000 bail Sunday, accused of molesting a 5-year-old boy.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Rohati Systems Secures $12 Million in Series B Funding to Advance Network-Based Entitlement ControlSUNNYVALE, Calif., July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Rohati Systems, the leader in high-performance Network-Based Entitlement Control (NBEC) solutions, today announced it has secured $12 million in a second round of funding from Foundation Capital and Matrix Partners.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am A New Look at the Old Sights: Carroll to Raise Online Profile With YouTube VideoBy Arin Gencer, The Baltimore Sun Jul. 21--On a recent summer afternoon, a camera crew slowly trekked up Westminster's Main Street.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am The Salt Lake Tribune Paul Rolly Column: Rolly: Voter Drives Verboten at V.A. HospitalBy Paul Rolly, The Salt Lake Tribune Jul. 21--Utah Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert has agreed to co-sign a letter to Congress asking for a review of a recent Department of Veterans Affairs rule barring voter registration drives at V.A. facilities. That means veterans confined to V.A.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Blue Goose Revolutionizes Web 2.0 Direct-DonationJUPITER, Fla., July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Goose Media LLC announces the perfection of microfinancing and direct donation in the Web 2.0 platform.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Handsets boost LG Elec Q2, but outlook cloudy (Reuters)Reuters - LG Electronics Inc (066570.KS) increased quarterly earnings by 84 percent with strong results in mobile phones and at its LCD joint venture, but the South Korean firm faces a tougher second half amid a global economic downturn.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Jul 2008 | 10:46 am Bletchley Park kicks so much ass Yesterday, I got one of the best and most memorable birthday presents of my life -- a trip to the legendary Bletchley Park, site of the British WWII codebreaking effort, where Turing and co invented modern computer science and cryptography. The site is just as I'd imagined it -- a rotting, lovely old mansion surrounded by modest, slope-shouldered sheds with a variety of exhibits staffed by knowledgeable, friendly geeks who clearly find it all every bit as exciting as I do.
Source: Boing Boing | 21 Jul 2008 | 10:14 am Bletchley Park kicks so much assYesterday, I got one of the best and most memorable birthday presents of my life -- a trip to the legendary Bletchley Park, site of the British WWII codebreaking effort, where Turing and co invented modern...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 10:14 am Big Facebook redesign to give users more control (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Jul 2008 | 10:09 am Nasa may hitch a ride on Japanese spacecraft - VNUNet.com
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Jul 2008 | 10:06 am You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz (InfoWorld)InfoWorld - It's been an educational week. We learned what happens when everyone tries try to activate their iPhones at the same time, what people will pay for free software, and what can go wrong when you tick off your IT folks.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Jul 2008 | 10:00 am Yahoo shareholder Eric Jackson urges compromise with Carl Icahn in board battle over Microsoft dealA prominent Yahoo shareholder has proposed that a composite board from current management and rebel shareholder nominees should take over the company. Ahead of a showdown at the company's annual general...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 9:59 am Hams of Bletchley ParkI've always loved amateur radio enthusiasts, and many's the time I wished I had a Ham license and a set of my own. But as cool as Ham is as a hobby, it is infinitely cooler for the Hams of Milton Keynes, UK, who are within spitting distance of the legendary Bletchley Park, the site of the famous WWII codebreaking effort that decoded the Nazi messages captured by intrepid Hams from across the UK using giant, beautiful computers. The Milton Keynes Amateur Radio Society actually meets at Bletchley Park on Mondays, and volunteers from the society staff a booth in the museum, surrounded by postcards and certificates from other Hams around the world.Link Source: Boing Boing | 21 Jul 2008 | 9:46 am Hams of Bletchley ParkI've always loved amateur radio enthusiasts, and many's the time I wished I had a Ham license and a set of my own. But as cool as Ham is as a hobby, it is infinitely cooler for the Hams of Milton Keynes,...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 9:46 am Facebook challenges German rival - BBC News
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Jul 2008 | 9:45 am Pocket Enigma Machine in a CD jewel caseBletchley Park, the "home of the codebreakers" -- where Alan Turing and co cracked the Nazi Enigma machine -- sells "Pocket Enigma Machines" made from a clever cardboard disc inserted into a CD jewel case...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 9:33 am Pocket Enigma Machine in a CD jewel caseBletchley Park, the "home of the codebreakers" -- where Alan Turing and co cracked the Nazi Enigma machine -- sells "Pocket Enigma Machines" made from a clever cardboard disc inserted into a CD jewel case. It comes with a very good booklet explaining the basics of ciphering and deciphering with Enigma, and with a bunch of fun Enigma-related activities. Proceeds go to the nonprofit that runs the excellent Bletchley Park museum.Link Source: Boing Boing | 21 Jul 2008 | 9:33 am Discarded cow eyes could replace live animals in toxicity testsOn the day the Home Office releases figures for how many animals are used in experiments, a new technique offers a way to reduce the number by thousands every yearSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 9:14 am Paul Lewis on why Bluetooth technology is raising fears about privacySource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 8:57 am Globalization: Some NumbersI've been thinking a lot about the global internet lately. Here are the May comScore numbers for total Internet audience Worldwide - 853mm (up 10% from 772mm last year) North America - 185mm (up 4%...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 8:55 am Second Life Residents Raise Record-Making $200,000 In Linden Dollars For American Cancer SocietyExtraordinary, milestone news: this weekend, Rik Riel reports from last weekend's closing ceremonies, 1000 runners from 89 teams raised nearly USD$200,000 for Relay for Life 2008, a collaboration with...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 8:37 am Second Life Residents Raise Record-Making $200,000 In Linden Dollars For American Cancer Society, Double From 2007Extraordinary, milestone news: this weekend, Rik Riel reports from last weekend's closing ceremonies, 1000 runners from 89 teams raised nearly USD$200,000 for Relay for Life 2008, a collaboration with...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 8:35 am NASA/Ames scientists map our return to the moon - San Jose Mercury News
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Jul 2008 | 8:33 am The Friendfeedization Of FacebookAs Facebook continues to roll out the full version of its new user profiles, it’s becoming clear that their primary goal isn’t, as they said in May, to simply create a cleaner user experience...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 8:26 am Facebook Sues German Company, Claims Ripoffazuredrake writes "Facebook, the largest social networking site in the US, has sued German social networking site studiVZ on the grounds that studiVZ has copied the look and feel of Facebook in order to piggyback off their success. According to the article, 'The German company sued by Facebook for running a "knockoff" of the social networking Web site said on Sunday it asked a German court to declare that Facebook's claims are without merit.' However, a simple glance at the two sites' homepages seems to tell a different story — studiVZ copies many things from Facebook, from their button layout down to the font they're using."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 21 Jul 2008 | 8:12 am User Created Batman Films - Batman Dead End by Sandy Collora Fan Film (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) Batman is one comic book character that appeals even to non-comic book readers. Its not just about the flawed villains but the dark hero himself who has a touch of madness about him...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 8:00 am Reviews of local servicesJust a few years ago, Yelp was used primarily by San Francisco-area residents to exchange opinions on local restaurants, bars and nightclubs.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 7:00 am A user-friendly video game industry?Publishers at the E3 convention highlight diversions for the family and technology that bypasses the controller. ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 7:00 am Asian markets gain after oil prices sinkAsian stock markets rose Monday as sentiment improved thanks to lower crude oil prices and stronger-than-expected earnings from U.S. banks.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 5:57 am Virgin Media iPlayer: more than 10m viewings in JuneThe BBC iPlayer service on Virgin Media recorded more than 10m viewings in June, according to the first figures released by the cable TV company. Virgin Media, the first TV service to make the BBC iPlayer...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 21 Jul 2008 | 5:44 am Tor.com: a blog, a social network, a zine -- totally clueful big publishing website Hurrah! Tor, my US novel publisher, has launched Tor.com, its major, fantastically awesome website, which is part sf zine, part group-blog, part social network. They're publishing great original fiction -- they've got stories by John Scalzi and Charlie Stross up now, and I've got one coming soon, called THE THINGS THAT MAKE ME WEAK AND STRANGE GET ENGINEERED AWAY -- with original illustration by the talented Tor art team. They're running fascinating blog-posts on diverse subjects from a team of bloggers that includes in-house people from across the business and outside "friends of Tor" including novelists, fans, critics, and sundry others. And there's a social networking system that ties it all together.
Oh, and for a short time, they're also hosting all the free ebooks they gave away to entice you to sign up for the launch-announcement. Run, don't walk.
Link Source: Boing Boing | 21 Jul 2008 | 5:37 am One of the Coolest Places In the Universephantomflanflinger writes "The Cern Laboratory, home of the Large Hadron Collider, is fast becoming one of the coolest places in the Universe. According to news.bbc.co.uk, the Large Hadron Collider is entering the final stages of being lowered to a temperature of 1.9 Kelvin (-271C; -456F) — colder than deep space. The LHC aims to re-create the conditions just after the Big Bang and continue the search for the Higgs boson."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 21 Jul 2008 | 5:36 am Spamwar's worst mistakes being recapitulated by the copyright warsMy latest Guardian column, "Copyright enforcers should learn lessons from the war on spam," looks at the fallout from the failed tactics of the spamwar and asks how the entertainment industry plans on doing any better trying the same tactics on an even grander and more savage scale:Content-based filtersLink Source: Boing Boing | 21 Jul 2008 | 5:30 am Report: Yahoo shareholder seeks compromise (CNET)CNET - A dissident shareholder is pushing Yahoo to accept a mixed board of directors drawn from company nominees and those presented by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, according to a report by Reuters.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Jul 2008 | 5:05 am July 21, 1925: Evolution Teacher Found Guilty1925: John Scopes, an unassuming high school biology teacher and part-time football coach, is found guilty of teaching evolution in schools, in violation of Tennessee law. Scopes agreed, after some persuading by the American Civil Liberties Union and others, to serve as the guinea pig in an attempt to challenge the law on constitutional grounds. Famed attorney Clarence Darrow led Scopes’ defense team in what the press quickly dubbed the Monkey Trial. William Jennings Bryan, three-time Democratic nominee for president and a paradoxical blend of progressive conservatism, represented both the state and the fundamentalists who opposed Darwin’s theories. The trial took eight days in the sweltering Tennessee summer. National newspapers covered it in detail, including dramatic confrontations between Darrow and Bryan both in and out of the courtroom. Whether Scopes actually taught evolution to his biology class remains unclear. Although he told the court he had done it and would do it again, he later admitted to a newspaper reporter that while he used a textbook that included a chapter on evolution, he skipped the chapter. Darrow expected a guilty verdict and stood ready to appeal the decision to a higher court. The jury did not disappoint him. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100 (about $1,200 in today's money). The Tennessee Supreme Court later upheld the constitutionality of the statute but overturned Scopes’ conviction on a technicality. Bryan, meanwhile, died only five days after the conclusion of the Monkey Trial. The Butler Act, as the anti-evolution law was known, remained on the books in Tennessee until its repeal by the state legislature in 1967. Source: University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law 
Source: Wired Top Stories | 21 Jul 2008 | 4:00 am HP Shatters Excessive Packaging World RecordAn anonymous reader writes "HP customers will be familiar with their bizarre packaging practices (5 pounds of packaging for 8 license keys!); lets just say this story is not an isolated incident ... " I've seen some excessive packaging, but perhaps nothing to top this.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 21 Jul 2008 | 3:01 am Unlike McCain, many seniors depend on the Web (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Jul 2008 | 2:43 am Liquid Metal CPU Heatsink Beats Water Coolingunassimilatible writes "Bios Magazine is reporting that the world's first commercially available liquid-metal based CPU cooler is about to ship. Danamics, a Danish company, claims that its LM-10 outperforms standard air-cooled heatsinks and most watercooled systems with a mere 1W power draw. 'The liquid metal is a key component in Danamics cooling systems. Liquid metal has two major advantages when cooling high power density heat sources: Firstly it has superior thermo physical properties that decrease temperature — and temperature non-uniformity — on die and across chips. Secondly, the electrical properties of the liquid metal enables efficient, reliable and ultra compact electromagnetic pumping without the use of moving parts, shafts, seals, etc.' Awesome technology, if it actually works and is affordable. The submitter requests that the moderators terminate all T-1000 jokes."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 21 Jul 2008 | 1:19 am Comic-Based Movies Keep on Comin'With Dark Knight, Iron Man and other comics flicks destroying the competition at the box office, the summer of the superheroes is spawning sequels.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 21 Jul 2008 | 1:00 am Best Star Wars Remakes : We can safely stop calling Star Wars a movie and recognize it for what it really is: a virulent media infection. It's a great movie to be sure, but there are many superior movies, and none of them have inspired, say, thousands of people to dress up as faceless, nameless secondary characters. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was a great movie, but you don't see 200 sanitarium orderlies marching in the Rose Parade. Nowhere can you witness Star Wars' contagious qualities more clearly than in the realm of fan-made videos that, to one extent or another, retell the story of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the movie formerly known simply as Star Wars. Here are some of the best. Left: Star Wars Sweded Modern computing gives the average middle-class American a level of graphical processing power that would have made a '70s-era special effects engineer pant continuously. But that's no fun! Why render lifelike X-wing starfighters when you can build one out of cardboard and run around the park? Lightsabers portrayed by: Red and blue wrapping paper  : Star Wars Remake Balanced precariously on the line between impressive and ridiculous, this silent, late-'70s remake stars a micro-encephalic Darth Vader and a 10-year-old Han Solo. While not as self-consciously goofy as "Star Wars Sweded," cardboard is still vitally important to the oeuvre. They managed to recruit an impressive Mark Hamill "Luke-alike," though. Yes, I just made that pun right in front of you. Lightsabers portrayed by: Transparent plastic dealies  : Hardware Wars Take the do-it-yourself sensibility of the previous two Star Wars tributes, add some hand puppets and jokes, and what do you get? The best Star Wars parody of all time, and yes I've seen Spaceballs. Toasters! Vacuum cleaners! Awesome. (Warning: brief fuzzy nudity at the end of the second part.) Lightsabers portrayed by: Flashlights  : Lego Star Wars The Lego Star Wars games are a couple of the best co-op games out there, especially to play with younger children or friends who aren't really into videogames. As an added bonus, they're chock-full of amusing cut scenes portrayed with the sort of mute humor that only plastic bricks can provide. Even with the actual game parts removed, the resulting video is still fun to watch. Lightsabers portrayed by: Legos, duh.  : Star Wars in Three Minutes With Action Figures I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought of trying to play out the entire Star Wars movie using the little action figures with the uncomfortable-looking embedded lightsabers as a kid. So I find it satisfying that at least one person has made an all-figure reinterpretation of the movie. Plus, it's brief. Lightsabers portrayed by: Glowing, computer-generated lines. That's actually kind of disappointing.  : Star Wars Shortened The George Lucas Appreciation Society -- I'm not sure if the fact that there are only three people in the society is supposed to be a backhanded slam -- covers all three original movies in just less than 10 minutes. Twice. Using one stage, some impressive vocal imitations, poetry, puppetry and interesting headgear. Lightsabers portrayed by: Mime  : Star Wars in Thirty Seconds With Bunnies You can't really argue with the fact that bunnies make things good. For instance, any given piece of chocolate can be improved by being melted down and formed into a bunny shape. So it's natural that Star Wars with bunnies (or, in some cases, aliens with bunny-ear implants) is head-devouringly amusing. Although Princess Leia's tied-up little bunny ears look painful. Lightsabers portrayed by: Flash animation  : Star Wars Movie Mistakes What better way to appreciate a classic film than by going through it bit by bit, nit-picking all the small errors? If you're the sort of person who always notices when a movie character's cigarette keeps changing length from shot to shot, you'll enjoy this. You'll also enjoy it if you like seeing widescreen movies squashed into YouTube dimensions. Lightsabers portrayed by: A remote control and some digital effects  : Store Wars If you prefer your comedy served up with a side dish of heavy-handed social moralizing, this is the film for you. All the characters are portrayed by veggies and other edibles fighting over the concept of organic food. However, seeing R2-D2 portrayed as a block of tofu is worth being lectured by an Italian dessert. Lightsabers portrayed by: Little lightsabers. Come on people! Ever heard of carrot sticks?  : Thumb Wars This little tribute combines comedy and nostalgia with intensely disturbing creepiness. All the characters, most of the spaceships and many of the props are thumbs, but what makes this particularly notable are the little faces the filmmakers digitally superimpose on the thumbs. The faces combine the eeriness of upside-down chin puppets with staring wide-eyed marionettes, creating creatures that would claw at the dream centers of my brain if they weren't, you know, thumbs. Lightsabers portrayed by: You know, thumbs.  : Star Wars According to a 3 Year Old This isn't the shortest summary of Star Wars in this list, but it may capture the essence of the film better than anything else. I think the sublime apex of the Star Wars experience lies in her description of what the nerdiest among us call The Battle of Yavin: "The big thing that blowed up stuff, we blowed it up together." Yes, little girl, yes we did. Lightsabers portrayed by: The phrase "little light-up sword."
Source: Wired Top Stories | 21 Jul 2008 | 1:00 am Computer Mouse Heading For Extinctionslatterz writes "The computer mouse is set to die out in the next five years and will be usurped by touch screens and facial recognition, analysts believe. Steven Prentice, vice president and Gartner Fellow, told the BBC that devices such as Nintendo's MotionPlus for the Wii and Apple's iPhone point the way to the future, offering greater accuracy in motion detection."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 20 Jul 2008 | 11:54 pm Google knocks Microsoft off top of Britain's biggest brandsThe internet search engine Google has been named as Britain's top "superbrand", after it beat Microsoft for the premier spot, according to a YouGov survey published today. The search engine, which came...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 20 Jul 2008 | 11:04 pm Editorial: High waterThe future of energy may lie somewhere in the sun, the skies and the moon. Solar and wind power use established technology but both have their problems: Britain is too cloudy, and wind schemes, although...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 20 Jul 2008 | 11:03 pm Online POKER marketing could spell the NAKED end of VIAGRA journalism as we LOHAN know itMiley Cyrus, Angelina, Israel vs Palestine, iPhone, 9/11 conspiracy, Facebook, MySpace, and Britney Spears nude. And not forgetting Second Life, Paris Hilton, YouTube, Lindsay Lohan, World of Warcraft,...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 20 Jul 2008 | 11:03 pm Hundreds of Baby Penguins Found Dead on Brazilian ShoresHundreds of baby penguins from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Jul 2008 | 11:00 pm Unlike John McCain, Many Seniors Rely on the NetBlogs are buzzing over Sen. John McCain's recent admission that he's internet illiterate. According to data compiled by the Pew Internet Project, McCain is unusual for a college-educated white man over the age of 65.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Jul 2008 | 11:00 pm IPhone 3G Jailbreak Released, Paves Way For Open Source AppsPainMeds writes "iPhone Atlas is reporting that the first jailbreak for the iPhone 3G has been released, and includes the popular Cydia community installer for distributing free games and applications. Since Apple's SDK was released, web sites have criticized Apple for the restrictions placed on both what developers could write and what APIs they were allowed to use. Others have noted the SDK's incompatibility with the GPL. The Cydia installer has provided a distribution channel for both open source software and software that would otherwise be impossible to build using the restricted SDK. A few applications are already out, including MobileTerminal and NES.app, a Nintendo game console emulator. In just over a week, open development is finally here for the iPhone 3G!"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 20 Jul 2008 | 10:48 pm Battlestar, South Park, Webisodes Scoop Emmy NodsA staggering windfall of nominations for geek television for the 2008 Emmy awards is helping bring mainstream legitimacy to the sci-fi genre. Space opera Battlestar Galactica racked up a total of six Emmy nominations.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Jul 2008 | 10:00 pm Guide For Small Team Programming?dm writes "I run a small design shop and have been doing more and more web development, including fairly involved back-end programming of what's now essentially become our own CMS. Up to now I've been doing all the programming myself. Now we are working with a second programmer for the first time. I already use version control (SVN) and an issue-tracking system, and I guess we are both decent at what we do — although self-taught, but we both lack experience programming in a team context. Is there a useful guide for this? Most of the tutorials I have seen for Subversion are surprisingly organized from a single coder's perspective. Where else should I look?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 20 Jul 2008 | 9:50 pm Game Controllers Driving Drones, NukesWar is getting more like a videogame, as hardware and software from the gaming industry is increasingly being adopted for military use. The latest sign of this appeared at the Farnborough air show this week, where arms-maker Raytheon showed off its new Universal Control System for robotic aicraft.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Jul 2008 | 9:30 pm Encrypting Google Calendar With Firefox Extensionsmrcgran writes "IBM's Nathan Harrington has an interesting essay on using open-source tools to ensure privacy on Google Calendar: 'Today's Web applications provide many benefits for online storage, access, and collaboration. Although some applications offer encryption of user data, most do not. This article provides tools and code needed to add basic encryption support for user data in one of the most popular online calendar applications. Building on the incredible flexibility of Firefox extensions and the Gnu Privacy Guard, this article shows you how to store only encrypted event descriptions in Google's Calendar application, while displaying a plain text version to anyone with the appropriate decryption keys.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 20 Jul 2008 | 8:42 pm Napster: Worth More Dead Than Alive?What's the future of Napster now that it's the laughingstock of downloading? According to Bloomberg, Napster is a possible takeover target for hedge funds in search of failing businesses whose cash on hand exceeds the value of their shares. One possible buyer is JDS Capital Management.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Jul 2008 | 6:30 pm Night of the Gun, a new book by David Carr.
Every time I try to explain David Carr to a friend, I say something like "That dude is the real deal." Carr is a media/culture columnist for The New York Times, and he's a better writer and a tougher human than I'll ever be. I've corresponded with him a few times over the years about stories he was working on, or whatever, and I met him in Los Angeles when he came to visit Boing Boing tv for a piece he wrote about our launch. So, I've been eager to see his new book come out, ever since I learned he was writing it -- and I'm excited to say that it's out in a few weeks, and there's a preview in the NYT today. The Night of the Gun recounts David Carr's life as a crack addict, pieced back together through interviews with people who were part of his life at the time. It's an amazing book. You have to read this thing. I hope I'm not revealing any spoilers here, but when I asked Carr about the project last in LA year, he told me about reconnecting with one of those old friends, and trying to recover the facts about one night when he was out of his mind high on speed, something about jumping through a window and police showing up and a huge fight with the friend, the sort of high velocity drug-o-drama you'd see on COPS. In the hazy, semifictional way an addict can try to remember things that happened when he was high -- he's always remembered his friend pointing a gun at him, at one point during the climax of that crisis. But when Carr went back years later to interview that friend for this project, the friend told him something like, "No, you were pointing the gun at me." I believe that's where the title comes from. Here's a snip from the excerpt in today's NYT: Where does a junkie’s time go? Mostly in 15-minute increments, like a bug-eyed Tarzan, swinging from hit to hit. For months on end in 1988, I sat inside a house in north Minneapolis, doing coke and listening to Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” and finding my own pathetic resonance in the lyrics. “Any place is better,” she sang. “Starting from zero, got nothing to lose.”Continue reading excerpt; photos and multimedia stuff here too. Me and My Girls [New York Times] Buy the book: The Night of the Gun: A reporter investigates the darkest story of his life. His own. [amazon] Website, with first-person video. Flash required. Night of the Gun [Simon and Schuster] Source: Boing Boing | 20 Jul 2008 | 4:51 pm Survival Research Labs benefit for Todd Blair today
Eddie Codel reminds us that tonight today (Sunday, July 20) is the big benefit for SRL member Todd Blair, in San Francisco Alameda. You don't have to be there in person to help. Snip: Todd Blair, whom I've known since 1999 through Survival Research Labs, suffered a traumatic head injury last year at the Robodock SRL show in Amsterdam. I posted previously about it here. He's back home in the US slowly and arduously recovering. Traumatic brain injuries are probably the worst kind of injury a human being could suffer, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. To help offset Todd's massive medical and physical therapy bills, a fundraiser event is being held this Sunday, July 20th. It's not just an event, but a culmination of lots of work and dedication from Todd's friends and family with some unique creative twists.Gearing up for fundraiser for Todd Blair [eddie.com] Todd Blair Benefit: The Wall [srl.org] Source: Boing Boing | 20 Jul 2008 | 3:36 pm
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The exhibits are a nice mix of technical and historical, ranging from a truly impressive collection of memorabilia related to Winston Churchill (who visited Bletchley and congratulated the women and men there on their excellent work), including his school report-card that makes him out to be a villainous, disruptive and scattered child; to a series of exhibits of vintage wartime toys. There's a museum of ancient cinematographic equipment complete with a beautiful little theatre that shows reels of vintage newsreels and propaganda films. And of course, there are the computers and related devices.
We spent three hours on site and barely scratched the surface. We had hardly any time to look at the war-plane, didn't get to the gigantic model railroad exhibit, didn't see the whole film presentation at the Enigma theatre, and only got the most hurried of walks around the American Gardens -- and we missed the mansion tour altogether. I could have easily spent eight or more hours there, and still wanted for more. Just the tantalizing mini-lecture I got on the Colossus rebuild from one of the electronics engineers who worked on it was enough to pique my interest, and I could have spent an hour looking at the details in Turing's office.
In 1993, Radio Club Members Warren Backhouse, John James, Eric Simpson and David White, who had been meeting every Wednesday at the Bletchley Park Social Club for many years, decided to assist in a recently set-up project to save the Bletchley Park code breaking centre from demolition. Their (unspoken) objective was to secure a toe-hold on the Bletchley Park site, with the intention of obtaining premises which would be suitable for use by the Radio Club.
