Technology Headlines for August 2, 2008

Ferrari of Tool Chests - Kobalt Integrates LEDs, Music, Fridge

(TrendHunter.com) Until today, working under the hood of your car was kind of a monotonous task. To spice it up, one may bring the boom box for some tunes, a cooler for some brews and of course the tools...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 4:20 pm

High School Musical Meets Greas - Retro-Cool Elle Photoshoot (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) The stars of the hugely successful High School Musical, Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale get the Grease treatment in a cool photo shoot by photographer Tierney Gearon...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 4:00 pm

White House Briefed On "Potential For Life"

Veeoh writes "FTA:- It would appear that the US President has been briefed by Phoenix scientists about the discovery of something more "provocative" than the discovery of water existing on the Martian surface. This news comes just as the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) confirmed experimental evidence for the existence of water in the Mars regolith on Thursday."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 2 Aug 2008 | 3:02 pm

Play Blu-ray Discs and stream Netflix - HD-Report

Wall Street Journal

Play Blu-ray Discs and stream Netflix
HD-Report - 47 minutes ago
LG announced a new BD player that has Netflix streaming capability. The LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player scheduled to be released this Fall will be able to instantly stream movies and TV episodes from the 12000+ Netflix library.
Netflix starts charging $1-$2/month extra for Blu-ray rentals Yahoo! Tech
The LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Player CNET Crave Blog
Twice - New York Times - Wall Street Journal
all 119 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:55 pm

Cuil could be cool - CMSWatch

Sky News

Cuil could be cool
CMSWatch - 1 hour ago
As the buzz has it, public website search engine Cuil is the new Google challenger. "Cuil" is apparently pronounced "cool", and "an old Irish word for knowledge".
SEC Updates Rules Regarding Web, Blog Posts PC Magazine
Is Cuil a Google Killer? Switched
PC World - CRN - InformationWeek - Washington Post
all 334 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:41 pm

Third Falcon 1 Launch May Be This Afternoon

ElonVonBraun writes "The web is abuzz with rumors that SpaceX will attempt its third rocket launch today. In the past two days, they have also done successful tests of their bigger, stronger rockets. When the launch does happen, sometime during this five day window, there will be a webcast. Betting odds are that they will do it around 4PM PST."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:25 pm

Partial solar eclipse witnessed in Pakistan - Pakistan Link

Sydney Morning Herald

Partial solar eclipse witnessed in Pakistan
Pakistan Link - 1 hour ago
LAHORE: Pakistan witnessed a partial solar eclipse on Friday, which peaked between 4:18pm to 4:26pm, ARY One World reported. The eclipse was first seen in the northwest of the country, with Peshawar experiencing totality at 4:18pm.
Update 3: Total Solar Eclipse Limited To Lucky Audience eFluxMedia
Solar Eclipse Wows Airborne Skywatchers Over Arctic Circle Space.com
The Associated Press - Wired News - Los Angeles Times - Melbourne Herald Sun
all 750 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:08 pm

Tragic Tree Trimmings

By Mark Fischenich, The Free Press, Mankato, Minn. Aug. 2--Approximately 200 trees planted by school children this spring as part of a community -- wide effort to attack global warming were felled this summer by a power mower driven by a North Mankato parks worker.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

Unexplained Patch of Hot Soil Monitored

By Ventura County Star, Calif. Aug. 2--Firefighters are monitoring a patch of land north of Fillmore where the ground climbed to 812 degrees on Friday for unknown reasons. Possible theories include that natural hydrocarbons such as oil or gas are burning deep in the earth.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

44-Year-Old Drowns in Falls Lake

By Laura Collins, The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C. Aug. 2--DURHAM -- A man spending the morning riding the waves in Falls Lake drowned after futilely directing his wife to seek help.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

Industry That Relies on Cheap Labour From Far-Off Island Communities Where Fishing is in the Blood

THE past few years have seen a huge influx of Filipinos into Scotland's fishing industry, as a shortage of local labour forces skippers to look overseas for crews.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

Awards Recognize 2008 Excellence in Multifamily Housing Achievements Awards Recognize 2008 Excellence in Multifamily Housing Achievements

The Virginian-Pilot The Tidewater Multifamily Housing Council presented its Awards of Excellence July 24 at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. Accolades came during the industry's Associates' Showcase, Awards Banquet and Registered in Apartment Management Graduation.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

Fire Crews Save Homes: Residents Evacuated, Allowed to Return Later

By Donald W. Meyers, The Salt Lake Tribune Aug. 2--SPRING LAKE -- Jerry Lance had an impression -- call it a hunch -- that she needed to come home early from work at Mountain View Hospital. When she did, she found a wildfire burning next to the home of Robert Bascom, her brother.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

Mysterious 'Cobb Letter' Target of Media Appeal

By Ana Breton, The Salt Lake Tribune Aug. 2--Media organizations have joined in a motion to unseal a mysterious document called "the Cobb letter," which is part of the court file in the Curtis Michael Allgier murder case.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

BRIEF: BYU Football: Collie Has Stress Fracture in Leg

By Jay Drew, The Salt Lake Tribune Aug. 2--Junior receiver Austin Collie, a preseason all-Mountain West Conference selection, has a stress fracture in his lower leg and will see limited action during the first few weeks of BYU's fall football practices.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

Home Depot Pullout Won't End East Long Beach Project

By Karen Robes Meeks and Joe Segura, Press-Telegram, Long Beach, Calif. Aug. 2--LONG BEACH -- Home Depot has pulled the plug on plans to build a home-design center in East Long Beach, but plans to develop the land are still moving forward.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

Swan and LMB Reveal They Are to Work Together to Boost Marketing Options

By Dan Buglass Rural TWO principal livestock marketing agencies in south-east Scotland have formed an association to expand their services.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

Batelco Launches Unified Communication Solutions for SME's

Batelco, the Kingdom's leading integrated communications provider has announced the launch of a unified communications solution designed for small to medium enterprises, the Cisco Unified Communication.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

Exxon Mobil Says It's Not Behind 'Its' Twitter Account

By Tom Fowler, Houston Chronicle Aug. 2--To many, Exxon Mobil is the picture of control, a disciplined corporation that stays on message in a simple, staid manner through oil booms and busts.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

The Word of God: Churches Across America Post Inspirational Messages to Get People into Church

By Kate Lohnes, The Lima News, Ohio Aug. 2--LIMA -- Moses had a burning bush. David had his dreams. And modern man, well, modern man has church signs.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

Glitches Plague Visitor System: Rappahannock Regional Jail Works Out Kinks of New Video Visitation System in Its First Week

By Shayna Jacobs, The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va. Aug. 2--Kym Adams tried for a week to get a video visit with her boyfriend at the Rappahannock Regional Jail, and yesterday she got one.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

Hallelujah: Spirit and Emotion Run High at The Light of the World Church, Which Focuses on Jesus' Original Teachings

By Jessica Ravitz, The Salt Lake Tribune Aug. 2--Three times daily, seven days a week, Spanish-speaking prayer services echo inside one of Salt Lake's historic buildings. Here, they kneel in devotion, rejoicing amid tears.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky., Karen Owen Column: Campus Minister Only Missed One New Song in 22 Years

By Karen Owen, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky. Aug. 2--The Rev. Kent Lewis has attended every New Song Christian music festival in 22 years except the first one. He was in the fifth grade when the festival started near Leitchfield in 1986.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Aug 2008 | 2:00 pm

Awesome Pics of CERN's Large Hadron Collider

mactard submitted a collection of insanely beautiful pictures of the Large Hadron Collider. I've always had a warm place for amazing photgraphs, and these really don't disappoint. Science really is beautiful sometimes.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 2 Aug 2008 | 1:45 pm

Weekly Wrapup, 28 July - 1 August 2008

It's time to wrap up the week's web tech news, reviews and analysis on ReadWriteWeb. On the product side we reviewed a super-hyped new search engine called Cuil, analysed the BT acquisition of web telephony...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 1:00 pm

Hollywood's Elite Joins T-Mobile, Tony Hawk and Stone Temple Pilots at the Summer's Hottest Action Sports Extravaganza

Emile Hirsch, Christina Milian, Audrina Patridge and More Celebrate the Launch of the T-Mobile Sidekick LX(TM) Tony Hawk Edition HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Aug. 2 /PRNewswire/...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 12:55 pm

iPhone Tethering App Released, Killed In 2 Hours

tjhayes writes "The iPhone App Store released an application called NetShare that allowed the iPhone to tether a laptop to the internet. It was priced at a $10 one time fee. After being available for approximately 2 hours, the application has disappeared from the apps store. What exactly are AT&T/Apple trying to accomplish here?" They are trying to prove what is wrong with DRM, and demonstrate why hackers want to jailbreak the iPhone.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 2 Aug 2008 | 12:54 pm

What Should Exxon Do About Twitter? Absolutely Nothing

Energy giant Exxon Mobil fell victim to a Twitter user spoofing official use of an account named ExxonMobilCorp, it was discovered yesterday, and now a discussion is unfolding among social media advocates...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 12:34 pm

Senate Passes Bill Targeting College Piracy

An anonymous reader brings news that the College Opportunity and Affordability Act has passed in the US Senate and now awaits only the President's signature before becoming law. Hidden away in the lengthy bill are sections which tie college funding to "offering alternatives to illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property as well as a plan to explore technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity." The EFF issued a statement expressing concern over the bill earlier this year, shortly before the House of Representatives approved it. We discussed the introduction of the bill last November. The Senate vote was 83-8, with 9 not voting. The full text of the bill is available. The relevant section is 494, at the end of the general provisions.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 2 Aug 2008 | 12:08 pm

Julia Langdon: The singing telegram is 75 years old this week

When George P Oslin, the public relations director of Western Union, had the truly brilliant idea - 75 years ago this week - of turning the telegram into a cheery message, he can have had no inkling of...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 12:00 pm

Video game quilts from Carolina Patchworks

Etsy seller CarolinaPatchworks makes beautiful 8-bit video game quilts. I'm still partial to Punzie's works in this genre, but why choose when you can have both, I always say. Be sure to see the Carolina...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 11:08 am

Video game quilts from Carolina Patchworks

Etsy seller CarolinaPatchworks makes beautiful 8-bit video game quilts. I'm still partial to Punzie's works in this genre, but why choose when you can have both, I always say. Be sure to see the Carolina Patchworks Quilt blog for a really lovely selection of non-game-related quilts, too. Carolina Patchworks Quilts on Etsy, Carolina Patchworks blog (via Wonderland)

Source: Boing Boing | 2 Aug 2008 | 11:08 am

Sunday Voting Expanded to Three Sites

By John Ramsey, The Fayetteville Observer, N.C. Aug. 2--Cumberland County will have three sites for people to cast their ballots after church on the third Sunday in October.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am

Beijing Yields in Part to Pressure Over Internet Use, Hong Kong Paper Says

Text of report by Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post website on 2 August [Report by Peter Simpson in Beijing: "Beijing Yields in Part To Pressure Over Internet Use"; headline as provided by source] The mainland government has yielded to mounting international pressure for it to loosen censorship of the internet and lifted restrictions on several banned websites -but the promise of unfettered access has still not been fulfilled.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am

Japan: General Election to Come "at Any Time", Ruling Party Official Says

Text of report in English by Japan's largest news agency Kyodo Tokyo, Aug. 2 Kyodo - Taro Aso, the Liberal Democratic Party's secretary general, said Saturday the dissolution of the lower house and a subsequent general election will come at any time.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am

Web Site Chronicles El Paso's Music History

By Doug Pullen, El Paso Times, Texas Aug. 2--Rick Kern didn't set out to be the publisher of a local music history Web site. He originally planned to be a professional drummer. And for a time, he was.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am

Apple Puts The Kibosh On Tethering Application For The iPhone - InformationWeek

MSN India

Apple Puts The Kibosh On Tethering Application For The iPhone
InformationWeek - 5 hours ago
Yesterday, a $10 application from Nullriver appeared in the iPhone Apps Store that allowed you to use the iPhone to access the Internet via 3G and share that connection through its Wi-Fi radio.
Ten step guide to sharing your iPhone's connection with NetShare Apple Insider
Apple kills NetShare: No more iPhone-as-modem CNET News
Inquirer - Computerworld - IntoMobile - Register
all 69 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 2 Aug 2008 | 10:19 am

EFF releases Net Neutrality detector software

The Electronic Frontier Foundation's new "Switzerland" tool can detect violations of Net Neutrality by your ISP: "The sad truth is that the FCC is ill-equipped to detect ISPs interfering with your Internet...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 9:26 am

EFF releases Net Neutrality detector software

The Electronic Frontier Foundation's new "Switzerland" tool can detect violations of Net Neutrality by your ISP:

"The sad truth is that the FCC is ill-equipped to detect ISPs interfering with your Internet connection," said Fred von Lohmann, EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney. "It's up to concerned Internet users to investigate possible network neutrality violations, and EFF's Switzerland software is designed to help with that effort. Comcast isn't the first, and certainly won't be the last, ISP to meddle surreptitiously with its subscribers' Internet communications for its own benefit."
"Until now, there hasn't been a reliable way to tell if somebody -- a hacker, an ISP, corporate firewall, or the Great Firewall of China -- is modifying your Internet traffic en route," said Peter Eckersley, EFF Staff Technologist and designer of Switzerland. "The few tests available have been for narrow and specific kinds of interference, or have required tremendous amounts of advanced forensic labor. Switzerland is designed to make general-purpose ISP testing faster and easier."
Part of EFF's "Test your ISP" project, Switzerland is an open source, command-line software tool designed to detect the modification or injection of packets of data by ISPs. Switzerland detects changes made by software tools believed to be in use by ISPs such as Sandvine and AudibleMagic, advertising systems like FairEagle, and various censorship systems. Although currently intended for use by technically sophisticated Internet users, development plans aim to make the tool increasingly easy to use.

EFF Releases "Switzerland" ISP Testing Tool

Source: Boing Boing | 2 Aug 2008 | 9:26 am

ResQtec Ram makes mincemeat out of cars

I'm not sure what I'd use this for, but I would just love to own one of these ResQtec V2 Rams: Modern cars do a good job of absorbing the impact of a head-on collision: The metal in the front crumple...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 9:24 am

ResQtec Ram makes mincemeat out of cars

I'm not sure what I'd use this for, but I would just love to own one of these ResQtec V2 Rams:

Modern cars do a good job of absorbing the impact of a head-on collision: The metal in the front crumple zones deforms in specific ways, sparing the occupants the brunt of the kinetic energy. The downside — a bad crash can create a hardened-steel trap around the driver and passengers, making it tough to get them out in a hurry. That's where a good hydraulic ram comes in, like the 27-pound V2. Rescuers wedge the end of this $3,030 cylinder on the inside of the door sill and an aircraft-grade aluminum rod extends to push against the windshield pillar. Its 5,000-psi hydraulics deliver spreading force of up to 12.7 tons — more than enough to crack open your wrecked ride like a pistachio. The V2 can create a 31-inch gap in a mere 13 seconds — increasing the odds that once you're free, you'll be rushing to the car dealer, not the emergency room.

The ResQtec V2 Ram Wrenches Trapped Drivers Free in 13 Seconds

Source: Boing Boing | 2 Aug 2008 | 9:24 am

Discuss a different sf author every day during the Science Fiction Message Board's Author August

Dead Air sez, At the Science Fiction Message Board we are gearing up for one of the busiest times of our year - our fourth annual Author August! Each Author August we celebrate a different sf writer...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 9:21 am

Discuss a different sf author every day during the Science Fiction Message Board's Author August

Dead Air sez,

At the Science Fiction Message Board we are gearing up for one of the busiest times of our year - our fourth annual Author August! Each Author August we celebrate a different sf writer every day, with reviews, reminiscences, cover scans, and general comments. This is a post-a-thon open to all who wish to contribute, anything you wish to post about the author of the day, we want to have! And boy, have we got a strong roster of authors past and present for you this year:
8/1 Arthur C. Clarke
8/2 Vernor Vinge
8/3 Vonda McIntyre
8/4 Robert A. Heinlein
8/5 Roger Zelazny
8/6 Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
8/7 Lloyd Biggle Jr.
8/8 Elizabeth Bear
8/9 Elizabeth Moon
8/10 Edgar Rice Burroughs
8/11 H. Beam Piper
8/12 Keith Laumer
8/13 Joan D. Vinge
8/14 J.T. McIntosh
8/15 Katherine MacLean
8/16 Bruce Sterling
8/17 William Gibson
8/18 Pat Cadigan
8/19 Ursula K. Le Guin
8/20 Storm Constantine
8/21 Rosel George Brown
8/22 Ray Bradbury
8/23 Caitlin Kiernan
8/24 Tanith Lee
8/25 Peter F. Hamilton
8/26 Stanislaw Lem
8/27 Neil Gaiman
8/28 Zenna Henderson
8/29 Michael Moorcock
8/30 Jules Verne
8/31 Iain M. Banks

Spend Author August with Science Fiction! (Thanks, DeadAir!)

Source: Boing Boing | 2 Aug 2008 | 9:21 am

Rat-owning animal-hoarding rapture-obsessed twin elderly ladies versus the family next door

The LA Weekly has a long, gruesome feature about a dispute between neighbors in the affluent area of Pacific Palisades. It all starts when a young family moved into an expensive little bungalow and discovered that the elderly twin ladies next door were animal hoarders who'd raised tens of thousands of rats. Then it gets interesting, as it transpires that pretty much everyone -- the realtor, the town, the former owner -- all knew about the rats and had not bothered to mention it to the new owners.

When he crept closer, the odor — “a urine stench” — was “unbearable.” By the end of their first long weekend in the Palisades, Liz was stressed out, peering at shadows. The more she peered, the more rats she saw. Standing in her own master bedroom, she found herself at eye level with a group of rats who clearly had a routine, slipping methodically in and out of drains and cracks on her neighbors’ outside wall.
She saw three rats squeeze out of a roof drain in a precision, shoulder-to-shoulder group, Ratatouille-style. Another rat pack traveled along the dusty, reeking hedge on the property line. The hedge was a rat highway, and it swayed under its commuters’ weight.
Liz knocked on her neighbors’ rotting front door, but no one answered. They soon learned from other neighbors that the owners were 78-year-old twins Margaret and Marjorie Barthel, who rarely left the house — and never at the same time. When one of them did go out (and many people could not tell them apart), she wore heavy clothes, a wide-brimmed hat and large glasses as she pushed a shopping basket from Ralphs. It was always filled with large bags — of dog food. They haven’t owned dogs for years.

Palisades Rathouse: Unchallenged by Health Officials, Elderly Twins Fed Local Vermin Population (Thanks, Doran!)

Source: Boing Boing | 2 Aug 2008 | 9:18 am

Developing On the PS3 Under Fedora

An anonymous reader writes to point out the first in a series of articles from a while back about using the Playstation 3 as a development environment under Fedora. Here are the second and third parts of the series. Quoting: "Early on, it was a bit of a challenge to get Linux natively installed on the PS3. Time has passed, and a great deal has changed. Fedora 7 installs on the PS3 out of the box, with the most challenging installation steps eliminated. This article introduces the basic configuration knobs and widgets specific to the PS3 running Linux, shows you how to use them effectively, and suggests the kind of trickery that gets improved performance."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 2 Aug 2008 | 9:02 am

Man Arrested for YouTube Baby Food Threat - Techtree.com

ChattahBox

Man Arrested for YouTube Baby Food Threat
Techtree.com - 8 hours ago
Caroline McCarthy over at CNet blogs about a bizzare overlap of web and real-life. A New York man named Anton Dunn has been posting offensive videos in which he claims to have killed two people and infected more than 1500 women with the AIDS virus.
YouTuber 'Trashman' arrested for threatening to poison baby food CNET News
NY man arrested for YouTube baby food threat Reuters
New York Times - The Associated Press - NewsFactor Network - The Consumerist
all 220 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 2 Aug 2008 | 7:15 am

FCC chastises Comcast for blocking Internet users' file sharing

Supporters of net neutrality cheer the move, but the presidential election could change everything. Federal regulators...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 7:00 am

Shareholders reelect Yahoo's board

Despite the drama sparked by Microsoft's takeover bid, the annual gathering of investors is a sedate affair. After...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 7:00 am

House panel investigates Web tracking practices

A congressional committee wants the nation's largest telecommunications and Internet companies to explain whether they target online advertising based on consumers' search queries and Web surfing habits...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 7:00 am

The shrew that drinks like a fish

The pen-tailed tree shrew of Malaysia holds its liquor well despite imbibing prodigious amounts of naturally fermented bertram palm nectar, scientists report. ...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 7:00 am

Ticket scam hits Olympics

Olympic officials call on courts to stop websites that are suspected of stealing money, credit card information and passport numbers from people seeking tickets to the Beijing Games. ...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 7:00 am

Caltech researchers create a 'microscope on a chip'

The lensless device works with a light-sensing chip to construct two-dimensional images and could be rugged and portable. ...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 7:00 am

Science in brief

Gulf of Mexico's 'dead zone' shrinks
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 7:00 am

Gulf's 'dead zone' smaller than feared

The oxygen-starved 'dead zone' that forms every summer in the Gulf of Mexico is a bit smaller than predicted this year because Hurricane Dolly stirred up the water, a scientist reports. ...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 7:00 am

Alibaba.com Helps Small and Medium Businesses Sell Direct to China

New "Export-to-China" Service to Tap China's Growing Buying Power HANGZHOU, China, Aug. 2 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Alibaba.com today announced the beta launch of...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 6:30 am

Olympic Reporters' Guide to Labor Camps Published

Booklet provides driving directions to notorious labor camps, urges coverage of media taboo WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- To help foreign reporters ...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 6:19 am

SpaceX Conducts Full Thrust Firing of Falcon 9

Toren Altair sends us this excerpt: "Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) conducted the first nine engine firing of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle at its Texas Test Facility outside McGregor on July 31st. A second firing on August 1st completed a major NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) milestone almost two months early. At full power, the nine engines consumed 3,200 lbs of fuel and liquid oxygen per second, and generated almost 850,000 pounds of force — four times the maximum thrust of a 747 aircraft. This marks the first firing of a Falcon 9 first stage with its full complement of nine Merlin 1C engines. Once a near term Merlin 1C fuel pump upgrade is complete, the sea level thrust will increase to 950,000 lbf, making Falcon 9 the most powerful single core vehicle in the United States. The Falcon 9 will launch SpaceX's spaceship Dragon with up to 7 humans from 2009 on." We discussed SpaceX when it won the NASA competition to provide low cost commercial transport to the ISS, and also when it launched an earlier design. Basic specs for Falcon 9 are available, as well as a more technical paper (PDF).

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 2 Aug 2008 | 5:57 am

Global Internet Freedom Consortium (GIFC) Offers China-Based Reporters Software to Break Through Internet Blockade

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Global Internet Freedom Consortium (GIFC) announced today that their anti-censorship software tools are ready to help...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 5:55 am

Apple DNS Security Patch Flawed, Leaves Users At Risk - CRN

Chatter Shmatter

Apple DNS Security Patch Flawed, Leaves Users At Risk
CRN - 10 hours ago
By Jennifer Hagendorf Follett, ChannelWeb Apple finally rolled out a software update to fix the much-heralded Domain Name System (DNS) security flaw, but it seems the celebration may have been premature.
Smaller ISPs at risk to DNS flaw NetworkWorld.com
Apple Security Patch Flubs DNS Fix InformationWeek
TG Daily - Register - Computerworld - BetaNews
all 219 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 2 Aug 2008 | 5:26 am

Scrabulous Gone, Questions Remain - Washington Post

Times Online

Scrabulous Gone, Questions Remain
Washington Post - 10 hours ago
By Mike Musgrove A popular word puzzle game on Facebook became the latest example of the Web's knack for causing anxiety among copyright owners this week.
Why Facebook left 'Scrabulous' alone CNET News
Update 1: As Hasbro Fights For Copyrights, Scrabble Loses Popularity eFluxMedia
Los Angeles Times - San Francisco Chronicle - InformationWeek - VNUNet.com
all 796 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 2 Aug 2008 | 4:59 am

Devendra Banhart: Carmensita (music video)

I pretty much could not love this video any more than I do. Hindu gods, Naturalismo, Natalie Portman, psych-folk-en-español, and the funkiest dance of destruction ever to come out of the Bhagavad Gita by way of a Caracas 'shroom stash. It's the first video from Venezuelan-Texan Devendra Banhart's latest album, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. Felicidad ciento porciento garantizada, homies. (Thanks, Jolon!)

Source: Boing Boing | 2 Aug 2008 | 4:49 am

What's Inside: Stomach-Bubble-Bursting Mylanta Classic

Aluminum hydroxide
In the acidic confines of your stomach, Al(OH)₃ acts as a relatively strong base, with three hydroxide (OH-) groups eager to hook up with any excess hydrogen ions (H+) floating around. When combined, all those Hs and Os form harmless water. But too much aluminum can cause constipation, so Mylanta has to deploy a counterattack.

Magnesium hydroxide
You know Milk of Magnesia? The chalky white liquid has been sold since the 1880s as a remedy (albeit a harsh one) for "irregularity." In your gut, this ingredient neutralizes acid just like aluminum hydroxide. But downstream, it causes you to retain water, which accumulates in the colon, building pressure until ... well, you get the idea. With equal amounts of Al(OH)₃ and Mg(OH)₃ in Mylanta, their constipating/laxative effects should cancel each other out. In some people, however, they simply alternate.

Simethicone
An antigas agent made from polydimethylsiloxane, the polymer goop that makes Silly Putty, bathtub caulk, and breast implants possible. When diluted with water to 50 parts per million, it reduces the surface tension of all those little gas bubbles in your belly so they can merge into one big bubble that's more easily burped up. Excuse you.

Butylparaben
Sometimes it's a preservative (the probable use in Mylanta). Sometimes it kills the bacterium responsible for dental plaque. And sometimes butylparaben is absorbed into the bloodstream of lab mice, where it mimics estrogen and retards sperm production. Perhaps Mylanta has a future as a rodent contraceptive.

Hypromellose
This stuff gained fame as "artificial tears," an eye lubricant used in ophthalmic surgery. In Mylanta, its plant origins are put to work: The cellulosic lattice structure holds some of the active ingredients hostage, releasing them slowly over time.

Carboxymethylcellulose Sodium
Another cellulose product. In libraries and museums, it's used as a "bandage" to cover small rips in antique papers. Here it likely serves as both a backup to hypromellose and a thickener. Watery antacid just wouldn't seem as effective.

Microcrystalline Cellulose
A nearly perfect oral drug carrier, MCC is stable, inert, and tasteless, with a creamy mouthfeel. And like simethicone, it destabilizes gas bubbles. Just don't tell anyone it's made from wood pulp — some people are squeamish about eating lumber.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 2 Aug 2008 | 4:00 am

Gallery: San Francisco Cable Cars Still Humming on 19th-Century Tech

: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- More than a century after their invention, cable cars still carry passengers up and over this city's hills.

The picturesque mode of transport narrowly escaped extinction after the 1906 earthquake, which devastated the city as well as the cable car barn and tracks. New tracks were laid and the system was rebuilt -- despite the advent of more cost-effective electric streetcars -- partially due to cable cars' superior ability to climb the steepest hills in San Francisco.

Cable cars again faced extinction and persevered again in 1947, when San Francisco Mayor Roger Lapham proclaimed that the lines should be removed in favor of buses. Thankfully, a campaign led by San Francisco's social elite saved the cars. Today, people come from all over the world to experience a ride on the tried-and-true cable cars, first tested 135 years ago today.

Left: Cable car No, 20 of the Powell-Hyde line crests the hill on Taylor Street, fully loaded with passengers, against the backdrop of San Francisco Bay and Alcatraz Island.

: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com

Rufus Bennett, a veteran cable car operator and gripman of "28 years and 7 months," transports passengers from the Powell Street turnaround to Fisherman's Wharf. According to Bennett, a trip on a San Francisco cable car is more than just a ride for the tourists who come from all over the world: It's an experience. "Today is the best day of my life," said Bennett, who clearly loves his job. "I've been through thousands of Thursdays but I ain't never been here before."

: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com

The winding wheels of the historic Washington-Mason cable car barn and powerhouse feed the approximately 58,000 feet of cable that runs cars on the city's three lines. The cable, composed of a hemp core wrapped in wires, zips unseen below ground at 9 mph. The cable cars grip the cable and are towed up and down the steep hills of San Francisco, carrying daily commuters and tourists alike to destinations around city.

: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com

The central control panel monitors "strand alarms" for all four cables that run under the city's streets. The alarm warns of a possible damaged cable. While the vintage panel appears at first glance to be straight out of 1930, it was actually installed during a 1984 overhaul of the system. "The system is designed to be relatively simple. and there's no reason to complicate it," said Wesley Valaris, a former gripman who now trains a new generation of operators.

: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com

Ursula and Link Wolsram of Stuttgart, Germany, take in the sights and nearly deafening sounds at the Cable Car Museum, housed in the Washington-Mason powerhouse.

: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com

A coil of used cable awaits its fate in the cable car barn. The wear from the grips and dies of the cable cars clearly shows in its glossy appearance, just like a used brake pad would on your car.

The cable generally needs to be replaced after anywhere from 100 to 250 days of use. The process takes around five hours, as new cable is attached to an end of the old cable and pulled through the system, with used cable recoiling around another spindle.

: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com

Beneath each cable car lies one of the most essential mechanisms of the whole operation: the grip (at this angle, appearing to the right of and above the cable). The grip is hidden below the street and the cable passes through its center.

When the gripman is ready to move the cable car forward, he closes the jaws of the grip slowly around the moving cable, accelerating relatively smoothly to the cruising speed of 9 mph. When the gripman is ready to slow the cable car, he slowly releases his hold on the cable, allowing the cable to slip through the jaws of the grip. To completely stop the car, he allows the cable to glide completely free through the grip, then steps on the brake.

: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com

The cable car barn houses the entire fleet of San Francisco's cable cars. The city operates 28 single-ended cars on the Powell Street lines and 12 double-ended cars on the California Street line.

: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com

The gift shop in the Cable Car Museum is alluring to tourists of all ages, with its colorful baubles and picturesque postcards that commemorate a visit to Fog City.

: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com

A heavenly ride on San Francisco's famous cable cars attracts riders of all ages, nationalities and occupations.

: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com

A Powell Street car makes one of its last runs of the night near Union Square, delivering tourists back to their hotels. The cable cars run until after midnight some days.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 2 Aug 2008 | 4:00 am

Guitar Hero, Rock Band and the Rock 'n' Roll Money Machine

The booming success of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises has dropped a bomb on the music biz. Record labels and rock stars alike are eyeing new revenue streams as gamemakers compete for musical talent, scramble to secure rights to original master tapes and bring in aging artists to re-record classic rock hits.

Activision Blizzard -- publisher of Guitar Hero, the groundbreaking videogame that lets wannabe rockers tap out songs on Les Paul-shaped controllers -- raked in a reported $830 million in 2007, an annual record for any game franchise.

Now an industry reeling from the disruptive effects of technology is looking at music games as a lucrative new income stream.

Here are a few ways that Rock Band and Guitar Hero are changing the game for the record industry:

Old bands, new fans

Young gamers are getting turned on to classic rock songs recorded before they were born, with videogame consoles functioning almost like radio did in its hit-making heyday.

"Guitar Hero is a really funny craze, kind of like the Hula-Hoop," says Nancy Wilson of Heart, whose 1976 hit "Crazy on You" appears in Guitar Hero II. "It also is one big reason why so many really young kids are showing up at Heart concerts these days."

Musical mimicry

"Crazy on You" might be winning Heart new fans, but it's not the original recording that gamers are playing along to. Of the 106 recordings featured in the first three releases of Guitar Hero, only nine are original recordings. The other 97, including the Heart hit, are re-recordings done by a stable of studio hired guns at WaveGroup Sound in Fremont, California, according to Will Littlejohn, WaveGroup's president.

"We usually shoot for the same vibe, and pick players and vocalists that will work with the song," says Littlejohn. "We don't over-think it, we just have them play the song as they hear it or sing the tune with their own voice. In terms of the arrangements, we often make changes to the guitar and bass parts in order to make gameplay more interesting in Guitar Hero."

Looming lawsuits

While record labels and classic rock groups are enjoying newfound success as a result of music games' popularity, at least one band is not happy about the situation and is challenging Activision in court. Members of '80s rock band The Romantics are suing Activision, claiming their hit "What I Like About You" and the Guitar Hero cover version of the song sound so much alike that gamers are confused and the band suffers as a result.

"There's at least a half-dozen other bands waiting in the wings to see what happens with this case," says Romantics' attorney Mike Novak.

Activision insists it obtained proper licensing to include the song in the game, and says the band is on a fishing expedition. "What they did was file for a preliminary injunction over the Thanksgiving holiday trying to disrupt sales of Guitar Hero on a theory that just doesn't hold water," says Activision attorney George Hedges, referring to The Romantics' lawsuit. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has agreed with Activision at least at the preliminary stage, finding that the band sold its rights in the song and recordings to a music publisher and record company, neither of whom is suing.

In her opinion denying the band's bid (.pdf) for an injunction to stop sales of the game, U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds noted that the lead singer of the song, Jimmy Marinos, is not even a plaintiff and is no longer in the band. The court held a summary judgment hearing July 9 and is expected to decide soon who wins.

Old bands, new sessions

Studio magic tweaks classic rock songs for today's hottest videogames. Dave Urrutia and Will Littlejohn work behind the soundboard at WaveSound, while Darryl C. Anders, Marcus Henderson and Scott Dugdale (left to right) lay down tracks.
Photo courtesy WaveSound Group

Perhaps in part because of litigation fears and the game's wild success, Activision is now more often using record labels' original master recordings or going to original band members for re-recordings of their hits rather than using sound-alike recordings.

"In some cases it's karaoke, except with the original band members," says Marti Frederiksen, a top producer who has re-recorded hits by Aerosmith, Foreigner and others. "Other times they'll go back to the original to get the vibe but go for something new. With Aerosmith, the vocals and guitar and every sound is different. We didn't go for retro, we wanted it different for Guitar Hero."

Frederiksen and mix engineer Anthony Focx have remixed many original Aerosmith multitrack recordings for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, an upcoming release to feature only tracks from Aerosmith and select bands that have toured with the 38-year-old supergroup. Because master tapes of the band's debut album have been lost, the band recently re-recorded megahits "Dream On" and "Mama Kin."

Power to the performers

Many artists would rather re-record an old hit and own it outright than share licensing income with a record label. For example, the timing was perfect for Sammy Hagar when Activision came looking for a re-recording of his hit "I Can't Drive 55" after Geffen Records couldn't locate the master.

"By coincidence," Hagar says, "we had re-recorded the song a couple years earlier because we did a commercial for Napa Auto Parts, but we couldn't close the deal at the time and so we had a great multitrack of the song sitting on the shelf. Guitar Hero needed it, we were ready."

Games as starmakers

With once-dominant record labels now staggering blindly, young bands like the Silversun Pickups view Rock Band and Guitar Hero, which licensed the band's hit "Lazy Eye," as a sort of band-breaking vehicle similar to MTV in the '80s. With music titles rocking the videogame charts, getting a song picked up for Guitar Hero is a great way to gain all-important exposure.

"It's really cool to have a record out, or radio spins, or get your song in a movie," says the band's label head, Jeff Castelaz. "But kids don't listen to a song on the radio or watch it in a movie 30 times a night with a bunch of friends."

Source: Wired Top Stories | 2 Aug 2008 | 4:00 am

Navajo Nation Losing Internet Access

An anonymous reader writes "Due to contracts that are allegedly FUBAR, and associated wrangling, the Navajo Nation is being cut off by its satellite ISP. This is the final stage of the process, which already deprived chapter houses of access last April. While the business mechanisms play themselves into the expected ludicrous snarl, the real question may be: Is there a place for an inexpensive ham/technogeek/FOSS solution that could bypass the antics of the for-pay providers?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 2 Aug 2008 | 3:53 am

Computer shows origins of first stars - United Press International

Telegraph.co.uk

Computer shows origins of first stars
United Press International - 12 hours ago
NEW YORK, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- A computer simulation designed by US and Japanese researchers demonstrates how gas and dust came together to form the first star.
Scientists Shed Light On The Birth Of First Stars eFluxMedia
New Simulation Shows How Seeds of First Stars Formed Scientific American
MSNBC - The Associated Press - Christian Science Monitor - Science Now
all 94 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 2 Aug 2008 | 3:30 am

San Jose Teen Wins $45,000 Quinceanera Party From Verizon Wireless

Hip-hop sensation Sean Kingston to perform at teen's private coming-of-age party for 200 friends and family SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- After more than six
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 3:23 am

Band Leaks Own Album, Blames Pirates

A Cow writes "When the hard rock band "BuckCherry" found out their latest single had leaked on BitTorrent, they didn't try to cover it up or take the file down. No, instead, they issued a press release. After a bit of research, TorrentFreak found out the track wasn't leaked by pirates, but by Josh Klemme, the manager of the band. In an attempt to cover their tracks, the press release was pulled, but it's still available through Reuters and Google's cache."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 2 Aug 2008 | 1:49 am

FCC Vote Sets Precedent on Unfettered Web Usage - New York Times

Boston Globe

FCC Vote Sets Precedent on Unfettered Web Usage
New York Times - 14 hours ago
By SAUL HANSELL The Federal Communications Commission formally voted Friday to uphold the complaint against Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company, saying that it had illegally inhibited users of its high-speed Internet service from using popular ...
Back Off the Internet -- FCC to Comcast Techtree.com
FCC's Comcast ruling: Fuel for the fire CNET News
Washington Post - Wall Street Journal - ZDNet - Reuters
all 859 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 2 Aug 2008 | 1:39 am

Yahoo board wins solid shareholder backing in vote (Reuters)

Reuters - Yahoo Inc's board of directors won strong backing from shareholders at its annual meeting on Friday, with Jerry Yang, the company's embattled CEO, receiving 85 percent of the vote in his favor.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 2 Aug 2008 | 12:41 am

Yahoo board wins solid shareholder backing in vote

SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc's board of directors won strong backing from shareholders at its annual meeting on Friday, with Jerry Yang, the company's embattled CEO, receiving
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 2 Aug 2008 | 12:40 am

How to Backup a Web Server

Your hard drive is backed up, your documents, family pictures, even your car keys. Now why isn’t your web server? Web servers aren’t infallible and you can lose your hard work in seconds. Have we struck the fear of apocalypse in you yet? We have a solution. We’ll help roll your HTML and CSS up with your database files and automatically generate backups.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 2 Aug 2008 | 12:30 am

AT&T may hold on to exclusive iPhone deal until 2010 - Apple Insider

eFluxMedia

AT&T may hold on to exclusive iPhone deal until 2010
Apple Insider - 15 hours ago
By Aidan Malley In what may be a rare peek at negotiations between Apple and carriers, a prominent newspaper claims AT&T agreed to hefty iPhone 3G subsidies on the condition that it remained the lone US carrier for the handset until 2010.
Apple extends contract with AT&T, forgets about you CNET News
AT&T and Apple Continue Their Exclusive iPhone Deal Until 2010 eFluxMedia
Everything iCafe - USA Today - Wired News - iPhone Buzz
all 16 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 2 Aug 2008 | 12:20 am

How to Feign Sincerity

The meeting is tedious! OK, so you'd rather bang your head against the table than listen to any more of it, but you must not let your polite exterior show it. We can't make your meeting any more interesting, but we do have some tips to feign sincerity.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 2 Aug 2008 | 12:00 am

RIAA Gets Nervous, Brings In Big Gun

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "I guess the RIAA is getting nervous about the ability of its 'national law firm' (in charge of bringing 'ex parte' motions, securing default judgments, and beating up grandmothers and children) to handle the oral argument scheduled to be heard on Monday, August 4th in Duluth, in Capitol v. Thomas. So, at the eleventh hour, it has brought in one of its 'Big Guns' from Washington, D.C., a lawyer who argues United States Supreme Court cases like MGM v. Grokster to handle the argument. This is the case where a $222,000 verdict was awarded for downloading 24 songs, but the judge ultimately realized that he had been misled by the RIAA in issuing his jury instructions, and indicated he's probably going to order a new trial. But, not to worry. A group of 10 copyright law professors from 10 different law schools and several other amici curiae (friends of the court) have filed briefs now, so it is highly unlikely the judge will allow himself to be misled again, no matter who the RIAA brings in as cannon fodder on Monday."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 1 Aug 2008 | 11:46 pm

The Spotnicks - The Rocket Man (1962)

In his post about rocket inspired pop culture, Martin Klasch posted this nutty video of a Swedish band called The Spotnicks playing a surfy instrumental number, "The Rocket Man" from 1962. Kraftwerk probably studied their fancy moves.
Here's one of their mind-bending album covers.
The Spotnicks - The Rocket Man (1962) (via Martin Klasch)

Source: Boing Boing | 1 Aug 2008 | 11:45 pm

Yahoo board emerges unscathed from annual meeting (AP)

AP - Yahoo Inc.'s board emerged largely unscathed from the Internet company's annual meeting Friday as a subdued crowd of shareholders raised few questions about the directors' rejection of Microsoft Corp.'s $47.5 billion takeover bid.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 1 Aug 2008 | 11:42 pm

Apple Pulls, Then Returns iPhone-PC Tethering App To Store (TechWeb)

TechWeb - InformationWeek - The application makes it possible for people to use the high-speed Internet connections on the mobile phones to provide wireless access to the Web on a mobile PC.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 1 Aug 2008 | 11:23 pm

Five-Year Sentence for Ohio Pediatrician Who Received and Possessed More Than 7,900 Images of Child Pornography

DAYTON, Ohio, Aug. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Robert Reinhold, 56, a pediatrician in Troy, Ohio, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to five years imprisonment for...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 1 Aug 2008 | 11:11 pm

Beijing Olympics: Events you might just miss

Handball Not American but European handball: a cross between basketball, five-a-side football and something you might dream up in PE. Silly and wonderfully intricate. Amuse yourself by shouting "handball"...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 1 Aug 2008 | 11:09 pm

Growing pains hinder growth of e-bikes, frustrating retailers and riders

TORONTO - While politicians and entrepreneurs complain that some governments have been too slow to act on allowing the use of emission- free, power-assisted bicycles, others say it's just
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 1 Aug 2008 | 11:06 pm

Sun fourth-quarter profit falls 73 per cent, guidance hurts stock

the most recent quarter as slumping sales to big U.S. companies and restructuring charges weighed on the server and software maker. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company also revealed...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 1 Aug 2008 | 11:00 pm

Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary bust

The LA Times reports on a DEA raid at Organica Collective, a Culver City medical marijuana dispensary.

Gina Ferazzi's photos of the raid are wonderful. My favorite is the one of a hipster-looking agent with a healthy soul-patch on his chin and a giant pistol on his belt.

The federal operation came on the same day an appellate court in San Diego ruled that federal law does not preempt the state's law allowing the use of medical marijuana -- a ruling touted by supporters of California's medical marijuana law as a significant win.
...

Clyde Carey, 50, of Marina del Rey was at the store Friday visiting a friend when agents burst in through the locked front door, he said.

"We heard some noise outside, and then the door literally burst in, and the DEA came in in full combat gear, told everybody to get on the floor and put their hands behind their heads," Carey said. "It was like, literally, an episode of "24," when they bust in on a terrorist cell."

Carey, who said he has multiple sclerosis and has been a dispensary customer since February, stood across the street near a Starbucks with about half a dozen people who had witnessed the raid, watching agents walk in and out.

He said DEA agents searched and cuffed the roughly 25 people inside the building, which also includes four upstairs rooms. Then agents started searching the premises, removing computers, medicine and money, and using a steel cylinder battering ram to get into the upstairs bedrooms, Carey said.

DEA agents raid Culver City medical marijuana dispensary (LA Times)

Source: Boing Boing | 1 Aug 2008 | 10:45 pm

Congress Moves To Ban In-Flight Cell Phone Calls (TechWeb)

TechWeb - InformationWeek - The Hang Up Act, which will be voted on by the House of Representatives, would permanently ban mobile phone calls during flights.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 1 Aug 2008 | 10:25 pm

Mixed reviews for illegal file-sharing on campus (CNET)

CNET - Newly reauthorized legislation will ask U.S. universities to deter students from illegal file-sharing, a controversial provision that has drawn concern from educators and praise from copyright holders.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 1 Aug 2008 | 10:19 pm

Glenn Greenwald on U.S. Govt anthrax scientist's suicide

Glenn Greewald's article in Salon about Bruce E. Ivins' suicide is fascinating. Ivins was a senior biodefense researcher at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. He committed suicide in July shortly before the FBI was going to indict him for his alleged role in the 2001 anthrax attacks.

Here are a few excerpts, but the entire article is worth reading:

If the now-deceased Ivins really was the culprit behind the attacks, then that means that the anthrax came from a U.S. Government lab, sent by a top U.S. Army scientist at Ft. Detrick. Without resort to any speculation or inferences at all, it is hard to overstate the significance of that fact. From the beginning, there was a clear intent on the part of the anthrax attacker to create a link between the anthrax attacks and both Islamic radicals and the 9/11 attacks.

During the last week of October, 2001, ABC News, led by Brian Ross, continuously trumpeted the claim as their top news story that government tests conducted on the anthrax -- tests conducted at Ft. Detrick -- revealed that the anthrax sent to Daschele contained the chemical additive known as bentonite. ABC News, including Peter Jennings, repeatedly claimed that the presence of bentonite in the anthrax was compelling evidence that Iraq was responsible for the attacks, since -- as ABC variously claimed -- bentonite "is a trademark of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's biological weapons program" and "only one country, Iraq, has used bentonite to produce biological weapons."

But bentonite was never found in the anthrax, and Greenwald says ABC News didn't acknowledged this until 2007, and only after Greenwald's "badgering them about this issue." That means, says Greenwald, the four "well-placed and separate sources" ABC claimed to have fed them "false information that created a very significant link in the public mind between the anthrax attacks and Saddam Hussein."

After all, three days later, McCain and Joe Lieberman went on Meet the Press (on October 21, 2001) and both strongly suggested that we would have to attack Iraq. Lieberman said that the anthrax was so complex and potent that "there's either a significant amount of money behind this, or this is state-sponsored, or this is stuff that was stolen from the former Soviet program."
As I said, it is not possible to overstate the importance of anthrax in putting the country into the state of fear that led to the attack on Iraq and so many of the other abuses of the Bush era. There are few news stories more significant, if there are any, than unveiling who the culprits were behind this deliberate propaganda. The fact that the current GOP presidential nominee claimed back then on national television to have some "indication" linking Saddam to the anthrax attacks makes it a bigger story still.

Vital unresolved anthrax questions and ABC News (Salon)

Source: Boing Boing | 1 Aug 2008 | 10:18 pm

Rogers agrees to buy back three million class B non-voting shares

Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 1 Aug 2008 | 10:18 pm

Sun 4Q profit falls 73 pct, guidance hurts stock (AP)

AP - Sun Microsystems Inc.'s profit plunged 73 percent in the most recent quarter as slumping sales to big U.S. companies and restructuring charges weighed on the server and software maker.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 1 Aug 2008 | 10:14 pm

Freaks (1932 Tod Browning movie) at Archive.org

Freaks, a 1932 movie starring real life human marvels, is available for download at Archive.org. It stars the handsome and talented, 18-inch tall Johnny Eck (shown here in black jacket and bow-tie). I first saw Freaks when I was about 15, and when Eck came running across the screen using his hands and arms, I was dumbfounded.

From Julie Ng's review at 11th Hour:

What always amazes me every time I watch it is its darkness, its audacity and well, the very fact that it even got released at all. Especially in the Production Code era of cinema. Despite the fact that some places did ban it and that MGM foolishly hacked out parts of it that are now lost forever, Freaks still got away with a lot, for its time. I'm not only talking about the casting of real so-called freaks, or of the implied violence, but of the racy dialogue and double entendres littered throughout the film. I once read a guy's review that compared his experience of watching Freaks with a watching a good porno movie. I won't go that far, because I think it's much smarter than any kind of smut, but its exploitative qualities are sort of similar. You are repulsed by what you are seeing, yet fascinatingly allured at the same time.
You may love this movie for its compassion towards the imperfections of nature, or you may believe it to be a sadistic and excessive piece of trash. And that, dear readers, is the real beauty and staying power of Freaks.
The Ramones' trademark phrase "Gabba gabba hey!" came from Freaks.

Link

Source: Boing Boing | 1 Aug 2008 | 9:52 pm

Lawmakers demand info on Web tracking practices (AP)

AP - A congressional committee wants the nation's largest telecommunications and Internet companies to explain whether they target online advertising based on consumers' search queries and Web surfing habits.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 1 Aug 2008 | 9:05 pm

Sun Releases JavaFX Preview (TechWeb)

TechWeb - InformationWeek - The JavaFX Web development platform will compete with Adobe's Flex and Microsoft's Silverlight.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 1 Aug 2008 | 8:41 pm

FCC rules Comcast violated Internet access policy (AP)

AP - A divided Federal Communications Commission has ruled that Comcast Corp. violated federal policy when it blocked Internet traffic for some subscribers and has ordered the cable giant to change the way it manages its network.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 1 Aug 2008 | 8:28 pm

Chemical Test Confirms Water on Mars

NASA scientists reported yesterday that the Mars Phoenix Lander's thermal analyzer had chemically confirmed that water exists on Mars.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 1 Aug 2008 | 8:00 pm

The ResQtec V2 Ram Wrenches Trapped Drivers Free in 13 Seconds

What it is: ResQtec V2 Ram

What it's used for: Getting the dashboard off your chest after a high-speed crash

Modern cars do a good job of absorbing the impact of a head-on collision: The metal in the front crumple zones deforms in specific ways, sparing the occupants the brunt of the kinetic energy. The downside — a bad crash can create a hardened-steel trap around the driver and passengers, making it tough to get them out in a hurry. That's where a good hydraulic ram comes in, like the 27-pound V2. Rescuers wedge the end of this $3,030 cylinder on the inside of the door sill and an aircraft-grade aluminum rod extends to push against the windshield pillar. Its 5,000-psi hydraulics deliver spreading force of up to 12.7 tons — more than enough to crack open your wrecked ride like a pistachio. The V2 can create a 31-inch gap in a mere 13 seconds — increasing the odds that once you're free, you'll be rushing to the car dealer, not the emergency room.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 1 Aug 2008 | 7:00 pm

The ResQtec V2 Ram Wrenches Trapped Drivers Free in 13 Seconds

What it is: ResQtec V2 Ram

What it's used for: Getting the dashboard off your chest after a high-speed crash

Source: Wired Top Stories | 1 Aug 2008 | 7:00 pm

Apple Releases DNS Poison Patch Nearly 3 Months Late

A DNS-cache-poisoning vulnerability was found in the software that fetches web pages using URLs. Apple has had ample time to repair the hacking vulnerability, leaving business offices to question if Apple is truly ready for their business.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 1 Aug 2008 | 6:30 pm

SLIDE SHOW: Solar Eclipse

Space producer Dave Mosher tells Part I of his Arctic journey to see the total eclipse.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 1 Aug 2008 | 5:56 pm

Verizon labor deal to end, strike seen as unlikely (AP)

AP - Union contracts covering about 65,000 workers at Verizon Communications Inc. expire Saturday night, but the threat of a strike appears small.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 1 Aug 2008 | 5:54 pm

RIAA's Lawsuit Strategy in the Balance at Jammie Thomas Hearing Monday

The Recording Industry Association of America will argue before a federal judge on Monday that it doesn't need to prove there was a transfer of files in file sharing lawsuits. The RIAA is to make that argument in Duluth, Minnesota, in the Jammie Thomas case. The RIAA has sued more 20,000 individuals for file sharing, with most defendants settling out of court and never broaching whether there is direct proof of infringement.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 1 Aug 2008 | 5:47 pm

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