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Stack-It BracketsMy wife has been asking me to build a firewood rack for years. I was planning to construct something from square steel tubing, which would require a lot of cutting and welding. A friend recommended...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 1:00 pm Sony Announces PSP 3000: More of the Same - Wired News
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:51 pm Solar Cells - Made In a Pizza Ovenstylemessiah writes "The winner of several Eureka Science Awards in Australia is a crafty chick who devised a way to create solar cells cheaply using a pizza oven, nail polish and an inkjet printer. This was developed to address the high cost of cells and in particular for the worlds poorest regions. She wanted to give the @2 billion people around the world who dont have electricity the gift of light and cheap energy. This could have profound (and a good profound) implications for education and health in those in the poorest regions in the world. And it all started with her parents giving her a solar energy kit when she was 10..."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:46 pm Amazon Launches Persistent Storage for EC2Amazon has just announced Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS), persistent storage offering that can be used in tandem with applications using the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). With EBS, new...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:30 pm Six surprising things about Microsoft’s PhotoSynth - ZDNet
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:29 pm Martin wants broadband across USA (USATODAY.com)USATODAY.com - WASHINGTON - High-speed Internet access is so important to the welfare of U.S. consumers that America can't afford not to offer it - free of charge - to anybody who wants it, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin says.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:18 pm Apple tries to de-bug iPhone (USATODAY.com)USATODAY.com - Apple acknowledged that a software update for the iPhone partly fixes the connection snags that have caused a global firestorm for the new iPhone 3G.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:18 pm Why Community-Created iPhone Copy And Paste Won't Work - Silicon Alley Insider
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:16 pm Maya Angelou on understanding characterThis is a fantastic Maya Angelou quote: Ive learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:11 pm Maya Angelou on understanding characterThis is a fantastic Maya Angelou quote:I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.I'd give myself a 7/10 on the luggage thing, a 9/10 on the rain, and a 5/10 on the lights. Lots of room for improvement. MALZ WERLD (via Kottke) Source: Boing Boing | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:11 pm In India, IPhone 3G More Likely a Consumer Device (PC World)PC World -Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:10 pm Weight Watchers is an RPGClive Thompson looks at the latest iteration of the Weight Watchers online tool and concludes that the program has turned into an RPG:Think about it. As with an RPG, you roll a virtual character, manage your inventory and resources, and try to achieve a goal. Weight Watchers' points function precisely like hit points; each bite of food does damage until you've used up your daily amount, so you sleep and start all over again. Play well and you level up -- by losing weight! And the more you play it, the more you discover interesting combinations of the rules that aren't apparent at first. Hey, if I eat a fruit-granola breakfast and an egg-and-romaine lunch, I'll have enough points to survive a greasy hamburger dinner for a treat!Fun Way to Lose Weight: Turn Dieting Into an RPG (via Wonderland) Source: Boing Boing | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:08 pm Weight Watchers is an RPGClive Thompson looks at the latest iteration of the Weight Watchers online tool and concludes that the program has turned into an RPG: Think about it. As with an RPG, you roll a virtual character, manage...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:08 pm FCC pelts Comcast with rotten veg - Register
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:08 pm Tees say Made in USA in Chinese Thomas sez, "Misterchen has created some clever shirts that say 'Made in USA' in Chinese." Made In The USA Tee (Thanks, Thomas!) Source: Boing Boing | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:05 pm Tees say Made in USA in ChineseThomas sez, "Misterchen has created some clever shirts that say 'Made in USA' in Chinese." Made In The USA Tee (Thanks, Thomas!)Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:05 pm Data-centers built out of sealed shipping containers filled with serversMicrosoft's new data-centres are comprised of entire sealed shipping containers that are slotted into racks and left to run until a critical mass of their processor units have failed, then are swapped out.Microsoft's data centers growing by the truckload (via Beyond the Beyond) Source: Boing Boing | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:02 pm Data-centers built out of sealed shipping containers filled with serversMicrosoft's new data-centres are comprised of entire sealed shipping containers that are slotted into racks and left to run until a critical mass of their processor units have failed, then are swapped...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:02 pm Apple confirms iPhone 2.0.2 addresses 3G bugs - ZDNet
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:02 pm McCain's D&D character statsWith the McCain campaign smearing Dungeons and Dragons players, Wired's Threat Level blog is asking its readers to come up with character descriptions or Monster Manual blurbs for McCain:1st Level Fighter / 14th Level Aristocrat by (+5, Troll)John McCain Campaign Takes a +3 Vorpal Blade to Dungeons & Dragons Players
See also: McCain staffer slams Dungeons and Dragons players Source: Boing Boing | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:59 am McCain's D&D character statsWith the McCain campaign smearing Dungeons and Dragons players, Wired's Threat Level blog is asking its readers to come up with character descriptions or Monster Manual blurbs for McCain: 1st Level Fighter...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:59 am People On No-Fly List Can Sue In District CourtI Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "According to a new ruling, those put on the No-Fly List can challenge their inclusion in federal court. Previously, they had to go directly to an appellate court, which would deprive them of any chance to subpoena documents or witnesses and make gathering evidence difficult or impossible. Knowing the government, they will get around this by creating a 'No-Sue' list and making it even harder to change your name."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:57 am Random House asks young adult writers to contractually promise not to behave immorallyRandom House is asking some of its authors of young adult books to sign contracts with "morality clauses" that allow the publisher to take back your advance and cancel your book if you're caught doing anything that "damages your reputation as a person suitable to work with or be associated with children, and consequently the market for or value of the work is seriously diminished." For the record, Random House Audio published my young adult novel Little Brother and did not request this clause.An email arrives from the Society of Author's Children's Writers And Illustrators Group. Apparently, a well-established, enormous publishing house has decided to insert the following clause into its standard contract for children's books: "If you act or behave in a way which damages your reputation as a person suitable to work with or be associated with children, and consequently the market for or value of the work is seriously diminished, and we may (at our option) take any of the following actions: Delay publication / Renegotiate advance / Terminate the agreement."Children's writers, don't misbehave (via Out of Ambit) Source: Boing Boing | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:55 am Random House asks young adult writers to contractually promise not to behave immorallyRandom House is asking some of its authors of young adult books to sign contracts with "morality clauses" that allow the publisher to take back your advance and cancel your book if you're caught doing...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:55 am Typhoon churns toward Hong KongBEIJING (Reuters) - A typhoon that killed four people in the northern Philippines is headed for Hong Kong and will lash the city by Friday, weather forecasts said.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:52 am Clown-cigarette umbrellaHere's a striking image from the Aug, 1931 issue of Modern Mechanix; an elaborate cigarette umbrella that keeps a clown's smoke safe from seltzer attacks. MANY are the inventions devised to insure a...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:50 am Clown-cigarette umbrellaHere's a striking image from the Aug, 1931 issue of Modern Mechanix; an elaborate cigarette umbrella that keeps a clown's smoke safe from seltzer attacks.No More Rain-Soaked Cigarettes! (Aug, 1931) Source: Boing Boing | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:50 am Austalian Broadcasting Corporation launches Creative Commons community media site
Gary sez, "Pool is a Creative Commons licensed social media project being developed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It's a place to share your creative work with the Pool community and ABC producers - upload music, photos, videos, documentaries, interviews, animations and more. It's a collaborative space where audiences become makers."
Pool
(Thanks, Gary!)
Source: Boing Boing | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:48 am Austalian Broadcasting Corporation launches Creative Commons community media siteGary sez, "Pool is a Creative Commons licensed social media project being developed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It's a place to share your creative work with the Pool community and ABC...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:48 am Underwater photos of sailfish attacking a school of sardines Marilyn sez, "Pual Nicklen's amazing underwater photos of sailfish are a stunning series of seriously bizarre-looking sailfish attacking a school of sardines as big as an elephant." In the Whirl (Thanks, Marilyn!) Source: Boing Boing | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:46 am CBC's Danny Michel releases tracks from new album for remix
Chris sez, "Canadian indie artist, and co-host of the CBC radio show Under The Covers, Danny Michel has made the individual tracks from his most recent album available on the web. The raw tracks are provided in a number of formats, ranging from relatively low quality MP3s, up to CD quality WAV files.
Danny invites his audience to do their own remixes of the tunes from the album."
Danny Michel “Feather, Fur & Fin” Remix
(Thanks, Chris!)
Source: Boing Boing | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:43 am Trump Spokesman Hits Out at Charities' Ads Against Golf Resort PlansBy Frank Urquhart THE Trump Organisation yesterday condemned the decision of two of Scotland's leading wildlife charities to mount a newspaper advertising campaign against Donald Trump's plans for a GBP 1 billion golf resort on a site of special scientific interest.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am County to Open Beltway EntranceBy Francis McCabe By FRANCIS McCABE REVIEW-JOURNAL Responding to the ire of motorists and taxpayers, the Clark County Commission on Tuesday ordered the Lake Mead Boulevard interchange with the Las Vegas Beltway to be opened.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am Paradise ThreatenedIt's hard to imagine an ecosystem better protected by nature - and man - than the Galapagos Islands. They lie some 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am Briefly: New YorkA U.S. appeals court has thrown out an Environmental Protection Agency rule limiting the ability of states to require monitoring of industrial emissions. The 2-to-1 ruling Tuesday by the U.S.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am Canadian Zinc Corporation: Press Release ; PERMITTING UPDATE ROAD CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY OFF-SITE CHEMICAL DISPOSALVANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Aug.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am More Protection, Less Red TapeBy Dirk Kempthorne Americans overwhelmingly support the conservation of endangered species. That's why Congress passed the Endangered Species Act in 1973. Congress, however, never intended this law to be the solution to global climate change.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am EDITORIAL: Opening the BridgeThe Clark County Commission decided Tuesday to open the nearly completed, $12.4 million Lake Mead Boulevard interchange at the Las Vegas Beltway, rather than leave it closed for two years to appease a few vocal residents who'd rather see the bridge torn down.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am Parasite Poses a Threat to PenguinsBy Erica Gies Aparasite has been found in Galapagos penguins, raising fears among researchers that it could lead to avian malaria, a disease that contributed significantly to the 50 percent extinction rate of endemic birds in Hawaii.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am Commissioners, Republic Services Revisit Landfill DisputeReview-Journal Clark County commissioners and Republic Services on Tuesday failed to make progress as they analyzed why $36 million isn't enough to fix the troubled Sunrise landfill, and why some ratepayers might have to pitch in an additional $29 million for the work.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am IBM Plans 'Cloud' Data Centers HOT STOCKSIBM said it planned to spend $300 million this year to build 13 "cloud computing" data centers where businesses can store information for quick retrieval in case their computer systems are destroyed in a disaster.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am HP Profit and Sales Strong, but Printers Off Revenue Dips Sharply in Core Business AreaBy Matt Richtel Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest technology company, continues to roll along financially - except in one traditional core business - its printing business. The company reported third-quarter sales and profit on Tuesday that exceeded Wall Street expectations.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am Japanese Tanker Seized Hijacked Off Somalian CoastText of report in English by Japan's largest news agency Kyodo Kuala Lumpur, Aug. 21 Kyodo - The International Maritime Bureau's Kuala Lumpur-based Piracy Reporting Centre said Thursday that pirates have hijacked a Japanese-operated tanker off the coast of Somalia.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am InsWeb Announces Content Partnership With Internet BrandsInsWeb Corp. (NASDAQ: INSW), a leading online insurance marketplace, today announced that it is working with Internet Brands (NASDAQ: INET) as one of two recently announced content distribution partners.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am LOT Polish Airlines Expands Use of ITA Software's QPX Airfare Pricing SystemITA Software has announced that LOT Polish Airlines has launched a new weekend airfare search capability using its QPX system.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am Text Messaging a Plus for Obama CampaignAnalysts say releasing Sen. Barack Obama's vice presidential choice in a text message will help his campaign gather cell phone numbers.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am Small Businesses Forge Big Footprint OnlineSmall businesses--of which there are nearly twenty-five million in the United States--form the backbone of the American economy.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am Japanese Police Arrest Five on Suspicion of Smuggling Amphetamines From ChinaText of report in English by Japan's largest news agency Kyodo Tokyo, Aug. 21 Kyodo - Tokyo police have arrested five men on suspicion of smuggling amphetamines from China for profit, the police said Thursday.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am The Likeable Phone GADGETS OF THE WEEK / Products on the Cutting EdgeBy John Biggs You may have heard about a cellphone or two that can also play music, but Nokia's 5610 XpressMusic - the successor to the Nokia 5300 - is one of the smallest and most user-friendly.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am Powering Up for Today's Faster Needs THE END USERBy Azadeh Ensha In the beginning, the Internet was fast enough for most. Checking e-mail and reading a Web site didn't require scads of bandwidth. Any broadband connection was more than enough for anyone other than power users.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am UCN and Limited Treasures Sign Global ContractElite Design Manufacturer Upgrades to UCN inContact(R), Improves Contact Center Efficiency SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- UCN Inc. (Nasdaq: UCNN), ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am Verizon Wireless Invests $111 Million to Enhance NY/NJ Metro Area Network Since January 2008Company Offers the Nation's Largest and Most Reliable High-Speed Broadband Network ORANGEBURG, N.Y., Aug. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless today announced it has...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am Lighting Science Group and Office for Visual Interaction, Inc. Awarded New York City Lights Prototyping and Engineering ContractProject Includes Engineering, Production and Testing of Six Energy-Efficient LED Streetlights Estimated to Reduce Power Consumption by 25-30 percent. NEW YORK, Aug. 21...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am 99Bill Launches Installment Credit ServicesBEIJING, Aug. 21 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- 99Bill Corporation ( href="http://www.99bill.com">http://www.99bill.com ), a leading independent electronic payment servicesSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am Phoenix Technologies to Present at 11th Annual Kaufman Bros. Investor Conference on Thursday, September 4thMILPITAS, Calif., Aug. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Phoenix Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTEC), the global leader in core systems software, today announced that President...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am Obesity: Scientists identify protein that promotes fat-burningThe discovery could lead to the development of new therapeutic approaches to tackling obesitySource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 10:40 am LUMEDX Introduces Advanced Multi-Modality, Multi-Vendor, Web-Enabled ECG Management SolutionCardioECG(TM) Streamlines ECG Data Management and Supports Best-Of-Breed Clinical Environments - Without the High Costs of Regular Hardware and Software Upgrades ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 10:13 am Iran's space agency says it will send man to spaceState TV says Iran's space agency aims to send an astronaut to space within 10 years. The report Thursday quotes Space Agency chief Reza Taghipoor saying the mission's timing will be...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 10:07 am Intel Splits its Atom with ... - InternetNews.com
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Aug 2008 | 10:06 am Palm's Thin Treo Pro ... - InternetNews.com
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Aug 2008 | 10:06 am CPP, Inc.'s Interactive Web Community for Independent Consultants Surpasses Membership of 1,000ICON Success Program Social Media Platform Provides Unprecedented Resources for Independent Professional Development Experts MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 21 /PRNewswire/Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 10:00 am Sony Announces 160GB PS3, Wireless Keypad Add-On - TrustedReviews
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Aug 2008 | 9:57 am Iran plans manned space mission in 10 years - Reuters
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Aug 2008 | 9:48 am Iran plans manned space mission in 10 yearsTEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran plans to send a manned rocket into space in the next 10 years, state television reported on Thursday, just days after the Islamic Republic announced it had put a...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 9:45 am Sony to launch new high-resolution PSP (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Aug 2008 | 9:26 am Intel unites the internet with TV - BBC News
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 21 Aug 2008 | 9:15 am New catalyst boosts chances of hydrogen from ethanol as a green transport fuelScientists have developed a cheaper way to make hydrogen from biofuel that could be a solution to previous difficulties with storage and transport of the gasSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 8:57 am Biz BitsAROUND TOWN Tourism groups get grants for projects The Augusta Canal Authority was among 11 tourism organizations named Thursday to share $90,000 in grants from the Georgia Department of Economic Development.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am Intel, Yahoo join forces on Internet-TV ventureHoping to plant their flags on the screens of Internet-connected television sets, Intel Corp. and Yahoo Inc. unveiled a new project Wednesday to populate those screens with tiny programs called widgets...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 7:00 am Wall-E Lookalike Wins British War Robot Showdownlongacre writes "Following in the footsteps of DARPA's Urban Challenge, in which robotic vehicles had to navigate a complex obstacle course without human intervention, the UK upped the ante with its own Ministry of Defence Grand Challenge: within a mock enemy village, robots were instructed to find potential targets and make distinctions between armed troops, roadside bombs and snipers. The winning entry, Team Stellar's SATURN system, actually consists of three vehicles: a low level drone and a tracked ground vehicle transmit reconnaissance data to a high-altitude robotic relay aircraft, which proceeds to phone that data home to a central processing center. Upon announcing the winner yesterday, MoD said they are "carefully considering if technologies demonstrated in the final can be incorporated into future frontline kit for the Armed Forces. It is possible that the winning team will have invented a product that can be developed rapidly for the front line.""Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 21 Aug 2008 | 6:58 am US company sues Nintendo in Wii wand patent suit (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Aug 2008 | 6:51 am US Company Sues Nintendo in Wii Wand Patent SuitA U.S company has filed a number of patent suits against Nintendo, accusing the Japanese gamer's hit Wii of infringing on its technology for a handheld three-dimensional pointing device and a display interface system for organizing graphic content on a TV.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 21 Aug 2008 | 6:51 am Apple sued over iPhone 3G reception issues (CNET)CNET - An Alabama woman has filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming the iPhone 3G's network is slower than advertised.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Aug 2008 | 5:00 am Microsoft site makes digital photos into panoramasDigital cameras have liberated awe-struck travelers and proud parents from worrying about the price of film processing. But showing off those megapixels of memories is still reminiscent of tedious living...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 4:21 am Microsoft site makes digital photos into panoramas (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Aug 2008 | 4:20 am IAC completing split into 5 publicly traded partsBarry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp is completing its split into five publicly traded companies Thursday -- a move intended to give each business more focus and value than the previously cluttered whole...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 4:07 am IAC completing split into 5 publicly traded parts (AP)AP - Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp is completing its split into five publicly traded companies Thursday a move intended to give each business more focus and value than the previously cluttered whole.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Aug 2008 | 4:04 am Aug. 21, 1986: Volcanic Lake Explodes, Killing Thousands1986: A deadly cloud of carbon dioxide sweeps down the slopes of an African volcano, smothering more than 1,700 people. Volcanoes can kill in many ways, but this one is pretty weird. A volcanic lake in the West African nation of Cameroon degassed violently (you could say it burped, or worse) in the middle of the night. Carbon dioxide is odorless and heavier than air. Most of the victims died in their sleep. Lake Nyos sits in the crater of a volcano that hadn't erupted in centuries ... and probably didn't actually erupt the night of Aug. 21, 1986. Magma deep underneath the lake releases carbon dioxide into its depths. Lake Nyos is 690-feet deep, enough for the water pressure to keep the CO2 dissolved in the lake water, rather than letting it bubble up and escape to the surface. And the crater rim towers above the lake, blocking winds which could otherwise stir the surface and create convection currents that would circulate the deep, CO2-saturated water upward to areas of lower pressure. The lack of seasonal variation less than seven degrees north of the equator also contributes to the lake's placidity. Volcanic rumbling or other seismic activity could have triggered the sudden release of the gas that deadly night, but there's no record of any tremors and no evidence that anything shook off the shelves of homes in nearby villages. It's possible the gas at the lake's bottom just got so concentrated that even under pressure it came out of solution and formed bubbles. Once the bubbles started rising, a "chimney effect" would have rapidly siphoned huge amounts of gas to the surface. The gas burst through the surface with a rumble, generating a giant wave that scoured vegetation from the shores. The CO2 cloud was at least 300-feet high, because it suffocated cattle on hillsides that far above lake level. Iron from the deep water oxidized and stained the lake waters with rust. Then the gas crept down the mountain valleys, invading homes. It extinguished oil lamps and suffocated people in their sleep. Some who were awakened by the loud gas bubble stood up and lived, because their heads were above the invisible gas near the ground. But many who went outside paid with their lives. Few survived. Those from neighboring villages who discovered the devastation recalled with terror the legends about evil demons living in mountain lakes. Had this happened before? Yes, at least on a smaller scale. A CO2 cloud released by Lake Monoun, about 60 miles south, killed 37 people two years earlier. (The much larger Lake Kivu -- on the Congo-Rwanda border -- harbors not only carbon dioxide, but methane, in its depths.) And Cameroonians frequently find frogs suffocated by CO2 in low-lying mud puddles. Engineers hope to prevent a recurrence of the tragedy by continuously degassing Lake Nyos. They've sunk a pipe from a floating platform into the depths of the lake. It shoots a geyser of carbonated water high into the air. Source: Google Earth; National Geographic, September 1987
Source: Wired Top Stories | 21 Aug 2008 | 4:00 am Boston Court's Meddling With 'Full Disclosure' Is UnwelcomeIn eerily similar cases in the Netherlands and the United States, courts have recently grappled with the computer-security norm of "full disclosure," asking whether researchers should be permitted to disclose details of a fare-card vulnerability that allows people to ride the subway for free. The "Oyster card" used on the London Tube was at issue in the Dutch case, and a similar fare card used on the Boston "T" was the center of the U.S. case. The Dutch court got it right, and the American court, in Boston, got it wrong from the start -- despite facing an open-and-shut case of First Amendment prior restraint. The U.S. court has since seen the error of its ways -- but the damage is done. The MIT security researchers who were prepared to discuss their Boston findings at the DefCon security conference were prevented from giving their talk. The ethics of full disclosure are intimately familiar to those of us in the computer-security field. Before full disclosure became the norm, researchers would quietly disclose vulnerabilities to the vendors -- who would routinely ignore them. Sometimes vendors would even threaten researchers with legal action if they disclosed the vulnerabilities. Later on, researchers started disclosing the existence of a vulnerability but not the details. Vendors responded by denying the security holes' existence, or calling them just theoretical. It wasn't until full disclosure became the norm that vendors began consistently fixing vulnerabilities quickly. Now that vendors routinely patch vulnerabilities, researchers generally give them advance notice to allow them to patch their systems before the vulnerability is published. But even with this "responsible disclosure" protocol, it's the threat of disclosure that motivates them to patch their systems. Full disclosure is the mechanism (.pdf) by which computer security improves. Outside of computer security, secrecy is much more the norm. Some security communities, like locksmiths, behave much like medieval guilds, divulging the secrets of their profession only to those within it. These communities hate open research, and have responded with surprising vitriol to researchers who have found serious vulnerabilities in bicycle locks, combination safes (.pdf), master-key systems and many other security devices. Researchers have received a similar reaction from other communities more used to secrecy than openness. Researchers -- sometimes young students -- who discovered and published flaws in copyright-protection schemes, voting-machine security and now wireless access cards have all suffered recriminations and sometimes lawsuits for not keeping the vulnerabilities secret. When Christopher Soghoian created a website allowing people to print fake airline boarding passes, he got several unpleasant visits from the FBI. This preference for secrecy comes from confusing a vulnerability with information about that vulnerability. Using secrecy as a security measure is fundamentally fragile. It assumes that the bad guys don't do their own security research. It assumes that no one else will find the same vulnerability. It assumes that information won't leak out even if the research results are suppressed. These assumptions are all incorrect. The problem isn't the researchers; it's the products themselves. Companies will only design security as good as what their customers know to ask for. Full disclosure helps customers evaluate the security of the products they buy, and educates them in how to ask for better security. The Dutch court got it exactly right when it wrote: "Damage to NXP is not the result of the publication of the article but of the production and sale of a chip that appears to have shortcomings." In a world of forced secrecy, vendors make inflated claims about their products, vulnerabilities don't get fixed, and customers are no wiser. Security research is stifled, and security technology doesn't improve. The only beneficiaries are the bad guys. If you'll forgive the analogy, the ethics of full disclosure parallel the ethics of not paying kidnapping ransoms. We all know why we don't pay kidnappers: It encourages more kidnappings. Yet in every kidnapping case, there's someone -- a spouse, a parent, an employer -- with a good reason why, in this one case, we should make an exception. The reason we want researchers to publish vulnerabilities is because that's how security improves. But in every case there's someone -- the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, the locksmiths, an election machine manufacturer -- who argues that, in this one case, we should make an exception. We shouldn't. The benefits of responsibly publishing attacks greatly outweigh the potential harm. Disclosure encourages companies to build security properly rather than relying on shoddy design and secrecy, and discourages them from promising security based on their ability to threaten researchers. It's how we learn about security, and how we improve future security. --- Bruce Schneier is Chief Security Technology Officer of BT Global Services and author of Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World. You can read more of his writings on his website.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 21 Aug 2008 | 4:00 am Canadian Privacy Czar Wants To Anonymize Court Records On the WebAn anonymous reader writes "The web is evil and must be stopped — because it makes public information too public. So says Canada's Privacy Commissioner. She wants to 'anonymize' court records by substituting initials for names. The Toronto Star quotes Jennifer Stodddart as saying 'The open court rule, which is extremely historically important, has now become distorted by the effect of massive search engines... Court decisions and other related documents, which contain all sorts of personal information, are now searchable worldwide, which was never intended when openness rules were devised.' All Stoddart's proposal would do is erect a minor barrier for the techno unsaavy. Researchers, reporters, geeks, and most teenagers would still be able to figure out who's who. Stoddart seems to believe only in an abstract notion of freedom and access — but only as long as not too many people use it and no one suffers. She cites the case of someone who is upset at reading the divorce case of her parents. Is Stoddart a danger or a menace? Or just clueless?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 21 Aug 2008 | 3:55 am 42% of Web Users Sneak Onto Other Online AccountsAn anonymous reader writes "In an online survey, 42 percent of Internet users admitted to logging into other people's email and social networking accounts without their knowledge. The poll doesn't ask if passwords were found, granted, or stolen — which would make for further interesting results. The write-up summarizing the results defines the respondents as part of an "educated tech-readership" and questions the ethics of logging onto someone else's account, and whether those differ depending on the person and relationship."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 21 Aug 2008 | 1:51 am Death by Volcano : Photo: Austin Post/USGSVolcanoes inspire awe and terror because they can kill in so many ways -- flowing lava, suffocating ash, flood from a released lake, landslides, mudslides, burning gas, shockwaves, earthquakes and tsunamis. A volcano can kill even when it's not erupting, as happened at Lake Nyos in 1986. We start here with three famous eruptions, modern and ancient, and then show the seven deadliest eruptions of the last 500 years, as listed by the U.S. Geological Survey. St. Helens Blows Its Top, 1980Mount St. Helens steamed to life in March 1980 and volcanologists knew it was ready to blow; they just didn't know exactly when. Officials closed the surrounding national forest areas to the public, but some people, like resort-owner Harry Truman, said they'd rather stay put. Others, like volcanologist David Johnston, were at observation posts deemed sufficiently far from the peak to be relatively safe. But when the volcano erupted at 8:32 a.m. PDT on May 18, 1980, it didn't just send steam and ash up its existing crater, it blew its top off, 1,300 feet of it. And it didn't blow straight up: A whole side of the mountain that was made of fissured, rotten rock broke loose. That created a massive landslide and released a deadly cloud of pulverized rock that killed Johnston, Truman and 55 others, most of them by asphyxiation. When the ash combined with lake and stream water, the surging volcanic debris, or lahar, stormed down nearby valleys wreaking havoc.  : Photo: Richard P. Hoblitt/USGSThe Philippines' Mount Pinatubo ejected about 1.2 cubic miles of magma, sending a giant ash cloud more than 20 miles up into the stratosphere in June 1991. Ten times larger than Mount St. Helens' 1980 eruption, it was second in the 20th century only to Alaska's 1912 Katmai eruption. A million people's lives were at risk, but a good warning system saved thousands. The Philippine government evacuated 60,000 from the most dangerous slopes and valleys, and the U.S. evacuated 18,000 from nearby Clark Air Base. The eruption shortened the volcano by 850 feet and created a new collapse caldera, or crater, 1½ miles in diameter. Ash deposits 2-inches thick covered 1,500 square miles of land, burying crops and weighing down roofs. Rain from typhoon Yunya made it even heavier, and the accumulated weight, along with the typhoon's wind and seismic shaking from the summit collapse caused roofs to cave in ... the major cause of death from the eruption. Around 350 people died.  : Photo: Bettmann/CorbisIn one of the most famous eruptions in history, Italy's Mount Vesuvius erupted suddenly in the early afternoon of August 24, A.D. 79. Glassy lava fragments, rocks, crystal and ash fell from the sky for a week, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae on the Bay of Naples -- killing at least 3,360 people, but perhaps as many as 16,000. Among the dead was the Roman historian Pliny the Elder, who -- so great was his fascination with observing the event -- could not bring himself to flee from the danger. So vast was the layer of volcanic debris left on the three cities that their ruins were not rediscovered until 1748. The "bodies" at left are plaster casts made in 1961 from cavities left in the debris by decomposed bodies that had been sealed in rock and dirt for 19 centuries.  : Photo: Juhász PéterIceland's Laki volcano produced the largest lava flow in historic times when a fissure 16-miles long sent a flow of pahoehoe (fast-moving, smooth or ropy lava) more than 40 miles in 1783. The 2.9 cubic miles of lava covered 218 square miles. The eruption continued intermittently for four months. Fluorine gas fell to the land as hydrofluoric acid in Iceland, dissolving the flesh off livestock. Fully half the horses and cattle, as well as three-quarters of the sheep died. Famine set in, the social order broke down, and looting was rampant. Eventually, a quarter of Iceland's people died of starvation. Sulfur dioxide gas released by the eruption traveled farther. Throughout Europe a heavy haze filtered the sun and a "dry fog" sat on the land. Excess heat caused scores of thousands of deaths. The hot summer was followed by a long, cold winter. Much of the Northern Hemisphere was 4 to 9 degrees (Fahrenheit) below normal. Siberia and Alaska had their coldest summer in half a millennium. Crop failure and famine were reported everywhere. Iceland lost about 9,300 people, but the eventual global death toll may well have been 10 times that … or more.  : Photo: Trisnadi/APMount Kelut (or Kelud), in East Java, Indonesia, has erupted more than 30 times in the last thousand years, including a 1586 eruption that killed 10,000 people. The 1919 eruption disgorged a crater lake into nearby valleys, drowning 5,500 people. Starting in 1926, engineers built tunnels to drain the lake to prevent such catastrophes. Steam and hot gasses rise above Mount Kelut in this photo from November 2007.  : Photo: Roger Ressmeyer/CorbisUnzen Volcano on the island of Kyushu is about 25 miles east of Nagasaki. A month after a 1792 eruption from its current summit, the slopes of an older part of the volcanic complex, Mount Mayuyama, gave way. The resulting landslide swept through Shimabara City. It entered the sea, causing a tsunami. The landslide and tsunami together killed more than 15,000 people in Japan's worst volcanic disaster. You can still see the landslide scar above Shimabara. Unzen erupted again in 1991, sending ash flows down its slopes at 125 mph.  : Photo: R. J. Janda/USGSColombia's snow-capped Nevada del Ruiz volcano exploded Nov. 13, 1985. The hot volcanic gas and ash melted the glacier and mixed with the meltwater. As the slurry tumbled downstream, it added dirt and rocks, gaining volume and density. Debris flows up to 130-feet thick swept into some inhabited river valleys at 30 mph, destroying everything in their path. The town of Armero (left) was 46 miles from the crater, but the crush of mud and boulders hit it two-and-a-half hours after the eruption began. The river of concrete swept Armero away in a matter of minutes, killing three-quarters of its population. All together, the eruption claimed 25,000 lives.  : Photo (left half of stereoscope card) courtesy Library of CongressThe 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée in Martinique, West Indies, sent a glowing cloud of burning, poisonous gas laced with ash down the slopes of the volcano. It swept into the town of St. Pierre at 100 mph and burned or suffocated the entire population in a matter of minutes. Of the 30,000 people in town, only two (or perhaps four, depending on the account) survived. Three nearby towns suffered the same fate, as did the crews of 16 ships in the harbor. In the 10 square miles of burned-over land, as many as 36,000 people may have died, and only 30 survived. This group of refugees in Fort de France had the apparent good fortune not to be in the path of the glowing cloud.
Krakatau (aka Krakatoa), in Indonesia's Sunda Strait west of Java and east of Sumatra, exploded in August 1883 with 26 times the power of the biggest H-bomb test. The collapse of the volcano into the sea generated 100-foot tidal waves that wiped out hundreds of villages and more than 36,000 lives. Much reduced, the sea wave swept around the world. Four hours after the massive explosion, it was heard 3,000 miles away as the "roar of heavy guns." The sound was audible over 1/13 the surface of the globe, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. The eruption also threw pumice 34 miles into the sky. Dust fell 3,000 miles away 10 days later. Islands of pumice floated on the oceans for months, and airborne particles caused vivid red sunsets around the world. Half a century after Krakatau's epic explosion, a new volcano broke through the surface of the ocean. Anak Krakatau, for "child of Krakatau," (left) remains active and grows about five inches a week.  : Photo courtesy NASATambora, which is east of Java, produced the most-powerful eruption in recorded history in April 1815. It lowered the height of the island 4,100 feet. Heavy ash fall on nearby islands killed crops, resulting in the starvation of a probable 92,000 people. The eruption of more than 36 cubic miles of pulverized rock produced a volcanic cloud that lowered global temperatures by as much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit. The effects continued for more than a year, and some Europeans and North Americans called 1816 "the year without a summer." Further famine-related deaths almost certainly occurred.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 21 Aug 2008 | 1:00 am Salesforce.com stock drops on cautious outlook (AP)AP - Salesforce.com Inc. kept its financial guidance within the range of analyst estimates Wednesday, disappointing investors who expected a more bullish forecast from one of the Internet's most popular software services.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:51 am Semtech 2Q profit up 29 pct, topping analyst viewsSemtech Corp.'s second-quarter profit increased 29 percent to top analyst estimates on rising sales of the company's chips, which help manage power and protect circuits in computers, cell phones and other...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:46 am Review: Fashioning Technology Explains Knitting, LEDsThe latest book from O'Reilly and Make Magazine explores the fertile intersection of crafting and hardware hacking: Think knitting, plus circuit boards and LEDs.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 21 Aug 2008 | 12:00 am Six Questions To Ask Before TelecommutingLucas123 writes "With gas prices 30% higher this summer over last, telecommuting is back on everyone's radar. According to a Computerworld story, however, IT and telecommuting don't have a great record of success. For example, citing negative impacts on productivity, HP ended its telecommuting policy for hundreds of workers two years ago, and this year, Intel began requiring more than half the teleworkers in its IT group to report to the office at least four days a week. So before leaping, some questions you should ask as a manager if you're considering telework include: How will you define and measure performance? Will creativity suffer? What about employees stuck in the office?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 20 Aug 2008 | 11:55 pm Ellison gets even richer with $84.6M pay packageBillionaire Larry Ellison raked in a fiscal 2008 pay package valued at $84.6 million for his work as Oracle Corp.'s chief executive and topped it off with a nearly $544 million windfall from cashing in...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 20 Aug 2008 | 11:53 pm Archaeology: Fire exposes prehistoric archaeology in Yorkshire moorsSix-day blaze on Fylingdales Moor has exposed a lost landscape dating back 3,000 yearsSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 20 Aug 2008 | 11:13 pm Telecoms: Ericsson tosses its chips into European joint ventureEricsson is putting its wireless microchip business into a joint venture with its Franco-Italian rival STMicroelectronics as the companies look to expand their customer base in the face of slowing mobile...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 20 Aug 2008 | 11:06 pm Jack Schofield: Don't have your head in the clouds about online servicesSo-called "cloud computing" has taken a beating over the past few weeks. The concept is simple enough, and hundreds of millions of people have been doing it for many years via Microsoft Hotmail. It just...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 20 Aug 2008 | 11:03 pm Design Ahead of the Curve With CSS 3The CSS 3 specification is not yet complete, but today's browsers aren't waiting by the sidelines to embed its rich features. Safari, Opera and Firefox are on board, so why aren't you? Start using the cool new CSS 3 features, like rounded corners, today. We'll show you how.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Aug 2008 | 11:00 pm Judge: Copyright Owners Must Consider 'Fair Use' Before Sending Takedown NoticeA federal judge rules that copyright owners must first consider "fair use" before sending takedown notices to online video-sharing sites like YouTube requiring removal of clips. Universal Music argued it could send a takedown notice even if a posting qualified as a fair use of a copyright.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Aug 2008 | 10:21 pm Flash Creators Jump Into Energy-Savings GameGreenbox, a startup founded by the creators of Flash, announce the roll-out of its power-consumption-monitoring application. Installed along with networked electrical meters to a limited number of homes by Oklahoma Gas and Electric, the new trial is Greenbox's first move into a market that's quickly become crowded with competitors like Tendril, Agilewaves and DIY Kyoto.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Aug 2008 | 10:12 pm Ragnar Tornquist On Video Game StorytellingRagnar Tornquist is respected as one of the best storytellers in today's game industry. He's done work on Anarchy: Online, Dreamfall, and upcoming MMO The Secret World. Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a lengthy three-part interview with Tornquist about how good stories are crafted, how they interact with other aspects of the games, and what his preferences are for building a compelling character. "We had all these characters who were on a journey of faith, and we said how can we ensure that this theme is carried through, and have a clear view of how their journeys happen. So we said, every single major character had to fit into this model. Everybody starts out at the top. Faith can be anything — it can be religion, it can be a belief in yourself, in your abilities, in the work you do. As we face challenge, there's a process where we have loss of faith. It can be a minor thing: thinking one day, 'God, I suck at what I do. I can't do this.' And a lot of people after that point turn themselves around, face those problems, challenge them and they conquer them, and they say, 'Screw that, I am good at what I do.' I think most happy people live in this loop."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 20 Aug 2008 | 9:56 pm Sorry Goldilocks, Black Holes Come in Small and LargeThere are few, if any, middleweight black holes.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 20 Aug 2008 | 9:27 pm A Mozilla Plugin to Help Overcome IE Rendering Flawleast_weasel writes "An article on Ars Technica reveals Mozilla's intention to create and release a plugin for Internet Explorer that would allow the often-criticized IE to utilize some of the cooler rendering code developed for Firefox. The current WIP focuses on rendering using HTML5 standards, but the plans seem to be more ambitious than just fixing this one small piece of IE. The article covers some of the plans, hurdles, and potential benefits. It also spills the beans on the code name for the project: Screaming Monkey."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 20 Aug 2008 | 9:11 pm How to Administer an Epinephrine ShotThe worst time to find out you're highly allergic to something is when your throat suddenly starts to swell shut. Slow the onset of anaphylactic shock by delivering a quick injection of epinephrine as a first aid measure. Modern devices make it easy, but it's best to be prepared, so learn the basics now by following our guide.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Aug 2008 | 8:52 pm Facebook Ads to Turn Friends Into MarketersFacebook's new social ads could put friends in the uncomfortable position of marketing products that they may not even be aware they're selling.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Aug 2008 | 8:38 pm How Do I Prevent Lan Party Theft?DragonTHC writes "I'm thinking about hosting a lan party open to the public. I'm aiming for approximately 60 people to attend. I can handle all the logistics of operation. The only thing I can't wrap my head around is: how do I prevent theft at the lan party? Do I hire security guards? Do I need security cameras? I don't know the people who will attend, and I don't know if they're trustworthy enough to not steal other people's equipment. What do I do?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 20 Aug 2008 | 8:24 pm Palm Needs a Savior, and Treo Pro Won't Cut ItPalm's just-announced Treo Pro is an attractive device -- but it's just a stopgap measure; Palm is placing its big bet on a revolutionary product still to come. It better work: The company is running out of chances, an analyst says.Source: Wired: Gadgets | 20 Aug 2008 | 7:55 pm Nvidia Rumored To Be Readying X86 Chip Releasejdb2 writes with the (honestly labeled) rumor from the Inquirer "that Nvidia is preparing to release an x86 microprocessor with its guns targeted directly at its two major rivals — Intel and AMD/ATI," and excerpts from the just-linked Inquirer article: "THE HOT RUMOR going around IDF ... [is] that the company will do an x86 part. The background whispers say that the part will be announced next week at Nvision ... Nvidia's men in white coats certainly have the brainpower to do it, but they also most certainly don't have a license to sell such a part. NV is basically locked out unless Intel and AMD both decide to be magnanimous, and we would not recommend holding your breath waiting for this to happen ... That leaves the lawsuit option open ... Any attempt to enter the market without a license would bring down Intel legal on them like flying monkeys blackening the sky. It would get ugly. Really ugly. Expensive too.""Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 20 Aug 2008 | 7:31 pm Silk-Based Optical Lenses Green Enough to EatScientists create silk-based optical devices that you can literally eat harmlessly.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 20 Aug 2008 | 7:27 pm Microsoft, Novell expand alliance with $100M deal (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 20 Aug 2008 | 3:48 pm Little Lenovo Notebook Acts a Bit Like Big BrotherDon't call it a netbook! Lenovo's newest laptop is a full-featured powerhouse, with a light weight and plenty of horsepower under the hood. Just try not to get too freaked out by the visual-recognition program.Source: Wired: Gadgets | 20 Aug 2008 | 3:00 pm Birds Thrown Off by Global WarmingAs birds shift in response to warming, their food sources adjust at different rates.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 20 Aug 2008 | 1:20 pm Thawed Bigfoot 'Body' Just a Rubber SuitAfter the boldest Bigfoot hoax ever, a frozen "body" turns out to be a rubber costume.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 20 Aug 2008 | 1:20 pm
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Starting with a Chicago-area facility due to open later this year, Microsoft will use an approach in which servers arrive at the data center in a sealed container, already networked together and ready to go. The container itself is then hooked up to power, networking, and air conditioning.
MANY are the inventions devised to insure a dry smoke, but it has remained for a clown appearing with a circus in England to solve the problem. An umbrella over the smoke keeps off water and a spigot drains off excess moisture.
: Photo: 