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Obama picks Senate veteran Biden as running mate (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Aug 2008 | 12:49 pm Bringing Cell Phones To the Third WorldAn anonymous reader tips a story about Denis O'Brien, a mobile phone entrepreneur whose goal is to spread cell phones throughout third-world countries. Quoting: "...O'Brien keeps pouring money into the world's poorest, most violent countries. His bet: Give phones to the masses and they'll fight your enemies for you. ...In Trinidad & Tobago, where the state mobile phone firm was dragging its feet on connecting Digicel calls to its own customers, O'Brien harangued government officials to speed things up, even phoning one Christmas night to complain. After the launch the state firm started dropping Digicel calls anyway, making its new competitor look bad. O'Brien took his case to the people, taking out ads in T&T's papers listing life 'Before Digicel' and 'After Digicel' and held a press conference. The state firm eventually relented. In its first four months Digicel bagged 600,000 customers and is narrowing the gap now with the state in market share."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 23 Aug 2008 | 12:20 pm Writer who photographed HP Lovecraft's headstone ordered to delete her photo, heaped with abuseMatt sez, "One of my favorite writers, Caitlin R. Kiernan, was the subject of verbal abuse, profanity and homophobic remarks from some sort of security guard when she and her companion went to visit H.P. Lovecraft's grave. The guard attempted to make them delete all of the photographs they had taken, despite the absence of any policy forbidding it. Are cameras like catnip for abusive, power-mad rent-a-cops now?"Basic story: Caitlin and her friend have been visiting the grave for a decade or so, paying respects quietly, as do many people. It's one of the most photographed stones in the world. The graveyard's policies, listed on its website, do not prohibit photos. The security was incredibly abusive and jerky. Just another skirmish in the war against photography, as the brave security guards of the world prevent the theft of photons from our poor, helpless inanimate objects. "...stains on the carpet and stains on the scenery..." (Thanks, Matt!)
(Image: H.P. Lovecraft's grave a Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike photo from StrangeInterlude's Flickr stream) Source: Boing Boing | 23 Aug 2008 | 11:09 am Writer who photographed HP Lovecraft's headstone ordered to delete her photo, heaped with abuseMatt sez, "One of my favorite writers, Caitlin R. Kiernan, was the subject of verbal abuse, profanity and homophobic remarks from some sort of security guard when she and her companion went to visit H...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 11:09 am Vicky is Salt of the EarthBy Barbara Goulden RETIRED teacher Vicky Halliday is hoping more people in Coventry will support a little-known organisation which has already had a dramatic affect on climate change in southern India.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 23 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am Beijing to Adopt Stricter Environment Measures After Olympics, Official SaysText of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency) [Xinhua: "Beijing To Adopt Stricter Environment Measures After Olympics: official"] BEIJING, Aug.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 23 Aug 2008 | 11:00 am China Blocks iTunes - Slashdot
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 23 Aug 2008 | 10:43 am Five Reasons Why Airplane Internet Services Will Take Off - InformationWeek
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 23 Aug 2008 | 10:18 am Super Loans Last All Summer LongI'm inordinately fond of this typo in a WashPost article today on the deepening crisis [ed., I hate when you write "deepening" crisis: It's not a Beijing lap pool.] at mortgage companies...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 10:16 am China Blocks iTuneseldavojohn writes "If you like iTunes and you are one of the billion people residing in China, you may have noticed that you no longer have access to the eight million songs on it. An album, 'Songs for Tibet' was downloaded more than 40 times by Olympic athletes as a sign of solidarity for Tibet's cause. Ironically, this compilation had songs criticizing the 'Great Firewall of China,' and that is the very thing that prohibited these songs from reaching the Chinese public. Artists on the compilation include Alanis Morissette, Garbage, Imogen Heap, Moby, Sting, Suzanne Vega, Underworld and others." Additional coverage is available at Computerworld. Earlier this year, China blocked Youtube and other video services for similar reasons. More recently, the Chinese government detained a technologist who planned a pro-Tibet demonstration.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 23 Aug 2008 | 9:13 am Study finds new earthquake dangers for NYC - The Associated Press
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 23 Aug 2008 | 9:10 am A Bunch of Beach This WeekendLake-area residents will have a chance to get sand in their shoes not once, but twice, this weekend. Two beach bashes are scheduled at Smith Mountain Lake.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 23 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am Restore Power to the PeopleBy Rosemarie G. Sawdon Virginia just approved a new $1.8 billion coal-fired power plant to be built in Wise County. The final decision was made by the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 23 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am Planners Approve RezoningThe Franklin County Planning Commission voted unanimously Aug. 12 to recommend rezoning and special-use permits to Penhook Pointe, an LLC headed by Trey Park. The 95-acre property, located off Scruggs Road in Moneta, would feature 28 waterfront lots and 12 off-water lots.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 23 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am Fire Hydrants Prove Hot PropertyBy John Canalis LONG BEACH - As state legislators moved to combat an increase in metal thefts tied to a soaring black market for commodities, Long Beach Water Department officials said Friday that at least seven city fire hydrants have been stolen in the last month.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 23 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am Sooty Mold is Caused By an Insect InfestationBy Sid Mullis Today I want to discuss a couple of problems you may be experiencing in your landscape. Sooty mold can be bad this time of year. The black, sooty fungus can be on a variety of ornamental plants such as crape myrtles and gardenias.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 23 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am Accidents & IncidentsAn apparent drowning on Monday was the only reportable on-water incident in the past week, said Lt. Tony Fisher with Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 23 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am I-710 Corridor Plan Will Be Transport Agency TopicLONG BEACH The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (METRO) will hold three public meetings in September for the I-710 Corridor Project Environmental Impact Report and Environmental Impact Study (EIR/EIS).Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 23 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am Preservation, Recreation Planned for Park ProjectBy Denise Allen Membreno Canoeists and kayakers will be able to experience the thrill of white water with the completion of two proposed parks in Franklin County.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 23 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am Intel Shows Powering Up Without Plugging InSAN FRANCISCO - Imagine juicing up your laptop computer or cell phone without plugging them into an electrical socket. That's a luxury that could be provided by wireless power transmission, a concept that has been bandied about for decades but is creeping closer to becoming viable.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am War Crimes Against Southern CiviliansBy Cimprich, John War Crimes against Southern Civilians. By Walter Brian Cisco. (Gretna, La.: Pelican Publishing Company, 2007. Pp. 220.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am Hungry for Online MatchesBy Lindsey Nair lindsey.nair@roanoke.com 981-3343 Tom Davenport was a filmmaker long before he took over his aging dad's cattle farm in the mid-'90s.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am Wine Festival to Feature Record Number of VendorsThe 20th Smith Mountain Lake Wine Festival, scheduled for Sept. 27-28, will offer a venue for 95 food and craft vendors, and 27 wineries to showcase their offerings, the most ever.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am Plan Doesn't Bode Well for '90210'I had been observing the reemergence of the 90210 brand with what can only be described as a sense of casual disinterest. Never a fan of the original series, I somehow doubted the new show would, or was even meant to, appeal to me.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am What Kate Does Next ; KATE NASH EDINBURGH, MONDAY,7.30pmThe lo-fi singer-songwriter brings her unique music to the capital city. Corn Exchange,11 New Market Road.0131 477 3500. Part of the Edge Festival (c) 2008 Daily Record; Glasgow (UK). Provided by ProQuest LLC.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am Wrapping Up AugustTwo Grammy-nominated bands will be coming to Smith Mountain Lake next weekend to play their chart-topping tracks. TobyMac, a Christian artist, will perform Aug. 28; Diamond Rio, a country music band, will perform Aug. 29.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Aug 2008 | 8:00 am New iPhone ads now showingSpotted on TUAW, Apple's new iPhone ad campaign.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 7:59 am Apple's iPhone 3G Worldwide Rollout Not So ManiacApple continued its worldwide drive to dominate the 3G cell-phone market with iPhone 3G rollouts this week in parts of Europe, South America, the Far East, and India. Demand in all locales, however, wasn't...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 7:47 am Obama picks Biden as running mate (CNET)CNET - Updated at 1:50 a.m. PDT to reflect official announcement.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Aug 2008 | 7:35 am Anime Reloaded: R-Rated Trailer For A Sci-Fi Machinima EpicThis is ideal weekend viewing: "X Genesis", created by Joga Kidd, an accomplished machinima maker, apparently a trailer to a feature-length production set for a June 2009 premiere. Gloriously shot and...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 7:25 am Cell phones as art. A recap of stunning examplesArtwork that focuses on the mobile phone from dialaphone. Most have been posted on textually before, but it's nice to have them all gathered in one place. One of my favorites, above, was a multi-media...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 7:06 am X-rays could tell Chinese Olympic gymnasts' ages, scientists saysIs He Kexin 16 or 14? Doctors and forensics experts say bone growth could reveal how old the Olympic medalists really are. ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 7:00 am Global warming sign? Huge Petermann glacier in Arctic is crackingA scientist predicts the disintegration of a major part of the Northern Hemisphere's biggest floating glacier within a year. But is it normal stress or a sign of climate change? ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 7:00 am Off-course rocket destroyed by NASAThe unmanned experimental vehicle carrying a pair of research satellites veered from its intended path shortly after liftoff. Rocket that...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 7:00 am The peacock has companyWhen it comes to media, NBC is not the only game in town. Even if the town is Beijing and the subject is the Olympics.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 7:00 am Mobile Blogging's Mofuse Seed FundedMoFuse, out of Providence, RI of all places has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from The Slater Technology Fund. The startup has develope a mobile publishing plaform for bloggers. MoPhuse...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 6:24 am Ratio of IT Department Workers To Overall Employees?An anonymous reader writes "I was recently talking to a friend about the Fortune 100 company she works for in IT. She told me the company has 35,000 employees, including over 5,000 IT employees — and it's not a web firm. It has numerous consultants doing IT work as well. To me, from a background where my last job had 50 IT employees and 1,000 total, a 1-in-7 ratio of IT employees seems extremely high. Yet she mentioned even simple changes to systems/software take over six months. So, what ratio does your company have, and what is reasonable? How much does this differ by industry?" I'd be interested to see how much it differs by OS platform as well.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 23 Aug 2008 | 6:07 am Camera Software Maker Refocus Imaging Raises $1MMountain View's Refocus Imaging has raised $250,000 in Series A funding led by Greylock. The startup is led by President and CEO of Ren Ng who has been on the farm at Stanford since 1997 earning a BS in...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 6:02 am College Must-Haves Dug UpBy RYAN REYNOLDS Features editor 464-7686 or reynoldsr@courierpress.com My early experience as a technology geek was in high school, when moving up to a higher-level math class meant I'd get to use a graphing calculator.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Aug 2008 | 5:00 am Internet Dating Needs a Reality CheckBy Andy Cowan WITH this year's sanction of same-sex marriage, the first same- sex divorce can't be very far behind. The grounds: irreconcilable similarities.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Aug 2008 | 5:00 am Site to Rise From the AshesNew life will be breathed into a seaside site destroyed by fire. The Grand Parade in Skegness, where several buildings were reduced to shells during a huge blaze last August, is to be rejuvenated.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Aug 2008 | 5:00 am The Ebay Fannie/Freddie Insider Selling SignNot sure if I've mentioned it here before, but I'm fond of my handy-dandy Ebay-based bankruptcy indicator. It works like this: When high-profile companies are in dire financial straits, or at least employees...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 4:56 am 10 Polar Bears Are Seen Swimming in Open Water - New York Times
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 23 Aug 2008 | 4:19 am Gadget Lab Reviews the HP TouchSmart IQ506: Does Its Performance Match Its Looks?The 22-inch HP TouchSmart IQ506 PC is an all-in-one computer designed to be a multimedia workhorse. But are its features good enough to take over the central spot in a family's living room?
Source: Wired Top Stories | 23 Aug 2008 | 4:00 am Gadget Lab Reviews the HP TouchSmart IQ506: Does Its Performance Match Its Looks?The 22-inch HP TouchSmart IQ506 PC is an all-in-one computer designed to be a multimedia workhorse. But are its features good enough to take over the central spot in a family's living room?Source: Wired: Gadgets | 23 Aug 2008 | 4:00 am In-Game Gold Farming a $500M IndustrySpuriousLogic brings us this excerpt from a BBC report: "Prof. Heeks said very accurate figures for the size of the gold farming sector were hard to come by, but his work suggested that in 2008 it employs 400,000 people who earn an average of $145 (£77) per month creating a global market worth about $500m. ...Already, he said, gold farming was comparable in size to India's outsourcing industry. 'The Indian software employment figure probably crossed the 400,000 mark in 2004 and is now closer to 900,000,' said Prof Heeks. 'Nonetheless, the two are still comparable in employment size, yet not at all in terms of profile.' Prof Heeks suspects gold-farming might be an early example of the 'virtual offshoring' likely to become more prevalent as people spend more time working and playing in cyberspace. " We discussed the life of a gold farmer last year.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 23 Aug 2008 | 3:59 am Nasa Destroys Errant Rocket - New York Times
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 23 Aug 2008 | 3:27 am Thank You TechCrunch SponsorsO’Reilly Conferences and TechWeb are presenting Web 2.0 Expo, and are offering TechCrunch readers $100 off of the conference with the discount code “webny08po1″. Thank You O’Reilly...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 3:20 am Spanish DNA bank to identify Franco victimsDescendants of refugees who fled Spain during the 1936-39 civil war or the ensuing dictatorship are contributing to a DNA bank to help identify bodies in mass graves believed to be victims...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 2:47 am SmallTownPapers, Inc. Responds to Justice DepartmentEnforcing Employment Rights of Air Force Reservist SEATTLE, Aug. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- SmallTownPapers president and founder Paul Jeffko today responded to a Justice...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 2:42 am Cartoon depicts what went on in the NSA's wiretapping room at AT&TElectronic Frontier Foundation designer Hugh D'Andrade sez, "I did a 'live-painting' last Friday at a gallery -- a mural-sized cartoon depicting the goings-on inside the "secret room" at AT&T's Folsom Street facility. My EFF co-workers created a time-lapse video with an awesome ska soundtrack!" The Secret Room: EFF Designer's Cartoon on Illegal Spying (Thanks, Hugh!)Source: Boing Boing | 23 Aug 2008 | 2:30 am Typhoon Nuri weakens after hitting Chinese coastHONG KONG (Reuters) - Typhoon Nuri, which shut down much of Hong Kong for a day, was gradually weakening on Saturday after making landfall in China, though it disrupted hundreds of flights...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Aug 2008 | 2:24 am Firefox Gets Massive JavaScript Performance Boostmonkeymonkey writes "Mozilla has integrated tracing optimization into SpiderMonkey, the JavaScript interpreter in Firefox. This improvement has boosted JavaScript performance by a factor of 20 to 40 in certain contexts. Ars Technica interviewed Mozilla CTO Brendan Eich (the original creator of JavaScript) and Mozilla's vice president of engineering, Mike Shaver. They say that tracing optimization will 'take JavaScript performance into the next tier' and 'get people thinking about JavaScript as a more general-purpose language.' The eventual goal is to make JavaScript run as fast as C code. Ars reports: 'Mozilla is leveraging an impressive new optimization technique to bring a big performance boost to the Firefox JavaScript engine. ...They aim to improve execution speed so that it is comparable to that of native code. This will redefine the boundaries of client-side performance and enable the development of a whole new generation of more computationally-intensive web applications.' Mozilla has also published a video that demonstrates the performance difference." An anonymous reader contributes links the blogs of Eich and Shaver, where they have some further benchmarks.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 23 Aug 2008 | 2:00 am Verizon Wireless Discusses a Mobile Search Deal With Google - New York Times
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 23 Aug 2008 | 12:59 am Man threatens to shoot robot
Burglary suspect James Prevatt III, hunkered down for three days in a Maryland motel with his girlfriend, has threatened to shoot a robot that has kindly been bringing them burgers, pizza, soda, and cigarettes. The above headline screenshot is from CNN. Man threatens robot (CNN) Source: Boing Boing | 23 Aug 2008 | 12:24 am Group Suing AT&T for Spying Will Sue Government, TooA civil liberties group suing AT&T for allegedly spying on Americans on behalf of the government is not giving up, despite Congress' vote to give amnesty to the tlelecoms that helped. Instead, the group says it will now sue the government, too.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 23 Aug 2008 | 12:05 am Inside Intel's Core i7 Processor, NehalemMojoKid writes "Intel's next-generation CPU microarchitecture, which was recently given the official processor family name of 'Core i7,' was one of the big topics of discussion at IDF. Intel claims that Nehalem represents its biggest platform architecture change to date. This might be true, but it is not a from-the-ground-up, completely new architecture either. Intel representatives disclosed that Nehalem 'shares a significant portion of the P6 gene pool,' does not include many new instructions, and has approximately the same length pipeline as Penryn. Nehalem is built upon Penryn, but with significant architectural changes (full webcast) to improve performance and power efficiency. Nehalem also brings Hyper-Threading back to Intel processors, and while Hyper-Threading has been criticized in the past as being energy inefficient, Intel claims their current iteration of Hyper-Threading on Nehalem is much better in that regard." Update: 8/23 00:35 by SS: Reader Spatial points out Anandtech's analysis of Nehalem.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 22 Aug 2008 | 11:57 pm Review: Coming of Age in Second Life by Tom BoellstorffThe movement from techno-idealism to disillusion is recapitulated here in accelerated mode, as the anthropologist author recounts his three years of "fieldwork" in the virtual world Second Life. Its inhabitants...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 22 Aug 2008 | 11:14 pm Review: From Counterculture to Cyberculture by Fred TurnerNot so long ago, it was thought that the internet might prove to be the kind of utopian space that Negri hopes to find. Turner's enjoyably deep cultural history traces the roots of 1990s techno-utopianism...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 22 Aug 2008 | 11:14 pm Diary of terminally ill woman who chose euthanasiaWhen Marc Weide's mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she chose euthanasia. Here, we publish his shockingly frank diary of her final daysSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 22 Aug 2008 | 11:11 pm ID contractor denounced over data lossThe home secretary, Jacqui Smith, yesterday denounced the consultancy firm involved in the development of the ID cards scheme for "completely unacceptable" practice after losing a memory stick containing...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 22 Aug 2008 | 11:09 pm Bad science: Can obsessing over sport actually improve your health?Ben Goldacre: Maybe mindset alone can influence metabolism and the benefits of exerciseSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 22 Aug 2008 | 11:08 pm Dork Talk: Stephen Fry is tickled pink by his Nintendo DS"I Nintendo live for ever, or die trying" - Mario Marx.Poor Nintendo. Those clever little handheld games in the 80s: small, orange, plastic "Game & Watch" devices that opened up like a book. A gorilla...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 22 Aug 2008 | 11:07 pm Nonprofit Group Sends Filesharing Propaganda To Studentspalegray.net writes "The National Center for State Courts, a nonprofit organization, has sent file-sharing propaganda to thousands of students. The supposedly 'educational' materials, presented in the form of a comic strip, are intended to frighten students with gross exaggerations of the legal consequences of sharing music online (lose your scholarship to college, go to jail for two years, and more). From the article: '"The Case of Internet Piracy," however, reads like the Recording Industry Association of America's public relations playbook: Download some songs, go to jail and lose your scholarship. Along the way, musicians will file onto the bread lines. "The purpose is basically to educate kids — middle school and high school-aged about how the justice system operates and about what really goes on in the courtroom as opposed to what you see on television," said Lorri Montgomery, the center's communications director.' I'm not encouraging anyone to break any laws, but this is ridiculous. What's truly discouraging is the fact that several judges appear to be in full support of this sort of 'education.' The propaganda material is available in PDF form, and it lists the judges and others involved in its creation. Wired's post has a summary of the story (which is good, since the story is awful), and Techdirt notes a couple of the legal inaccuracies.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 22 Aug 2008 | 11:04 pm Lil Wayne label offers mobile content service (Reuters)Reuters - Cash Money/Universal Motown has launched a mobile subscription service to deliver ringtones, graphics, videoclips, text alerts and contest opportunities to fans of label artists like Lil Wayne, the Hot Boys and Birdman, Billboard has learned.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Aug 2008 | 11:03 pm Real or not, 'four-eared cat' basks in Internet fame - Los Angeles Times
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 22 Aug 2008 | 11:01 pm Apogee Search Marketing Ranks No. 368 on the 2008 Inc. 500 With Three-Year Sales Growth of 809.5 percentNEW YORK, Aug. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Inc. magazine today ranked Apogee Search No. 368 on its 27th annual Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 22 Aug 2008 | 10:47 pm Hands-On: 'Fracture,' a Literally Groundbreaking ShooterLucasArts' upcoming Xbox and PS3 game lets players deform the soil beneath them to create mountains and craters with the push of a button.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Aug 2008 | 10:45 pm Mozilla boosts JavaScript performance (InfoWorld)InfoWorld - Mozilla this week is touting technology to boost performance of its JavaScript engine and Web applications.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Aug 2008 | 10:40 pm Ciber Offers Alternative To Big Boys (Investor's Business Daily)Investor's Business Daily - Tech services firm Ciber passed $1 billion in annual revenue last year, but it still faces the unenviable task of having to compete directly against much larger rivals, including IBM, Accenture, Deloitte and Capgemini.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Aug 2008 | 10:22 pm First Review of Intel's New Classmate PCAn anonymous reader writes "Intel gave the press a sneak preview of its 3rd generation Classmate PC at IDF. It looks like this guy managed to kidnap the only working sample for a while and write up a full report. It looks like a major departure from the original, with a rotating touch screen and Atom processor. There's no official word on pricing yet, but no doubt the OLPC guys will try to rain on Intel's parade."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 22 Aug 2008 | 10:22 pm VLSystems Achieves Cisco Master Security Specialization in United StatesCisco Specialization Level Distinguishes Channel Partners with Highest Level of Security Expertise, Lifecycle Services and Success in Sales IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 22...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 22 Aug 2008 | 10:18 pm Rock and roll social media
Starting in a few hours is Outside Lands, a massive three-day music festival in San Francisco featuring a pretty insane line-up of great artists like Radiohead, Beck, Tom Petty, Devendra Banhart, M. Ward, Wilco, and dozens of others. (Boing Boing TV is on the scene so stay tuned!) Also debuting at Outside Lands is CrowdFire, a central social media hub for people at the concert and beyond to upload relevant photos, videos, blog posts, and audio and share it with everyone else. I'm proud to say that CrowdFire was created by BB's band manager John Battelle and his team at Federated Media! The way I see it, CrowdFire aims to create a cultural commons that bridges the real and virtual world, and the artists and audience. In the end, it should result in a living collective memory surrounding the event. Congrats John and FM! Participate at Crowdfire Source: Boing Boing | 22 Aug 2008 | 10:16 pm Three Defendants Plead Guilty for Online Commercial Distribution of Pirated SoftwareDefendants Used Multiple Web Sites to Sell Counterfeit Software Worth $2.5 Million WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Three...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 22 Aug 2008 | 10:06 pm FCC puts off plan to change cell roaming rulesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has put on hold a plan to revise the rules governing the right of small wireless phone carriers to "roam" on...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 22 Aug 2008 | 9:58 pm GameTech Announces Debt Refinance and Purchase of New HeadquartersRENO, Nev., Aug. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GameTech International, Inc. ("GameTech(R)") (Nasdaq: GMTC), a leading designer, developer and marketer of ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 22 Aug 2008 | 9:37 pm As of October, FBI To Allow Warrantless InvestigationsI Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Attorney General Michael Mukasey has agreed to allow Congressional hearings, but not to delay, the implementation of new FBI regulations that would allow them to spy on American citizens who are not suspected of any crime. As an editorial in the New York Times points out, this is a power that has a history of abuse. In times past, it was used to wiretap Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to spy on other civil rights and anti-war protesters." As Dekortage points out, "Several senators have formally complained that citizens could be investigated 'without any basis for suspicion,' which the Justice Department denies."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 22 Aug 2008 | 9:34 pm IDrive Online Backup for Mac Now Out of BetaWOODLAND HILLS, Calif., Aug. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Pro Softnet Corporation, a leader in the Storage-as-a-Service, Online Backup and Storage market, today announced that its...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 22 Aug 2008 | 9:29 pm Olympics set the stage for emerging Web tech fight (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Aug 2008 | 9:07 pm Olympics set the stage for emerging Web tech fightSEATTLE (Reuters) - As the world's best athletes compete in Beijing, the summer Olympic games are setting the stage for a battle between Microsoft Corp and Adobe Systems Inc over the...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 22 Aug 2008 | 9:06 pm Apple makes iPhone available in 22 more countries today - Ars Technica
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 22 Aug 2008 | 9:05 pm Update: Comcast has no traffic management plan yet - Afterdawn.com
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 22 Aug 2008 | 9:01 pm Wealthy Mexicans Getting Chipped in Case of AbductionBecause the number of abductions in Mexico has jumped almost 40% in the past 3 years, the wealthy are getting subcutaneous transmitters so they can be tracked when kidnapped. Xega, the Mexican security firm which makes the chips, has seen a sales jump of 13% this year. The company injects the crystal-encased chip, the size and shape of a grain of rice, into clients' bodies with a syringe. The chip then sends radio signals to a larger device carried by the client with a global positioning system in it. A satellite can then be used to find the location of the missing person. Things must be a lot worse in Mexico than I thought.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 22 Aug 2008 | 8:44 pm What's with Windows Mobile?: Ask the Editors - CNET News
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 22 Aug 2008 | 8:21 pm Telecom rollouts raise ire over utility boxes (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Aug 2008 | 8:04 pm Apple's iPhone 3G Worldwide Rollout Not So Maniac (NewsFactor)NewsFactor - Apple continued its worldwide drive to dominate the 3G cell-phone market with iPhone 3G rollouts this week in parts of Europe, South America, the Far East, and India. Demand in all locales, however, wasn't nearly as high as in the U.S.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Aug 2008 | 7:30 pm Telling Bad Jokes Invokes Hostility, ViolenceA linguist's research shows that using bad humor can be dangerous.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 22 Aug 2008 | 6:53 pm Interactive map of "history's greatest journeys" Our pals at GOOD created a fascinating interactive infographic documenting "history's greatest journeys," including trips from travelers like Amelia Earhart, Ken Kesey, Columbus, and Jack Kerouac. Notably absent though is Albert Hoffman's bicycle ride. Good traces the most famous trips in history (Good Magazine) Source: Boing Boing | 22 Aug 2008 | 6:12 pm Boing Boing tv backstage at Outside Lands: (Xeni + Russell Porter)Boing Boing tv is live and in full effect at the Outside Lands Music and Arts fest in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The gates haven't opened yet as I type this, but when they do, more than 150,000 people are expected to pour in over three days to see bands like Radiohead, Beck, Wilco, Primus, Tom Petty, Manu Chao, Black Keys, Ben Harper, and dozens of others, plus some cool tech-art experiments we'll be digging into. I'm here with our UK-based music correspondent Russell Porter, and the entire BBtv crew over the next 4 days. We're posting this episode from inside a giant rock star tour bus *very* generously loaned to us by friends of the blog (thanks Wayneco and Bre!). We ran around yesterday in a golf cart with the guy who created Outside Lands, Rick Farman of Superfly Productions. We spoke with him for this episode about the idea behind this festival, and what it takes to put together something this huge and complex. Events like this are a virtual world of sorts -- only with lots of real live breathing humans. We're parked about 100 feet away from the main stage. It feels strange to be so close to something so big before the gates open. All night long, production vehicles and golf carts full of loading guys buzzed around. Right now, there's an eerie quiet before the opening chords explode. This is going to be fun.
Link to Boing Boing tv episode with discussion, downloadable video, and podcast subscription instructions. Tech notes: the tall eucalyptus trees next to our bus (this is a gorgeous park, remember!) are blocking our satellite dish, so no WiFi in the bus right now -- instead, we're jacked into EVDO cards on MacBooks, on which BBtv editor Wes and segment producer Derek edited this piece last night. I'm pleasantly surprised at upload speeds on this card (it's a Verizon Rev-A). Stay tuned for more video from the BBtv bus at Outside Lands! Source: Boing Boing | 22 Aug 2008 | 5:50 pm ETech 2009 Call for ParticipationO'Reilly's Emerging Technology Conference is my favorite geek confab of the year. The presenters aren't usually celebrity types but just supersmart nrrrds making fascinating tech and thinking about the impact of innovation on our lives. I'm really excited to be on the program committee again this year. The Call for Participation is now open and we're looking for big ideas across a huge spectrum of tech/culture, from materials science and synthetic biology to nomadism and sustainable life. From the ETech 2009 site:ETech 2009 Call for Participation (O'Reilly) Source: Boing Boing | 22 Aug 2008 | 5:48 pm Tom Giesler's anatomical charts
Artist Tom Giesler created a wonderful series of anatomical charts. This one is titled "The Spirit of Sharing."Tom Giesler's "My Anatomy" (tomgiesler.com, thanks Greg Long!) Source: Boing Boing | 22 Aug 2008 | 5:33 pm Nonexistent public phone photo
I took this photo of a nonexistent public phone at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center. As the sign says, the phone is apparently out of order. Source: Boing Boing | 22 Aug 2008 | 5:24 pm Buff Monster art show in Los Angeles
L.A. street artist Buff Monster has a new solo show opening tomorrow night, Saturday 8/23, at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City, CA. I dig his superflat, anime-inspired, Pepto-dripping paintings. Click on the images above to see the work larger. From the show description: Inspired by Japanese fine art, pop culture, and anime, Buff Monster paints his trademark imagery in Superfl at style, blending pink, black, and metallic silver shapes into an array of squirting scenes. Moving in a more technical direction, the series of paintings will be executed on custom birch panels in an assortment of sizes. A new limited-edition signed and num- bered serigraph will be released on opening night. Open to the public, the reception for “The Sweetest Thing” will take place on Saturday, August 23 from 7 to 10pm and will be on view until September 2, 2008.Corey Helford Gallery, Buff Monster site Source: Boing Boing | 22 Aug 2008 | 5:11 pm Register to Vote via Your Xbox 360 (PC Magazine)PC Magazine - Rock the Vote has partnered with Microsoft in a move to help achieve its goal of registering two million under-30 voters in time for this fall's election.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Aug 2008 | 4:13 pm Earliest Known Human Had Neanderthal QualitiesThe earliest known modern human is found to share features with Neanderthals.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 22 Aug 2008 | 3:41 pm Google, Verizon Nearing a Search Deal
News from Portfolio.com
 Have Google and Verizon Communications finally kissed and made up? The two heavyweights, last seen sparring over opening up the wireless spectrum, are in talks over a deal that would make Google the default search on Verizon devices and give the search giant a piece of the ad revenue, the Wall Street Journal reports. A deal could eventually cover Verizon's web portal and its FiOS TV service, the Journal says. Any agreement would be a turnaround from their public clashes after Google lobbied the government to open up access to the wireless spectrum. Verizon fiercely fought back that effort. In June, Russ Mitchell noted that with the acquisition of Alltel and with an agreement with the Federal Communications Commission, Verizon looked prepared to keep throwing its weight around. Wireless providers are looking for an edge in services amid fierce competition. Verizon Wireless—a joint venture between Verizon Communications and Vodafone of Britain—has talked to other possible search partners in the past, including Microsoft, the Journal says. A deal is equally important to Google. "Google wants closer integration with carriers like Verizon so it can enhance the relevance of the ads it shows—for example, by making them sensitive to a user's location," the Journal says. Rival Yahoo has deals with several wireless providers. But Rafat Ali on mocoNews.net says that such deals offer only short-term gains: "As phones open up, users will be able to use whichever search engine they desire, not the ones deemed official by the carriers." And for those who are worried about Google's crushing dominance in search and its inroads into media, there is now a modified search engine that lets you search without getting results from Google sites like Knol, Blogger, and YouTube. Yes, it's Google minus Google.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Aug 2008 | 3:30 pm Impress for Less With These 5 RidesWant to impress people but don't have a lot of cash? These five rides will have everyone thinking you're eco-conscious, cool or otherwise highfalutin without breaking the bank.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Aug 2008 | 3:00 pm 'Iceman' Oetzi's Clothes Suggest Shepherd LifeThe world's oldest intact mummy was not a hunter-gatherer, research shows.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 22 Aug 2008 | 2:38 pm Ice Cracks at Greenland's Tip Worry ScientistsNew satellite images of Greenland show a 7-mile crack in the Petermann glacier.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 22 Aug 2008 | 2:38 pm Internet provider's usage cap raises questions (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Aug 2008 | 2:36 pm Heavy Rain Triggers Destructive TornadoesResearch shows heavy rain is key during the forming of tornadoes.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 22 Aug 2008 | 1:38 pm China Blocks Access to iTunes StoreChina's authorities have blocked access to all eight million or so songs in the iTunes music store, apparently because one album -- Songs for Tibet -- doesn't sit well with them.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Aug 2008 | 12:24 pm iTunes Blocked in China; Tibet Album SuspectedItunes Customers in China were unable to download songs this week and an activist group said Beijing was trying to block access to a new Tibet-themed album, "Songs for Tibet," with music by Sting, Alanis Morissette, Garbage and others, and a 15-minute talk by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Aug 2008 | 11:36 am
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