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Mobile handset maker Nokia warns third quarter market share will fallHELSINKI, Finland - Nokia Corp. warned Friday its third-quarter global market share will decline from second-quarter levels, sending its U.S. shares tumbling more than 11 per cent in...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 1:01 pm Eric Joyner's new show of robot paintings
Painter Eric Joyner brings his delightful robots back to Culver City's Corey Helford Gallery for a new solo show opening tomorrow night, September 6. The new collection, titled Artificial Enlightenment, features the machines in their day-to-day lives involving donut factories, motorcycle rides, and steam train catastrophes. According to the gallery, Joyner is "inspired by science fiction, toys, and Brandywine artists and illustrators of the 1900’s." The full show is also viewable online.Eric Joyner's Artificial Enlightenment, Corey Helford Gallery Source: Boing Boing | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:48 pm Nokia warns 3Q market share will fallNokia Corp. warned Friday its third-quarter global market share will decline from second-quarter levels, sending its U.S. shares tumbling more than 11 percent in premarket electronic...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:39 pm Spore - changing the game - BBC News
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:37 pm Hurricane Watch Expands Through The 'Eyes' of Internet WebcamsLocal Views from Home-Based Webcams Available on 'MyCam' NEW YORK, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- EarthCam, the world premier global webcam network, today invited webcam...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:30 pm General Dynamics Chairman and CEO Chabraja to Speak at Morgan Stanley's Global Industrials CEOs Unplugged ConferenceFALLS CHURCH, Va., Sept. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Nicholas D. Chabraja will speak at Morgan...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:30 pm Current Technology's Celevoke Appoints Director of SalesVANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Current Technology Corporation (the "Company") (OTCBB: CRTCF) today announced its 56% owned...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:30 pm Nokia Lowers its Third Quarter 2008 Mobile Device Market Share OutlookESPOO, Finland, September 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nokia (NYSE: NOK) today updated its mobile device market share outlook for the third quarter 2008. Nokia now expectsSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:26 pm Iraq seeks Heritage status for restored marshlandsThe United Nations on Friday launched a bid to designate Iraq's famed marshlands, which were ravaged by Saddam Hussein, a World Heritage site after a four-year restoration project.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:25 pm Seinfeld-Windows TV commercial premieres to baffled audience - Computerworld
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:23 pm 3 UK Abandons Multimedia Ambition, Fancies iPhone Carriage - Washington Post
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:16 pm What now for the iPod? - Yahoo! Tech
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:13 pm Canadian Ice Shelf the Size of Manhattan Breaks Loose - eFluxMedia
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:06 pm Former Microchip Executive Pete Zimmer Joins Luminary Micro as Vice President of Worldwide SalesAUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Luminary Micro has named Pete Zimmer as Vice President of Worldwide Sales. Pete brings to Luminary Micro a proven track record of...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:05 pm Evigia Releases New Family of Active RFID ProductsANN ARBOR, Mich., Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Evigia Systems Inc., the leading provider of highly functional yet low cost integrated active RFID hardware, announced today theSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:00 pm AT&T and Mayor's Commission on Aging Host 'Cell Phones for Seniors' Event in Philadelphia September 9thAT&T Representatives Tutor Senior Citizens, Providing Wireless Tips At Free Educational Seminar PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T)...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:00 pm Science and maths assaulted by educational reforms, say scientistsEducational reforms are undermining efforts to increase the number of pupils taking maths and science, the Royal Society has warnedSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:59 am New Study Suggests Future Hurricanes Will Be Stronger - findingDulcinea
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:59 am Is Google Turning Into Big Brother? - ABC News
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:55 am Hadron boffins: Our meddling will not destroy universe - Register
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:50 am World's first carbon capture pilot fires up clean-coal advocatesThe world's first complete demonstration of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology will begin next week at a coal-fired power station in Germany.Built alongside the 1,600MW Schwarze Pumpe power plant...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:09 am Current World Market Outlook and Forecast for Benzene Now AvailableResearch and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/4277c6/benzene_world_mar) has announced the addition of the "Benzene: World Market Outlook And Forecast" report to their offering.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Inside the Farm Where Animals Are Thriving ... Even Wild OnesBy Jenny Haworth Environment Correspondent FROM water voles to sea trout, Pittarthie is teeming with wildlife that would rarely be spotted on other farms.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Union Park Project Gains CertificationREVIEW-JOURNAL The Union Park development in downtown Las Vegas has reached another environmental milestone, officials announced Wednesday.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Tracy Council Opposes a Peripheral Canal for the DeltaBy Mike Martinez TRACY -- The City Council decided to join other governments in San Joaquin County in expressing opposition to a Peripheral Canal.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am State Court of Appeals Denies Request for New Injunction in Athletic Training Center CaseBy Kristin Bender BERKELEY -- A state appeals court has denied a request for a new injunction by two community groups making a last-ditch effort to stop construction of an athletic training center near Memorial Stadium, a UC Berkeley official said late Thursday.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Drought Conditions Lead to Creation of Water BankBy Mike Taugher SACRAMENTO -- Fearing next year could bring a worsening drought, state water officials on Thursday said they would create the first drought water bank in California since the early 1990s.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Dive in to Divine Weather By the LakeBy Larry Olmsted Weather is not the first criterion most people consider when shopping for a vacation home, but maybe it should be. Weather is something that needs to be dealt with every single day -- and in Coeur d'Alene, they deal with it by boating, biking, hiking and playing golf.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Acesys and Provid Form Alliance for Medicinal Chemistry ServicesAcesys Pharmatech and Provid Pharmaceuticals have announced a strategic alliance, combining the drug discovery expertise and project management capabilities of Provid in the US with the medicinal chemistry resources and favorable cost structure of Acesys in China.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Jean Hannah Edelstein: Do love and science mix?Jean Hannah Edelstein: There's now good evidence to justify my fling with a dad-alike. But I'm not sure that reducing passion to rules is right approachSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 10:30 am Some Sony Vaios go "crackle-crackle, fzzzt" - Computerworld
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 5 Sep 2008 | 10:27 am Geeky Doorbell Speaks For ItselfBy Luke Anderson Are you a hardcore geek that wants to let everyone know of your love for gadgetry even before they set foot in your house? Sure, you could put down a doormat with the word welcome written...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 10:21 am The Napbook Is A Commuters Dream CaseBy Luke Anderson When you take your laptop somewhere, you will most likely store it in some kind of bag or case. This is only logical, since you’ll not only want to protect your hardware, but you’ll...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 10:19 am Make Your Own Peanut Butter At HomeBy Luke Anderson There’s something that I’ve wondered about for many years. Why does Peter Pan have his own brand of peanut butter? Sure, it’s pretty good peanut butter in my opinion,...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 10:18 am Vodafone to Resell Dell's Netbook - PC World
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 5 Sep 2008 | 9:50 am Chrome Not Ready For EnterpriseWe've covered the launch of Google's new browser Chrome extensively this week. But as we near the end of the week, one of the questions yet to be answered is how Chrome will fare in the enterprise. As...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 9:38 am Sony recalls nearly 500,000 PCs worldwideShares in Sony plunged today after the firm was forced to recall tens of thousands of Vaio laptop computers amid reports that some models have caught fire and injured their owners.Shares in the electronics...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:37 am USB Train Tickets Arrive In FranceBy Jonathan Kimak SNCF, a railway company in France, is trying out some new tickets. The tickets are part RFID, which was already a standard on France’s railway ticketing system, and USB. The USB...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:15 am Celebtiry Squares: TV legend Gerry Anderson never gets lost thanks to his satnavWhat's your favourite piece of technology?My TomTom satnav.How has it improved your life?I no longer have to telephone my wife and say: "I'm lost, please stay on the line and steer me to where I want to...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:14 am Celebrity Squares: TV legend Gerry Anderson never gets lost thanks to his satnavWhat's your favourite piece of technology?My TomTom satnav.How has it improved your life?I no longer have to telephone my wife and say: "I'm lost, please stay on the line and steer me to where I want to...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:14 am Phase Field Modeling of Microstructural Evolution in Solids: Effect of Coupling Among Different Extended DefectsBy Shen, Chen Zhou, Ning; Wang, Yunzhi Microstructural evolution during phase transformation and plastic deformation is controlled by the coupling among different extended defects present simultaneously in crystalline solids under various processing and service conditions.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am Effect of Particle Size on Thermal Conductivity of NanofluidBy Chopkar, M Sudarshan, S; Das, P K; Manna, I Nanofluids, containing nanometric metallic or oxide particles, exhibit extraordinarily high thermal conductivity.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am Gear BoxBy Anonymous 1* Digital Love Roland has released the RG-1 digital mini-grand piano, a keyboard with features that mimic the feel of a real grand. The RG-1 features Roland's PHA Il "Ivory Feel" keyboard with escapement, which absorbs moisture to replicate the slipproof feel of ivory keys.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am SanDisk Issues StatementIn response to media reports, SanDisk(R) Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), the world's largest supplier of flash storage card products, has issued the following statement: "SanDisk periodically has conversations with multiple parties, including Samsung, regarding a variety of potential business opportunities.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am Chinese Web Usage Surges As Netizens Take Global LeadBy Tiltman, David BEIJING The Chinese web population has grown to 253 million, having expanded by 91 million in the past year. The figures - which confirm China as the world's biggest online market by number of users - were released by the China Internet Network Information Center.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am Mixpo Announces Online Video Advertising Pacts With Leading Local Media Publishers and Unveils Preliminary Video Campaign MetricsMixpo, an online video advertising company dedicated to serving the local small and medium-size business (SMB) market, today announced that it has signed agreements with five locally focused media publishers, including: pioneering local online news sites Crosscut, Sun Valley Online and Pegasus News; ITZ Publishing, an online publishing consultant for newspapers across the US, and KGORadio.com, the Web site for KGO Newstalk AM 810, the most listened-to radio station in northern California.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am Scrutiny Sours Endeavors for Targeted Internet AdsNEW YORK - It sounded like a winning proposition - free money - for Internet access providers. By tracking subscribers' personal Web surfing habits, they could help deliver ads targeted to the consumers' interests, and claim a share of the online advertising market.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am Chaos on the Internet and the Constitutional CompromiseBy Bergman, Alan When it comes to understanding the law, everything begins and ends with the Constitution.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am AOL Chief Plots Return to China's Internet SceneBy Davis, Anita Norman Koo is convinced the portal giant can crack the world's biggest web market by targeting new users.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am Backstage With ... Gilberto GilBy Cohen, Aaron Gilberto Gil has been at the forefront of Brazilian music for more than 40 years. After co-creating the Tropicalia revolution of the '60s, he took the lead in shaping a Brazilian take on funk and reggae while helping spark a revival in rural baiao.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am Hackers Track Online Acts of WarTORONTO - In the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, a new breed of hackers is conducting digital espionage. They are among a growing number of investigators monitoring how traffic is routed through various countries, where Web sites are blocked and why it's happening.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am Sun Microsystems Outpaces Disk Storage Systems Market Nearly Three Times Over, According to Latest Analyst DataSun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAVA) today announced strong results for disk storage systems sales, as highlighted in the IDC Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker for Q2CY08.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am Survey: Are You Going To SLCC 2008?Many eyes now turn to Tampa, Florida, where some 800 Residents will attend this week's 2008 Second Life Community Convention. Unfortunately I won't be able to attend (the cost and logistics got too overwhelming),...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 7:52 am Photoshop Disfigurement - Image Editing Gone Awry (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) If mass-media and mailings make you feel depressed about your figure, youre far from alone. But the bare truth is, well, Photoshop works magic, so chances are those perfect bodies...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 7:40 am Negative Momentum: Newspaper Ad Revenues Gaining Downhill Speed (Even Online Is Declining)Can it get any worse for the newspaper industry? The steep decline in print advertising just keeps getting steeper and, for the first time, even online ad sales have gone down. Total print ads in the...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 7:39 am KDDI and Kyocera team to release color therapy mobile phoneKDDI and Kyocera have announced the W64SA, a phone that is designed to offer "color therapy" to users via embedded LEDs. "The light is available in five colors, red, blue, pink, yellow and green. Users...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 7:25 am Flavored Cutlery - The Ham-Infused Fork(TrendHunter.com) Theres a new fork on the block thats perfect if you want everything you eat to taste like ham. It is forking ridiculous but despite being in my late 20s, I love the straws that turn...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 7:20 am Online tools let parents peer into their kids' school dayWhat's he eating for lunch? Is she showing up for class? What subjects are they weak in? Software is helping unravel the mystery. ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 7:00 am Obama, McCain have contrasting styles in Web advertisingIt's been hard to avoid Barack Obama's distinctive red, white and blue "O" logo on display ads as you tool around online, particularly on news sites. In contrast, the star logo of his Republican presidential...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 7:00 am Cellphone executive takes up a new callingCyriac Roeding completes a 6-week world tour in which he traveled to such places as Nepal and Brazil to witness how people use their mobile devices. ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 7:00 am Software for supervising studentsKeeping tabs Technology being deployed in schools across the country allows parents to keep tabs on what their children are eating for lunch, how many times they're late to class and just how poorly they're...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Sep 2008 | 7:00 am Miraculous radio-controlled milking-machine of 1931With only a five-foot length of copper, it was possible for the farmer of 1931 to milk his cows by radio control!Radio Milks Cows, Runs Street Cars (Feb, 1931) Source: Boing Boing | 5 Sep 2008 | 6:49 am Space Invaders flexible keyboard The Bendiboard Retro is a flexible, machine-washable keyboard that comes embossed with Space Invaders (or, if you must, a Union Jack). Bendiboard Retro (via Wonderland) Source: Boing Boing | 5 Sep 2008 | 6:47 am Place-settings that look like model-kitsArtist Demelza Hill created this model-car-kit-esque set of fine dining cutlery, intended to reinforce the "correct use of cutlery."Snap and Dine (via Make) Source: Boing Boing | 5 Sep 2008 | 6:45 am Amazon will sell OLPC laptopsStarting in November, Amazon will sell the One Laptop Per Child XO laptop, a marvel of engineering and pedagogy, on a "give one, get one" basis: every XO you buy will also pay for one to be given to a kid in the developing world:Amazon to sell OLPC XO laptops in November Source: Boing Boing | 5 Sep 2008 | 6:43 am Mythbusters host: credit-card companies DIDN'T kill segment on RFID vulnerabiliiesMythbusters' Adam Savage now says that credit-card companies and Texas Instruments didn't lean on him to kill a story about vulnerabilities in RFID cards:"There's been a lot of talk about this RFID thing, and I have to admit that I got some of my facts wrong, as I wasn't on that story, and as I said on the video, I wasn't actually in on the call," Savage said in the statement. "Texas Instruments' account of their call with Grant and our producer is factually correct. If I went into the detail of exactly why this story didn't get filmed, it's so bizarre and convoluted that no one would believe me, but suffice to say...the decision not to continue on with the RFID story was made by our production company, Beyond Productions, and had nothing to do with Discovery, or their ad sales department."'MythBusters' co-host backpedals on RFID kerfuffle
See also: Credit-card companies killed Mythbusters segment on RFID vulnerabilities Source: Boing Boing | 5 Sep 2008 | 6:38 am Michael Moore's next movie will be a free downloadMichael Moore will make his next movie available as a free download at the same time as it is in cinemas. I downloaded Sicko free and then paid to see it at the Cinerama Dome in LA again. Smart. (Let's just hope that Moore's smart enough to dodge DRM and other evil crap in the download).I've been trying to get a review copy of his next book out of his publishers, but no luck. Guess I'll just have to buy it when it hits shelves here in London. The film, "Slacker Uprising," follows Moore's 62-city tour during the 2004 election to rally young voters. It will be available for three weeks as a free download to North American residents, beginning Sept. 23. An official announcement of the film is planned for Friday.Michael Moore to release new film online for free (via The Long Tail) Source: Boing Boing | 5 Sep 2008 | 6:37 am Dan Hillier's new tentacle horrors Last weekend I stopped by artist Dan Hillier's stall at the Brick Lane Upmarket in east London and was treated to these four eye-popping new prints. I've got the serpent man up in my office and he gets cooler every time I look at him. New Dan Hillier prints
See also: Source: Boing Boing | 5 Sep 2008 | 6:31 am LHC will not destroy the universe in 5 daysIn case you're still worried that the universe will wink out of existence in 5 days when they turn on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, rest easy: a new report from the LHC Safety Assessment Group says it ain't gonna happen. Or, as one physicist told me when I asked about this last month while researching my Petacentres article for Nature, "Look, it's a 10^-19 chance, and you've got a 10^-11 chance of suddenly evaporating while shaving."The report explains that if particle collisions at the LHC had the power to destroy the Earth, we would never have been given the chance to exist, because regular interactions with more energetic cosmic rays would already have destroyed the Earth or other astronomical bodies.LHC Switch-on Fears Are Completely Unfounded Source: Boing Boing | 5 Sep 2008 | 5:58 am Macropayments: Why I don't take tips for my booksMy latest Locus Magazine column is live: "Macropayments" explains why I don't have a tipjar:Two columns back, in "Think Like a Dandelion," I talked about the reproductive strategies employed in species where reproduction is cheap, like dandelions. Unlike humans, dandelions don’t worry about the disposition of each of their children — they only want to be sure that every opportunity for success is fulfilled, that every crack in every sidewalk has a dandelion growing out of it. It’s a damned successful strategy, for dandelions at least. You’d be hard pressed to find a lawn, no matter how carefully tended and how thoroughly poisoned, that doesn’t have a dandelion or two sprouting on it.Macropayments Source: Boing Boing | 5 Sep 2008 | 5:18 am Sept. 5, 1885: Pay at the Pump1885: Sylvanus F. Bowser delivers the first gasoline pump. It improves safety, but can't guarantee low prices. The automobile was yet to be invented, and gasoline was a byproduct of refining kerosene for stoves and lamps. Some of that equipment could use gasoline, but it wasn't much in demand. You bought fuel in a general, hardware or grocery store. You had to bring your own gallon (or whatever) can, and the storekeeper would ladle the flammable fluid from a barrel. Wasteful. Messy. Dangerous. To reduce spillage, Bowser built a pump in his Fort Wayne, Indiana, barn. He sold and delivered the first one to Fort Wayne merchant Jake Gumper 123 years ago today. The self-contained unit included a wooden storage barrel, marble valves, a wooden plunger, a hand lever and an upright faucet lever. It was a success. Bowser formed the S.F. Bowser Company and patented his pump in 1887. The Bowser pump soon became known as a "filling station," and Bowser started selling an improved model to the first automobile-repair garages in 1893. Most places that sold fuel to motorists used the "drum and measure" method. Gasoline was gravity-fed from a large steel drum into a five-gallon measuring can. The motorist then carried the can over to his automobile and poured the fuel into the car's tank through a funnel that was lined with a chamois filter to remove grit and impurities. A big bother all around, and not awfully safe, either. Bowser came up with a big improvement in 1905: He enclosed a square, metal tank in a wooden cabinet equipped with a forced-suction pump. A hand-stroke lever pumped the gas. This pump featured air vents for safety, stops that you could set to deliver a predetermined quantity and -- wonder of wonders -- a hose to dispense the gasoline directly into the vehicle's fuel tank. He called it the Bowser Self-Measuring Gasoline Storage Pump. (Rival John J. Tokheim of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, had fitted a pump with a direct-delivery hose in 1903.) The word bowser soon became a generic term for a vertical gasoline pump. That usage has dropped away in the United States, but lingers in Australia, New Zealand and, to a lesser extent, Canada. A bowser is also a tank truck that delivers fuel to airplanes on the tarmac, and in Britain the term applies as well to self-propelled tanks carrying any fluid that is delivered directly to the end user -- for instance, water after a disaster. Bowser's later career was quirky and litigious. He invented and personally marketed a backscratcher and a sit-down enema. He also sold postcards of himself next to the "Stone of Scone," part of the coronation throne on which British monarchs sit while being crowned in Westminster Abbey. Source: Petroleum Collectibles Monthly, others 
Source: Wired Top Stories | 5 Sep 2008 | 4:00 am Gallery: Distilling 2.0 -- Bye-Bye Boiling, Hello Health Care : Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.comPASADENA, California – For all you moonshine makers who thought your hobby was just a guilty pleasure, a new spin on distilling may actually help save lives. Using ancient technology reduced to a microscopic scale, scientists at Caltech have created new tools to detect disease and purify water using tiny stills. The creation of the still around A.D. 500 was one of humanity's earliest, and still quite popular, technological advancements. Traditionally, a still boils liquids in order to vaporize and separate them. Now, using nanoparticles and lasers, liquids no longer need to be boiled to be separated. Removing the heat requirement from distillation means the process could be used to separate living cells without killing them, which could lead to advanced disease detection. Other applications include extracting water cheaply and efficiently from sea water in low-energy saltwater distillation plants. How do they do it? Take a tour through professor David Boyd's lab and go behind the scenes of this revolutionary process. Left: A green laser evaporates the water from a liquid. This is the final stage of nano distillation.  : Here is a diagram of the basic nano still technique. At top is the initial setup with gold nanoparticles sitting on top of a glass slide. The fluid waiting to be distilled is enclosed from above by a silicone rubber chip. In the bottom diagram, a green laser operating near the resonant frequency of the gold particles is applied. The laser heats the gold nanoparticles, which then transfer the heat to the surrounding fluid. This small amount of heat is just enough to cause controlled evaporation over the gas bubble barrier, leaving pure water on the right-hand side of the diagram. Click through to the next photo to take a closer look at each of these steps. Illustration: Chemical Separations by Bubble Assisted Interphase Mass-Transfer, David A. Boyd, James Adelman, David Goodwin, and Demetri Psaltis  : Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.comThis spin coater is used to spread out the thin layer of gold nanoparticles on the glass slide. A drop of the gold solution is placed on the slide and the coater spins extremely fast. This spinning spreads the solution evenly and coats the slide with a nearly uniform 15-nanometer layer of gold. To get a controlled spacing of particles there needs to be a structure in place to hold them. To achieve this, scientists add a polymer to the gold solution. This polymer forms a uniform lattice to structure all the gold. But observant readers will notice there was no polymer in the previous diagram. Where does it go? Click to the next photo to find out.  : Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.comThis is an oxygen etcher. Once the glass slide is covered with the polymer-and-gold solution, this etcher burns off the polymer, leaving just the gold behind.  : Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.comThis is a sample slide covered with a matrix of gold nanoparticles. The purple streaks on the slide are the nanoparticles, visibly spreading out from the initial drop applied to the slide during the spin coating. For those readers expecting the entire slide to be purple, scientists actually need only a small portion of the slide to be covered uniformly by the gold, so these streaks will suffice. The particles have a unique property of rapidly dissipating heat, which is a key factor in how the still works.  : Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.comIn another part of the lab, the piece of silicone rubber is made. If you think back to the second image in this gallery, you'll recall that the silicone rubber encloses the fluid between itself and the glass slide. This piece of silicone is called the microfluidic chip because of the fluid channels carved into it. The machine pictured at left is called a mask aligner. It creates a mold for the microfluidic chip. It does this by exposing an image (in this case, the shape and design of the chip) to a photosensitive material. The unexposed portion of the material is discarded, and the shape of the mold is all that's left. It's similar to a photo enlarger, but instead of a two-dimensional image, a fully formed nano structure is made. The final mold is then used to create fluid channels in a piece of silicone rubber. This silicone rubber ends up being the microfluidic chip.  : Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.comHere, the silicone rubber chip is drilled to create ports for the nano still. These ports will be used to inject solutions for distillation and to extract the distilled liquid.  : Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.comTiny plugs of silicone are the doughnut holes of the micro-fabrication world. Sadly, these plugs will remain uneaten.  : Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.comAfter fabrication of the microfluidic chip, we're ready to put it all together. The chip is glued to the gold-coated slide that we made earlier (pictured at center-left inside petri dish). Now we have a nano still, which has an electronic sensor attached for measuring the conductivity of the fluid.  : Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.comSometimes science is messy. This workbench is covered with a collection of syringes and gold nanoparticle-coated glass slides. The syringes are used to inject fluids through the ports into the channels in the still, which we'll see in the next photo.  : Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.comIn this photo, blue "Smurf blood" food-grade dye is injected into the nano still through a syringe. The dye makes it easy to see when the liquid has been distilled. The distilled water will be clear and the remaining water will become darker due to the higher concentration of dye.  : Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.comA low-powered green diode laser shines down into the still. The laser is roughly the same strength as an off-the-shelf laser pointer. Very little energy is needed in the microdistilling process thanks to the heat-dissipating properties of the gold nanoparticles. Professor Boyd, the lead researcher on the project, reveals that this process was largely discovered by accident. "We had this problem with [an] air bubble, so we started hitting it with a laser. Instead of getting rid of it, we saw that we were actually causing the distillation process to occur, which was completely unexpected," Boyd explains.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 5 Sep 2008 | 4:00 am Blimpin' Ain't Easy: Crossing the English Channel in a Pedal-Powered Airship*You know it's hard up here for a blimp. Or so says Stephane Rousson, a 39-year-old Frenchman who's hoping to cross the English Channel in a homemade, pedal-powered airship. As a child, he was captivated by the Gossamer Albatross, the first entirely human-powered craft to fly the turbulent stretch from England to France. Hoping to repeat that 1979 feat, Rousson acquired Zeppy, a crank-driven zeppelin. Built originally by Jean Marc Geiser and his son Luc back in 1984, the craft's forward momentum and steering come from a pair of 10-foot movable propellers, churned by a recumbent bike hanging from the ship's belly; Rousson modified the chassis to improve its stability and power. He has logged more than 30 hours of flight time, including a four-hour hop around the coastal town of Toulon. But so far, no English Channel. The problem: Breezes over 5 mph bat the blimp around like a cat playing with a moth. Also, the heat of the sun raises the temperature of the helium in the Zeppy, which could cause it to explode. With the channel typically experiencing only three windless days a year, Rousson will have to time his five-hour, 34-mile flight perfectly. He plans to try again in September. Here's hoping the attempt doesn't go down like a lead balloon. *Rejected headlines: Big Blimpin', Keep Your Blimp Legs Strong, Blimp's My Ride
Source: Wired Top Stories | 5 Sep 2008 | 4:00 am Giant Ice Sheet Breaks Free in CanadaA 19-square-mile chunk of ice shelf has broken away from Ellesmere Island in Canada's northern Arctic. The 4,500-year-old Markham Ice Shelf is now adrift in the Arctic Ocean.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:00 am Rain Clips Greenbird's WingsYou can't set a land-speed record on mud, so British engineer Richard Jenkins packs up his wind-powered land yacht and heads home.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 4 Sep 2008 | 11:04 pm File Sharing Lawsuits at Crossroads, After 5 Years of LitigationFive years ago, the Recording Industry Association of America began a massive litigation campaign against file sharers. More than 30,000 lawsuits later, many are questioning the campaign's effectiveness. All the while, basic legal questions, like what proof is necessary to prove copyright infringement, remain unanswered.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 4 Sep 2008 | 9:55 pm Abrams on 'Fringe': Science, Conspiracies and 'The Pattern'Freakish experiments and bizarre coincidences fuel Fox's new mind-bending series.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 4 Sep 2008 | 9:51 pm Comcast Appealing FCC Throttling OrderThe FCC ruled last month that the Philadelphia internet service provider throttles file sharing traffic using the BitTorrent protocol. Comcast says the FCC abused its authority.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 4 Sep 2008 | 9:26 pm Zoho Docs Unites Writer, Sheet and ShowZoho already had a powerful online office suite in Writer, Sheet and Show. Now it binds them around a virtual file system, making it easy to upload your word-processing, powerpoint and spreadsheet docs to the cloud and edit them anywhere. It looks a lot like Google Docs now, but with a little digging you'll find more useful features.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 4 Sep 2008 | 9:00 pm Share More Than Videos With YouTube's Data APIThere's more to your average YouTube video than just the clip itself. Using Python, we show you how to retrieve all of the metadata associated with any video on the site -- the clip's title, tags, description, duration and much more. Learn how to use YouTube's Data API in the second installment of Webmonkey's YouTube guide.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 4 Sep 2008 | 8:30 pm New TiVo DVR Proves Bigger Is Sometimes BetterGadgets are supposed to get smaller not larger, right? TiVo hears this and TiVo so doesn't care. The new TiVo HD XL is enormous with a terabyte of memory and THX-certified audio and video for pumping out true hi-def glory.Source: Wired: Gadgets | 4 Sep 2008 | 6:47 pm 5 iPhone Applications That Replace Your ToolsThrow out your level, your tape measure and your car's speedometer -- the iPhone has apps aimed at replacing all these tools and more.Source: Wired: Gadgets | 4 Sep 2008 | 1:10 pm
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This year, OLPC teamed up with a Web retailer instead of running the program itself, said Matt Keller, director of Europe, Middle East and Africa at OLPC.