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Sponsored Post: Connect at home. Connect on the go.This post is sponsored by Verizon. Get Verizon FiOS Internet and Verizon Wireless Service all on ONE-BILL. FiOS has blazingly fast internet speeds, and Verizon Wireless is backed by Americas most reliable...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 7:00 pm Melting Swiss Glacier Yields Neolithic TroveHigh in the Swiss Alps, climate change is exposing a long-hidden past.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Sep 2008 | 1:00 pm China's Hu and Wen get own "fan" website (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Sep 2008 | 12:46 pm Geeky Cross-Stitch - The DOS Cushion(TrendHunter.com) How good is this uber geeky cushion with DOS coding sewing onto it? I love the detailing of the small embroidery (I think it is Courier font) and the actual coding on the cushion itself...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 12:40 pm RIM the big winner in smartphone market: Gartner (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Sep 2008 | 12:38 pm Anti-Scientology YouTube videos censored by the thousandsA law firm called "American Rights Counsel LLC" launched a massive attack against Scientology critics on YouTube, sending out over 4,000 takedown notices, including many spurious ones:Over a period of twelve hours, between this Thursday night and Friday morning, American Rights Counsel LLC sent out over 4000 DMCA takedown notices to YouTube, all making copyright infringement claims against videos with content critical of the Church of Scientology. Clips included footage of Australian and German news reports about Scientology, A Message to Anonymous/Scientology , and footage from a Clearwater City Commission meeting. Many accounts were suspended by YouTube in response to multiple allegations of copyright infringement.Massive Takedown of Anti-Scientology Videos on YouTube Source: Boing Boing | 8 Sep 2008 | 12:35 pm Tomorrow's Big Apple Surprise? ITunes Subscriptions - Wired News
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Sep 2008 | 12:32 pm China's First SpacewalkSmivs writes "The BBC reports that China will launch its third manned space mission in late September, according to state-run news agency Xinhua. The Shenzhou VII flight will feature China's first ever space walk, which will be broadcast live with cameras inside and outside the spacecraft. For the spacewalk, two crew members will go into the spacecraft's vacuum module. One yuhangyuan (astronaut) will carry out the spacewalk; the other is there to monitor the activity and assist in case of an emergency. Two types of spacesuits — one made in China, the other from Russia — will be carried up on the flight. It is unclear why China has opted for two different types of spacesuit. Spaceflight analyst Dr Morris Jones commented that China might want to test the suits against each other. Alternatively, he said, it might not be ready or willing to fly a mission exclusively with its own suits."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 8 Sep 2008 | 12:32 pm 8 Unique Scarf Designs (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) No sooner than we have sorted our tans out the weather turns hideous and we have to scuttle into our deepest and darkest wardrobes to find warm winter clothes. Some of these scarves...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 12:20 pm IBM reworks storage strategy (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Sep 2008 | 12:19 pm Yahoo search arrives on AT&T mobile phones (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Sep 2008 | 12:16 pm Intel rolls out low power server chips - ZDNet
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Sep 2008 | 12:06 pm Nominee Name-Sharing - John McCain Supports Obama(TrendHunter.com) He may be the most ironic U.S. citizen of the 2008 Presidential Election. John McCain (Johnathan B. McCain) is a musician from Brooklyn, New York who shares a name with the Republican...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 12:00 pm Netbytes: Where there's trash, there's cashIn 2001, a website briefly attracted attention by publishing BritneySpears' Guide to Semiconductor Physics. It was, said ScientificAmerican, "one of the stranger approaches to teaching science thatwe've...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:58 am Three-Wheeled Paint Jobs - Lance Armstrong Tricycle Art (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) Technically, this Lance Armstrong tricycle painting should be considered masking instead of painting, but its crazy anyway. Artist Phil Hansen drips paint on the tricycles tires before...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:40 am World Doesn't End on Wednesday, And You Can Watch It Live - Gizmodo
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:38 am PaidInterviews Launches Career Network that Matches Employers with Candidates -- and Pays Them when HiredIntroduced at DEMOfall 08, PaidInterviews Helps Candidates Market Themselves through a Rich-Media Career Repository and Saves Employers Time and Money by Speeding the Recruiting...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:33 am 4,000 Anti-Scientology Videos Yanked From YouTubeAn anonymous reader writes "From the EFF webpage: 'Over a period of twelve hours, between this Thursday night and Friday morning, American Rights Counsel LLC sent out over 4000 DMCA takedown notices to YouTube, all making copyright infringement claims against videos with content critical of the Church of Scientology.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:31 am Puda Coal Launches New Corporate and Investor Relations Web SiteTAIYUAN, Shanxi, China, Sept. 8 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Puda Coal, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: PUDC), a supplier of China's high grade metallurgical coking...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:30 am Metamaterial Pioneer Rayspan Licensees Ship 5 Million Antennas in 2008SAN DIEGO, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Rayspan Corporation, the world's leading innovator of metamaterial air interface solutions, is proud to announce that in the firstSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:30 am 2009 Force Protection Equipment Demonstration Set for Next May 19-21WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2009 Force Protection Equipment Demonstration (FPED VII) will be held at Stafford County Regional Airport, Stafford, VA, and...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:30 am Stephen Colbert to have his DNA sent into space (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:29 am US ad body opposes Google-Yahoo dealA trade association representing the biggest advertisers in the US has sent a letter to anti-trust regulators opposing the online search advertising deal between Google and Yahoo.The letter, from the Association...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:21 am Woven 3D Animals - Louise Weavers Needlepoint Take on Taxidermy (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) I adore the work of Australian Louise Weaver, and in particular, the all-red piece entitled Taking a Chance on Love. Her radical animal crochet sculptures even won her the Cicely and...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:20 am iLovePhotos Puts Organizing and Sharing Photos on Autopilot; Debuts at DEMOfall 08Free Mac software and online photo sharing Web site utilizes facial detection to let users organize, share, and enjoy photos around the people in them. SAN DIEGO, Sept.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:18 am beeTV, The Revolutionary New Way for People to Watch TV, Launched at DEMO 08 ConferencebeeTV unveiled its Personal Content Channel(TM), a personalized channel for platforms and viewers based on individual tastes, behavior and mood beeTV designed to serve three...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:12 am RealDVD Lets You Take Your DVDs With You - PC World
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:11 am Txt Crimes, Sex Crimes and Murder - The Science of Forensic LinguisticText and instant messaging may soon cease to be an anonymous method of communication as advances in forensic linguistic research make it possible to identify the sender and also predict the gender and...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:09 am European science satellite launch is delayedThe launch of a satellite to monitor Earth's gravitational field, scheduled for Wednesday from a base in northern Russia, has been postponed to October 5 because of technical problems, the...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:08 am Yahoo advertising network: relaunched and rebrandedYahoo has relaunched and rebranded its advertising network today, claiming that with a string of new advertising partners its network now reaches 80% of web users in the UK and Ireland.The Yahoo Network,...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:08 am Critical Vulnerability Patched in Google's Chrome - PC World
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:04 am TurnTo Launches at DEMOfall 08Demonstrates Ground-Breaking Word-of-Mouth System for E-Commerce SAN DIEGO, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- TurnTo Networks, Inc. announced the beta launch of TurnTo today atSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:04 am BizEquity Launches Small Business Valuation SiteFree service provides approximate valuations on 10 million small businesses SPRING HOUSE, Pa. and SAN DIEGO, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- BizEquity Corp. has launched the...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:03 am Rebus Recollect Desktop Allows Businesses and Consumers to Search and Retrieve PDFs, Scanned Documents, Spreadsheets, Email and MoreRecollect Desktop Removes the Last Barrier to a Paperless Office SAN DIEGO, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Rebus Technology, Inc. today introduced Recollect Desktop, the...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:02 am Wave of Oil Spill Bills Clears LegislatureBy Paul Rogers Nearly a year after a Chinese freighter collided with the Bay Bridge, dumping more than 50,000 gallons of bunker fuel into San Francisco Bay, Bay Area lawmakers have succeeded in passing the most sweeping oil spill reforms in California since the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Golden Eagles Hatch at Wind Farm SiteBy Jenny Haworth TWO golden eagle chicks have been born next to a 46-turbine wind farm. Nicknamed Ben and Turk, the chicks hatched in a nesting site next to the Beinnan Tuirc wind farm in Argyll.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am 'Bottlemania' Questions Water's 'Green' ImpactBy Linda M. Castellitto In perhaps the biggest marketing coup since DeBeers convinced consumers that diamonds are the must-have gemstone for lovebirds, beverage companies have transformed water from a free, simple thirst-quencher into a colossal moneymaker.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Q& A: Annette PinnerAnnette Pinner, chief executive of the Vegetarian Society, on climate change expert Dr Rajendra Pachauri's call for people to abandon meat to help save the environment.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Review: Silver ApplesBy Fiona Shepherd MUSIC, SILVER APPLES, STEREO, GLASGOW *** THERE should be some form of award for a musician who has influenced the influential. Kraftwerk are commonly cited for inventing electronic pop as we know it, while New York duo Suicide are the godfathers of electro punk.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Zacks Analyst Interview Highlights: Apple, IBM, and Hewlett-PackardZacks.com releases the latest Analyst Interview. Today's interview is with senior analyst Steve Biggs, who Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ). A synopsis of today's Analyst Interview is presented below.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am AMD Powers HP's New ProLiant Blade ServerAMD has announced that its quad-core AMD Opteron processors will exclusively power HP's latest ProLiant server. It said the HP ProLiant BL495c server packs more virtual servers into each blade, extending the useful lifecycle of the data center by saving floor space, power, and cooling.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am 'A Builder' Wants to Help Extend Your GraspBy Jon Swartz SAN FRANCISCO -- Since she was a kid hunting and working on a 27-acre farm near the tiny hamlet of Allen, Kan., Teresa Phillips has pushed herself.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Announcing MITE - The New Desktop-Based Mobile Interactive Testing Environment From Keynote SystemsKeynote Systems (Nasdaq:KEYN), the global leader in on-demand mobile and Internet test & measurement solutions for continuously improving the online experience, today introduced Keynote Mobile Interactive Testing Environment (MITE).Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Seoul Seeks Web Restrictions to Curb UnrestBy Michael Fitzpatrick The South Korean government is pursuing a series of restrictions on Internet use to prevent what the embattled administration of President Lee Myung Bak calls the spread of false information that prompts social unrest.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Parents Flock to FacebookBy Jackie Burrell The angst was palpable on Facebook. "My mom tried to add me on Facebook today," read one online posting, "and I had to deny my own flesh and blood. You'd have done the same." Once upon a time, Facebook was a gathering place for college kids.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am BT Enhances Reliable Deployment of Services Using Mu's Service AnalyzerMu Dynamics, a pioneer in helping network operators and their vendors eliminate downtime through proactive service assurance, today announced new business with BT (NYSE:BT), a leading global provider of network IT communications solutions.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Cox Communications Launches Casero Personal Media SuiteTORONTO, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Casero Inc., a leader in white-label personal media management solutions for broadband service providers, announced today that Cox Communications has launched Media Store and Share, based on the Casero Personal Media Suite, in select markets.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Viewership of Thai Protest-Linked Website Doubles After ClashText of report in English by Thai newspaper Bangkok Post website on 8 September [Report by Komsan Tortermvasana, Srisamorn Phoosuphanusorn: "Spreading the word"] Activists' use of digital devices is changing the rules of the political game, for better or worse, report Komsan Tortermvasana and Srisamorn Phoosuphanusorn In any political conflict, media are always exploited as a tool for one side to attack the other.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am $32,000,000 Party Homes - The Polaroid Beach House (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) The Polaroid Beach House in Malibu, where celebutantes like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton strutted their goodies all over the pristine private beach summer after summer, has been...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am 50 Outlandish Chairs (CLUSTER)(TrendHunter.com) Following our 50 Extraordinary Tables and 50 Unique Sofas & Benches, Trend Hunter presents you with 50 outlandish chair designs to spice up your decor. However, this cluster...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 10:40 am Congress set to weigh in on tech, telecom issues - CNNMoney.com
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Sep 2008 | 10:28 am New satellite to give Google Maps unprecedented resolution - Ars Technica
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Sep 2008 | 10:22 am Fleeing as Advertising - Romanian International Marathon Ads(TrendHunter.com) These new ads for the Romanian International Marathon show you that you dont always have to run a marathon for a good cause, you can also run it to escape and get a way from your crazy...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 10:20 am NASA chief blasts US space policy in leaked email - Register
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Sep 2008 | 9:52 am New Nintendo DS coming in 2009 - Inquirer
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Sep 2008 | 9:45 am Squid beaks and materials scienceClive Thompson's got a fascinating rumination on what a revelation about the composition of the Humboldt squid's razor-sharp beak means for materials science:The Humboldt squid beak: Diamond-sharp mystery of the briny deep Source: Boing Boing | 8 Sep 2008 | 8:38 am Sony Pledges More Accurate Laptop Battery FiguresSlatterz writes "Ever wondered why you never get the 10 hours of batttery life advertised with your new ultraportable? Battery life ratings have been a joke for years, so it's interesting to hear that one big vendor is picking up its game. PC Authority says Sony is abandoning the usual (and wildly misleading) JEITA method for coming up with those 10+ hour battery numbers (they're still using JEITA, but not the usual way). Interestingly, the story has links showing the old and new steps Sony takes to come up with those battery predictions. It's good to see the industry coming clean on this issue."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 8 Sep 2008 | 8:18 am Helping Keep the Food On Our Plates SafeBy Gaudio, Thomas TOP100 #23 Privately Held Companies Phibro Animal Health Corp. RIDGEFIELD PARK - Ridgefield Park-based Phibro Animal Health Corp., which mostly makes medicated and nutritional additives for animal feed, has seen rev- enue rise the past few years.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am Plans Take Shape at Old Duck Farm SiteBy Bethania Palma-Markus LA PUENTE - It looks like things are starting to happen at the old duck farm where officials are planning to build a park after a seven-year wait.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am Duck Farm Slated for TransformationBy Bethania Palma-Markus LA PUENTE - After seven years of waiting, it looks like things are finally starting to happen at the old duck farm, where officials are planning to build a park.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am Sharp Advice for Keen GardenersGARDENERS were given the chance to learn how to prune fruit trees thanks to a grant from the National Lottery. The Allesley Park Walled Garden Group hosted a special workshop to offer expert advice on trimming apple, pear and plum trees.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am Idaho Developers Fined for Pollution ViolationsBy Anonymous The Environmental Protection Agency recently fined developers of the Bella and Rio Vista Estates and South Fork Landing a total of $20,150 for failing to comply with the Clean Water Act. EPA inspectors discovered the violations during routine inspections.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am Monsanto Establishes Fellows in Plant Breeding Fund at University of IllinoisBy Anonymous Monsanto Co. and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have established the Monsanto Fellows in Plant Breeding Fund to finance graduate fellowship students pursuing doctoral degrees in plant breeding at the university's Plant Breeding Center.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Sep 2008 | 8:00 am The Dream Lives On: PlasticLogic's E-Newspaper Reader; Esquire's E ... - Washington Post
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Sep 2008 | 7:17 am Pentagon debates development of offensive cyberspace capabilitiesThe current emphasis is on intelligence gathering and defending U.S. electronic security, but some officials think the military should know how to attack other nations' computer systems. ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 7:00 am Google at a glanceGoogle at a glance * Founded: September 1998 by Larry Page, 35, and Sergey Brin, 35Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 7:00 am Long Beach 911 cell calls detouredThe city, concerned about adding to the workload of dispatchers and compounding its $17-million budget shortfall, balks at directly taking emergency calls. The calls are patched through by the Califor...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 7:00 am Sport Technology's Flowboard sales pick up speedSport Technology is marketing a crossover for boarders of all kinds. It looks like a skateboard, rides like a surfboard and is touted as 'the next best thing to the snowboard.' ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 7:00 am Seinfeld & Gates: A team with no steamThe new TV spot for Microsoft gets a largely hostile response on the Web from posters riled over what they see as a dumb and dumber bid at conjuring up the old 'Seinfeld' mojo. ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 7:00 am Google: From start-up to superpowerA household name and Web money machine, Google has grown up. As new fields beckon, challenges loom. Google Inc...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 7:00 am Google's future and how it shapes oursAs Google celebrates its 10th birthday, The Times talked with Internet experts about what the company should do over the next decade. Condensed interviews follow. For the full text visit latimes.com/technology...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Sep 2008 | 7:00 am Real-estate site expands ad deal with newspapers (AP)AP - Real-estate Web site Zillow.com is expanding its partnership with 282 newspapers to give national advertisers new ways to reach local markets, changes that the news companies hope will allow them to raise their fees for online ads.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Sep 2008 | 6:04 am Zillow Expands Ad Deal with NewspapersReal-estate Web site Zillow.com is expanding its partnership with 282 newspapers to give national advertisers new ways to reach local markets, changes that the news companies hope will allow them to raise their fees for online ads. The initiative is the latest by traditional media to capitalize on targeted ads in the battle for local with Google and Yahoo.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Sep 2008 | 6:04 am Esquire magazine unveils cover with electronic ink (AP)AP - Although readers keep shifting to the Internet, Esquire magazine's editor is sure print isn't dying, and he aims to prove it Monday by unveiling a 75th-anniversary issue with a cover that features electronic ink.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Sep 2008 | 6:03 am Today on TokyoMango, and I'm out!
Today on TokyoMango, I wrote about real live Pokemon that sold for nearly a billion dollars on Yahoo! Auctions; a new web meme that spawned from the prime minister's exit speech; and the first professional gamer geek ever. Also, this is my last post as a Boing Boing guest blogger. I had a lot of fun sharing wonderful things with you guys—thanks very much for reading! ( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)
Source: Boing Boing | 8 Sep 2008 | 5:16 am In Leaked Email, NASA Chief Vents On Shuttle Program's Endjerryasher writes "In a leaked memo, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin discusses 'the jihad' to prematurely terminate the Shuttle and what that means for the International Space Station. One implication: there may come a long interval when only our Russian Allies are aboard the Space Station. Add that bit of irony to your new cold war kit and then wonder why Griffin discusses why we wouldn't sabotage the Space Station, and how and why the memo got leaked in the first place."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 8 Sep 2008 | 5:07 am Amazon reviewers clobber Spore DRM
Fred sez, "I just discovered that dozens of Amazon users have given Spore 1-star ratings because of it's aggressive DRM. The game's average review is now around 2-stars. Are users acting in concert as a centrally organized boycott, or are the ratings a natural market-based reaction that proves DRM is an 'anti-feature'?"
Spore losing the DRM Fight
(Thanks, Fred and everyone else who suggested this!)
Source: Boing Boing | 8 Sep 2008 | 5:06 am TI does energy efficiency on a chip (CNET)CNET - The key to energy efficiency in everything from hybrid cars to air conditioners is smarter chips, according to Texas Instruments.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Sep 2008 | 4:00 am Games Without Frontiers: How Videogames Blind Us With ScienceA few years ago, Constance Steinkuehler -- a game academic at the University of Wisconsin -- was spending 12 hours a day playing Lineage, the online world game. She was, as she puts it, a "siege princess," running 150-person raids on hellishly difficult bosses. Most of her guild members were teenage boys. But they were pretty good at figuring out how to defeat the bosses. One day she found out why. A group of them were building Excel spreadsheets into which they'd dump all the information they'd gathered about how each boss behaved: What potions affected it, what attacks it would use, with what damage, and when. Then they'd develop a mathematical model to explain how the boss worked -- and to predict how to beat it. Often, the first model wouldn't work very well, so the group would argue about how to strengthen it. Some would offer up new data they'd collected, and suggest tweaks to the model. "They'd be sitting around arguing about what model was the best, which was most predictive," Steinkuehler recalls. That's when it hit her: The kids were practicing science. They were using the scientific method. They'd think of a hypothesis -- This boss is really susceptible to fire spells -- and then collect evidence to see if the hypothesis was correct. If it wasn't, they'd improve it until it accounted for the observed data. This led Steinkuehler to a fascinating and provocative conclusion: Videogames are becoming the new hotbed of scientific thinking for kids today. This makes sense if you think about it for a second. After all, what is science? It's a technique for uncovering the hidden rules that govern the world. And videogames are simulated worlds that kids are constantly trying to master. Lineage and World of Warcraft aren't "real" world, of course, but they are consistent -- the behavior of the environment and the creatures in it are governed by hidden and generally unchanging rules, encoded by the game designers. In the process of learning a game, gamers try to deduce those rules. This leads them, without them even realizing it, to the scientific method. This is what Steinkuehler reports in a research paper -- "Scientific Habits of Mind in Virtual Worlds" (.pdf) -- that she will publish in this spring's Journal of Science Education and Technology. She and her co-author, Sean Duncan, downloaded the content of 1,984 posts in 85 threads in a discussion board for players of World of Warcraft. What did they find? Only a minority of the postings were "banter" or idle chat. In contrast, a majority -- 86 percent -- were aimed specifically at analyzing the hidden ruleset of games. More than half the gamers used "systems-based reasoning" -- analyzing the game as a complex, dynamic system. And one-tenth actually constructed specific models to explain the behavior of a monster or situation; they would often use their model to generate predictions. Meanwhile, one-quarter of the commentors would build on someone else's previous argument, and another quarter would issue rebuttals of previous arguments and models. These are all hallmarks of scientific thought. Indeed, the conversations often had the precise flow of a scientific salon, or even a journal series: Someone would pose a question -- like what sort of potions a high-class priest ought to carry around, or how to defeat a particular monster -- and another would post a reply, offering data and facts gathered from their own observations. Others would jump into the fray, disputing the theory, refining it, offering other facts. Eventually, once everyone was convinced the theory was supported by the data, the discussion would peter out. "It blew my mind," Steinkuehler tells me. And here's the thing: The (mostly) young people engaging in these sciencelike conversations are precisely the same ones who are, more and more, tuning out of science in the classroom. Every study shows science literacy in school is plummeting, with barely one-fifth of students graduating with any sort of sense of how the scientific method works. The situation is far worse for boys than girls. Steinkuehler thinks videogames are the way to reverse this sorry trend. She argues that schools ought to be embracing games as places to show kids the value of scientific scrutiny -- the way it helps us make sense of the world. One of the reasons kids get bored by science is that too many teachers present it as a fusty collection of facts for memorization. This is precisely wrong. Science isn't about facts. It's about the quest for facts -- the scientific method, the process by which we hash through confusing thickets of ignorance. It's dynamic, argumentative, collaborative, competitive, filled with flashes of crazy excitement and hours of drudgework, and driven by ego: Our desire to be the one who figures it out, at least for now. It's dramatic and nutty and fun. And it's pretty much how kids already approach the games they love. They're already scientists; they already know the value of the scientific method. Teachers just need to talk to them in their language, so that the kids can begin to understand the joy of puzzling through the offline, "real" world too. At one point, Steinkuehler met up with one of the kids who'd built the Excel model to crack the boss. "Do you realize that what you're doing is the essence of science?" she asked. He smiled at her. "Dude, I'm not doing science," he replied. "I'm just cheating the game!" - - - Clive Thompson is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and a regular contributor to Wired and New York magazines. Look for more of Clive's observations on his blog, collision detection.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Sep 2008 | 4:00 am Japanese Schoolgirl Watch: Transform Yourself in a Dressing Room for HireMany Japanese gals lead double lives: Mild-mannered students in plain-Jane uniforms by day; French maids, furries, and goth Lolitas by night. Legions run around Tokyo, wheeling suitcases full of makeup and costumes. But Superman had a phone booth — where are schoolgirls supposed to suit up? Luckily, Japanese company COS-Pa has introduced tiny dressing rooms for women in the trendy Shibuya district, where 500 to 700 yen (roughly $5 to $6) buys 30 minutes of private mirror time, free Wi-Fi, beauty supplies, and a nonalcoholic beverage. Says COS-Pa's owner firmly: "Ladies should not have to get beautiful in a bathroom."
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Sep 2008 | 4:00 am Sept. 8, 1966: Liftoff for the Starship Enterprise1966: Star Trek makes its network television debut. Given the cultural impact and enormous franchise spawned by the original Star Trek series, it's hard to believe that the show lasted just three seasons -- 80 episodes -- and was canceled by NBC in 1969 because of low ratings. But if network numbers-crunching and the short-sightedness of advertising sponsors doomed it, Star Trek's long-term survival, evidenced by its ongoing syndication, not to mention the numerous TV spinoffs and feature-length films it inspired, is both a vindication of and a tribute to its creator and executive producer, Gene Roddenberry. And Roddenberry was a guy badly in need of vindication. His career began promisingly: Roddenberry wrote scripts for some popular 1950s TV shows like Naked City, Highway Patrol and Have Gun, Will Travel. But the original Star Trek TV series, as well as the first feature-length film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, were conspicuous successes in an otherwise unremarkable and often problematic association with Hollywood. The commercial success of the first Star Trek movie would spawn other films and a new TV series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, although Roddenberry's involvement with those projects was diminished. But if his relationship with the industry had its rough patches, his reputation as a futurist and visionary -- which begins and ends with Star Trek -- is assured. The original show's most visionary aspects were social, not scientific, and that had everything to do with the times. The country was in turmoil, embroiled in Vietnam and the growing civil rights movement. Roddenberry said later that these events influenced many of the themes, as well as the multicultural makeup of the crew. Roddenberry remained in demand on the lecture circuit to the end of his life, speaking not only at universities but at some other pretty significant places, too, including the Smithsonian Institution and NASA. Star Trek's impact on popular culture is matched by only a handful of other television shows, and surpassed by precious few. The original cast members on the USS Enterprise's 1966 flight deck became household names: Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner), First Officer Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan), Communications Officer Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and Helmsman Hikaru Sulu (George Takei). Navigator Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), who joined the cast in the second season to give the Russians their due in space, was also a popular character. Phrases like "Beam me up, Scotty" and "Live long and prosper" and "to boldly go …" entered the lexicon, and the show's cult following, kept visibly alive by the numerous and rollicking Star Trek conventions, remains strong to this day. An 11-foot model of the starship Enterprise is on display at the Smithsonian. On the tech front, the communicator used by Enterprise crew members is said to have been the inspiration for the flip-open cellphone. The original pilot episode for the series, "The Cage," was filmed in 1964 but not aired in its entirety until 1988. After the original pilot was rejected by NBC, "The Cage" was chopped up and heavily edited, and eventually shown under the title "The Menagerie" during Star Trek's three-year run. Nimoy's Mr. Spock was the only character from the pilot to later appear in the TV series, although he was most un-Spock like, showing a lot more emotion than your average Vulcan. In the pilot, the Enterprise was commanded by Capt. Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter). Because of all the spinoffs that resulted from it, Roddenberry's Star Trek is often referred to as The Original Series. For a lot of us who came of age watching Shatner chewing on all that alien scenery and nibbling on all those alien necks, it was The Only Series. Have some favorite Star Trek moments you'd like to share with us? Wired.com wants to hear about your favorite Star Trek series, episode and feature film. Have a copy of the Animated Series on Laserdisc? Please, do share. Source: Various
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Sep 2008 | 4:00 am Prions Observed Jumping Species Barrierpalegray.net writes "Nature is reporting on new findings that prions jump species barriers. Believed to be responsible for ailments such as Creutzfeld-Jakob disease and 'mad cow' disease, prions are thought to disrupt biological processes by causing normal proteins to fold abnormally. Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston have observed infectious prions from hamsters causing abnormal protein development in mice, along with a range of other observations on prion actions in test tube environments. From the article: '... they also found that when a prion jumps species, it produces a new kind of prion. "This is very worrisome," says Claudio Soto, who led the research, published in Cell. "The universe of possible prions could be much larger than we thought."' Sounds like another good reason to donate your spare CPU cycles to projects like Folding@home."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 8 Sep 2008 | 1:40 am Going, going gone: JetBlue auctions flights on Web (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Sep 2008 | 1:34 am Wired.com Photo Contest: PortraitsFor our photo contest this week, we want you to put your best face forward and show us compelling portraits. We're not talking yearbook. We're talking gritty, glossy, glam and good. Use the Reddit widget below to submit your best portrait photo and vote for your favorite among the other submissions. The 10 highest-ranked photos will appear in a gallery on the Wired.com homepage. Don't make us angry with Christmas cards and plastered-on smiles, vacant looks and bland haircuts. Instead, delight us with a human moment. Something real. What is it? It's your job to go out and find it. The photo must be your own, and by submitting it you are giving us permission to use it on Wired.com and in Wired magazine. Please submit images that are relatively large, the ideal size being 800 to 1200 pixels or larger on the longest side. Please include a description of your photo, which may include exposure information, equipment used, etc. We don't host the photos, so you'll have to upload it somewhere else and submit a link to it. If you're using Flickr, Picasa or another photo-sharing site to host your image, please provide a link to the image directly and not just to the photo page where it's displayed. If your photo doesn't show up, it's because the URL you have entered is incorrect. Check it and make sure it ends with the image file name (XXXXXX.jpg). Please bookmark this page and check back periodically over the next two weeks to vote on new submissions! Also, check out the winner's galleries from our previous contests: Holga, Red, Self-Portrait, Night, Macro, Transportation, and Black and White. Vote on portrait photos submitted by other readers.
Show entries that are: hot | new | top-rated. Submit your portrait photo. Submit your portrait photo.(No more than one every 30 minutes. No HTML allowed.)
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Sep 2008 | 1:00 am Gallery: Wired.com Photo Contest Winners : Our photo contests have become so popular that we thought we'd take a minute to look back at our favorite winners so far, from Holga, to Summer, to Transportation. The winners were selected by readers' votes over a two-week period of grueling competition. Enjoy! Out next contest is Portraits. We want to see those soul-stealing photos we're always hearing about. Check out the contest page for more info. Left:Eye of a Tokay Gecko, winner of the Macro contest. Photographer's comment: "A close-up shot of a Tokay Gecko. Their eyes remind me of old-fashioned keyholes. Thanks for looking!"  : Sunset Over Wheatfield, winner of the Summer contest. Photographer's comment: "Late summer 2006, in the south of England."  : After Flight, winner of the Holga contest. Photographer's comment: "Double-exposure shot with a Holga 120 S."  : The One, winner of the Water contest. Photographer's comment: "Photo taken at sunset in Conil, Cadiz. Used Sigma 10-20 + Cokin Filter ND8."  : Payphones (Red Wall), winner of the Red contest. Photographer's comment: "Captured these payphones on a supersaturated red wall in Venice Beach, California."  : Cubicles, winner of the Cities contest. Photographer's comment: "Another evening at work, in Chicago's loop. If you take a close look, you might even see a superhero or two."  : The Needles at Night, winner of the Night contest. Photographer's comment: "Taken in the back-country of the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in Utah. Captured at F4, 30 second exposure, ISO1600, 17-mm focal length (but two side-by-side vertical images were stitched together)."  : The Land of Ghosts, winner of the Transportation contest. Photographer's comment: "Paddling in the Leslie Frost wilderness area, Ontario, Canada."  : One mistake and this turns into scrambled eggs, winner of the Food contest. Photographer's comment: "With the current fuel prices it's too expensive to drive twice."  : Wrong Era, winner of the Self-Portrait contest. Photographer's comment: "Born in the wrong era."  : Isla Azul, winner of the Blue contest. Photographer's comment: "White Island, Camiguin, Philippines."
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Sep 2008 | 1:00 am A profile of actor Henry O I didn't realize how important family history was until after my grandmother died. She was a reporter/actor in pre-Communist China who quite unwillingly moved to Japan right after WW2, but I never asked her anything because most of the time, as a kid, I was too impatient to listen—and I didn't think she wanted to talk about it anyway. Now, nearly a decade after her death, there is one relative left who can tell me about the family's history in Shanghai. A couple months ago, I flew to Seattle to do a lengthy video interview of my great uncle Henry O. Henry is probably the only actor in Hollywood who survived Mao's Cultural Revolution. Before he came to the US, he was an actor for a national troupe in China for thirty years, and was detained by the Communist regime for being from a wealthy family. He moved to the US in his mid-sixties and has since sustained a successful career as an actor in Hollywood. At age 81, he's still picking up roles—he just came back from filming 2012 with John Cusack and Thandie Newton in Vancouver. I wrote a short article about his life for Giant Robot Issue 55. Regarding Henry (Giant Robot)( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.) Source: Boing Boing | 8 Sep 2008 | 12:47 am Album covers made with Japanese food
Japanese food is famously colorful, and people often pack creative, artful lunches for their kids and spouses. The Jacket Lunch Box blog belongs to a designer/DJ/food enthusiast who likes to make American album covers out of food. Here's a replica of Public Enemy's Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age, made of seaweed, fish cakes, sour plum, and rice.
The Jacket Lunch Box blog (in Japanese) ( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.) Source: Boing Boing | 7 Sep 2008 | 11:31 pm IsoHunt Petitions Canadian Court For Copyright BlessingA Cow writes "As an act of self-defense, the popular BitTorrent site isoHunt has decided to file a petition to ask the Court of British Columbia to confirm that isoHunt — and sister sites Torrentbox and Podtropolis — do not infringe copyright. isoHunt owner Gary explains to TorrentFreak: 'Our petition summarizes BitTorrent technology, its open nature and a whole ecosystem of websites and operators that has developed around it, that CRIA does not own copyright to all files distributed over BitTorrent or on isoHunt websites, and we seek legal validation that we can continue to innovate within this emerging BitTorrent ecosystem on the Internet.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 7 Sep 2008 | 11:19 pm Polar bears turn green with algae Three polar bears at Nagoya zoo in central Japan turned green this summer from swimming in a pond infested with algae. The zoo staff had been changing the water less frequently to save resources, and the hot weather had induced algae overgrowth in the pond and safety moat. The same thing happened at Singapore Zoo four years ago, and at the San Diego Zoo back in 1979. Algae-dyed polar bears puzzle Japan zoo visitors ( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.) Source: Boing Boing | 7 Sep 2008 | 10:52 pm Photos of Godzilla on set, circa 1955
Patrick Macias has a couple of rare photographs of the original Godzilla, circa 1954/55, at a photo shoot at Toho Studios in Tokyo.
( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.) Source: Boing Boing | 7 Sep 2008 | 10:26 pm Top 10 Amazing Physics VideosTesla coils, superconductors and hilarious music videos are great reasons to be excited about physics. Here are some of our favorites.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 Sep 2008 | 10:21 pm The Complete History of NintendoSlappingOysters writes "Gameplayer are running a comprehensive feature on the history of Nintendo that runs through all 119 years of their existence, from humble card maker to gaming powerhouse. It is documented in chronological order and includes a stack of trivia about the company that will be thoroughly enjoyed by all Nintendo fans. As an interesting side note, it links to a sister article that explores how Mario can improve your sex life."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 7 Sep 2008 | 10:08 pm The Open Source Humanoid Robot and Its Many Usesruphus13 writes with a story about the open-source centric Willow Garage project (last mentioned on Slashdot early last year), which is making progress in creating helpful humanoid robots for household use. From the article: "PR2 is the mobile hardware design for Willow Garage robots, featuring stereo and laser sensors ... Senior citizens are a big part of the target audience that Willow Garage is aiming for. "All industrialized countries are facing aging populations that require assistance and care to remain independent into old age. By 2020 close to 20 percent of the US population will be over 65," the project leaders say. "These numbers are even higher in Western European and Asian countries." Willow Garage is aiming to produce several types of assistive robots." The PR2 robots are capable of performing critical tasks like cleaning rooms and bringing beer from a refrigerator."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 7 Sep 2008 | 8:57 pm 1,500-Ship Fleet Proposed To Fight Climate ChangeRoland Piquepaille writes "According to UK and U.S. researchers, it should be possible to fight the global warming effects associated with an increase of dioxide levels by using autonomous cloud-seeding ships to spray salt water into the air. This project would require the deployment of a worldwide fleet of 1,500 unmanned ships to cool the Earth even if the level of carbon dioxide doubled. These 300-tonne ships 'would be powered by the wind, but would not use conventional sails. Instead they would be fitted with a number of 20 m-high, 2.5 m-diameter cylinders known as Flettner rotors. The researchers estimate that such ships would cost between £1m and £2m each. This translates to a US$2.65 to 5.3 billion total cost for the ships only."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 7 Sep 2008 | 7:41 pm Old Web idea of micropayments finally finds a home (AP)AP - Seventeen-year-old Alexis Corocan spends about $5 a month on clothes, accessories and eyes of various shapes and shades for her online persona on IMVU, a popular Internet hangout.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Sep 2008 | 7:14 pm Apple solved touchscreen copy-and-paste 15 years agoVideo by option8 shows "how Apple could (or should) implement copy and paste on the iPhone: a demonstration of how they got it right 15 years ago on the Newton MessagePad." (via del.icio.us/tag/mbwideas) Source: Boing Boing | 7 Sep 2008 | 6:48 pm OS/2 Community Tries Bounty SystemGrayskull writes "The OS/2 and eComStation community are trying to get open source software ported to that platform by opening bounties and allowing people to chip in with prize money. Currently the most important open bounties are Java 6 port, Icon routines in OS/2, VirtualBox port, Extend multimedia and OpenWengo ports."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 7 Sep 2008 | 6:34 pm Britain spends more on cops and locks up more people than any other developed nationIn today's Observer, columnist Henry Porter lays out the dismal facts of Britain's rush to authoritarianism and the failure of the big brother, surveillance state to make a civil land:To put these figures in perspective, we spend more on law and order than any other OECD country including the United States, France, Germany and Spain. It is fair to say that Britain is in the grip of law and order obsession, yet we seem incapable of putting police officers on the beat to patrol our streets, investigate crimes and keep order with an eye to proportionate and sensible use of their powers. By that, I do not mean three officers on mountain bikes pursuing a colleague on his racer through crime-ridden Hackney to issue him with a £30 fine because he had avoided dangerous roadworks by briefly using the pavement. I don't mean texting the victim of a burglary, as happened to a friend of mine, to see if she had anything more to report.Our obsession with crime is crushing our freedoms Source: Boing Boing | 7 Sep 2008 | 6:25 pm Two-Headed Brain Trust Injects Fear Into FringeIn part one of a two-part interview with Fringe co-creators Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci, the duo talk about how the hatched their latest collaboration.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 Sep 2008 | 5:55 pm Review: 10 Things I Learned From 'Spore'Here's the review of SimCity creator Will Wright's latest brainchild -- the game Wright said would simulate the entire history of life on Earth, from cells flagellating in the primordial soup all the way up to space travel.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 Sep 2008 | 4:36 pm
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There are many weird things about the giant Humboldt squid, but here’s one of the strangest: Its beak. The squid’s beak is one of the hardest organic substances in existence — such that the sharp point can slice through a fish or whale like a Ginsu knife. Yet the beak is attached to squid flesh that itself is the texture of jello. How precisely does a gelatinous animal safely wield such a razor-sharp weapon? Why doesn’t it just sort of, y’know, rip off? It’s as if you tried to carve a roast with a knife that doesn’t have a handle: It would cut into your fingers as much as the roast.
