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Why Email Has Become Dangerousmikkl666 writes "The Sydney Morning Herald runs an interesting story dealing with a study about email user behavior, explaining how and why email can be a terrible distraction: "It takes an average of 64 seconds to recover your train of thought after interruption by email. So people who check their email every five minutes waste 8 1/2hours a week figuring out what they were doing moments before." Email is also compared to slot machines in the way it works psychologically: "So with email, usually when I check it there is nothing interesting, but every so often there's something wonderful — an invite out or maybe some juicy gossip — and I get a reward." There are also some hints offered on how to keep control of the inbox, for those of us already addicted."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 10 Sep 2008 | 1:33 pm AOL adding third-party content to AOL.com (AP)AP - AOL wants you to check your Gmail and see what your Facebook friends are up to the company just prefers you do these things from its site.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Sep 2008 | 1:32 pm Largest Atom-Smasher Runs Successful TestThe Large Hadron Collider successfully fires a beam of protons around its 17-mile ring.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 10 Sep 2008 | 1:24 pm Mega-Quakes Hit Where Ocean Mud Piles HighEarth's strongest quakes often strike where sediments fill ocean trenches.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 10 Sep 2008 | 1:19 pm Google-backed O3b Networks to bring Internet to developing nations - The Tech Herald
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 10 Sep 2008 | 1:15 pm Serena offers mashups on demand (InfoWorld)InfoWorld - Serena is offering on Wednesday its Serena Business Mashups via an on-demand format, enabling users to blend consumer widgets with enterprise data and business processes.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Sep 2008 | 1:00 pm 24 Hour Laptops From HP?daveyboy79 writes "This article from the BBC shows HP's new laptop, the HP EliteBook 6930p. Configured with several options, such as the 80Gb SSD and the mercury-free LED displays, allows users to get 24 hours of non-stop computing." The real question is are we talking 24 hours of word processing, or 24 hours of actually using your computer.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:57 pm RIM launches first flip-phone BlackBerry (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:53 pm NBC shows return to iTunes after year-long feud (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:46 pm Scientists send first beam round particle-smasher - Reuters
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:46 pm Facebook unveils new look with a new approach - USA Today
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:42 pm Scientists send first beam round particle-smasherGENEVA (Reuters) - International scientists working at an underground complex started up a huge particle-smashing machine on Wednesday aiming to recreate the conditions of the "Big Bang"...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:42 pm Microsoft Explorer Mini blue-beam mouse - DailyTech
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:34 pm Tata Communications Awarded Cisco(R) Powered Managed Security and Managed Connectivity DesignationsFirst Global Service Provider From India to Achieve Cisco Powered Status for Managed Security Services MUMBAI, India, September 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Tata...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:30 pm CGI Selected for Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight ContractStock Market Symbols GIB.A (TSX) GIB (NYSE) FAIRFAX, VA, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - CGI Federal, Inc., a wholly-owned U.S. operating...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:30 pm Resolvit Honored by Inc. Magazine as one of America's 5000 Fastest-Growing Private CompaniesIT consulting & solutions firm serving Washington, DC, Raleigh, Cincinnati and Chicago makes grade based on 3-year sales growth of 144.6% VIENNA, Va., Sept. 10...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:30 pm Diversinet Signs a Five Year, $40 Million License and Revenue Sharing Agreement with AllOne Mobile CorporationTwo Companies Expand Successful Partnership in Mobile Health Information Market TORONTO, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Diversinet Corp. (TSX...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:30 pm Hughes Receives Euroconsult's 2008 Award for Broadband Satellite Operator of the YearEuroconsult Honors Company for the Development and Launch of the SPACEWAY(TM) 3 System GERMANTOWN, Md., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES),Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:30 pm SWE-DISH Delivers Fleet of Drive-Away CCT120 Mobile Satellite Terminals to Geo TVDrive-Away CCT120 Terminals, Featuring CommuniCase(R) Technology, Provide Leading South Asian Broadcaster with State-of-the-Art, Modular SATCOM Systems STOCKHOLM,...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:30 pm BT Places in Leaders Quadrant in Key Industry Analyst Firm's Worldwide ReportEL SEGUNDO, Calif., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BT today announced that its Global Services unit has been positioned in the "leaders" quadrant in the...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:30 pm WEGENER Receives Order from Mega Hertz for Unity(R) 4600 Satellite ReceiversNew Release of WEGENER's Unity(R) 4600 Supports DVB-S2 and DVB-S Demodulation DULUTH, Ga., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wegener Corporation (Nasdaq: WGNR), a...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:30 pm WEGENER Adds DVB-S2 Satellite Demodulation as Standard Feature on Unity(R) 4600 Satellite ReceiversWEGENER's Unity(R) 4600 with Built-in DVB-S2 and DVB-S Modulation Support to Ship in First Quarter of Fiscal 2009 DULUTH, Ga., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:30 pm Google Invests In Broadband For Poorer CountriesChris Wilson writes "According to the Financial Times, Google has announced their support for a new initiative called O3B to 'bring internet access to 3bn people in Africa and other emerging markets by launching at least 16 satellites to bring its services to the unconnected' by 2010. Coverage is available from Yahoo and the Wall Street Journal as well. 'The $750m project to connect mobile masts in a swath of countries within 45 degrees of the equator to fast broadband networks ... could bring the cost of bandwidth in such markets down by 95 per cent.' This will probably be the largest single investment in network infrastructure for developing countries in history. Google clearly wishes to use this project to enable broadband Internet access in developing regions, but many other things must be in place before that can happen, including fixed power infrastructure, PCs or OLPCs, technical support and skills, and useful content and services for areas with lower literacy."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:12 pm NASA: Space Junk Complicates Hubble Repair Mission - DailyTech
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:09 pm Search data to be anonymized after nine months, instead of 18 - DailyTech
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:03 pm Takeshima, Re-Fought: Virtual Recreation Of Disputed Isles Provokes Conflict Between Japanese And Korean Second LifersThe Second Life islands of Sera Korea recreate portions of the Asian nation of the same nation, making it an attractive place for Koreans in particular to visit, and stay awhile. That also includes an...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:55 am RIM unveils BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 for T-Mobile - Mobile Burn
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:52 am Toshiba to ship 240GB 1.8in HDD this month - Register
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:50 am Nokia launches Exchange e-mail support on 80M S60 phones - Computerworld
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:48 am Pearl Flip is first BlackBerry that folds up (AP)AP - Research in Motion Ltd., the maker of BlackBerry phones, is set to reveal Wednesday a phone that folds in half, a departure from the slab-like design that has defined its products.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:33 am Intel's next big leap, its six-core chip, set for release - Computerworld
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:32 am Hot WheelsFrom 1999 to 2006, Honda made an odd little two-seater hybrid car called the Insight. It got 60 miles a gallon but didn't sell. It was too slow to be a sports car, too small to be a family car,...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:27 am Big Bang Day: 'We are ending a marathon with a sprint'The Guardian's Ian Sample is assured that we won't be sucked into a black hole as scientists at CERN re-create the aftermath of the big bang. He speaks to project manager Lyn Evans.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:14 am Medical Nanotechnology Markets Reveals the Global Market for Nano-Related Goods and Services to Top $1 TrillionResearch and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/d33e35/medical_nanotechno) has announced the addition of the "Medical Nanotechnology Markets" report to their offering. Nanotechnology has reached critical mass. Nowhere is this more evident than in medicine.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am BASF Podcast: Organic Photovoltaics - Flexible and Transparent Solar CellsLUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany, September 10 /PRNewswire/ -- In this podcast you will learn how organic photovoltaics helps to produce solar cells with completely new qualities. In organic photovoltaics dyes are used that are able to convert light into electrical energy.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Polish Premier Supports Chemical Castration for Some PaedophilesText of report in English by Polish national independent news agency PAP Warsaw, 10 September: Asked about his opinion concerning the case of a 45-year-old man accused of imprisoning and raping his daughter, Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the situation a "tragedy" and said he would push for a law to require incorrigible pedophiles to be chemically castrated.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am An Analysis of the Specialty Chemicals Industry in Europe: Examine Market Dynamics, Leading Industry Players and Country ProfilesResearch and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/ed962e/specialty_chemical) has announced the addition of the "Specialty Chemicals Industry in Europe" report to their offering. A Specialty Chemical is a chemical produced for a specialized use.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am China Party Delegation Off to Three African StatesText of report by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency) Beijing, 9 Sep (Xinhua) -At the invitation of the ruling parties of Burundi's Forces for the Defence of Democracy, Tanzania's Revolutionary Party, and Uganda's National Resistance Movement, He Yong, member of the Secretariat of the CCP Central Committee and deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, led a CCP delegation and departed Beijing on 8 September to begin a goodwill visit to Burundi, Tanzania, and Uganda.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am City BeatBy East County Times Pittsburg FUNDS SET ASIDE FOR PARK IMPROVEMENTS: Pittsburg leaders are devoting $600,000 in fees from residential development projects toward improving recently annexed Ambrose Park.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am CA and IBM Demonstrate CMDB InteroperabilityCA and IBM have announced the interoperability of their respective configuration management databases, CMDBs, and management data repositories, MDRs.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Double TakeBy Robert Jordan PLEASANTON -- Residents will be asked to mind their Ps and Qs this November, and it has nothing to do with manners. Instead, voters in this city of more than 69,000 will choose between two competing hillside initiatives on the ballot.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am NRC Takes on Yucca ApplicationBy Steve Tetreault By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON - The once-stumbling Department of Energy reached another milestone Monday when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced it will conduct in-depth studies and have safety hearings on plans to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Verizon Expands Wholesale VoIP PortfolioVerizon Business has announced that it has added SIP Gateway Outbound Service to its wholesale VoIP portfolio.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Jiangsu Cable Selects BigBand Digital Video Networking Platform for Growth of Digital TV ServicesBigBand Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBND), a leading innovator in digital video networking, today announced that Jiangsu Cable is deploying its Broadband Multimedia-Service Router (BMR(R)) to process and deliver digital television services, including high definition (HD) and interactive television.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am One-in-Five Employers Use Social Networking Sites to Research Job Candidates, CareerBuilder.Com Survey FindsCHICAGO, Sept.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am A Dangerous Space InvaderBy Sarah Kipling Sarah Kipling, an 18-year-old from Middleton-in-Te esdale, was recently the victim of racial abuse on the online networking site MySpace. Here, she argues that such websites often do far more harm than we realise ?WEare unable to locate the content you referred to.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am O3b Plans Satellite Network for Emerging MarketsUS-based telecoms start-up O3b Networks plans to deploy a satellite network for providing high-speed internet connectivity to emerging markets in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am South Korea: Telecoms to Run Trial Services of TV Via BroadbandText of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap SEOUL, Sept.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Award: E.Republic's Center for Digital Education and Converge Magazine Announce 2008 Digital Achievement Awardse.Republic's Center for Digital Education and Converge magazine announced winners of the 2008 Digital Education Achievement Awards which showcase exceptional education Web sites, projects and programs across the world.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Didit Study: Campaign Finance Loophole Could Decide Presidential Election, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Search Advertising Un-ReportedRecent research: 2008 Search Engines and Politics: A Study of Attitudes and Influence, a study by search marketing firm Didit found that "nearly 7% of those surveyed reported that were likely to change their vote before the election based on Internet Information acquired primarily through search engines." This alone may not be particularly surprising.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Interwoven Upgrades TeamSite and LiveSiteInterwoven upgraded its TeamSite and LiveSite web site content management products. It said TeamSite 6.7.2 allows users to create and publish web sites, landing pages, and microsites.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am End of the World As We Know It. . . Or the StartBy Mark Tallentire SCIENTISTS from the NorthEast will today lead colleagues from across the globe in exploring the beginnings of the universe.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Brain Scanners Trying to Pinpoint Our Virtues WithinBy Dan Vergano Images that purport to show -- in living color -- the parts of the brain that generate such virtues as compassion, fairness and wisdom are invading turf that was once reserved for philosophers, theologians and psychologists.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Securing the enterprise beyond the perimeter (InfoWorld)InfoWorld - Trying to secure laptops, cell phones, PDAs, and other mobile devices today is "terrifying," says Christopher Paidhrin, IT security and HIPAA compliance officer at Southwest Washington Medical Center. "End-point security is scarily immature."Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Sep 2008 | 10:00 am Culture poll: Ebooks or real books?Which do you prefer: an electronic reader or a paperback?Related StoriesRival trading platforms seek to take advantage of LSE 'glitch'A friend online is a friend indeedJemima Kiss's Elevator Pitch: NewsCred...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 9:39 am Subterranean Photography - 10 Underground Lakes and Rivers (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) The sheer power and beauty of nature are baffling, as these images of underwater lakes and rivers show. The third and sixth images in this gallery were only discovered after their...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 9:20 am Why Starting a Legal Online Music Vendor Is ToughHodejo1 writes "Former MP3.com CEO Michael Robertson offers commentary at The Register saying any attempts to build a sanctioned digital music site today is doomed from the outset. 'The internet companies I talk to don't mind giving some direct benefit to music companies. What torpedoes that possibility is the big financial requests from labels for "past infringement," plus a hefty fee for future usage. Any company agreeing to these demands is signing their own financial death sentence. The root cause is not the labels — chances are if you were running a label you would make the same demands, since the law permits it."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 10 Sep 2008 | 9:08 am Facebook unveils new look with a new approach (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Sep 2008 | 9:05 am Fast-Food Loyalty - Big Mac Man Eats His 23,000th Burger(TrendHunter.com) While the rest of the world is cutting back on beef and calories, Don Gorske, chowed down his 23,000th Big Mac milestone. He works for a Wisconsin prison and is obsessed with numbers,...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 9:00 am Joanna Moorhead: Hate to tell you, but parenting just gets harderNo one ever said parenting would be easy. But why did no one ever mention the sleepless nights? How come I was never told about the constant worries over weight gain (or lack of it)? Couldn't someone have...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 9:00 am Add cowbell and Christopher Walken to any songMoreCowbell.dj is a little Flash app that takes in any MP3, analyses it, and adds rhythmic cowbell and Chritopher Walken samples, thus vastly improving it. More Cowbell.dj (via Waxy)Source: Boing Boing | 10 Sep 2008 | 8:50 am Add cowbell and Christopher Walken to any songMoreCowbell.dj is a little Flash app that takes in any MP3, analyses it, and adds rhythmic cowbell and Chritopher Walken samples, thus vastly improving it. More Cowbell.dj (via Waxy) ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 8:50 am Jemima Kiss's Elevator Pitch: NewsCred has new plans for the newsShafqat Islam launched Newscred just last month and says it's the next generation of web news sites. Co-founder Iraj Islam is in Stockholm and the development team is i Bangalore - but with Shafqat in...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 8:42 am Apple Lets Rock event now viewableIf you are tired of hearing us talk about all the Apple news of the day, maybe you’d prefer listening to Steve Jobs himself deliver the news. If that is the case, you’ll be happy to know...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 8:41 am Inventive College Financing - Natalie Dylan Auctions Her Virginity (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) Natalie Dylan has enlisted the help of Howard Stern to pay for her college. Stern decided that giving up her virginity was worth auctioning. Natalie Dylan is 22 and willing to...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 8:40 am Limited Edition Bronze Darth Vader Statue Now AvailableBy Luke Anderson In my office you’ll find such things as a life-size cut-out of R2-D2 and C-3PO, along with an autographed picture of myself with Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), however, I’ve been...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 8:37 am Apple chief executive Steve Jobs bids to quell rumours about his healthApple chief executive Steve Jobs launched a series of updates to the company's iPod music player line yesterday - and attempted to quell speculation about his health.The physical wellbeing of the 53-year-old...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 8:29 am iPod nano updated, elongated, and nano-chromaticThe worst-kept secret of today’s Apple Let’s Rock iPod event was the newly updated iPod nano. Apple officially let the cat out of the bag today, sharing all the details. The new iPod nano...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 8:25 am Your Scotch On The Rocks Now Comes With Real RocksBy Luke Anderson On a hot Summer day, nothing beats an ice-cold drink. Unfortunately, in order to keep your drinks cool in the outdoor heat, you have to resort to ice cubes, which tend melt fast and leave...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 8:23 am David Cronin: MEPs are in danger of striking the wrong balance between the right to privacy and intellectual propertyThanks to a collapsed ceiling in its Strasbourg chamber, the European parliament will have to stay in Brussels for its plenary session later this month. Yet it would be fanciful to imagine that the respite...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 8:01 am AEG seeks signage rights in L.A.The firm that operates Staples Center wants exclusive rights to display billboards at the convention center. More...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 7:00 am A Monrovia firm's tiny planes have growing cloutAeroVironment Inc.'s unmanned spy craft become vital reconnaissance tools on the battlefield. Standing amid a...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 7:00 am NBC and Apple are back in tuneThe companies end their dispute over the pricing of TV shows downloaded from the online store. NBC Universal ended...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 7:00 am On the upswingOn the upswing Business: AeroVironment Inc.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 10 Sep 2008 | 7:00 am Nokia offers Microsoft e-mail on smartphones (CNET)CNET - SAN FRANCISCO--Nokia took aim at smartphone rival Research in Motion Tuesday with plans to expand the number of devices that will automatically be capable of accessing Microsoft corporate e-mail.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Sep 2008 | 6:49 am Robert Heinlein's Pre-Internet Fan Mail FAQHugh Pickens writes "Kevin Kelly has an interesting post about a letter he found amongst correspondence from his days editing the Whole Earth Catalog. The letter is Robert Heinlein's own nerdy solution to a problem common to famous authors: to deal with fan mail. In the days before the internet, Heinlein's solution was to create a list of frequently asked questions, answer them, and remove the questions. Then he, or rather his wife Ginny, checked off the appropriate answer(s) and mailed it back. Some of the entries in Heinlein's answer sheet are quite illuminating and amusing. Our personal favorite: 'You say that you have enjoyed my stories for years. Why did you wait until you disliked one story before writing to me?'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 10 Sep 2008 | 6:05 am Poe's "The Raven," translated into 50s hipster argotOne of the reasons we called our daughter "Poesy" was so that we could shorten her name to "Poe," as in "Edgar Allen," and since the early days, we've recited bits of The Raven and others to her (I like saying "The Bells" while I'm trying to get her to sleep). One of my favorite Poe adaptations is jazz poet Lord Buckley's "The Bugbird," a too-awesome-to-be-believed translation into the "semantic of the hip," circa 1950. It's really fun to recite and the kid LOVES it.The Bugbird ("The Raven"), A Most Immaculately Hip Aristocrat (CD) Source: Boing Boing | 10 Sep 2008 | 5:50 am Building with vertical gardenLove this Brazilian building with plants (not ivy! not climbers!) covering its walls:Harmonia 57 by Triptyque (via Cribcandy) Source: Boing Boing | 10 Sep 2008 | 4:36 am Scans from 80s British computer magazines
Shardcore sez, "I went to visit my mother recently, and there, stashed in the garage was a motherlode of eighties computer magazines [from that golden era post ZX81, pre-puberty, when I actually bought such things.]
There's a lot of great stuff in there, so I'm posting it piecemeal on this new blog. only a few bits up at the moment, plenty more to come."
Retrogeek
(Thanks, Shardcore!)
Source: Boing Boing | 10 Sep 2008 | 4:33 am Home Movie Day, Oct 18: show your home movies to your neighbors and vice-versaMolly sez, "Home Movie Day events provide the opportunity for individuals and families to see and share their own home movies with an audience of their community, and to see their neighbors' in turn. It's a chance to discover why to care about these films and to learn how best to care for them."Sixth International Home Movie Day - Saturday October 18 2008 (Thanks, Molly!) Source: Boing Boing | 10 Sep 2008 | 4:30 am All Your Base rubber-stamp Etsy seller Terbearco makes these cheap little ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US rubber-stamps. The potential for fun is limited only by your imagination! All Your Base Are Belong to Us Mounted Rubber Stamp (via Wonderland) Source: Boing Boing | 10 Sep 2008 | 4:27 am The Fedora-Red Hat Crisisjammag writes "When Linux journalist Bruce Byfield tried to dig for details about the security breach in Fedora's servers, a Red Hat publicist told him the official statement — written in non-informative corporate-speak — was all he would get. In the wake of Red Hat's tight-lipped handling of the breach, even Fedora's board was unhappy, as Byfield details. He concludes: 'If Red Hat, one of the epitomes of a successful FOSS-based business, can ignore FOSS when to do so is corporately convenient, then what chance do we have that other companies — especially publicly-traded ones — will act any better?'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 10 Sep 2008 | 4:02 am Sept. 10, 1984: DNA Leaves Its Print1984: English geneticist Alec Jeffreys is performing advanced but routine lab work when he has a "Eureka!" moment and discovers DNA "fingerprinting." Jeffreys was working in his genetics lab at Leicester University, trying to trace genetic markers through families, looking for patterns of inherited disease-causing mutations in the repeated DNA segments carried by all humans. He was using the then-new blot technique developed by Edwin Southern to separate and transfer DNA fragments. At precisely 9:05 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 10, as he removed an X-ray film of one of the "Southern blots" from the developing tank and studied the image, he saw what looked at first like a complicated tangle of DNA strands. Then ... CLARITY! Every individual (except identical twins, triplets, etc.) has a unique DNA profile. Therefore, DNA can be used to identify individuals as precisely as fingerprints. What's more, each individual carries half his or her DNA from one parent and half from the other. So, lineage as well as identity can be traced. All that in a flash of insight! The lack of uniformity in the DNA strands wasn't a problem in the research he had set out to do. It was a solution in an entirely new line of DNA technology. Jeffreys knew what he was onto. Before the day was out, he had started a list of potential uses for his discovery. The initial compilation included criminal detective work, transplant biology, and establishing biological kinship in paternity and other cases. Evidence from Jeffreys' lab helped convict a murder-rapist -- and exculpate another suspect -- in 1986. The lab was tremendously busy, handling requests from around the world, before his technique was commercialized in 1987 and came into practice in labs around the world. Beyond the initial uses envisioned by Jeffreys that September day, anthropologists today use DNA techniques to study millions of years of human evolution and current global variation, and biologists use it to study the genetics of nonhuman species as well. Jeffreys was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1986, and Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in 1994 for services to science and technology. When he was awarded the 2005 Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, his co-recipient was Edwin Southern, inventor of the Southern blot technique in which Jeffreys saw -- and realized --- such great potential. Source: University of Leicester 
Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Sep 2008 | 4:00 am http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/09/the-bosons-that.html : Photo: BUL Collection
The Large Hadron Collider, the world's most-powerful atom smasher, is an engineering marvel constructed hundreds of feet underground. Composed of millions of individual pieces, the collider uses more than 9,000 magnets to accelerate two beams of protons to almost the speed of light. When the beams collide, they shatter into their constituent parts, allowing scientists to glimpse particles that don't exist in standard environments. The hard part, actually, becomes finding the rare and important particles among all the normal ones created in smashing atoms. Toward that end, physicists designed cathedral-size experimental chambers that feature some of the most-precise measurement tools ever created by man. One scientist described them as 150-megapixel digital cameras taking snapshots 600 million times a second. In this gallery, we take you on a quick tour of the world's most complex scientific machine. Left: The Globe of Science and Innovation marks the site of the 17-square-mile underground Large Hadron Collider, the biggest physics experiment in the world, which starts smashing atoms Sept. 10.  : Courtesy CERNThe European Organization for Nuclear Research, which goes by its French acronym, CERN, is home of the Large Hadron Collider, located on the border between Switzerland and France northwest of Geneva.  : Photo: Roy Langstaff
Here, a technician works on one of the major experimental areas within the Large Hadron Collider: the ATLAS all-purpose particle detector. ATLAS will be used to search for the long-postulated Higgs boson as well as for clues about dark matter and the nature of the universe.  : Photo: Roy Langstaff
Taken inside ATLAS, this image shows the Hadronic Endcap Liquid Argon Calorimeter. The calorimeter can measure the loss of energy from a collision, which could be caused by the creation of dark matter.  : Photo: Maximilien BriceThe ALICE detector, a piece of which is pictured here, will be used in experiments designed to mimic the moments just after the Big Bang. Cosmologists hope to see how the superheated plasma present at the beginning of creation cooled into the particles we see in the world today. More than 1,000 scientists have collaborated on the ALICE experiment.  : Photo: Maximilien BriceThe Silicon Pixel detector, pictured under construction, of the ALICE detector recorded the very first particle tracks produced by the LHC back on June 15 during a test run of the machine.  : Photo: Maximilien BriceOne of the final pieces is inserted into the Compact Muon Solenoid, or CMS, one of the largest detectors at the Large Hadron Collider. Built around an enormous solenoid magnet that generates a magnetic field 100,000 times that of the Earth, the CMS will be in on the hunt for the Higgs boson, dark matter and extra dimensions. More than 2,000 scientists from 37 countries will work with the CMS.  : Photo: Claudia Marcelloni
The ATLAS experimental chamber, pictured here, is 150-feet long, 82-feet high and weighs more than 15,000 pounds. It's the largest detector at the LHC and the handiwork of more than 1,700 scientists.  : Photo: Claudia MarcelloniThe Guardian newspaper once wrote, "Particle physics is the unbelievable in pursuit of the unimaginable." Here, we see the unbelievable ATLAS Magnet Toroid Endcap rolling through the streets of the LHC campus. The Endcap is one of three major magnets in the detector's system.  : Photo: Maximilien BriceUnlike most of the other experiments at the LHC, the Compact Muon Solenoid was built above ground and then lowered into place in 15 sections. Here, the last section is brought into place for reassembly underground.  : Photo: Maximilien Brice
Scientists watch the second and final test of the LHC's beam-synchronization systems on Aug. 22.  : Photo: CERNThe Globe of Innovation at CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory. CERN has 20 European members and 7,931 scientists and engineers.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Sep 2008 | 4:00 am Wired.com Readers' Best Comic Tattoos : Wired.com tracked down some great comic book-inspired tattoos at this year's ComicCon in San Diego, but we suspected our readers could show us some mad ink. We were right. Check out our favorite comics-inspired tattoos submitted by you. Quite a few of the entries were definitely geeky, but not necessarily comic related, so we decided to give them some net space at our Wired.com Readers' Best Geek Tattoos gallery. Enjoy! Left: Comic Collection Photographer's comment: "This takes up a lot less space than the boxes of comics I used to lug around.”  : Jean Grey as Phoenix Photographer's comment: "Got this beauty six months ago -- it took two four-hour sessions. I still need to go in and have more shading added when I get the funding together. I plan on getting Rogue on my left arm, and Fray eventually. This was my third tattoo. :)”  : Super (Mario) Duper Tattoo Photographer's comment: "I went in to see Kevin Starai @ Deluxe Tattoo in Chicago almost two years ago with pictures and my own crappy drawings of what I wanted. 'The bad dudes from Mario brothers.' When I came back a month later to see his drawings, I almost pooped my pants. Even now when I wake up and see it every day, I almost poop my pants. I love it. "  : Vissago's Metroid Photographer's comment: "I've wanted this tattoo for years and years. This was four sessions, each an hour in length."  : Marvel Zombies Photographer's comment: "Marvel Zombies Secret Wars cover, with some characters switched out."  : The Corinthian (from Neil Gaiman's The Sandman) Photographer's comment: "This is 'The Corinthian', the serial killer nightmare from Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. It's part of an entire Sandman sleeve mostly inked by Kevin Lytle of Eternal Tattoo in Livonia, Michigan. It was Kevin's idea to surround him in a crown of leaves in which human eyeballs -- his feast of choice -- substitute for berries or flowers."  : Death and Life of Superman Photographer's comment: "Done after my divorce and for my 32nd birthday, symbolizes my love of the Superman character, as well as the transition from my old life to my new one. The kryptonian script above the tattoo is a word chosen to remind me that being alone doesn't necessarily mean being lonely: Solitude."  : Godzilla & Co. Photographer's comment: "The king of the monsters commanded nothing less than a full sleeve dedicated to himself and those giant rubber behemoths, and I obeyed. It took me seven years to complete it."  : Boba Fett Photographer's comment: "The skull from Boba Fett's shoulder armor in Return of the Jedi."  : Major Motoko Kusanagi Photographer's comment: "I love anime, and what better way to show that then get a giant tattoo of my all-time anime goddess?”  : Akira Tattoo Photographer's comment: "My Akira sleeve, based on the comic (not the movie). I started designing this when I was 16 years old. It's changed a bit over the years, and once I found an artist who could do what I wanted, we got to work. This is the final result, depicting the moments after Akira awakens and nukes Neo-Tokyo."
Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Sep 2008 | 4:00 am PleaseDressMe, a new t-shirt search engine. I've seen a few of these t-shirt search engines around the web lately -- the idea is to use keyword tags to browse t-shirt designs from multiple vendors. Of the several sites I've peeked at this week, PleaseDressMe yielded the most results I'd actually buy on geek-themed search strings like "robot," "hacker," or "Star Wars," excerpted above. At far left is a great 8-bittish "Saddest Soldier" tee recently launched by R. Stevens of Diesel Sweeties. This search engine did fail on a search for "goatse," but dude, cmon: you don't want to be walking around in a goatse t-shirt anyhow. Continuing in the theme of an earlier Boing Boing post today -- the "typography" tee tag on this site yields some fun results. A little background on these guys: one of the founders is Gary Vaynerchuk of the popular wine-themed videocast Wine Library TV; another is Gary's brother AJ; and another co-founder was a lead architect at Digg. Source: Boing Boing | 10 Sep 2008 | 2:52 am University of Michigan Student Wants SafeNet ProsecutedNewYorkCountryLawyer writes "An anonymous University of Michigan student, targeted by the RIAA as a 'John Doe,' is asking for the RIAA's investigator, SafeNet (formerly MediaSentry), to be prosecuted criminally for a pattern of felonies in Michigan. Known to Michigan's Department of Labor and Economic Growth — the agency regulating private investigators in that state — only as 'Case Number 162983070,' the student has pointed out that the law has been clear in Michigan for years that computer forensics activities of the type practiced by Safenet require an investigator's license. This follows the submissions by other 'John Does' establishing that SafeNet's changing and inconsistent excuses fail to justify its conduct, and that Michigan's legislature and governor have backed the agency's position that an investigator's license was required." SafeNet/MediaSentry defended their actions by claiming their company simply "records public information available to millions of users. If private investigator licenses were required to do what MediaSentry does, every user on Limewire and other illegal p2p networks would be required to have a license. Indeed, every search engine and Internet user would be required to have a private investigator license if MediaSentry needs one."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 10 Sep 2008 | 2:00 am Ortofon 2M turntable cartridge looks great - in a Bondi Blue sorta way
I am not sure if we should blame the original iMac or gummy bears for the ubiquitous transparent jewel tone plastic that permeates industrial design. If you want to be unique, I would suggest opaque. The plastic color for the Ortofon 2M cartridge is a question of cost, not personal palette, as the street price of the ruby red cartridge is a mere $99, while the black is a heart-stopping $669.
Ortofon 2M Cartridges (Mister Jalopy is a guest blogger!) Source: Boing Boing | 10 Sep 2008 | 1:06 am Alt Text: Going Green Into Death's Eternal BlacknessLast week, I took a look at interesting things technology can do with your remains once you're too dead to care. This week I'm going to follow up with a slightly different set of post-mortem services. These are companies that claim to make your death as eco-friendly as possible. Now, I always assumed that dying is already one of the nicest things you can do for the environment. Dead people rarely drive Humvees. They don't purchase individually wrapped cheese slices. They probably use more than their fair share of air conditioning for the first couple days, but after that it's green all the way, baby.
Well, apparently corpses just aren't carbon-neutral enough, because a bunch of people are willing to take money from your estate to make sure that your remains are more environmentally friendly than a hand-assembled hemp chicken tractor. Here are some of their brightest ideas. Neptune Memorial ReefApparently when Luca Brasi went to sleep with the fishes, he was proving himself one eco-friendly mafioso. The Neptune Society will happily provide your ashes with a set of concrete galoshes by interring them in an artificial reef off the Miami coast. The reef in question is a neoclassical affair with arches and lions and butterfly thingies, giving the overall impression that a senior prom sank slowly beneath the waves, the cover band solemnly playing "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" with corsages and rented bow ties floating around their knees. So that's pretty cool. Natural BurialThis is pretty straightforward. Your unembalmed body gets interred in a biodegradable casket or shroud in a pesticide-free area planted with native flora. A few centuries ago this was just called "burial," but now we need a special word for it. The modern innovation I most appreciate is that many natural cemeteries provide GPS coordinates in lieu of a gravestone, allowing you to pay your respects via Google Earth. Personally, I'm willing to go one step further and be buried in a cemetery that lets the coyotes and vultures have at me. What could be more eco-friendly than a scavenger buffet? EcopodEven if you want to be buried in a traditional cemetery with stone angels, immaculate lawns and drunken goth teenagers, you can reduce your carbon death mask by being buried in a coffin made of post-consumer recycled material. (Particularly apt, given that you're a post-consumer.) There are a lot of options here but my favorite is the Ecopod, a recycled newspaper coffin that looks like something Steve Jobs would crawl into, only to emerge later as a huge luna moth. PromessionIf you can put off dying for another year or two, you might be able to get in on the next big thing in Gaia-approved post-breathing services, a patented process called "promession." Remember the one interesting day in junior high science class when the teacher brought in a canister of liquid nitrogen and proceeded to shatter a rose like safety glass? With promession, you are that rose. Rather than burning your body to ashes, this process freeze-dries you into person dust. Once powdered, you can decompose as you've never decomposed before, providing life-giving nutrients to a shrub or, if you're feeling impish, some poison ivy. ResomationLike promession, Resomation is a new, science-infused process designed to emulate cremation without having to fire up the grill. According to the site, Resomation is basically decomposition on fast-forward, accomplished with chemicals rather than larvae and bacteria. I'm not sure the larvae and bacteria would consider it an improvement, but at least it doesn't release harmful, Earth-choking emissions. Another listed benefit: "You can use it immediately first thing in the morning." Now your surviving loved ones don't have to miss yoga class! - - - Born helpless, nude and unable to provide for himself, Lore Sjöberg eventually overcame these handicaps to become a revenant, a reveler and a reverend.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Sep 2008 | 1:00 am How to Copy a DVD for Free Without All the DRMDespite the movie industry's attempts to convince you otherwise, it's within your rights to copy a DVD you own to your hard drive for personal use without Digital Rights Management software, restrictions or other digital handcuffs. We show you how to do it using entirely free tools in this guide.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Sep 2008 | 1:00 am Agro-veillance: Using satelites and drones for precision crop maintenence
Agricultural Tree Grading Maps Photo: satimagingcorp.com
The landscape architecture blog Pruned has a fascinating overview of using unmanned drones and satellites to produce maps which reveal terrific amounts of data for analyzing the relative health of crops. Being able to detect the relative difference in biomass in an orchard would allow the high-tech farmer to pinpoint water, fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides to only the trees that need them, rather than flooding and dusting the entire orchard. Once you are able to determine the relative health of each tree in the orchard, it is a natural leap to imagine a grid of capillary tubing delivering the precise amounts of nutrients and water required to maintain each tree at peak production. What about pesticides? Well, just use a little larger tube and shoot a stream of ladybugs at the affected tree! Pruned on Agro-veillance (Mister Jalopy is a guest blogger!) Source: Boing Boing | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:07 am Feds Set to Take Over Airline Watch-List Checking, AgainThe federal government is planning yet again to take over the job of comparing airline passengers to an ever-growing terrorism watch list ... six years after it was first proposed. The feds say this time they've fixed the privacy problems and can fix the name mismatches that have snagged children, nuns and senators.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Sep 2008 | 12:00 am Why Mozilla Is Committed To Using GeckoArs Technica has published an article about Mozilla's commitment to use the Gecko rendering engine instead of using Webkit, which was adopted by Apple and Google for use in the Safari and Chrome browsers. I have been using Chrome on my work PC and find many of its features compelling, and wonder how soon we will see its best innovations in Firefox. Why is Gecko worth keeping if it is outdated and bloated?Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 9 Sep 2008 | 11:58 pm Farmers See 'Mark of the Beast' in RFID Livestock TagsFarmers, some of them Amish, are decrying federal and state rules requiring the use of RFID tags on livestock. In a federal lawsuit, they say the tags, which authorities say will help them monitor disease, are the "mark of the beast."
Source: Wired Top Stories | 9 Sep 2008 | 11:43 pm Errol Morris' film "Stand Up to Cancer"Here's an excerpt from Errol Morris' emotional film about cancer survivors and relatives of people who died from cancer. Morris is a master at getting people to utter profound, unexpected things and present them in a powerful way. Stand Up to Cancer Source: Boing Boing | 9 Sep 2008 | 11:34 pm Large Hadron Collider Best- and Worst-Case ScenariosThe five best- and worst-case scenarios for how the Large Hadron Collider will impact physics theories including string theory and dark matter.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 9 Sep 2008 | 11:34 pm Biologist (Almost) Creates Artificial LifeAditya Malik writes "Wired has an interesting story up about how a lab led by Jack Szostak, a molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School, is building 'protocells' from artificial molecules which are very close to satisfying the conditions for being 'alive'. 'Szostak's protocells are built from fatty molecules that can trap bits of nucleic acids that contain the source code for replication. Combined with a process that harnesses external energy from the sun or chemical reactions, they could form a self-replicating, evolving system that satisfies the conditions of life, but isn't anything like life on earth now, but might represent life as it began or could exist elsewhere in the universe.' This obviously raises some questions about creationism, not to mention some scary bio-research-gone-wild scenarios."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 9 Sep 2008 | 10:59 pm LHC Flips On TomorrowBTJunkie writes "The Large Hadron Collider, the worlds most expensive science experiment, is set to be turned on tomorrow. We've discussed this multiple times already. A small group of people believe our world will be sucked into extinction (some have even sent death threats). The majority of us, however, won't be losing any sleep tonight." Reader WillRobinson notes that CERN researchers declared the final synchronization test a success and says, "The first attempt to circulate a beam in the LHC will be made this Wednesday, Sept. 10 at the injection energy of 450 GeV (0.45 TeV). The start up time will be between (9:00 to 18:00 Zurich Time) (2:00 to 10:00 CDT) with live webcasts provided at webcast.cern.ch."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 9 Sep 2008 | 10:07 pm IBM Hopes To Spark Cell Sales By Targeting Medical, Graphics (Investor's Business Daily)Investor's Business Daily - The PlayStation game machine was the first customer for IBM's Cell chip, but it won't be all fun and games for that chip.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 9 Sep 2008 | 10:00 pm Apple unveils new iPods but shares slip (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 9 Sep 2008 | 9:23 pm ITunes' Genius Feature Is Hardly Rocket ScienceSteve Jobs told the world about a number of interesting developments for Apple's product lines on Tuesday. But the Genius sidebar for music recommendations in iTunes 8 -- slick as it is -- strikes a decidedly familiar chord.Source: Wired: Gadgets | 9 Sep 2008 | 9:00 pm ITunes' Genius Feature Is Hardly Rocket ScienceSteve Jobs told the world about a number of interesting developments for Apple's product lines on Tuesday. But the Genius sidebar for music recommendations in iTunes 8 -- slick as it is -- strikes a decidedly familiar chord.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 9 Sep 2008 | 9:00 pm Video: Jetpack in FlightA man takes a jetpack for a beautifully controlled spin in San Jose, Calfornia.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 9 Sep 2008 | 7:54 pm Apple Event: Let's Rock 2008Read it here first: news of Apple's Let's Rock Event as it happens.Source: Wired: Gadgets | 9 Sep 2008 | 7:06 pm Zoo Animals Try Online DatingThe Web is subbing for Mother Nature in the world of captive animal breeding.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Sep 2008 | 6:00 pm Neanderthals Conquered Mammoths, Why Not Us?Neanderthals were savvy hunters with complex brains. So how did they die?Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Sep 2008 | 5:00 pm Tiny Critters Survive Space (With No Spacesuit)Tardigrades, tiny segmented creatures, show they can survive the extremes of space.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Sep 2008 | 4:00 pm Apple Didn't Invent the iPod. That's Right.Quick -- who invented the iPod? Wrong. This is not a story of intellectual property theft, or of big companies putting the screws on the little man. Instead, it is just the retelling of another old story — the story of a lone, visionary inventor and his inability to market a product that appeared way before its time.Source: Wired: Gadgets | 9 Sep 2008 | 2:33 pm Hawking Bets Collider Won't Find 'God Particle'Stephen Hawking is betting the Large Hadron Collider won't find the Higgs particle.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Sep 2008 | 2:30 pm NASA May Have to Abandon Space StationNASA's plan to use Russian capsules to get to the space station could be scuttled.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Sep 2008 | 1:43 pm
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