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Dumb Stunts for Cancer Prevention - Quit Stupidity Anti-Smoking Ads (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) These ads for the INEN Cancer Prevention Center take a comical approach to raise awareness about the dangers of smoking. The concept of the campaign is to show extremely stupid...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 4:19 pm 6 Pantene Ads - From Big Breasts To Hair Tornado (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) It is pretty rare these days to find an ad agency that consistently comes up with creative quality ads. With the really clever ideas having been used already, sometimes you gotta go...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 3:39 pm 6 Pantene Ads - From Big Cleavage To Hair Tornado (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) It is pretty rare these days to find an ad agency that consistently comes up with creative quality ads. With the really clever ideas having been used already, sometimes you gotta go...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 3:39 pm An Open Source Legal Breakthroughjammag writes "Open source advocate Bruce Perens writes in Datamation about a major court victory for open source: 'An appeals court has erased most of the doubt around Open Source licensing, permanently, in a decision that was extremely favorable toward projects like GNU, Creative Commons, Wikipedia, and Linux.' The case, Jacobsen v. Katzer, revolved around free software coded by Bob Jacobsen that Katzer used in a proprietary application and then patented. When Katzer started sending invoices to Jacobsen (for what was essentially Jacobsen's own work), Jacobsen took the case to court and scored a victory that — for the first time — lays down a legal foundation for the protection of open source developers. The case hasn't generated as many headlines as it should."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 3 Oct 2008 | 3:20 pm Knitting Gone Wrong - Blog Catalogs Worst Woven Goods (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) Knitting has experienced a revival of sorts, with all kinds of crazy things going down in the world of those two clacking needles. Why Would You Knit That?! is an awesome new blog...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 3:19 pm Announcement: Rule 34 Showdown IRC Event on #boingboing @ 4PM EDT Tonight
It's been quite a while since we held our last IRC event, but with the solstice drawing the summer days to a wane, it's time once again to dust off the #boingboing IRC channel and spend a few hours in a rousing community game of an old favorite, Rule 34 Showdown.
Rule 34, as all men know, is the cosmic rule that demands that porn can be found on the Internet to fit any concept. The rules are simple: numerous times over the course of one hour, I will shout out a random Rule 34 Challenge.
"RULE 34: Obama French Kissing Joe Biden!" I might cry. The denizens of #boingboing will go scrambling to find a link that illicitly matches the challenge. The first three people to come up with separate links and images for the same concept will be awarded first, second and third place points of decreasing denominations. At the end of the hour, the person with the most points will be declared the official RULE 34 PORNOGRAPHER OF #BOING BOING! At least for the week. And to make it all timeless fun, we'll knock up all the links we accrue in the official transcript of the event, with the best images highlighted for fun.
This week's game will be held tonight at 4PM EDT / 1PM PDT / 9PM GMT. To play, simply come to the official #boingboing IRC channel on Freenode about 15 minutes before the game and /msg Brownlee that you'd like to play. Don't want to play? Come on by and watch.
If you've never used IRC before, you can find instructions on how to get to the channel here, or simply use the Java chat applet.
To discuss or ask questions, head on to the discussion thread over at Boing Boing Gadgets.
Discuss
Update: Sorry! Huge time mess up in the title. Source: Boing Boing | 3 Oct 2008 | 3:16 pm Birth of the presidential "sound bite"The 1908 presidential campaign was the first time that the candidates, William Jennings Bryan and William Howard Taft, recorded their voices for voters to hear. The recordings on early phonographs were used to rally support, or simply demonstrate the technology, at political gatherings, concert halls, and even shops selling the Edison phonographs. Science News has a fascinating history of the "first sound bites," including audio samples. From Science News:First presidential "sound bites" Source: Boing Boing | 3 Oct 2008 | 3:12 pm Liar's Poker: a timely moment to revisit 20-year-old memoir of the rise and fall of a financial bubble
I've just read (finally!) Michael Lewis's Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street, the classic 1989 memoir of life at Salomon Brothers investment bank in the run-up to the Wall Street crash of 1987. Lewis was hired to trade mortgage bonds (yes, the mortgage bonds that precipitated the crash of 2008) fresh from the London School of Economics, dispatched to Salomon's legendary training program in NYC, then shipped back to London.
Lewis was a gifted salesman who made millions for the firm, but he was also deeply skeptical of the whole enterprise. This is an unbeatable combination, as it situated him perfectly to critically examine the culture, economics and ethics of the overheated bubble as it expanded, expanded, and, finally burst. It doesn't hurt that Lewis is a fantastic writer with a particular talent for explaining the minutae of investment banking without making you want to gouge your own eyes out. Through vivid portraits of the movers and shakers on Wall Street, Lewis recounts the origin stories of junk-bonds, corporate raiding, mortgage bonds, the S&L crisis, and the founding of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac (both founded at the behest of Salomon in order to backstop the mortgage bond market).
It's been 20 years since this was published, but there's never been a better time to read it. The hairy-knuckled, hyper-competitive, pirahnoid Wall Street and City traders he describes here could be the same hedge fundies who're poised over the tub with razors at their wrists today.
Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street
Source: Boing Boing | 3 Oct 2008 | 3:10 pm Songwriters Get No Pay Raise - New York Times
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 3 Oct 2008 | 3:03 pm Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Asks DOJ to Watch Google/Yahoo Deal - ClickZ News
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 3 Oct 2008 | 3:01 pm Felines as Fashion Models - Cat Featured in Clothing Shoot (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) This is what I call a catwalk--using a cat as a model for an edgy fashion shoot. This is a collection of images from a brilliant shoot here for Vice Magazine that mixes the most...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:59 pm Mackerel economics in prisonToday's Wall Street Journal has a fascinating article about "macks," tins of mackerel that are commonly used for bartering in prison. Macks took over around 2004 when smoking bans in federal prison knocked out the previous currency: packs of cigarettes. From the WSJ:Unlike... more expensive delicacies, former prisoners say, the mack is a good stand-in for the greenback because each can (or pouch) costs about $1 and few -- other than weight-lifters craving protein -- want to eat it.Mackerel Economics in Prison Leads to Appreciation for Oily Fillets Source: Boing Boing | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:59 pm Otter Decline a Mixed Blessing for Bald EaglesAs Alaska's sea otter population plummets, local bald eagles are thriving. But why?Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:58 pm Hi-Tech Political Campaigns - Obama 08: The Official iPhone Application (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) While Sarah Palin struggled to answer important questions about her stance on political issues such as the Bush doctrine and her running mates record, the official Obama campaign is...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:55 pm Nintendo president Iwata: iPhone? What iPhone? - GamePro.com
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:47 pm Software producer Corel reverses year-ago Q3 loss with US$1.6M profitOTTAWA - Corel Corp. (TSX:CRE) reported Friday a third-quarter profit of US$1.6 million, reversing a year-ago loss of $6.8 million as the software producer saw revenue increases across...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:44 pm Facebook Finds Grass Greener In Irelandtheodp writes "Facebook announced it has chosen tax-haven Dublin for its international HQ, but not all are buying COO Sheryl Sandberg's line about local world-class talent being the motivation behind the move. The Irish Times recently reported that Irish subsidiaries owned by US multinationals are opting to convert to unlimited liability status, concealing the financial performance of their Irish operations from public view. They include Microsoft's incredibly profitable Irish subsidiaries Round Island One and Flat Island Company, Google Ireland Holdings, and a subsidiary of Apple Computer. The conversions have occurred as US tax authorities have increased their scrutiny of international mechanisms used by American multinationals to reduce their taxes at home."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:42 pm CERN unveils computer grid linking 7,000 scientistsGENEVA (Reuters) - CERN, the world's biggest particle physics laboratory and creator of the Worldwide Web, on Friday unveiled a new computer network allowing thousands of scientists around...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:32 pm Mobile Marketing: Better For Reaching DemocratsIn this heated U.S. election season, both presidential campaigns have been using multichannel marketing techniques that have included everything from wikis to web sites and text messages to Twitter. It...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:30 pm iTunes Lives to Sell Another 5 Billion Songs
Not that it would ever have happened anyway, but Apple (AAPL) will not be shutting down the iTunes Store in protest over increased royalty rates paid to songwriters and publishers for CDs and digital music downloads. The Copyright Royalty Board Thursday left the rate for royalties unchanged at nine cents a track, paying no mind to a proposal by the National Music Publishers’ Association that would have raised it to 15 cents–a 66 percent hike. Seems Apple’s posturing paid off. Said Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr, “We’re pleased with the CRB’s decision to keep royalty rates stable.” Source: AllThingsD.com Consolidated Feed | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:24 pm Uganda wildlife park gets new gorilla familyA new family of mountain gorillas, one of the world's most endangered species, is ready for interaction with tourists, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) told AFP Friday. ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:23 pm Library celebrates Banned Books Week with window-display featuring volunteers reading banned works Adrienne sez, "We've created a 'live' Banned Book Display at our library [Twin Hickory Public Library, Glen Allen, VA]. We have volunteer readers who sit in the display and read (silently) banned and challenged books. So far it's gotten a lot of attention – we hear a lot of 'Mom, what are those people doing in there?' The best part has been hearing parents explain to their kids what the display is all about which is exactly what we wanted to happen!" Twin Hickory Public Library, Glen Allen, VA (Thanks, Adrienne!) Source: Boing Boing | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:20 pm Exotic Dancers, Armadillos Top Ig NobelsOther studies that won: Coke as a spermicide and more expensive placebos.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:20 pm Supercar Auto Show Debuts - Lamborghini Estoque Dazzles Paris (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) Lamborghini Estoque is killing the competition at the Paris Auto Show in terms of buzz. Lamborghini Estoque is two words for huge and short. Indeed, the Estoque is the largest Lamborghini...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:19 pm Software: UBS Downgrades Adobe, Intuit, Siebel, SymantecBy Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader DailyCiting concerns about the softening macro economy and ongoing market volatility, UBS software analyst Heather Bellini cautioned this morning that estimates for the sector “need to come down materially” for the second half and for 2009. She also asks whether software companies that typically provide guidance for the year ahead will continue the practice given the lack of visibility, and she cautions that foreign exchange–which has been a tailwind for the stocks for the last eight quarters–will provide a headwind in the fourth quarter and into next year. Source: AllThingsD.com Consolidated Feed | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:18 pm Apple says report of Jobs heart attack "not true" (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:14 pm Sony PRS-700 digital book reader gets power of touch - Slippery Brick
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:05 pm Lionbridge Wins the Prestigious Microsoft 'Vendor of the Year' Excellence AwardMicrosoft Selects Lionbridge among 17,200 Service Providers across Industries; Recognizes Lionbridge for its Exceptional Service WALTHAM, Mass., Oct. 3...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:00 pm Real-Time Vehicle Diagnostics - The Car Chip Pro Engine Performance Monitor (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) The Car Chip Pro engine performance monitor can be used as a fast, cheap, easy, and accurate way to measure the specifications of your engine without a costly visit to your mechanic...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:59 pm American Political Science Association Offers Expert Sources for Journalists Covering the 2008 U.S. ElectionWASHINGTON, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Political Science Association (APSA) invites all journalists covering the 2008 U.S. election to use its MediaConnect...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:56 pm Exxon-led project faces Russian lawsuit over endangered whalesRussian environmental groups launched Friday legal action against an oil and gas project led by US energy giant Exxon for threatening critically endangered whales in Russia's far east.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:55 pm SunGard's AvantGard Accredited with Multiple Industry AwardsAvantGard Wins Recognition for Liquidity, Risk and Treasury Management LONDON, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- SunGard's AvantGard (Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:55 pm How Do I Talk To 4th Graders About IT?Tsunayoshi writes "My son volunteered me to give a presentation on what I do for a living for career day at his elementary school. I need to come up with a roughly 20-minute presentation to be given to 4-5 different classrooms. I am a systems administrator, primarily Unix/Linux and enterprise NAS/SAN storage, working for an aerospace company. I was thinking something along the lines of explaining how some everyday things they experience (websites, telephone systems, etc.) all depend on servers, and those servers are maintained by systems administrators. I was also going to talk about what I do specifically, which is maintain the computer systems that allow the really smart rocket scientists to get things into space. Am I on the right track? Can anyone suggest some good (and cheap/easy to make) visual aids?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:53 pm Apple Adds Genius in AppleTV Update: The Old Girl Aint Dead YetNot only did Apple update iTunes overnight, but it also updated Apple TV. In addition to the usual security and bug fixes (including one that sounds pretty ominous: maliciously crafted movie file may...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:50 pm Where Life Found Refuge During Mass ExtinctionScientists find the last hiding place of life during Earth's worst apocalypse.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:50 pm WWF bemoans attempts to water down EU's green targetsEurope's plan of action to tackle climate change is being undermined by pressure from industry and may no longer achieve its original green goals, the environmental group WWF said Friday.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:50 pm Galorath Webinar to Discuss Estimating Agile Development Projects Using SEER(R) for SoftwareEL SEGUNDO, Calif., Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- A Webinar hosted by Galorath Incorporated, a software firm best known for its SEER project cost estimation and planning applications,...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:50 pm Apple TV 2.2 update delivers HDTV shows, Genius support - Apple Insider
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:49 pm Data Center Power Expert from Raritan to Present 'Optimize Power through Server Analysis' Talk at AFCOM's Data Center WorldSOMERSET, N.J., Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Skyrocketing energy costs and power availability concerns are driving IT and facility managers to look for new ways to make data...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:44 pm Company Screening And Saving Text MessagesIt was announced by Skype, eBay Inc's Web communications unit, on Thursday that TOM Online Inc, the majority proprietors of Skype's Chinese venture TOM-Skype, had been watching and amassing some of its users' text messages without Skype's awareness.Skype apologized after a report discovered that the Web service screens text messages with political keywords and keeps them with a multitude of user records.These are located on computers that could quite easily be viewed by anybody, as well as the Chinese government.Spokeswoman for Skype Jennifer Caukin, minority owner of TOM-Skype, confessed the breach existed in the TOM Online servers but stated that the problem had been fixed.However, she noted that Skype must have continued discussions with TOM after the company discovered that the business enterprise had altered privacy policies without Skype's approval or familiarity in order to save particular user messages.Caukin said it was not shocking that "the Chinese government might be monitoring communication in and out of the country.""Nevertheless, we are concerned to hear about security issues brought to our attention and confirm that TOM was able to fix the flaw." she stated, adding that "changes in storing and uploading chats will be further discussed with TOM."Caukin said that Skype had openly confirmed in 2006 that in order to obey Chinese regulations, TOM was using a text filter that blocked the use of certain words on TOM-Skype chat messages without neglecting customer privacy.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:40 pm Credit Fraud Due To OutsourcingAccording to data investigators at Verizon Communications Inc, the dependence of restaurant chains and retail stores on outside companies handling basic information-technology functions is at fault for an outbreak of consumer data violations in the last few years.Even a string with thousands of restaurants involved might have a paltry 100 employees in the information technology field.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:37 pm Researchers Close To Mapping Wheat GenomeScientists believe they have discovered how to map the genetic code of one of the world’s most popular crops: wheat.The development could lead to varieties of wheat that are resistant to disease and drought, during a time when grain prices have reached record highs.On Thursday, French scientists said they had created a map of chromosome 3B, wheat’s largest chromosome.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:25 pm Comfort DollarsHere's a great example of what we could easily call a "local currency" - that doesn't involve any of the bloody, anti-corporate revolution that detractors of this idea seem to think will attend any such effort.A great, tiny organic cafe in my town, Comfort, decided to expand to a second, larger location last year. The owner, John Halko, has been renovating the new space for a year, and - thanks to the credit crisis - has been unable to raise the cash required to finish and finally open. With currency unavailable from traditional, centralized money-lending banks, Halko has turned instead to his community - to us - for support. Granted, this is a small town. Pretty much everybody goes to Comfort - the only restaurant of its kind on the small strip - and we all have a stake in its success. Any extension of Comfort would bring more activity, vitality, and commerce to a tiny downtown (commercially devastated in the 1970s by the chain stores and strip malls of automobile-friendly Central Avenue). So Halko's idea is to sell VIP cards. For every dollar a customer spends on a card, they receive the equivalent of $1.20 worth of credit at either restaurant. If I buy a thousand dollar card, I get twelve hundred dollars worth of food: a 20% rate of return on the investment of dollars. Halko gets the cash infusion he needs to build the new restaurant - and since he's paying for it in 20% tab adjustments, it just comes out of profits. He gets the money a lot cheaper than if he were borrowing it from the bank, paying back in cash over time. Meanwhile, customers get more food for less money. But wait, there's more: the entire scheme refocuses a community's energy and cash on itself. Because our money goes further at our own restaurant than a restaurant somewhere else, we are biased towards eating locally. Since we have a stake in the success (and the non-failure) of the restaurant in whose food we have invested, we'll also be more likely to promote it to our friends. And since we have already spent a big chunk of money on Comfort's food, we're more likely go get food there than dish out more cash for a meal somewhere else. When it gets really interesting is when other businesses begin to accept Comfort's VIP card and dollars for their services as well. But even in its current, limited incarnation, it's easy to see how the math of an extremely simple alternative currency works, why its existence gets cheaper money into the hands of people who need it, and how it circumvents centralized control over commerce.
Admittedly, this isn't a Boingworthy phenomenon in itself. It's simply not "scalable" the way Internet and tech things are. It's a local activity. But it can be modeled by other communities, and the Internet is a great way to share these experiments in social hacking, measure their results, and mutate them further. Source: Boing Boing | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:20 pm CBS Webcast: Examining the Biden-Palin debate (CNET)CNET - The first and only debate between the two vice presidential candidates, Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin, covered a broad array of subjects, including the economy, war, taxes, and their readiness to help govern the country.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:13 pm MS Reportedly Adds 6 Months of Vista DowngradeLiteralKa sends in a poorly sourced Reg story claiming that Microsoft has granted OEMs six more months to sell PCs using Windows Vista with the support to downgrade to Windows XP. OEMs can now offer such arrangements until July 31, 2009 — the previous deadline was January 31, 2009. The article claims as source "a Reg reader" without further details. Neither Microsoft nor any OEM has confirmed the rumor, and only a few scattered bloggers have picked it up.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:07 pm How they compare: Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic, Google's G1 and Apple's iPhoneComparisons between the latest mobile phones from Nokia, Google and AppleSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:02 pm Designer hopes to plug into intelligent fashion (Reuters)Reuters - Tired of running out of batteries and having to find a socket to charge your mobile phone or iPod? An Argentine fashion designer may have the answer: a timeless jacket with a built-in solar panel.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:01 pm Why Microsoft Plans To "Bribe" People To Use Live Search Could ... - ITProPortal
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:59 pm Skype's China spying sparks anger - Reuters
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:56 pm Mad Men With an Ad Man: Optimedia EditionEvery week on "Mad Men" Don Draper and Roger Sterling lead the men and women at the fictional advertising agency Sterling Cooper in creating and designing iconic 1960s ad campaigns in between their chain-smoking, heavy drinking, and round-the-clock womanizing. Looking for a little fact in the fiction of “Mad Men,” Wired.com is asking some of the real ad men (and women) in the industry to talk about the show’s realism and relevance in the world of advertising.Wired.com Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:51 pm House Schedules Second 'Rescue Plan' Vote TodayRejected once amid public fury about bailing out reckless financiers, a $700 billion rescue package gets a second chance in the House as voters anxiously ponder an economic meltdown that could wipe out their ability to borrow, plunder their savings and put them out of work.Wired.com Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:44 pm Microsoft installs XP, Office on cheap Portuguese laptop (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:40 pm T-Mobile's G1 vs. The iPhone: Game On! - PC World
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:34 pm Why Nokia's 'Tube' Is the iPhone's Biggest Threat - PC World
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:34 pm Free Our Data: what will win the X Factor of web services?I heard the news today. Oh boy. Local councils say that the credit crunch is starting to hit them: rising fuel and food bills are eating into their budgets, and making it harder for them to provide the...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:21 pm Judge Suppresses Report On Voting SystemsIrvu writes "A New Jersey Superior Court Judge has prohibited the release of an analysis conducted on the Sequoia AVC Advantage voting system. This report arose out of a lawsuit challenging on constitutional grounds the use of these systems. The study was conducted by Andrew Appel on behalf of the plaintiffs, after the judge in the case ordered the company to permit it. That same judge has now withheld it indefinitely from the public record on a verbal order."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:20 pm Nokia takes on Apple's iTunes, iPhone (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:16 pm Loss of control may leave us looking for four-leaf clovers - Ars Technica
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:42 am Electronic Arts game producer Tim LeTourneau taks about his BlackBerryWhat's your favourite piece of technology?Probably the smartphone. Right now, I have a BlackBerry Curve. I've also had a Treo, and I liked that quite a bit. But I'm not one of those people who felt that...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:31 am Linux Rescues Battery Life On Vista Notebooks From DellnerdyH writes "Dell is preparing to ship two enterprise-oriented Windows Vista notebooks with an interesting feature — a built-in TI OMAP (smartphone) processor that can power instantly into Linux. The 'Latitude ON' feature is said to offer 'multi-day' battery life, while letting users access email, the web, contacts, calendar, and so on, using the notebook's full-size screen and keyboard. I wonder if someday we'll just be able to plug our phones into our laptops, switching to the phone's processor when we need to save battery life? Or, maybe x86 will just get a lot more power-efficient. Speaking at MontaVista's Vision event today, OLPC spokesperson and longtime kernel hacker Deepak Saxena said the project is aiming for 10-20 hours of battery life during active use, on existing hardware (AMD Geode LX800 clocked at 500MHz, with 1GB of Flash and 256MB of RAM)."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:28 am Fossett Slammed into a Mountain: Search OfficialThirteen months after millionaire thrill-seeker Steve Fossett mysteriously disappeared, authorities finally know what happened to his small single-engine airplane: It slammed straight into a mountain on a cloudy day.Wired.com Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:11 am Innovative Silicon Z-RAM Memory Experts to Present at 2008 IEEE International SOI ConferenceInnovative Silicon, Inc. (ISi), developer of the Z-RAM(R) zero-capacitor floating body memory technology, today announced that Dr.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am ExxonMobil Expands Exxsol Hydrocarbon Fluids Plant CapacityThe ExxonMobil Chemical Company has completed a 130,000 tons-per-year capacity expansion at its Exxsol hydrocarbon fluids plant on the Jurong Island of Singapore, increasing capacity at this site to more than 500,000 tons per year.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am Conservancy May Preserve Safe Harbor ; Developer's Plan For Homes, Townhouses Collapses. Conservancy Would Save Tract's Wooded Ravines And Historic Village.By Ad Crable A grand experiment to please everybody has failed. Lancaster developer Joseph Nadu Jr. had proposed to develop a small portion of 200 acres of wooded ravines near Safe Harbor while preserving most of it for public use.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am Water Firm Criticised After Theft of PipesBy Graeme Hetherington ATENANT farmer has criticised Northumbrian Water for failing to disconnect her supply quickly after thieves stole water pipes from derelict buildings.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am You'Ll Have a Swell Time Living on This IsleBy Larry Olmsted The first hotel on Waikiki Beach was built in 1901, and for more than a century, Waikiki, as well as surrounding Honolulu and the entire island of Oahu, have been what people think of when they visualize Hawaii.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am Unifi Launches Repreve.ComUnifi, Inc. (NYSE: UFI), a diversified producer and processor of polyester and nylon yarns, unveiled a new consumer-focused, interactive website as part of its new "Repreve(R). For the Planet." campaign.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am Appeals Court Dismisses Lawsuit Over Bird Deaths at Altamont PassBy Chris Metinko A state appeals court has upheld an earlier ruling that rejected a lawsuit brought by an environmental group against wind-turbine operators in the Altamont Pass for the killing of raptors and other birds. In a Sept.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am "Green" Gardening With a Compost PileConsumers have embraced the green lifestyle -- not as a fad, but as a new way of life for their entire family. According to a recent Harris poll on green living, supported by the Nature Conservancy, 53 percent of consumers have taken steps to green their lives.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am Pollution Fine for Water CompanyBy Alexandra Wood The water company pleaded guilty to pollution at Beverley Magistrates' Court following an incident last December in which 11,000 litres of diesel leaked from a corroded pipe.A clean-up operation swung into action after the company realised the fuel had escaped into the Beverley and Barmston Drain from Tophill Low water treatment works, near Driffield, which supplies clean drinking water to Hull.Officials were called in from the Environment Agency who saw red diesel in the land drain as well as pools of fuel near the storage tanks.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am Japan Ministry May Punish Officials Entertained By Rice TradersText of report in English by Japan's largest news agency Kyodo Tokyo, Oct. 3 Kyodo - The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Friday it is considering punishing 12 officials identified as wined and dined by Osaka-based Mikasa Foods and other rice traders.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am Pianist to Play Benefit ConcertBy Margot Abbott VALLEY TIMES DANIEL GLOVER, the longtime accompanist for Valley Concert Chorale, a solo artist who has performed all over the world, will perform for the benefit of the chorale at a piano recital Saturday.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am Internet America Reports Fiscal Year End ResultsInternet America, Inc. (OTCBB:GEEK) today announced results for its fiscal year ended June 30, 2008. Internet service revenues for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008 were $8.4 million compared to $7.9 million for the corresponding period in 2007.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am A 60-Year-Old Scandal, an Eminent Botanist and a Plant That Was PlantedBy BEN BAILEY THE discovery of a rare plant on the Isle of Rum in the 1940s led scientists to question whether the Ice Age had ever reached the Scottish isles.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am Weird Al To Release Songs As He Records Themslapout writes "Weird Al has announced that with the Internet he can now release his songs for sale as he records each one rather than waiting for a whole album to be produced."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 3 Oct 2008 | 8:59 am Andrew Brown: Science shows religion makes us more honest and trustingScientific research shows religion makes us more honest and trusting at least when we think God is watching.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 8:55 am On a 3D HD Display, SENSIO Presents Live Action 3D Boxing at CEATEC 2008SENSIO Technologies Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Oct 2008 | 8:00 am InternetworksBy Anonymous SIGNAL's guide to Web resources Situated in the heart of Europe, the city of Prague has been an imperial capital, an artistic center and a trade and political hub during its long history.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Oct 2008 | 8:00 am YouTube Previews Military Life in KoreaBy Anonymous The U.S. Army's Installation Management Command (IMCOM)-Korea region has turned to YouTube as a supplement to its official Web site.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Oct 2008 | 8:00 am Watch the Vice Presidential Debate LiveThe Press-Telegram will be streaming tonight's vice presidential debate between Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden live beginning at 6 p.m. The live stream only works with the Internet Explorer Web browser.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Oct 2008 | 8:00 am We’ll All Be Citizens of Virtual WorldsBy Victor Keegan, Technology Columnist, The GuardianMost people still look askance if you admit to using virtual worlds where you move around with an avatar or 3D version of yourself. It recalls the technophobic reactions in the early days of the Internet. But attitudes may now change for two reasons. First, children are piling into their own virtual worlds, so their parents can get a glimpse of what it is all about. And second, a huger user base is being created, one that is accustomed to virtual worlds and is ready to trade up to more sophisticated ones as they grow older. Source: AllThingsD.com Consolidated Feed | 3 Oct 2008 | 7:04 am Rick Astley Lands MTV Award Nod (20 Years Later)By Scott Thill, Contributor, Wired, Listening PostU2, Madonna and Christina Aguilera normally wouldn’t have to nervously look over their shoulders for Rick Astley at the MTV Europe Music Awards, taking place in Liverpool and scheduled to air this November. But that was before Rickrolling, the Internet trickery that surprisingly vaulted Astley to the top of the pop culture heap. Now the phenomenon has come full circle: According to the BBC, Astley is the front-runner for the show’s Best Act Ever award, the winner of which will be chosen online by fans and other culture vultures. “It’s very, very odd, isn’t it?” Astley said in an audio file posted on the BBC Friday. “Pop music is bizarre.” Source: AllThingsD.com Consolidated Feed | 3 Oct 2008 | 7:04 am Who Coined The Term SEO?By Bob Heyman, Chief Search Officer at MediasmithSomeone’s trying to trademark the term SEO, which has roiled the SEO community. The someone is named Jason Gambert, and he has filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, claiming to have coined the term “SEO” (for Search Engine Optimization). SEOMoz and others have moved to challenge Gambert’s claim. As the person (along with my partner Leland Harden), who actually did coin the term Search Engine Optimization back in 1995, I feel uniquely qualified to weigh in on the validity of Gambert’s claim. Jason Gambert asserts that he was the first to use the term SEO, in a 2007 email. The actual origin of SEO happened this way, as recounted way back in 1997 in the book “Net Results” that Leland and I wrote with Rick Bruner. Source: AllThingsD.com Consolidated Feed | 3 Oct 2008 | 7:02 am Google Blogsearch Relaunches as Techmeme Killer, Across 11 CategoriesBy Marshall Kirkpatrick, Blogger, ReadWriteWebIn its first major upgrade ever, Google Blogsearch just relaunched and looks radically different. Instead of the blank page look of Google.com, Blogsearch now looks like Google News (but uglier)–with the hottest topics from the blogosphere aggregated on the front page. Readers can drill down in 11 different categories, including technology, business, sports and entertainment. Google says you can use Blogsearch to see what the world is talking about. The user interface isn’t nearly as nice as leading tech blog memetracker Techmeme, but the new Blogsearch has some major advantages. Source: AllThingsD.com Consolidated Feed | 3 Oct 2008 | 7:01 am Google: Beyond Thunderdome
You can make money without doing evil. You can also make it without using so much fossil fuel. That’s the word from Google, which today unveiled a $4.4 trillion plan it says will reduce the nation’s dependence on coal and oil. Google’s “Clean Energy 2030” plan as its described by Jeffery Greenblatt, Google.org’s climate and energy-technology manager, proposes to wean the U.S. off of coal and oil for electricity generation by 2030 by relying on power from wind, nuclear and geothermal sources instead. It also calls for raising the standard car fuel efficiency from 31 mpg to 45 mpg and increasing usage of plug-in hybrids and pure electric cars. It’s an ambitious plan, to say the least. Expensive too–a jaw-dropping $4.4 trillion dollars. But Google (GOOG) believes it could generate net savings of $1 trillion over its 22-year span. It might even save our children’s grandchildren from a world in which they rove post-apocalyptic desert wastelands scavenging for food and gasoline, terrorized by marauding biker gangs. And who could place a monetary value on that, eh?
“We see a huge opportunity for the nation to confront our energy challenges,” Greenblatt explained. “In the process we will stimulate investment, create jobs, empower consumers and, by the way, help address climate change.” And lest we think Google is hiding its own self interest (Read: Lower data center electric bills) behind a $4.4 trillion dollar mask of altruism, consider this remark from Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who spoke at an event in San Francisco Wednesday evening: “We’re going to likely consume more energy,” he said. “We’d like the prices to go down … We save a lot of money when prices go down. It’s good for shareholders, good for earnings.” And in the end, what’s wrong with approaching clean energy from a capitalist position? We certainly approach dirty energy in that way. Source: AllThingsD.com Consolidated Feed | 3 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am Most People Don’t Realize Their ISPs Are Already Spying on ThemBy Mike Masnick, Blogger, TechdirtWe recently wrote about how you should probably be more nervous about the data your ISP is collecting rather than what Google is collecting, because your ISP has access to a lot more data, and the data it has isn’t data that you chose to give, as in the case of Google. Plus, ISPs have a long history of selling that data. Now, a new study is showing that most people have no idea that their ISPs track and sell their data, with many believing that an ISP would need to first let them know if they were doing that. In fact, many people are quite concerned about how that data would be used, not realizing that it’s already being sold. And, of course, it’s not just being sold to ad companies like NebuAd and Phorm, but to Web site-tracking firms like Compete and Hitwise. Source: AllThingsD.com Consolidated Feed | 3 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am Royalties for digital song downloads unchangedA sigh of relief could be heard in digital music land Thursday as the federal Copyright Royalty Board left unchanged the rate for royalties paid to songwriters and publishers for CDs and digital downloads...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am Federal agency prohibits all train operators from using cellphones while on dutyThe emergency order comes one day after the National Transportation Safety Board says text messages were sent and received by Metrolink engineer moments before fatal crash. ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am Guardian Viral Video ChartIn an effort to avoid the US election for just one week, PDA this week takes a look at the animals chart on the Viral Video Chart. From cartoon cats to cute otters, it's the perfect escapism. There's just...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 6:33 am 16th World Computer Chess Championship In Progressvmartell writes "The 16th World Computer Chess Championship is now in progress in Beijing, as part of the Computer Games Championship. Currently in the lead are Rybka 3.0, recognized as the world's strongest chess engine and Hiarcs, another commercial engine. Another curiosity is a Java ME based engine running on a Nokia phone, which is currently being trounced by the other engines. A very interesting sideline: before the computer tournament, a Women's Grandmaster played two games against Rybka. The result? Rybka won both games!"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 3 Oct 2008 | 5:53 am Restaurant features "wireless service bell button" to summon waiters at your command Yesterday, David and I enjoyed fine lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Urbana, Illinois. The experience was made even more pleasant because of this "wireless service bell button" at our table. Note its four buttons: Waiter, Drink, Money (bill), and Chopsticks (food). Each button produced a different tone, which emanated from a speaker in the kitchen. When I pressed the drink button, the waiter appeared in seconds holding a pitcher of ice water. When I pressed the Money button, he came right out with the check. If Sarah Palin can promise in tonight's debate that -- if elected -- she'll sign legislation requiring all restaurants in the country to install tabletop wireless service bell button systems, she gets my vote. Source: Boing Boing | 3 Oct 2008 | 5:51 am Microsoft Xbox 360 outsells PS3 in Japan in Sept (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 3 Oct 2008 | 5:32 am Oct. 3, 1947: Birth of Palomar's 'Giant Eye'1947: After 13 years of grinding and polishing, the Palomar Observatory mirror is completed at Caltech. It was, at the time, the largest telescope mirror ever made in the United States, measuring 200 inches in diameter. Following its completion, the disk was mounted in Palomar's Hale Telescope and first used in January 1949 to take pictures of the Milky Way. Edwin Hubble was the first astronomer to make images using the new scope. The mirror began as a 20-ton piece of molten Pyrex, a new glass blend, at the Corning Glass Works in upstate New York. Pyrex expands and contracts far less than regular glass, making it less prone to distortion, a problem that plagued the 100-inch mirror already in operation at Palomar. After being heated to 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit, the Pyrex was poured into a ceramic mold and cooled at an average rate of one or two degrees per day until it reached room temperature 11 months later. After that it was shipped west to Caltech in Pasadena, where the glass was painstakingly ground to perfection in a process lasting more than a decade. The era of giant telescopic lenses began in the 1700s, when astronomers recognized that the bigger the lens (or reflecting mirror), the better the image. In 1774, English astronomer William Herschel mounted several 9-inch mirrors in a 10-foot-long telescope and recorded, with satisfaction, that he had spent the first night looking at "Saturn's rings and two belts in great perfection." Herschel followed that...Wired.com Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am Study finds one in four are opting to eschew landlinesNEW YORK - Faced with tightening household budgets and improved options for wireless service, people are increasingly cutting the cord of traditional landline phones.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am My Paparazzo: Hiring a Stalker Is EasyI'm sitting outside a trendy Brooklyn café chatting with friends. I glance to my left and notice a huge telephoto lens peeking around the corner of the building. The actress Keri Russell is known to hang here, but she's nowhere in sight. That paparazzo is hounding me. And it's no wonder — I paid him to do it. We live in the age of the candid snapshot. People don't want to pose for glamour photos; they want artful images that look unstaged and off-the-cuff, like a party pic from TheCobrasnake.com or a tousled cover model on Vice magazine. But calculated spontaneity is hard to pull off without the help of a professional. And I wanted some pics of me that say "I look awesome even when I'm not trying." That's where Izaz Rony comes in. The 22-year-old, who credits YouTube, Flickr, and Facebook as inspirations, does guerrilla-style photo shoots for $500 an hour and up. It's like hiring a stalker for a day. After setting up a shoot with Rony, I email him some recent snapshots so he'll recognize me. I also supply a vague itinerary of my plans for the following Sunday, leaving it fairly open — I want to act the part of a harried celeb with TMZ on my trail. When the day arrives, I'm a mess. What do you wear to be photographed by your very own paparazzo? I don't want to look like I'm going to the Oscars, but I can't rock my everyday grungy freelancer garb. I try on 15 different outfits before settling on the right pair of jeans, then I make sure my hair...Wired.com Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am Photographer Awarded TED Prize for Work on War, Disease: Photo: James Nachtwey Last year, acclaimed war photographer James Nachtwey was honored with the 2007 Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) Prize for his work documenting images of war, disease and political unrest across the globe for over 25 years. Along with President Bill Clinton and Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson, Nachtwey was awarded $100,000 to help him bring "one wish to change the world" to fruition. James' wish was to share an underreported worldwide story, prove the power of news photography in the digital age and raise awareness about a global health issue that has the potential to become a worldwide pandemic — Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR TB). Tonight Nachtwey will unveil the images of the disease he hopes to combat at a special screening at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. His poignant images will be used to offer awareness about the worldwide spread of tuberculosis through a multimedia campaign on all seven continents, in 50 cities around the globe, and across the web. You can find out more information about screenings and the images at www.xdrtb.org. Nachtwey shared his digital images with us and took a few moments to tell Wired.com what he learned during the yearlong process of tracking the global spread of tuberculosis. : Photo: James Nachtwey Wired.com: When did you first encounter XDR-TB? James Nachtwey: In 2000, I did a story for Time on AIDS in Africa. It was my first introduction to that subject. In South Africa...Wired.com Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am Assembling Internet Images Into a Garden of Webly DelightsGive Hieronymus Bosch a Mac Pro with two 3.2-GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors and 32 gigs of RAM, unfettered Internet access — and some electricity — and you have Case Simmons and Andrew Burke's You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth. The duo raided image forums like 4chan and 12ozProphet (plus Flickr and Google Image Search) and collected thousands of files to assemble into four mural-sized collages. The series, accompanied by audio composed entirely of samples from the Internet, is on view at LA's Kim Light/Lightbox gallery through November 1. "We crash our computers almost every day," Simmons says. They're gonna need a bigger Mac.Wired.com Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am High-tech wrestles with credit crisisBURLINGTON - What do you do if you're hosting a powwow on building new technology businesses at a time when credit is frozen and the economy is teetering on the brink of recession?Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am Genetic Tweak Could Let Toxic Soil Feed MillionsResearchers have discovered a gene that makes plants resistant to aluminum. It could let crops grow on the large portion of the Earth's surface that holds toxic levels of the metal.Wired.com Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am China found to snoop on Skype usersNEW YORK - A Canadian researcher has discovered a Chinese version of eBay Inc.'s Skype communications software snoops on text chats that contain certain keywords, including "democracy."Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 3 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am South Korea's Free Computer Game Business Model Hits the USAnti-Globalism writes with this excerpt from AFP via Yahoo! News: "Seoul-based 'free-to-play' computer game titan Nexon on Wednesday blasted into the US videogame arena with a 'Combat Arms' online first-person shooter title that makes its cash from optional 'micro-transactions' by players. The game makes its money from players that buy animated helmets, outfits, emblems or other virtual items to customize in-game characters. To keep the battlefield even, players earn experience or advanced weaponry by skill so people essentially can't pay for power. ... Startups and established game makers including Japanese goliath Sony are venturing into the free computer game market, according to DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole. 'It looks like it could be very big,' Cole told AFP. 'It's one of the things everybody seems to be looking at. The challenge is it is a very new model and it remains to be seen whether customers used to a free model will be tight when it comes to actually spending money on it.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 3 Oct 2008 | 3:01 am MC Frontalot's Final Boss: nerdcore par excellence.jpg) MC Frontalot's new nerdcore album, Final Boss, is a perfect, catchy collection of raps and sketches about video-games, Japanese manga fandom, voting machines, and other important subjects. Of especial note is a completely, convulsively hilarious sketch with Wil Wheaton about Wil and Frontalot's respective career-choices. The CD's out in a month or so, but if you pre-order it now, you get immediate delivery of the CD in MP3 form, with a lyrics sheet and hi-rez versions of the art. Now these are lyrics: I’ve got a new dance called The Margaret Thatcher.MC Frontalot's Final Boss (Thanks, Quinn!) Source: Boing Boing | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:44 am Kelly Link's short story collection Magic for Beginners as a free CC download -- magnificent, weird, award-winning speculative fiction for freeGavin sez,Kelly Link's stories are some of the smartest, weirdest, freshest material being written in any literary field. The title story is just about the perfect explication of why fandom is so totally satisfying. Two of these stories won a Nebula award in the year of publication -- that's half the short story awards to one writer's stories from one book. This release coincides with the release of Kelly's new story collection, Pretty Monsters, which is every bit as good. Magic for Beginners downloads, Buy Magic for Beginners on Amazon
See also: Source: Boing Boing | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:18 am HOWTO Put a hidden radio-prompter on Sarah Palin during the debateDailyKos's Ipsos has a great technical post on the logistics of sneaking an earpiece onto Sarah Palin at the debate, from the physics of spectrum use and antenna design to earpiece-hiding techniques and more:3. Where do you put the person doing the cueing?How they'd put a bug in Palin's ear tonight (Thanks, Bill!) Source: Boing Boing | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:23 am Can Static Electricity Generate Votes?artgeeq writes "A recent local election in Washington, DC resulted in 1500 extra votes for a candidate. The board of elections is now claiming that static electricity caused the malfunction. Is this even remotely possible? If so, couldn't an election be invalidated pretty easily?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:39 am New Sony Reader has light, note-taking stylus (AP)AP - Sony Corp. unveiled a new e-book reader Thursday with a built-in light and a touch-sensitive display, features that set it apart from Amazon.com Inc.'s competing Kindle reader.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:22 am Chinese snoop on Skype, but are they alone? (AP)AP - A Canadian researcher has discovered that a Chinese version of eBay Inc.'s Skype communications software snoops on text chats that contain certain keywords, including "democracy."Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 2 Oct 2008 | 11:54 pm 'Star Trek' Writers Brace for ImpactBeing stone-cold Trekkies pays off for Hollywood scribes Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who are treading carefully with director J.J. Abrams as they reboot the sacred sci-fi franchise. The goal? Turning out a great movie without transporting fans to Planet Angry.Wired.com Source: Wired Top Stories | 2 Oct 2008 | 10:33 pm So What Happened to Solar Stocks This Time?By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader DailyOK, now what’s wrong? Just yesterday, the ever-volatile solar stocks staged a nice rally, while investors celebrated as the Senate tacked an eight-year extension of the solar investment tax credit onto the incredibly bloated financial bailout bill, which passed last night by a wide margin. The bill now goes over to the House. If approved in its current form, the bill would extend the current 30 percent tax credit for solar panel installations through 2016. That would be a relief for the domestic solar industry, which has been fretting for months about the possibility that the credit might not be renewed when the current credit expires at the end of this year. Source: AllThingsD.com Consolidated Feed | 2 Oct 2008 | 10:11 pm Kung-Fu Election: Biden Versus Palin!
BoomTown admits herewith that I am officially a teenage boy, given how much I really like Atom’s Kung-Fu Election site, an online fighting game for the general election. In advance of tonight’s much-anticipated debate between the vice-presidential candidates–Democratic Sen. Joe Biden and Republican Gov. Sarah Palin–here’s a video of them duking it out digitally in hiiii-ya style. Of course, Palin gets the Xena-Warrior-Princess look with a hockey stick and gun as weapons, while the sharp-tongued Biden gets a big sword and is dressed like some refugee from “Shogun.” Let’s hope the verbal sparring to come is as gripping. Here’s the video: Source: AllThingsD.com Consolidated Feed | 2 Oct 2008 | 9:25 pm Senator urges DOJ to monitor Google, Yahoo deal (AP)AP - A key senator is urging the Justice Department to keep up its investigation into the antitrust implications of the Internet advertising partnership that Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. plan to launch this month.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 2 Oct 2008 | 9:23 pm Apple iTunes Lives Another DayA federal board that sets royalty rates left unchanged the 9.1-cents rate digital music stores such as Apple's iTunes must pay publishers and songwriters for each song. Apple had threatened to shutter its iTunes music store if rates were lifted.Wired.com Source: Wired Top Stories | 2 Oct 2008 | 9:11 pm Insecure Minds Wired for Pattern-FindingWhen people lack control of a situation, they see patterns where none exist.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 2 Oct 2008 | 6:20 pm GPS 'Spoofing' Could Threaten National SecurityA fake transmitter exposes a weakness in our growing GPS dependency.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 2 Oct 2008 | 3:40 pm Mercury Gets Second MESSENGER FlybyMESSENGER gets a second shot at the solar system's smallest planet.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 2 Oct 2008 | 2:30 pm Tiny Plastic Bits Pose Marine HazardMarine life is increasingly threatened by the accumulation of so-called microplastics.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 2 Oct 2008 | 1:50 pm Outsourcing aids many data thefts, Verizon says (AP)AP - The reliance of restaurant chains and retail stores on outside companies to handle credit-card processing and other information-technology functions is partly to blame for a rash of consumer data breaches over the last few years, according to data sleuths at Verizon Communications Inc.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 2 Oct 2008 | 1:42 pm
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“Mr. Bryan seemed a little nervous when he first started, much more so, he said, than he ever felt in facing an audience of ten thousand people,” Harold Voorhis recalled. Voorhis, an agent for the National Phonograph Company, was partly responsible for the candidate’s discomfort: He had brought a phonograph into the library of Bryan’s house in Lincoln, Neb., to record some of his speeches, old and current. “Considering that his words were to be reproduced all over the world in perhaps a million homes, … I thought he showed remarkable composure,” Voorhis wrote in the July 1908 Edison Phonograph Monthly.
Kelly Link just released her second book, Magic for Beginners, online for
a year under the Creative Commons license. 2 of the 9 stories aren't
included due to contractual agreements but this is huge news because two
giant companies, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (who published it in paperback)
and HarperPerennial (who published the UK edition) have agreed to take a
chance and be a part of the CC movement.
