|
|
|
|
Here’s How The Government Can Fix Silicon Valley: Leave It Alone
I’ve always believed that government tends to screw up whatever it touches, but Obama in particular seemed different. He understood tech issues that left the other candidates bewildered. Part of it may be his age. But whatever the reason, I had real hope that he could help lead us into a new century of technology leadership and growth. I don’t really believe that any more. Mostly because of the broken promises. From my interview with him:
None of these things happened, nor seem likely to happen under his presidency. But it’s more than broken promises. Our government is just way too interested in mucking around in Silicon Valley by creating and enforcing rules based on little or no understanding of the consequences. A perfect example – recent proposed financial reform legislation by Senator Chris Dodd added on a few random provisions that could have devastated Silicon Valley’s delicate venture capital ecosystem. Earlier this year I was invited to a small closed door meeting with Victoria Espinel, the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator appointed by Obama. In attendance were CEOs and other senior executives of a number of large and small Silicon Valley companies. The meeting was supposed to be about how her office can help Silicon Valley thrive. But it became very apparent very quickly that Espinel has a single agenda when it comes to copyright issues – helping the music labels and TV/Movie studios deal with the Internet on their own terms. The meeting was strictly off record, which is why I didn’t write about it immediately after leaving the room. And the things that she said in that meeting will remain off the record as I promised. But I will say this – I walked out in utter frustration after an hour. And among the many things I said in that room was this:
The problem with Espinel is that she has to follow the lobbying dollars, and those dollars come from the old entrenched players – TV and movie studios, and record labels. And as she said in the meeting to me (the one quote I’ll use), “My job title is Intellectual Property Enforcement after all.” So, ok, fine. But why do we need a presidential appointee who’s main job seems to be to try to shut down startups that freak out the labels and studios? Those guys have piles of private money and a variety of civil lawsuit options to protect their rights, they certainly don’t need the government to be adding yet another layer of bullying to the mix. And why bother coming to Silicon Valley to pretend you want to find a way to let startups thrive in a country with excessively restrictive copyright protections that were designed for a world without the Internet? So tonight I read an email from a good friend with amusement:
My response was basically the title of this post – we don’t want their help, because they tend to turn everything they touch into toxic waste anyway. Just leave Silicon Valley alone please. Please. I’m seeing way too many friends spending time in Washington posing for photos with Obama and Hillary Clinton lately. God knows what they’re actually telling these politicians while they’re busy playing Mr. Important Person. But I doubt it’s what they should be saying – leave us alone, stop pissing on our flowerbed. If the government wants to help innovation in this country they should get busy with infrastructure. Lay fiber to every home and business in the U.S. Actually start building some of these high speed train networks to make travel easier. Get computers into the hands of every child in the country as soon as they are physically able to press buttons. Heck, put a woman on the moon. I don’t know if that last one will do much, but at least they’ll be busy not screwing up Silicon Valley while they’re at it. I would have said let in any highly educated person in the world that wants to live here, but I know that isn’t going to happen. We will continue to shun the next generation of brilliant foreign entrepreneurs because of some absurd fear that they’re going to take away our jobs. In a few years those entrepreneurs will no longer want to live here anyway. Silicon Valley has fueled much of the growth in our economy over the last few decades and has created amazing (and highly profitable) companies that are making the world a much better and more interesting place to live. All that happened while the government ignored us. We don’t want handouts. We don’t want “public-private partnerships,” and we sure as hell don’t want legislation. Just let us do our thing and maybe say thanks to those companies that create jobs by the hundreds of thousands and send in those humongous corporate tax payments on profits. Because all you can do is screw up something beautiful. Really.      
Source: TechCrunch | 7 Jun 2010 | 4:04 am Coming Up: Apple WWDC 2010 Keynote LIVE [Digital Daily]
Source: All Things Digital | 7 Jun 2010 | 4:00 am AT&T vs. Verizon - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Jun 2010 | 3:57 am Windows Phone 7 vs. Android - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Jun 2010 | 3:57 am Facebook vs. Twitter - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Jun 2010 | 3:51 am Australia denies targeting Google over Web filter (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Jun 2010 | 3:50 am Video: Sharp’s 30-screen display system boasts world’s thinnest frame width
Sharp today in Japan presented the PN-V601 [press release in English], a multi.screen display system, which – at 6.5mm – features the world’s thinnest bezel separation. In other words, Sharp managed to design the display, which consists of up to thirty 60-inch LCDs, so that it (almost) looks like one gigantic, “individual” screen. The PN-V601 comes with a full-array LED backlight, a zoom function, and a number of optional goodies for the LCD used in the system, for example LAN access or video inputs (HDMI is standard). The LCDs themselves feature 1,366×768 resolution and produce 700cd/m2 brightness. See how incredible the display system, also dubbed “i3 Wall” (information, intelligent, imaging), looks in a 5×6 screen set-up in the video embedded below: Via Akihabara News
Source: CrunchGear | 7 Jun 2010 | 3:21 am Adobe warns over unpatched PDF peril - Register
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Jun 2010 | 3:19 am Will The iPad Land In China Next August?
Pan Shiyi, an affluent Chinese businessman and real estate mogul with a large following on social networking sites, has accidentally shared the news of an impending China launch for Apple’s iPad come August, writes DigiCha. It appears mr. Pan got the news straight from Apple China head honcho Lu Lei, posted about it on a micro-blogging service to an audience of close to a million followers, and immediately removed the message after realizing that he shouldn’t have shared it the world. Shiyi later apologized for the whole ordeal on his blog. Apple has shown there’s a market for next-gen tablet computers, selling over 2 million in less than 60 days. A slew of Asian manufacturers evidently took notice and are jumping on the opportunity quickly by mass-producing clones, which they hope will take a bite out of Apple’s lead. An August launch for the iPad in mainland China seems plausible, but demand will depend greatly on pricing and which carrier scores the rights to sell the device. Apple would also need to develop a model that operates on China’s homegrown TD-SCDMA standard. The world’s biggest mobile phone operator by subscribers (+539 million), China Mobile, has repeatedly expressed its desire to sell the device, particularly now that it is setting up an electronic book business. Rival telecom operator China Unicom, which beat China Mobile to become the carrier for the iPhone last year, is also said to be in talks with Apple for further cooperation. China had a total of 776.9 million mobile subscribers at the end of March, the largest number of any country. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 7 Jun 2010 | 3:18 am 'Sesame Street' games to cover Wii Remote buttons (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Jun 2010 | 3:05 am eSilentPartner(TM) Simplifies Project ManagementOAKS, Pa., June 7 /PRNewswire/ -- SilentPartner® is now eSilentPartner(TM) -- a 100% web-enabled enterprise software solution.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Jun 2010 | 3:00 am World Cup Forecasting Challenge For Quantsdatabuff writes "As a break from projecting the strength of subprime mortgages, credit default swaps and other obscure financial instruments, quantitative analysts at Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, UBS and Danske Bank have modeled the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Now Kaggle has set up a forecasting competition, allowing statisticians to go head-to-head with these corporate giants. The challenge is to predict how far each country will progress in the tournament."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 7 Jun 2010 | 3:00 am KACHING KACHING, Inc. Announces New OTC Bulletin Board Symbol: KCKCHENDERSON, Nev., June 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- KACHING KACHING, Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Jun 2010 | 3:00 am eSilentPartner Simplifies Project ManagementSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Jun 2010 | 3:00 am CasinoRewards.com Launches $750,000 World Cup GiveawayLAS VEGAS, June 7, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Players from around the world rush to take part in what has been dubbed the biggest online casino promotion ever. From now until the World Cup Final on July 11, 2010, all existing players and any new players who join one of the 19 CasinoRewards.com online casinos will receive a share of over $750,000 in bonuses.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:58 am Tomorrow's Apple News Today: Your WWDC Predictions - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:55 am How Much Video Can You Actually Stream With AT&T’s New Data Plans? [Voices]By Jim Lanzone, CEO, Clicker.com OK, we’re going to tell you the punchline right away. Run, don’t walk, to get your iPad 3G before the end of the weekend. If want to stream video while on-the-go from sources like Netflix or the ABC Player, or any of the hundreds of sources like them coming down the pike, you will quickly regret not having an unlimited data plan unless you are constantly connected to wi-fi. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:41 am A LoudPhone for the hearing impairedAccording to MedIndia, ringtones as loud as a pneumatic drill or a speeding train are popular with the elderly and hearing impaired. The Geemarc Clearsound CL8200 cell phone,which has a top volume of...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:31 am TSMC Extends Open Innovation Platform(TM)Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:30 am TSMC Extends Open Innovation Platform(TM)HSINCHU, Taiwan, June 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:30 am After Suicides, Scrutiny of China’s Grim Factories [Voices]By David Barboza, Reporter, New York Times The factory’s first death this year came on Jan. 23. The body of a 19-year-old worker named Ma Xiangqian was found in front of his high-rise dormitory at 4:30 a.m. Police investigators concluded that he had leapt from a high floor, and they ruled it a suicide. His family, including his 22-year-old sister who worked at the same company, Foxconn Technology, said he hated the job he had held only since November — an 11-hour overnight shift, seven nights a week, forging plastic and metal into electronics parts amid fumes and dust. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:29 am The iPhone Is Not an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet [Voices]By Farhad Manjoo, Technology Columnist, Slate.com Ever since it became the exclusive carrier for the iPhone, AT&T’s (T) fortunes have resembled a scene out of Indiana Jones—a scramble to get out of the way of an unstoppable boulder. The iPhone has prompted millions of people to join AT&T, but paradoxically, it has also hurt the company’s image. The problem is that all of those customers use their phones too much. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:25 am Why Glee Is TV’s Most Web Video-Savvy Series (And Why It Isn’t) [Voices]By Liz Shannon Miller, Blogger, NewTeeVee I spent last night slaving away on a very important task — catching up on the last several episodes of Fox’s Glee. And while we’ve written extensively over the last year about the show’s online marketing last fall, its Twitter popularity and its use of MySpace for casting calls, watching several consecutive episodes tingled my spidey-sense. For even beyond casual mentions of online personalities like Perez Hilton, there’s an innate awareness at play here of how web video affects pop culture. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:21 am Lawyers Claim Google Wi-Fi Sniffing ‘Is Not an Accident’ [Voices]By David Kravets, Contributor, Threat Level, Wired Lawyers suing Google (GOOG) claimed Thursday they have discovered evidence in a patent application that Google deliberately programmed its Street View cars to collect private data from open Wi-Fi networks, despite claims to the contrary. “At this point, it is our belief that it is not an accident,” said Brooks Cooper, an Oregon attorney suing Google in one of several class actions lawsuits around the country arising from Google’s disclosure that its Street View cars intercepted Wi-Fi traffic around the world. Google has described the sniffing as a coding error. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:15 am Adobe Warns of Critical Risks for Flash & Acrobat (NewsFactor)NewsFactor - Adobe has issued a "critical" alert that zero-day attacks are being launched on a security vulnerability in its Flash Player, PDF Reader, and Acrobat products. The alert applies to Flash Player 10.0.45.2 and earlier versions for Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris operating systems, as well as the authplay.dll component that accompanies Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.3.2 and earlier 9.x versions for Windows, Mac and Unix OSs.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:15 am Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental PriceThe New York Times in a 5 page article on how technology is rewiring our brains - not always in a good way. ... Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming information can change how...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:14 am Live from Apple’s 2010 WWDC Keynote
It’s time. After months of whispers, leaks, lost prototypes, and police raids, it all leads up to this: Steve Jobs’ keynote at WWDC 2010. Will the prototype fourth-generation iPhone we’ve seen so much of be the real deal? Do Steve and co. have any tricks up their sleeves to satisfy their ever more rabid fan base? Follow along as we liveblog every minute of the action from the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA.
The keynote begins at 10 A.M Pacific (thats 12 P.M Central/1 P.M Eastern). Bookmark this page, and set your alarms — and be sure to tune in early! We’ll have some pre-show coverage, video footage, and pictures beginning at around 9 A.M. Image via @AdamJackson
Source: MobileCrunch | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:10 am AU Optronics Corp. Reports May 2010 Consolidated RevenueSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:09 am AU Optronics Corp. Reports May 2010 Consolidated RevenueHSINCHU, Taiwan, June 7 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- AU Optronics Corp. ("AUO" or the "Company") (TAIEX: 2409; NYSE: AUO) today announced its preliminary consolidated May 2010 revenue of NT$43,792 million, up by 6.4% from April and 57.9% year-over-year. Large-sized panel(a) shipments for May 2010, with applications on desktop monitors, notebook PCs, LCD TVs and other applications exceeded 10.23 million units, up by 6% from the previous month, reaching a record high.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:09 am Tadawul FX Launches New Market News & Economic CalendarLIMASSOL, Cyprus, June 7 /PRNewswire/ -- As an online forex broker, Tadawul FX, also known as TDFX, places great importance on providing its clients with Forex industry news and educational resources and the company has recently announced some important changes to their market information services.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:03 am dynabook TX/98MBL: Toshiba announces 3D notebook
Not a week passes without a Japanese company announcing a 3D-enabled device lately. Today, it’s Toshiba, which just unveiled [JP] a 3D-capable notebook, the dynabook TX/98MBL. According to the company, it’s the world’s first notebook that lets you view 3D content stored on Blu-rays (next to playing NVIDIA 3D Vision games). Toshiba’s new flagship has the following specs:
Toshiba plans to start selling the dynabook TX/98MBL in Japan at the end of next month (price: $2,750, including active shutter glasses and a remote control).
Source: CrunchGear | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:02 am The iPad: Past, Present, Future - Wall Street Journal
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:01 am Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc. Announces Monthly Net RevenuesTAIPEI, Taiwan, June 7 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:00 am Don't Get Mugged Online - Protect Yourself From Internet CrimeGIBRALTAR, June 7, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Being smart is not enough to protect yourself from online scamming. There are fake websites popping up every day. Identity theft and IRS scams are abundant and phishing attacks are the new black of online fraud.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:58 am Garden Lingerie Shoots - 'ContraLuz' by Caio Ferreira Features Negligee in the Great Outdoors (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Lingerie shoots are perennially hot, but they're even more so when they occur outdoors, like 'ContraLuz' by Caio Ferreira. 'ContraLuz' (or 'Backlighting') features a smokin' model wearing...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:35 am 25 Recycled Poop Innovations - From Manure Building Bricks to Cow Pie-Powered Trucks (CLUSTER)(TrendHunter.com) Excrement is a taboo topic in Western culture, but these recycled poop innovations show just how beneficial this waste product can be. From manure building blocks to entire homes made...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:34 am Audioboo Closes First Major Funding To Become The Twitter-for-audio Audioboo, the 'Twitter for Audio', has closed its first major funding round, having ridden out a "monthly cash crisis", the company tells TechCrunch Europe.
And while the actual amount of new funding isn't being disclosed, we've learned that it's somewhere in the region of £1.5m.
Audioboo's investors now include Channel 4's digital media fund 4iP, which provided the UK startup's initial funding which will be converted in to equity, along with UBC Media (an existing Pro customer), Imagination Technologies (owners of PURE Radio and who have both Apple and Intel as backers), and angel investors including Qualcom's Sir Don Cruickshank, who will become Audioboo's new Chairman.
Source: TechCrunch | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:19 am USF scientists to talk about underwater oil plumes - MiamiHerald.com
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:16 am WSJ's D8 Special Tab: Jobs, Zuckerberg, Ballmer, Cameron and More in Their Own Words! [BoomTown]
Today, The Wall Street Journal published its special tab, both online and offline, featuring edited transcripts of some of the interviews Walt Mossberg and I did at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference last week. The excerpts come from interviews we did with: Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs; Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg; Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer; Hollywood mega-director James Cameron; Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski; NPR CEO Vivian Schiller; and Ford (F) CEO Alan Mulally. Also: A look back at quotes from past D conferences, which just makes BoomTown feel old. Check it all out here. And you can also see the full video of the interview with Jobs later today. All Things Digital will be posting all videos from D8, one each Monday and Thursday. Source: All Things Digital | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:15 am Appetite for IPhone Continues Undiminished [Voices]By Yukari Iwatani Kane, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal As Apple Inc. (AAPL) gets set to likely unveil a new iPhone on Monday at its Worldwide Developers Conference, new survey results show that demand for the device is stronger than ever. Data tracking firm Nielsen Co.’s quarterly survey found that Apple’s iPhone is gaining on No. 1 device by ownership, Research in Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry, in the U.S. The iPhone added two percentage points for a 28 percent market share in the three months ended in late March compared to the previous quarter. RIM still had the biggest market share at 35 percent but it lost two percentage points in that period. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am CrunchGear Week in Review: Shelved Edition
Here are some stories from the past week on CrunchGear: Safari 5 to debut at WWDC
Source: CrunchGear | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am Can You See Me Now? The Future of Video ChatThe 4G iPhone will be one of the first handsets to bring mobile video chat to the masses. A new report from our GigaOM Pro research team estimates that by 2015 video chat will grow to 30 billion calls...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am India’s Reliance to Sell Stake to Raise Funds for 3G (PC World)PC World - India's second largest mobile operator, Reliance Communications, said on Sunday that its board of directors has approved in principle to sell off up to 26 percent of the company's equity to strategic or private equity investors.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am Serene Lakeside Shoots - 'Getting Your Toes Wet' by Nirrimi Hakanson Shows How It's Done (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) 'Getting Your Toes Wet' by Nirrimi Hakanson once again displays the talented 19-year-old's work. Model Bella makes a great muse for Nirrimi Hakanson with these youthful pictures set...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am Qualcomm Makes Strategic Investment in AnteryonSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am BillionaireXchange Gets Exclusive Rights to Auction Ancient Persian Necklace / Holy Symbol of IslamBEVERLY HILLS, Calif., June 7 /PRNewswire/ -- A rare set of ancient royal jewelry, consisting of a necklace and amulet named "The Pleiades Star Crescent Necklace", is to be sold at a private auction being held by high-end luxury auction-house BillionaireXchange (www.BillionaireXchange.com). On May 13, 2010, Forbes, CNN, Fox and many other news sources reported that a very rare 1 BC - 2 AD gold artifact, symbolically named as "The Pleiades Star Crescent Necklace & Amulet", became internationally available for acquisition on www.KingsNecklace.com. Other than the appraisal for 35 Million USD there is no other price on the provided website.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am 'One Computer for Every Student' Vision Nears Completion After Three Year Partnership Between Macedonia Ministry for the Information Society and NComputingSKOPJE, Macedonia and REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 7 /PRNewswire/ -- NComputing, the world's largest and fastest growing desktop virtualization company, today announced it has strengthened its partnership with the Macedonian Ministry for the Information Society.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am 'One Computer for Every Student' Vision Nears Completion After Three Year Partnership Between Macedonia Ministry for the Information Society and NComputingSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am BillionaireXchange Gets Exclusive Rights to Auction Ancient Persian Necklace / Holy Symbol of IslamSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am Online Coat Rack Reminds You That You'll Need A JacketBy Chris Scott Barr How many times have you rushed out the door, only to figure out that it’s not quite as warm/cold as you’d expected it to be? I’m guilty of doing that all too often...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Jun 2010 | 12:58 am Local 223 Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) Reach Tentative Agreement With DTE EnergySource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Jun 2010 | 12:20 am Canada's Largest Cities Seeing the End of the Phone Bookinnocent_white_lamb writes "Telephone directories are available on the Internet, and many phones even store their own directories. There is less and less demand for a printed phone book, so residential phone books will no longer be printed and delivered in Canada's seven largest cities. Do we now expect everyone's grandma to look up phone numbers on the Internet? Of course, the Yellow Pages, where businesses pay for a listing, will still be delivered."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 7 Jun 2010 | 12:05 am Victorian-Inspired Surrealism - 'Tales From the Factory' by Dominik Smialowski is Odd But Beautiful (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) 'Tales From the Factory' by Dominik Smialowski is the latest shoot from one of my favorite photographers. He's reprised a theme from an earlier shoot by using a baby carriage and bell-shaped...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 6 Jun 2010 | 11:59 pm Experiments in Torture: Physicians group alleges US conducted illegal research on detainees(Illustration: Rob Beschizza) Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today released evidence it says indicates that the Bush administration conducted "illegal and unethical human experimentation and research"...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 6 Jun 2010 | 11:53 pm Experiments in Torture: Physicians group alleges US conducted illegal research on detainees (Illustration: Rob Beschizza) Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today released evidence it says indicates that the Bush administration conducted "illegal and unethical human experimentation and research" on detainees' response to torture while in CIA custody after 9/11. The group says such illegal activity would violate the Nuremburg Code, and could open the door to prosecutions. Their report is based on publicly available documents, and explores the participation of medical professionals in the CIA's "enhanced interrogation program." Download the full report at phrtorturepapers.org. Boing Boing spoke with the lead medical author of the report, Dr. Scott Allen, who is co-director of the Center For Prisoner Health and Human Rights at Brown University, and Medical Advisor to PHR.
Boing Boing: The first thing that came to mind as I read this report is that we're really talking about treating a vulnerable population—prisoners, war detainees—like lab rats. PHR: Correct. I am a former prison doctor and have conducted some research in prisons. I speak from direct experience in understanding what is allowable, and why there is a rigorous regime of human subject protections, especially for vulnerable subject populations. Boing Boing: What is the significance of the report you and your colleagues are releasing today? PHR: This is the first report to describe evidence that the CIA interrogation program not only involved torture, but it also involved human experimentation. That experimentation is related to the role of the "medical monitors," the doctors and psychologists who are directed by policy to monitor torture techniques. As a framing exercise: if you are an M.D. who is tasked with keeping torture safe, you have a practical problem. Set aside the ethical problem for a moment. How do you know how to do it? We were pretty thorough in thinking through it: we scoured the literature and found what experience was on the scientific record about the effects of these techniques. There's one body of evidence out there from torture survivors, which is in our prior report, "Leave No Marks." Everything in that report points to the understanding that this cannot be made safe. It is all very dangerous, and it's designed to harm, so it's ridiculous to think you can make it safe. The other body of evidence was the experience of investigators who worked with soldiers. In that program they did limited application of these techniques on volunteer subjects. The mock interrogations never went beyond 2 or 3 days, the waterboarding when it happened was limited to 1 or 2 short exposures, and in a technique that was dramatically different than what was applied to detainees in the black sites. No one really understands the long or short term effects of these techniques. So, in order to do the job the medical monitors were given to do, it left them two choices, both of which were awful: One, they could just wing it. You're talking about techniques that carry high risks of PTSD, but also high risks of physical injury and death (we know that there is public evidence that at least 4, maybe as many as 8 detainee deaths are related to these techniques)—you don't want to wing it. So I think it's certainly possible that while they weren't eagerly looking forward to setting up research they might have been backed into this by saying, let's take notes. That citation we note of Appendix F in the CIA 2004 Inspector General's report, the one that describes the directives to doctors, says, 'Take these notes in a very meticulous way about how detainees respond to waterboarding so we can better inform our procedures in future.' That's describing the framework of a research protocol.
PHR: I don't have expertise in this area. But efficacy of these techniques is irrelevant to the legal and moral issues at hand. If they were unethical for medical professionals to participate, and if they were unethical as legal techniques, whether they worked or not is irrelevant. We didn't try to speculate in this report on that particular question of effectiveness. But even if that was the reason, to say, 'We just want to know if what we're doing works better than rapport-building,' it still crosses the line if they did what it appears they did. It would cross the line into research, and human subject protections should kick in. They should have gone before a human subject review board, and protections should have been put in place. And mind you, we say that knowing that it never would have been approved. It never would have passed muster.
Boing Boing: Is pain something that we understand well enough that it is possible to create objective thresholds and call one side of the line 'torture' and the other side 'not torture'?
Boing Boing: Does pain correlate with physical or mental damage in most people? PHR: Again there is variability. Related to the concept of pain is the risk of the body's response. Even though we tend to separate psychology and psychiatry from neurology and the rest of medicine, they are related in a physical process. There's response of hormone levels to stress and pain that are real physical responses. And there's variability in those as well. And then, on top of that, even for those responses there is variability in who's going to go on to develop PTSD, alcoholism, anxiety, suicidality, uncontrollable anger, all the consequences of trauma we're aware of. In other words, the medical profession is not there yet. We know what risks are and who is at risk. But what the lawyers wanted the doctors to do is be really exact about when the line is crossed. They should have been told, 'Sorry, it can't be done. The risk is very high for pain and injury that would cross the legal threshold, and therefore these techniques cannot be used.' That would have been the correct answer based on the science.
Boing Boing: Sleep deprivation is another widely used technique according to this report, and all of the other publicly available documents on torture. How does sleep deprivation affect the brain in terms of our ability to remember and think logically? Why would interrogators believe that sleep deprivation yields accurate confessions or information, when it has a tendency to make people hallucinate?
We stuck entirely with publicly available government documents describing this program. They are heavily redacted. Many pages are mostly blacked out, and multiple pages in a row are entirely blacked out. If we found evidence of a crime in reviewing the sanitized record, someone who has access to the full record needs to investigate this.
Boing Boing: How would you respond to questions about whether you can call these actions 'experimentation' if they don't follow the scientific method? Some who support the use of 'enhanced interrogation' techniques might argue that you can't call this medical experimentation if it doesn't follow standard procedure.
We believe it's like alchemy: The client—the US government—may have wanted these scientists to wave a wand and turn an ordinary object into gold. And the scientist who was asked may have believed that this was possible. But it's not. We say that the idea of trying to make torture (or at the very least, a technique designed to create acute, severe, uncontrollable stress) 'safe' is a fool's errand. It's junk science. Bad science does not give you a pass.
All I can say is that we have done all we can do as citizens, as a small nonprofit. We have said that we are reporting evidence of a crime. What the authorities do with that, they will own. # # # Read the Physicians for Human Rights "Experiments in Torture" report in full at phrtorturepapers.org.
 Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jun 2010 | 11:53 pm Australia Latest Country to Investigate GoogleAustralia is only the latest country to announce it is officially investigating Google for its collection of personal information. The company used its Google Street View cars to map Wi-Fi locations. However,...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 6 Jun 2010 | 11:45 pm Makers tile-game, the physical object editionLast year, my novel Makers was published and syndicated free as a series of 81 blog-posts on Tor.com. Tor had the insanely creative people at Idiots' Books produce 81 interlocking, tesselating illustrations, one for each installment, and made a sweet little Flash toy that let you play with making your own meta-illo by moving the tiles around. Now, Idiots Books have released a limited edition set of physical cards that let you play the tile-game on your living room floor. I handed these out to folks on the For the Win tour, to great reactions. They're $12, and you can get them now.
Makers Tile Game This week in search 6/6/10This is one of a regular series of posts on search experience updates. Look for the label This week in search and subscribe to the series. - Ed.We work hard to consistently develop new tools, features and algorithmic changes to help us better understand what you mean when you enter a query into the Google search box—and we ultimately use that understanding to get you the information you're looking for as fast as possible. Understanding is core to our mission—particularly as we strive to be as useful in your everyday tasks. For example, if you search for a local sports team, and there's been a recent game, we'll show you scores. If you're visiting Boston and looking for a restaurant, you'll find tailored search suggestions based on the best Beantown spots. It's these features that enhance the experience of searching and help you find exactly what you're looking for. This week, we've made a few changes that we hope will make Google search even better for you. Spelling Corrections in Suggest Since we first launched Google Suggest, we've offered spell-corrected search completions to provide you with similar search queries from other users. With this feature, not only does Suggest help you rest your fingers because you don't have to type out a full query—you can also catch a mistake quickly and easily.  An example of old spelling correction in Google Suggest This week we launched an update that makes Google Suggest even more intuitive and simple. If you're typing a query for which there are no search completions to offer, and yet some of your search terms do seem to be misspelled, Google Suggest will now offer a "Did you mean" suggestion for your query—giving you an option to correct your spelling right away and get on with your search. These spelling suggestions already exist on the results page, but by moving them to an earlier point in the search process, we hope we've made it faster and easier to get to the results you're looking for. Right now, this feature is offered only for google.com in English, but we're working to roll this out internationally in the near future.  Google Suggest with the new spelling corrections feature Mobile app results in mobile search With tens of thousands of apps available for both Android and iPhone phone, there are plenty of options to choose from when you're looking for new apps. And it makes sense that if you hear about a great new app while you're out and about, you'll want to download it then and there. In an effort to make apps even easier to find, this week we launched a new feature for mobile search that helps users on Android-powered devices and iPhones find and download mobile apps. So the next time you're looking for the latest action game, multimedia app or travel tool on your phone, we'll show you a special result at the top of your mobile search results showing basic information about the app you're looking for, including title, price and publisher. You'll also find a link that will take you directly to the app's installation page in the Android Market or Apple's App Store. Example mobile searches on your iPhone or Android device: [download pandora] or [bank of america app] A new look for the Google homepage Search is more fun when it's personalized. That's why I was delighted to announce our new feature that allows you to personalize your Google homepage with a favorite photo. Whether you choose a picture from your computer, your own Picasa Web Album or a public gallery of photos hosted by Picasa, Google is now yours to personalize. To get started, head to google.com and look for the "Change background image" link in the lower left-hand side of the page. Keep an eye out for more fun announcements with this feature! Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more next week. Posted by Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience    
 Source: The Official Google Blog | 6 Jun 2010 | 10:59 pm Castle fireplace mantel with drawbridge![Architectural Collectibles Garden Decorative Art Furniture Rare Antiques Classic Cars Fountains Paintings Louis Icart Jewelry American Victorian French Red Baron Images Fa10256-[1024X768]](http://www.boingboing.net/images/_architectural_collectibles_garden_decorative_art_furniture_rare_antiques_classic_cars_fountains_paintings_louis_icart_jewelry_american_victorian_french_red_baron_images_FA10256-%5B1024x768%5D.jpg)
If the ultimate Dungeons and Dragons room that Cory blogged about a few months ago had a fireplace, this antique would be the mantel. According to auctioneer Red Baron Antiques, it's a "finely carved detailed oak mantel in the form of a Chateau with mirrors, windows that open to storage and a drawbridge. 7.6'H x 6.1'W" (Thanks, Michael-Anne Rauback!)Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jun 2010 | 10:17 pm June 7, 1968: Legoland Opens in DenmarkBrick by brick, if you build it, they will come. And for 31 years, it was the world's only Legoland.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Jun 2010 | 10:00 pm Libraries of Flesh: The Sorry State of Human Tissue StorageHope for the Cancer Genome Atlas was extraordinarily high, but scientists discover that outdated technology is spoiling the raw materials -- tumors, blood and organs -- needed to make medical breakthroughs.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Jun 2010 | 10:00 pm Constructing a Song: Trent Reznor's Cacophony of BeatsNine Inch Nails' frontman lets Wired into his lab (converted garage) of blinking electronic doodads to reveal how he created one of his latest songs.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Jun 2010 | 10:00 pm Electronica Band Ratatat Blasts OffRatatat's new album demands to be pumped through massive speakers. Hear a sample Ratatat track at Wired.com.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Jun 2010 | 10:00 pm Is “Remarkable Indonesia” the New “Incredible India” for Investors?
The seatback pocket on my flight from Jakarta to Surabaya seemed to think so. A pamphlet blared “INVEST IN REMARKABLE INDONESIA,” and included some testimonials from companies like Coca-Cola and Unilever, and some charts showing Indonesia’s economic stability. This was the second time I’d heard the words “Remarkable Indonesia” in as many days. Dino Patti Djalal, the spokesperson for Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and soon to be Ambassador to the US said they’d trademarked it as the country’s new marketing tagline. It called to mind the “Incredible India” push of a few years ago which even included purchasing ads during the Oscars. Compared to “Incredible India,” “Remarkable Indonesia” seems to express muted praise for the country—especially considering the infrastructure in Jakarta was far better than the infrastructure I found in most major Indian cities, the food cooked with some 30,000 locally grown spices was amazing, the cultural heritage and diversity was just as rich, and Bali has some of the most beautiful beaches anywhere in the world. Only remarkable? The biggest reason for Valley-types to think about investing in Remarkable Indonesia This post is one that many people in South Africa, India and China have begged me not to write, because they are having a field day expanding mobile and Web services in Indonesia. In this age of global venture capital and emerging markets hype, how many markets this big is the US mostly ignoring? In this age of globalization and outsourcing, how many markets this big have so few multinational jobs driving up employment and developer costs? But all of this opportunity doesn’t necessarily mean Indonesia is a market where US venture capitalists can do well. Recently Indonesian tech blogger Rama Mamuaya was cold-called by a Valley venture firm and asked if he had a million dollars to invest in one Indonesian Web startup, which one he should pick. He thought about it and answered: None. It’s not because they aren’t promising, but because the costs of building a company are still so low in Indonesia—as opposed to markets like China and India where a flood of multinational jobs have pushed up salaries and rents—that any company would have a hard time putting that much money to good use. There are concerns about politics, stability, the banking system and, of course, how to get liquidity as there are with most emerging markets. There’s especially a visceral fear in Indonesia—a country that was brought to its knees by the late 1990s Asian financial crisis, and one that most Americans know very little about. These are not waters to be navigated from thousands of miles away. I think what Indonesia could use is something in between the current state of no high-growth capital and the money that goes to countries like India and China: A Y-Combinator-style incubator that could help Indonesian entrepreneurs make sense of the pitfalls of modern startup life, including things like recruiting and managing talent, how to deal with Silicon Valley giants, how to make money online and when and when not to raise outside funding. The funding amounts and exits would be small, but a Yossi-Vardi-style angel could clean up where many classic VCs might crush startups under the weight of millions. Someone to coax these entrepreneurs as they develop organically, but not bind them to a Western-way of building companies. Someone local–or at least transplanted fully– who understands when all those Valley rules need to be modified or broken. In the Valley, the ecosystem for starting companies grew organically over several decades, a luxury that China and India didn’t have. Those countries have entrepreneurs, they have tons of venture capital and big market opportunities—but when they got flooded with American cash in the last decade, the ecosystem’s natural development accelerated, and the step of developing local angels and mentors was largely skipped. That’s the single biggest complaint I hear from entrepreneurs in these countries. Indonesia has a rare opportunity to develop a huge startup ecosystem in the right order. The question is who will fill this void, because someone will. Will it be an American who moves and becomes embedded in the market? Or will it be a branch of a firm that’s sprung up in recent years in China or India, places that understand emerging market economics and risk better than we do? It’s not going to be easy, but Indonesia is too big and too untapped—too “remarkable”–to stay undiscovered forever.      
Source: TechCrunch | 6 Jun 2010 | 9:59 pm 'Twilight' sequel shines at MTV Movie AwardsLOS ANGELES, June 6 (Reuters) - The sun never seems to set on the "Twilight" movie franchise.Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 6 Jun 2010 | 9:52 pm Police: Man's bomb comment delays flight in NY (AP)AP - A 75-year-old man on a plane from Chicago to New York's Long Island was arrested Sunday after telling a flight attendant he had a bomb in his carry-on luggage, forcing passengers to exit while authorities inspected the aircraft, officials said.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 6 Jun 2010 | 9:38 pm Islands Grow Even as Seas Rise Around ThemA new study calms fears about Pacific Islands shrinking due to the swelling global sea level.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Jun 2010 | 9:35 pm The Men Who Stare At Airline Passengers, Coming To the UKAn anonymous reader writes, "The Economist's Gulliver reports on a story in Nature that questions the current airport security regimen," excerpting: "Over the past four years, some 3,000 officers in America's Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have been specially trained to spot potential terrorists at airports. The programme, known as SPOT, for Screening Passengers by Observation Technique, is intended to allow airport security officers to use tiny facial cues to identify people who are acting suspiciously. The British government is currently launching a new screening regime modelled on the Americans' SPOT. There's just one problem with all this: there's no evidence that SPOT is actually effective. The whole thing is mostly based on pseudoscience, Sharon Weinberger reports in Nature." Happily, Nature's original article is available in full, rather than paywalled.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 6 Jun 2010 | 8:57 pm The Moment Jupiter Got Slammed, In Color!After the exciting events of Thursday night's Jupiter fireball sighting, amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley has created a stunning color photograph of the moment of impact.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Jun 2010 | 8:55 pm Five things to expect from the new iPhone (Appolicious)Appolicious - When Steve Jobs gives the keynote address Monday at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference, we know he will introduce a new iPhone that runs on an updated operating system, dubbed the iPhone OS 4. But we don't know all the specifics (and surprises) those two developments will include.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 6 Jun 2010 | 8:35 pm Dispersants, lesser evil or Gulf poison?Nearly a million gallons of dispersant have been poured into the Gulf of Mexico to fight the largest oil spill in US history, even though little is known about their effects fishermen claimSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 6 Jun 2010 | 8:27 pm U.S. Intelligence Analyst Arrested in Wikileaks Video ProbeFederal officials arrest an Army intelligence analyst who boasted of giving classified U.S. combat video and hundreds of thousands of classified State Department records to whistleblower site Wikileaks, Wired.com has learned.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Jun 2010 | 8:19 pm Create mobile presentations through Keypoint app (Appolicious)Appolicious - If you’ve ever found yourself in need of an electronic presentation, but without access to a computer or program, the Keypoint app ($1.99) is here to save the day. The app, which works on iPhone and iPod Touch, can help you quickly put a presentation together with just a few taps.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 6 Jun 2010 | 8:03 pm WWDC 2010 Keynote live blogFROM APPLETELL - Be sure to join us at 12 noon ET (9:00 a.m. PT) for live coverage of Steve Jobs’ 2010 WWDC Keynote presentation. iPhone HD? Apple TV? Macintosh? Let’s find out. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Jun 2010 | 8:00 pm Sprint's EVO Phone in a 4G Zone: How Fast Is It? - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 6 Jun 2010 | 7:31 pm Shields Up!: Malware infested Windows Mobile apps spotted on several websitesSection: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile, Computers, Software / Applications, Features
While Microsoft is aware of the issue there doesn’t appear that there is much they can do about it. There’s no patch that can fix or block the issue because unlike traditional non-mobile malware, it’s not taking advantage of any software vulnerabilities. The only ways to protect yourself are to be very careful where and what you download, install an mobile anti-virus app for WinMobile devices, or get a non Windows phone. Read [CNet] Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Jun 2010 | 7:00 pm App Makers Worry as Data Plans Are Capped - New York Times
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 6 Jun 2010 | 6:58 pm Why Beatrix Potter Would Love a Digital Readerdestinyland writes "In 1906, children's book author Beatrix Potter tried creating her own new, non-book format for delivering her famous fairy tales. 'Intended for babies and tots, the story was originally published on a strip of paper that was folded into a wallet, closed with a flap, and tied with a ribbon.' This article includes a link to actual images from one of Potter's strange wallet-sized stories — 'The Story of A Fierce, Bad Rabbit' — plus an image showing you exactly what Beatrix Potter thought 'a fierce, bad rabbit' would look like!"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 6 Jun 2010 | 6:08 pm WWDC 2010 rumor roundupFROM APPLETELL - Rumors regarding products and features have been circulating for months now, so we thought we’d help you all catch up on what to expect (or at least hope for). Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Jun 2010 | 6:00 pm Plotting a Coup In the Internet Agechrb writes "The Guardian is reporting on the attempts of an exiled Sheikh to regain power in a bloodless coup. The plot, led by British solicitor Peter Cathcart, involves the use of Washington political lobbyists, PR agencies writing fake blogs and Twitter accounts, and a newspaper advertising campaign in the US. The coup attempt is remarkable in its choice of modern communications and political lobbying, rather than the traditional resort to violence."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 6 Jun 2010 | 5:11 pm Appletell reviews the Proporta protection for iPadFROM APPLETELL - Proporta has an iPad case, skin or protector for everyone. Here are three of their iPad protection solutions: the Mizu Shell, Advanced Screen Protector and Maya II Pouch. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Jun 2010 | 5:00 pm Diego Maradona Endorses The9 Limited's Winning GoalSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 6 Jun 2010 | 5:00 pm Australian Police Ask Facebook For Police Alarm Buttonlittlekorea writes "The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has requested social networking site Facebook install a law enforcement representative in Australia and introduce some sort of button in which users can immediately report online crime to the police in a single click. It is National Cyber-Security Awareness Week in Australia, so the AFP is on an all-out offensive — announcing it is also investigating whether Google committed offences under Australia's Telecommunications Interception Act when it harvested Wi-Fi data." Something like this has been in the works for a while.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 6 Jun 2010 | 4:07 pm The RIAA asks court to shut down LimewireSection: Web, Online Music/Video
Representatives of both the RIAA and LimeWire will appear before the judge tomorrow. RIAA reps are also accusing the company’s founder of funneling money away from the company to avoid having to pay any monetary damages it may be slammed with, If the RIAA wins, many will be enraged and sad to see the service die. However it should be pointed out that along with music and other files, the service often served up various types of malware and was a favorite site for malware distributors. Will you be sad to see Limewire go? Read [CNet] Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Jun 2010 | 4:00 pm Yahoo's site mirrors Facebook in latest facelift (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 6 Jun 2010 | 3:14 pm Prosecuting DDoS Attacks?dptalia writes "We all have heard of major DDoS attacks taking down countries, companies, and organizations. But how many of them are ever prosecuted? And how many prosecutions are even successful? I've done some research and it appears the answer is very few (Well duh!). And those that are successfully prosecuted tend to have teenagers as the instigators. Does this mean DDoS is a fairly safe crime to conduct? Are the repercussions nonexistent? Does anyone have some knowledge an insight into this that I don't have? How would you go about prosecuting a DDoS attacker? What's your experience with getting the responsible parties to justice?"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 6 Jun 2010 | 3:04 pm Yahoo Goes All In With Facebook: Here Are The ScreenshotsTomorrow Yahoo will announce a relaunch of Yahoo Profiles and their “all in” integration with Facebook Connect, including on the Yahoo home page. We’ve all known deep integration with Facebook was coming, but until now it wasn’t clear exactly how deeply Yahoo would go. The answer – pretty deep. Users will be able to log into Facebook right on the Yahoo home page as well as other places throughout Yahoo, like mail. Most interactions on Yahoo will, like leaving comments on stories and status updates in mail and on the home page, will give users the option of posting that content as well to Facebook. All of this goes hand in glove with the recent privacy updates and move from a friend to a follower model within Yahoo. The new Yahoo Profiles will be called Yahoo Pulse. More than 15 Yahoo sites are included. Here’s part of the official announcement:
The screenshots tell much of the story. Here are a few that Yahoo supplied last week in a briefing:
Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 6 Jun 2010 | 2:13 pm Gizmodo Not Welcome at 2010 WWDCrecoiledsnake writes "Gizmodo is reporting that Apple has refused to answer its request to attend the company's big Worldwide Developers Conference keynote this Monday. Apple's move to ban Gizmodo seems a direct repercussion of Apple's prototype leak by Gizmodo and subsequent actions of Apple to get the prototype back. Meanwhile, Gizmodo said that it would resort to a live blog to cover the event in case of the ban. This comes a few days after San Mateo County authorities announced that a 'special master' had been appointed to assist in the search of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's belongings: goods seized as part of a police investigation into the disappearance (and Gizmodo acquisition) of one of Apple's prototype iPhones. It's the very device that's rumored to be announced at the Monday keynote."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 6 Jun 2010 | 2:01 pm Top 10 Gamertell posts for the week of May 30, 2010FROM GAMERTELL - Haven’t caught all of the Gamertell news this week? Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Jun 2010 | 2:00 pm Mom finds kidnapped kids thanks to FacebookSection: Web, Web 2.0 / Social Networking
Read [CNet] Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Jun 2010 | 1:00 pm California Judge Routes Campaign Robocalls Through ColoradoThomas Hawk writes "Victoria Kolakowski, a current sitting law judge at the California PUC, is running for Alameda Superior Court judge in California. As part of her campaign she is robodialing people in California with a pre-recorded message. The only problem is that in Califorina robodials are actually illegal unless first introduced by a non-recorded natural person who gains consent to play the call. Ironically, the agency set up to protect our privacy and enforce this law, the California PUC, is the very agency where Kolakowski works today. Kolakowski originally apologized for the calls but then later deleted messages on her Facebook account from people objecting to her use of these calls. Now Kolakowski is trying to argue that because 'technically' she is routing her calls through Colorado from outside the state that her robodials are actually legal."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 6 Jun 2010 | 12:58 pm Australia launches privacy investigation of Google (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 6 Jun 2010 | 12:19 pm Attack Of The Tweets: MTV’s Movie Awards Twitter Visualization GraphI was hit with a reminder this Sunday morning that I am indeed no longer a 15-year-old teenager. But if you are a Bieber-Swift-Pattinson-Stewart-OMGVampires-loving tween/teen, then boy does MTV have a Twitter visualization map for you. In honor of this evening’s MTV Movie Awards, the digital team at MTV have rolled out a highly interactive (almost too interactive) Twitter live-graph that will tell you via text and dynamic visuals what are the top trending topics/people related to the Awards show, how many tweets per minute each topic is averaging, and the content of those tweets. Sound overwhelming? It is, but it’s also pretty engaging— even if you’re an over-the-hill teen.
This is how it works. Once you open the site, there is an opaque overlay with simple instructions: the visual graph contains pictures of the most popular topics/people that moment (calculated in 60 second increments), as a topic becomes more popular the image will grow, with the most popular topic holding court in the center of the graph, if you click on an image you can access all the related tweets. Not surprisingly, when I logged on this morning, it looked like a partial promo for the Twilight series, with Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s enlarged faces eerily presiding over the frenetic scene. The visual graph is constantly moving because each image is comprised of shifting squares (that move according to popularity of the topic). There are also two other notable features: a timeline on the bottom and a “stripped” screen that will show you the top twelve topics in pseudo-bar-graph form (as users tweet, their names zooms across the screen). Once again, it’s a study in visual overload— but probably perfectly appropriate when you consider the chaos that is Twitter and MTV’s target demographic. This is not the first time MTV has experimented with a Twitter visualization graph. MTV launched version 1.0 last September for the 2009 Video Music Awards. The main difference in this new version is that users can now connect with their Twitter account on the platform and submit tweets directly. Far from an experimental side project, the company plans on using the graph format for all of its award shows moving forward. Kurk Patat, an MTV spokesman, says it’s all about creating the most interactive forum for live discussion. “The conversation is already taking place,” Patat says. “We want to be where that conversation is taking place.” Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 6 Jun 2010 | 12:16 pm Safari 5.0 rumored for a WWDC announcementSection: Computers, Software / Applications, Web, Web Browsers  A recent post over on the French Apple news site Macgeneration is showing off the purported change log for Safari 5.0, which is currently being rumored for a WWDC announcement. The change log can be read below, but at this point it seems likely to believe.
Maybe, Safari 5.0 will convince me to give Safari another look. I have been a long term Mac user but never found Safari appealing and have always stuck with Internet Explorer. Just kidding, I have done the typical geek thing and used Firefox and most recently Chrome. Of course, as always you can check out our sister site Appletell for the latest and greatest in Apple related news. Via [TUAW] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Jun 2010 | 12:00 pm University Networks Block Student ProjectAn anonymous reader writes "A computer science student at University College London put together FitFinder as a bit of a joke — it's been described as a cross between Twitter and personal ads, and it rapidly became very popular. The university took exception to this and started by blocking the site from being accessed on campus. Not content with this, a few weeks later it fined the student £300 and had him take the site down completely. Currently, the site is still offline, although there is a petition with several thousand signatures requesting its return. In the meantime, a site called PhitFinder has appeared, claiming to have no link to the original."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 6 Jun 2010 | 12:00 pm John Alexander: Paranormal Colonel Meet US Army Colonel John Alexander, a former Green Beret in Vietnam, world-renowned expert in non-lethal weapons technology, and explorer of fringe science and paranormal possibilities. In 1980, Alexander contributed an article, titled "The New Mental Battlefield," to the Army's Military Review, arguing that remote viewing and other psychic phenomena could be militarized. During his military career and after, Alexander has had his hand in research on remote viewing, UFOs, near-death experiences, zero-point energy, and a variety of other curious matters. To some conspiracy theorists and self-proclaimed victims of mind control, he is Darth Vader. I first interviewed Alexander in 1994 for my Wired column "Reality Check" and found him delightful. (The online archive is here, but a chunk of the article is missing.) At the time, Alexander was head of the nonlethal weaponry program at Los Alamos National Laboratory. I've followed Alexander since, and was delighted to read about him in Jon Ronson's fun book The Men Who Stare At Goats. (For the record though, Alexander told me that the book is riddled with factual errors. For example, he says that it wasn't staring that killed the goat but rather a karate chop administered earlier that day.) Science writer Jim Schnabel, author of the excellent book "Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies," recently interviewed Alexander for Fortean Times. From FT: JS: I remember that you helped organise some “PK parties” in the DC area, with Boeing engineer Jack Houck, who had popularised these events on the West Coast. Apparently some high-ranking government officials attended those PK parties in the early 1980s, including John McMahon from the CIA, who somehow bent a spoon."Paranormal Soldier: John Alexander" Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jun 2010 | 11:33 am D8 Video: NPR's Vivian Schiller Intro Video [D8 Conference]Prior to her D8 conference interview with Kara Swisher, NPR CEO Vivian Schiller provided a humorous glimpse at our favorite NPR personalities trying out new digital technologies. [ See post to watch video ] Source: All Things Digital | 6 Jun 2010 | 11:22 am Safari 5 to debut at WWDC
With WWDC just around the corner, it was only a matter of time before a few more details leaked out about the event. Steve Jobs recently mentioned at All Things D that come Monday we wouldn’t be left disappointed, even after the new iPhone had been leaked into the wild. Something exciting is still up Steve’s sleeve but is it Safari 5? Newly updated support docs from Apple show that the new Safari – version 5, due to be showcased this week, will be 25 percent faster crunching JavaScript than Safari 4 and will offer expanded HTML 5 support. Not only that, expect Bing to be offered as a search option alongside Google and Yahoo. Finally, Safari 5 will also include a new “Safari Reader” which will offer a clutter-free way to view articles sans ads. So, Mr. Jobs, was this the news that wouldn’t disappoint?
Source: CrunchGear | 6 Jun 2010 | 11:16 am Hot gaming news for the week of 5-30-2010Section:  No need to scour the interwebs for hot gaming news, Gamertell‘s already done that for you! Here’s a look at this week’s top stories…
Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Jun 2010 | 11:00 am Bar codes get around town and get more useful (AP)AP - It used to be that the only time you'd notice a bar code was at a store, maybe when a cashier scanned your groceries. But lately bar codes are showing up in more places around town — and getting more sophisticated.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 6 Jun 2010 | 10:55 am Art show: Gignac's "Nudes of Chatroulette" and Held's "Facebook Portraits"
Justin Gignac created a series of charcoal drawings titled "Nudes of Chatroulette." I'm sure you get the idea. Gignac will be showing the work at The Art of Social Media exhibition on Tuesday, June 8, as part of Internet Week New York. Also hanging will be Matt Held's Facebook Portraits. (Above left, Held's "Laura"; right, Gignac's "Rear Without Hair") "The Art of Social Media" Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jun 2010 | 10:24 am Keyboards are more bacteria infested than those in emegency departmentsSection: Computers, Hardware, Peripherals, Mice / Keyboards  A new study shows that computer keyboards in triage and registration areas can be more bacteria infected than keyboards in emergency departments. Keep in mind that this study was conducted at Henry Ford Hospital located in Detroit which is by no means one of the cleaner cities out there. Lead author Angela Pugliese said that “...only areas without true patient contact, and likely less frequent hand washing, might benefit from using washable silicone rubber or antibacterial keyboards instead of a standard keyboard.” Due to the potential threat of these bacteria to patients, Henry Ford’s Information Technology and Infection Control departments have suggested replacing the normal keyboards with washable, silicone rubber models.Here’s what the tests had to show:
So the next time you’re thinking about eating food while typing up that report, make sure not to lick your fingers as you might find yourself bed ridden for a week. Via [BioScholar] Full Story » | Written by Tarun Kunwar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Jun 2010 | 10:00 am HOWTO make a t-shirt printerThe Hack-a-Day folks have written up a HOWTO for making your own t-shirt printer (that is, a printer that runs directly onto the tee, instead of onto a heat-transfer). The real item will cost you $5-10K, but you can hack your own out of pressboard, miscellaneous hardware, and an old inkjet printer. How-to: DIYDTG (Thanks, Jakob!) Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jun 2010 | 9:53 am How the military improved its language education
We may ask why the US sends troops abroad, but the fact is that we do send large numbers into a region about which they have little knowledge and almost no cultural connection. We then ask them to interact safely and efficiently with military and civilian natives. These interactions require varying levels of linguistic, cultural, and interpersonal background. As a foreign language educator, I am fascinated by the evolution of the training materials given to US soldiers and how cultural visual knowledge plays and increasingly important role. Over the past seven years, the military has noticeably changed how it trains soldiers for these vital kinds of cross-cultural interactions. These "changes in visuality" allow an exemplary look at how visual & cultural literacy has seriously impacted language and cultural training.
The first way instructors train is to rely on a simple visual clue for meaning. This is the equivalent of simple translations. The approach image = word = meaning is effective when it comes to teaching soldiers basic life saving skills in the field while trying to increase their visual perception performance. In the case of IED recognition, nuance is not necessary and soldiers react quickly, based on what they see, to avoid this threat. Images of various IED types are presented for soldiers to study with the basic word association of IED = Death. The training materials also feature severed limbs to show the result of these attacks. In highlighting cases like these we need to keep in mind the importance of the elementary nature of this survival training. Important vocabulary items were usually handed out on so called "smart cards" or laminated sheets for people to study with a limited amount of material on them. An almost complete reliance on visuals proved to be somewhat effective in the arena of threat recognition. When soldiers face the danger of improvised explosive devices, they need to visually recognize the object immediately. Additionally, they need to quickly identify their target in conditions that may not be optimal. Soldiers are increasingly using technology-mediated visual equipment, for example night vision, and must quickly make decisions based on visual clues alone. Beyond the mere threat recognition strategies associated with visual training of soldiers, a problem with 'enhanced' visual perception devices is the avoidance of fratricide as indicated in this 2008 study. In the Iraqi and Afghani combat zones, however, the initial war was a precursor to the real war, that of the insurgency. The initial fighting gave way to an occupation involving an insurgency coupled with a civilian population that may or may not be hostile. Soldiers were not only expected to make decisions regarding friend or foe, they were expected to engage locals in close quarters with both weapons and words. The military also relied heavily on these visual training modules to equip their soldiers with linguistic and cultural knowledge. The classic military phrase book method puts the locals in a clear adversarial position. All the phrases introduced center around providing security for the soldiers and keeping them alive. From that starting point, basic cultural knowledge is introduced including local customs, expressions, and items that one might encounter in the field. Here we see the progressions of two separate training cards for soldiers at two different stages. The second card moves towards authentic photos to instruct the soldiers in basic culture in Iraq, as the stick figure drawings were not providing enough useful information.
Cultural training materials developed from mere tools of threat recognition to models of threat prevention. The method of threat prevention is based on understanding the authentic culture of the area in order to engage the locals in a meaningful way. At Fort Irwin, California, at the National Training Center, the military has constructed Iraqi villages in the desert so soldiers can practice their interactions with locals and insurgents and get the authentic feel for life in Iraq as an occupying force. The documentary film Full Battle Rattle (2008) chronicles soldiers' experiences in this virtual arena where they are expected to engage people through culture and language, not merely through the force of their weapons.
This shift in approach has proven to be effective. Cultural training programs are ongoing and exist for several areas. Cross-cultural competence is "something that we want to bring to the department as a critical piece of training that we think needs to be incorporated into our overall training establishment," said Gail H. McGinn, the deputy undersecretary of defense for plans, during an interview with Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service reporters. This cultural training program has now gone electronic through the program "Tactical Language Series," a type of virtual reality gaming environment designed to teach people visual literacy and cultural knowledge for the geographical and linguistic areas in which they will serve. The company that developed the Tactical Language series, Alelo, Inc, states on their web site:
The Tactical Language Series currently has virtual worlds for military personal to learn Iraqi Arabic, Pashto, Dari, and French for North Africa. Here you see examples from the "Tactical Iraqi" October 2009 release. These programs use a hybrid approach to training that employs authentic visuals and mission-based skills. Most importantly, though, cultural competence is taught through virtual engagement with locals. The program teaches soldiers to recognize military insignias of foreign militaries through virtual reality games designed to enhance their visual perception. Most of the training here takes places at a cognitive visual level, so that recall time is enhanced. Soldiers take commands in the local dialect and navigate virtual authentic cities and villages. They learn local customs, gestures, and cultural practices that are meant to help them interact with locals in order to avoid cultural misunderstandings.
This training software resembles the typical first person shooter game many soldiers are familiar with. Unlike a first person shooter game, though, this series does not have the option to pull a gun. In place of weapons one finds culturally-appropriate gestures and an accurate voice recognition system, which allows the learner to interact with virtual Iraqis in Arabic. The development, implementation, and continued use of this intercultural training approach poses several questions. What does this teach us about how we learn languages and interact with other cultures? In a short period of time (from an educational-curricular perspective) the military has gone from the old "Hands-up!" phrase book to a complete realization that culture is intrinsically tied to language and that phrases are not enough to engage people. In order to communicate, you must know something about a person. While it may not be a magic bullet for intercultural training, the fundamental design aspects of this educational training tool focus on cultural proficiency and use of the language in an authentic, respectful context. From the Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) perspective, this training program highlights the fact that images, specifically culturally authentic images are required in this training. When you train absolute beginners, authentic images tie the language to a culturally specific context for use. For too long we have used generic stock photos, clip art, and line drawings for visual clues in multi-media learning environments. Since the greatest source of these images in the US, most of the world's computer based language programs reflect a world view (literally) that shows homes as always having a two car garage, white picket fences, grocery store baggers, and upper middle class citizens. You could say that clip art and stock photos are not representative of any culture. Nevertheless, they remain popular in popular language learning software packages. In the educational world, we talk of assessment to prove educational effectiveness. In the world of the U.S. Military, assessment of cultural training can be a life and death matter. Therefore it is an interesting example from which we can learn a great deal. Alelo, Inc is developing software for the US Military that is, educationally speaking, pretty advanced and quite effective for elementary learners with little experience in language acquisition. The necessity of that training aside, it is fascinating to see a US military training program that sets out as its premise the need for threat avoidance through cultural understanding and linguistic proficiency. If one looks at the suggested pre-deployment reading list, one will find a great deal about the culture of the area, a shift from the previous approach of phrases and limited cultural information. Since NATO forces will adopt some of these technologies in the near future, specifically the UK and German forces, it is also fascinating to see the US take the lead on language learning. What is the word for someone who speaks three languages? "Trilingual"
Perhaps the old joke may not be true anymore. While the lessons of war are often lost on current and future generations of citizens, soldiers, and leaders, I'm hopeful that this method of using authentic media in an effective & prudent manner will be one to reach language educators at all levels of instruction. The media is out there, so let's use it in a better way. Google Does The Hard Sell On Security For Its Enterprise Apps It's no secret that Google has ambitions of becoming an Enterprise productivity suite powerhouse; perhaps one day taking over the top spot from Microsoft. As Google's President, Global Sales Operations and Business Development Nikesh Arora told us at TechCrunch Disrupt a last week, Google hopes for Apps to be a billion dollar revenue stream in three to four years.
But one challenge has been convincing businesses that a move to the cloud promises security. And some early Apps users have even questioned the security of the suite, which includes e-mail, calendaring, document sharing and chat applications. To mitigate these concerns, Google has released a white paper to give enterprise customers greater transparency into Google's security practices, policies, and technology involving Google Apps. And of course, the white paper is also intended to also assure current and potential clients of its "strong and extensive security infrastructure." Google has even created a special portal about privacy and security for the educational institutions that use Apps. 
Source: TechCrunch | 6 Jun 2010 | 9:08 am Nature Publisher Aims To Save Planet by Democratizing ScienceThe next generation of scientists is woefully unprepared to tackle major problems facing humanity. The publisher of the prestigious Nature Journal hopes its socially-networked Scitable knowledge resource, aimed at increasing the scientific knowledge of students and lay-people alike, will help.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Jun 2010 | 8:35 am Climate Change Causing Major Global Vegetation ShiftsVegetation around the world is on the move, and climate change is the culprit, according to a new analysis of global vegetation shifts led by a University of California, Berkeley, ecologist in collaboration with researchers from the U.S.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Jun 2010 | 6:23 am Researchers On The Hunt For Antarctic MicrobesScientists from Louisiana State University look for signs of microbial life in Antarctica's glaciersAntarctica is just about as far away from Louisiana State University's (LSU) hot and humid home state as you can get. But despite the extreme temperatures and frozen landscape, that's just where doctoral student and Louisiana native Shawn Doyle, along with his adviser, Brent Christner, spends a great deal of time doing fieldwork."Shawn's project focuses on providing evidence that metabolically active microbes exist in ice," said Christner, assistant professor of biology at LSU. "So traveling to Antarctica is really just part of the job description."Doyle started working in Christner's lab as an undergraduate student at the university. It was through this research experience that he was able to travel to Antarctica for the first time."I never thought I'd end up traveling to Antarctica in my lifetime," Doyle said. "After I took a job in Dr. Christner's research lab during my senior year, I soon found myself standing on the coldest, windiest and highest continent on the plant. I got to visit the frozen continent for the first time back in 2007, and I just returned recently from my second trip this last December [2009]."The microbes Doyle and Christner study are significant because scientists previously believed that no life could inhabit the world's glaciers and ice sheets. Researchers assumed that any microorganisms in these permanently frozen environments would be dead or metabolically dormant, and thus have no significant impact on their environment."Microbes live beneath the ice sheets of Antarctica, for example, in sub-glacial lakes with no access to sunlight," Christner said. "If we are successful in showing that these microscopic creatures have the potential to metabolize and persist within glaciers, this would support notions of microbial life existing on other icy planets or moons in the solar system."Of course, just getting to Antarctica is an adventure in itself. After an overnight flight from Los Angeles, the researchers stop in Christchurch, New Zealand, to acquire their Extreme Cold Weather, or ECW, gear from the clothing distribution center run by the U.S. Antarctic Program, which is managed by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Weather permitting, the following morning, the team boards an Air Force C-17 for a five-hour flight due south to the ice runway at NSF's McMurdo Station.All further transport from McMurdo to Christner and Doyle's field camp in Taylor Valley is by helicopter. These services are provided by Petroleum Helicopters Inc., or PHI, which is, coincidentally, also located in Louisiana.Once the researchers have arrived and settled in, it's time to get to work. In order to access the glacial ice they wish to sample, Christner, Doyle and their colleagues use chainsaws, demolition hammers and ice picks to literally carve ice caves into the sides of glaciers."All participants are trained to use the equipment safely, so it's not as dangerous as it sounds, plus it's the best way to collect very large samples for analysis," Christner said. "I'll admit, chainsaws aren't exactly typical tools used in microbiological fieldwork."While the research is compelling and the fieldwork exciting, living conditions at base camp aren't quite up to hotel standards."We each have our own one-person mountaineering tent to sleep in," Doyle said. "We're supplied with heavy, cold-weather sleeping bags, as well as a pile liner and camping mattress to sleep on. It's not luxurious or anything, but it does keep you warm."But how do the scientists stay comfortable when they're working?"It's all about being properly equipped," Christner said. "NSF provides us with excellent extreme-weather gear and equipment. Conducting research in this environment would be extremely difficult without this high level of support.""The worst part is the heavy, steel-toed Baffin boots we have to wear to the tunnel-site," Doyle said. "I'd imagine, since I grew up in Louisiana, it's a little more difficult for me; but some of the other guys from Montana who are used to the cold weather are probably a little more comfortable with all the heavy equipment we have to wear."Aside from the cold, one of the most challenging issues Doyle and Christner face while acclimating to life on the continent is the constant presence of sunlight."In the field, we start our days around 8 a.m., just like any workplace. This can take a little getting used to at first, because remember, during the austral summer in Antarctica, the sun never sets! It's daytime, all the time," Doyle said.A surprising revelation about life in the Antarctic field camps is that, well, the food isn't half bad."This is the most popular question I get asked about Antarctica field-camp life," Doyle said. "Surprisingly, we eat very well in the field. We have lots of frozen meats, vegetables and canned goods from which we can cook just about whatever we want. Some members of the team are actually very good cooks. We've cooked meals ranging from vegetable stir fry to pork roasts with mashed potatoes. Nevertheless, there are some things we can't get in the field, like fresh dairy products and produce."No matter what the conditions, doing research in Antarctica is the opportunity of a lifetime for these two biologists."This is the fantastic part about science," Doyle said. "It's not all lab coats and test tubes. You have to go out in the field and explore, find samples to test your hypotheses and use the most amazing technology available to get to the bottom of these biological mysteries. It's really an exciting field of study."In fact, Doyle is so taken with this research that he developed an outreach program to expose high school students at his alma mater, Sulphur High School in Sulphur, La., to the opportunities a career in biological sciences can bring. He also created a blog, so that the students could follow his fieldwork in Antarctica."Reaching out to my old high school has been a very fulfilling experience," Doyle said. "I just think it's so important for kids to know that scientific careers bring great options, and the earlier they understand this, the better for their futures.""It is incredibly rewarding to watch how students develop and are inspired by conducting research and field work," Christner said. "The pathway to becoming a scientist seems like a long road, but there is a huge payoff in the end. You get to travel to places most people only dream of and delve into questions that have never been asked. It involves long hours and dedication, but it sure beats working for a living!"By Ashley Berthelot, Louisiana State University---Image 1: Scientists from Louisiana State University traveled to Antarctica to look for hardy microbes living in ice sheets. Here, LSU undergraduate student Amanda Achberger (left) and LSU assistant professor Brent Christner begin excavation of the sampling tunnel into Taylor Glacier. Credit: Shawn Doyle, Louisiana State UniversityImage 2: The LSU Flag on the shore of Lake Bonney, Antarctica. Credit: Shawn Doyle, Louisiana State UniversityImage 3: LSU graduate student Shawn Doyle (left) and MSU undergraduate student Tim Brox use chainsaws to excavate the sampling chamber inside Taylor Glacier. Credit: Shawn Doyle, Louisiana State UniversitySource: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Jun 2010 | 6:18 am Status Symbols Of House SparrowsHigh testosterone in house sparrows darkens their bill.The size of the black breast bib - the badge - and bill color of male House Sparrows change over the course of the year. Such ornaments usually signal quality and dominance of a male to his conspecifics and are correlated with his testosterone levels. These levels are generally higher before and during breeding season than for example during moult in autumn. A team of scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen, Germany, recently demonstrated in a detailed study that only bill color was correlated with the amount of testosterone in the blood. In contrast, the size of the badge was independent of hormone levels. (Published online in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, May 29th 2010)Sparrows live in social groups. All year round males engage in aggressive interactions to establish dominance ranks. External traits such as badge and bill color - so called ornaments - serve as signals for conspecifics. For example, the bigger the comb of a rooster the more dominant he is. The elaboration of many such sexually selected ornaments from all kinds of animals depends on the hormone testosterone, which also causes dominant and aggressive behavior. Nevertheless, these ornaments have inescapable costs because high blood testosterone levels suppress the immune system and stress resistance, and could thus eventually be costly for the animal. Therefore, ornaments are also called honest signals; only high quality animals can afford these costs.Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen, Germany, were not only interested in the relationship between the elaboration of ornaments of male House Sparrows and blood testosterone levels but also if and how these relationships change over the course of a year. "The comparison of different seasons is a very important approach: the size of the badge is determined during moult in autumn, but maybe only important during the breeding season when the white feather edges are worn off and the black bib is clearly visible", says Silke Laucht who performed the study. This is why the researchers took small blood samples and photographs of the breast and the bill of 150 male sparrows during moult in early autumn, in January, March at the beginning of the breeding season and in June at peak breeding season.Testosterone influences bill colorAs the scientists had expected, testosterone levels fluctuated in the course of the year and were the highest at the beginning and during the breeding season. They were at the lowest during moulting when the animals were the most vulnerable. Also the correlation between bill color and testosterone levels was obvious: the more testosterone in the blood at a certain time of year, the darker the bill.Concerning the badge, the researchers made a startling discovery: at no time during the year was there a correlation between the size of the badge and blood testosterone levels. Is the badge therefore not a dominance signal? "Other studies have found correlations between badge size and age and body size of the animals", said Laucht. Thus, the badge could be a signal for dominance not exclusively related to testosterone.The detailed study revealed another surprise: males with the highest testosterone levels during the breeding season did not have inevitably the highest levels during moult. How can ornaments that are developed during moult honestly signal their information many months later during the breeding season? For Silke Laucht and her co-authors this is a contradiction that they want to solve next.Original work: Silke Laucht, Bart Kempenaers and James Dale. Bill color, not badge size, indicates testosterone-related information in House Sparrows. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. Published online May 29th 2010 (10.1007/s00265-010-0961-9)---Image 1: Dark and light bill of male House Sparrows during breeding and moulting time. Image: Silke LauchtImage 2: After moulting, the black bib is partially hidden by white feather tips (right) and only becomes visible during breeding season. Image: Silke LauchtSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Jun 2010 | 6:08 am More Birds Being Affected By SpillImage Caption: A pelican swims in a make-shift pool after being cleaned of oil at the Clean Gulf Associates Mobile Wildlife Rehabilitation Station on Fort Jackson in Plaquemine, La., May 13. The station stood up to provide support for animals that may have been affected by the oil spill caused by the April 20 explosion on the Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit Deepwater Horizon. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class(SW) Jeffery Tilghman Williams)Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Jun 2010 | 5:20 am
|
I interviewed most of the presidential candidates about their positions on technology issues in the 2008 election. After those interviews I 
With the highly publicized leak of its next-generation iPhone prototype earlier this year, one might think that today’s WWDC keynote might be a bit short on big reveals. Yet 
Windows Mobile users beware! A security firm has announced it has found several malware infested apps on nearly a dozen popular download sites. Lookout says the apps, 3D Anti-Terrorist game, PDA Poker Art, and Codec pack for Windows Mobile 1.0, were repackaged with malicious code and distributed on 9 download sites. The code opens an auto-dialer that quietly dials through a list of premium numbers, racking up huge charges that the phone’s owner won’t know about until their bill arrives. These scams are commonplace overseas and are now starting to hit our shores.
The RIAA filed documents in a New York court Friday, demanding that it issue a permanent injunction against LimeWire, the largest P2P file sharing network in the country. The group, which represents the 4 top record labels, has been widely despised for years thanks to it’s insistence on doing everything it can to fight the popularity of online music. They nearly destroyed Internet radio by demanding huge royalty fees, and for a time filed lawsuits against users found to have downloaded songs on their hard drives, asking for tens of thousands per song. 
A California mom was reunited with her children after 15 years thanks to Facebook. The woman, who lives in San Bernardino, California, lost her son and daughter, then toddlers, after her estranged husband kidnapped them and disappeared. Thanks to Facebook, she was able to make contact with her now teenage daughter. Sadly, the reunion was not joyful and the woman was told to “leave them alone” before the daughter’s profile was deleted. The mother didn’t give up though and contacted police, who were able to track the children and their father down. Dad was promptly arrested and charged with kidnapping and violating custody orders. The kids were returned to their mother’s custody, but understandably, the reunion has not been a happy one. Social workers say since the children were kidnapped at such a young age the mother/child bond isn’t there and may never be.
