Genral Web Comments
Thursday, October 28, 2004
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'Hobbit' joins human family tree
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'Hobbit' joins human family tree: "Scientists have discovered a new and tiny species of human that lived in Indonesia at the same time our own ancestors were colonising the world.
The new species - dubbed 'the Hobbit' due to its small size - lived on Flores island until at least 12,000 years ago."
ABC News: Scientists Find Ancient Hobbit-Sized People
ABC News: Scientists Find Ancient Hobbit-Sized People
BBC NEWS | Technology | Bush website blocked outside US
BBC NEWS | Technology | Bush website blocked outside US: "Bush website blocked outside US
Screengrab of georgewbush.com website, BBC
Access to the site is blocked
Surfers outside the US have been unable to visit the official re-election site of President George W Bush.
The blocking of browsers sited outside the US began in the early hours of Monday morning.
Since then people outside the US trying to browse the site get a message saying they are not authorised to view it."
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Understanding 64-bit PowerPC architecture
Understanding 64-bit PowerPC architecture: " Each of the leading microprocessor manufacturers has announced the availability of one or more 64-bit desktop processors, but differences exist in architectural design, fabrication, support, and intended use of each processor. This article looks at the critical issues in a few of IBM's 64-bit POWER designs, covering 32-bit compatibility, power management, processor bus design, and the manufacturing process.
When people talk about 64-bit computing, it's not always clear what they mean. Most often, they mean some combination of register width, bus width, or address space. For the purposes of this article, it means a processor with 64-bit registers and 64-bit addressing."
Sunday, October 24, 2004
mekentosj.com | Modern Cubism
mekentosj.com | Modern Cubism: "On June 29th we won the Apple Design Award in the category 'Best Student Mac OS X Project' for our program 4Peaks. With the prize came a beautiful metal cube as trophy that glows when you touch it. While showing the cube to everyone, most people asked if we knew what was inside and how it worked. How did the cube notice that it was touched? Opening it up would be a simple solution of course, but we were afraid to break it. Still, curious as scientists can be, we thought of something more elegant to answer the burning questions. We contacted the people of the radiotherapy department in the hospital to see if they perhaps could take an X-ray of the cube and reveal its inner being, just like people had previously done with a Titanium PowerBook and iPod. Unfortunately they told us that they did not have an X-ray machine, we should contact the radio-diagnostic department for that. Instead however, they did have something else: a cone beam CT scan that would even allow 3D reconstruction!"
Maarten Steurbaut - Rubik's magic Cube
Maarten Steurbaut - Rubik's magic Cube: "When I had my first fast DSL internet-connection installed (end 2001), I could finally start searching the web. But what should I search for? Because I'm an AFOL (adult fan of LEGO), I simply entered the keyword LEGO in my search engine. The first webpage I encountered was of course the official LEGO website. I wouldn't find anything interesting there, in fact I wanted to find other AFOL's showing their creations on a webpage. There were lots of them, some of them even better than others. The best webpages I encountered in this early stage of web-searching were LEGO trucks and heavy equipment built by Dennis Bosman (some of his models would fit in the 'Model Team' series), Original Technic Models by Jennifer Clark (the best of the best, considering my own interest in LEGO Technic), and Eric Harshbarger's LEGO pages (some of his models would really fit in one of the LEGOLAND parcs). In a later stage (after I bought my own Robotics Invention System) I also discovered JP Brown's Cubesolver.
When I saw JP Brown's Cubesolver I wondered why he built something this difficult. Why didn't he - or Eric Harshbarger - build Rubik's Cube first? That would have been much easier. At least I thought it would have been much easier before I tried to build it myself. In fact, their webpages inspired me to create something special out of LEGO elements: Rubik's famous magic Cube. I can tell you: it sure was a challenge."
Saturday, October 23, 2004
Yahoo! News - Lenny Kravitz sued over toilet backup
Yahoo! News - Lenny Kravitz sued over toilet backup: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - Four-time Grammy Award winner Lenny Kravitz is being sued for more than $300,000 (164,000 pounds) by an insurance company that claims the rocker let his toilet overflow into a neighbour's apartment, causing 'catastrophic water damage.'"
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Yahoo! News - Analysis: 8 States May Decide Election
Yahoo! News - Analysis: 8 States May Decide Election: "WASHINGTON - Eight states worth just 99 electoral votes are up for grabs in the closely fought presidential race, with the White House going to whoever conquers this shrinking battlefield."
Yahoo! News - Stem Cell Debate Focuses on Morality and Money
Yahoo! News - Stem Cell Debate Focuses on Morality and MoneyThe ball contracts tightly. It releases. Then it contracts and releases again, all in the span of several seconds.
The pulsating mass is filled with bone fide heart cells, created from cells of an in a dish of orange-pink Kool-Aid-colored broth in an incubator at a Stanford University laboratory.They came from stem cells and, if chance had treated them differently, they could have become skin cells, lung cells, pieces of brain or spleen — any body tissue at all.
Yahoo! News - Mars Rovers Growing Old on the Job
Yahoo! News - Mars Rovers Growing Old on the Job: "Nights are long. The sun is a shrunken orb, appearing half its size from Earth. With temperatures plunging to a heart-stopping minus 175 degrees, there is little relief from the alien chill."
Yahoo! News - Election to Be Scrutinized for Irregularities
Yahoo! News - Election to Be Scrutinized for Irregularities: "Mounting concerns about voter registration foul-ups, election machine defects and other problems that might undermine the presidential election have spurred dozens of organizations to plan extraordinary efforts to scrutinize the polls on Nov. 2."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "BEIJING (Reuters) - The retrievable chamber of China's 20th recoverable satellite returned to Earth with a bang, crashing through the roof of a house, the Beijing News says.
'The capsule returned back to Earth safely on Friday, but unfortunately it hit a four-storey civilian house,' the newspaper said, showing a photograph of a house in Penglai in southwestern Sichuan province that looked as if it had been all but destroyed, with wooden rafters, bricks and tiles scattered around."
Yahoo! News - India, U.S. Discuss Anti-Hacker Alerts
Yahoo! News - India, U.S. Discuss Anti-Hacker Alerts: "NEW DELHI - India and the United States agreed Wednesday to develop new ways of securing data and to expand cooperation to protect networks from destructive viruses and computer hackers.
The two countries reached the agreement at the end of a two-day conference Wednesday of the main information technology industry organizations of India and the United States."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "CHICAGO (Reuters) - The dreaded Northern Snakehead, a voracious predator dubbed the 'Frankenfish' that can breathe out of water and wriggle across land, has invaded the Great Lakes, authorities said on Friday.
Scientists with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources identified the 18-inch-long (46-cm-long), sharp-toothed fish netted over the weekend in a harbor near Chicago's downtown by a fisherman, who put it in his freezer and posted a photograph of the creature on the Internet."
Yahoo! News - U.S. Bioterror Plan Frustrates Industry
Yahoo! News - U.S. Bioterror Plan Frustrates Industry: "SAN DIEGO - When President Bush (news - web sites) signed Project BioShield into law in July, he said he was immediately making $5.6 billion available to counter such anticipated threats as smallpox genetically engineered to render current vaccines useless."
Yahoo! News - Automakers Display Eco-Friendly Cars
Yahoo! News - Automakers Display Eco-Friendly Cars: "ANTING, China - The Habo No. 1 looks like any one of the legions of Volkswagen sedans in China. But a peek under the hood reveals an array of chrome canisters in place of the usual engine."
Yahoo! News - Unlikely Visionary Behind Race to Space
Yahoo! News - Unlikely Visionary Behind Race to SpaceSpaceShipOne visionary Peter Diamandis wasn't thinking about history as he stood in the Mojave desert and watched a small, shuttlecock-shaped craft glide back to Earth having nudged the edge of space.
He just thought it looked beautiful.
It was only the following day, after the thousands of cheering spectators had disappeared, after the jubilant speeches had dried up along with the champagne, as Diamandis was driving his father back to Los Angeles, that euphoria — and relief — swept over him.
Yahoo! News - Google's Desktop Search is valuable, yet creepy
Yahoo! News - Google's Desktop Search is valuable, yet creepy: "Google's new Desktop Search software is a muscle car among search engines, racing through personal data stored inside your computer to instantly find things you can't easily locate."
Yahoo! News - Broadband Duopoly Calms Cable, Telecom Battles
Yahoo! News - Broadband Duopoly Calms Cable, Telecom Battles: "LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - The long-promised battle between U.S. cable and telephone companies has so far been more of an uneasy peace. Thanks to their duopoly over broadband Internet access, it may stay that way.
Although the two industries face several competitors for voice and video customers, they now control about 97 percent of the 30 million U.S. broadband Internet lines to homes. Cable companies hold roughly 60 percent, but the dominant local telephone companies have been gaining more users this year."
The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Q&A: Linus Torvalds, inventor of Linux
The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Q&A: Linus Torvalds, inventor of Linux: "Linus Torvalds [pronounced LEE-nus] started a revolution of sorts in the computer industry when he created the Linux operating system and decided to share it with fellow programmers on the Internet.
He discussed via e-mail his move to Portland, the state of Linux and Microsoft."
Saturday, October 16, 2004
Yahoo! News - Pregnant Woman Caught After Jail Escape
Yahoo! News - Pregnant Woman Caught After Jail Escape: "EAST GREENWICH, N.J. - An expectant mother who climbed over a fence topped with razor wire to escape from the Gloucester County Women's Correctional Facility was captured Friday, authorities said."
Yahoo! News - UNC Starts Pilot File-Sharing Program
Yahoo! News - UNC Starts Pilot File-Sharing Program: "GREENSBORO, N.C. - Four schools in the University of North Carolina system will participate in a pilot program that allows students to download music, movies and other copyrighted material on the Internet for free."
Yahoo! News - Data Miner Free From U.S. Law
Yahoo! News - Data Miner Free From U.S. Law: "It began as one of the Bush administration's most ambitious homeland security efforts, a passenger screening program designed to use commercial records, terrorist watch lists and computer software to assess millions of travelers and target those who might pose a threat."
Yahoo! News - Border Net Has Become a Noose, U.S. Firms Say
Yahoo! News - Border Net Has Become a Noose, U.S. Firms Say: "A veteran of the U.S. oil industry, Paul Fairbanks is accustomed to the chaos and bureaucracy of countries such as Venezuela and Nigeria. But in the three years since the Sept. 11 attacks, he has faced obstacles from an unexpected source: the U.S. government."
Yahoo! News - Army Reserve Unit Reportedly Balked at Risky Mission in Iraq
Yahoo! News - Army Reserve Unit Reportedly Balked at Risky Mission in Iraq
Yahoo! News - EU Anti-Terror Plan Wants Data Retention
Yahoo! News - EU Anti-Terror Plan Wants Data Retention: "BRUSSELS, Belgium - European Union (news - web sites) governments are pushing through contentious new plans to retain data from telephone calls and e-mails for a minimum period of 12 months as part of new anti-terrorist and cybercrime proposals."
Yahoo! News - Phishers No Tech Slouches
Yahoo! News - Phishers No Tech Slouches: "Phishing attacks are on the rise because scammers are increasingly using the techniques, tools, and tactics of virus writers and spammers, a security expert said Friday."
Yahoo! News - Jumbo Flying Squid Found Off Alaska
Yahoo! News - Jumbo Flying Squid Found Off Alaska: "SITKA, Alaska - A large Humboldt squid caught offshore from Sitka is among numerous sightings of a species seen for the first time in waters of the Far North, and the first of the species recovered from British Columbia waters.
The 5-foot Dosidicus gigas, or jumbo flying squid, was shipped this week to California to be kept for research at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History."
Friday, October 15, 2004
Yahoo! News - Anti-Bush Thong Protest Charges Dropped
Yahoo! News - Anti-Bush Thong Protest Charges DroppedHARRISBURG, Pa. - Prosecutors dropped the charges Friday against six men arrested for protesting the Abu Ghraib prison-abuse scandal by stripping down to their thong underwear and forming a human pyramid during a visit by President Bush (news - web sites).
Lancaster County District Attorney Donald R. Totaro said prosecutors would not have been able to prove the defendants' actions served "no legitimate purpose" — a requirement under the state's disorderly conduct law.
"The mere presence of unwilling viewers does not determine whether unwelcome views are prohibited from public forums," he said.
He said that pressing charges "would only serve to advance the agenda of six protesters through a very public forum."
Yahoo! News - Italy's "escape king" jail breaks again
Yahoo! News - Italy's "escape king" jail breaks again: "ROME (Reuters) - Italy's 'escape king' Max Leitner has broken out of prison for a fourth time, staging his latest mystery jail-break overnight along with a Mafia arms trafficker.
Guards opened their cells on Friday morning to find only dummies, made of rags and cardboard, lying where the men should have been, Italian media reported."
Yahoo! News - Turtle Falls From High-Rise, but Survives
Yahoo! News - Turtle Falls From High-Rise, but Survives: "HONG KONG - Turtles are considered a symbol of good luck in Hong Kong, but try telling that to the taxi driver whose car was hit and damaged by a big one that plummeted from a high-rise building.
The pet turtle climbed through an apartment window on Thursday and fell more than 10 stories onto the taxi's roof, which was scratched and dented, police spokesman Anson Lo told The Associated Press on Friday."
Yahoo! News - Doctor Says Woman Has Sleep-Sex Disorder
Yahoo! News - Doctor Says Woman Has Sleep-Sex Disorder: "CANBERRA, Australia - A woman seduced and had sex with strangers while she slept and later had no recollection of her infidelities due to a sleeping disorder, her Sydney doctor said Thursday.
The middle-aged woman had no idea that she was sneaking from her house at night in search of sex with random strangers until her partner awoke, discovered she was missing from the bedroom, and found her having sex with another man, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital sleep medicine physician Peter Buchanan told The Sydney Morning Herald."
Car computer hobbyists hack XM Radio | CNET News.com
Car computer hobbyists hack XM Radio | CNET News.com: "A band of car and computer hobbyists has reconnected the XM Radio broadcasts to PCs, after the satellite radio company discontinued hardware that was being used to copy and archive digital music from the service."
Seagate's Savvio SCSI hard drive - The Tech Report - Page 1
Seagate's Savvio SCSI hard drive - The Tech Report - Page 1Seagate's Savvio 2.5" SCSI hard drive
Honey, Seagate shrunk SCSI
by Geoff Gasior — October 15, 2004
IN THE STORAGE WORLD, the notion that smaller could be better seems a little odd. After all, hard drive manufacturers have made a habit of pushing "bigger" hard drives that offer ever greater storage capacities. But hard drive size doesn't always refer to storage capacity. When it comes to physical size, smaller can definitely be advantageous for high-density rackmount raid servers, blade storage, and even small form factor and mobile workstations. Of course, size isn't everything for those applications. Performance is always important.
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "
LONDON (Reuters) - Dog-lovers are celebrating after a judge granted clemency to Dino, a German Shepherd sentenced to death for biting, in a case that had gone as far as the European Court of Human Rights.
Dino, a seven-year-old German Shepherd, got into legal hot water when he bit the hand of a woman who tried to intervene in his fight with her dog in January 2001.
He faced a destruction order, but his owners, who say the incident was out of character, spent tens of thousands of pounds on a protracted legal fight to save him."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Men more willing to sleep with their boss
Fri 15 October, 2004 17:53
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - More men are willing to have sex with their bosses to get a promotion or a salary increase than women, according to a Belgian human resources weekly.
According to the Vacature poll -- based on 12,078 Belgians interviewed -- 12 percent of all men would be willing to sleep with their boss to try to advance their career, compared to only 1 percent of women.
The survey did not reveal how many said they actually had sex with their bosses. It showed that 22 percent of males often fantasise about having sex with one of their colleagues, compared to 7 percent of women."
Yahoo! News - O'Reilly, Accuser Air Their Cases
Yahoo! News - O'Reilly, Accuser Air Their Cases: "Bill O'Reilly and the Fox News Channel producer accusing him of sexual harassment hit the airwaves yesterday in an increasingly ugly war of words as the anchor acknowledged that his career is on the line."
Yahoo! News - Mars Reconsidered: New Data Raises Fresh Questions
Yahoo! News - Mars Reconsidered: New Data Raises Fresh Questions: "JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming -- There is mounting evidence of the role of water in Mars' evolution. That fact appears to have been favorable to the development of life -- and the leftover calling card of past biology may be preserved in that world's geologic record.
Scientists from around the world have gathered here to present what is known, as well as agree on need-to-know essentials, at The Second Conference on Early Mars: Geologic, Hydrologic, and Climate Evolution and the Implications for Life."
Yahoo! News - Fertility Concerns Impact Breast Cancer Therapy
Yahoo! News - Fertility Concerns Impact Breast Cancer Therapy: "FRIDAY, Oct. 15 (HealthDayNews) -- Concerns about infertility resulting from breast cancer therapy influenced treatment decisions in nearly one-third of young patients, according to a study published in the Oct. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology."
Yahoo! News - FDA Orders Strong Antidepressant Warnings
Yahoo! News - FDA Orders Strong Antidepressant Warnings: "WASHINGTON - All antidepressants must carry a 'black box' warning, the government's strongest safety alert, linking the drugs to increased suicidal thoughts and behavior among children and teens taking them, the Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) said Friday."
Cisco Certification Books
Cisco Certification Books: "CCNA
Cisco CCNA Exam #640-507 Certification Guide, Wendell Odom, Cisco Press 2000
CCNA: Cisco Certified Network Associate Study Guide Third Edition, Todd Lammle, Sybex 2002
CCNP / CCDP
Cisco BGP Case Studies
Cisco CCNP Remote Access Exam Certification Guide, Brian Morgan & Craig Dennis, Cisco Press 2001
CCNP Switching Study Guide, Todd Lammle & Kevin Hales, Sybex 2000
CCNP Routing Study Guide, Todd Lammle & Sean Odom & Kevin Wallace, Sybex 2001
CCNP Support Study Guide, Todd Lammle & Kevin Hales, Sybex 2000
Cisco CID Exam Certification Guide, Michael Crane & Reggie Terrell, Cisco Press 2001
Cisco Internetwork Design Study Guide, Todd Lammle & Robert Padjen, Sybex
Cisco AVVID Network Infrastructure Enterprise Quality of Service Design, Cisco Press 2002
Cisco IP Telephony Solution Reference Network Design, 2003"
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "LONDON (Reuters) - Artist Damien Hirst -- known for putting rotting animals on display in museums -- is selling the contents of his iconic London restaurant 'Pharmacy', complete with its skeletons.
The restaurant, in London's Notting Hill neighbourhood, combined food with modern art, but its pharmacist's shop decor led some unwary shoppers to walk in clutching prescriptions. It shut last year.
Skeletons, apothecary jars and aspirin-shaped bar stools from the once ultra-hip eatery are among more than 140 lots due to go under the hammer at auction house Sotheby's."
Big green energy machines - The Industrial Physicist
Big green energy machines - The Industrial Physicist: "The Internet proves that to become larger, systems must become smaller. If every computer still filled the footprint of a 1960s mainframe, the Internet could never have succeeded. Miniaturizing elements from transistors to video display enabled the Internet to become pervasive and unintrusive. The elements also became less expensive, most famously in the case of chips. The shrinking of the parts in size and cost multiplied the whole in power, features, and reach.
During the 20th century, electric generators grew from 10 to 1 million kW, scaling up an astonishing 100,000 times. Yet, a power station today differs little in the space it occupies from that of 50 or 100 years ago. The Bankside power station in London, for example (Figure 1a), now a modern art gallery of the Tate Museum (Figure 1b), opened in 1953. Soaring 100 m high and occupying 3.5 hectares, Bankside provided about 200 MW at its peak. A comparable generator installed now might need 10% of the Bankside space; alternately, the site could host 10 times the power. As in the Internet, scalability and economies of scale triumph in the electric-power system."
Yahoo! News - Genesis Crash Blamed on Installation Error
Yahoo! News - Genesis Crash Blamed on Installation Error
Wired 12.10: VIEW
Wired 12.10: VIEW: "There's a pesky flaw at the core of our democracy: How do we count those who can't vote? Not those who don't vote (they can take care of themselves by voting). But those people who can't vote, because they're either too young or not yet born. How, in other words, do we reckon the future?
For most of history, this question didn't matter much. Before the atomic bomb, we couldn't really break the future. And before deficit financing, we couldn't easily bankrupt it either."
Yahoo! News - Indiana Commissioner's Car Repossessed
Yahoo! News - Indiana Commissioner's Car Repossessed: "CROWN POINT, Ind. - A Lake County commissioner's car was repossessed because the county stopped making monthly payments on the lease.
Commissioner Rudy Clay said the county wanted to buy the 2003 Jeep Liberty it had leased from Chrysler Financial but was unable to get an invoice showing how much money it still owed.
Commission bookkeeper Geraldine Stamps told the Post-Tribune of Merrillville that it 'didn't make any sense' to continue making payments. She said she finally sent the September payment on Tuesday, even though she still had not received an invoice."
Yahoo! News - Lost Pet Falcon Attacks Goose Hunter
Yahoo! News - Lost Pet Falcon Attacks Goose Hunter: "WARROAD, Minn. - It might have seemed like the birds were fighting back against a Duluth hunter on a recent trip to far northern Minnesota.
Dan Erickson was walking back to his blind with a Canada goose slung over his shoulder when he was hit from behind and driven to his knees.
A hungry peregrine falcon 'came down and smacked him,' hunting partner Bill Lord said.
Erickson dropped the goose and pointed his gun at the hovering falcon when Lord's 12-year-old son, Nate, noticed a bell on the falcon's back. He also noticed a piece of leather on the bird's foot.
It turned out that it was a pet falcon that had escaped from its owner in Canada. So the group let the falcon feed on a pile of dead geese and eventually captured it with an empty packsack.
An official from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources helped them return the bird to the Winnipeg falconer later that day.
'We just wanted the bird to get where it was supposed to go,' Lord said."
Yahoo! News - Drunk Man Steals Plane, Goes on Joyride
Yahoo! News - Drunk Man Steals Plane, Goes on Joyride
Yahoo! News - Circus Elephants Trample Homeowner's Yard
Yahoo! News - Circus Elephants Trample Homeowner's Yard: "STOCKHOLM, Sweden - A homeowner in southern Sweden filed a police complaint after four circus elephants broke loose from their trainers and ran into his back yard, trampling the hedge and the lawn, a police spokesman said Thursday.
Mattias Lindell, 29, said the elephants completely ruined his garden Monday, after animal trainers working for German-based Circus Mustang lost control of the pachyderms when removing them from the vehicles they travel in. The circus had put up its tent only a few feet away from his house outside Helsingborg, on Sweden's southwestern coast, Lindell told The Associated Press."
Yahoo! News - Police Search for Foul-Smelling Robber
Yahoo! News - Police Search for Foul-Smelling Robber: "BRATISLAVA, Slovakia - Slovaks were on the lookout for a foul-smelling bank robber Thursday after police said the thief had a nasty odor.
A gun-toting, masked man in his 20s, clad in a green sweat shirt, robbed a bank in the capital and took some $14,235 in various currencies, police said.
Police spokeswoman Alena Tosevova said what the bandit wore was not the most noticeable thing for workers inside the bank, but rather a strong smell which they reported to investigators.
Tosevova said it was unclear whether the smell was caused by the thief having stepped into dog droppings or whether he soiled himself during the robbery."
Yahoo! News - Pet Lizard Blamed for Causing House Fire
Yahoo! News - Pet Lizard Blamed for Causing House Fire: "MARY ESTHER, Fla. - A pet lizard is being blamed for causing a fire that severely damaged a house, killed the reptile and put a cat in an animal hospital.
The blaze began after the large orange lizard, one of Lynn Robinson's many pets, escaped from its cage Wednesday in this Fort Walton Beach suburb, said state fire marshal's investigator Gary Gazillo."
Yahoo! News - Man Admits Hiring Taxi to Transport Drugs
Yahoo! News - Man Admits Hiring Taxi to Transport Drugs: "RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - A California man admits he hired a taxi driver to drive him and his concealed stash of more than 100 pounds of marijuana cross-country when they were stopped by a sheriff's deputy in Arkansas last year.
Brandon Coy Hill, 29, of Compton, Calif., pleaded guilty Tuesday in Pope County Circuit Court to possessing a controlled substance with intent to deliver. He was sentenced to six years in prison."
Yahoo! News - Papers: Litter Box Full, Woman Sets Fire
Yahoo! News - Papers: Litter Box Full, Woman Sets Fire: "PORT ANGELES, Wash. - Court documents filed in Clallam County Superior Court tie an alleged arson in an apartment complex to a smelly cat litter box.
Prosecutors on Wednesday charged Marie Adeline Calkins, 63, with first-degree arson, accusing her of setting a fire Tuesday in her apartment on South C Street. No one was injured.
She told officers she lit the fire because 'she was depressed and upset that her kitty litter box was full and smelled,' court papers said.
Judge George L. Wood set bail at $50,000 and ordered a mental health assessment."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "
Models ace ballboys out of a job
Fri 15 October, 2004 13:33
MADRID (Reuters) - The centre court at next week's Madrid Masters tournament will look more like a catwalk than a sports arena after organisers decided to drop the traditional ballboys and ballgirls in favour of glamorous female models.
The organisers are reported to be paying the 25 women an average of 900 euros (620 pounds) to do the job previously done by enthusiastic young volunteers from local tennis clubs.
Coach Julio Nieto admitted that he had had a tough job in trying train up the models for the tournament.
'We have had to show them what the sport is all about,' he told sports daily As. 'We had to start by explaining what a game, a set and ace were and then tell them when and how to pass the players the balls.
'It's not going to be perfect, but I'll be happy if things turn out well and there are no protests from the players. Although personally I think that with such beautiful girls the players are going to be distracted.'
World number one Roger Federer leads the field at the tournament which gets underway on Monday October 18."
Yahoo! News - Mac Skeptic: Are Hackers Now Gunning for the Mac?
Yahoo! News - Mac Skeptic: Are Hackers Now Gunning for the Mac?: "In early October Apple released a small series of patches for Mac OS X (news - web sites) version 10.2 and later. Most of the fixes in this group blocked possible denial-of-service problems that are, to date, theoretical. For example, one addresses vulnerability in a Unix (news - web sites) printing system that might expose passwords to hackers, in uncommon situations."
Yahoo! News - Scientist Teaching Bacteria to Eat Coffee Plant's Caffeine
Yahoo! News - Scientist Teaching Bacteria to Eat Coffee Plant's Caffeine: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - In what could be a page taken from a science fiction novel, a scientist in his laboratory is trying to teach bacteria how to devour and destroy the caffeine contained in a coffee plant."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Human Lie Detectors Almost Never Miss, Study Finds
Thu 14 October, 2004 22:18
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As he lies, the young man shrugs, flutters his eyelids and shakes his head. Another, on a witness stand, grimaces for a millisecond as he answers a question.
Most people believe they could easily detect such lying behavior, but in fact most miss a good 50 percent of lies, says deception expert Maureen O'Sullivan of the University of California San Francisco."
Yahoo! News - FCC Approves Fiber-Optic Broadband Rules
Yahoo! News - FCC Approves Fiber-Optic Broadband Rules: "WASHINGTON - Federal regulators approved new rules Thursday aimed at making high-speed Internet available to more Americans. Critics contended the action will hinder competition in broadband services and keep prices high."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "
U.S. Asks States to Probe Flu Vaccine Pricing
Thu 14 October, 2004 22:51
By Susan Heavey and Lisa Richwine
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health officials urged states on Thursday to investigate reports of price gouging by companies distributing scarce supplies of influenza vaccine and to prosecute offenders.
'It is extremely disturbing to learn of reports of price gouging by immoral individuals looking to make a quick buck off a public health challenge,' Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said in a statement."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "New Technique Treats Heart Defect in Babies
Thu 14 October, 2004 22:53
By Karla Gale
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cardiac surgeons at the University of Chicago have developed a technique for treating a severe congenital heart malformation that is less invasive than open heart surgery.
According to Dr. Emile Bacha, several thousand children are born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome each year in the US.
Traditionally, there have only been three options: heart transplant, major open heart surgery, or 'simply do nothing,' Bacha said at the American Medical Association's annual science reporters' conference in Washington, DC."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Study Confirms Ephedrine Diet Supplements Can Kill
Thu 14 October, 2004 23:00
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A study in dogs confirms that ephedrine weight loss supplements can kill, U.S. researchers said on Thursday, supporting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's action to ban them.
The supplements containing ephedrine -- originally a herbal extract taken from a shrub and also used as a decongestant -- had little effect on healthy dogs, the study found."
Yahoo! News - Vaginal Gel May Protect Women From HIV
Yahoo! News - Vaginal Gel May Protect Women From HIV: "WASHINGTON - A chemical specially designed to thwart how the AIDS (news - web sites) virus invades during sex offers scientists a new lead in the long quest for a vaginal gel that women could apply to protect themselves when men don't use a condom."
Yahoo! News - Study Suggests How Obesity Causes Diabetes
Yahoo! News - Study Suggests How Obesity Causes Diabetes: "THURSDAY, Oct. 14 (HealthDayNews) -- Scientists know that obesity is a key player in the development of type 2 diabetes, but exactly how excess weight causes the disease isn't clear."
Wired News: Lost Files? Google the Hard Drive
Wired News: Lost Files? Google the Hard Drive: "Google is setting its sights on the computer desktop with a new software program that promises to scour the clutter of documents, e-mail, instant messages and other files stored on hard drives.
The free desktop search program marks Google's latest attempt to become even more indispensable to the millions of people who entrust the company to find virtually anything on the web."
MDN: WaiWai
MDN: WaiWai: "Star-struck space lovers can now buy their own bona fide rockets, thanks to a Hokkaido University aiming for the stars, according to Weekly Playboy (10/26).
Earlier this month, Hokkaido University started putting its Camui rockets on the open market."
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Yahoo! News - Old Toilets a Good Habitat for Oysters
Yahoo! News - Old Toilets a Good Habitat for Oysters: "NORFOLK, Va. - In an unusual experiment two years ago, unwanted toilets, sinks and other porcelain products were smashed to bits and shaped into two artificial oyster reefs.
One such potty-reef was constructed in the Back River, near the runway at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton; the other was built in the Lafayette River in Norfolk.
Now the results are in: Toilets are a good habitat for oysters."
Yahoo! News - Man Found in Doghouse After Fleeing Court
Yahoo! News - Man Found in Doghouse After Fleeing Court: "JACKSON, Mo. - A man who fled from court authorities while facing charges of domestic and animal abuse was found a short time later in a doghouse.
Paul Oakley, 43, was in court Friday for a preliminary hearing on three domestic abuse charges and one of animal abuse for allegedly abusing his girlfriend and her pet kitten.
Authorities said he briefly escaped and was captured minutes later in a doghouse in Jackson.
Sheriff's deputy John Dace, serving as bailiff in Judge Gary Kamp's courtroom, stated in court documents that Kamp told Oakley his $25,000 bond was being revoked and he was being taken into custody. The judge told Oakley to take a seat in the courtroom.
Dace said he turned his back for a moment, and Oakley fled. An assistant prosecuting attorney saw Oakley leave and alerted Dace and others.
A Jackson resident sitting on his back porch spotted a man he thought was acting suspicious a short time later. He notified Jackson police when he noticed the man inside his neighbor's doghouse."
Yahoo! News - Washington Man Grows 1,229-Pound Pumpkin
Yahoo! News - Washington Man Grows 1,229-Pound Pumpkin: "HALF MOON BAY, Calif. - A retired Washington state firefighter who grows giant pumpkins in his spare time produced the winning pumpkin Monday at the 31st annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off."
Yahoo! News - Prison Raid Yields 29-Inch TVs, Luxuries
Yahoo! News - Prison Raid Yields 29-Inch TVs, LuxuriesMANILA, Philippines - It looks like prison life wasn't too tough for some of the Philippines' most notorious inmates. Authorities said Monday they had seized late-model flat-screen TVs, DVD players and stereos, assorted firearms and mobile phones from jail cells in the national penitentiary compound in the Manila suburb of Muntinlupa.
Bureau of Corrections Director Vicente Vinarao said he ordered the swoop after an upsurge in the electricity bill, and in line with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (news - web sites)'s order for all government offices to save on energy.
More than 900 assorted weapons — swords, knives, live ammunition, improvised guns and machetes — also were confiscated, Vinarao said.
Yahoo! News - Britons Fear Spiders More Than Terrorists
Yahoo! News - Britons Fear Spiders More Than Terrorists
Yahoo! News - Cemetery Puts in Artificial Turf
Yahoo! News - Cemetery Puts in Artificial Turf: "APPLE VALLEY, Calif. - The Sunset Hills Memorial Park cemetery is giving up grass in favor of artificial turf.
It's a move owners believe will save as much as $180,000 in water and maintenance costs over the next three years. The cemetery is the final resting place for cowboy stars Roy Rogers and Dale Evans."
Yahoo! News - Man Found in Doghouse After Fleeing Court
Yahoo! News - Man Found in Doghouse After Fleeing Court: "JACKSON, Mo. - A man who fled from court authorities while facing charges of domestic and animal abuse was found a short time later in a doghouse.
Paul Oakley, 43, was in court Friday for a preliminary hearing on three domestic abuse charges and one of animal abuse for allegedly abusing his girlfriend and her pet kitten.
Authorities said he briefly escaped and was captured minutes later in a doghouse in Jackson.
Sheriff's deputy John Dace, serving as bailiff in Judge Gary Kamp's courtroom, stated in court documents that Kamp told Oakley his $25,000 bond was being revoked and he was being taken into custody. The judge told Oakley to take a seat in the courtroom.
Dace said he turned his back for a moment, and Oakley fled. An assistant prosecuting attorney saw Oakley leave and alerted Dace and others.
A Jackson resident sitting on his back porch spotted a man he thought was acting suspicious a short time later. He notified Jackson police when he noticed the man inside his neighbor's doghouse."
Yahoo! News - Teen to Get Bill for $10M for Wildfire
Yahoo! News - Teen to Get Bill for $10M for Wildfire: "WENATCHEE, Wash. - The U.S. Forest Service said it plans to bill a teenager about $10 million to pay the costs of fighting a 16,000-acre wildfire.
Ryan Unger, 18, was cited last month for operating an off-road vehicle without a spark arrester, which officials believe started the August blaze in central Washington. Besides burning thousands of acres, the fire destroyed one home.
The Forest Service is required by law to try to recover costs of fighting forest fires. The state Department of Natural Resources has paid about one-third of the total $14.9 million it took to extinguish the blaze.
'It's not something we take pleasure in,' said Maureen Hanson, administrative officer for the Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests. 'We understand a lot of these people don't go out to start a fire.'
Unger's father said the family would not comment when reached by phone Monday.
Steve DeFolo, financial manager for the national forests, said the Forest Service usually works with an individual's insurance company to negotiate a settlement."
Yahoo! News - 'High Street' Sign Is Among Most Stolen
Yahoo! News - 'High Street' Sign Is Among Most Stolen: "EUGENE, Ore. - The signs marking High Street have become a hot commodity and coveted dorm room decoration in these parts.
But what might seem like a sophomore prank is turning into a costly problem for the city, home to the University of Oregon. In the last decade, officials say they've had to replace the sign nearly 350 times.
Besides High Street, the University Street and Westward Ho Avenue signs are also frequently stolen.
The missing street markers are part of a backlog of about 100 signs that city crews will replace in coming months, said Damon Joyner, traffic technical team supervisor for the city.
'Sometimes they're hit by vehicles. Sometimes, they just seem to disappear,' he said. 'We've had instances of people just taking a chain saw to the post.'
Officials said last year alone, Eugene spent more than $50,000 on replacement signs."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Top US court setback for pirate hunters
Tue 12 October, 2004 20:54
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to examine a lower-court ruling that forces music-industry investigators to file a lawsuit to uncover the identities of people who may be copying their songs online.
Verizon Communications had argued it shouldn't be required to turn over customer names whenever it receives a notice from the Recording Industry Association of America.
Instead, Verizon argued the RIAA must file a formal lawsuit to get the names of suspected song-swappers, an extra step the Internet provider said would discourage frivolous requests."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Experiments with mice show that ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation does not initiate melanoma skin cancer, but ultraviolet B (UVB) does.
Dr. Edward C. De Fabo of The George Washington University Medical Center, Washington DC, and colleagues, exposed mice to light of various wavelengths. This included UVA, UVB, solar simulation, an unfiltered sunlamp, and a sunlamp filtered to remove more than 96 percent of the UVB spectrum."
Wired News: Undecided Voter? Try This Quiz
Wired News: Undecided Voter? Try This Quiz: "For Roman Catholic Americans who base voting decisions on their religious beliefs, figuring out whom to support in the presidential election depends on where they turn for advice.
At the website of the Catholic Voting Project, the choice is unclear. The site posts a quiz in which voters mark how strongly they agree or disagree with a series of statements on issues such as stem cell research, nuclear weapons proliferation and immigration policy. Test takers then see how closely their views align with those of President Bush, challenger Sen. John Kerry and a citizenship guide written by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops."
PhysOrg: Global air pollution map produced by Envisat's SCIAMACHY
PhysOrg: Global air pollution map produced by Envisat's SCIAMACHY: "Based on 18 months of Envisat observations, this high-resolution global atmospheric map of nitrogen dioxide pollution makes clear just how human activities impact air quality.
ESA's ten-instrument Envisat, the world's largest satellite for environmental monitoring, was launched in February 2002. Its onboard Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) instrument records the spectrum of sunlight shining through the atmosphere. These results are then finely sifted to find spectral absorption 'fingerprints' of trace gases in the air.
"
Monday, October 11, 2004
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Out There - Dead Man Keeps Paying Bills
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Out There - Dead Man Keeps Paying Bills: "Electronic banking can have its down side.
A Winnipeg, Manitoba, man died nearly two years ago, but thanks to automatic bill payments, no one noticed.
'How can that happen, for God's sake? Two years!' exclaimed Sam Shuster, a neighbor of Jim Sulkers, to the Canadian Press wire service."
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'New' giant ape found in DR Congo
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'New' giant ape found in DR Congo: "Scientists believe they have discovered a new group of giant apes in the jungles of central Africa.
The animals, with characteristics of both gorillas and chimpanzees, have been sighted in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo."
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'New' giant ape found in DR Congo
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'New' giant ape found in DR Congo: "Scientists believe they have discovered a new group of giant apes in the jungles of central Africa.
The animals, with characteristics of both gorillas and chimpanzees, have been sighted in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo."
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Developer Documentation
Developer Documentation: "Welcome to the Drupal developer's documentation. Newcomers to Drupal development should read the conceptual information provided in the 'Components of Drupal' section, and then proceed to examine one of the heavily-documented example modules below. The examples are fully-functioning Drupal modules, so you can download them from the contributions repository and alter them as you experiment."
MySQL Manual | 21 MySQL APIs
MySQL Manual | 21 MySQL APIs: "This chapter describes the APIs available for MySQL, where to get them, and how to use them. The C API is the most extensively covered, because it was developed by the MySQL team, and is the basis for most of the other APIs."
PHP: MySQL Functions - Manual
PHP: MySQL Functions - Manual: "These functions allow you to access MySQL database servers. More information about MySQL can be found at http://www.mysql.com/.
Documentation for MySQL can be found at http://dev.mysql.com/doc/."
PHP: mysql_fetch_object - Manual
PHP: mysql_fetch_object - Manual: "Some clarifications about previous notes concerning duplicate field names in a result set.
Consider the following relations:
TABLE_A(id, name)
TABLE_B(id, name, id_A)
Where TABLE_B.id_A references TABLE_A.id.
Now, if we join these tables like this: 'SELECT * FROM TABLE_A, TABLE_B WHERE TABLE_A.id = TABLE_B.id_A', the result set looks like this: (id, name, id, name, id_A).
The behaviour of mysql_fetch_object on a result like this isn't documented here, but it seems obvious that some data will be lost because of the duplicate field names.
This can be avoided, as Eskil Kvalnes stated, by aliasing the field names. However, it is not necessary to alias all fields on a large table, as the following syntax is legal in MySQL: 'SELECT *, TABLE_A.name AS name_a, TABLE_B.name AS name_b FROM TABLE_A, TABLE_B ...'. This will produce a result set formatted like this: (id, name, id, name, id_A, name_a, name_b), and your data is saved. Hooray!"
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - This time rumours of a car bomb in a New York City commuter tunnel came from as far afield as London, and even though they weren't true, it was enough to set New Yorkers on edge yet again.
The latest illustration of the city's jitters came on Thursday when a car exploded in Weehawken, New Jersey, near the Lincoln Tunnel which links New Jersey to midtown Manhattan, killing its owner and occupant."
Friday, October 08, 2004
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - This time rumours of a car bomb in a New York City commuter tunnel came from as far afield as London, and even though they weren't true, it was enough to set New Yorkers on edge yet again.
The latest illustration of the city's jitters came on Thursday when a car exploded in Weehawken, New Jersey, near the Lincoln Tunnel which links New Jersey to midtown Manhattan, killing its owner and occupant."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - This time rumours of a car bomb in a New York City commuter tunnel came from as far afield as London, and even though they weren't true, it was enough to set New Yorkers on edge yet again.
The latest illustration of the city's jitters came on Thursday when a car exploded in Weehawken, New Jersey, near the Lincoln Tunnel which links New Jersey to midtown Manhattan, killing its owner and occupant."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - This time rumours of a car bomb in a New York City commuter tunnel came from as far afield as London, and even though they weren't true, it was enough to set New Yorkers on edge yet again.
The latest illustration of the city's jitters came on Thursday when a car exploded in Weehawken, New Jersey, near the Lincoln Tunnel which links New Jersey to midtown Manhattan, killing its owner and occupant."
Yahoo! News - U.S. 'Almost All Wrong' on Weapons
Yahoo! News - U.S. 'Almost All Wrong' on Weapons: "The 1991 Persian Gulf War (news - web sites) and subsequent U.N. inspections destroyed Iraq (news - web sites)'s illicit weapons capability and, for the most part, Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) did not try to rebuild it, according to an extensive report by the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq that contradicts nearly every prewar assertion made by top administration officials about Iraq."
Yahoo! News - Senate Delays Approving Tax Law Overhaul
Yahoo! News - Senate Delays Approving Tax Law Overhaul
WASHINGTON - The drive to pass a $136 billion corporate tax bill hit a roadblock in the Senate on Friday when lawmakers upset about tobacco regulation, new overtime rules and combat pay employed delaying tactics to keep the measure from coming up for a vote.
Yahoo! News - Only Hussein Had Full Picture
Yahoo! News - Only Hussein Had Full Picture
WASHINGTON — Shortly before the U.S. bombing and invasion of Iraq (news - web sites) last year, Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) gathered his top generals together to share what came to them as astonishing news: The weapons that the United States was launching a war to remove did not exist.
Yahoo! News - Stern Vows He'll Rise Above FCC
Yahoo! News - Stern Vows He'll Rise Above FCC
Shock jock Howard Stern, whose raunchy antics have redefined talk radio while placing him at the center of a national debate on media indecency, told listeners Wednesday that he was abandoning traditional broadcasting for satellite radio — a money-losing, unregulated, subscriber-only medium that reaches a fraction of his millions of listeners.
Yahoo! News - Stern Vows He'll Rise Above FCC
Yahoo! News - Stern Vows He'll Rise Above FCC
Shock jock Howard Stern, whose raunchy antics have redefined talk radio while placing him at the center of a national debate on media indecency, told listeners Wednesday that he was abandoning traditional broadcasting for satellite radio — a money-losing, unregulated, subscriber-only medium that reaches a fraction of his millions of listeners.
Yahoo! News - Cops: Husband Plotted to Nab Wife's Purse
Yahoo! News - Cops: Husband Plotted to Nab Wife's Purse: "YORK, Pa. - Police had some good news and some bad news for Gloria Ent several days after a man stole her purse, along with $2,500 inside. The good news? They had some suspects. The bad news? One of them was her husband."
Yahoo! News - U.S. nuke city to correct Einstein misspelling
Yahoo! News - U.S. nuke city to correct Einstein misspelling: "SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Livermore, a California city that prides itself as a centre of advanced science, is spending thousands of dollars to correct many misspelled names on a city library mosaic, including that of Albert Einstein, a city official says.
The $40,000 (22,450 pound) mosaic outside the San Francisco area city's main library misspells the names of Einstein, the father of modern physics, William Shakespeare and other historical heavyweights. The city voted this week to spend $6,000 to fix the artwork."
Wired News: RFID Driver's Licenses Debated
Wired News: RFID Driver's Licenses Debated: "Some federal and state government officials want to make state driver's licenses harder to counterfeit or steal, by adding computer chips that emit a radio signal bearing a license holder's unique, personal information."
Yahoo! News - Webroot Gives Away Enterprise Spyware Defenses
Yahoo! News - Webroot Gives Away Enterprise Spyware Defenses: "Anti-spyware vendor Webroot Thursday rolled out two tools for enterprises that fight behind-the-scenes software plaguing client systems with ad trackers, keyboard loggers, and other spyware."
Yahoo! News - Malicious Trojan Pretends To Be Good
Yahoo! News - Malicious Trojan Pretends To Be Good: "Symantec Corp. is warning PC users about a new Trojan horse that terminates adware on a person's computer, but also deletes files and tries to download code from remote web sites."
Yahoo! News - FTC Files Case Against Spyware Suspects
Yahoo! News - FTC Files Case Against Spyware Suspects: "WASHINGTON - The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday filed the first case in the country against software companies accused of infecting computers with intrusive 'spyware' and then trying to sell people the solution.
The commission accused the companies of infecting computers with unsolicited software, showering computer screens with pop-up ads and then trying to get consumers to pay $30 to fix it. It is seeking an injunction to get the companies, owned by the same person, to stop, and to offer restitution to consumers."
Yahoo! News - Early T-Rex Relative Had Feathers -- Study
Yahoo! News - Early T-Rex Relative Had Feathers -- Study: "LONDON (Reuters) - The earliest known relative of the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex had primitive feathers, probably to help it keep warm.
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing found the remains of the early tyrannosauroid which roamed the earth between 139 and 128 million years ago, in western Liaoning, China, an area rich in fossil remains."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill to expand the use of DNA testing to protect the innocent and detect the guilty easily passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, but the outlook remained uncertain in the Senate.
The House voted 393-14 to approve the bill to promote wider and more effective use of DNA evidence, including post-conviction testing."
Yahoo! News - Scientists Create Genetic Map of Cattle
Yahoo! News - Scientists Create Genetic Map of Cattle: "WASHINGTON - For the first time, scientists have created a genetic map of a cow, providing researchers a new tool to reduce animal disease and improve the nutrition of beef and dairy products, the Agriculture Department announced Wednesday."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists who synthesized two genes from the virus that caused the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic said Thursday they have a found new clues about what made it so deadly.
Between 20 million and 50 million people worldwide died in the 1918-1919 pandemic, the deadliest in the past century. By unraveling the secrets of the virus, researchers hope to improve methods to spot the next potential flu pandemic which some scientists believe is overdue."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Aussie, UK Scientists Claim Pest Control Breakthrough
Thu 7 October, 2004 16:04
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian and British scientists have achieved a technical breakthrough to help control insects that have developed resistance to common agricultural pesticides, the New South Wales state government said on Thursday.
The new patented technique could give farmers a significant boost in fighting some of the most damaging insect pests to Australian agriculture, said the Minister for Primary Industries, Ian Macdonald in a statement."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Aussie, UK Scientists Claim Pest Control Breakthrough
Thu 7 October, 2004 16:04
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian and British scientists have achieved a technical breakthrough to help control insects that have developed resistance to common agricultural pesticides, the New South Wales state government said on Thursday.
The new patented technique could give farmers a significant boost in fighting some of the most damaging insect pests to Australian agriculture, said the Minister for Primary Industries, Ian Macdonald in a statement."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NASA Mars Rovers Find More Signs of Water
Fri 8 October, 2004 01:18
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Mars rovers have found fresh evidence that water was plentiful in both the hills and plains of the now-barren Red Planet, scientists at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on Thursday.
The robots, called Spirit and Opportunity, have been examining rocks and terrain on opposite sides of Mars since January for clues about whether the planet once held enough water to support life."
Yahoo! News - Google Sends Out an SMS
Yahoo! News - Google Sends Out an SMS: "Google this week launched a beta test version of Google SMS, a new service that lets users of wireless devices query Google for specific information, such as business or residential phone listings, product prices, and word definitions, the company says."
Yahoo! News - Microsoft Probes Flaw in ASP.NET
Yahoo! News - Microsoft Probes Flaw in ASP.NET: "Microsoft Corp. is investigating a reported security flaw in its ASP.NET technology that could allow intruders to access password-protected sections of a Web site simply by altering a URL."
Yahoo! News - News Feed, Blog Aggregators Adopt Bloglines' Web Services
Yahoo! News - News Feed, Blog Aggregators Adopt Bloglines' Web Services: "Three leading desktop news feed and blog aggregators announced last week that they have implemented new open application programming interfaces (APIs) and Web services from Bloglines. FeedDemon already connects to Bloglines' free online service for searching, subscribing, publishing and sharing news feeds, blogs and Web content; NetNewsWire and Blogbot will do so within 30 days. These are the first desktop software applications to use Bloglines Web Services."
Yahoo! News - Google Rolls Out Test of Short Message Service
Yahoo! News - Google Rolls Out Test of Short Message Service: "SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc. on Thursday announced a new test service that allows people to use mobile phones or handheld devices to tap Google's Web search via text messages, or short message service."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google has announced a new test service that allows people to use mobile phones or handheld devices to tap Google's Web search via text messages, or short message service.
Called Google SMS, the service is the newly public company's broadest push yet in the mobile market and comes as Google and its rivals in the hotly competitive Web search industry race to expand their reach."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Chronic exposure to arsenic, which can be measured in toenail clippings, seems to be associated with an elevated risk of melanoma skin cancer, investigators report.
'There has been little research investigating the link between arsenic and cutaneous melanoma, although arsenic has been associated with increased risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer.' Dr. Lara E. Beane Freeman, of the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues write in the October issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology."
Yahoo! News - For Women, Knee Injuries Can Mean Years of Pain
Yahoo! News - For Women, Knee Injuries Can Mean Years of Pain: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Some knee injuries appear to cause years of pain and increase the risk of arthritis among female soccer players, a new study shows."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "
Home Nurse Visits Improve Newborn Health
Thu 7 October, 2004 22:06
By Anthony J. Brown, MD
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Having a nurse visit the home a few days after a woman has a baby reduces the number of newborns being readmitted to the hospital with jaundice or dehydration -- and it saves money -- according to a new study.
'The third or fourth day after delivery is the time when babies can get into trouble with jaundice and dehydration and the American Academy of Pediatrics and other groups recommend follow-up on these days,' lead author Dr. Ian Paul, from Penn State Children's Hospital in Hershey, Pennsylvania, told Reuters Health."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Contrary to what has been shown in other reports, Gulf War veterans and their spouses are not at increased risk for peripheral neuropathy, a type of nerve problem that often involves numbness and tingling in the arms and legs, new research shows.
The reason for these different findings may relate to the fact that previous studies relied largely on veterans reporting their own symptoms to determine the presence of neuropathy, whereas the current study involved direct neurologic examination of the subjects."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers have discovered a genetic mutation that causes an aggressive form of childhood leukemia and said on Thursday it may mean that drugs being developed for Alzheimer's disease could also provide a better treatment for the cancer.
The cancer, called T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia or T-ALL, is cured about 75 percent of the time with chemotherapy, but it is a toxic treatment that leaves children vulnerable to other health problems later in life."
Yahoo! News - More Chlamydia Screening Urged for Women
Yahoo! News - More Chlamydia Screening Urged for Women: "THURSDAY, Oct. 7 (HealthDayNews) -- More thorough screening for chlamydia, a sexually transmitted bacterium that is the most commonly reported infectious disease in the United States, would probably reduce the incidence of the disease and be cost-effective as well, researchers say."
Yahoo! News - Many in Assisted Living Have Mental Health Problems
Yahoo! News - Many in Assisted Living Have Mental Health Problems: "THURSDAY, Oct. 7 (HealthDayNews) -- Rates of mental health problems among elderly assisted living residents are higher than expected, says an Indiana University study in the October issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Royal Dutch/Shell says it has made an important oil discovery in Brunei, reviving hopes for the tiny Southeast Asian kingdom's oldest oilfield.
Brunei Shell Petroleum Co, a 50/50 joint venture between the Anglo-Dutch major and Brunei government, made the new discovery in waters off the Seria field, where it announced its first oil strike 75 years ago."
Wired News: Robotic Fish Gather Data, Prize
Wired News: Robotic Fish Gather Data, Prize: "Imagine rushing to the car from a late lunch at 7-Eleven, yogurt spoon still in mouth, and your cell phone rings. An unknown caller declares you've won a half-million bucks, unsolicited and no strings attached, because you are quite 'original.'
Whatever your reaction, don't hang up. In fact, you might want to sit down."
......
Leonard's smart baby subs are 5-foot-long 50-pounders that can cost up to $50,000 each. To stay quick, light and agile, they use wings, a rudder and a buoyancy engine that takes in and lets out water to control direction. Because they lack propellers, they can swim for weeks, taking measurements of temperature, salinity and chlorophyll concentrations, linking to GPS and Iridium satellites without a battery recharge.
Wired News: Do You Take Cash, Credit or Chip?
Wired News: Do You Take Cash, Credit or Chip?: "A leading Japanese electronics company is developing memory cards that can be used to make cashless payments, open locks and read identification with a simple flick."
Wired News: Stem Cells to the Rescue
Wired News: Stem Cells to the Rescue: "For years, researchers have touted stem cells as potential replacements for cells damaged by disease. Now, they're finding that stem cells may not only replace defective cells, but rescue them.
The results of a study published in the Oct. 8 issue of Science show stem cells have special properties that allow them to rescue, or repair, heart cells. Scientists injected the stem cells into very young mouse embryos that had been engineered to develop a lethal heart disorder. While these pregnancies would normally spontaneously abort midway through gestation, half of the approximately 75 offspring were born with healthy hearts."
$3 32-bit ARM7 SoC attacks 8-bit turf - but will it run Linux?
$3 32-bit ARM7 SoC attacks 8-bit turf - but will it run Linux?: "[Updated Oct. 8, 2004] -- Atmel is sampling the first SoC (system-on-chip) in a new line of ARM7 SoCs that it hopes can take a bite out of the 8-bit MCU (microcontroller unit) market by offering 32-bit performance at 8-bit pricing. Priced as low as $3 apiece in quantities of 10,000, the Flash-based AT91SAM7 chips incorporate small, fixed amounts of RAM and ROM that could put the squeeze on open source OS developers. "
Yahoo! News - Man Burned Alive for Stealing Gas Cannister
Yahoo! News - Man Burned Alive for Stealing Gas Cannister: "LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Indian peasants burned alive a man accused of stealing a gas canister in the latest outbreak of mob justice in Peru's remote southern Andes.
Alejandro Noalca, 54, was taken to hospital and died hours later on Wednesday night, a hospital spokesman said on Thursday. Only the soles of his feet were burn-free."
Yahoo! News - Company Sued for Not Paying Bathroom Attendants
Yahoo! News - Company Sued for Not Paying Bathroom Attendants: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - After taking on greedy mutual fund firms and lying Wall Street bankers, New York's crusading attorney general aims to clean up a different mess: unpaid restaurant bathroom attendants."
Yahoo! News - Company Sued for Not Paying Bathroom Attendants
Yahoo! News - Company Sued for Not Paying Bathroom Attendants: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - After taking on greedy mutual fund firms and lying Wall Street bankers, New York's crusading attorney general aims to clean up a different mess: unpaid restaurant bathroom attendants."
Yahoo! News - Monks Seek Homes for St Bernard Rescue Dogs
Yahoo! News - Monks Seek Homes for St Bernard Rescue Dogs: "ST BERNARD PASS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Switzerland's St Bernard rescue dogs, known for centuries for saving avalanche victims from snowy Alpine graves, are to be sold by their monk owners as helicopters and heat sensors take over their work."
Yahoo! News - Basketball Star Wannabe Sues Over Height
Yahoo! News - Basketball Star Wannabe Sues Over HeightHONG KONG - A 23-year-old delivery worker who dreams of becoming an NBA basketball player has sued two beauty centers after their treatments failed to make him taller.
Lau Yat-fai paid $1,379 to the two centers in February but took them to court after the treatments — which involve electrical currents — failed to increase his height, according to court documents seen Friday by The Associated Press.
Yahoo! News - Drunk Driver Steals Own Car From Police
Yahoo! News - Drunk Driver Steals Own Car From Police
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - A drunk driver was arrested Friday morning after he stole his own car — from the police — and ran it into a ditch, officials said.
The 53-year-old man had been pulled over for "swerving all over the road," said Bjoern Ohlin, shift commander at the Flemingsberg police station, on the outskirts of Stockholm.
Yahoo! News - Google Used to Identify 1993 Victim
Yahoo! News - Google Used to Identify 1993 Victim: "MOXEE, Wash. - Google, the Internet search engine, has done something that law enforcement officials and their computer tools could not: Identify a man who died in an apparent hit-and-run accident 11 years ago in this small town outside Yakima."
Yahoo! News - Find the Web's Worst Security Flaws
Yahoo! News - Find the Web's Worst Security Flaws: "IT security and research organization The SANS Institute is releasing its annual Top 20 list of Internet security vulnerabilities this week, with the intention of offering organizations at least a starting point for addressing critical issues."
Yahoo! News - Nearly 60 percent office computers have been infected by Internet bug
Yahoo! News - Nearly 60 percent office computers have been infected by Internet bug: "BEIJING (AFP) - Nearly 60 percent of computer networks in Chinese offices, including those in the national defence department and the government, have been hit by Internet viruses or attacks, reported state media."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "GENEVA (Reuters) - A major polio epidemic in West and Central Africa is inevitable in coming months, but the disease could be eradicated worldwide next year by mass immunizations, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
Health officials and volunteers in Africa and Asia, where the paralyzing disease is still endemic in some countries, were setting out on foot, bicycle and even camel to vaccinate 250 million children under age five against the crippling virus.
Eighty million children in 23 West and Central African countries and 170 million in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan are being targeted, according to the United Nations agency."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "LONDON (Reuters) - Cross-channel ferry company Hoverspeed has launched a claim against the customs authorities for 50 million pounds to cover damage to its business it says resulted from over-zealous customs checks.
The claim follows a ruling in the High Court that Britons returning from 'booze cruises' after stocking up on cheaper alcohol and cigarettes abroad should be allowed home without being stopped by customs officers."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "EU rejects U.S. termination of aircraft subsidy pact
Fri 8 October, 2004 12:11
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union has accused the United States of violating a transatlantic pact on subsidies to aircraft makers and demanded consultations before Washington gives any aid to Boeing's 7E7 project.
In a letter released in Brussels on Friday, the European Commission said it rejected a unilateral U.S. move to terminate the pact since it was not backed by proper reasons, and the EU considered the agreement to be in force.
'We have ... the feeling that this may be a way for them to escape from the disciplines in the 1992 agreement,' spokeswoman Arancha Gonzalez told a news conference."
Wired News: Stem Cells to the Rescue
Wired News: Stem Cells to the Rescue: "For years, researchers have touted stem cells as potential replacements for cells damaged by disease. Now, they're finding that stem cells may not only replace defective cells, but rescue them.
The results of a study published in the Oct. 8 issue of Science show stem cells have special properties that allow them to rescue, or repair, heart cells. Scientists injected the stem cells into very young mouse embryos that had been engineered to develop a lethal heart disorder. While these pregnancies would normally spontaneously abort midway through gestation, half of the approximately 75 offspring were born with healthy hearts."
Infoshop News - FBI seizes Global Indymedia Servers. Reasons Unknown.
Infoshop News - FBI seizes Global Indymedia Servers. Reasons Unknown.: "FBI took the hard drives of Global IMC servers in the USA and the UK. It appears that a court order was issued to Rackspace (Indymedia's service provider with offices in the US and in London) to physically remove the hard drives from Global Indymedia servers (backup servers are now in place). Rackspace was given no time to defend against the order before it was acted upon and turned over the hard drives, both in the US and the UK. The servers hosted numerous local IMCs and the reason for the seizure is not known.
The FBI's latest anti-free-press actions began at the beginning of October when they visited Indymedia's ISP demanding the removal of identifying information from photographs of undercover police officers that was posted on the Nantes Indymedia website. When asked what the US government was doing requesting the removal of information from a French-run website that contained information about Swiss police actions, the FBI stated that this was a 'courtesy' to the Swiss government. The FBI agents stated that no laws had been broken, and no crimes had been committed. However, because no identifying information was posted on the website in question, it was unclear what actions the FBI was requesting."
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Wired News: What, Me Register?
Wired News: What, Me Register?: "I have a confession. I'm not always who or what I appear to be.
Depending on my mood, I'm a 92-year-old spinster from Topeka whose hobbies include snowboarding, macram� and cryptology; the CEO of a successful high-tech firm in Bumblebutt, New York, whose company has a market capitalization of four cents; or an Alaskan mango grower. What magazines do I read? Soldier of Fortune, Modern Bride, Granta and High Times. Date of birth? Dec. 7, 1941. July 4, 1976. Jan. 1, 1901. My name? Jed Clampett, Mustang Sally or Freddy Fudbuster."
USATODAY.com - Wash. state opens digital archives to preserve records
USATODAY.com - Wash. state opens digital archives to preserve records
CHENEY, Wash. — Washington has opened what is believed to be the nation's first digital archives for state government, holding everything from birth records to the first election results in Washington Territory in 1854.
Housed in a new building on the Eastern Washington University campus, the $14.5 million Washington State Digital Archives makes certain records and electronic documents available without fear of damage.
Yahoo! News - Congress Speeds Up 9/11 Legislation Vote
Yahoo! News - Congress Speeds Up 9/11 Legislation Vote: "WASHINGTON - Racing the clock, Senate leaders are applying finishing touches to bipartisan legislation addressing the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations just as House GOP leaders prepare to debate their version, which Democrats call partisan and weak.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he expected the GOP-controlled Senate to take a final vote on its legislation to create a national intelligence director and a national counterterrorism center sometime Wednesday, two days before senators are scheduled to leave for the year."
Yahoo! News - AP: Iran Takes Steps to Enrich Uranium
Yahoo! News - AP: Iran Takes Steps to Enrich Uranium
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has produced "a few tons" of the gas needed to enrich uranium, a top nuclear official said Wednesday, confirming the country has defied international demands and taken a necessary step toward producing nuclear fuel — or nuclear weapons.
Wired News: Web Industry Still Flies Blind
Wired News: Web Industry Still Flies Blind: "Help me out, would you? I want to find out how many people visited Wired News last month. If you did, please phone the two ratings agencies charged with figuring out who's hot and who's not in cyberspace. Just tell them I sent you.
'What?' you say. 'That's no way to measure a site's traffic.' Of course, you're right. But it might not be any less accurate than the numbers that Nielsen/NetRatings and comScore Media Metrix come up with each month."
Wired News: Making XP a Welcome Guest on Mac
Wired News: Making XP a Welcome Guest on Mac: "I just acquired a brand new Windows XP Pro computer. It's not the fastest machine on the block, but it cost $250. Plus, it has a dual-monitor Power Mac G5 attached.
My new PC is Microsoft Virtual PC 2004. Launched Tuesday, Version 7 of the PC emulator lets Mac users run Windows software or connect to PC-only peripherals or networks. By itself, VPC costs $130. Bundled with Windows XP Professional, it sells for $250; with XP Home Edition it costs $220. An upgrade to Version 7 will set you back $100."
Wired 12.10: The Incredible Shrinking Man
Wired 12.10: The Incredible Shrinking Man: "It was a clear sign that the world's smallest technology had hit the big time. At the Department of Energy's NanoSummit, held in June in Washington, DC, energy secretary Spencer Abraham gave the opening speech before an array of scientists from universities, industry, and national labs. Former chief arms control negotiator Paul Robinson spoke at a luncheon. The closing address was delivered by Richard Smalley, the Rice University chemist who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize for discovering Buckminsterfullerene, a soccer ball-shaped carbon molecule, and its permutations, known as fullerenes. In between, luminaries from the increasingly glamorous world of nanotechnology outlined the fledgling discipline's future."
Yahoo! News - IBM Rolling Out Biggest WebSphere Update in 2 Years
Yahoo! News - IBM Rolling Out Biggest WebSphere Update in 2 Years: "SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - IBM late on Tuesday announced the biggest update of its popular WebSphere business software in two years, adding features such as automatically detecting and fixing problems."
Yahoo! News - North Korea ready to launch cyber war -- defense ministry report
Yahoo! News - North Korea ready to launch cyber war -- defense ministry report: "SEOUL, (AFP) - North Korea (news - web sites) has trained more than 500 computer hackers capable of launching cyber warfare against the United States, South Korea (news - web sites)'s defense ministry says."
Yahoo! News - Dye Test Planned on Yellowstone Creek
Yahoo! News - Dye Test Planned on Yellowstone Creek: "YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. - Testing with dye is planned next spring to find out why water in a creek near the East Entrance has turned greenish."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "BANGKOK (Reuters) - The bald eagle is out of the woods but other birds of prey are in trouble.
An icon of conservationists, the bald eagle was on the brink of extinction in America's lower 48 states four decades ago, when its numbers stood at just 417 nesting pairs.
Anti-poaching measures, a reduction in the use of lethal pesticides and the transfer of eagles from Canada have seen its numbers rise in the lower 48 to several thousand. Washington now says that some of the bird's safeguards can be loosened.
Classified as endangered in 1978 under the Endangered Species Act, it was downgraded to threatened in 1995 and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed that it be removed from the list."
Yahoo! News - Satellite Mishap Blamed on Human Error
Yahoo! News - Satellite Mishap Blamed on Human Error: "SAN JOSE, Calif. - A $239 million satellite toppled to a factory floor last year because nobody bothered to check that it was secure before moving it, according to a NASA (news - web sites) investigation board's report on the mishap."
Yahoo! News - NASA Inspector's Shuttle Checks Questioned
Yahoo! News - NASA Inspector's Shuttle Checks Questioned: "ORLANDO, Fla. - A former NASA (news - web sites) inspector has been accused of lying about inspecting crucial parts on the space shuttle Discovery before and after the Columbia disaster that killed seven astronauts and grounded the entire orbiter fleet."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Protein 'Kiss of Death' Team Win Chemistry Nobel
Wed 6 October, 2004 11:29
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Two Israelis and an American won the 2004 Nobel Prize for Chemistry Wednesday for their work related to how the human body singles out unwanted proteins for destruction to defend itself from disease.
Israelis Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko and American Irwin Rose won the prize for discovering a 'kiss of death' marker for proteins which helps explain the immune system, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in its citation."
Yahoo! News - Yahoo Search Gets Personal, Too
Yahoo! News - Yahoo Search Gets Personal, Too: "Following in the footsteps of search rivals Ask Jeeves and Amazon.com's A9, Yahoo on Tuesday unveiled a beta version of a toolset that personalizes searching the portal and the Web."
Yahoo! News - Senators Blast Freeze of School E-Funds
Yahoo! News - Senators Blast Freeze of School E-Funds: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators on Tuesday blasted a freeze on hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds meant to subsidize Internet and communications in schools and libraries as well as rural health care programs.
The Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC) told the Senate Commerce Committee about $300 million for schools and libraries and another $1.8 million for health care was on hold for a review of how the fund appears on government accounts."
Yahoo! News - Search engine for developers is hailed
Yahoo! News - Search engine for developers is hailed: "San Francisco (InfoWorld) - An Eclipse IDE plug-in that would provide search capabilities specifically for developers is being readied by a University of California, Berkeley computer science professor."
Yahoo! News - Kids Need Help Staying Slim, Congress Told
Yahoo! News - Kids Need Help Staying Slim, Congress Told: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Schools may need more money and regulators may need more authority to help America's children from spiraling into obesity, experts and politicians told Congress on Tuesday."
Yahoo! News - Shoppers Can Find Cheaper Drugs in U.S.
Yahoo! News - Shoppers Can Find Cheaper Drugs in U.S.: "WASHINGTON - A task force led by the U.S. Surgeon General is still drafting its report on drug importation, but one conclusion is already clear: Savvy shoppers can find cheaper prescription drugs in American pharmacies."
Wired News: Senate Wants Database Dragnet
Wired News: Senate Wants Database Dragnet: "The Senate could pass a bill as early as Wednesday evening that would let government counter-terrorist investigators instantly query a massive system of interconnected commercial and government databases that hold billions of records on Americans.
The proposed network is based on the Markle Foundation Task Force's December 2003 report, which envisioned a system that would allow FBI and CIA agents, as well as police officers and some companies, to quickly search intelligence, criminal and commercial databases. The proposal is so radical, the bill allocates $50 million just to fund the system's specifications and privacy policies."
Wired News: EU Wants Windows Cleaned of DRM
Wired News: EU Wants Windows Cleaned of DRM: "In a move to prevent Microsoft from using its dominance in PC operating systems to control the burgeoning field of digital rights management, European regulators are considering blocking the company's acquisition of an influential DRM patent holder.
The European Commission announced in late August that it was launching an in-depth investigation into Microsoft's and Time Warner's acquisition of the digital rights management company ContentGuard. Its final decision is due Jan. 6, 2005."
Anheuser-Busch cooks up sweeter brew for club goers - Oct. 5, 2004
Anheuser-Busch cooks up sweeter brew for club goers - Oct. 5, 2004: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - Brewer Anheuser-Busch says it will introduce a caffeinated, sweet-flavored beer for twentysomething club goers to compete with the flavored rums and vodkas gaining ground on the dance floor."
Yahoo! News - Restaurant Serves $100 Philly Cheesesteak
Yahoo! News - Restaurant Serves $100 Philly Cheesesteak
PHILADELPHIA - The traditional Philly cheesesteak has gone precipitously upscale at one new restaurant, where the chopped steak and melted cheese standard includes goose liver and truffles — and costs $100.
Yahoo! News - Bank Safe Boxes Crushed As Scrap Metal
Yahoo! News - Bank Safe Boxes Crushed As Scrap Metal: "HONG KONG - Safe boxes from a local branch of a Singapore-based bank were taken away and crushed as scrap metal, leaving customers shocked and angry at the loss of their most valued possessions, newspapers reported Wednesday."
Yahoo! News - Man Marries for 53rd Time to Wife No. 1
Yahoo! News - Man Marries for 53rd Time to Wife No. 1KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A Malaysian septugenarian tied the knot in 1957, and tied it again and again — 53 times. This week, he's gone back to where he started, remarrying wife No. 1.
Yahoo! News - Bumpy landing for Rooney's fiancee
Yahoo! News - Bumpy landing for Rooney's fiancee: "LONDON (Reuters) - The fiancee of soccer star Wayne Rooney has been detained and questioned by customs officials after she returned home from a shopping trip to New York, newspapers say."
Yahoo! News - Half of U.S. Flu Vaccine Withheld
Yahoo! News - Half of U.S. Flu Vaccine Withheld: "The supply of influenza vaccine for the coming winter was abruptly cut in half yesterday when one of only two companies making flu shots for use in the United States said it would not be able to sell 48 million doses here because some of it may be contaminated."
Yahoo! News - CIA Report Finds No Conclusive Zarqawi-Saddam Link
Yahoo! News - CIA Report Finds No Conclusive Zarqawi-Saddam Link: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A CIA (news - web sites) report has found no conclusive evidence that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) harbored Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which the Bush administration asserted before the invasion of Iraq (news - web sites)."
Yahoo! News - Ex-Workers Charged With Stealing Underwear
Yahoo! News - Ex-Workers Charged With Stealing Underwear: "KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. - Two former Sara Lee employees have been charged with embezzling $128,000 worth of bras and panties from the company after merchandise showed up at flea markets, authorities said.
The two workers may be part of a larger ring that may have taken up to $500,000 in underwear, said Capt. Bobby Steen of the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office."
Yahoo! News - Security Beyond Antivirus Programs
Yahoo! News - Security Beyond Antivirus Programs: "It happens all the time to unlucky or unwise Windows users: A new computer crashes and burns after a crippling virus or worm attack. But things can fall apart inside a new PC without such outside help; everyday use can cause a slower form of rot that eventually hobbles the system as thoroughly as a virus might."
Yahoo! News - Security Beyond Antivirus Programs
Yahoo! News - Security Beyond Antivirus Programs: "It happens all the time to unlucky or unwise Windows users: A new computer crashes and burns after a crippling virus or worm attack. But things can fall apart inside a new PC without such outside help; everyday use can cause a slower form of rot that eventually hobbles the system as thoroughly as a virus might."
Yahoo! News - Report: Rapid Rise Of Adware Is Tailing Off Slightly
Yahoo! News - Report: Rapid Rise Of Adware Is Tailing Off Slightly: "The phenomenon of spyware, whose rocketing growth began disrupting millions of computer users in the first half of the year, started to tail off slightly during the third quarter, according to a new SpyAudit report from ISP provider Earthlink and Webroot Software, a computer-security firm."
Yahoo! News - Gates: Microsoft to Tackle the Spyware Problem
Yahoo! News - Gates: Microsoft to Tackle the Spyware Problem
Yahoo! News - Detecting Virus Outbreaks The Moment They Start
Yahoo! News - Detecting Virus Outbreaks The Moment They Start: "Killing a virus attack before it becomes damaging is something of a holy grail in today's security environment. That's because most viruses today are distributed through attachments to e-mail messages or through web sites that are linked to from e-mail messages sent by virus distributors."
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Yahoo! News - Schwarzenegger Signs California Anti-Spyware Bill
Yahoo! News - Schwarzenegger Signs California Anti-Spyware Bill: "SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) signed an anti-spyware bill on Tuesday banning unauthorized installation of deceptive software that hides in personal computers and secretly monitors user activity."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "MOJAVE, Calif. (Reuters) - The world's first privately funded manned spacecraft soared to the blackened frontiers of space for the second time in a week on Monday, setting a new altitude record and clinching a $10 million prize designed to spur commercial space travel
SpaceShipOne, a stubby, three-seat rocket plane, hurtled to a height of 367,442 feet surpassing its target altitude without the heart-stopping barrel rolls that vexed the craft's qualifying flight on Wednesday."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Anthrax Kills 120 Hippos in Ugandan National Park
Tue 5 October, 2004 11:56
By Daniel Wallis
KAMPALA, Uganda (Reuters) - An anthrax outbreak has killed 120 hippos in Uganda, raising the toll from a disease that has claimed hundreds of wild animals in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia in recent weeks, a senior official said Tuesday.
The cause of the outbreaks is unclear, but Ugandan wildlife officials say there is a possibility that similar weather patterns in the afflicted areas may have contributed to the spread of the disease."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "BANGKOK (Reuters) - A U.N. meeting on endangered species could help secure the survival one of humanity's closest living relatives, the orangutan, by saving its forest home from loggers, a leading expert said on Tuesday.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) could also extend a helping hand to other great apes -- all critically endangered -- if countries follow a European resolution to develop a global blueprint for their survival."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Astronomers Spy a Star That Gave Too Much
Tue 5 October, 2004 19:53
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some stars take, some give.
Then there is the tortured relationship in EF Eridanus, where the smaller of two stars gave so much to its larger companion that it reached a dead end, and scientists said on Tuesday they haven't seen anything like it.
Doomed to orbit its more energetic partner for millions of years, the burned-out star has lost so much mass that it can no longer sustain nuclear fusion at its core and has become a new, indeterminate stellar object, astronomers said in a statement."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Three American scientists won the 2004 Nobel physics prize on Tuesday for showing how tiny quark particles interact, helping to explain everything from how a coin spins to how the universe was built.
David Gross, David Politzer and Frank Wilczek showed how the attraction between quarks -- nature's basic building blocks -- is strong when they are far apart and weak when they are close together, like the tension in an elastic band when it is pulled."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Head Lice Provide Clue to Prehistoric Lives, Loves
Tue 5 October, 2004 23:53
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A study of an ancient human pest -- head lice -- suggests that the ancestors of today's American Indians may have met and fought with pre-humans long extinct elsewhere, scientists said on Tuesday.
Or maybe they made love with their primitive new friends.
The researchers said people carry two distinct families of head lice, and the easiest explanation is that one species of lice evolved on a different species of pre-human."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Sibling's Heart Problems Predict Yours Best -- Study
Mon 4 October, 2004 21:01
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Does your brother or sister have heart disease? That may be a better predictor of whether you are at risk that your parents' health history, researchers said on Monday.
A study of nearly 8,500 healthy adults in Ohio found that people were 2.5 times to three times more likely to have coronary atherosclerosis -- heart and artery disease -- if a brother or sister had already been diagnosed with heart disease.
There was a correlation with parents, too, but much less so, according to the report in this week's issue of the journal Circulation.
Doctors should take a careful family history from patients that includes brothers and sisters, the researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Ohio State University and the University of California Los Angeles said."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "
Birth Season, Schizophrenia Type Linked -- Study
Mon 4 October, 2004 21:03
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Schizophrenics born during the summer in the Northern Hemisphere tend to develop a more severe form of the mental illness than those born during the winter, a study said on Monday.
An analysis of nearly 1,600 people with schizophrenia from six countries in that hemisphere found an association between June and July births and cases of 'deficit' schizophrenia, which is characterized by an inability to experience pleasure, antisocial behavior and blunted speech."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "
Canada Study Details Pregnancy Chemical Hazard
Mon 4 October, 2004 21:05
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Children whose mothers were exposed during pregnancy to common workplace chemicals scored lower on tests measuring language skills, attention and memory, researchers said on Monday.
Organic solvents such as ethanol, mineral spirits and acrylic resin are found in facilities ranging from medical laboratories and dry cleaning shops to nail salons. They are easily inhaled and can penetrate the skin.
The report from Canada's Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto compared 32 children aged 3 to 9 whose mothers were exposed to the substances during pregnancy to 32 children whose mothers were not.
The women who worked in places with organic solvents used protective equipment such as masks and gloves, the study said.
'We found that the children of the exposed women had significantly lower verbal cognitive functioning than the non-exposed children,' said Maru Barrera, a co-author of the study. 'We also saw a greater inattention and hyperactivity in the exposed children.'
The exposed mothers reported contact with one or more of 78 organic solvents between one and 40 hours per week and between eight and 40 weeks of their pregnancies, the study said. They had 17 occupations including lab technician, painter, photo lab worker, science teacher, embalmer and hair stylist.
'Exposed children performed at a lower level than control children in subtests that measure short-term auditory memory, general verbal information, and attention. Furthermore, children who were exposed to organic solvents in utero showed reduced ability in recalling sentences, even when their (overall) scores were within the normal range,' the study concluded.
'Reducing exposure in pregnancy is merited until more refined risk assessment is possible,' said the report published in the current issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Minority Children Get Less Sleep, Study Finds
Mon 4 October, 2004 21:21
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Black children are less likely to get enough sleep than their white counterparts, which makes them susceptible to poorer school performance and behavioral problems, a study said on Monday.
The survey of 755 children found nearly half of 10- and 11-year-old minority boys -- most of whom were black -- got less than the nine hours of sleep a night recommended for the 8- to 11-year-old age group. Roughly one out of 10 minority boys got less than eight hours of sleep."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Patient-Doctor Sexual Relationship Examined
Tue 5 October, 2004 01:28
LONDON (Reuters) - Forty percent of medical students in Scotland believe they could justify having sex with a patient, according to a poll published on Tuesday.
In a small study of 62 students reported in the Journal of Medical Ethics, the students said it would be acceptable in certain situations.
'The issue of sexual relationships between doctors and former patients remains an area of debate among the medical profession,' said Dr John Goldie, of the University of Glasgow, who conducted the survey."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Few Teen Girls Know What a Pap Smear Is
Tue 5 October, 2004 20:23
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Only 2 out of 111 teen girls surveyed could successfully define a Pap smear and distinguish it from other gynecological exams, according to a new report.
Pap smears are performed as part of pelvic exams to test for early signs of cervical cancer. But pelvic exams are also necessary for detecting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and other gynecologic problems.
However, more than two-thirds of the young women surveyed said they thought a Pap smear was the same thing as a pelvic exam.>"
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "FTC Sues Marketers of Weight-Loss Supplement
Tue 5 October, 2004 20:55
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators said on Tuesday they have sued the marketers of the widely advertised 'CortiSlim' weight-loss supplement and are seeking to force them to reimburse customers.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it had filed suit in federal court in Los Angeles against Window Rock Enterprises Inc. and Infinity Advertising Inc., Los Angeles-based companies that tout supplements CortiSlim and CortiStress."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "CHICAGO (Reuters) - Giving blood transfusions to patients with acute heart problems nearly triples the risk they will die or suffer a heart attack within a month, a study said on Tuesday.
The reason is not entirely clear, but researchers believe the blood used in the increasingly common procedure is often depleted of substances such as nitrous oxide that help deliver oxygen to the body's tissues.
Transfused blood also may increase inflammation and further constrict blocked arteries and make the heart pump harder.
Overall, the analysis of three studies with more than 24,000 participants found 29 percent of the heart patients who got a transfusion died or had another heart attack within 30 days, compared to 10 percent of heart patients who did not get a transfusion."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women in their 40s, who tend to have relatively dense breast tissue, are more likely to have a breast tumor missed on a screening mammogram than are older women, new study findings suggest.
'Our study found that breast density is a cause of younger women having poor sensitivity of mammography compared with older women,' co-investigator Dr. Emily White told Reuters Health."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Sedentary Kids Have Raised Risk of Chronic Fatigue
Wed 6 October, 2004 00:04
LONDON (Reuters) - Playing sports and being active in childhood could help reduce the risk of suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome later in life, according to a study on Wednesday.
In research reported online by the British Medical Journal, experts in London said that the disabling condition which is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is more common in sedentary youngsters.
'Contrary to previous suggestions that high levels of exercise increase risk, we found that the most sedentary children were at greatest risk,' said Russell Viner of the Royal Free and University College Medical School."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Plan to Regulate Tobacco Blocked in Congress
Wed 6 October, 2004 01:02
By Joanne Kenen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a major setback for public health groups, congressional tax negotiators on Tuesday blocked a plan to allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco, but a $10 billion package for tobacco farmers was set to be approved.
Senators supported inclusion of the FDA measure in a massive corporate tax bill but House Republicans blocked them.
Negotiators were not able to wrap up work on Tuesday and some anti-tobacco lawmakers said they would attempt to strike or modify tobacco provisions again on Wednesday. But statements by several negotiators suggested the odds were against them."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The company that makes nearly half the flu vaccine used in the United States says it will not supply any vaccine for the coming flu season because of problems at its plant in Britain.
The announcement left U.S. officials scrambling to pull together a flu vaccination program."
WFTV.com - News Of The Strange - Driver Calls Police For Help When Cruise Control Gets Stuck At 120 MPH
WFTV.com - News Of The Strange - Driver Calls Police For Help When Cruise Control Gets Stuck At 120 MPH: "PARIS -- A motorist in France went a little faster than he wanted when he claimed his cruise control got stuck, leaving him barreling down a busy highway at 120 mph and forcing police to help clear a route.
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The Le Parisien newspaper quoted Hicham Dequiedt saying he was overtaking a truck when his Renault Vel Satis started to accelerate with a life of its own. He couldn't cut the ignition, he said, because his car has a magnetic card instead of a key."
Yahoo! News - Addicted Gamers, Losing Their Way
Yahoo! News - Addicted Gamers, Losing Their Way: "Until it started hurting his social life.
And his grades.
The 16-year-old has spent the last year coping with a video game addiction, in this case to the military role-playing game Socom II.
'I probably noticed a problem about a month into playing Socom,' Perkins says. 'There's something about it -- I kept wanting to go back.'"
The New York Times > International > Middle East > How the White House Embraced Disputed Arms Intelligence
The New York Times > International > Middle East > How the White House Embraced Disputed Arms Intelligence: "n 2002, at a crucial juncture on the path to war, senior members of the Bush administration gave a series of speeches and interviews in which they asserted that Saddam Hussein was rebuilding his nuclear weapons program. Speaking to a group of Wyoming Republicans in September, Vice President Dick Cheney said the United States now had 'irrefutable evidence' - thousands of tubes made of high-strength aluminum, tubes that the Bush administration said were destined for clandestine Iraqi uranium centrifuges, before some were seized at the behest of the United States.
Those tubes became a critical exhibit in the administration's brief against Iraq. As the only physical evidence the United States could brandish of Mr. Hussein's revived nuclear ambitions, they gave credibility to the apocalyptic imagery invoked by President Bush and his advisers. The tubes were 'only really suited for nuclear weapons programs,' Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, explained on CNN on Sept. 8, 2002. 'We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.'"(PDF)
The Protocol Informatics Project
The Protocol Informatics Project: "The Protocol Informatics project is a software framework that allows for advanced sequence and protocol stream analysis by utilizing bioinformatics algorithms. The sole purpose of this software is to identify protocol fields in unknown or poorly documented network protocol formats. The algorithms that are utilized perform comparative analysis on a series of samples to better understand the underlying structure of the otherwise random-looking data. The PI framework was designed for experimentation through the use of a widget-based component set."
Wired News: Vioxx: How Safe Is FDA Approval?
Wired News: Vioxx: How Safe Is FDA Approval?: "WASHINGTON -- Americans should feel reasonably safe taking government-approved prescription drugs -- with a few caveats -- even after a popular arthritis medication was pulled from the market, medical experts say. But the problems with Vioxx raise questions about the Food and Drug Administration's safety review process and the length of time it took Merck to pull the drug, observers say.
Vioxx was the first prescription drug since 2001 to be taken off the market for safety reasons. Its maker, Merck, cited an increased risk of heart attack and stroke in people who used the medication."
Wired News: E-Voting Fans: The Disabled
Wired News: E-Voting Fans: The Disabled: "COLLEGE PARK, Maryland -- This November, Eileen Rivera Ley, 41, will vote by herself for the first time. Blind voters in Maryland and several other states will use electronic voting machines equipped with technology that allows the disabled to vote independently.
It used to get crowded whenever Rivera Ley voted. Blind, Rivera Ley had to rely on someone else to read the ballot aloud, then vote for her. That meant as many as four people -- Rivera Ley, the person who pulled the levers and election judges from both major parties as witnesses -- huddled in the voting booth."
Wired News: Pinpointing Voters on a Map
Wired News: Pinpointing Voters on a Map: "Once the tool of county planners and civil engineers, geographic information systems technology is becoming a valuable political tool in get-out-the-vote efforts, allowing precision canvassing of target areas for campaigns.
Some experts see the science of geographic information systems, or GIS, becoming an integral part of any successful political movement. California counties are using this method to improve voter turnout among under-represented ethnic groups, while the national parties have used it to bring out the faithful."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda fined a radio station $1,000 (560 pounds) for hosting a talk show featuring a group of gay men, saying the program illegally encouraged homosexuality, the country's information minister says.
Simba FM, which broadcasts in the Luganda language, was also ordered to apologise to listeners, Ugandan Information Minister Nsaba Buturo said on Monday.
'We are a God-fearing country and homosexuality is illegal in Uganda,' he told Reuters. 'When you have an audience and you are in effect encouraging others to be homosexual, it causes a great deal of distress to the whole country.'"
The New York Times > International > Middle East > How the White House Embraced Disputed Arms Intelligence
The New York Times > International > Middle East > How the White House Embraced Disputed Arms Intelligence: "In 2002, at a crucial juncture on the path to war, senior members of the Bush administration gave a series of speeches and interviews in which they asserted that Saddam Hussein was rebuilding his nuclear weapons program. Speaking to a group of Wyoming Republicans in September, Vice President Dick Cheney said the United States now had 'irrefutable evidence' - thousands of tubes made of high-strength aluminum, tubes that the Bush administration said were destined for clandestine Iraqi uranium centrifuges, before some were seized at the behest of the United States.
Those tubes became a critical exhibit in the administration's brief against Iraq. As the only physical evidence the United States could brandish of Mr. Hussein's revived nuclear ambitions, they gave credibility to the apocalyptic imagery invoked by President Bush and his advisers. The tubes were 'only really suited for nuclear weapons programs,' Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, explained on CNN on Sept. 8, 2002. 'We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.'"
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. officials are expected to announce a coordinated crackdown on the theft of U.S. intellectual property such as pirated compact discs and knockoff auto parts, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
According to officials cited by the Journal on Monday, the targeted items amount to 7 percent of global trade. The new initiative will be called Strategy Targeting Organised Piracy, or Stop, for short. It will be comprised of a number of legal and administrative changes to be made in coming months.
The newspaper said that rampant piracy of copyrighted or patented U.S. goods -- particularly in China -- is depriving American companies of billions of dollars in revenue."
Ballmer: Apple the wrong bandwagon to reach digital utopia - silicon.com
Ballmer: Apple the wrong bandwagon to reach digital utopia - silicon.com: "Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said at a press briefing in London on Sunday that consumer take-up of digital technology in the home is at a 'tipping point', which could lead to a dramatic increase in sales for converged devices that integrate video, audio and computer technology.
The industry has talked up the idea that computers will finally move from the home office to the living room for many years, but Ballmer said he thinks this theory may be about to become a market reality."
News & Events - News Releases
News & Events - News Releases
(Boston) — There are no gears or levers involved, nor even, for those who remember such things, punch cards transported in oblong boxes. Yet research by a Boston University team led by physicist Pritiraj Mohanty does update a decidedly “old” technology in a bid to build better, faster data storage systems for today’s computers.
Mohanty, an assistant professor in BU’s Department of Physics, has carved tiny switches out of silicon, fabricating mechanical switches that are thousands of times smaller than a human hair.
Desktop apps ripe turf for open source
Desktop apps ripe turf for open source: "Two recently released reports have reinforced what open source advocates have known for years: Open source has positioned itself as a strong and fundamental commercial force.
Both reports identified office suite applications space -- desktop software, such as word processing, spreadsheets and databases -- as ripe for growth for open source."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - U.S. scientists Richard Axel and Linda Buck won the 2004 Nobel prize for medicine or physiology on Monday for work on genes that control the sense of smell -- explaining how we recall months later the scent of a lilac.
The two found a gene pool which contains the blueprint for receptors or sensors in the nose that identify odors. They published their fundamental study in 1991."
Interfax :: China
Interfax :: China: "World's largest wind power project to be launched this October in Beijing
Shanghai. (Interfax-China) - The world's largest wind power project will be launched this October in Beijing and city residents may start using green wind-generated electricity within two years.
The total installed capacity of the plant is designed at 400,000 kW with 2 bln kWh in annual generation capacity. It will mainly serve the power grids in Beijing, Tianjin and Tangshan City of Hebei Province, according to a report released by the municipal government."
Interfax :: China
Interfax :: China: "World's largest wind power project to be launched this October in Beijing
Shanghai. (Interfax-China) - The world's largest wind power project will be launched this October in Beijing and city residents may start using green wind-generated electricity within two years.
The total installed capacity of the plant is designed at 400,000 kW with 2 bln kWh in annual generation capacity. It will mainly serve the power grids in Beijing, Tianjin and Tangshan City of Hebei Province, according to a report released by the municipal government."
SFC A50 Smart Fuel Cell
SFC A50 Smart Fuel Cell: "The SFC A50 is a battery charger based on DMFC (Direct Methanol Fuel Cell) technology. Using Methanol as a fuel, this system offers much higher energy density than Pb-batteries, which are widely used today. The unit delivers up to 100Ah per day (1200Wh per day), operates almost quiet and is very environment friendly. The replacement of an empty fuel cartridge can be done in seconds compared to several hours needed for charging an empty Pb-battery. The SFC A50 is intended to operate in combination with a 12V Pb battery. The battery can provide peak power as well as startup power for the SFC A50 while the SFC A50 offers a significant extension of energy density to the Pb battery."
'iPod users are music thieves' says Ballmer - silicon.com
'iPod users are music thieves' says Ballmer - silicon.com
Speaking to an exclusive gathering of press in London on a number of issues, such as security, Steve Ballmer didn't pass up the opportunity to take several digs at his company's arch rival Apple.
At the heart of the debate is Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology which will let content providers such as record labels and movie studios keep control of their intellectual property (IP) - or at least ensure all royalties are paid and copyright observed.
Billing Microsoft as the good guys and Apple the villains of the piece - at least as far as corporate America, rather than users, is concerned, Ballmer said: "We’ve had DRM in Windows for years. The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'."
The Tech Report - AMD 90nm power consumption measured
The Tech Report - AMD 90nm power consumption measured: "For ages, moving to a smaller fab process has been the key to achieving lower power consumption and higher clock speeds, but the 90nm process hasn't worked out that way, at least for Intel. After watching Intel's struggles with its rather hot and power-hungry 90nm Pentium 4 'Prescott' processors, we've been waiting with some trepidation to see whether AMD's new 90nm chips would have similar problems.
We were finally able to get our hands on a 90nm Athlon 64 3500 this past weekend, and we've been testing it to see how it compares to the 130nm version. Since this 90nm Athlon 64 3500 runs at the same clock speed as the 130nm Athlon 64 3500 , we were able to do a direct comparison between the chips running at 2.2GHz."
Monday, October 04, 2004
Wired News: Geeks Take on the Mississippi
Wired News: Geeks Take on the Mississippi: "There's a town where the locals are impatiently waiting for Captain James T. Kirk to be born on March 22, 2233. (Rumor has it the big event will take place behind what is now a barber shop. His ancestors have already helpfully built a replica starship for Kirk.) There's a city where people are building a city-wide free radio network for the upcoming elections. There are engineers who are battling to save river towns from being flooded, and there are voodoo priests, blues historians, eccentric amusement-park building billionaires and even a chapel dedicated to the patron saint of hackers."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "BANGKOK (Reuters) - Bird flu has killed a nine-year-old Thai girl, raising the country's death toll from the disease to 11, a Health Ministry spokeswoman said on Monday.
Her death took to 31 the number of people killed in Asia since the H5N1 bird flu virus swept through much of Asia early this year, when most of the deaths occurred. The other 20 deaths were all in Vietnam.
'The nine-year-old girl, who was confirmed having bird flu yesterday, died last night at 9:40 p.m.,' Nitaya Chanruang Mahabhol told Reuters."
Wired News: Genome Model Applied to Software
Wired News: Genome Model Applied to Software: "What does uncovering the secret language of DNA have in common with reverse-engineering Microsoft software?
Quite a lot, according to Marshall Beddoe, a security analyst who is turning to algorithms used in bioinformatics research to understand the arcane mysteries of closed, proprietary software."
Wired News: Change in the Chinese Wind
Wired News: Change in the Chinese Wind: "The world's largest wind power project will begin construction this month near Beijing, bringing green energy and cleaner air to the 2008 Summer Olympics and city residents coping with some of the worst air pollution in the world.
The new wind power plant, located 60 miles outside Beijing in Guangting, will generate 400 megawatts per day, nearly doubling the electrical energy China currently obtains from wind. But that's just the beginning. Last summer at a climate change conference in Bonn, Germany, China surprised many by announcing it will generate 12 percent of its energy from renewable sources such as wind by 2020."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "LONDON (Reuters) - Online travel store Lastminute.com LMC.L says earnings for its crucial summer quarter will come in towards the lower end of expectations, sending its stock down 5 percent in early trade.
But the former darling of the dotcom boom said its sales over the Internet were accelerating as it spelt out plans to more than double earnings in its next fiscal year, which began October 1, 2004.
"
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "LONDON (Reuters) - The Financial Times newspaper is in court today trying to strike out a 230 million pounds special damages claim from a libel case brought against it by investment bank Collins Stewart Tullet CSTL.L .
Lawyers representing the Financial Times will argue in the High Court on Monday for the removal of the claim, which represents the fall in the stock market value of Collins Stewart following the reports in the FT covering allegations made against the bank."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "LONDON (Reuters) - The Financial Times newspaper is in court today trying to strike out a 230 million pounds special damages claim from a libel case brought against it by investment bank Collins Stewart Tullet CSTL.L .
Lawyers representing the Financial Times will argue in the High Court on Monday for the removal of the claim, which represents the fall in the stock market value of Collins Stewart following the reports in the FT covering allegations made against the bank."
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Democrat & Chronicle:
Democrat & Chronicle:: "Eastman Kodak Co. will return to U.S. District Court next week to seek $1 billion in damages from Sun Microsystems Inc. now that a federal jury has ruled in its favor in a dispute over the Java computer language.
The jury decided in Rochester on Friday that Sun infringed on technology belonging to Kodak when it developed and introduced Java more than a decade ago. The computer language is now used heavily by software developers, on the Internet and in computer schools."
Vancouver Sun
Vancouver Sun: "A new Vancouver-made science-fiction movie starring Robin Williams is coming to theatres with a little high-tech wizardry of its own.
Rather than being sent to theatres on clunky and expensive film reels, The Final Cut will be transmitted by satellite to 115 North American screens in 27 markets -- the first major Hollywood release to do so.
However, the film, to be released Oct. 15, will not be seen in this form in Vancouver."
The Seattle Times: Health: Scientists find coffee really is addictive
The Seattle Times: Health: Scientists find coffee really is addictive
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A trio of powerful explosions emanating from three different regions in space could mean astronomers might see stars blowing up within days, scientists said on Friday.
Astronomers believe the blasts -- which took place on September 12, 16 and 24 and lasted only a few seconds each -- may be precursors to stellar explosions called supernovae. If this turns out to be true, astronomers would have a new tool to predict these explosions, and researchers could watch the blasts from start to finish."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "SYDNEY (Reuters) - Four Australian men have committed suicide after being caught up in an investigation into child Internet pornography that has resulted in more than 200 arrested and charged for 2,000 offences.
Justice Minister Chris Ellison said 700 Australians were now under investigation in the country's biggest child pornography crackdown and up to 500 people could eventually be arrested."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund's top policy-making group says the global economy is poised for continued growth, although high oil prices present risks.
'The committee notes that downside risks to the recovery have recently increased, stemming in part from the increase and volatility in oil prices,' the IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee said in a communique on Saturday."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - When Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson put his brand on a U.S. mobile telephone service two years ago, there appeared to be scant space for newcomers to the crowded market.
Little did the travel and entertainment mogul know that Virgin Mobile USA would grow faster than his wireless ventures in other markets and lead other companies in diverse industries to set up mobile services to promote their brands."
Saturday, October 02, 2004
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Just one puff of a cigarette could damage a smoker's DNA, the first step to cancer and heart disease, researchers said on Friday.
It obviously takes more than that to cause disease, but the team at the University of Pittsburgh were surprised at how little smoke it took to do the initial damage."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The discovery that antidepressants may increase suicidal tendencies in children has prompted some lawmakers and physicians to ask if changes are needed to financial incentives given to drug makers for pediatric research.
The program, which rewards companies that conduct pediatric research with a six-month patent extension, started in 1997. It has resulted in more than 100 drugs being studied and has uncovered important information about how medicines work in youth."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Sometimes ordering more food helps you eat less -- that is, if what you order is a low-calorie salad, new research shows.
Investigators found that people who were served three cups of a salad, totaling 100 calories, ate 12 percent fewer calories overall than people who did not eat a salad at the start of their meals."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Problems with one of the body's nervous systems may account for many of the symptoms seen with Gulf War syndrome, new research suggests.
Known as the autonomic nervous system, this collection of nerves regulates body functions that a person doesn't have direct control over, such as how the stomach moves or how fast and strong the heart beats."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An antibiotic-resistant germ is increasingly causing skin infections and pneumonia in otherwise healthy children and adults.
That's according to two of several reports on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -- known as MRSA -- delivered at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America underway in Boston."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Diabetes seems to accelerate the progression of rigidity and walking disturbances in older persons, according to a report in the journal Neurology. In contrast, diabetes does not affect other movement problems, such as slowness and tremor.
Together, these movement problems are referred to as parkinsonian-like signs because people with Parkinson's disease often have one or more of them. However, these signs are by no means specific to this neurologic disorder -- they can be seen in completely healthy adults."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids who spend less time during their early years around pets and dust don't appear to have a lower risk of developing asthma or respiratory problems, new research reports.
These findings contradict a long-held theory that protecting children from substances that can trigger allergies or asthma -- known as allergens -- may protect them from respiratory problems later in life."
Friday, October 01, 2004
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A gaping hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica appears to have shrunk by about 20 percent from last year's record-breaking size, New Zealand scientists said on Friday.
The National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA) said its measurements backed up NASA satellite data showing the hole peaked at about 9 million sq miles compared with 11 million sq miles in 2003."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers who found a link between country music and suicide, and a man who patented his combover hairstyle won IgNobel Awards for true but funny experiments on Thursday.
Other prizes went to a soft drink maker that bottled Thames River water in London and sold it as a designer drink, and to a woman who investigated the '5-second rule,' according to which if food falls to the floor for fewer than 5 seconds, it is safe to eat."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - As Google nears the end of its first quarter as a public company, industry watchers say one of its emerging challenges is how to keep soon-to-be wealthy workers from cashing out and moving on.
'The loss of key employees is a real risk for a technology company after it goes public,' said Eric Jackson, an early PayPal executive who left after the online payment company's IPO and acquisition by eBay."
ANSARI X PRIZE
ANSARI X PRIZE: "Burt Rutan's Mojave Aerospace Ventures Team successfully reached an altitude of 337,500 feet with Mike Melvill (the pilot) onboard plus ballast (approx. 180 Kg). This flight was deemed by the Judges as a successful first flight for the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE. The X PRIZE has just received official notice from Burt Rutan that SpaceShipOne's second flight (X2) will take place Monday morning, October 4th. Expected flight timeline:"
Fast Company | Amateur Revolution
Fast Company | Amateur Revolution: "These far-flung developments have all been driven by Pro-Ams -- committed, networked amateurs working to professional standards. Pro-Am workers, their networks and movements, will help reshape society in the next two decades."
1010wins.com
1010wins.com: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government's cybersecurity chief has abruptly resigned from the Homeland Security Department amid a concerted campaign by the technology industry and some lawmakers to persuade the Bush administration to give him more authority and money for protection programs."
Article: Invisible gorilla steals Ig Nobel prize�| New Scientist
Article: Invisible gorilla steals Ig Nobel prize�| New Scientist: "The strange case of an invisible gorilla has scooped the 2004 Ig Nobel Prize for Psychology, with dropped food and country music being honoured in other categories. The prizes, for achievements that 'make you laugh, then think', were handed out on Thursday at Harvard University, Massachusetts."
KOIN.com: Breaking News
KOIN.com: Breaking News: "After keeping everyone guessing for more than a week, Mount St. Helens finally let off some steam Friday.
At 12:03 p.m., the volcano exploded from a crack in the crater glacier. The event lasted for 24 minutes. Earlier in the day, scientists explained that the ice was doming with something pushing up from below."
Wired News: Getting Closer, Yet Farther Away
Wired News: Getting Closer, Yet Farther Away: "Last week's column, 'The Ins and Outs of Teledildonics,' inspired many of you to write to me with thoughtful comments about the bigger picture. Does technology like the Sinulator bring us together, or does it drive us apart? Is it another way to spice up our sex lives, or does it encourage us to isolate ourselves?
Well ... yes."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "DUBLIN (Reuters) - A randy ram-raider smashed into a car showroom after letting his animal instincts get the better of him, Irish police have said.
The intruder -- a stray ram belonging to a local farmer -- broke windows, soiled the garage and dented three doors of a new Mitsubishi Colt before he was apprehended by police officers."
Wired News: Mobile-Phone Ban May Be Near End
Wired News: Mobile-Phone Ban May Be Near End: "You're on the red-eye from Los Angeles to New York, soaring over the Nevada desert and preparing for an uncomfortable, partial night's sleep in your aisle seat. All of a sudden, the passenger on the other side of the armrest whips out her cell phone and begins yakking away.
According to purveyors of wireless communications technology for the airplane industry, such a scenario is probably less than two years away, as airlines and telecom service providers press federal regulators to lift a 13-year-old ban on the use of most personal wireless devices during flights."
Wired News: Solution for Slashdot Effect?
Wired News: Solution for Slashdot Effect?: "Anyone who's ever had their website linked on the Slashdot homepage is no doubt aware of the so-called 'Slashdot effect' -- the sudden, huge rush of traffic that follows such a posting, often resulting in overloaded servers.
Now, Mirrordot, a new project from the founders of network security firm Edgeos, is seeking to alleviate the Slashdot effect by automatically mirroring any website linked on the Slashdot homepage."
Wired News: Secrets of the CO2 Eaters
Wired News: Secrets of the CO2 Eaters: "The genetic map of a type of teeny-weeny ocean algae could have a big impact on how scientists try to protect the Earth's oceans from greenhouse gases.
The lowly diatom is a microscopic, single-celled, hatbox-shaped organism. Despite their size, the Earth's diatoms generate 40 percent of the 50 billion tons of organic carbon produced every year in the sea, gobbling up carbon dioxide and emitting oxygen in the process. Taken together, all of the diatoms on Earth perform as much photosynthesis as all of the rain forests in the world."
Wired News: All's Fair in Space War
Wired News: All's Fair in Space War: "The American military has begun planning for combat in space, an Air Force report reveals. And commercial spacecraft, neutral countries' launching pads -- even weather satellites -- are all on the potential target list.
'Air Force Doctrine Document 2-2.1: Counterspace Operations' is an apparent first cut at detailing how U.S. forces might take out an enemy's space capabilities -- and protect America's eyes and ears in orbit. Signed by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper, the unclassified report sketches out who would be in command during a space fight, what American weapons would be used and which targets might be attacked."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Sun Microsystems and the University of Texas at Austin are set to flip the switch on a unique supercomputer that will vastly speed up massive data analysis and visualisation to tackle time-critical problems such as weather prediction.
The network computer maker and the university said late on Thursday that the computer, named Maverick, is centred around Sun's most powerful server computer, the Sun Fire E25K server."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Lusty Koalas in southern Australia will be put on the pill to stop them breeding too quickly and putting too much strain on their eucalyptus-forest home.
Up to 2,000 female koalas in Victoria state's Mount Eccles National Park are going to be implanted with a slow-release hormone that acts as a contraceptive."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia hard rock band AC/DC may have angrily sang they were on the 'Highway to Hell', but now a winding, cobblestone lane in Melbourne has been named after the band that boasts more than 140 million album sales.
'Welcome to the Highway to Hell,' said AC/DC guitarist Angus Young in a statement issued on Friday to commemorate Corporation Lane changing its name to AC/DC Lane."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The vast majority of visitors to the U.N. website look at English-language pages, and relatively few call up Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish pages, the United Nations says.
Of the nearly 26 million pages viewed during June 2004, 21.2 million were in English, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report to the 191-nation U.N. General Assembly on Thursday."
Survey: SOA prominent on 2005 budgets
Survey: SOA prominent on 2005 budgets: "A recent survey of 473 enterprise buyers by the Yankee Group of Boston revealed that in the next 12 months, 75% plan on investing in the technology and staffing necessary to enable a service-oriented architecture.
"
newsobserver.com | Opinion
newsobserver.com | Opinion: "CHAPEL HILL -- United States v. Microsoft, the most celebrated antitrust case in a generation, quietly ended its six-year run Wednesday, as the Supreme Court's deadline to file a final appeal passed without a whimper from any of the parties. Little comfort can be taken from the legal system's silence."
Spaceflight Now | Breaking News | Bigelow's Gamble
Spaceflight Now | Breaking News | Bigelow's Gamble: "The Bigelow Aerospace project to privately develop inflatable Earth-orbit space modules is beginning to integrate diverse U.S. and European technologies into subscale and full-scale inflatable test modules and subsystems at the company's heavily guarded facilities here."
