Beware "Experimental" Firefox Add-ons

Mozilla's open source Firefox browser can be augmented with add-ons --
miniature programs from third-party developers that change its
functions. Add-ons can be fun and useful, but Mozilla has warned
against using ones still considered "experimental." For example, one
called "China Channel" gives users a taste of what it's like to surf on
China's censored Web. Some users say they can't turn the thing off.

Full story here

Why veins could replace fingerprints and retinas as most secure form of ID

Forget fingerprinting. Companies in Europe have begun to roll out an advanced
biometric system from Japan that identifies people from the unique patterns
of veins inside their fingers.

Story Link Here

Real Estate Prices

Real Estate Prices

Google's Bots Cause United Stock Slump?

On Tuesday, Google spokesperson Gabriel Stricker said the episode began because the story did not have a date on it when the Google News search program came across it early Sunday morning.

"We indexed the story in Google News," Stricker said. As part of that process, the Google search program assigns a date to a story.

Tribune Co.'s spokesperson, in turn, argued that the key event was when Google's "bot" put a Sept. 6, 2008, date on the story. That date made the story appear fresh when it was accessed through Google News, the spokesperson said.

"After the story appeared on Google News, traffic went through the roof," said Gary Weitman, a spokesperson for Tribune Co.

Details here

New kid in town

Chrome is a challenge to Microsoft's browser, used by about three-quarters of Web surfers. But it could equally be called a challenge to Microsoft's Office software suite, because what Google really wants to do is to make the browser a stable and flexible platform that can do practically everything we want to do with a computer, from word processing and e-mail to photo editing.

To strengthen that effort, Chrome was designed to improve on the way other browsers handle JavaScript, one of the technologies used to make Web pages more interactive and more like desktop software applications. Google's online word processing and spreadsheet programs use this technology, but it's also very widely deployed on Web pages to do less sophisticated things, like drop-down menus. More here

Cell Phones Make Headway in Education

The iPhone and other smartphones are gaining the attention of education professionals for their potential as learning tools. Cell phones have long been considered classroom distractions, but the ability of smartphones to run a wide variety of applications opens the door to greater possibilities.

So-called smartphones -- such as the iPhone, which in the U.S. is authorized to run on the AT&T (NYSE: T) Latest News about AT&T network New HP LaserJet P4014n Printer Starting at $699 after $100 instant savings. -- offer myriad new capabilities, including Web access, e-mail and access to educational software. "The time is approaching when these little devices will be as much a part of education as a bookbag," write the authors of a report last year by the nonprofit New Media Consortium, which studies emerging technologies likely to have an impact on teaching.

A well-equipped cell phone with a foldout keyboard could even supplant a laptop in classrooms, says Bill Davidson, senior vice-president for global marketing at Qualcomm, which makes cell-phone software and chips.

Full story here

Ohio Voting Machines Contained Programming Error That Dropped Votes

voting system used in 34 states contains a critical programming error
that can cause votes to be dropped while being electronically
transferred from memory cards to a central tallying point, the
manufacturer acknowledges.



The problem was identified after complaints from Ohio elections
officials following the March primary there, but the logic error that
is the root of the problem has been part of the software for 10 years,
said Chris Riggall, a spokesman for Premier Election Solutions,
formerly known as Diebold.

More here

Wind POWER!

Info, photo and another video here

Beloit College Mindset List Class of 2012

This month, almost 2 million first-year students will head off to college campuses around the country. Most of them will be about 18 years old, born in 1990 when headlines sounded oddly familiar to those of today: Rising fuel costs were causing airlines to cut staff and flight schedules; Big Three car companies were facing declining sales and profits; and a president named Bush was increasing the number of troops in the Middle East in the hopes of securing peace. However, the mindset of this new generation of college students is quite different from that of the faculty about to prepare them to become the leaders of
tomorrow.

http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2012.php

Welcome to the 2008-2009 School Year

Microsoft Eyes the Night Skies With Virtual Telescope App

Technology News: Web Apps: Microsoft Eyes the Night Skies With Virtual Telescope App

Star gazers and astronomers now have a powerful new tool that will allow them to surf the skies from their desktop. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Free Trial. Security Software As A Service From Webroot. Latest News about Microsoft unveiled the public beta of its WorldWide Telescope (WWT) Web application Monday.

The software Blackberry Professional Software from AT&T. Save up to 57% until June 6th. Click to learn more. creates an experience that users of all ages will find captivating, said Frank Reddy, a senior editor at Astronomy Magazine.

"There are other tools that can teach you the constellations, but WorldWide Telescope is an immersive environment that basically throws you into space and allows you to navigate very easily and smoothly. It can be both a teaching platform, a research platform and even an entertainment platform," he told TechNewsWorld.

Internet Archive Wins David-and-Goliath Privacy Tussle With FBI

The government has gone too far in its use of National Security Letters, the Electronic Frontier Foundation argues. There are likely countless groups who receive National Security Letters and don't put up a fight -- like the Internet Archive did -- against releasing data to the feds.

Story Link Here

Free Tibet' Message Masks Rootkit Malware

Watch out if you receive an e-mail with a Flash animation ridiculing a Chinese gymnast and calling for a free Tibet. It's likely the entertaining little clip is hiding a piece of malware that will log your keystrokes. Security experts are warning that malware creators are taking advantage of the news coverage of the Tibet freedom protests to get you to let your guard down.

Story Link Here

CNN Web site targeted

CNN was targeted Thursday by attempts to interrupt its news Web site, resulting in countermeasures that caused the service to be slow or unavailable to some users in limited areas of Asia.

Story Link Here

Who's Watching You at Work?

Even if you think you've mastered the art of minimizing your browser
the second your boss rounds the corner, every click you make may be
monitored by your employer. In fact, most businesses say they do
monitor workers' use of the office's Internet access, phone systems,
etc. Whether or not that means trouble is all a matter of context, of
course, but what constitutes reasonable use is sticky question.

"Surveillance is now routine
business practice among American employers, both large and small, as
the cost and ease of introducing have dropped. You leave your rights at
the office door every day you go to work. Most surveillance is
conducted without any individualized suspicion, and personal as well as
business-related information is routinely collected," explained Jeremy
Gruber, legal director at the National Workrights Institute.

Story Link Here

Espionage Against Pro-Tibet Groups, Others, Spurred Microsoft Patches

SAN FRANCISCO -- Computer intruders targeting pro-Tibetan groups,
U.S. defense contractors and government agencies slipped in through
previously unknown security holes in Microsoft Office, prompting
Microsoft to issue a flurry of patches to the popular software suite in
2006 and 2007, according to computer security experts.

These attacks, which appeared to have originated in China, began in
early 2006 when the attackers started sending e-mails to victims with
booby-trapped Word documents and Excel spreadsheets attached.

"We are seeing more and more spying done with Trojans, a shift that has
happened in the last two years," Mikko Hyppönen, the chief research
officer for software security vendor F-Secure, told RSA conference
attendees Thursday morning.

Story Link Here

Where's Wally? for the Google Earth generation

The striking young man - never without his red-and-white-striped top, bobble hat, walking stick and glasses - had a habit of turning up in the most unlikely and crowded of places, from ancient Aztec kingdoms to medieval battlefields.

But now a Canadian artist has brought the game into the 21st Century, by painting an enormous Wally that can be seen by Google Earth satellites.

The 55ft figure was installed on an undisclosed rooftop in Vancouver last month, sparking a flurry of interest among internet users keen to be the first to spot this Web 2.0 Wally.

Story Link Here

Couple Sues Google Over Street View Pics, Claims Mental Distress

Pictures of a western Pennsylvania couple's home have appeared on
Google's Street View, and the couple is not happy. Aaron and Christine
Boring are suing the search giant for devaluing their property and
violating their privacy with the photos.

Story Link Here

Sound may teach fish to catch themselves

BOSTON - Call them Pavlov's fish: Scientists are testing a plan to train fish to catch themselves by swimming into a net when they hear a tone that signals feeding time. If it works, the system could eventually allow black sea bass to be released into the open ocean, where they would grow to market size, then swim into an underwater cage to be harvested when they hear the signal.

Story Link Here

Shape-shifting robot forms from magnetic swarm

Swarms of robots that use electromagnetic forces to cling together and assume different shapes are being developed by US researchers. The grand goal is to create swarms of microscopic robots capable of morphing into virtually any form by clinging together. Seth Goldstein, who leads the research project at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, in the US, admits this is still a distant prospect. However, his team is using simulations to develop control strategies for futuristic shape-shifting, or "claytronic", robots, which they are testing on small groups of more primitive, pocket-sized machines. These prototype robots use electromagnetic forces to manoeuvre themselves, communicate, and even share power.

One set of claytronic prototypes were cylindrical, wheeled robots with a ring of electromagnets around their edge, which they used to grab hold of one another. By switching these electromagnets on and off, the so-called "claytronic atoms" or "catoms" could securely attach and roll around each other (see video, top right). The robot's wheels were not powered, so they had to rely entirely on their magnets to manoeuvre themselves around. "These were the first mobile robots without any moving parts," says Goldstein.

Story Link Here

Powered by ScribeFire.

Repeal Denied: Moore's Law extended for another 15 years

"When will Moore's Law be repealed? For the 30+ years I have been in and around the computer industry I have heard that question asked. The reason is obvious: this seemingly magical doubling of computing power per dollar every 18 months has been taking place since the early 1960s and surely has to stop sometime, right? Not yet, it doesn't. Thanks to some clever new ways of making CMOS chips, it looks like Moore's Law will remain in effect for at least another 15 years. This week's column is my attempt to explain why this is so and to give some idea what it means to us all."

Story Link Here

The biggest creche on earth

Fascinating photos - what do you think this is?


Story Link Here

iPods in a War Zone

The creator of the VCommunicator software -- Orlando-based Vcom3D -- originally designed it to teach soldiers basic Iraqi Arabic phrases by way of an iPod. However, now troops are finding new tactical applications for the device, said Vcom3D's Ernie Bright. Troops are uploading maps and other images and content onto the video iPods to assist them at vehide checkpoints and door-to-door searches

Story Link Here

Powered by ScribeFire.

Domain Tasting?

NetworkSolutions Scandal: Hijacking User Domain Searches

There has been an uproar today about a recent devious tactic being used by one of the original ICANN accredited registrars, NetworkSolutions. Apparently they are internally registering each and every domain name that a user searches for using their website, essentially holding it hostage so that it can not be purchased at any other significantly cheaper and more ethical registrar.

Story Link Here

Powered by ScribeFire.

Green lawns could lead to brownouts

Most people don't realize how closely power and water are linked.

In California, the water pumps that keep the Los Angeles area hydrated are the single largest users of power in the state, according to Gleick. Running a hot water faucet there for five minutes uses as much energy as keeping a 60-watt light bulb on for 14 hours, he said.

---

Most types of power plants use water for cooling - a lot of water. About 40% of the freshwater used in the U.S. - or 136 billion gallons a day - is used for power generation, nearly as much as is used for crop irrigation, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A typical nuclear or coal energy plant could use 30-40 million gallons of water a day.

Story Link Here

Powered by ScribeFire.

Biofuels make climate change worse, scientific study concludes

Growing crops to make biofuels results in vast amounts of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere and does nothing to stop climate change or global warming, according to the first thorough scientific audit of a biofuel's carbon budget.
Story Link Here

Powered by ScribeFire.

The world's rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan

A "plastic soup" of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said.

The vast expanse of debris – in effect the world's largest rubbish dump – is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting "soup" stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.
Story Link Here

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2007

Thousands of you took part in the search for Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2007, and the vast majority of you chose a small word that packs a pretty big punch. The word you've selected hasn't found its way into a regular Merriam-Webster dictionary yet—but its inclusion in our online Open Dictionary, along with the top honors it's now been awarded—might just improve its chances.

This year's winning word first became popular in competitive online gaming forums as part of what is known as l33t ("leet," or "elite") speak—an esoteric computer hacker language in which numbers and symbols are put together to look like letters. Although the double "o" in the word is usually represented by double zeroes, the exclamation is also known to be an acronym for "we owned the other team"—again stemming from the gaming community.

Merriam-Webster's #1 Word of the Year for 2007 based on votes from visitors to our Web site:

Story Link Here

Powered by ScribeFire.

Meanest Mom on Planet?

After finding alcohol in her son's car, she decided to sell the car and share her 19-year-old's misdeed with everyone -- by placing an ad in the local newspaper. The ad reads: "OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet."

Story link here

Powered by ScribeFire.

A Little Perspective on 315 Billion Dollars

Story Link Here

Powered by ScribeFire.