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Submission + - Buffalo Beast has gone (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
Ailfred
Ailfred writes: "Buffalo Beast has gone — The online news site Buffalo Beast has gone offline after publishing a prank phone call between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and a Buffalo Beast editor who posed as The online news site Buffalo Beast has gone offline after publishing a prank phone call between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and a Buffalo Beast editor who posed as David Koch."
Businesses

Submission + - Google launches Apps certification program (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "Google has launched a program to certify that staffers at Google Apps resellers have specific expertise, knowledge and experience working with the company's hosted collaboration and communication suite. The Google Apps Certification Program will offer badges for various areas of expertise, including Apps deployment, sales, software development and technical support."
The Military

Submission + - US Army Using Sniper Detecting Microphones (singularityhub.com)

Submitted by kkleiner
kkleiner writes: Small lightweight microphones are saving the lives of US soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. Shoulder Worn Acoustic Targeting Systems (SWATS), developed by defense company QinetiQ, use shockwave and muzzle blast noise to locate enemy gunfire . A single shot is all it takes to give the soldier the bearing and distance to the sniper trying to take his life. A tactical display or audio alert from the device tells the soldier where to look so they can return fire or take cover. With SWATS, you go from sitting duck to well-informed angry defender in less than a second. QinetiQ recently announced that the US Army had ordered 13,500 SWATS units, with the option to pick up 30,000 more.
NASA

Submission + - NASA Readies Discovery Shuttle For Final Flight (ibtimes.com)

Submitted by
gabbo529
gabbo529 writes: "After 38 trips, 352 days in orbit and more than 5,600 trips around the Earth, the space shuttle Discovery is preparing for its final launch this week. Since its creation, it has flown to orbit more than any other craft. It has set a number of precedents including first craft to feature a female shuttle pilot and female shuttle commander (Eileen Collins), the first African American spacewalker (Bernard Harris) and the first sitting member of congress to fly in space (Jake Garn).

In its final foray into space, the Discovery will set another precedent when it flies the first humanoid robot to fly in space, Robonaut2."
Cellphones

Submission + - Study: Cell Phone's Radio Waves Excite Brain Cells (dbune.com)

Submitted by dbune
dbune writes: A new study conducted at the National Institute of Health showed that the metabolism of brain cells is highly increased by the usage of cell phones. The electromagnetic waves generated by cell phones might not be dangerous to the brain.
Hardware

Submission + - Stanford Develops Solar "Super Skin" Sensors (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Stanford researcher Zhenan Bao has developed a new stretchable, solar-powered “super skin” sensor that is so sensitive it can feel a fly touch down. The flexible electronic material harnesses polymer solar cells to generate electricity and can detect chemicals and sense various kinds of biological molecules. According to Bao, "You can imagine a robot hand that can be used to touch some liquid and detect certain markers, or a certain protein that is associated with some kind of disease and the robot will be able to effectively say, ‘Oh, this person has that disease. Or the robot might touch the sweat from somebody and be able to say, ‘Oh, this person is drunk.’”
The Military

Submission + - DARPA Open-Sources Military Vehicle Design (foxnews.com)

Submitted by Velcroman1
Velcroman1 writes: The army's secretive technology division has been collecting dozens of ideas for the design of its in-the-works rescue vehicle via a social-media contest — relying solely on the power of the crowd to get the next big thing built. Local Motors of Chandler, Ariz., is running the competition, officially known as the Experimental Crowd-derived Combat-support Vehicle (XC2V) Design Challenge, through March 10. It’s not so different from when multiple users edit a page on Wikipedia, Local Motors CEO John Rogers said. “Effectively, we want to co-create all aspects of a vehicle,” Rogers explained. “The Wikipedia method of co-creation is really not far off from the way we talk about it."
Science

Submission + - Secrets of a Mind-Gamer

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "We've all heard of people who claim to have "photographic memories." Now Joshua Foer writes in the NY Times magazine (reg. may be required) that a "skilled memory" can be acquired and proves it by explaining how he trained his brain to became a world-class memory athlete winning first place in the speed cards competition last year at the USA Memory Championship by memorizing a deck of cards in one minute forty seconds. According to Foer, memory training is a lost art that dates from antiquity. "Today we have books, photographs, computers and an entire superstructure of external devices to help us store our memories outside our brains, but it wasn’t so long ago that culture depended on individual memories," writes Foer. "It was considered a form of character-building, a way of developing the cardinal virtue of prudence and, by extension, ethics." Foer says that the secret to supermemory is a system of training and discipline that works by creating "memory palaces" on the fly filled with lavish images, painting a scene in the mind so unlike any other it cannot be forgotten. “Photographic memory is a detestable myth. Doesn’t exist. In fact, my memory is quite average," concludes Ed Cooke who recently invented a code that allows him to convert every number from 0 to 999,999,999 into a unique image that he can then deposit in a memory palace. "What you have to understand is that even average memories are remarkably powerful if used properly.""

Comment Re:Try your brick and motar travel agent (Score 2) 279

by Lulfas (#34740642) Attached to: Battle Escalates Between Airlines and Online Agents
In reference to airline tickets, there really isn't any commission to talk about, for travel agents anyways. The thing with them is the extras; hotel rooms, cruises, all-inclusives, etc. It is a matter of building a relationship with you. Usually if a travel agent is finding a cheaper deal on an airline ticket it is using an odd fare class. Source: Grandmother owns a travel agency.

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