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Submission + - Preserved 298-Million-Year-Old Forest Discovered (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists just discovered an incredibly preserved 298-million-year-old forest buried deep beneath a coal mine in Wuda, China. The ancient forest in Inner Mongolia was preserved by volcanic ash, much like Pompeii. Both Chinese and American scientists are marveling at finds of 80-foot-tall trees from the Permian Era, which provide an incredible snapshot of plant life 298 million years ago.

Submission + - Pico Projector That Adapts to Surface, Can Use Random Objects as Input Devices (engadget.com)

Submitted by jpwilliams
jpwilliams writes: This tiny projector can use random surfaces to project an image. Using a webcam, it adapts to the surface, not just by adjusting keystone, but also following that surface and displaying different amounts of information (in certain cases). The guy in the video also uses a coffee mug as an app changer.
China

Chinese Court Orders Ban On Apple's iPad 190

Posted by samzenpus from the build-but-don't-touch dept.
zacharye writes "A lawyer representing Proview International on Monday announced that the Intermediate People's Court in Huizhou, a city in southern China, ruled that distributors should stop selling iPads in China. From the article: 'The ruling, which was also reported widely in China's state media, may not have a far-reaching effect. In its battle with Apple, Proview is utilizing lawsuits in several places and also requesting commercial authorities in 40 cities to block iPad sales. Apple Inc. said in a statement Monday that its case is still pending in mainland China. The company has appealed to Guangdong's High Court against an earlier ruling in Proview's favor.'"
Science

Submission + - Your cat (or its parasites) are controlling your brain. (theatlantic.com)

Submitted by
Sooner Boomer
Sooner Boomer writes: "A Czech biologist, Jaroslav Flegr, is investigating how a common parasite found in cats (and their poop) may significantly alter human behavior. He found that women infected tended to dress nicer, be more outgoing, trusting, image-conscious, and rule-abiding than uninfected women. Infected men rended to be more introverted, suspicious, oblivious to other peopleâ(TM)s opinions of them, and inclined to disregard rules. My cat just tells me he needs more fresh fish. Off to the store!"
Earth

Submission + - WSJ Misrepresents Climate Science (wsj.com)

Submitted by
mdsolar
mdsolar writes: "As noted on slashdot, the WSJ wrote an opinion piece for which it found 16 scientist to sign on.

http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/01/28/2234257/dont-worry-about-global-warming-say-16-scientists-in-the-wsj

The contents of that opinion piece badly misrepresented climate science as pointed out in a letter that starts out: "Do you consult your dentist about your heart condition? In science, as in any area, reputations are based on knowledge and expertise in a field and on published, peer-reviewed work. If you need surgery, you want a highly experienced expert in the field who has done a large number of the proposed operations.

You published "No Need to Panic About Global Warming" (op-ed, Jan. 27) on climate change by the climate-science equivalent of dentists practicing cardiology."

The WSJ also seems to have misrepresented the economics of climate change as well. http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/scientists-challenging-climate-science-appear-to-flunk-climate-economics/"
Piracy

Submission + - Pirate Bay appeal refused by Swedish Supreme Court (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by concertina226
concertina226 writes: The Swedish Supreme Court will not hear an appeal from the founders of The Pirate Bay against prison sentences and fines imposed by the Swedish Court of Appeals, the court said on Wednesday.

Over a year ago, the Court of Appeals sentenced Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Carl Lundström to 10 months, eight months and four months of jail time, respectively. The court also said they must collectively pay a 46 million kronor (£4.3 million) fine.
Businesses

Submission + - Bloomberg API made public for C++, Java (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Bloomberg has made public its valuable application programming interface (API) for market data, making it free for trading firms and software developers to access the code.

The API works with a number of programming languages and operating systems, including Java, C, C++, .Net, COM and Perl, and is designed to be "simple" as well as suitable for low latency applications, Bloomberg said. It is available here.

The move to make the interface public contrasts with Bloomberg's past practice — and that of arch rival Thomson Reuters — of making firms pay for using a particular set of systems to access the data. The move is part of Bloomberg's Open Market Data Initiative.

Thomson Reuters is currently embroiled in a dispute with EU antitrust officials over its own APIs. The officials allege the company is taking advantage of its dominant market position by restricting access to the codes.

Bloomberg's API is available to companies that are not customers, allowing them "an alternative" to proprietary technology, the data firm said. It intends for the initiative to "spur innovation" in the financial services industry. Around 100,000 financial services staff use the Bloomberg API daily.

"We intend to evolve BLPAPI into an open standard with the help of an independent committee charged with managing the future development and stability of a truly open market data interface," said Shawn Edwards, chief technology officer at Bloomberg.

Bloomberg also recently released its Open Symbology API, a system used to identify securities across all global asset classes.
Businesses

Submission + - Health Insurance Companies to be Extinct by 2020 2

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Ezekiel Emanuel and Jeffrey Liebman write in the NY Times that a quiet health care revolution is taking place and by 2020, the American health insurance industry will be extinct as insurance companies will be replaced by accountable care organizations — groups of doctors, hospitals and other health care providers who come together to provide the full range of medical care for patients. Today most physicians and hospitals are paid on a fee-for-service basis and medical care is organized around treating a specific episode of illness rather than the whole patient — a system that encourages overtreatment and leads to mistakes and miscommunication when patients are sent between their primary care doctors, specialists and hospitals. In contrast, accountable care organizations will typically be paid a fixed amount per patient, along with bonuses for achieving quality targets. Health organizations like CareMore will make money by keeping their patients healthy and out of the hospital and by avoiding unnecessary tests, drugs and procedures. "ACO’s will also make health insurers superfluous," write Emanuel and Liebman. "And with the end of fee-for-service payments, insurance companies will no longer be needed to handle complicated billing and claims processing, nor will they need to be paid a fee for doing so." A few health insurers already see this change coming. Health insurer Wellpoint, which runs Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in 14 states and is the largest health insurer based on membership, spent $800 million to buy CareMore for $800 million to make the transition into the ACO business. "If they don’t want to go the way of the dinosaurs, insurance companies will have to find a new business to be in, one that is useful in the new world of coordinated care.""
Twitter

Submission + - British tourists banned from USA for single tweet (bbc.co.uk) 1

Submitted by
mutube
mutube writes: "Tourists visiting the USA have may want to watch what they say, after two British tourists were refused entry on security grounds following a single tweet:

Before his trip, Leigh Van Bryan wrote that he was going to "destroy America". He insisted he was referring to simply having a good time — but was sent home. Trade association Abta told the BBC that the case highlighted that holidaymakers should never do anything to raise "concern or suspicion in any way". The US Department for Homeland Security picked up Mr Bryan's messages ahead of his holiday in Los Angeles. The 26-year-old bar manager wrote a message to a friend on the micro-blogging service, saying: "Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America." "The Homeland Security agents were treating me like some kind of terrorist," Mr Bryan said. "I kept saying they had got the wrong meaning from my tweet."

In case the intended meaning is lost in translation, he was talking about having a lot to drink."
Hardware

Submission + - Old Tech Is The Best Place To Mine Rare Metals (techweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by
judgecorp
judgecorp writes: "More on recycling: the tech industry could face increasing shortages of rare metals, unless it reclaims them from the waste stream . the Royal Society in London was told this week that production of "hitchhiker" metals such as gallium, indium and selenium can't be easily ramped up, as they are only available as a by-product of major industrial metals such as aluminium, copper and zinc. If we want more, we have to make better use of them, and claim them back from e-waste."

Submission + - White House dimisses petition to investigate Chris (whitehouse.gov) 2

Submitted by EdIII
EdIII writes: Recently a petition was successful to ask the White House to investigate former Senator, and now MPAA CEO, Chris Dodd and others for bribery due to his specific comments about funding from Hollywood tied to the passing of SOPA/PIPA. The White House refused to comment or take action on the grounds the petition specifically asked for a criminal investigation.

For all the lawyers out there, armchair or otherwise, how can we reword and resubmit the petition to ask the White House to compel an ethics investigation, or some similar investigation of improper conduct surrounding SOPA/PIPA that is within the purview of Congress and the President?

It's clearly bribery, so how we can change the wording so we can't be so easily dismissed?

Submission + - Why can't Netflix support Linux? 2

Submitted by
sheehaje
sheehaje writes: "I've been trying for almost 2 years to find a way to get Netflix to run on Linux. Avoiding the usual "Just run it on XP under VirtualBox" workarounds, I have even tried to write my own Silverlight wrap arounds. It hasn't worked, mainly because I am substandard coder. But I know there are a lot that are up to the challenge. Why doesn't Linux have support for Netflix instant streaming yet? Netflix isn't worth the hack? Netflix doesn't exactly want to look at the issue; if you search for "linux" in their knowledge base, it does not even show a get well sympathy message. Where have all the rebels gone?"
Piracy

Submission + - Angry Birds Boss Credits Piracy For Sales Boost (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Mikael Hed is the CEO of Rovio Mobile, the company behind popular mobile puzzle game Angry Birds. At the Miden conference today, Hed had some interesting things to say about how piracy has affected the gaming industry, and Rovio's games in particular: '"We could learn a lot from the music industry, and the rather terrible ways the music industry has tried to combat piracy." Hed explained that Rovio sees it as "futile" to pursue pirates through the courts, except in cases where it feels the products they are selling are harmful to the Angry Birds brand, or ripping off its fans. When that's not the case, Rovio sees it as a way to attract more fans, even if it is not making money from the products. "Piracy may not be a bad thing: it can get us more business at the end of the day." ... "We took something from the music industry, which was to stop treating the customers as users, and start treating them as fans. We do that today: we talk about how many fans we have," he said. "If we lose that fanbase, our business is done, but if we can grow that fanbase, our business will grow."'

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