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Earth

Previously Uncontacted Amazon Tribe Photographed 556

ManicMechanic and other readers sent in news of a tribe of aboriginal people from the border of Peru and Brazil that has been photographed by helicopter for the first time. The images show huts in a village and people in red body paint shooting arrows at the helicopter. The outfit that released the photos, Survival International, works to end illegal logging in the rainforest in order to protect the uncontacted tribes living there. They estimate that 100 uncontacted groups exist worldwide, about half of them in the Amazon basin.
Handhelds

Have You Changed Your Opinion On eBook Readers? 569

An anonymous reader writes "The Kindle made waves when it came out, but they've now had the chance to calm. How many of you have been using your eBook readers since you've received them? How many of you forgot you had one, and how many of you swear by your reader? I like my single-purpose (well, dual — music player) Sony Reader because I actually use it to read, rather than multitasking myself to death. Is this technology as convenient and useful as you expected?" If not, what refinements or improvements would reKindle your interest?

Comment Re:Confused ... (Score 1) 472

I think this ends up being one of those "if you build it..." things. This would be fairly easy to configure with existing tech:

1. Setup all of your desktops with an ssh key exchange auth account that would act as the equivalent of the usual slew of Microsoft service accounts (SYSTEM, Network Service, etc). This would preferably be in the deployment image but could be scripted after the fact.

2. On a master deployment server, have a separated set of configuration directories (/etc, /home/.$whatever to be added to /etc/skel and to existing users) and modify them to suit. A nice little gui with configuration options that hide the configs could be a plus for folks who aren't aware of every option available in a config file. At some point apps could distribute something like a policy-config.xml that could map config file options to policy options in the gui app to ease this.

3. A little scripting duct tape with rsync/scp and the service account could deploy the configurations. Writing an app to do this sort of thing would probably be better, but when you're not a programmer you work with what you've got.

4. Don't give users root. sudo configs could be deployed just like any other policy as needed.

The application deployment stuff is doable now with yum, apt-get, emerge, etc (we built one for rhel 3 using nothing but apt for rpm, rsync and perl in an afternoon a couple years ago, and we're not particularily good with perl). Configured correctly it ends up just like SMS or something similar (client checks in on a schedule, pulls "approved" apps down and installs in the background). From there it's probably not even terribly tricky to be able to do software inventories and tracking.

So really, I think all it would take is someone with the time, skill and desire to piece it all together - sooner or later it's bound to happen.
Technology (Apple)

iPhone SDK and Free Software Don't Match 304

kookjr writes "Are you planning to develop software for the iPhone? If you want to develop Free Software, Linux.com (Shares corp overlord w/ Slashdot) has a good review of the conflicts between Apple's Registered iPhone Developer Agreement and licenses like the GPL. This is important for people who may not read all the agreements they click Agree to."
Microsoft

MS Clearflow To Help Drivers Avoid Traffic Jams 243

Pioneer Woman writes "Microsoft announced plans to introduce a Web-based service for driving directions that incorporates complex software models to help users avoid traffic jams. The system is intended to reflect the complex traffic interactions that occur as traffic backs up on freeways and spills over onto city streets and will be freely available as part of the company's Live.com site for 72 cities in the US. Microsoft researchers designed algorithms that modeled traffic behavior by collecting trip data from Microsoft employees who volunteered to carry GPS units in their cars. In the end they were able to build a model for predicting traffic based on four years of data, effectively creating individual 'personalities' for over 800,000 road segments in the Seattle region. In all the system tracks about 60 million road segments in the US."
Education

Adults Too Quick to Dismiss Educational Gaming? 255

netbuzz writes "A new survey finds that more than half of K-12 students believe that educational video games in school would help them learn (no surprise), although only 15% of teachers and 19% of parents agree. Adults might not want to scoff, however, because 11% of teachers are already using video games in class and they report great results. 'Only 3% of elementary school students say they do not play video games of any kind. Students surveyed say learning via video games would help them better understand difficult concepts, become more engaged in the subject matter and practice skills. There's no mention of the games being fun, but that goes without saying.'"
Privacy

In Soviet US, Comcast Watches YOU 404

cayenne8 sends us to Newteevee.com for a blog posting reporting from the Digital Living Room conference earlier this week. Gerard Kunkel, Comcast's senior VP of user experience, stated that the cable company is experimenting with different camera technologies built into its devices so it can know who's in your living room. Cameras in the set-top boxes, while apparently not using facial recognition software, can still somehow figure out who is in the room, and customize user preferences for cable (favorite channels, etc.). While this sounds 'handy,' it also sounds a bit like the TV sets in 1984. I am sure, of course, that Comcast wouldn't tap into this for any reason, nor let the authorities tap into this to watch inside your home in real time without a warrant or anything."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - 700 MHz Winner: Verizon Wireless (fcc.gov)

jontas writes: "FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced that Verizon Wireless is the winner of the all-important 700 MHz C block, acquiring 6 regions in the continental US plus Hawaii. Verizon's commitment to open their entire network makes sense in light of this victory (because of the open spectrum regulations Google convinced the FCC to adopt). Although Verizon initially fought Google's suggestions they have since reversed their position and taking full advantage of the good PR.

Although Verizon won the coveted C block, they were not the only winner today. According to Chairman Martin "Frontier Wireless (EchoStar) won 168 licenses in the E block to establish a near nationwide footprint." Additionally, "a bidder other than a nationwide incumbent won a license in every market.""

Sci-Fi

Arthur C. Clarke Is Dead At 90 538

Many readers are sending in word that Arthur C. Clarke has died in Sri Lanka. He wrote over 100 books including 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous With Rama, and popularized the ideas of geosynchronous communications satellites and space elevators.
Biotech

Japan's Unique Cow/Whale Hybrid Experiments 348

RemyBR writes "Controversial scientific research happens all the time, but a review conducted by scientists in Japan uncovered a list of 'bizarre' trials - including one program designed to crossbreed cows with whales.'Scientists have analyzed 43 research papers produced by Japan over 18 years, finding most were useless or esoteric. The scientific research included injecting minke whale sperm into cows eggs, and attempts to produce test-tube whale babies.'"
Technology

Vaporware - the Tech That Never Was 192

An anonymous reader writes "CNet has published an incredibly detailed look at the most critical examples of vaporware ever seen in the tech sector. We're familiar with Wired's yearly round-ups, but this decades-long retrospective look at the most promising of all technologies that never saw the light of day, holds some fascinating technology I've never even heard of, including the wonderfully-named three-dimensional atomic holographic optical data storage nanotechnology. 'Continual delays, setbacks and excuses are the calling cards of a product that becomes vapourware. Windows Vista ran the risk of joining the club, and the terrific multiplayer first-person shooter Team Fortress 2 was in production for almost a decade before it was released in 2007. Devoted TF fans feared it would become a distinguished entrant in the who's who of vapourware. You might say Google Mail is in the running, having been in beta since 2004.'"
Communications

Nerve-tapping Neckband Allows 'Telepathic' Chat 205

ZonkerWilliam writes "Newscientist has an interesting article on tapping the nerve impulses going from the brain to the vocal chords, allowing for 'Voiceless' phone calls. "With careful training a person can send nerve signals to their vocal cords without making a sound. These signals are picked up by the neckband and relayed wirelessly to a computer that converts them into words spoken by a computerized voice." It's not quite telepathy, but it's pretty close."
Education

Correcting Misperceptions About Evolution 838

Beagle writes "The science of evolution is often misunderstood by the public and a session at the recent AAAS meeting in Boston covered three frequently misapprehended topics in evolutionary history, the Cambrian explosion, origin of tetrapods, and evolution of human ancestors, as well as the origin of life. The final speaker, Martin Storksdieck of the Institute for Learning Innovation, covered how to communicate the data to a public that 'has such a hard time accepting what science is discovering.' His view: 'while most of the attention has focused on childhood education, we really should be going after the parents. Everyone is a lifelong learner, Storksdieck said, but once people leave school, that learning becomes a voluntary matter that's largely driven by individual taste.'"
Biotech

Pope Denounces Some Biotech as Affront to 'Human Dignity' 1158

eldavojohn writes "Today in a speech the pope denounced human cloning, embryonic stem cell research and artificial insemination, citing them as a violation of 'human dignity.' That said, the pope did 'appreciate and encourage' research on stem cells from non-embryonic cells in the human body. The pope encouraged the Vatican to be a leading voice in the philosophy and discussion of bioethics. 'Church teaching certainly cannot and must not weigh in on every novelty of science, but it has the task to reiterate the great values which are on the line and to propose to faithful and all men of good will ethical-moral principles and direction for new, important questions,' Benedict said."
United States

Maryland Scraps Diebold Voting System 209

beadfulthings writes "After eight years and some $65 million, the state of Maryland is taking its first steps to return to an accountable, paper-ballot based voting system. Governor Martin O'Malley has announced an initial outlay of $6.5 million towards the $20 million cost of an optical system which will scan and tally the votes while the paper ballots are retained as a backup. The new (or old) system is expected to be in place by 2010 — or four years before the state finishes paying off the bill for the touch-screen system."

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