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Mars

The Phoenix Has Landed 369

Posted by CmdrTaco from the zomg-we-found-ponys dept.
Iddo Genuth writes "Precisely at 7:53PM EST, the "Phoenix Mars Lander" touched-down on the desert-like surface of Mars. Since its launch on August 4th, 2007, the spacecraft has covered more than 680,752,512 kilometers, traveling at average speeds of around 120,000 km/hr. Upon arriving at its destination, the Phoenix will begin its exploration of our intriguing neighbor planet, in a mission to help astronomers resolve at least some of the many questions regarding Mars. The key question remains: can the Red Planet support some form of life?" Hella grats to our nerd brethren — you looked great on the Science channel. Yes I'm watching this live. Can't wait to see what happens next.
Update: 05/26 03:0 GMT by KD : zof sends a link to the first pictures from Phoenix.
Medicine

Surgical Robot Removes Calgary Woman's Brain Tumor 107

Posted by timothy from the and-yes-it-had-permission-to-do-so dept.
Raver32 points out an article in the Victoria Times Colonist about an interesting advance in robotic surgery: "Calgary doctors have made surgical history, using a robot to remove a brain tumor from a 21-year-old woman. Doctors used remote controls and an imaging screen, similar to a video game, to guide the two-armed robot through Paige Nickason's brain during the nine-hour surgery Monday. Surgical instruments acting as the hands of the robot — called NeuroArm — provided surgeons with the tools needed to successfully remove the egg-shaped tumor."
Technology

Effect of Virtual Avatars On Real-Life Behavior 189

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the color-me-skeptical dept.
Betsy Carroll writes "The Stanford research group on virtual teams discusses how the appearance of one's avatar in virtual worlds has an effect on real life behavior in an NPR interview. The researcher they speak with focuses on the concept of vicarious reinforcement for changing behavior. They also talk a bit about identity issues surrounding the avatar and the 'real' physical self."
Patents

Judge Makes Lawyers Pay For Frivolous Patent Suit 263

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the not-making-partner-anytime-soon dept.
Gallenod writes "The Denver Post is reporting that the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the decision of a Federal judge who threw out and reversed a jury decision in favor of a patent infringement claim and ordered the plaintiff's lawyers to pay the defendants' court costs. U.S. District Senior Judge Richard P. Matsch sanctioned the plaintiff's attorneys for 'cavalier and abusive' misconduct and for having a 'what can I get away with?' attitude during a 13-day patent infringement trial in Denver. With the Appeals Court in agreement, could this case be the 'shot heard round the world' in the revolution against patent trolls?"
Robotics

Robots That Bounce on Water 137

Posted by CmdrTaco from the something-about-tigger-goes-here dept.
inghamb87 writes "The way water striders walk on water was discovered years ago. The insect uses its long legs to help evenly distribute its tiny body weight. The weight is distributed over a large area so that the fragile skin formed by surface tension supports the bug on the water. However, the ability of water striders to jump onto water without sinking has baffled scientists, until now." If nothing less, you need to see the picture: it's awesome.
Bug

Submission + - Don't swim: Brain-eating bug cases on the rise! (indystar.com)

Submitted by zahl2
zahl2 writes: It sounds like science fiction, but there really is a brain-eating amoeba you can catch from swimming in warm freshwater lakes, entering your body through the nose. There is treatment, but you have to get it fast, and most people die. Global warming is expected to increase cases. Watch those noseplug sales increase!
Education

Submission + - Student Attacked After Dropping Cake (infowars.net) 17

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: "School security guards in Palmdale, CA have been caught on camera assaulting a 16-year-old girl and breaking her arm after she spilled some cake during lunch and left some crumbs on the floor after cleaning it up. The girl, Pleajhai Mervin, told Fox News LA that she was bumped while queuing for lunch and dropped the cake. After being ordered to clean it up and then re-clean the spot three times, she attempted to leave the area out of embarrassment but was jumped on by security who forced her onto a table, breaking her wrist in the process."
Google

Google Unveils Flash Ads 225

Posted by Zonk from the hip-hip-hooray dept.
Gailin writes "Google has announced and given some examples of their new Flash based ads. They seem to vary from average size to full screen-width Flash advertisements, with some interactive abilities. 'Gadget ads can incorporate real-time data feeds, images, video and much more in a single creative unit and can be developed using Flash, HTML or a combination of both. Designed to act more like content than a typical ad, they run on the Google(TM) content network, competing alongside text, image and video ads for placement. They support both cost-per-click and cost-per-impression pricing models, and offer a variety of contextual, site, geographic and demographic targeting options to ensure the ads reach relevant users with precision and scale.'"
Google

False Ad Clicks Cost Google 1 Billion Dollars A Year 233

Posted by Zonk from the heaping-helping-of-fraud dept.
Meshach writes "There is an interesting story at CBC which claims that Google loses one billion dollars per year to fraudulent ad clicks. The article contains an interesting description how how the company determines if a click is false. 'The company explained that it determines which clicks are invalid through a three-stage system. Most of the illegitimate clicks are automatically detected analyzed and filtered out in the first stage ... The second part uses automatic and manual analysis of the AdSense network to weed out false clicks before they are logged to an advertiser's account.'"
The Almighty Buck

TV Torrents — When Piracy Is Easier Than Purchase 474

Posted by Zonk from the wow-guess-i'll-just-not-pay-you-then dept.
An anonymous reader writes "NBC's recent withdrawal from the iTunes store leaves the millions of Apple's customers who have Macs or iPods without a legitimate way to purchase and watch NBC's content. Online media stores such as iTunes, Amazon and Walmart have never been able to compete with the pirates on price, or freedom and flexibility — as the content they sell is typically wrapped in restrictive DRM. The one advantage that legal purchase offered was ease of use. CNET looks into the issue, and discovers that with mature open-source media players such as Miro supporting BitTorrent RSS feeds, it is actually trivially easy for users to subscribe to their favorite shows. Want to wake up to the latest episode of The Colbert Report, Top Gear or any of hundreds of TV shows automatically downloaded and waiting for you? CNET offers an easy three step guide."
Censorship

Submission + - Dell says physicist not to hand computer to Cuba (digitaljournal.com)

Submitted by
Helmet_BR
Helmet_BR writes: "Two weeks ago, a brazilian physicist purchased two computers from Dell, and as they knew it was destinated to a Physics Institute, they asked him to sign a document vowing not to transfer, export or re-export the acquired products to the "Evil Axe", or to any foreigner with two nationalities, natural or living at those countries. The attitude has angered brazilian academic community, who may prepare a boycott.

http://tinyurl.com/yvf4wb
http://tinyurl.com/2ecbqt (in Portuguese)

The physicist, Paulo Gomes, said he wouldn't sign because of principals and for technical reasons, as he already conducted research with Cuban cientists. He says that earlier this year he purchased other products from Dell and nothing was required. Dell says they're only following US laws, and that they may even be prohibited to export."
The Media

Submission + - Science vs. Homeopathy (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
Mr. E
Mr. E writes: "Ars Technica has an interesting look at pseudoscience as it applies to homeopathy. While most discussions about what science is get derailed by the larger controversies surrounding them, Ars chose a relatively uncontroversial pseudo-science to examine so that they could examine the factors which make homeopathy a psuedo-science: ignoring settled issues in science, misapplication of real science, rejection of scientific standards, claims of suppression, large gaps between the conclusion and evidence, and focusing only on the fringes of what we currently understand."
The Courts

Submission + - Broadband site Whirlpool sued for forum comments. (whirlpool.net.au)

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Simon Wright, founder and owner Australian broadband website Whirlpool is being sued by 2clix in the QLD Supreme Court for comments made on Whirlpool's online forum. The 2clix software was discussed in threads titled '2Clix or not 2Clix' and 'Anyone used 2clix', with primarily negative comments, and some discussion between 2Clix staff and other Whirlpool members."

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