Submission + - Mission Could Seek Out Spock's Home Planet
An anonymous reader writes: Science fiction may soon become science fact. ScienceDaily reports that astronomers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have recently concluded that the upcoming planet-finding mission, SIM PlanetQuest, would be able to detect an Earth-like planet around the star 40 Eridani, a planet familiar to Star Trek fans as Vulcan. 40 Eridani, a triple-star system 16 light-years from Earth, includes a red-orange K dwarf star slightly smaller and cooler than our sun.
Judges Rule Google Search by Employer Not Illegal 185
An anonymous reader passed us a link to an Ars Technica article about a failed lawsuit over a Google search. A federal circuit court of appeals has upheld the original ruling against David Mullins, who claimed that Googling his name constituted ex parte communications prior to firing him. "Through a series of events, Mullins' employer found that he had misused his government vehicle and government funds for his own purposes — such as sleeping in his car and falsifying hotel documents to receive reimbursements, withdrawing unauthorized amounts of cash from the company card, and traveling to destinations sometimes hundreds of miles away from where he was supposed to be ... Mullins' supervisor provided a 23-page document listing 102 separate instances of misconduct. Mullins took issue with a Google search that Capell performed just before authorizing his firing. During this Google search, Capell found that Mullins had been fired from his previous job at the Smithsonian Institution and had been removed from Federal Service by the Air Force."
Submission + - iPod/iPhone Nano with touch panel at the bottom
Staska writes: "New Apple patent filing shows new directions for Apple's touch interface design. For smaller devices like iPod Nano, touchscreen interface may not be feasible — the screen is just too small for touch operation.
According to the patent, Apple can still make full screen iPods and put a touch panel on the backside of the device with transparent controls on the front screen. In addition to iPod, patent filing also describes controls for the phone. ZDNet even thinks that this patent can hint about touch interface for all Apple products."
Submission + - Stunning Development! PC World hates Apple!
mattatwork writes: "According to Wired, senior editor Harry McCracken suddenly quit after a draft article in PC World about the 10 things they hate about Apple was initially suppressed by company CEO Colin Crawford (who knows Steve Jobs on a personal basis). What seemed like a simple dispute over an article turned out to be an overall issue of the Editor in chief clashing with the CEO over the final say in what goes down in the magazine. When questioned about it in a meeting, Crawford asserted he would have final say (see update to Wired). Is this censorship or was McCracken overreacting?"
Submission + - Percent of Spam Content in Slashdot RSS Firehose
bubblah writes: "We signed up for the Slashdot fire hose about a week or so back and it is bringing to mind the vast amount of things submitted to Slashdot that just don't make sense. There is a large amount of spam, fly by night, ooh look at me, religious items that are submitted, and stand little chance of making it into the system.
Story located here http://techwag.com/index.php/2007/05/07/rss-feed-o verload-the-slashdot-fire-hose/"
Submission + - Are you a Google nobody?
netbuzz writes: "In other words, does your vanity search end up being in vain because your surname is as common as spam. You're not alone. It turns out that the Google-challenged — would-be parents, in particular — are going to extremes to improve their personal search rankings and the future rankings of their offspring, according to a front-page story in today's Wall Street Journal (a freebie on their subscription site). Of course, some of us, ahem, have no such problems with which to be concerned.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1495 4"
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/149
Comment A seller's interesting strategy. (Score 3, Interesting) 82
I won a Wii on eBay for $40. Yes, forty dollars. And the seller actually made double what he bought the Wii for. Here's what he did:
Instead of selling the Wii for $450-$500 and (Zelda:TP thrown in), the seller was instead selling cards from a 52 card deck. Each card cost $20.00. When you bought a card, the seller would write your ebay name on the card and put it in a sack.
At the end of the auction, if at least 26 cards had been sold, he'd pick a card out of the sack and they would then be shipped the Wii. If he hadn't sold 26, he would have refunded all the money.
So I bought two cards because I had some spare cash, won, and I recieved my Wii in 3 days. All but one person left positive feedback for the seller's unique selling strategy.
Instead of selling a Wii and game for 450-500 (retail 250 + 50 = 300 ), he ended up selling 30 cards for $20 each. He got $600 and I only spent $40. Win-Win situation, if you ask me (except for those who lost $20 with nothing, but hey, that's gambling).
Instead of selling the Wii for $450-$500 and (Zelda:TP thrown in), the seller was instead selling cards from a 52 card deck. Each card cost $20.00. When you bought a card, the seller would write your ebay name on the card and put it in a sack.
At the end of the auction, if at least 26 cards had been sold, he'd pick a card out of the sack and they would then be shipped the Wii. If he hadn't sold 26, he would have refunded all the money.
So I bought two cards because I had some spare cash, won, and I recieved my Wii in 3 days. All but one person left positive feedback for the seller's unique selling strategy.
Instead of selling a Wii and game for 450-500 (retail 250 + 50 = 300 ), he ended up selling 30 cards for $20 each. He got $600 and I only spent $40. Win-Win situation, if you ask me (except for those who lost $20 with nothing, but hey, that's gambling).
