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Submission + - Apple might photo unauthorized iOS users (arstechnica.com)

AHuxley writes: Apple has applied for a patent on a method to differentiate between authorized and unauthorized users of a particular iOS device.
Once detected, certain features would be automatically disabled. Sensitive data could be sent to a remote server and the device before been deleted. Apple hopes to lock out thieves, and alerting the owner of possible intrusion. Pictures of the unauthorized user could be taken andGPS coordinates transmitted. How long before Jailbreak users are also tracked?

Submission + - Exploding Lake Provides Electricity for Rwanda (discovery.com)

reillymj writes: There are three known "exploding lakes" in the world, where volcanic gases build up near the lake bottom until they suddenly fizz over, suffocating people with huge amounts of carbon dioxide. But the lakes also hold methane and one of them, Rwanda's Lake Kivu, is being actively tapped as a source of natural gas to fuel a power plant on the lake's shores. The government hopes that within two years, the plant will be covering a third of the country's needs. By siphoning off the gas, engineers simultaneously defuse a ticking time bomb in the lake and provide power to local communities.

Comment Re:Just a basic stats question (Score 1) 215

1. "It is genetic mutations that in the vast majority of cases lead to twins." That's not what the article you link to says. Nor is it true. Genetic mutations do not lead to twins (at least not one that we have identified yet).

2. The genetic mutations in the article are precisely the somatic mutations that I pointed out in brackets in the original comment. Yes, there are minor differences, but they're remarkably rare given the size of the genome.

Hardware

Submission + - Trojan infected computer linked to Spanair crash 2 (elpais.com)

An anonymous reader writes: El pais online newspaper (link provided in Spanish) reports that the Spanair ground computer responsible for triggering an alarm when 3 failures are reported in a plane failed to do so in the case of Spanair flight JK-5022 that killed over 150 two years ago. The computer was infected with trojans.

Submission + - Photographing Buildings Excluded From Street View (blogoscoped.com)

crf00 writes: Spiegel reports that German photographer and IT consultant Jens Best wants to personally take snapshots of all those (German) buildings which people asked Google Street View to remove. He then wants to add those photos to Picasa, including GPS coordinates, and in turn re-connect them with Google Maps. Jens believes that for the internet “we must apply the same rules as we do in the real world. Our right to take panoramic snapshots, for instance, or to take photographs in public spaces, both base laws which determine that one may photograph those things that are visible from public streets and places.”

Jens says that for his believe in the right of photographing in public places, as last resort he’s even willing to go to jail. Spiegel says Jens already found over 200 people who want to help out in this project and look for removed locations in Google Street View, as there’s no official list of such places published by Google.

Science

Zombie Ants and Killer Fungus 125

nibbles2004 writes "An article in the Guardian newspaper shows how parasitic fungi evolved the ability to control ants they infect, ultimately leading the ant to its death. The fungus controls the ant's movements to a suitable leaf and causes the ant to grip onto the leaf's central stem, allowing the fungus to spore, which will allow more ants to become infected."
Image

Lies, Damned Lies and Cat Statistics 175

spopepro writes "While un-captioned cats might be of limited interest to the /. community, I found this column on how a fabricated statistic takes on a life of its own interesting. Starting with the Humane Society of the United States' (HSUS) claim that the unsterilized offspring of a cat will '...result in 420,000 cats in 5 years,' the author looks at other erroneous numbers, where they came from and why they won't go away."
Apple

Submission + - NAB, RIAA seek mandate FM radio in mobile devices (arstechnica.com) 1

Trintech writes:

Music labels and radio broadcasters can't agree on much, including whether radio should be forced to turn over hundreds of millions of dollars a year to pay for the music it plays. But the two sides can agree on this: Congress should mandate that FM radio receivers be built into cell phones, PDAs, and other portable electronics. The Consumer Electronics Association, whose members build the devices that would be affected by such a directive, is incandescent with rage. "The backroom scheme of the [National Association of Broadcasters] and RIAA to have Congress mandate broadcast radios in portable devices, including mobile phones, is the height of absurdity," thundered CEA president Gary Shapiro. Such a move is "not in our national interest." "Rather than adapt to the digital marketplace, NAB and RIAA act like buggy-whip industries that refuse to innovate and seek to impose penalties on those that do." But the music and radio industries say it's a consumer-focused proposition, one that would provide "more music choices."


Comment Re:49 people + 180 days = proof?? (Score 2, Informative) 554

They used DNA because RNA is not suitable here. RNA is highly unstable, even in the lab.

Remember that HIV is a RETROvirus. It retro-transcribes itself back into DNA (and thus allowing for genomic integration). So, in a way, HIV does have DNA.

As for the "cells" thing, this was told to Xinhua news agency, which means the conversation was likely in Chinese, and somewhere things got lost in translation.

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