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Submission + - Rupert Murdoch vs. Jammie Thomas: Cost To Infringe (techdirt.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Last year, a court found that Jammie Thomas had to pay $1.92 million for sharing 24 songs online. While a judge later reduced that amount and a new trial is expected, it still seemed a bit excessive. So what happens when Rupert Murdoch — who lately has been complaining that everyone "steals" his content — is caught distributing 1.3 million Jimi Hendrix CDs he doesn't have the legal rights to? Looks like a fine of about $250,000.

Submission + - Plastic Memory Device Based On Electron Spins (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by von_rick
von_rick writes: From the article: "Our main achievement is that we applied this [vanadium tetracyanoethanide] polymer-based magnet semiconductor as a spin polarizer — meaning we could save data (spin up and down) on it using a tiny magnetic field — and a spin detector — meaning we could read the data back," Jung-Woo Yoo said.

A memory unit that is lighter and draws lower power levels would be a good replacement for conventional semiconductors. However, since the spins are controlled by application of magnetic fields, this technology would be susceptible to strong magnetic fields just like the magnetic tape memories. The article also mentions that the heat generated is significantly low, so it could be made to operate at higher frequencies, if technology permits, without the risk of overheating.
Idle

Submission + - A Monkey Economy is as Irrational as our Human Eco (scientopia.org)

Submitted by grrlscientist
grrlscientist writes: A Monkey Economy is as Irrational as our Human Economy. Why do people make irrational decisions in such a predictable way? Laurie Santos looks for the roots of human irrationality by watching the way our primate relatives make decisions. This video documents a clever series of experiments in "monkeynomics” shows that some of the silly choices we make, monkeys make too.

Submission + - Spinal-Fluid Test Is Found to Predict Alzheimer&rs (nytimes.com)

Submitted by omnibit
omnibit writes: The New York Times reports that researchers have found a spinal-fluid test can be 100 percent accurate in identifying patients with significant memory loss who are on their way to developing Alzheimer’s disease. The new study included more than 300 patients in their seventies, 114 with normal memories, 200 with memory problems, and 102 with Alzheimer’s disease. Their spinal fluid was analyzed for amyloid beta, which forms plaques in the brain, and for tau, another protein that accumulates in dead and dying nerve cells in the brain. Nearly every person with Alzheimer’s had the characteristic spinal fluid protein levels. However, should doctors offer, or patients accept, commercially available spinal tap tests to find a disease that is, as yet, untreatable?
Science

Submission + - Bats May be Facing Extinction (the-scientist.com) 1

Submitted by gpronger
gpronger writes: the Scientist reports that brown bats, at least on a regional basis are threatened by extinction due to the "".White Nose Symdrome. This disease attacks the animal during hibernation where large numbers of bats congregate to over winter. The disease is believed to be caused by a fungus called Geomyces destructans. Researchers have looked at the population declines in areas effected and were surprised to find in some regions the brown bat faces extinction in as as soon as 16 years. The journal Science carried the main article, the abstract is available without charge.
Science

Submission + - The Brain's Secret for Sleeping Like a Log (wired.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Why can some people sleep through anything? According to this article in Wired Science, some lucky people have a bonus helping of a certain kind of brain static that essentially blocks out noise and other stimuli. These "sleep spindles" can be detected via EEG, and show up as brief bursts of high-frequency brain waves; some people naturally produce more than others. The researchers say these spindles are produced by the thalamus, the brain region that acts as a waystation for sensory information. If the thalamus is busy producing sleep spindles, sensory information can't make it through the thalamus to the cortex, the perceptive part of the brain.
Apple

Submission + - Hard Times Ahead for Apple (guardian.co.uk) 1

Submitted by Finerva
Finerva writes: Apple's untouchable brand has been tarnished. First came the grumbles from technophiles, underwhelmed by the iPad, although this didn't stop the gadget selling at record levels. Then came the iPhone 4's handling issue. The "loses signal if you hold it" hiccup compromised what is, ultimately, a mobile phone.

Apple then managed to compound the fault: first offering little more than a bandage for the affected area and then revealing another mistake entirely. The admission that its method for measuring what phone signal was available had been wrong all along. In all its phones.

And to cap it all, this week the German government pointed out a security failure that renders some iPhones, iPads and iPods vulnerable to hackers, a threat considered so dangerous that the German Federal Office for Information Security officially warned citizens of "two critical weak points for which no patch exists". A statement that leaves Apple's all-important reputation for perfection looking bruised.
Networking

Submission + - Sifting authorities from celebrities on Twitter (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by
holy_calamity
holy_calamity writes: "Celebrities like Britney Spears may be the "most followed" on Twitter but new service PeerIndex mines the content of tweets and tracks the spread of links and phrases to reveal the hidden experts in specific areas, from cloud computing to venture capital. The authorities the site finds for a given subject often have only a few hundred followers, but the content of their tweets is known to spread widely. Could data mining tools like this be the future for people or businesses looking for new collaborators, advisers and influencers?"
Science

Submission + - Inside An Organ Printer: Organovo In Photos (wired.com)

Submitted by eecue
eecue writes: A biotech startup in San Diego called Organovo (previously on slashdot) has a device that prints out three dimensional veins. The material used is a specially cultured slurry of stem cells from the patient who will eventually receive the transplant. Printing circulatory tissue is an important step towards on demand organs. I toured their facility for Wired and shot a (single page) gallery of their vein-making-robot in action.

Submission + - IM aggregators used to get around Blackberry ban (theinquirer.net)

Submitted by illiteratehack
illiteratehack writes: Citizens in the Middle East are getting around the ban on Blackberry messaging by installing social networking aggregators on their Blackberrys. It seems that users simply want the functionality of instant messaging rather than a specific software/hardware configuration.
Idle

Submission + - Senate Approves The ______Act of____ (techdirt.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Apparently the Senate was in such a rush to get out of town that it forgot to name an "important" bill that it passed, so the bill goes to the House as The ______Act of____. That's how it appears in the Congressional Record, though the Library of Congress has it listed as The XXXXXXAct ofXXXX. As for what's in the bill, well that appears to be as mysterious as the name. It was officially announced as a bill to tax bonuses to execs who received TARP money. But then someone simply deleted the entire bill and replaced it with text about aviation security. And then it was deleted again, and replaced with something having to do with education. However, because of these constant changes, many of the services that track the bill have the old details listed. On top of that, Nancy Pelosi called the House back for an emergency vote on this unnamed bill, and anyone trying to find out what it's about might be misled into thinking its about aviation security or something entirely unrelated to the actual bill. And people wonder why no one trusts Congress.

Submission + - Better Understanding of Mapmaking in the Brain

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: “Grid cells,” which help the brain map locations, have been found for the first time outside of the hippocampus in the rat brain, according to new research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The finding should help further our understanding of how the brain generates the internal maps that help us remember where we have been and how to get to where we want to go.

Submission + - Man arrested for expressing opinion. (google.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: "Connecticut police say they arrested a man at a management company after he mentioned the shooting rampage across the state that killed nine people and said he understood the killer's mindset."

Thoughtcrime, anybody?

Submission + - Kmart Offers $149 Android Tablet (cnn.com)

Submitted by pickens
pickens writes: A Kmart circular came out last week with an uber-geeky product that perked up a few ears in the gadget community. Augen's 7-inch Gen-78 Android tablet which runs Android 2.1 is on sale for $150 (normally $170). The tablet is as bare bones as it gets, but it does work and has some features which may interest those who can't reconcile the $500+ price of Apple's iPad. Features include Android 2.1 (no skinning) 800x480 Display, WiFi 802.11G, 2GB of storage +SD card slot (up to 32GB), 256MB of RAM (same as iPad), HDMI out for 720P viewing on an external display, Android Market access, an eBook reader, YouTube app, and Maps. The tablet is currently sold out at many locations but Kmart is offering rain checks. "I'll be honest," writes Seth Weintraub. "I don't trust my toddler with an iPad but this thing will be great for watching Gumby (don't ask) at home and Sesame Street in the car."

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