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Submission + - Microsoft to hire at least 400 Yahoo workers (yahoo.com)

Submitted by Santosh
Santosh writes: Microsoft Corp. will hire at least 400 workers from Yahoo Inc. if government regulators approve the companies' proposed Internet search partnership, and Yahoo will receive $150 million to cover any unexpected costs during the switch to new technology.
As it is, transferring 400 workers to Microsoft would prune Yahoo's current payroll by about 3 percent. Yahoo will lay off some workers if the Microsoft deal goes through, Bartz said last week. Tuesday's filing didn't provide any layoff projections.
To keep Yahoo happy, Microsoft will have to produce ad revenue per search that is within a certain percentage of Google's industry-leading rate. If Microsoft doesn't hit the target, Yahoo can abandon the partnership before the contract expires. Tuesday's filing didn't specify how close Microsoft has to come to Google's revenue per search. Microsoft estimates that Google gets 7 cents in ad revenue for every search, while Yahoo gets 4.3 cents and Microsoft gets 3.9 cents, according to a PowerPoint slide Microsoft mistakenly posted online.
Transportation

Submission + - Cash For Clunkers: The Data On Why It's Working (greencarreports.com)

Submitted by
thecarchik
thecarchik writes: "As enacted, the Clunkers program had two goals that weren't always aligned: It had to increase the average gas mileage of cars on the road, but also encourage new car sales, period. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that as of yesterday at 4 pm, almost 134,000 vehicles had been traded in, earning rebates of $564 million. That's an average rebate of more than $4,200--meaning that the mileage increases were far higher than the minimum necessary to earn the base rebate of $3,500."
Earth

Submission + - 3D Images Reconstructed of 300M Year Old Spiders

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Scientists at Imperial College London have created detailed 3D computer models of two fossilized specimens of ancient creatures called Cryptomartus hindi and Eophrynus prestvicii, closely related to modern-day spiders. The researchers created their images by using a CT scanning device, which enabled them to take 3,000 x-rays of each fossil then compile them into precise 3D models, using custom-designed software. Both spiders roamed the Earth before the dinnosaurs during the Carboniferous period, 359 — 299 million years ago when life was emerging from the oceans to live on land. C. hindi's front pair of legs were angled toward the front, suggesting they were used to grapple with prey, an "ambush predator" like the modern-day crab spider, lying in wait for prey to come close. Another finding from the models is that E. prestivicii had hard spikes along its back, probably as a defensive measure making it less palatable to the amphibians that would have hunted it. "Our models almost bring these ancient creatures back to life and it's really exciting to be able to look at them in such detail," says researcher Russel Garwood adding that the technique could be used to return to fossils that have previously been analyzed by conventional means. "Our study helps build a picture of what was happening during this period early in the history of life on land.""
Space

Submission + - NASA Begins Commercial Crew Initiative (commercialspaceflight.org) 4

Submitted by FleaPlus
FleaPlus writes: NASA is using an initial $50M to 'stimulate efforts within the private sector to develop and demonstrate human spaceflight capabilities.' NASA originally planned to use $150M, which was blocked by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) until it was largely redirected to the ~$35B Ares rocket program based at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. The Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (C3PO) will reward multiple competitive contracts, with the goals of promoting job growth, lowering the cost of spaceflight, and helping reduce the post-Shuttle gap in US human spaceflight capability.
Google

Submission + - Google's 2nd Android Developer Contest kicksoff 1

Submitted by coffeeisclassy
coffeeisclassy writes: Google's second Android Developer Contest (ADC2) has started, despite some confusion around how to submit applications. The prizes are different from the first ADC, with each category having prizes of 100k, 50k, and 25k and an overall best of 150k,50k and 25k, meaning the best Android application from ADC2 is eligible for ~250k. The rules seem to allow any application never published before August 1st to compete and is open through the end of August (so break out your keyboards!). The top prizes are certainly less than that of first ADC, but with the prizes broken down by category Google may be hoping to inspire some love for less popular categories. While some other developers are waiting to find out to submit, one developer has moved ahead and released one of there entires Pigs Can Fly Site Monitor (also on Google Market for those with Androids). So if you've been waiting for an excuse to start a new side-project, here you have it :)
Editorial

Submission + - Navigating a geek marriage...

Submitted by
JoeLinux
JoeLinux writes: "I am soon to marry my true love (a girl! yes! they do exist!). She is a literary geek, whereas I am a gaming/linux geek. Being the RTFM-style geeks that we are, we have been reading up on marriage, making things work, etc. Unfortunately, all of the references seem to be based around an alpha-male jock, and a submissive cheerleader-style wife. A lot of the references to incompatibility in the books don't apply to us.(neglect due to interest in sports, etc.) What are some of the pitfalls and successes learned in the course of a more geek-oriented marriage?"
Medicine

Submission + - Sticky Tape Found To Emit Terahertz Radiation (newscientist.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes:

WILL sticky tape ever cease to amaze? Peeling it can generate terahertz radiation, raising the possibility of a cheaper alternative to lasers for medical imaging. Peeling sticky tape has already been shown to produce X-rays, so Joseph Horvat and Roger Lewis of the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia, tried to see if it could create lower-frequency terahertz radiation. "We were rather pleasantly surprised to obtain a clear signal in our first attempt," says Horvat. Strongly adhesive Scotch Magic 810 tape and weakly adhesive electrical tape both yielded strong terahertz signals, ranging from 0.1 to 10 terahertz, but only about a microwatt of power, too little for practical use (Optics Letters, vol 34, p 2195). Horvat says that refinements should increase the power by orders of magnitude.

It may be old news to /. that it had been proved to produce xrays but watching the linked video where they use tape to expose X-ray film was pretty amazing. Wonder what would happen if they used Duct tape

Comment This reminds me of the old GM joke... (Score 1) 725

by CronicBurn (#26162241) Attached to: British Royal Navy Submarines Now Run Windows

I couldn't help but think about this after reading the article...

At a computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated: "If GM had kept up with the technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release (by Mr. Welch himself) stating:

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason at all, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally, executing a manoeuver such as a left-turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, and you would have to reinstall the engine.

4. When your car died on the freeway for no reason, you would just accept this, restart and drive on.

5. Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought 'Car95' or 'CarNT', and then added more seats.

6. Apple would make a car powered by the sun, reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would run on only five per cent of the roads.

7. Oil, water temperature and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single 'general car default' warning light.

8. New seats would force every-one to have the same size butt.

9. The airbag would say 'Are you sure?' before going off.

10. Occasionally, for no reason, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grabbed the radio antenna.

11. GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of road maps from Rand-McNally (a subsidiary of GM), even though they neither need them nor want them. Trying to delete this option would immediately cause the car's performance to diminish by 50 per cent or more. Moreover, GM would become a target for investigation by the Justice Department.

12. Every time GM introduced a new model, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

13. You would press the 'start' button to shut off the engine.

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