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Submission + - Scientists strip zebrafish of their stripes (washington.edu)

Submitted by vinces99
vinces99 writes: Within weeks of publishing surprising new insights about how zebrafish get their stripes, the same University of Washington group is now able to explain how to “erase” them. The findings – the first published Aug. 28 in Science and the latest in the Nov. 6 issue of Nature Communications – give new understanding about genes and cell behaviors that underlie pigment patterns in zebrafish that, in turn, could help unravel the workings of pigment cells in humans and other animals, skin disorders such as melanoma and cell regeneration.

“Using zebrafish as a model, we’re at the point where we have a lot of the basic mechanisms, the basic phenomenology of what’s going on, so we can start to look at some of these other species that have really different patterns and start to understand them,” said David Parichy, a UW professor of biology and corresponding author on both papers.

Zebrafish, a tropical freshwater fish about 1.5 inches long, belongs to the minnow family and is a popular addition to home aquariums. Adults have long horizontal blue stripes on their sides, hence the reference to “zebra.” These patterns have roles in schooling, mate selection and avoiding predators. Given their importance, scientists have long wanted to know where these pigment cells come from and how they make stripes and other arrangements.

Submission + - 360 Product Photography Solution - KICKSTARTER LAUNCH (kickstarter.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Our Kickstarter campaign went live today and is for a 360 Product Photography Turntable and Software solution that makes it simple, fast and efficient for users of any skill level to create high quality, interactive 360 product views (a pretty hot trend in website imaging). https://www.kickstarter.com/pr...
The problem with this industry is that most professional grades turntable/DSLR camera solutions start upwards of $2,000 USD. We are trying to disrupt this market with an affordable alternative.

Submission + - Informational Wi-Fi traffic as a covert communication channel for malware (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by angry tapir
angry tapir writes: A security researcher has developed a tool to demonstrate how the unauthenticated data packets in the 802.11 wireless LAN protocol can be used as a covert channel to control malware on an infected computer. The protocol relies on clients and access points exchanging informational data packets before they authenticate or associate with each other, and this traffic is not typically monitored by network security devices.

Submission + - We Are Running Out of Sand 1

Submitted by HughPickens.com
HughPickens.com writes: John R. Gillis writes in the NYT that to those of us who visit beaches only in summer, beaches seem as permanent a part of our natural heritage as the Rocky Mountains but shore dwellers know that beaches are the most transitory of landscapes, and sand beaches the most vulnerable of all. Today, 75 to 90 percent of the world’s natural sand beaches are disappearing, due partly to rising sea levels and increased storm action, but also to massive erosion caused by the human development of shores. The extent of this global crisis is obscured because so-called beach nourishment projects attempt to hold sand in place(PDF) and repair the damage by the time summer people return, creating the illusion of an eternal shore. But the market for mined sand in the US has become a billion-dollar annual business, growing at 10 percent a year since 2008. Interior mining operations use huge machines working in open pits to dig down under the earth’s surface to get sand left behind by ancient glaciers.

One might think that desert sand would be a ready substitute, but its grains are finer and smoother; they don’t adhere to rougher sand grains, and tend to blow away. As a result, the desert state of Dubai brings sand for its beaches all the way from Australia. Huge sand mining operations are emerging worldwide, many of them illegal, happening out of sight and out of mind, as far as the developed world is concerned. "We need to stop taking sand for granted and think of it as an endangered natural resource," concludes Gillis. "Beach replenishment — the mining and trucking and dredging of sand to meet tourist expectations — must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, with environmental considerations taking top priority. Only this will ensure that the story of the earth will still have subsequent chapters told in grains of sand."

Submission + - New Clock May End Time As We Know It (npr.org) 1

Submitted by SonicSpike
SonicSpike writes: At the heart of this new clock is the element strontium. Inside a small chamber, the strontium atoms are suspended in a lattice of crisscrossing laser beams. Researchers then give them a little ping, like ringing a bell. The strontium vibrates at an incredibly fast frequency. It's a natural atomic metronome ticking out teeny, teeny fractions of a second.

This new clock can keep perfect time for 5 billion years.

"It's about the whole, entire age of the earth," says Jun Ye, the scientist here at JILA who built this clock. "Our aim is that we'll have a clock that, during the entire age of the universe, would not have lost a second."

But this new clock has run into a big problem: This thing we call time doesn't tick at the same rate everywhere in the universe. Or even on our planet.

Right now, on the top of Mount Everest, time is passing just a little bit faster than it is in Death Valley. That's because speed at which time passes depends on the strength of gravity. Einstein himself discovered this dependence as part of his theory of relativity, and it is a very real effect.

The relative nature of time isn't just something seen in the extreme. If you take a clock off the floor, and hang it on the wall, Ye says, "the time will speed up by about one part in 1016."

That is a sliver of a second. But this isn't some effect of gravity on the clock's machinery. Time itself is flowing more quickly on the wall than on the floor. These differences didn't really matter until now. But this new clock is so sensitive, little changes in height throw it way off. Lift it just a couple of centimeters, Ye says, "and you will start to see that difference."

This new clock can sense the pace of time speeding up as it moves inch by inch away from the earth's core.

Submission + - FrontPoint Security System Reviews – Home Security Alarm Systems (youtube.com)

Submitted by MarkSpencer90
MarkSpencer90 writes: http://securitysystemdiscount.... 2 weeks before Christmas, somebody broke into my house and I was asleep because I work graveyard shift as a nurse. And as a result, I woke up trying to find somebody to come into the room where I was sleeping. I did chase them out butI knew that time that I need a home security alarm system.

Other home security alarm system companies don’t have that wireless or cellular feature that is compatible with mobile devices.FrontPoint, on the other hand, we ended up getting the entire security system installed in the house—we’ve got sensors all over the doors and windows, we have motion detectors, and everything can be remotely controlled as long as I get internet signal.

Submission + - Attain Accredited Emergency First Aid Training Procedures from Surety Group

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The possibility of illness and mishaps amongst employees are a constant thorn in any organizations side. The assistance of the accredited emergency first aid training imparted by Surety Group will help minimise this threat. Surety safety training courses aid support in your organization in case of emergency.

Surety Group offers three training modules to your employees. These are based on three levels of certifications and involve progressive levels of proficiency. The first module is the Level 3 First Aid at Work module (QFC). It is a three-day program for anyone who wishes to be a first aider or is already a first aider, but wants to brush up their skills. Surety Group also cover Level 2 of the Emergency First Aid training at work, a one-day course dealing with any emergency situation employees may need to handle at work.

Level 2 involves ensuring that employees can help when incidents involve low-risk injuries such as minor cuts, bleeding, choking, and shock or if someone becomes unconscious. In Level 3 a wider variety of illnesses like fainting, angina, heart attack, bleeding (both major and minor) and burns of most kinds are covered. Additionally attendees will also receive Emergency First Aid training to handle more serious injuries such as injuries to the eyes, poisoning, seizures, asthma attacks, anaphylaxis and even strokes. Unfortunately, in today's hectic workplaces, a lot of the problems mentioned here can and do happen with increasing alacrity.

The certificate that employees receive on completion of the course is valid for three years. There are revalidation courses available for the Level 3 programme that allow candidates to renew their certification for another three years once they have completed the program successfully. A spokesman for Surety Group stated: “We have refresher trainings annually, and this help the first aiders in refreshing themselves in the absence of actual scenarios of use. Many times a momentary lapse can cost a life.” Surety Group wants to ensure that your organization will have full health & safety coverage, and employees will know how to react adequately at all times and in all cases of emergency.

Submission + - This fake phone has raised nearly $8,000 on Kickstarter (trymodern.com)

Submitted by Jam07
Jam07 writes: Phone addiction is real, and there’s a Kickstarter campaign geared towards combating that, or at least that’s what they want you to think. Forged from the fiery plastic cauldrons, the NoPhone is essentially a block of plastic that looks similar to an iPhone. You can’t make calls or send nude Snapchats to your lover because it’s not a phonereally.

Submission + - OpenBSD 5.6 Released

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Just as per the schedule, OpenBSD 5.6 was released today, November 1, 2014. The theme of the 5.6 release is "Ride of the Valkyries". OpenBSD 5.6 will be the first version with LibreSSL. This version also removed sendmail from the base system, smtpd is the default mail transport agent (MTA). The installer no longer supports FTP, network installs via HTTP only. The BIND name server will be removed from the OpenBSD base system. Its replacement comes in the form of the two daemons nsd(8) for authoritative DNS service and unbound(8) for recursive resolver service. OpenSSH 6.7 is included along with GNOME 3.12.2, KDE 4.13.3, Xfce 4.10, Mozilla Firefox 31.0, Vim 7.4.135, LLVM/Clang 3.5 and more. See a detailed log of changes between the 5.5 and 5.6 releases for more information. If you already have an OpenBSD 5.5 system, and do not want to reinstall, upgrade instructions and advice can be found in the Upgrade Guide (a quick video upgrade demo is here). You can order the 5.6 CD set from the new OpenBSD Store and support the project.

Submission + - IE11 Finally Passes IE8 To Become The World's Most Popular Browser 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Ever since its release in October 2013, IE11 has been unable to pass IE8 in market share. It made steady gains, but then plateaued before it could become the world’s most popular browser. Now, Microsoft’s latest and greatest has finally done it. IE11 gained a huge 6.92 percentage points to hit 17.13 percent. IE10 gained 0.51 points to 6.09 percent while IE9 slipped 0.66 points to 8.68 percent. Most importantly, IE8 fell 4.94 points to 17.31 percent.

Submission + - A smart electric bike: taking the Copenhagen Wheel out for a spin (xconomy.com)

Submitted by mlamonica
mlamonica writes: Bikes are a great way to get around the city. But what if it's just too hilly or far to commute by bike? That's where Superpedestrian wants to come in. With a license from MIT's Senseable City Lab, they're commercializing the Copenhagen Wheel, a bike wheel replacement that gives riders electric assist, and through 12 embedded sensors, lots of information on a smart phone app. I took the bike for a ride at the Cambridge office and offer this review.

Feed Google News Sci Tech: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler considers proposing new rules to ensure real ... - The (google.com)

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The Westside Story
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler considers proposing new rules to ensure real ...
The Westside Story
Tom Wheeler, Chairman at the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), revealed on Friday that new rules might be proposed to guarantee real consumer choice. This announcement comes at a time when the giants in the telecommunication...
FCC Will Consider 'Hybrid' Approach to Net Neutralityio9
FCC Head Seeks to Retain Last-Mile Wholesale Access for CLECsChannel Partners
FCC seeks to expand phone net neutrality rules to broadbandDaily Digest
Tech Times-Uncover California-Modern Readers
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