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Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft outsources algorithm research to India (computerworld.co.nz)

Submitted by
rafael_es_son
rafael_es_son writes: "It's not about outsourcing cut-and-dried, code-monkey programming jobs anymore, Toto: theoretical research jobs are going too!

"Microsoft decided to work on algorithms in India because educational institutions in the country have considerable expertise in theoretical computer science, which makes it easier to find and attract talented staff, Anandan said."

...which is also willing to work for substantially less than their U.S. or U.K. counterparts, who are educated by institutions which have also considerable expertise in theoretical computer science.

Microsoft, for one, welcomes juicier profit margins, again, at the expense of U.S. scientists jobs.

Why are U.S. and U.K. universities having so much trouble recruiting computer science students this year?"
Space

Huge Balloon Lofts New Telescope 85

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the not-just-hot-air dept.
Science Daily is reporting that a new solar telescope has been launched via an enormous balloon filled with helium. Dubbed project "Sunrise" the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), NASA, Germany's Max Planck Institute for Solar Physics, Spain's Astrophysics Institute of the Canary Islands, and the Swedish Space Corporation all partnered to launch the balloon in order to view never before see features of the Sun. "The project may usher in a new generation of balloon-borne scientific missions that cost less than sending instruments into space. Scientists also can test an instrument on a balloon before making a commitment to launch it on a rocket. The balloon, with its gondola of scientific instruments, was launched successfully on the morning of October 3 from the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. It flew for about 10 hours, capturing stable images of the solar surface and additional data from the various instruments of the sophisticated payload. The gondola then separated from the balloon and descended with a parachute, landing safely in a field outside Dalhart, Texas."
Biotech

Crime Reduction Linked To Lead-Free Gasoline 616

Posted by kdawson from the getting-the-lead-out dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Even low levels of lead can cause brain damage, increasing the likelihood of behavioral and cognitive traits such as impulsivity, aggressiveness, and low IQ that are strongly linked with criminal behavior. The NYTimes has a story on how the phasing out of leaded gasoline starting with the Clean Air Act in 1973 may have led to a 56% drop in violent crime in the US in the 1990s. An economics professor at Amherst College, Jessica Wolpaw Reyes, discovered the connection and wrote a paper comparing the reduction of lead from gasoline between states (PDF) and the reduction of violent crime. She constructed a table linking crime rates in every state to childhood lead exposure in that state 20 or 30 years earlier. If lead poisoning is a factor in the development of criminal behavior, then countries that didn't switch to unleaded fuel until the 1980s, like Britain and Australia, should soon see a dip in crime as the last lead-damaged children outgrow their most violent years."
Software

Submission + - 30 days with Ubuntu (linux-noob.com)

Submitted by
znx
znx writes: "How does the hype of Ubuntu actually stand up to an existing Fedora user? This guy has been using mainly Redhat based distributions for some time and took the leap to Ubuntu for 30 days to see how it stood up. Some bits are surprising and I'll admit to learning quite a lot about Ubuntu, there is even some very nice utilities that other distributions should take heed and replicate.

All in all this teaches us something very simple, you may profess that your distribution is the "greatest" but in reality all the big GNU/Linux players are up to the challenge."
Communications

Journal Journal: Vonage still being put down by the Man

Journal by mattatwork
According to the NY Times, Vonage is again getting it rough in court. The FCC requires VOIP companies to contribute to a fund that through the Universal Service Fund, which aims at bringing a variety of services to lower income Americans. The issue Vonage brought up in court was the high price they had to pay in light of a last years posted loss of $286 mi
Technology (Apple)

Journal Journal: 100% DRM free, Personal ID still attached 2

Journal by mattatwork
According to My Way News, consumer watchdog and privacy groups have begun noticing the iTunes personal data that is being put into the songs consumers download off of iTunes. While these groups admit this had been prevalent with music with DRM, the information left in these higher quality, DRM-free songs could be used to track users who pirate songs. What's the big advantage or difference now if they take away the restricti

Feed The Algorithm Is A Disappointment (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
There's a lot of discussion today about the newly revamped Ask.com, which remains in the unenviable #4 spot in terms of search market share. Basically, the site seems to have sharpened up its interface a little bit, while incorporating things like news and images into its results page. Additionally, the site offers suggested refinement searches, so if you search for "Sopranos", it'll show you a link where you can get results for "Sopranos Merchandise". All of this is fairly inoffensive, but it's really hard to see how this is going to move the dial at all. Despite the company's insistence that it has developed "A Truly New Way to Search", the whole thing looks like a spin on Google's recently announced universal search strategy, which involves incorporating more types of media into its results. The look and feel is a tad different, but so what? Even if the new Ask.com returns "better" results than Google in some instances, there's nothing here that will actually get people to switch. Right now, the company is making a big effort to explain why the new changes are cool, but most people giving the site a try won't have the benefit of someone explaining to them why the site is now so great. As such, they probably won't see it themselves.

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