Comment Re:Okay Ballmer, enough with the jokes! (Score 1) 157
Actually, Steve Ballmer is not mentioned in TFA. The quote is attributed to "Nate McLemore, general manager of the Microsoft Health Solutions Group."
But, the irony stands...
Submission + - US Senator Slams Robots (ieee.org)
An anonymous reader writes: Tom Coburn, Republican senator from Oklahoma, has recently put out a report accusing the National Science Foundation of mismanagement and abuse, including wasting millions of dollars on "dumb projects," several of which involve robots. Now the roboticists are standing up to the senator [http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-software/us-senator-calls-robot-projects-wasteful]. The researchers defend their projects and claim that the senator's assessment of science was "unscientific."
Submission + - Indication of neutrino transformation observed (nhk.or.jp)
AmiMoJo writes: "A Japanese research group says it has observed for the first time an indication that a type of neutrino can change into another type.
The group generated a large amount of neutrinos at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, or J-PARC, in the prefecture's Tokai Village, and aimed them at the Super-Kamiokande observatory in Gifu Prefecture about 300 kilometers away, to look for neutrino oscillation. As a result, the group observed that muon neutrinos can change into electron neutrinos."
The group generated a large amount of neutrinos at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, or J-PARC, in the prefecture's Tokai Village, and aimed them at the Super-Kamiokande observatory in Gifu Prefecture about 300 kilometers away, to look for neutrino oscillation. As a result, the group observed that muon neutrinos can change into electron neutrinos."
Submission + - The Mob and Nuclear Waste (guardian.co.uk)
mdsolar writes: "The Mafia has been involved with waste disposal for forever but they seem to be getting very interested in nuclear waste disposal these days. In Europe they scuttle ships containing nuclear waste in the sea. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8257912.stm Now in Japan, their Asian counterparts are angling for disposal contracts resulting from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/15/yakuza-swaps-charity-for-reconstruction"
Submission + - Becoming a Scientist Over and Over Again (discovermagazine.com)
purkinje writes: Erez Leiberman does physics, yes, but also linguistics, engineering, and molecular biology. He's a scientist, but rather than honing in on one area, he tackles questions that interest him--whatever field they fall in. He's mathematically analyzed the half-lives of verbs, determined how strands of DNA up in a cell's nucleus, and invented a special insole that helps the elderly improve their balance.
Submission + - Dutch to enforce netneutrality by law (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Big news out of the Netherlands this week, where a government minister announced plans to guarantee network neutrality by law. If Parliament approves the amendment to Dutch telecommunications law, and it expected to do so, it would become one of the first countries in the world to legislate against Internet providers who want to charge more for using particular applications or services.
Submission + - Federal courts to begin first digital video pilot (networkworld.com)
coondoggie writes: "Federal district courts have been prohibited from allowing any sort of electronic dissemination of trials since 1946, but that is about to change.
Fourteen federal trial courts and 100 judges have been selected to take part in the federal Judiciary's three-year digital video pilot, which will begin July 18 and will go a long way towards determining the effect of cameras in courtrooms."
Fourteen federal trial courts and 100 judges have been selected to take part in the federal Judiciary's three-year digital video pilot, which will begin July 18 and will go a long way towards determining the effect of cameras in courtrooms."
Submission + - Remote Access Using Cloud Technology (brothatech.com)
LindsayMorton writes: ""BrothaTech.com reviews remote access & file sharing app — HomePipe"
Submission + - Court:Passwords+Secret Questions=Secure Banking (krebsonsecurity.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A closely-watched court battle over how far commercial banks need to go to protect their customers from cyber theft is nearing an end. Experts said the decision recommended by a magistrate last week — if adopted by a U.S. district court in Maine — will make it more difficult for other victim businesses to challenge the effectiveness of security measures employed by their banks. This case would be the first to add legal precedent to banking industry guidelines about what constitutes "reasonable" security. The tentative decision is that a series of passwords + some device fingerprinting is enough to meet the definition of "something you know" + "something you have". The case has generated enormous discussion over whether the industry's "recommended" practices are anywhere near relevant to today's attacks, in which crooks usually have complete control over the victim's PC
Submission + - Google Redirects Traffic to Avoid Kazakh Demands (wsj.com)
pbahra writes: "Google has rejected attempts by the Kazakh government "to create borders on the web" and has refused a demand to house servers in the country after an official decree that all Internet domains ending with the domain suffix for Kazakhstan ,".kz", be domestically based. Bill Coughran, Google senior vice president said in his blog that from now on, Google will redirect users that visit google.kz to google.com in Kazakh:" We find ourselves in a difficult situation: creating borders on the web raises important questions for us not only about network efficiency but also about user privacy and free expression. If we were to operate google.kz only via servers located inside Kazakhstan, we would be helping to create a fractured Internet." Mr. Coughran said that unfortunately, it would mean that Kazakh users would have a poorer experience as results would no longer be customized for the former Soviet republic."
Comment Bummer to be Microsoft... (Score 1) 324
AV is a lose-lose situation for MS -- they're screwed if they do and screwed if they don't...
40 Million Year Old Primate Fossils Found In Asia 91
sosaited writes "It has been widely believed that our ancestors originated out of Africa, but a paper published in Nature by Carnegie Museum of Natural History scientists puts this in doubt. The paper is based on the fossils of four primate species found in Asia which are 40 million years old, during which period Africa was thought to not have these species. The diversity and timing of the new anthropoids raises two scenarios. Anthropoids might simply have emerged in Africa much earlier than thought, and gone undiscovered by modern paleontologists. Or they could have crossed over from Asia, where evidence suggests that anthropoids lived 55 million years ago, flourishing and diversifying in the wide-open ecological niches of an anthropoid-free Africa."
Morphing Metals 121
aarondubrow writes "Imagine a metal that 'remembers' its original, cold-forged shape, and can return to that shape when exposed to heat or a magnetic pulse. Like magic out of a Harry Potter novel, such a metal could contract on command, or swing back and forth like a pendulum. Believe it or not, such metals already exist. First discovered in 1931, they belong to a class of materials called 'shape memory alloys (SMA),' whose unique atomic make-up allows them to return to their initial form, or alternate between forms through a phase change."
Autism Diagnosed With a Fifteen Minute Brain Scan 190
kkleiner writes "A new technique developed at King's College London uses a fifteen minute MRI scan to diagnose autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The scan is used to analyze the structure of grey matter in the brain, and tests have shown that it can identify individuals already diagnosed with autism with 90% accuracy. The research could change the way that autism is diagnosed – including screening children for the disorder at a young age."
How a Key Enzyme Repairs Sun-Damaged DNA 97
BraveHeart writes "Researchers have long known that mammals, including humans, lack a key enzyme — one possessed by most of the animal kingdom and even plants — that reverses severe sun damage. For the first time, researchers have witnessed how this enzyme works at the atomic level to repair sun-damaged DNA. 'Normal sunscreen lotions convert UV light to heat, or reflect it away from our skin. A sunscreen containing photolyase could potentially heal some of the damage from UV rays that get through.'"
