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Robotics

Robots That Bounce on Water 137

Posted by CmdrTaco from the something-about-tigger-goes-here dept.
inghamb87 writes "The way water striders walk on water was discovered years ago. The insect uses its long legs to help evenly distribute its tiny body weight. The weight is distributed over a large area so that the fragile skin formed by surface tension supports the bug on the water. However, the ability of water striders to jump onto water without sinking has baffled scientists, until now." If nothing less, you need to see the picture: it's awesome.
Bug

Submission + - Don't swim: Brain-eating bug cases on the rise! (indystar.com)

Submitted by zahl2
zahl2 writes: It sounds like science fiction, but there really is a brain-eating amoeba you can catch from swimming in warm freshwater lakes, entering your body through the nose. There is treatment, but you have to get it fast, and most people die. Global warming is expected to increase cases. Watch those noseplug sales increase!
Education

Submission + - Student Attacked After Dropping Cake (infowars.net) 17

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: "School security guards in Palmdale, CA have been caught on camera assaulting a 16-year-old girl and breaking her arm after she spilled some cake during lunch and left some crumbs on the floor after cleaning it up. The girl, Pleajhai Mervin, told Fox News LA that she was bumped while queuing for lunch and dropped the cake. After being ordered to clean it up and then re-clean the spot three times, she attempted to leave the area out of embarrassment but was jumped on by security who forced her onto a table, breaking her wrist in the process."
Google

Google Unveils Flash Ads 225

Posted by Zonk from the hip-hip-hooray dept.
Gailin writes "Google has announced and given some examples of their new Flash based ads. They seem to vary from average size to full screen-width Flash advertisements, with some interactive abilities. 'Gadget ads can incorporate real-time data feeds, images, video and much more in a single creative unit and can be developed using Flash, HTML or a combination of both. Designed to act more like content than a typical ad, they run on the Google(TM) content network, competing alongside text, image and video ads for placement. They support both cost-per-click and cost-per-impression pricing models, and offer a variety of contextual, site, geographic and demographic targeting options to ensure the ads reach relevant users with precision and scale.'"
Google

False Ad Clicks Cost Google 1 Billion Dollars A Year 233

Posted by Zonk from the heaping-helping-of-fraud dept.
Meshach writes "There is an interesting story at CBC which claims that Google loses one billion dollars per year to fraudulent ad clicks. The article contains an interesting description how how the company determines if a click is false. 'The company explained that it determines which clicks are invalid through a three-stage system. Most of the illegitimate clicks are automatically detected analyzed and filtered out in the first stage ... The second part uses automatic and manual analysis of the AdSense network to weed out false clicks before they are logged to an advertiser's account.'"
The Almighty Buck

TV Torrents — When Piracy Is Easier Than Purchase 474

Posted by Zonk from the wow-guess-i'll-just-not-pay-you-then dept.
An anonymous reader writes "NBC's recent withdrawal from the iTunes store leaves the millions of Apple's customers who have Macs or iPods without a legitimate way to purchase and watch NBC's content. Online media stores such as iTunes, Amazon and Walmart have never been able to compete with the pirates on price, or freedom and flexibility — as the content they sell is typically wrapped in restrictive DRM. The one advantage that legal purchase offered was ease of use. CNET looks into the issue, and discovers that with mature open-source media players such as Miro supporting BitTorrent RSS feeds, it is actually trivially easy for users to subscribe to their favorite shows. Want to wake up to the latest episode of The Colbert Report, Top Gear or any of hundreds of TV shows automatically downloaded and waiting for you? CNET offers an easy three step guide."
Censorship

Submission + - Dell says physicist not to hand computer to Cuba (digitaljournal.com)

Submitted by
Helmet_BR
Helmet_BR writes: "Two weeks ago, a brazilian physicist purchased two computers from Dell, and as they knew it was destinated to a Physics Institute, they asked him to sign a document vowing not to transfer, export or re-export the acquired products to the "Evil Axe", or to any foreigner with two nationalities, natural or living at those countries. The attitude has angered brazilian academic community, who may prepare a boycott.

http://tinyurl.com/yvf4wb
http://tinyurl.com/2ecbqt (in Portuguese)

The physicist, Paulo Gomes, said he wouldn't sign because of principals and for technical reasons, as he already conducted research with Cuban cientists. He says that earlier this year he purchased other products from Dell and nothing was required. Dell says they're only following US laws, and that they may even be prohibited to export."
The Media

Submission + - Science vs. Homeopathy (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
Mr. E
Mr. E writes: "Ars Technica has an interesting look at pseudoscience as it applies to homeopathy. While most discussions about what science is get derailed by the larger controversies surrounding them, Ars chose a relatively uncontroversial pseudo-science to examine so that they could examine the factors which make homeopathy a psuedo-science: ignoring settled issues in science, misapplication of real science, rejection of scientific standards, claims of suppression, large gaps between the conclusion and evidence, and focusing only on the fringes of what we currently understand."
The Courts

Submission + - Broadband site Whirlpool sued for forum comments. (whirlpool.net.au)

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Simon Wright, founder and owner Australian broadband website Whirlpool is being sued by 2clix in the QLD Supreme Court for comments made on Whirlpool's online forum. The 2clix software was discussed in threads titled '2Clix or not 2Clix' and 'Anyone used 2clix', with primarily negative comments, and some discussion between 2Clix staff and other Whirlpool members."
Security

Submission + - Week-long Botnet attack on eBay Accounts

Submitted by
flatfilsoc
flatfilsoc writes: " eWEEK reports an ongoing Botnet Attack is using popular Web sites to obtain personal information from eBay accounts. 'The attack, which is trying to wrestle personal financial data out of eBay accounts by brute force, has been going on for at least a week said officials at Aladdin Knowledge Systems . They discovered the new botnet Sept. 3 but has had no luck contacting eBay about the attack.'"
Announcements

Submission + - "Burning" Saltwater

Submitted by sunspot42
sunspot42 writes: From the too-good-to-believe file comes this AP story. Pennsylvania cancer researcher John Kanzius claims that hydrogen can be cracked from saltwater using nothing more than radio waves. A demonstration for the US Departments of Energy and Defense is scheduled for later in the week. Assuming this process puts out more energy than it costs — a big assumption — it could turn the most plentiful resource on the surface of the earth into an almost limitless, reusable source of energy.
Power

Submission + - Burning salt water (yahoo.com)

Submitted by InFire
InFire writes: Yahoo has an AP report that a scientist has discovered how to make salt water burn using radio frequencies. Is this another hot fusion, ie net energy loss system or a new energy source?

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