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Biotech

Submission + - Merck to Halt Lobbying for Vaccine for Girls

Submitted by
theodp
theodp writes: "Reacting to a furor from some parents, advocacy groups and public health experts, Merck said yesterday that it would stop lobbying state legislatures to require the use of its new cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil, which acts against strains of the sexually-transmitted human papilloma virus. The $400 3-shot regimen was approved by the FDA in June. Later that month, a federal advisory panel recommended that females 11-26 years old be vaccinated. The governor of Texas has already signed an executive order making its use mandatory for schoolgirls."
Music

Submission + - Zelda Music Reorchestrated with Soundscapes!

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: I found this website who's goal is to re-orchestrate ALL of the music from the Legend of Zelda, giving them a high quality, orchestral feel. They have over 200 songs completed and are well on their way, and the songs are TOTALLY FREE! Also, this past weekend they released an album called "Soundscapes", a mix of previously released and/or entirely new ZREO songs and add environmental sound effects to them. This adds a whole new atmospheric element to the tracks. It makes you feel like you are actually in the game! Check them out at http://www.zreomusic.com/
Bug

Submission + - Americans more approving of terrorism than Muslims

Submitted by
Flo
Flo writes: "[Sorry for the double-submission... I forgot the link *blush*] An interesting study shows how misleading common prejudices can be:

[...] 46 percent of Americans think that "bombing and other attacks intentionally aimed at civilians" are "never justified," while 24 percent believe these attacks are "often or sometimes justified."
[...]Do these findings mean that Americans are closet terrorist sympathizers?
Hardly. Yet, far too often, Americans and other Westerners seem willing to draw that conclusion about Muslims.
"
Google

Submission + - Vint Cerf at Google Speaker Series, India

Submitted by
zakkie
zakkie writes: "Ajit Gaddam reports on a talk by Vint Cerf, Google VP and one of the people considered one of the "founding fathers of the Internet", held at Hyderabad, India. Cerf discusses the challenges facing Google in particular in a connected world, as well as exploring some potential solutions for both businesses and end-users in dealing with connectivity and security. Cerf also stated that were he to do things over again, he'd have pushed IPv6 over IPv4 right from the start."
Databases

Submission + - MSFT Plays up Open Source

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: One of the longest running open source databases — Postgres — has been around for nearly 11 years (I think.) The powerful object-relational database is a direct competitor to other OSS databases, as well as Microsoft's SQL Server 2005. So why is Microsoft promoting it? Thursday, Microsoft's open source software lab posted PostgreSQL on Windows: A Primer. At first, I get Redmond's interest in promoting anything that runs on Windows as a platform. But looking at this week's news: Ian Murdock visits Redmond, Microsoft and Novell announced their technical roadmap & Red Hat joins Microsoft's Interop Vendor program — is something bigger brewing in Bill's backyard? And how does Ballmer feel about this? The post is located at: http://port25.technet.com/archive/2007/02/22/postg resql-on-windows-a-primer.aspx
The Internet

Submission + - President Obama supports AppleGoogle's Purchase

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: President Obama Supports AppleGoogle's Latest Acquisition (HeardFirst Newswire) February 27, 2010, Washington D.C. President Obama, answering videomail questions during a Pepsi Rose Garden press conference, expressed his confidence that AppleGoogle 's imminent purchase of both DiggMyDeliciousSecondLife and StumbleFark would only have a positive effect on the net. MS Yahoo filed a legal briefing... http://www.innocentenglish.com/funny-strange-news/ applegoogle-president-obama
Space

Submission + - MacGuyver In Space: Duct Tape and Tranqs

Submitted by
WED Fan
WED Fan writes: "NASA's contingency plan for unstable astronauts includes duct tape and tranquelizers.

What would happen if an astronaut came unglued in space and, say, destroyed the ship's oxygen system or tried to open the hatch and kill everyone aboard?


That was the question on some minds after the apparent breakdown of Lisa Nowak, arrested in Orlando this month on charges she tried to kidnap and kill a woman she regarded as her rival for another astronaut's affections.


But what if astronaut Homer, eating chips-on-the-fly lets loose a bunch of ants and...?"
XBox (Games)

New Version of Xbox 360 Rumoured 102

Posted by Zonk from the maybe-maybe-not dept.
Carlo Becchi writes "According to Engadget a new version of the Xbox 360 is on the way. The next version of the console is codenamed 'Zephyr', and sports a bigger disk (120 Gb), better manufacturing process (65nm) and HDMI digital out up to 1080p. From the article: 'The 120GB drive may or may not come bundled with the kit, we don't yet know, just as we also don't yet know how much a Zephyr 360 is going to run (we imagine it'll go for the same price as currently so they can keep up a little on their expanding margin).'" It should be pointed out at this point the whole story is a fairly convincing photo and leaks from 'a source'. Take with a grain of salt.
The Internet

Virtual Reality Getting its Own Network? 82

Posted by Zonk from the unlikely-methinks dept.
loganrapp writes "We've all watched the Matrix, and regardless of how we felt about them, the concept of plugging into a virtual reality appeals greatly to us. It appears that a nonprofit group called the International Association of Virtual Reality Technologies plans to build a network purely for virtual reality. Its name? Neuronet, and the first generation is planned for 2007, with "consumer applications" planned for 2009. There is some fear, however, that the whole thing is a scam."
Businesses

Is 'Web 2.0' Another Bubble? 209

Posted by Zonk from the pop dept.
Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Two tech VCs, Todd Dagres and David Hornik, debate whether there is a bubble in so-called Web 2.0 companies looking to cash in on a resurgent online ad market. In the WSJ.com debate, Hornik writes: 'Venture capitalists will rationally stop investing in ideas that don't bear fruit. Those that do bear fruit will gain traction and either be acquired or go public. Those are the traits of a rational market in my mind.' Dagres responds: 'I think the Web 2.0 space will have a higher mortality rate than other segments of the overall media and technology industries. There are far too many MySpace and YouTube genetically challenged clones. All but a few will fail. The winners are generally the ones that get in early and out before the bubble bursts. There are rare examples of bubble companies making it through the bust and going on to become successful and valuable companies. By the way, the combined cash flow of Spot Runner, LinkedIn and Facebook is less than that of one Costco store.'"

Making Time With the Watchmakers 257

Posted by Zonk from the temple-fugate-would-be-proud dept.
PreacherTom writes "In the age of watches that have more computational power than Apollo 11's computer, one would think that the watchmaker has gone the way of the cobbler, the blacksmith and the Dodo. Quite the contrary. With the rise in interest for mechanical watches (especially luxury models), Rolex has sponsored a new school to train horologists in the arcane art. From the article: 'We were facing a situation today where we needed to foster a new generation of watchmakers,' says Charles Berthiaume, the senior vice-president for technical operations at Rolex and the Technicum's president 'Thirty to 40 years ago, there was a watchmaker at every jewelry store. That's not the case today,' he notes. Included are some remarkable examples of their training, dedication, and intricate patience as they take technology in an entirely different direction."
Operating Systems

Are You Switching to 64-bit Processors? 252

Posted by Cliff from the is-64-bit-windows-worth-the-switch dept.
chip_whisperer asks: "I used to be a big time custom desktop builder, making many working boxes per year, but I've been off the bandwagon for about four years now and am trying to get back into it now that Ars Technica has just released their recommendations. The standard seems to be heading towards 64-bit processors, but I'm wondering if it worth it to run a box on XP-64? I've heard that driver support for 64-bit processors can be a hassle. Also, for you fellow Linux geeks, how are current distros (like Suse, Ubuntu, Debian, and others) doing in supporting 64 bit processors?"

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