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Biotech

Submission + - Modern Technology Reveals Mummy's Past

Submitted by mamamia
mamamia writes: The baby mummy had a European mom, and likely came from a wealthy family. But where he lived and why he died — and at such a young age — remain a mystery. The mummy, exhibited for the first time Thursday at the Saint Louis Science Center, has been the year-long focus of an international team of investigators. The museum said it may be the most extensive research project ever undertaken on a child mummy.
Quickies

Submission + - Geeks are as sexy as anyone

Submitted by
Don Brooks
Don Brooks writes: "Geeks are as sexy as anyone.

Wired blog

Some fun little meaningless non-scientific online poll results about the sex lives of geeks from Geek 2 Geek, an online dating site for people who self-identify as geeks (whatever that means)"
Google

Submission + - Who's behind the anti-Goog Information-Revolution?

Submitted by mstrom
mstrom writes: Walk on the tube (metro) in London anytime now and you'll adverts plastered around asking "Who controls 75% of the worlds information?", "Who is controlling your information?" inviting you to join the "Information Revolution" by going to information-revolution.org. Trouble is, it doesn't say who's behind this revolution. This revolutions most recent trick was to laser-beam a huge advert onto the Houses Of Parliament. It's homepage provides the answer to choice — a search box that lets you choose which search engine to use (well, one of the big-4 anyway) — this is the information revolution!

The entries on their site use hip hand-scrawled or sidewalk-chalked messages to give it a viral buzz as though this is truly a community-sourced revolution. Slick it certainly is, too slick. Hundreds of feedback comments on the site are questioning who is behind it and expressing huge disappointment that a campaign that truly got them to think led them to what seems to be a very expensive anonymous attack on Google.

The culprit looks like non other than Ask.com — the domain name information-revolution.org is registered by Performo who list Ask and Yahoo among their clients. But the actual website is otherwise shrouded in secrecy. The biggest clue is the search links on their homepage — ask.com is the first link and choose Ask as your search provider and then search for Google or Yahoo and hey presto! you get an "Information Revolution" advert courtesy of Ask. So a valid question — why does Google own most of the worlds information — but a bad answer — use Ask. The real question remains — why the secrecy, why is the Information Revolution anonymous and was Ask trying to trick us into thinking their really is a revolution against Google?
Microsoft

Submission + - NIST says No to Vista

Submitted by
sglafata
sglafata writes: "Information Week is running a story on how NIST has banned Microsoft's new operating system from their internal computing networks.

"Word of NIST's Windows Vista ban comes a week after InformationWeek revealed that the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration have both imposed similar blackouts on the operating system, as well as on Microsoft Office 2007 and Internet Explorer 7."

However, the National Security Agency (NSA) assisted in editing the Microsoft Windows Vista Security Guide based on this CNet article and covered on Slashdot."
User Journal

Journal Journal: MSN search default on Lenovo. 1

Journal by 140Mandak262Jamuna
Lenovo has agreed to install MSN search toolbar as default search engine. The article also says more "Microsoft plans to announce more such partnerships in the coming months and has several in the works, Osmer said, declining to specify. Microsoft also may start packaging its search tool bar with some of its software downloads, he said."
Privacy

Submission + - Dealers Install GPS To Repo Cars

Submitted by jasomill
jasomill writes: Dealer Marketing Magazine highlights the benefits of using GPS to track cars sold to sub-prime customers at so-called "Buy Here, Pay Here" lots. From the article: "The devices or receivers are becoming sleeker and smaller in size, making them more difficult for the delinquent customer to find and remove. The receivers are programmed to report details specific to the industry. Mainly location, as the whereabouts of a delinquent customer's vehicle is valuable information for a dealer that wants to recover the asset." I suppose it comes in handy in a market where "collections can become more important than sales," but how else could this be used, other than for repossessing a car? What laws, if any, are in place that require the dealer to inform the customer of the GPS unit, and to place limits on the device's use?
Google

Submission + - Google censors user-generated content in Brazil

Submitted by
airshowfan
airshowfan writes: "Imagine that every time you wrote something on Blogger that the Chinese government disagreed with, China's courts could fine Google China and Google had to delete your post and give your IP address to the Chinese police. This is basically how Google runs Orkut, a social-networking site it owns, and by far the most widely-used social-networking site in Brazil, with over twice as many users as Facebook. Not only does Google get rid of any user-generated content on Orkut that Brazil's courts dislike, they have given the Brazilian police admin access, including the ability to censor content and to find your IP address. And this is despite the fact that all of Orkut's data is hosted in the US!"
Toys

Submission + - World's first Lego autopilot

Submitted by zlite
zlite writes: What's the best way to create a UAV for less than $1,000? Use the new Hitechnic gyro sensor for Mindstorms NXT to create a Lego autopilot! This one can turn a R/C plane into a drone, keeping the aircraft level and returning it to the launch area. Add a Bluetooth GPS module and a microcam and you've got a fully autonomous surveillance platform.

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So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of money? -- Ayn Rand

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