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Enlightenment

Submission + - Drive for Altruism is Hardwired, Like Sex or Food

Submitted by
Dekortage
Dekortage writes: "Your brain is pre-wired to enjoy placing the interests of others ahead of your own. At least, that's what neuroscientists are claiming in the Washington Post. In studies, "generosity activated a primitive part of the brain that usually lights up in response to food or sex.... Altruism, the experiment suggested, was not a superior moral faculty that suppresses basic selfish urges but rather was basic to the brain, hard-wired and pleasurable." Such neuroscience "has opened up a new window on what it means to be good," although many philosophers over recorded history have suggested similar things. Are you hardwired for good?"
United States

Submission + - Does Boston Have a Future as a Tech Center?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine (http://www.boston.com/news/specials/futureboston/ ) has an interesting set of articles about how Boston will look ten years from now, including an article about Boston's struggle to reassert itself as a science and technology center in the face of competition from Silicon Valley and other areas and given transportation constraints, skills shortages, and housing challenges (http://www.boston.com/news/specials/futureboston/ articles/2007/05/27/americas_science_city/). Even more interesting: There's an affiliated social networking site, called FutureBoston, with a contest for people to collaborate in coming up with solutions for Boston in the areas of Health, Design and Energy.
Sci-Fi

Submission + - 15 things we wish someone would invent ...

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: This story originates from Forbes.com. Here's an extract: Technology proceeds at such a breakneck pace that sometimes it feels like we're rocketing into science fiction territory: Animal cloning, unmanned aircraft and space tourism are all recent realities. For some, though, invention isn't moving fast enough. Direct link to article.
Spam

Submission + - Does SPF really work?

Submitted by
Intelopment
Intelopment writes: "My Domain name has recently been used a lot as the REPLY field by some inconsiderate spammer and my ISP has suggested that I consider using the Open SPF service (http://openspf.org/) as a way to stop spammers from using my domain name for their REPLY field. From what I can tell it requires the receiving mail server to actually participate in the SPF service, which is where I get my doubts. Does anyone have any experience with this service? Does it work? Are many ISPs using openSFP?"
Space

Submission + - New images of deep Martian caves

Submitted by untree
untree writes: The Astronomy Picture of the Day today is an image recently taken by the HiRISE instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. More information is available on the Planetary Society blog, including a description of the paper (pdf) that describes this series of caves.

From the image description:

"Black spots have been discovered on Mars that are so dark that nothing inside can be seen. Quite possibly, the spots are entrances to deep underground caves capable of protecting Martian life, were it to exist."


And for fans of traditional units of measure, this cave entrance is about the size of a football field.
Announcements

Submission + - Mars - holes in surface discovered

Submitted by
tqft
tqft writes: "http://www.universetoday.com/2007/05/25/dark-caver ns-discovered-on-mars/
"
See that dark spot in the middle of the picture? It seems to be a hole, in an otherwise smooth landscape of lava. It isn't an impact crater because it lacks a raised rim or ejecta. Light from the Sun must be getting down there, but it's so deep that none of it is bouncing back out. It's just a dark hole."

Pic:http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/upload s/2007/05/2007-0525cavern.thumbnail.jpg

More here:
http://planetary.org/blog/article/00000984

Entrance to Podkayne's Bar & Grill? Collapse in a lava tunnel? Missile Bay door opened?"
Utilities (Apple)

Submission + - Good note-taking software

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: I've noticed that I do a lot of brainstorming on paper, and I wondered why I don't use my computer more. I realized that one of the things I like about writing on paper is the ability to arbitrarily position my text. Is there good software for OS X that lets me put the cursor anywhere I want and begin typing immediately? As for PCs, I think OneNote allows this — is there anything else? What about software that also lets me drag and drop entire blocks of text any way I want to organize them?
Patents

Submission + - Life Imprisonment for Copyright Infringement

Submitted by
ronadams
ronadams writes: "P. Parameswaran writes in his AFP article:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he proposed comprehensive legislation to Congress Monday against copyright thieves, including raising the maximum penalty to life imprisonment and seizing the illicit profits of offenders.
Nick Ferrel at the Inquirer confirms the reports and adds a few interesting insights of his own. Good to know RIAA is a vital part of the US Government. I must have been asleep when my Government & Law professor glossed over that one."
iMac

Submission + - Apple to kill 17" iMac?

Submitted by djfake
djfake writes: According to the Apple Insider, the 17" iMac model may go the way of the 12" Powerbook in the upcoming product refresh in June. If true, Apple would once again demonstrate that it knows much better than its customers what they need.
Security

Submission + - Essential Bluetooth hacking tools

Submitted by J.R
J.R writes: The guys at Security-Hacks have compiled a list of Bluetooth hacking tools: "If you are planning to gain a deeper understanding of Bluetooth security, you will need a good set of tools with which to work. By familiarizing yourself with the following tools, you will not only gain a knowledge of the vulnerabilities inherent in Bluetooth-enabled devices, but you will also get a glimpse at how an attacker might exploit them. This hack highlights the essential tools, mostly for the Linux platform, that can be used to search out and hack Bluetooth-enabled devices." http://www.security-hacks.com/2007/05/25/essential -bluetooth-hacking-tools
Privacy

Submission + - Sex Offenders Have To Register Emails

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Internet e-mail addresses used by convicted Connecticut sex offenders may soon be in the hands of law enforcement. In the latest attempt to stop online predators, the House passed a bill Thursday requiring convicted sex offenders to register all their e-mail addresses, in addition to their home addresses, with state police. "We feel this is a very, very important tool as we go forward to protect children," state Rep. Stephen D. Dargan, D-West Haven, said in announcing the proposed legislation at a morning press conference. Dargan is co-chairman of the legislature's public safety committee. The House of Representatives passed the measure by a 149-0 vote Thursday afternoon. The legislation, part of an omnibus bill dealing with changes to existing sex crime laws, now goes to the Senate. For now, lawmakers are focusing on the e-mail registration effort as the primary way to increase Internet security on popular social networking sites such as MySpace.com. The proposal to require e-mail registration grew out of recent discussions between Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and executives from MySpace, who have been working together for the past two weeks to crack down on convicted sex offenders using the popular youth-oriented site. Earlier this week, MySpace officials said they had identified more than 5,000 registered sex offenders nationally who had created personal profiles on the network, including about 100 individuals from Connecticut. MySpace released the names to law enforcement officials after receiving subpoenas from Connecticut and several other states. Connecticut authorities are currently reviewing the data to see whether any of the offenders, by creating the profiles, violated the conditions of their probation and parole. Hemanshu Nigam, MySpace's chief security officer and a Cheshire native, was present Thursday when the e-mail bill was announced at the Capitol. "This is a critical issue for Internet safety," Nigam said. "As the social activities in the online communities increasingly mirror that of the offline world, our laws need to change with the times," Nigam said. "We can no longer unwittingly provide an advantage to predators online." The bill stipulates that the e-mail addresses would be maintained by police but would not be part of the state's sex offender registry accessible to the public on the Internet. http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctmyspace0525 .artmay25,0,312922.story?coll=hc-headlines-local

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