Slashdot

Bombula writes "The NY Times has an interesting article with an interactive graph of consumer spending, compiled with BLS data and showing changes since last year. It's interesting stuff, and is sure to defy many of your expectations and, if you're like me, much of your personal experiences. For example, healthcare and rent both ring in at around 6 percent of average consumer spending. However, this may be more indicative of the flaws of simple averaging rather than using median and modal analysis."
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/05/03/business/20080403_SPENDING_GRAPHIC.html

Bombula writes "Ars Technica is reporting that Creative is upset by a modder's improvements to their X-Fi drivers for Windows Vista. The company claims that "by enabling our technology and IP to run on sound cards for which it was not originally offered or intended, you are in effect, stealing our goods." Licensing software is one thing, but since when do companies get to dictate the terms of use for hardware their customers purchase? Will GM and Ford be telling me when and where I can drive my car next? WTF?"
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080331-creative-irate-after-modder-spruces-up-vista-x-fi-drivers.html

In ten years, the National Helium Reserve will be depleted, according to an article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch. An article in Science Daily echoes the concern, quoting Dr. Lee Sobotka, of Washington University in St. Louis: "Helium is non-renewable and irreplaceable. Its properties are unique and unlike hydrocarbon fuels (natural gas or oil), there are no biosynthetic ways to make an alternative to helium. All should make better efforts to recycle it." On Earth, Helium is found mixed with natural gas, but few producers capture it. The US created a stockpile in 1925 for use by military dirigibles, but stopped stockpiling it in 1995 as a cost-saving measure.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/sciencemedicine/story/E60C2A6618730745862573C7001FF02C?OpenDocument

Looks like Google is finally succumbing to the power of the almighty dollar and getting ready to implement image and video ads in sponsored searches. Is this the end of Google's 'do no evil' hobby horse?
http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/09/google-discusse.html

Bombula writes "NASA's eclipse tracking tool has been slashdotted along with the rest of the agency's eclipse website by observers keen to find viewing times for their area. What does it say when NASA can't handle a traffic jam?"
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2007Aug28/TLE2007Aug28.html

Bombula writes "Fark.com is running a funny story about how Disney CEO Robert Iger tried to silence a University of Washington study about Baby 'educational' DVDs by posting UW President Mark A. Emmert's letter of reply. Funny as this is, it's the study's findings that are striking: "The authors found a large and statistically significant reduction in vocabulary among infants age 8 to 16 months who viewed baby DVDs or videos, compared to those who did not view them." [emphasis added]."
http://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/article.asp?articleID=36148

Bombula writes "A team of German scientists claims to have caused photons to breakn the lightspeed barrier via quantum tunneling. The article is short on details, but suggests in the long-run this could hold the promise of superfast networking. Don't anyone hold your breath, though..."
http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-160112.html

Bombula writes "A BBC article reports that, "Flexible paper batteries could meet the energy demands of the next generation of gadgets." Apparently, "the versatile paper ... can also double as a capacitor capable of releasing sudden energy bursts for high-power applications." The research team has, "produced a sample slightly larger than a postage stamp that can release about 2.3 volts, enough to illuminate a small light." Even more interestingly, "The flexible battery can function even if it is rolled up, folded or cut.""
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6945732.stm

Bombula writes "I'm in Vancouver at the moment and Yahoo mail has been down for over an hour. Anyone else have this problem? I can't ever remember a comparable outage. The mail.yahoo.co.uk page is also down."
http://mail.yahoo.com/

Bombula writes "In a video on GM's blog, CEO Bob Lutz says clean diesel engines, already widespread in Europe, would add $4,000 — $5,000 to the price of each car and are therefore impractical for the US market. He adds that emissions standards are more stringent in the United States, and that this is also part of the problem with switching to diesel engines. Given the enormous latent interest in moving towards biodiesel people are leaping to call BS on his statements, but is there any truth to them?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXA22Q0qXNM&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffastlane.gmblogs.com%2Farchives%2F2007%2F07%2Fchecking_back_w.html