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Space

NASA Successfully Tests Deep Space Internet->

Submitted by
CWmike
CWmike writes "With the help of Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory created a new communications protocol that uses space probes and orbiters as deep space routers for a more efficient and cheaper way to communicate with spacecraft traveling throughout the solar system. "This will allow for quicker, more efficient, less costly communications," said Leigh Torgerson, an operations center manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "If you have a rover on Mars and an orbiter circling Mars, you can relay information from Earth through the orbiter and to the rover. [It's] just like [the orbiter] is a router on the Internet.""
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Communications

Skype 2.0 Beta for Linux -- With Video->

Submitted by
Tony
Tony writes "If you haven't heard (and I didn't until today) Skype 2.0 beta for Linux with video is available for download from the Skype New Beta and Releases Site. I've tried it out and it works fine. There are a few glitches as the Skype forums discuss but its beta so what can we expect. For me, Skype with video for Linux was at the top of my software for Linux wish list. This feels like an early Christmas present!"
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Math

MIT Student disproves Stephen Wolfram

Submitted by Richard Pritches
Richard Pritches writes "MIT errata expert, Evangelos Georgiadis, attains a milestone by actually disproving 44 conjectures set by Dr Wolfram (owner of the Makers of Mathematica and owner of the new kind of cult ANKS). Paper was published in the latest issue of the Journal of Cellular Automata and has also appeared free of charge at Prof Edwin Clark's Collection of Wolfram's NKS Reviews at the following link http://www.math.usf.edu/~eclark/jca_georgiadis.pdf I believe that this is a nice Xmas present for the ANKOS spirit. Richard"
The Courts

Are Warrany Void if Removed sitckers legally valid->

Submitted by
Larry_Dillon
Larry_Dillon writes "Engadget has an article (http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/10/asus-sez-eee-pc-warranty-still-valid-if-you-break-seals/) saying that breaking the seal on the Asus Eee PC will not void the warrant. This begs the question; are those "Warrany Void if Removed" stickers legally binding? Are there any court rulings on this?"
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Power

Kidney cells make implantable power source

Submitted by Galactic_grub
Galactic_grub writes "New Scientist has an interesting round-up of patents related to green power technology. The ideas mentioned include an implantable power source made from stacks of kidney cells that could drive implanted devices like pacemakers, a chemical way to purifying hydrogen, a buckyball-based filter for methane fuel cells and an organism that turns grass cuttings (and other bio-waste) into ethanol."
Space

Clues from Antarctica Suggest Water on Mars

Submitted by
Ponca City, We Love You
Ponca City, We Love You writes "In recent years, scientists have examined images of several sites on Mars where water appears to have flowed to the surface and left behind a trail of sediment. A new study says sites on Mars closely resemble Dry Valleys in Antarctica where water flows today bolstering the notion that liquid water could be flowing beneath the surface of Mars and that bacterial life could possibly exist on Mars as well. One of the sites in the Dry Valleys, a polar desert in Antarctica, has year-round saltwater flowing beneath the surface. With temperatures that dip as low as negative 85 degrees Fahrenheit, it's as cold as the Martian equator, and its iron-rich soil gives it a similar red color. "If you looked at pictures of both landscapes side by side, you couldn't tell them apart," says Berry Lyons, professor of earth sciences and director of the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University. Because the suspected sediment sites on Mars closely resemble known sediment sites in the Dry Valleys, Lyons and his colleagues think that liquid saltwater is likely flowing beneath the Martian surface."
Wine

IEs 4 Linux 2.99.0 (includes Mac OS X support!)->

Submitted by
Tom Wickline
Tom Wickline writes "This version came with a strange number (2.99.0) because it's the last series before IEs4Linux 3. That version will have many new features. By now, IEs4Linux 2.99.0 have MANY improvements, bug fixes and some new features.

Full changelog:

* Fixed IE7 checksum error
* Better Evolt mirror selection (thanks to Hendrik Heuer)
* Install MS Core Fonts (thanks to Mike Kronenberg)
* Use curl if wget is absent
* xdg-utils updated
* Detect Darwin (Mac OS X)
* Changed icon to PNG (better compatibility)
* Added registry keys to https in IE7 (thanks to Jim Burns)
* Fixed bug with security level options (thanks to Jim Burns)
* Fixed bug with permissions on Gentoo (thanks to Bas Westerbaan)
* wget/curl use IE 6 user-agent
* Disabled menu icon installation
* Small fixes and better code

On Mac
* Use Darwine or fink's wine (thanks to Mike Kronenberg)
* Download cabextract if it's missing
* Use logical folders (~/Applications)
* Use curl, no need for wget
* Few macfied things

Presenting: IEs 4 Mac

IEs4Mac first logoMike Kronenberg started last month a port of IEs4Linux to Mac OS X. He made all modifications to the script needed to make it run on Mac. But he also macfied our install process to make it more like what Mac users expect.

All script modifications were already incorporated to IEs4Linux see version 2.99.0. But we decided to also join forces to make the Mac GUI, Mac Application Bundles, easy Darwine installation and other things. That's what we are calling the future IEs4Mac.

IEs4Linux and IEs4Mac are 99% equal; they do the same thing, the same way, with the same code. That's why we decided to maintain everything together instead of creating a "new project". The difference between then are very small (but very important do end users).

As I wrote before, Mac users already can run IEs4Linux 2.99.0 — it works on Mac Intels with Tiger or Leopard. But, soon, Mac users will have that "dedicated version" with a beautiful GUI and so on. (* people trying to run 2.99.0 on Mac: you need wine first; I recommend that you use one of Mike's pre-compiled versions, just drag them to /Applications and run IEs4Linux)"
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Upgrades

Will Linux save the planet?-> 6

Submitted by 00_NOP
00_NOP writes "Acoording to a report on Softpedia, citing a UK government study, Linux PCs are likely to be used for 6 — 8 years instead of the typical 3 — 4 years of a Windows-based PC. With the price of copper and other commodities rocketing, seems like it is good news for the bank balance as well as, errr, the penguins. My oldest Linux box is from 2001 — what's yours?"
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Education

Ben Stein Writes, Stars in Creationism Film->

Submitted by qw0ntum
qw0ntum writes "Ben Stein, actor and former Nixon speechwriter, is to star in an upcoming documentary advocating Intelligent Design entitled Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, set to debut in February 2008. The film, whose tagline is "Big Science has expelled smart new ideas from the classroom... what they forgot is that every generation has its rebel [referring to Stein]", aims to create a nationwide, student-led campaign to encourage the teaching of Intelligent Design in schools and universities. From the campaign section of the site: "Your students are being bombarded with such propaganda throughout their education; despite the fact that MOST Americans do NOT believe we're the result of 'random chance'.""
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So I'm ugly. So what? I never saw anyone hit with his face. -- Yogi Berra