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Filesonic Removes Ability To Share Files 412

Posted by samzenpus
from the closing-shop dept.
Ihmhi writes "In the wake of the Megaupload takedown, Filesonic has elected to take preventative measures against a similar fate. The front page and all files now carry the following message: 'All sharing functionality on FileSonic is now disabled. Our service can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally.' Whether or not this will actually deter the U.S. government from taking action remains to be seen."
Space

Star Rips Exoplanet To Shreds With X-Rays 62

Posted by samzenpus
from the you-always-hurt-the-ones-you-love dept.
astroengine writes "Some relationships are doomed from the beginning, and the same can be said of some planetary systems. In the case of the star CoRoT-2a, some 880 light-years from Earth, it is quite literally ripping its orbiting exoplanet to shreds. Five million tons of material per second is being stripped from the closely orbiting world CoRoT-2b by powerful stellar X-rays. But it's OK, the destructive nature of this planetary system is mutual; CoRoT-2b's orbit is likely maintaining the high spin rate of the star, boosting magnetic activity, thus boosting the X-ray output."
Transportation

Roundabout Revolution Sweeping US 1173

Posted by timothy
from the how-to-spend-your-stimulus-bribe dept.
chrb writes "BBC News reports that U.S. cities are installing more roundabouts than ever before. The first British-style roundabout appeared in the U.S. in 1990, and now some cities — such as Carmel in Indiana, are rapidly replacing intersections with roundabouts. Supporters claim that roundabouts result in increased traffic flow, reductions in both the severity and incidence of accidents, and fuel savings. Critics say that roundabouts are more difficult to navigate for unfamiliar American drivers, lead to higher taxes and accidents, and require everyday acts of spontaneous co-operation and yielding to others — acts that are 'un-American.'" As a driver who's hit all of the continental U.S. states except North Dakota, I dread roundabouts and rotaries for all the near accidents (and at least one actual accident) I've seen them inspire, and have been unhappy to see them spread. Spontaneous driver cooperation doesn't necessarily need the round shape, either.
Biotech

Can Oil-Eating Bacteria Help Clean Up the Gulf Oil Spill? 139

Posted by Soulskill
from the if-only-we-hadn't-converted-to-green-bacteria dept.
sciencehabit writes "At this point it's unclear how much of an environmental threat oil spreading from the BP spill will cause, but the federal government is mobilizing thousands of workers to prepare for the worst. They have a potential ally: microbes that have evolved an ability to break down oil that seeps from the ocean bottom. It gets devoured by a variety of bacteria, which eat it by chemically transforming its compounds into useful cellular constituents." Wired has some pictures of the spill from orbiting satellites.

Comment: Re:Yes! (Score 1) 478

by Icculus (#29446135) Attached to: "Right To Repair" Bill Advances In Massachusetts
VW is one of the few makes for which you can get your own fully functional scanner (not just OBDII) for a relatively reasonable price: VAG-COM (I didn't come up with the name). It lets you interact with pretty much everything in the car with their hardware dongle and software and a laptop. It's still a little bit steep for what's essentially a serial-to-USB converter, but I suppose you're mostly paying for their reverse-engineering time.

Comment: Re:Dimmer Savior! (Score 1) 569

by Icculus (#28609595) Attached to: Incandescent Bulbs Return To the Cutting Edge
I tried some Feit Electric brand ones in my can fixtures attached to an electronic Lutron dimmer with no luck. The dimmer must have some kind of check for load or something because it would just blink its indicator. That bums me out because my wife insists on having a dimmer (exactly that dimmer) in that room which means we're stuck with 360W of halogens for now.
Biotech

13,000 Volunteer To Put Personal Genomes Online 126

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the will-c0de-for-f00d dept.
Lucas123 writes "The Personal Genome Project, which opened itself up to the public on April 25, has to date signed up 13,000 of the target 100,000 volunteers needed to create the world's first publicly accessible genome database. Volunteers will go through a battery of written tests and then offer DNA samples from which their genetic code will be derived and then published to help scientists discover links between genes and hereditary traits. While the Personal Genome Project won't publish names, just about everything else will be made public, including photos and complete medical histories. Scientists hope to some day have millions of genomes in the database."
Encryption

How To, When You Have To Encrypt Absolutely Everything? 468

Posted by ScuttleMonkey
from the first-step-is-teaching-people-how-not-to-be-stupid dept.
Dark Neuron writes "My institution has thousands of computers, and is looking at starting an IT policy to encrypt everything, all hard drives, including desktops, laptops, external hard drives, USB flash drives, etc. I am looking at an open source product for Windows, Mac, UNIX, as well as portable hard drives, but I am concerned about overhead and speed penalties. Does anyone have experience and/or advice with encrypting every single device in a similar situation?"

"That boy's about as sharp as a pound of wet liver" -- Foghorn Leghorn