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Science

Idle: New Species Named For SpongeBob SquarePants 74

Posted by timothy
from the love-interest-might-not-appreciate-it dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Sing it with us: What lives in the rainforest, under a tree? Spongiforma squarepantsii, a new species of mushroom almost as strange as its cartoon namesake. Scientists from the San Francisco State University have discovered a new species of mushroom in Borneo with sponge-like properties. Its strange behavior convinced them to name it after the famous Bob. There is no word on whether or not their chances of getting future grant money will be improved by this choice." Did you know (prior to clicking on the Wikipedia link above) that SpongeBob was created by a marine biologist?
Apple

Apple Causes Religious Reaction In Brains of Fans 636

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the pope-jobs-won't-lie dept.
satuon writes "In a recently screened BBC documentary called 'Secrets of the Superbrands', UK neuroscientists found that the brains of Apple fans are stimulated by images of Apple products in the same areas as those triggered by religious imagery in a person of faith. According to the scientists, this suggests that the big tech brands have harnessed, or exploit, the brain areas that have evolved to process religion."
Patents

Ridiculous Software Patents: a Developer's Nemesis 173

Posted by samzenpus
from the there-are-no-new-ideas dept.
StormDriver writes "Have you ever thought about patenting a pop up note, an online poll, a leaderboard in an online game, or a system where you open apps by clicking icons? I have some bad news for you – it's impossible. Not because the claim is stupid, it's just that all of those things are already patented. And it's all fun and factoids, until one day you find yourself in the role of a software start-up."
Data Storage

Deduplicating storage on the cheap-> 1

Submitted by
flok
flok writes "Deduplicating software/appliances are the bomb currently. Everyone wants them, everyone is developing such a thing.
Software finds duplicates using hashes, and using advanced algorithms those hashes are looked up from huge memory-caches. But wait, looking up data, isn't that the task of a database? This made me think and after a couple of hours I implemented MyDeDub, a deduplicating network block device which stores its data (and hashes) in a MySQL database. As it looks now, filesystems on MyDeDub stay consistent, massive space is saved and it even performs, well, somewhat. It is implemented in Java so even an old windows 98 system might suffice. You can find the software here."
Link to Original Source

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