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Technology

+ - Space Archaeology Uncovers Lost Pyramids->

Submitted by krou
krou writes "A new technique dubbed "space archaeology" using satellites and infra-red imaging has helped uncover 17 new pyramids in Egypt, as well as some 1,000 tombs, and 3,000 ancient settlements. The mud bricks used to build Egyptian structures means it has a different density to the surrounding soil, and thus shows up in the images. Dr Sarah Parcak, who pioneered the technique, said that "Indiana Jones is old school, we've moved on from Indy, sorry Harrison Ford.""
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Books

+ - ALA Top 10 List of Books Americans Want Censored->

Submitted by krou
krou writes "The American Library Association has released their "Top Ten List of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2010". In at number one is 'And Tango Makes Three', which tells the true story of two male Emperor Penguins hatching and parenting a baby chick at New York’s Central Park Zoo. Making an appearance at number three is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World because of 'Insensitivity, Offensive Language, Racism, Sexually Explicit' content."
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Privacy

How Your Username May Betray You 308

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the you-are-a-number-not-a-name dept.
An anonymous reader writes "By creating a distinctive username—and reusing it on multiple websites—you may be giving online marketers and scammers a simple way to track you. Four researchers from the French National Institute of Computer Science (INRIA) studied over 10 million usernames—collected from public Google profiles, eBay accounts, and several other sources. They found that about half of the usernames used on one site could be linked to another online profile, potentially allowing marketers and scammers to build a more complex picture the users."
Science

+ - Art Meets Science At Kinetica Art Fair->

Submitted by krou
krou writes "The Kinetica Art Fair 'brings together galleries, art organisations and curatorial groups from around the world who focus on universal concepts and evolutionary processes though the convergence of kinetic, electronic, robotic, sound, light, time-based and multi-disciplinary new media art, science and technology'. The BBC has a brief video looking at some of what's on offer, from a futuristic zoo and interactive art displays, to an artist with an ear grafted to his arm, the intention being to finally implant a microphone that is "internet-enabled" in order to transmit sound from wherever he is. There are more videos available on YouTube."
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Education

Magnetic Brain Stimulation Makes Learning Easier 208

Posted by timothy
from the it-also-causes-love dept.
cylonlover writes "Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a technology that temporarily activates – or inactivates – parts of the brain using magnetic stimulation. Its ability to selectively turn areas of the brain on or off allows the functions and interconnections of the brain to by studied in a noninvasive and painless manner. Now researchers have shown that the technology can be used to enable rats to learn more easily. While smarter rats probably aren't high on anyone's wish list, the technology shows potential for allowing TMS to better treat a variety of brain disorders and diseases in humans, such as severe depression and schizophrenia."

Comment: Re:Facebook discovers HTTPS (Score 1) 273

by krou (#35018004) Attached to: Facebook Launches Social Login and HTTPS
I would guess that it's likely that the photos they choose will be based on when someone has been tagged in the photo. They could even make sure they only choose from photos that you yourself tagged someone else in, or perhaps photos where you've been tagged along with some other people. Taking it a step further, if they used some sort of algorithm to determine if it's a person that's been tagged (some people tag images with people's names to get their attention), that would help eliminate errors. However, it's not going to eliminate all of them.
Businesses

+ - Visa Probe Finds Wikileaks Broke No Laws->

Submitted by krou
krou writes "After Visa blocked donations to Wikileaks, they asked Norway-based financial services company Teller AS to investigate Wikileaks and its fund-raising body, Sunshine Press, to see if they broke the law. However, in a letter from Teller's chief executive, Peter Wiren, he states that 'Our lawyers have now completed their work and have found no indications that Sunshine Press ... acted in contravention of Visa's rules or Icelandic legislation'. Later, he said they were ready to start processing payments again, but Visa Europe Ltd. has said that they will not give the go-ahead until they complete their own internal investigation."
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Advertising

Your Face Will Soon Be In Facebook Ads 344

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the my-ad-where dept.
jfruhlinger writes "If you're planning on checking into Starbucks using Facebook Places, your friends may soon see your profile picture in a Facebook ad for Starbucks — and, it goes without saying, you won't be paid a dime. You can't opt out, unless, as Dan Tynan puts it, "studiously avoid clicking "Like" or checking into any place that has a six- or seven-figure ad budget." The ad will also include whatever text you use in your checkin, so Tynan suggests some judicious pranksterism ("Just checked into the Starbucks around the corner and this doppio mocha latte tastes like goat urine")."

Comment: Re:Everyone here should go see (Score 1) 201

I wouldn't say a rock solid script and good acting make a film worth the money to see on the big screen (at least, not any more). A film like Inception, which has the visuals to match, sure, but the vast majority are just as good, and far more cost-effective, in the comfort of your own home. I stopped watching films in the cinema years ago because it's just way too expensive here in the UK. For just a bit more than the price of a single ticket (less, if it's a 3D film), I can buy the DVD brand new if I wait a few months. Since I'm married, and that means two tickets, the DVD is always way, way cheaper, and that's before even considering buying popcorn etc. (Never mind the fact that the cinemas almost always run the same garbage week after week, unless you're lucky enough to live near an independent cinema). It's a pity, because going to the cinema was one of my greatest joys as a kid. And I just wish those damn kids would get off my lawn.

Comment: Re:Its really (Score 1) 760

by krou (#34979826) Attached to: New Mega-Leak Reveals Middle East Peace Process

Right, so because of the messenger, the message is obviously false?

According to the Guardian:

Many of the 1,600 leaked documents – drawn up by PA officials and lawyers working for the British-funded PLO negotiations support unit and include extensive verbatim transcripts of private meetings – have been independently authenticated by the Guardian and corroborated by former participants in the talks and intelligence and diplomatic sources.

Also, in case you hadn't noticed, this leak made the Palestinian Authority look terrible, possibly as much as Israel, because they're the ones trying to sell the Palestinians down the fucking river, so I don't quite buy your claim that only Israel look bad. I would go as so far to say that this leak demonstrates just how useless they all are - the US, the UK, Israel, PA, the lot.

Comment: Re:Pshaw (Score 1) 270

by krou (#34964436) Attached to: Google Fires Back About Search Engine Spam
Urm, to be fair to DuckDuckGo, they don't just scrape Bing. From their FAQ:

How do you get your results?

From many sources, including DuckDuckBot (our own crawler), crowd-sourced sites, Yahoo! "BOSS", "embed.ly", "WolframAlpha", "EntireWeb" & "Bing".

Also, the reason people (like myself) promote DuckDuckGo is because they're getting better success using it.

Apple

+ - Apple Joint Last In Transparency Study->

Submitted by krou
krou writes "A new transparency study, which looks at the openness of IT companies and their responsiveness to possible environmental violations by their suppliers, placed Apple joint last in a list of 29 IT companies and firms. Hewlett Packard, British Telecom, Samsung, Sony, Siemens and Alcatel ranked highest. The report's authors, a group of 36 anti-pollution groups involved in the Green Choice Initiative, claimed in a statement that 'Behind their stylish image, Apple products have a side many do not know about – pollution and poison. This side is hidden deep within the company's secretive supply chain.' In their report, none of the companies forced their suppliers to disclose details about waste discharges, but Apple was worst at providing data or answering questions. One such example was last May 'when at least 62 workers fell sick after inhaling n-hexane used to clean touch screens at a Wintek electronics factory in Suzhou', which is believed to be supplying Apple. 'The managers at the Taiwan-owned plant reportedly switched to the noxious chemical – which can cause nerve damage for up to two years – apparently because it dried more quickly than alcohol, thus increasing efficiency.' The report's authors claim they tried for months to get information from Apple, but it refused to make any comment. Ma Jun of the Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs comments that 'This attitude means it is impossible to have any public supervision over their supply chain. Without that how can we trust them? When environmental violations become public knowledge, they should not use commercial confidentiality as an excuse for silence. This is different from other leading brands. Apple can say it is completely 'green' because it is a brand with no factory, but if it doesn't manage its supply chain, these are just empty words. Far from being the best on planet, it is bottom among 29 IT brands. Apple should be a leader. If it can move on this, it can change the whole industry.'"
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