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+ - Google Releases Glass Factory System Image, Rooted Bootloader 1

Submitted by Krystalo
Krystalo writes "In a nod towards the modding community and hackers in general, Google has released the first factory system image and rooted bootloader for the latest version, XE5, of Google Glass. Nevertheless, the company is at the same time warning that using these downloads will result in a voided warranty for the experimental device."

+ - Google acquires kite-power generator->

Submitted by garymortimer
garymortimer writes "Google has acquired a US company that generates power using turbines mounted on tethered kites or wings.

Makani Power will become part of Google X – the secretive research and development arm of the search giant.

The deal comes as Makani carries out the first fully autonomous flights of robot kites bearing its power-generating propellers.

Google has not said how much it paid to acquire Makani, but it has invested $15m (£9.9m) in the company before now."
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+ - Physicists Create Quantum Link Between Photons That Don't Exist at the Same Time->

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes "Physicists have long known that quantum mechanics allows for a subtle connection between quantum particles called entanglement, in which measuring one particle can instantly set the otherwise uncertain condition, or "state," of another particle—even if it's light years away. Now, experimenters in Israel have shown that they can entangle two photons that don't even exist at the same time. Anton Zeilinger, a physicist at the University of Vienna, says that the experiment demonstrates just how slippery the concepts of quantum mechanics are. "It's really neat because it shows more or less that quantum events are outside our everyday notions of space and time.""
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Google News Sci Tech: 'Crazy' Ants Driving Out Fire Ants in Southeast - LiveScience.com->

From feed by feedfeeder

Nature World News
'Crazy' Ants Driving Out Fire Ants in Southeast
LiveScience.com
Invasive fire ants have been a thorn in the sides of Southerners for years. But another invasive species, the so-called "crazy" ant — that many describe as being worse — has arrived and is displacing fire ants in several places. "When you talk to folks who live ...
'Crazy ants' a threat in southern USCNN International
Alien 'crazy ants' invading southern USLos Angeles Times
Crazy ants are invading parts of the US, including HoustonHouston Chronicle
Nature World News-Science Recorder
all 21 news articles

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+ - Brain Zapping Improves Math Ability-> 1

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes "If you are one of the 20% of healthy adults who struggle with basic arithmetic, simple tasks like splitting the dinner bill can be excruciating. Now, a new study suggests that a gentle, painless electrical current applied to the brain can boost math performance for up to 6 months. Researchers don't fully understand how it works, however, and there could be side effects."
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+ - Swedish data center saves $1M a year using seawater for cooling->

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes "A data center in Sweden has cut its energy bills by a million dollars a year using seawater to cool its servers, though jellyfish are an occasional hazard. Interxion, a collocation company in the Netherlands that rents data center space in 11 countries, uses water pumped from the Baltic Sea to cool the IT equipment at its facilities in Stockholm. The energy used to cool IT equipment is one of the costliest areas of running a data center. Companies have traditionally used big, mechanical chillers, but some are turning to outside air and evaporative techniques as lower-cost alternatives."
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+ - Google Betting Its Google+ Systems Know What's Best For You->

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes "But at this year’s Google I/O conference in San Francisco, Google announced that it has a plan to make Google Plus users more engaged, courtesy of new features backed by a handful of data-analytics tricks. Google Plus postings now feature Google-generated hashtags that, when clicked, direct the user to related content from across their network. From a backend-infrastructure perspective, that sort of thing leans heavily on Google’s semantic analysis and the ability to make the right connections between various pieces of data. Google Plus will also automatically highlight certain photos out of dozens or even hundreds of shots. Say you went on vacation to India and took some photos of your significant other in front of the Taj Mahal; Google Plus will leverage its database of information to recognize that as a prominent landmark and pluck those photos out of the pile as “special.” In the words of that posting on the Google+ Blog: “Your darkroom is now a Google data center.” Are all these nifty, analytics-intensive features enough to change the larger fortunes of Google Plus? That’s the big question. Google has a handsome-looking platform, one that performs certain activities with a high degree of polish and zip—but is that enough to counter Facebook?"
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+ - Hidden Recordings Reveal Cheating Poker Software CEO->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "While 5 years have passed since Black Friday ended Internet Poker in the US, new recordings have revealed that Ultimate Bet's corruption went all the way to the top. Using a "God Mode" cheat, some players and executives could see the hole cards of other players on the Ultimate Bet System. The owner of Ultimate Bet used the cheat to steal upwards of $16 million from various famous poker players including Mike Matusow and Ben Affleck.

The CEO was also involved and still works in internet gaming as a founder of Iovention, a fraud prevention company. His new company assisted with the launch of the online poker in Nevada this month. Since these recordings came to light, his services are no longer wanted."
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+ - Irish judge orders 'the internetz' to delete video->

Submitted by edanto
edanto writes "A young Irish man wrongly accused of jumping from a taxi without paying the fare has secured a judgement from an Irish court ordering the video removed from the entire internet. Experts from Google, Youtube, Facebook and others must tell the court in two weeks if this is technically possible.
The thing is, the _video_ is accurate, it is only a comment that wrongly identified Eoin McKeogh as the fare-jumper in the video that is inaccurate. It's not clear if the judge has made any orders about the comment."
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+ - Malfunction Could Mark the End of NASA's Kepler Mission ->

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes "One of the most successful missions in NASA history may be coming to an end. NASA officials announced yesterday that the Kepler spacecraft, which has found more than 2700 planetary candidates outside the solar system, has lost the ability to point in a specified direction due to the malfunctioning of one of its reaction wheels. The spacecraft has been put into safe mode while engineers attempt to figure out how to resolve the malfunction."
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+ - DHS Shuts Down Dwolla Payments to and From Mt. Gox->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "A representative for Dwolla told Betabeat that the company is “not party” to this matter and encourages those with questions to reach out to Mt. Gox or the DHS. “The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued a ‘Seizure Warrant’ for the funds associated with Mutum Sigillium’s Dwolla account (a.k.a. Mt. Gox),” he said. “In light of the court order, procured by the Department of Homeland Security, Dwolla has ceased all account activities associated with Dwolla services for Mutum Sigillum while Dwolla’s holding partner transferred Mutum Sigillium’s balance, per the warrant.”"
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+ - IRS Apologizes for Targeting Conservative Groups During 2012 Election->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "A recurring theme in comments on Slashdot since the 9/11 attacks has been concern about the use of government power to monitor or suppress political activity unassociated with terrorism but rather based on ideology. It has just been revealed that the IRS has in fact done that. From the story: “ The Internal Revenue Service inappropriately flagged conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election . . . Organizations were singled out because they included the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their applications for tax-exempt status, said Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups. In some cases, groups were asked for their list of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases, she said. "That was wrong. That was absolutely incorrect, it was insensitive and it was inappropriate. That's not how we go about selecting cases for further review," Lerner said . . . "The IRS would like to apologize for that," she added. . . . Lerner said the practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias. . . . she told The AP that no high level IRS officials knew about the practice. Tea Party groups were livid on Friday. "I don't think there's any question we were unfairly targeted," said Tom Zawistowski, . . .Zawistowski's group was among many conservative organizations that battled the IRS over what they saw as its discriminatory treatment of their effort to gain non-profit status. The group first applied for non-profit status in June 2009, and it was finally granted on Dec. 7, 2012, he said — one month after Election Day. . .In all, about 300 groups were singled out for additional review. . . Tea Party groups weren't buying the idea that the decision to target them was solely the responsibility of low-level IRS workers. "It is suspicious that the activity of these 'low-level workers' was unknown to IRS leadership at the time it occurred,"” During the conference call it was stated that no disciplinary action had been taken by those who engaged in this activity. President Obama has previously joked about using the IRS to target people."
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