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Space

Submission + - Companies plan to mine precious metals on asteroids, moon (tech-stew.com)

Submitted by
techfun89
techfun89 writes: "Two start-up companies are attempting to enter the science realm as well as make a business and entertainment out of the idea that these sources in space can be mined and brought back to Earth for use in cell phones and other electronics as well as other space missions.

Planetary Resources, with such names as James Cameron and Google executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt will hold a press conference today at 1:30 p.m. ET to announce what it calls a "new space venture with a mission to help ensure humanity's prosperity."

According to company co-founder Peter Diamandis, it has been estimated that a single 100-foot-long asteroid could contain $25 billion to $50 billion in platinum. Of the nearly 8,900 known near-Earth Asteroids, about 100 or 150 are water-rich and actually easier to reach than the surface of the moon.

The first task for the Bellevue, Washington Planetary Resources will be putting a telescope into Earth orbit within two years to survey near-Earth asteroids that contain precious metals and water. Within four years, mining could begin on the objects according to company co-founder Eric Anderson. Mining operations would be enabled with groups of unmanned spacecraft.

Another company, Moon Express of Mountain View, California said they have recruited five top lunar scientists to join its board to make plans to mine metals on the moon.

Due to the asteroids striking the moon throughout time, there are deposits of heavy metals on the surface of the moon."
The Internet

Submission + - Apple's IPv6 misstep is a sign of the times (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: Apple's controversial decision not to support IPv6 on Version 6.0 of AirPort Utility is the latest example of a broader problem plaguing the next-gen Internet Protocol: Many network vendors are lacking the same level of features and performance in products that support IPv6 as those that support IPv4, the original Internet Protocol. Presenters at the recent North American IPv6 Summit in Denver said the lack of IPv6 feature parity for network hardware, software and services is one of the biggest challenges they face as they deploy the new standard. "Some service providers and product vendors have limited IPv6 support today," said Ron Broersma, chief engineer for the U.S. military's Defense Research and Engineering Network, which has deployed IPv6 on its DNS, email and Web services. "It can take 12 to 18 months to get products fixed."

Submission + - State Threatens to Shut Down Nutrition Blogger (carolinajournal.com)

Submitted by vvaduva
vvaduva writes: The North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition is threatening to send a blogger to jail for recounting publicly his battle against diabetes and encouraging others to follow his lifestyle... the state diatetics and nutrition board decided Cooksey’s blog — Diabetes-Warrior.net — violated state law. The nutritional advice Cooksey provides on the site amounts to “practicing nutrition,” the board’s director says, and in North Carolina that’s something you need a license to do. More at: http://www.carolinajournal.com
The Military

Submission + - America's Own Missile Failure, at Mach 8 (the-diplomat.com) 5

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: While the press decries North Korea's missile test and speculates over India's ICBM test, the United States has been quietly building a new generation of missiles that can hit any target in the world in 30 minutes with a conventional warhead at speeds of up to Mach 8.

While the effort has been underway for about a decade, recent developments have demonstrated the difficulties of creating such an advanced weapon. The missile has been tested twice only to crash twice after nine minutes of flight.

An engineering study of the problems noted that the heat generated by air friction ripped away HTV-2’s skin. The report notes “The resulting gaps created strong, impulsive shock waves around the vehicle as it travelled nearly 13,000 miles per hour, causing the vehicle to roll abruptly. Based on knowledge gained from the first flight in 2010 and incorporated into the second flight, the vehicle’s aerodynamic stability allowed it to right itself successfully after several shockwave-induced rolls. Eventually, however, the severity of the continued disturbances finally exceeded the vehicle’s ability to recover.”

If the problem can be fixed, America will have a powerful weapon that can be deployed rapidly that no target in the world would be immune from.
The Internet

Submission + - Vint Cerf, Al Gore, Linus Torvalds enter new Internet Hall of Fame (networkworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Internet Society has launched an online-only Internet Hall of Fame, and its inaugural class of 33 members includes a collection of Internet pioneers, innovators and "global connectors," including Vinton Cerf, Tim Berners-Lee, Linus Torvalds and even Al Gore. In all, members represent 9 different countries.
The Internet

Submission + - Book suggestions on the topic of 'the internet'.

Submitted by HetMes
HetMes writes: I want to understand how the internet works at various levels of detail. I'd like some good books to get me started.

I am a software engineer who knows how to code, but my knowledge regarding networks, internet and everything related to them is limited to what I retained from a few books during a CS masters' degree.

The subject, you can image, is not conducive to getting good search results. I tried searching various online book sites, Slashdot book reviews, Google, but nothing in particular came up.

Of course, all the information I need is online somewhere, but I can't always judge whether it is outdated, irrelevant, too detailed, too vague, or even correct at all. Also, am not going to be reading 2000 pages of online text; I sit behind the computer too often already.
EU

Submission + - European commissioner calls for Open Web (lepoint.fr)

Submitted by Kupfernigk
Kupfernigk writes: Last Thursday at the WWW2012 conference in Lyon, Neelie Kroes called for an end to onerous DRM, which she described as "Digital handcuffs", displaying a pair of real handcuffs sent to her by Richard Stallman. She also called for the prevention of Internet blocking and said that regulations were being considered to prevent the export of Internet control tools to oppressive regimes.
Australia

Submission + - Australia's largest police force accused of widespread piracy (abc.net.au)

Submitted by beaverdownunder
beaverdownunder writes: UK software giant Micro Focus is demanding at least $10 million dollars in damages from the New South Wales police for widespread use of unlicensed copies of its ViewNow software it is alleged were used by members to access the COPS criminal intelligence database.

Although other government organisations also alleged to have mis-used the software have settled with Micro Focus, the NSW police refuse to do so, instead seeking to fight out a battle in Federal court.

Submission + - C/C++ Most Popular Again?

Submitted by Drethon
Drethon writes: On this day in 2008 a submission was posted that C/C++ was loosing ground so I decided to check out its current state. It seems that C has returned to the top while Java has dropped by the same amount, VB and PHP have dropped drastically, C++ is holding fast but now in third place and Objective-C and C# have climbed quite a bit.

2008 data thanks to SatanicPuppy:

1. Java.....20.5%
2. C........14.7%
3. VB.......11.6%
4. PHP......10.3%
5. C++.......9.9%
6. Perl......5.9%
7. Python....4.5%
8. C#........3.8%
9. Ruby......2.9%
10. Delphi...2.7%

The other 10 in the top 20 are:
JavaScript, D, PL/SQL, SAS, Pascal, Lisp/Scheme, FoxPro/xBase, COBOL, Ada, and ColdFusion

Submission + - Massive Methane release in the Arctic region (newscientist.com) 1

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: While Arctic methane release is a well recorded phenomena — Methane stored in both permafrost (which is melting) and methane hydrates (methane trapped in marine reservoirs) are vulnerable to being released into the atmosphere as the planet warms — ( also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_methane_release ) — researchers who are trying to map atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations on a global basis have discovered that the amount of Methane emissions in the Arctic region (82 north) do not total up

Further research revealed that significant amount of Methane releases came from the Arctic ocean — as much as 2 milligrams of the gas is released per square meter of ocean, each day — presumably by marine bacteria surviving in low-nutrient environments

More info @
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo1452.html

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21733-arctic-methane-leaks-threaten-climate.html
Space

Submission + - Tech billionaires bankroll gold rush to mine asteroids (reuters.com)

Submitted by
fishmike
fishmike writes: "Google Inc executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt and filmmaker James Cameron are among those bankrolling a venture to survey and eventually extract precious metals and rare minerals from asteroids that orbit near Earth, the company said on Tuesday.

Planetary Resources, based in Bellevue, Washington, initially will focus on developing and selling extremely low-cost robotic spacecraft for surveying missions."

Submission + - Dutch Pirate Party ordered to stop encouragement to circumvent URL filters (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Craefter
Craefter writes: Brein, the Dutch sock puppet for the entertainment industry, was quick to react to yesterday's fall of the Dutch government by applying for a court order which demands that the Dutch Pirate Party must refrain from encouraging the public to circumvent Internet URL filtering. This would severely hamper the election campaign of the PP for the elections later this year.
What we see here is that the entertainment industry is trying to stifle democratic options in an election campaign. How could we end up in a situation where a couple of companies which only produce movies and music have such an influence on law and democratic processes?
Science

Submission + - Ancient Viruses Thriving in our DNA ! (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: The more we dwell into the DNA, the more amazing stuffs we are discovering

A study shows how extensively viruses from as far back as the dinosaur era still thrive in our genetic material.

The scientists investigated the genomes of 38 mammals including humans, mice, rats, elephants and dolphins.

One of the viruses was found to have invaded the genome of a common ancestor around 100 million years ago with its remnants discovered in almost every mammal in the study.

Another infected an early primate with the result that it was found in apes, humans and other primates as well.

The work established that many of these viruses lost the ability to transfer from one cell to another.

Instead they evolved to stay within their host cell where they have profilerated very effectively — spending their entire life cycle within the cell.

There are other reports of similar finding. For example:

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-01/8-percent-human-dna-comes-virus-causes-schizophrenia

8 Percent of Human Genome Was Inserted By Virus, and May Cause Schizophrenia

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/01/bornavirus-in-human-dna/

Bornaviruses, a type of RNA virus that causes disease in horses and sheep, first inserted their genetic material into ancestral human DNA at least 40 million years ago
Your Rights Online

Submission + - Carriers oppose publicly documenting LEO requests (wired.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Cellphone companies are objecting to proposed California legislation that would force them to publicly report the number of times they turn over cellphone location information to police and federal agents, arguing that it’s too burdensome, and would take time away from the important work of sharing customer data with cops “day and night.”.

Hey, carriers, there are these things called computers that can automate this process. Maybe you should look into them instead of your knee-jerk reaction to whine.

At issue is California’s SB 1434, a bill that would prohibit carriers from turning over locational data to police without a warrant. That data can include when and where a phone was when it made or received calls; a phone’s whereabouts as it pings cellphone towers or, in the extreme case, a phone’s GPS history.

Submission + - Changemakers: The Revolution Solution (changemakersthemovie.me)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Changemakers: The Revolution Solution will take you on a guided world tour of sustainable living solutions. You will meet people like Aurora, Arcie, Simon, Austin and Dr Geiger who are demonstrating global living solutions that range from do it yourself backyard projects to cross-continental collaborations. Join us on this inspirational journey while we explore innovative solutions spanning three continents. Changemakers movie is a crowd-funded project.
Science

Submission + - Scientists Connect Brain Freeze to Migraines (foxnews.com)

Submitted by kodiaktau
kodiaktau writes: Scientists have recently concluded a study that ties brain freezes to migraines. During the study researchers monitored blood flow to the brain and noticed that the anterior cerebral artery dilation occurred to bring more blood flow to the brain, maintaining temperature in the temperature sensitive organ. When the blood is trying clear the brain it is restricted causing a pressure imbalance in the brain and thus temporary pain.

Researchers are now looking to see if similar issues occur in migraine sufferers and looking toward pharmaceuticals that might reduce or stop the dilation of the blood vessels to prevent or curb migraines.

Interesting infographic on migraines
Apple

Submission + - A brief, inaccurate history of the iPhone Nano (time.com)

Submitted by
harrymcc
harrymcc writes: "Rumor has it that Apple is working on an "iPhone Nano" — a low-cost new model. The thing is, the rumor of a budget model — often in a smaller size — is as old as the iPhone itself. Over at TIME, I rounded up a half-decade of reporting on this iPhone that has never come to be, but has never gone away."
Space

Submission + - Asteroid the 'Size of a Minivan' Exploded over California (discovery.com)

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes: "The source of loud "booms" accompanied by a bright object traveling through the skies of Nevada and California on Sunday morning has been confirmed: it was a meteor. A big one. It is thought to have been a small asteroid that slammed into the atmosphere at a speed of 15 kilometers per second (33,500 mph), turning into a fireball, delivering an energy of 3.8 kilotons of TNT as it broke up over California's Sierra Nevada mountains. Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, classified it as a "big event." "I am not saying there was a 3.8 kiloton explosion on the ground in California," Cooke told Spaceweather.com. "I am saying that the meteor possessed this amount of energy before it broke apart in the atmosphere. (The map) shows the location of the atmospheric breakup, not impact with the ground." Interestingly, this event was bigger than asteroid 2008 TC3 that exploded over the skies of Sudan in 2008 after being detected before it hit."

Submission + - Hidden Ways Sites, Games Kill Your Phone's Battery (itworld.com)

Submitted by
itwbennett
itwbennett writes: "You know that streaming music over 3G draws a lot of smartphone energy. But inefficient CSS, image file choices, and geo-locating advertisements are hogging your battery in less overt ways, according to recent studies from Stanford and Purdue and Microsoft. Here's your shocking stat for the day: 70% of the energy suck from Angry Birds is related to advertising (the ads themselves, location tracking for the ads, adn connection demands for ads)."

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