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Portables

Submission + - Intel's third-gen Classmate PC tablet previewed (techreport.com)

Submitted by J. Dzhugashvili
J. Dzhugashvili writes: As the OLPC organization cuts huge chunks of its staff, Intel has revealed its third-generation Classmate PC for kids in developing nations. The Tech Report has posted a hands-on preview with plenty of photos and a look at the machine's hardware and capabilities. Apparently, the new Intel netbook has plenty of perks, including a convertible tablet design with a stylus and 8.9" touch-sensitive screen, a 1.6GHz Atom processor, Windows XP, and 3.3-5 hours of battery life (depending on the model).
Data Storage

Submission + - USB 3.0 is ten times faster; get it in 2010 (blorge.com)

Submitted by
thefickler
thefickler writes: "Seagate and Symwave are jointly demonstrating the first consumer applications of USB 3.0 at CES, showing a Seagate FreeAgent drive running through a Symwave USB 3.0-compatible storage controller device. According to Symwave, this will result in 'speeds previously unattainable with legacy USB technology.' Which means, if you understand PR-write, it will be much faster."
Science

Rare Venomous Mammal Filmed 233

Posted by kdawson from the do-not-annoy-the-solenodon dept.
Smivs writes "The BBC are reporting that footage of one of the world's most strange and elusive mammals has been captured by scientists. Large, and with a long, thin snout, the Hispaniolan solenodon resembles an overgrown shrew. It can inject passing prey with a venom-loaded bite. Dr Sam Turvey, a ZSL (Zoological Society of London) researcher involved with the program, told BBC News: 'It is an amazing creature — it is one of the most evolutionary distinct mammals in the world.' Along with the other species of solenodon, which is found in Cuba (Solenodon cubanus), it is the only living mammal that can actually inject venom into their prey through specialized teeth. Little is known about the creature, which is found in the Caribbean, but it is under threat from deforestation, hunting and introduced species. Researchers say conservation efforts are now needed. The mammal was filmed in the summer of 2008 during a month-long expedition to the Dominican Republic — one of only two countries where this nocturnal, insect-eating animal (Solenodon paradoxus) can be found (the other is Haiti). The researchers from the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Ornithological Society of Hispaniola were able to take measurements and DNA from the creature before it was released."

Comment Re:Science, or practice? (Score 2, Insightful) 232

by Amenacier (#26380637) Attached to: More Brains Needed
They're not just used for scalpel practice - they're used for anatomical studies so that when your surgeon is opening you up, they know what all your organs actually look like and don't spend half an hour playing "find the body part we want". In order to be successful in dissection and surgery, you need to have practice on real flesh, because it's never as neat as the plastic models of the body would make you think.
Quickies

Submission + - U.S. scientists learn how to levitate tiny objects (yahoo.com)

Submitted by AVIDJockey
AVIDJockey writes: Scientists have found a way to levitate the very smallest objects using the strange forces of quantum mechanics, and said on Wednesday they might use it to help make tiny nanotechnology machines.

They said they had detected and measured a force that comes into play at the molecular level using certain combinations of molecules that repel one another. The repulsion can be used to hold molecules aloft, in essence levitating them, creating virtually friction-free parts for tiny devices.
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Scientists discover way to levitate tiny objects (msn.com)

Submitted by mytrip
mytrip writes: CHICAGO — U.S. scientists have found a way to levitate the very smallest objects using the strange forces of quantum mechanics, and said on Wednesday they might use it to help make tiny nanotechnology machines.

They said they had detected and measured a force that comes into play at the molecular level using certain combinations of molecules that repel one another.

The repulsion can be used to hold molecules aloft, in essence levitating them, creating virtually friction-free parts for tiny devices, the researchers said.
Medicine

Submission + - Is love just a chemical cocktail? (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Hapless Hero
Hapless Hero writes: A professor of neuroscience at Emory University theorizes that romantic love, despite the myriad ways poets have been describing the most written-about emotion for centuries, is nothing more profound than a series of chemical reactions. From the BBC.co.uk article:

Professor Young argues that love can be explained by a series of neurochemical events that are happening in specific brain areas. If that is true then, he says, one would no longer have to rely on oysters or chocolates to create a loving mood. Instead, it will be possible for scientists to develop aphrodisiacs — chemicals that would make people fall in love with the first person they see. And for those who have fallen in love with someone they shouldn't have fallen in love with, an antidote to unrequited love. There is even the prospect of a genetic "love test" to assess whether two potential love birds are predisposed to a happy married life.

Are we headed towards our very own real-life love potions? Or is there something deeper going on in true love?
Security

Submission + - Trojan Virus Insists "Downloading is wrong.

Submitted by
NoisySplatter
NoisySplatter writes: "Ernesto, founder of TorrentFreak.com, reports that a new trojan, "Troj/Qhost-AC", has been found distributed on The Pirate Bay.

The virus was disguised as a serial key generator and the offending torrent has since been removed, but the source has not been identified. Troj/Qhost-AC makes changes to the user's hosts file that redirect The Pirate Bay, Suprbay, and Mininova to 127.0.0.1. In addition to making three of the most popular torrent sites inaccessible the virus also plays a sound file saying, "downloading is wrong".

It looks like someone has finally stepped up to the plate to challenge Madonna for the title of "Most Obnoxious Anti-Piracy Stunt". Of course this could just be the software industry's attempt at outdoing the RIAA and MPAA."
Space

Submission + - South Korea Goes SETI (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
Adam Korbitz
Adam Korbitz writes: "South Korea has joined the ranks of nations engaged in SETI:

South Korea has some of the best telecommunication technology in the world. If only eavesdropping on alien chatter was as easy as flipping open a cell phone. The Gwacheon National Science Museum said its brand new 7.2-meter telescope, to be activated this month, will be used to search for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence. Local astronomers are analyzing radio signals detected by the telescope, which is now under a test run, according to Lee Kang-hwan, who will head the museum's SETI (search for extra-terrestrial intelligence) program. The telescope's targets will include the Milky Way and about 250 planetary systems, Lee said. ``Our radio telescope is one of the first instruments of its kind specializing in finding indications of alien life,'' Lee said. ``There've been consistent efforts in several countries to search for radio signals produced by extra-terrestrial life, but no substantial results have been reported. Science needs more research in this area, and we are glad to be part of the process,'' he said.

"
Music

Submission + - I Fought the iPod and the iPod Won

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "The NY Times has a good review of a new book, Appetite for Self Destruction, by music insider Steve Knopper who says that the music industry has largely been responsible for its own demise and that with even a little foresight, record companies could have adapted to the Internet's new realities and thrived. Knopper traces the death of the music industry to the elimination of the single. "It got young people out of the habit of regularly visiting record stores and forced them to buy an entire CD to get the one song they craved." In the short term this was good business practice but in the long term it built up animosity and when Napster and other music-sharing Web sites showed up, the single came back with a vengeance. Then instead of striking a deal with a service that had more than 26 million users, labels sued, forcing it to close as users simply splintered, fleeing to many other file-sharing sites. "That was the last chance," Knopper writes, "for the record industry as we know it to stave off certain ruin." The release of the iPod was the coup de grâce as Apple became America's biggest music retailer while music executives watched, apoplectic and helpless. "Apple had basically taken over the entire music business," writes Knopper. Among music companies there's always the hope that if they wait Apple's near monopoly on music sales will be broken by other devices and services, allowing the labels to bargain for a better cut on song sales. But that could be a long wait."
Government

Submission + - Aussie Students work used to Scam NASA and US Gov. (theage.com.au)

Submitted by Klootzak
Klootzak writes: Here's a particularly interesting story I read this morning, relevant to the recent discussions on Slashdot regarding Universities (and others) stealing student ideas...

Work from Assignments and Theses done by students studying at the University of Wollongong were used by a US Corporation to scam funding grants from NASA and the US Government.
Dr Samandi (who worked for the firm) claims he was threatened with deportation unless he played along with the deception.
According to Dr Samandi's statement to the US District Court in Tuson "the depicted system was actually a photograph of a system created by Samandi at the University of Wollongong in Australia and was still located at that institution at the time of the proposal".
The original article from The Age contains more detail.
Security

Submission + - Students' work used to scam NASA grant money (smh.com.au)

Submitted by toomanyairmiles
toomanyairmiles writes: The Sydney Morning Herald reports that engineering student's assignments from an Australian university were used without the students' knowledge as part of an alleged ruse to fool the US Government and NASA into handing over millions of dollars in federal grant money for non-existent scientific research. The tale has emerged in a whistleblower court case featuring a former employee of MER Corporation and lecturer at the University of Wollongong, Dr Masoud Samandi, who says he was threatened with dismissal and deportation unless he played along with the alleged deception.
Education

Are My Ideas Being Stolen? If So, What Then? 508

Posted by timothy from the patent-your-own-idea-stealer dept.
BinaryGrind writes "I just got started taking Computer Science classes at my local university and after reading Universities Patenting More Student Ideas I felt I needed to ask: How do I tell if any of my projects while attending classes will be co-opted by my professors or the university itself and taken away from me? Is there anything I can do to prevent it from happening? What do I need to do to protect myself? Are there schools out there that won't take my work away from me if I discover TheNextBigThing(TM)? If it does happen is there anything I can do to fight back? The school I'm attending is Southern Utah University. Since it's not a big university, I don't believe it has a big research and development department or anything of that ilk. I'm mostly wanting to cover my bases and not have my work stolen from me."
Books

A Look Back At Kurzweil's Predictions For 2009 307

Posted by kdawson from the no-one-expects-the-mule dept.
marciot writes "It's interesting to look back at Ray Kurzweil's predictions for 2009 from a decade ago. He was dead on in predicting the ubiquity of portable computers, wireless, the emergence of digital objects, and the rise of privacy concerns. He was a little optimistic in certain areas, predicting the demise of rotating storage and the ubiquity of digital paper a bit earlier than it appears it will actually happen. On the topic of human-computer speech interfaces, though, he seems to be way off." And of course Kurzweil missed 9/11 and the fallout from that. His predictions might have been nearer the mark absent the war on terror.

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