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Google

Submission + - Google Map's data switch has been bumpy (vector1media.com)

Submitted by neogeographer
neogeographer writes: Google's map data switch has hit a nerve with the Geographic Information Systems community- more than one GIS professional has notice major gaps in the accuracy and quality of the Google Maps data since they switched to using their own data last week (previously, Google Maps had relied on TeleNav and NavTeq, dedicated map data providers). The hodge-podge of data sources compiled by Google Maps proves that keeping map data accurate is incredibly challenging in an ever changing world, and that the reputation of an internet map service will suffer dramatically if the data is off. The most egregious example- Canton Ohio is mislabeled as Colesville, Ohio (as of this submission this is still true). While they now have a 'report a problem' link on the maps, the turn-around time for correcting their data has been criticized, and waiting for someone to report a problem on a map makes the data worthless in the meanwhile. Crowdsourcing is a neat idea in theory, unless you're trying to get to Canton, Ohio (or trying to get out!).
Portables

Submission + - How to overclock a netbook (yes, really) (computerworld.com)

Submitted by CWmike
CWmike writes: The words 'overclocking' and 'netbook' appear in a sentence together about as often as Steve Ballmer is spotted at a Linux convention. Netbooks are all about portability over performance. Overclocking is all about pushing fast gear to its upper limits. Right? Actually, "people have been overclocking netbooks pretty much since Day One," says Brad Linder, who writes the Liliputing blog. It started with the very first Eee PC 701, which Asustek Computer "intentionally underclocked ... to improve battery life," said Linder. Frustrated hackers developed tools such as Eeectl and SetFSB to "right-clock" the Eee's CPU, he says. Quick to take a hint, Asus soon began shipping its own overclocking app, the Super Hybrid Engine, with every Eee. That let users boost the speed of most Eees by up to 10% while staying within warranty. And the newly released Asus 1101HA can be run up to 30% faster. MSI also enables its users to easily tune its Wind netbooks and make them as much as 24% faster. Then there are extreme modders like Team Australia. Using a dry-ice-filled pot to chill the exposed motherboard of an MSI Wind U100 netbook, they were able to push its Intel Atom N270 processor to 2.4 GHz, a 50% boost over its rated 1.6 GHz. But besides Asus and MSI, few other netbook makers officially endorse overclocking, much less bundle tools to enable it. Never fear: Eric Lai rounds up five (fairly) easy ways you can overclock your netbook at home.

Submission + - The Reverse Geocache Puzzle Box

Submitted by whitefox
whitefox writes: An enterprising friend of the bride & groom hands them a wedding gift. They unwrap it to find a locked, wooden box the size of a book with a small LCD screen and a single button. When they press the button, assuming a GPS signal is available, a message appears:

Bonsoir, famille Immel!
This is attempt 2 of 50.
Distance 391km
*Access Denied*
Powering off...

What follows is an interesting story on the creation of a puzzle box that will only unlock itself when it's in the right geographic location and its presentation to the newlyweds. A follow-up sequel to the story is now available.

Submission + - ABC Bans Al Gore TV Commercial (twilightearth.com) 1

Submitted by NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: ABC has refused to air a television commercial submitted by former Vice President of the United States Al Gore, which criticizes the manner in which big oil companies are using their money to unduly influence the United States Government. At my Twitter account, where I am known simply by my real name RayBeckerman, I have launched a campaign to make the commercial go "viral" using the Twitter "hashtag" #algoretv, so that the excellent commercial will receive more exposure for free than it would have received had ABC accepted payment. I would think that when a former Senator and United States Vice President talks about how certain large governments are improperly influencing government, people would want to hear what he has to say. Even if he didn't really invent the internet.
Security

Submission + - IE8 Tops Firefox, Chrome in Security Test (channelinsider.com)

Submitted by
dasButcher
dasButcher writes: "Microsoft is often seen as the root of all security woes — and deservedly so. And it's practices for bundling its Web browser with Windows is constantly scrutinized. But, as Larry Walsh writes (http://blogs.channelinsider.com/secure_channel/content/web_security/internet_explorer_8_trounces_firefox_chrome_in_security_test.html), Microsoft may be doing users a favor. A test by NSS Labs (http://www.nsslabs.com) found Internet Explorer 8 outperformed Firefox 3 and Chrome 2 in stopping Web-based attacks and phishing exploits."
Medicine

Submission + - US Life Expectancy May Have Peaked

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Live Science reports that although life expectancy in the United States has risen to an all-time high of 77.9 years in 2007 up from 77.7 in 2006, gains in life expectancy may be pretty much over, as some groups — particularly people in rural locations are already stagnating or slipping in contrast to all other industrialized nations. Hardest hit are regions in the Deep South, along the Mississippi River, in Appalachia and also the southern part of the Midwest reaching into Texas. The culprits — largely preventable with better diet and access to medical services — are diabetes, cancers and heart disease caused by smoking, high blood pressure and obesity. What the new analysis reveals is the reality of two Americas, one on par with most of Europe and parts of Asia, and another no different than a third world nation with the United States placing 41st on the 2008 CIA World Factbook list, behind Bosnia but still edging out Albania. "Beginning in the early 1980s and continuing through 1999 those who were already disadvantaged did not benefit from the gains in life expectancy experienced by the advantaged, and some became even worse off," says a report published in PLoS Medicine by a team led by Harvard's Majid Ezzati adding that "study results are troubling because an oft-stated aim of the US health system is the improvement of the health of "all people, and especially those at greater risk of health disparities.""
NASA

Submission + - Major Insight Into Evolution Of Life revealed (spacefellowship.com)

Submitted by
xp65
xp65 writes: "Humans might not be walking on Earth today if not for the ancient fusing of two microscopic, single-celled organisms called prokaryotes, NASA-funded research has found. Two major classes of relatively simple microbes fused together more than 2.5 billion years ago. This endosymbiosis, or merging of two cells, enabled the evolution of a highly stable and successful organism with the capacity to use energy from sunlight via photosynthesis. Further evolution led to photosynthetic organisms producing oxygen as a byproduct. The resulting oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere profoundly affected the evolution of life, leading to more complex organisms that consumed oxygen, which were the ancestors of modern oxygen-breathing creatures including humans."
Programming

Submission + - Developer's Cafe/Lounge (wisc.edu)

Submitted by
Todd Bezenek
Todd Bezenek writes: "When I was a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, the Computer Sciences Department provided a room of about 300 square feet called the Undergraduates Projects Lab. The lab was stocked with cast-off or donated equipment used by motivated undergraduate students to do some pretty cool things. This lab provided a petri-dish-like environment for creative projects. Several of the students involved in the lab progressed to industry to make significant contributions.

I suggest a chain of labs for the public, like libraries, where developers can commune with others who have similar interests. A developer's cafe will need chairs and benches, high-speed Internet connections, and a "guard" to police the environment. Monitors for laptops and machines for people who do not want to bring laptops might also be included.

These cafes will result in projects of use to venture capitalists, companies interested in advancing their APIs, and industry-supported open-source projects.

For the cost of space and on overseer (hint--I am available), it is possible to create a crucible for new and--in many cases--unexpected projects/results.

If you are interested in this idea, contact me at "bezenek" (at my Google email address).

-Todd"
Security

Submission + - NIST Selects Second Round SHA-3 Candidates

Submitted by onionman
onionman writes: NIST announced the second round candidates for the SHA-3 competition today. The winners are: BLAKE, Blue Midnight Wish, CubeHash, ECHO, Fugue, Grøstl, Hamsi, JH, Keccak, Luffa, Shabal, SHAvite-3, SIMD, and Skein. More details are available at the NIST web site, and we can expect the SHA-3 Zoo to quickly update its list.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft boldy patenting the study of evolution (freshpatents.com)

Submitted by jestill
jestill writes: It appears that US patent application #20090030925 'Clustering phylogenetic variation patterns' from Microsoft is an attempt to patent the study of evolutionary biology. The broadly written application attempts to patent the process that nearly every evolutionary biologist uses to reconstruct the tree of life. The prior art for phylogeny reconstruction is immense and is extremely well documented in the scientific literature. The applications of clustering and classification algorithms to the study of evolutionary relationships is certainly not new, and many open source programs that molecular biologist depend on make use of these approaches. Everything in biology ranging from the next wave of cancer and AIDs research to the study of relationships in Cichlid Fishes depends on these algorithms. Patenting such a core concept of basic biology could do great harm to a broad range of disciplines.
Enlightenment

Submission + - Scientists Say They Can Now Measure Happiness (scientificblogging.com)

Submitted by
Ionice
Ionice writes: "Pancakes make you happy. Science knows that now. For decades, social scientists have been searching for a way to measure happiness without any success. But Peter Dodds and Chris Danforth, a mathematician and computer scientist working in the Advanced Computing Center at the University of Vermont, say they have created a remote-sensing mechanism that can record how millions of people around the world are feeling on any particular day — without their knowing it."
Social Networks

Submission + - SPAM: Facebook tell-all shines harsh light on friendship

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: The moral I took away from Ben Mezrich's new book about social network site Facebook, The Accidental Billionaires, is that it's pretty darn hard these days to figure out who your real friends are. That's only fitting since Facebook, along with MySpace and other social networks, has popularized the concept of "friending" people you don't always know so well. Mezrich's story documents the rise of Facebook from a geeky dorm room project at Harvard University in 2004 inspired by hard-to-penetrate social clubs to its current state as a gathering place for a couple hundred million people and a business that Facebook board member Marc Andreessen recently said could generate $1 billion in revenue this year if it pushed harder on selling ads. Unfortuntely for Mezrich, he doesn't get to talk to Facebook mastermind Mark Zuckerberg, though he does base a lot of it on Zuckerberg's jilted business partner, giving the book a predictable slant.
Link to Original Source
Cellphones

Submission + - Teen Hacks iPhone

Submitted by RemoWilliams84
RemoWilliams84 writes: "A New Jersey teenager has figured out how to make Apple's iPhone available on other wireless services besides AT&T, removing a major frustration for thousands of consumers." from on story on CNBC.
Privacy

Submission + - Snooping on keyboards through power sockets (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
vigmeister
vigmeister writes: "Supposedly, most keyboards wires are poorly shielded which enables keylogging by monitoring power outlets for electricity leaking to the ground wires. "Security researchers found that poor shielding on some keyboard cables means useful data can be leaked about each character typed. By analysing the information leaking onto power circuits, the researchers could see what a target was typing. The attack has been demonstrated to work at a distance of up to 15m, but refinement may mean it could work over much longer distances. "
They then go on to mention hotel rooms as an example of a susceptible location. Perhaps I should stop packing my desktop on those business trips. On a more serious note, seeing as I am using a wired keyboard to type this, I'm curious to know if using some variety of a wireless keyboard is more secure."
Censorship

Submission + - Australian Minister named Internet Villain of the (taragana.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Stephen Conroy has been named the Internet Villain of the Year at the 11th annual UK Internet Industry Awards for his for his Internet censorship plans. The award recognises individuals or organizations, who may have hampered the development or in a way disappointed the Internet industry — those whom the industry loves to hate, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Conroy was awarded as the Internet Villain 'for continuing to promote network-level blocking despite significant national and international opposition'.

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It's a naive, domestic operating system without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption.

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