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Editorial

Submission + - "Death star" aimed at Earth (cosmosmagazine.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A spectacular, rotating binary star system is a ticking time bomb, ready to throw out a searing beam of high-energy gamma rays thta could lead to a major extinction event — and Earth may be right in the line of fire, Australian science magazine Cosmos Magazine is reporting.
Patents

Submission + - Akamai wins lawsuit to protect obvious patent 1

Submitted by brandaman
brandaman writes: Akamai, the largest CDN with about 70% market share, won it's lawsuit against Limelight Networks, second largest CDN, that asserted Limelight was infringing on Akamai's patent.

... . In accordance with the invention, however, a base HTML document portion of a Web page is served from the Content Provider's site while one or more embedded objects for the page are served from the hosting servers, preferably, those hosting servers near the client machine. By serving the base HTML document from the Content Provider's site, the Content Provider maintains control over the content.
This is not the first lawsuit Akamai has won regarding its patents [1] [2].
IBM

Submission + - IBM Measure Force Required To Move Atoms (ibm.com)

Submitted by
Tjeerd
Tjeerd writes: "IBM scientists, in collaboration with the University of Regensburg in Germany, are the first ever to measure the force it takes to move individual atoms on a surface. This fundamental measurement provides important information for designing future atomic-scale devices: computer chips, miniaturized storage devices, and more. An animation of their research can be viewed on Youtube."
Media

Submission + - Prince, Village People to sue The Pirate Bay (thelocal.se)

Submitted by castrox
castrox writes: YMCA to all! It appears the long since famous artists Prince and The Village people are getting ready to sue The Pirate Bay, if only they can figure out who to sue.

The Local:

Sandberg has been hired on behalf of the US musicians by British law firm Web Sheriff, which wants to claim "several million dollars" in damages in both Sweden and the United States, he said.
It's unclear how many tracks of Prince and Village People are being swapped via TPB at this moment. They are to seek damages nonetheless, of course..

Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde told The Local that Giacobbi [Web Sheriff president] had "no clue" what he was doing but that he was welcome to try to sue the file sharing site.
You might remember TPB taunting Web Sheriff multiple times in their much appreciated legal threats section.
Moon

Submission + - Full Lunar Eclipse for the Americas on Wednesday (nasa.gov)

Submitted by
KingArthur10
KingArthur10 writes: "It will be the last lunar eclipse until December 2010, and it should be spectacular. Shades of turquoise and red will pour over the moon's surface as the it moves into the Earth's shadow around 8:43pm EST. As NASA reports: 'Transiting the shadow's core takes about an hour. The first hints of red appear around 10 pm EST (7 pm PST), heralding a profusion of coppery hues that roll across the Moon's surface enveloping every crater, mountain and moon rock, only to fade away again after 11 pm EST (8 pm PST). No special filter or telescope is required to see this spectacular event. It is a bright and leisurely display visible from cities and countryside alike. While you're watching, be alert for another color: turquoise. Observers of several recent lunar eclipses have reported a flash of turquoise bracketing the red of totality.....The source of the turquoise is ozone.' So, all of your amateur astronomers need to get out there and take pictures. If you have amazing, share them on sites like SpaceWeather or Flickr so that our Asian, European, African, and Australian brethren can witness the sight as well."
Space

Asteroid Missions May Replace Lunar Base Plans 237

Posted by Soulskill from the take-a-triangular-ship-just-in-case dept.
An anonymous reader alerts us to a story about efforts to modify the United States' space exploration plans to focus on asteroid missions rather than a lunar base. Scientists, astronauts, and former NASA division directors will be meeting next month to develop an alternative to the Bush administration's Vision for Space Exploration. We have previously discussed the possibility of a manned asteroid mission. Quoting: "Numerous planetary managers told Aviation Week & Space Technology they now fear a manned Moon base and even shorter sorties to the Moon will bog down the space program for decades and inhibit, rather than facilitate, manned Mars operations--the ultimate goal of both the Bush and alternative visions. The first lunar sortie would be flown by about 2020 under the Bush plan. If alternative-vision planners have their way, the mission could instead be flown to an asteroid in about 2025."
Education

Submission + - The impaticence of the Google Generation 1

Submitted by profBill
profBill writes: As a fifty something professor who teaches introductory computer science, I am very aware that the 20 somethings in my class are much more at ease with computers than any other generation. However, does that mean they are more adept at using those computers? Apparently not, according to the researchers at University College of London (http://www.bl.uk/news/2008/pressrelease20080116.html). Their research indicates that while more adept at conducting searches, they also show "impatience in search and navigation, and zero tolerance for any delay in satisfying their information needs". Moreover, this behavior "(is) now becoming the norm for all age-groups, from younger pupils and undergraduates through to professors".

The panel makes two conclusions: That libraries (and I wonder what a library will be come the future anyway) will have to adapt, and that the information processing skills of todays young people are lacking.

The question is, why are those skills lacking and, if they are, what can be done about it?
Businesses

Submission + - Young IT workers disillusioned, hard to retain (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
bednarz
bednarz writes: "Young IT employees pose a challenge to many managers who say the Millennial generation — employees between the ages of 18 and 31 — makes unreasonable demands for their services. "Millennials are coming in with high expectations and are disillusioned about the reality of a work place. They feel they should be rewarded and start at the top, when we all know you have to work your way up. They have been raised to be rewarded often and when you get into the workforce those rules change a bit," says Jack Harrington, co-founder and principal of Atlantic Associates, an IT staffing company that surveyed 100 Massachusetts executives on the challenges they face. On the plus side, social responsibility is a priority for young Millennials."

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