Submission + - Chinese Crunch Human Genome With Videogame Chips
Eric Smalley writes: "The world’s largest genome sequencing center once needed four days to analyze data describing a human genome. Now it needs just six hours. The trick is servers built with graphics chips — the sort of processors that were originally designed to draw images on your personal computer. They’re called graphics processing units, or GPUs — a term coined by chip giant Nvidia. This fall, BGI — a mega lab headquartered in Shenzhen, China — switched to servers that use GPUs built by Nvidia, and this slashed its genome analysis time by more than an order of magnitude."
Submission + - 'Badges' Earned Online Pose Challenge to Tradition (chronicle.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Educational badges, which seem like a playful riff on Boy Scout skill patches, pose an existential crisis for colleges and universities. If students can collect credentials from MITx and Khan Academy and other free Web sites, why go to a campus?
Submission + - Kenya Eyes Nuclear Power Development. (voanews.com)
Snirt writes: "Kenya is seeking to develop a viable nuclear energy program within the next 15 years to meet its growing energy demands. A government commission formed last year is conducting a feasibility study and the University of Nairobi is setting up programs to train people for the nuclear program. Critics say they're concerned about plant worker safety and the risk of environmental contamination.
Some 86 percent of Kenyans do not have access to electricity, relying on firewood and kerosene to meet their energy needs. Electricity is expensive(1$=KES 90), and the supply is limited."
Some 86 percent of Kenyans do not have access to electricity, relying on firewood and kerosene to meet their energy needs. Electricity is expensive(1$=KES 90), and the supply is limited."
Submission + - Wikipedia is losing contributors (npr.org)
derGoldstein writes: From npr: "Speaking with The Associated Press on the sidelines of the website's annual conference, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said the nonprofit company that runs the site is scrambling to simplify editing procedures in an attempt to retain volunteers". According to Wales: "We are not replenishing our ranks ... It is not a crisis, but I consider it to be important." Despite Wikipedia's wide-reaching popularity, Wales said the typical profile of a contributor is "a 26-year-old geeky male" who moves on to other ventures, gets married and leaves the website.
Submission + - Spam King Wallace Indicted for Facebook Spam (itworld.com)
itwbennett writes: "Notorious spam king Sanford Wallace is facing federal fraud charges for allegedly breaking into the Facebook accounts of 500,000 victims in 2008 and 2009 and using the stolen credentials to post 27 million spam messages. The charges are outlined in an indictment, filed July 6 but made public Thursday after Wallace turned himself in to federal authorities. If convicted, Wallace could get more than 16 years in prison."
Submission + - 3D Printing Takes Off
Submission + - Using brain waves can shorten brake distance (bbc.co.uk)
cheros writes: A BBC article reports on work at the Berlin Institute of technology where brainwaves are used to trigger brakes. Apparently this cuts braking distance by more than 3m (10ft), but I have reservations about skull electrodes in *any* circumstances. I'll stick with radar, thanks..
Submission + - Ruling Upholds Gene Patent in Cancer Test (nytimes.com)
diewlasing writes: In a closely watched case, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday that genes can be patented, overturning a lower court decision that had shocked the biotechnology industry.
Submission + - Cornell software fingers fake online reviews (cnet.com)
Eric Smalley writes: "If you're like most people, you give yourself high ratings when it comes to figuring out when someone's trying to con you. Problem is, most people aren't actually good at it — at least as far as detecting fake positive consumer reviews. Fortunately, technology is poised to make up for this all-too-human failing. Cornell University researchers have developed software that they say can detect fake reviews."
Submission + - Can the NSA Track Your Phone's Location? (itworld.com)
itwbennett writes: "Responding to questions from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence yesterday, Matthew Olsen, the NSA's general counsel, said that the NSA 'may', under 'certain circumstances' have the authority to track U.S. citizens by intercepting location data from cell phones, but it's 'very complicated.' 'There's no need to panic, or start shopping for aluminum-foil headwear,' says blogger Kevin Fogarty, but clearly the NSA has been thinking about it enough 'that the agency's chief lawyer was able to speak intelligently about it off the cuff while interviewing for a different job.'"
Submission + - New Soyuz Launch Facility Gets Equator Boost (pbs.org) 1
tcd004 writes: Russian and French teams are currently hard at work in French Guiana on the northern coast of South America, building the first Soyuz launch facility in the Western Hemisphere. Soyuz rockets normally carry 3,500 pound payloads into orbit, but from the French Guiana spaceport, the rocket will have an added benefit of being near the equator where the Earth's spin extremely fast. This extra boost allows it to deliver a 6,600 pound payload into orbit. The first launches are scheduled for October.
Submission + - Cast-off gadgets peek into new owners' lives (cnet.com)
Eric Smalley writes: "For the project, dubbed Backtalk, researchers sent refurbished Netbooks to developing countries via nonprofit organizations. They set up the computers to record location and pictures, and send the data home to MIT--with their new owners' consent... The MIT team used the data to build visual narratives about the computers' new lives."
Submission + - Geeky volunteer work? 1
An anonymous reader writes: I plan to be in-between jobs for 1-2 months later this year and use part of this time to do some volunteer work in Africa. My naive question: what to do and where to go? Is it possible to make good use of the skill-set of a typical geek? Any interesting projects worth supporting on-site?
Submission + - Is the Master's Degree the New Bachelor's?
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Laura Pappano writes that the master's degree, once derided as the consolation prize for failing to finish a Ph.D. or just a way to kill time waiting out economic downturns, is now the fastest-growing degree with 657,000 awarded in 2009, more than double the level in the 1980's. Today nearly 2 in 25 people age 25 and over have a master’s, about the same proportion that had a bachelor’s or higher in 1960. “Several years ago it became very clear to us that master’s education was moving very rapidly to become the entry degree in many professions,” says Debra W. Stewart, president of the Council of Graduate Schools. “There is definitely some devaluing of the college degree going on,” adds Eric A. Hanushek, an education economist at the Hoover Institution, and that gives the master’s extra signaling power. “We are going deeper into the pool of high school graduates for college attendance,” making a bachelor’s no longer an adequate screening measure of achievement for employers. But some wonder if a master's is worth the extra effort? "In some fields, such as business or engineering, a graduate degree typically boosted income by more than enough to justify the cost," says Liz Pulliam Weston. "In others — the liberal arts and social sciences, in particular — master’s degrees didn’t appear to produce much if any earnings advantage.""
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