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Patents

Submission + - Amazon Patents Including a String at End of a URL

theodp writes: "On Tuesday, Amazon search subsidiary A9.com was awarded U.S. patent no. 7,287,042 for 'including a search string at the end of a URL without any special formatting.' In the Summary of the Invention, it's explained that 'a user wishing to search for 'San Francisco Hotels' may do by simply accessing the URL www.domain_name/San Francisco Hotels, where domain_name is a domain name associated with the web site system.' Here's the flowchart that helped cinch the deal."
Businesses

Submission + - Drivin' On Up: En-Suite Garages in NYC Hi-Rise

theodp writes: "If the hassle of getting groceries from the parking garage to your 12th floor condo has been holding you back from buying a deluxe apartment in the sky, wait no more. Wired reports on the En-Suite Sky Garages at 200 Eleventh Avenue (Flash) in Chelsea, where an 8,000-pound-capacity freight elevator will whisk your Bentley directly into your pad. The convenience doesn't come cheap — a garage-equipped 2BR starts at $4.7M."
Space

Submission + - Scientist close to being able to steer huricanes (telegraph.co.uk) 1

E++99 writes: "In the wake of Katrina, two rival teams of climate scientists are working on ways to steer hurricanes, so as to be able to avoid direct hits on major cities in the future. Both teams are using the technique of removing power and speed from strategic points in the hurricane, effectively refracting its path. The American team is approaching this by warming the areas of the tops of the hurricane clouds, either by dropping ash to absorb heat from the sun, or directly beaming microwaves on those areas from space. The Israeli team is taking the approach of cooling the bottom of the hurricane by releasing dust along its base. The concern is raised of lawsuits from the small towns that hurricanes are directed towards in the effort to avoid large cities. But if the space-based solution could be done efficiently, and applied to all large tropical storms, couldn't we one day send them all harmlessly into the North Atlantic?"

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