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Submission + - The demographics of Web search (yahoo.com) 1

Submitted by adaviel
adaviel writes: Reported in New Scientist, Weber and Castillo describe research indicating that demographics may help Web searches, e.g. for women "wagner" is a composer, while for US men "wagner" is a paint sprayer.
Security

Submission + - Anyone Can Play Big Brother with BitTorrent (inria.fr)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: I was at the 3rd USENIX Workshop on Large-Scale Exploits and Emergent Threats ( http://www.usenix.org/events/leet10/ ) yesterday, and there were people from the French Institute for Computer Science who have continously spied on most BitTorrent users of the Internet for 100 days, from a single machine. They've also identified 70% of all content providers; yes, those guys that insert the new contents into BitTorrent. As a BitTorrent user, I was shocked that anyone with a box connected to the Internet can spy on what everyone is downloading on BitTorrent.
Earth

Submission + - How Slums Can Save the Planet 1

Submitted by
Standing Bear
Standing Bear writes: "One billion people live in squatter cities and, according to the UN, this number will double in the next 25 years. Now with sixty million people in the developing world leaving the countryside every year, Stewart Brand writes in Prospect about what squatter cities can teach us much about future urban living. "The magic of squatter cities is that they are improved steadily and gradually by their residents," writes Brand. "Squatter cities are also unexpectedly green. They have maximum density—1m people per square mile in some areas of Mumbai—and have minimum energy and material use. People get around by foot, bicycle, rickshaw, or the universal shared taxi." Brand adds that in most slums recycling is literally a way of life e.g. the Dharavi slum in Mumbai has 400 recycling units and 30,000 ragpickers. "Of course, fast-growing cities are far from an unmitigated good. They concentrate crime, pollution, disease and injustice as much as business, innovation, education and entertainment" says Brand. Still as architect Peter Calthorpe wrote in 1985: “The city is the most environmentally benign form of human settlement. Each city dweller consumes less land, less energy, less water, and produces less pollution than his counterpart in settlements of lower densities.”"

Submission + - Why You Can't Pry IE6 Out Of Their Cold Dead Hands 1

Submitted by
Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: "It's easy for techies to enumerate the reasons that Internet Explorer 6 should die. Although the percentage of users who use IE6 has dropped to about 12%, many web developers are forced to make sure their websites work with the ancient browser (which presents additional problems, such as keeping their companies from upgrading to newer versions of Windows). But rather than indulge in an emotional rant, in Why You Can't Pry IE6 Out Of Their Cold Dead Hands, Esther Schindler set about to find out why the companies that remain standardized on IE6 haven't upgraded (never mind to what). In short: user and business-owner ignorance and/or disinterest in new technology; being stuck with a critical business app that relies on IE6; finding a budget to update internal IE6 apps that will work the same as they used to; and keeping users away from newer Web 2.0 sites."
Apple

Submission + - Flash Fundamentally Flawed On Touch Screen Devices (roughlydrafted.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: I’m a full-time Flash developer and I’d love to get paid to make Flash sites for iPad. I want that to make sense—but it doesn’t. Flash on the iPad will not (and should not) happen—and the main reason, as I see it, is one that never gets talked about: Current Flash sites could never be made work well on any touchscreen device, and this cannot be solved by Apple, Adobe, or magical new hardware. That’s not because of slow mobile performance, battery drain or crashes. It’s because of the hover or mouseover problem. ... All that Apple and Adobe could ever do is make current Flash content visible. It would be seen, but very often would not work.
Google

Submission + - Google Maps shows Chinese Nuclear Sub Prototype (fas.org)

Submitted by
mytrip
mytrip writes: "An image of what could be one of China's new nuclear ballistic missile submarines is available on the Google Maps and Google Earth satellite-image site, a defense blogger claimed Tuesday. The satellite picture was discovered by Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project for the Federation of American Scientists, and announced Tuesday on his blog. Kristensen believes the picture, taken by the Quickbird satellite late last year, reveals China's new Jin-class, or Type 094, nuclear ballistic missile sub. The new sub class is approximately 35 feet longer than its predecessor, the Xia-class, also known as Type 092, according to two images Kristensen compares on the blog. The Jin-class sub has an extended midsection that houses 12 missile tubes and part of the reactor compartment, Kristensen explains."

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