The FTC's decision to oppose Whole Foods' acquisition of Wild Oats is the result of a misguided and myopic definition of what constitutes the relevant market. And while many expect Whole Foods to ultimately prevail, the proceedings have been unpleasant for the company's CEO, John Mackey. First it was revealed that Mackey championed the merger, in part because he believed that by taking Wild Oats out of play, it would prevent another supermarket chain from quickly becoming a Whole Foods rival. That may or may not be damning (from an antitrust perspective), but a new revelation will prove to be far more embarrassing. As part of its latest legal filing, the FTC dropped the bombshell that John Mackey had, for several years, been posting on the the Yahoo Finance message boards under a pseudonym, cheerleading his company's success and denigrating its rival, Wild Oats. He even made predictions about the company's stock price, putting out extremely high estimates for its performance. It's not clear that what he did was necessarily illegal, but his posting seems unethical and highly foolish, at the very least. If nothing else, the company's stockholders should wonder about what the boss is doing with his time.

Last year we wrote about how HP was hiring a bunch of scientists, not to work on the new and better products -- but in order to study competitor's products for potential patent infringement. Now, a new article is highlighting how many people with training to become scientists are shifting their focus and heading off to law school to become patent attorneys instead -- and the big IP law firms are paying exceptionally well for law graduates with science backgrounds. Consider this yet another unintended consequence of our screwed up patent system: it's now much more lucrative for those with an interest in science to focus on patent infringement lawsuits than on actual innovation. Of course, considering how many scientific researchers claim that their research is stymied due to fears over patent infringement, perhaps it's no wonder that many are figuring that's a better field to go into.

Activists unite online

Amnesty International and the Observer newspaper have called a conference against internet censorship and repression.

A brighter smile with diethylene glycol

Two brands of Chinese-made toothpastes were last week pulled from shelves in Panama after authorities discovered they contained potentially-fatal diethylene glycol, AP reports.

BadBunny

Malware miscreants have crafted a cross-platform worm targeted at OpenOffice users that's capable of infecting Windows, Mac, and Linux computers.

Filed under: Transportation

We've already seen radars come in handy when dodging impending attacks and avoiding accidents, but researchers at MIT are utilizing the technology to make sure our roadways and structures aren't pushed beyond their limits. A newfangled handheld device uses FAR-NDT (far-field airborne radar nondestructive testing) in order to "see through the fiberglass-polymer wrapping often used to strengthen aging concrete columns to detect damage behind the wrapping not visible to the naked eye." Furthermore, the technique can be executed from about 30 feet away and "requires no dismantling or obstruction of the infrastructure" in order to provide instant feedback. Unsurprisingly, creators are suggesting that it will be best used on bridges and piers which are typically difficult to carefully inspect, and while there's no word on when this stuff will hit DOT offices nationwide, current prototypes are panning out quite well.

[Via Physorg]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Open source database firm seeks European partners

An open source services firm is looking for European partners to sell a version of the Postgres database it has souped-up for enterprise customers.

Compromise rates annoy everyone

The EU's much debated roaming agreement is set to take a step forward if a modified proposal is accepted by the majority in a vote tomorrow.

Hurrah!

The missing seven grams of "Scotty" actor James Doohan have been found safe and, er, well, in the New Mexico mountains where his near-space capsule crash landed three weeks ago.

According to new research a vegetarian diet may have a significant impact on the gastrointestinal (GI) system, affecting the risk for certain diseases. The average person's lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) is about seven percent and the role of diet in preventing this type of cancer remains under debate.

As the Earth's temperatures continue to rise, we can expect a significant change in infectious disease patterns around the globe. Just exactly what those changes will be remains unclear, but scientists agree they will not be for the good.