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Comment Stillwell, History of Mathematics (Score 1) 630

by tenyearsgone (#26779449) Attached to: Mathematics Reading List For High School Students?
This book shows how math concepts were 'discovered' as they were needed. Negative numbers help us solve all subtraction problems. Complex numbers solve all polynomial root problems. etc. It makes he student realize the math concepts are there for a reason and we still have plenty of room to add to them. Each chapter is a self-contained interesting story.
Microsoft

Microsoft To Offer Free Anti-Virus Software 448

Posted by kdawson from the another-industry-done-gone dept.
Dynamoo writes "The good news is that Microsoft have announced free anti-virus software for consumers, dubbed Morro, available late next year. The bad news is ... well, exactly the same. Although Microsoft's anti-malware products are pretty good, this move could drive many competitors out of business and create a dangerous security monoculture; major rivals will be lawyering up already. On the other hand, many malware infections could be prevented even by basic software. So is this going to be a good or bad thing overall?"
Communications

Submission + - Australian Broadband Network Viability Doubted

Submitted by RcK
RcK writes: In addition to the rising controversy of the possible Australian version of the Great Firewall Of China already mentioned several times of late here on Slashdot; the viability of the proposed AU$5Billion internet infrastructure upgrade promised by the Federal Government during their 2007 election campaign is under fire. The MD of arguably Australia's leading internet company iinet has branded the proposal as a waste of taxpayers money: http://www.wabusinessnews.com.au/en-story/1/68044/Broadband-network-waste-of-money-iinet Steve Balmer, during his current Australian visit, has also weighed in on the topic and diplomatically indicated that Australia should get on with the job: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Ballmer-tells-Oz-get-with-the-broadband/0,130061733,339293082,00.htm Much of the current criticism appears to surround the likelihood of people in remote areas being left out of the proposed plan. Ironically, where i lived previously (remote town in central Aus — nearest town over 400km away) everyone had, at the absolute least, subsidized satellite internet and most had ADSL. In my case a flawless 512k connection for ~4years. However, I now live 5min from the center of a capital city and due to archaic telephone infrastructure cannot get adsl and even line noise is too great for dialup!!! A good roundup of the articles relating to the saga can be found at: http://whirlpool.net.au/
Google

Submission + - Why Dvorak is Wrong About the Google Phone 3

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Everyone probably remembers Dvorak's dire predictions of doom and gloom for the Google Phone. It's no surprise that a lot of people disagree, but one reviewer has gone so far as to claim that Dvorak's predictions are so out of touch and off base, that his comments on the Google Phone should prove he is no longer fit for technology writing. From the article:

John C. Dvorak, a long time main stay of technology magazines, has proven that he is so absolutely out of touch with modern technology and its uses that his future opinions are all now cast into doubt... I'm really not sure where Dvorak is getting his ideas, but I think it is clear from his column that he has grown dangerously out of touch with modern technology.
The article goes on to highlight many of Google's successful features which have already debuted on all mobile phones (and which many people are still unaware of), for free, and how this is likely to fit into their plan for the future. There is also a good discussion on the future of the mobile phone industry, and how new technologies are likely to change the way we view the role of mobile communication devices.

Feed Science Daily: Antarctic Team To Install Seismographs, Where 'No Man -- Or Woman -- Has Gone Be (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
A team of seismologists, like members of the starship Enterprise, will "boldly go where no man has gone before" after Thanksgiving this year. The team will go to remote regions of Antarctica to place seismographs in both east and west Antarctica, to learn about the earth beneath the ice, and glean information about glaciers, mountains and ice streams. The location of their field camp, called AGAP-South, has never been visited by humans before, and the entire region of Antarctica has only been traversed by a Russian team 50 years ago and by a Chinese team last year.

Feed Science Daily: Unlocking The Function Of Enzymes (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
Fitting a key into a lock may seem like a simple task, but researchers are using a method that involves testing thousands of keys to unlock the functions of enzymes, and their findings could open the door for new targets for drug designs.
Google

Submission + - Google Sky

Submitted by
Tom F
Tom F writes: "BBC News are running an article relating to the release of Google Sky. A new tool to allow users to now view images of the heavenly skies with the chance to look at 1 million stars and 200 million galaxies. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6955787.stm"
Announcements

Submission + - Anti-Bacterial Soap No Better than Plain Soap (physorg.com)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "Stop buying antibacterial soap as it's no more effective than the regular stuff and, on top of that, you are introducing a risk to a mutation of bacteria! From the article, "The team looked at 27 studies conducted between 1980 and 2006, and found that soaps containing triclosan within the range of concentrations commonly used in the community setting (0.1 to 0.45 percent wt/vol) were no more effective than plain soaps. Triclosan is used in higher concentrations in hospitals and other clinical settings, and may be more effective at reducing illness and bacteria. Triclosan works by targeting a biochemical pathway in the bacteria that allows the bacteria to keep its cell wall intact. Because of the way triclosan kills the bacteria, mutations can happen at the targeted site. Aiello says a mutation could mean that the triclosan can no longer get to the target site to kill the bacteria because the bacteria and the pathway have changed form." For the love of god, stop endangering everyone with your soapy hand held mutation experiments!"
Music

Submission + - Russian court aquits former owner of allofmp3.com (themoscowtimes.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Moscow's Cheremushkin District Court has acquitted Denis Kvasov, former owner of the music download website allofmp3.com, of violating intellectual property laws, reports Moscow Times.

The court has cited insufficient evidence of criminal activity — a question of fact — without touching the question of law of whether the site's activities (had they been proven by the prosecution) actually violated Russian copyright law. Yekaterina Sharapova, the trial's presiding judge, said: "I want to draw particular attention to the sloppy job done by prosecutors in collecting and analyzing the facts."

According to the Moscow Times, though, the allofmp3.com case is far from over. Two more criminal trials are scheduled to take place: one against Vladimir Mamotin, the media director of MediaServices, the parent company of allofmp3.com, and another against the company itself.

allofmp3.com has been a long subject of controversy. According to the licensing agreement, it pays a percentage of its revenue to the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society, which in turns pays individual rights holders of the songs. However, western music labels claim that ROMS's licensing agreement violates their intellectual property rights.

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