John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons

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Geekish

Anyone who works as a freelancer these days has to be at least a bit familiar with techie things. But it isn’t just that. When I was a kid and those vaguely SF puppet shows were on the television and all the other kids wanted to be Greg Gogetem or Steve Savetheuniverse, I wanted to be the guy in a white coat and glasses called Doc or Brains. Here are some technology-related feeds I find useful and/or entertaining.

WIRED » Mountain Lion vs. Windows 8: Two Paths to Platform Convergence

Thursday 16 February 23:44:29 UTC 2012

Now that Apple's offered a sneak preview of OS X Mountain Lion, we can begin to compare it with Windows 8. Both OSes draw inspiration from, and aim to integrate with, mobile devices. Each OS faces the same basic challenge, but approaches the problem with different strategies. [Link]

WIRED » Would the Stratos Space Jump Be Similar to Reentry?

Thursday 16 February 23:44:11 UTC 2012

A man plans to skydive from the edge of space. Won't he need some sort of heat shield like the Space Shuttle did in reentry? Dot Physics blogger Rhett Allain uses physics to furnish an answer. [Link]

WIRED » QuickPay Makes Your Smartphone a Parking Attendant

Thursday 16 February 23:44:10 UTC 2012

A service that allows drivers to pay for parking from their smartphones hopes to expand the service to private garages, city streets and even valet services. [Link]

Slashdot » JotForm.com Gets Shut Down SOPA-Style

Thursday 16 February 23:33:00 UTC 2012

itwbennett writes "In a post on the company blog, JotForm.com cofounder Aytekin Tank alerts users that 'a US government agency has temporarily suspended' the jotform.com domain. He explains that it is part of an 'ongoing investigation' of content posted to its site by a user. Although which user and what content haven't yet been disclosed, there is speculation about … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » The Harsh Reality of Working in Tech Support [Comic]

Thursday 16 February 23:30:39 UTC 2012

[Source: DHD | Via CB]Related posts:Stress Free Tech Support [Cartoon]Replies On Tech Support ForumsAll your tech support are belong to us [Graph] [Link]

Geek Culture » Forum Tidbits for your mid-Feb blues!

Thursday 16 February 22:57:48 UTC 2012

The Famous Druid salutes Iron Sky at the Berlin Film Festival, … Ashitaka seeks the secret world of arrietty, … littlefish starts up Motorcycles, … GrumpySteen bids Goodbye Lightsquared, loves Happy half-price-candy day, and asks What did the leper say to the prostitute? [Link]

WIRED » Pentagon's Project 'Avatar': Same as the Movie, but With Robots Instead of Aliens

Thursday 16 February 22:51:00 UTC 2012

Soldiers practically inhabiting the mechanical bodies of androids, who will take the humans' place on the battlefield. Or sophisticated tech that spots a powerful laser ray, then stops it from obliterating its target. If you've got Danger Room's taste in movies, you've probably seen both ideas on the big screen. Now Darpa, the Pentagon's far-out research arm, wants to bring … [Link]

Slashdot » A Memory of Light To Be Released January 8, 2013

Thursday 16 February 22:50:00 UTC 2012

First time accepted submitter Hotawa Hawk-eye writes "Tor Books has announced that the release date for the final volume in the Wheel of Time series of books, A Memory Of Light, will be January 8, 2013. [Barring a Mayan apocalypse, of course.] The fantasy series, started by Robert Jordan and continued by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan's death, will span … [Link]

ProgrammableWeb.com » Twitter Integrated in Another Apple Operating System

Thursday 16 February 22:32:46 UTC 2012

TwitterApple added Twitter API integration into Mountain Lion, the next version of its OS X operating system. The company previously went big with Twitter in iOS for back in June. This latest approach brings Twitter to the place where many of us do the bulk of our work and browsing. GigaOm explains Twitter’s widespread usage in the OS: Twitter, however, is … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Avengers Mashup Trailer is Better than Real Trailer

Thursday 16 February 22:30:18 UTC 2012

Joss Whedon has The Avengers coming out in theaters this May and it took until just this past month before we got to see a full on trailer for the film. Typically promotion is a lot more aggressive than this for a summer blockbuster, but The Avengers is a little different. This movie is riding its own hype without commercials … [Link]

WIRED » Video: Behind the Scenes at Giant Keck Telescopes

Thursday 16 February 22:30:00 UTC 2012

A behind-the-scenes look at how one telescope, the W. M. Keck Observatory, produces its superb space images. [Link]

WIRED » Researchers Fight Toxic Waste With Google PageRank

Thursday 16 February 22:20:00 UTC 2012

According to a paper published in Journal of Computational Chemistry, the same math used to determine the relevance of webpages on Google's search engine can also be used to determine crucial information about a water molecule's position in a solution of charged chemicals — particularly toxic chemicals. For chemists, the finding is more than just a curiosity. It's a crucial … [Link]

WIRED » Hands-On With iMessage Beta on the Desktop: A Good Start, With Beta Bugs

Thursday 16 February 22:16:00 UTC 2012

iMessage on the desktop went from a wish to (beta) reality in just four months. It's now on the Mac OS X desktop as part of Apple's Mountain Lion update, and our friends at Ars Technica have taken it for a spin. [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Game of Thrones Season II Production Video

Thursday 16 February 22:04:58 UTC 2012

Go on set in Iceland as they film Season 2 of “Game Of Thrones,” which will premiere on April 1st, 2012. Oh, and no, this is no April Fools’ day joke. :)Oh, and for those who are interested, the box set for season 1 is coming out in just 3 weeks. You can pre-order it right here on Amazon.com (44% … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » The Ultimate in Laziness [Pic]

Thursday 16 February 22:04:57 UTC 2012

Presented without comment[Via]Related posts:Corporate Logo Breeding [Pic]The Ultimate Contradiction [Pic]The Ultimate Holiday Wreath for IT Geeks [Pic] [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Now We’re Printing Houses Too!

Thursday 16 February 22:04:56 UTC 2012

The Man Who Prints Houses is a documentary about the self-styled “stone alchemist” robotics scientist who embarks on an epic quest to achieve his ultimate dream: to 3D print an entire house.The documentary is supposed to follow his heart-wrenching story, plagued by financial trouble and family estrangement, while he remains focused on achieving his goal.He has built the largest 3D … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » The Robot Invasion Begins With A Buzz

Thursday 16 February 22:04:55 UTC 2012

It’s not going to be the I, Robot machines, not the Cylons, not even Skynet: it’s going to be the RoboBees that will lead the AI insurgence. Inspired by the artisan’s touch in origami constructions, a new fabrication technique is allowing doctoral candidates at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) to advance ever further in the RoboBee project, … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Amazon Deal of the Day: 58% Off GOgroove audiOHM Ergonomic Earbuds with Interchangeable Noise-Reduction Silicone Ear Pieces – $14.99

Thursday 16 February 22:04:54 UTC 2012

For today’s edition of Deal of the Day, Amazon has the GOgroove audiOHM Ergonomic Earbuds with Interchangeable Noise-Reduction Silicone Ear Pieces for just $14.99. That’s 58% off the earbuds’ usual retail price of $35.99.The audiOHM Earbuds featuring AP Noise-Isolation and SonusMAX Technology deliver crystal-clear, uninterrupted audio. Enclosed within the audiOHM are Neodymium Magnetic Components that help produce great sound performance. The … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Apple Gets More Compliant

Thursday 16 February 22:04:53 UTC 2012

It may be too soon to say Apple has adopted a less combative approach in the post-Jobs era, but the company has taken three steps in close succession that are at the very least conciliatory. They involve privacy policies on apps, iPad sales in China, and the labor practices of suppliers.On the app front, Apple has said it will change its … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » The Best Wins from 2011 [Video]

Thursday 16 February 22:04:52 UTC 2012

A great compilation of clips from 2011! Enjoy![Via]Related posts:WonderCon 2011 Costume CompilationRobotnik Finally Wins [Video]Halo 4 E3 2011 Trailer [Video] [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Researchers Solve Ponytail “Mystery”

Thursday 16 February 22:04:51 UTC 2012

A team of British physicists have solved a problem pondered by Leonardo da Vinci that could help producers of children’s films and video games.The problem involves the way hair falls into shape as it grows, a subject mentionned by Da Vinci in his notebooks, where he discussed the way they appeared to act as much like a fluid as a solid.The … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » How To Troll Someone’s Computer [Pic]

Thursday 16 February 22:04:50 UTC 2012

[Via MUO]Related posts:A Jacket For Computer Geeks [Pic]How To Troll Mac UsersThe Hard Knock Life Of An Internet Troll [Pic] [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Avengers Mashup Trailer is Better than Real Trailer

Thursday 16 February 22:00:18 UTC 2012

Joss Whedon has The Avengers coming out in theaters this May and it took until just this past month before we got to see a full on trailer for the film. Typically promotion is a lot more aggressive than this for a summer blockbuster, but The Avengers is a little different. This movie is riding its own hype without commercials and … [Link]

Slashdot » US Seismologist Testifies Against Scientists In Quake-Prediction Case

Thursday 16 February 21:53:00 UTC 2012

ananyo writes with this snippet from Nature (for which this earlier Nature article is also background): "'The courthouse in L'Aquila, Italy, yesterday hosted a highly anticipated hearing in the trial of six seismologists and one government official indicted for manslaughter over their reassurances to the public ahead of a deadly earthquake in 2009. …. During the hearing, the former … [Link]

Slashdot » SSD Latency, Error Rates May Spell Bleak Future

Thursday 16 February 21:10:00 UTC 2012

Lucas123 writes "A new study by the University of California and Microsoft shows that NAND flash memory experiences significant performance degradation as die sizes shrink in size. Over the next dozen years latency will double as the circuitry size shrinks from 25 nanometers today, to 6.5nm, the research showed. Speaking at the Usenix Conference on File and Storage Technologies … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Nerd Rage [Comic]

Thursday 16 February 21:00:35 UTC 2012

So I was talking to a friend the other day and he said he didn’t know about xkcd. Or Cyanide and Happiness. That made me sad. I only recently discovered Nerd Rage but I’m sure many of you have already seen it – he didn’t know that one either. I love reading comics – mainly because I have always wanted … [Link]

WIRED » Quantifying Alien Encounters: The Rio Scale

Thursday 16 February 20:59:44 UTC 2012

If there's any alleged evidence of aliens, the brains behind SETI — the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence — have a scale ready to assess its value. Mathematician and Social Dimensions blogger Samuel Arbesman explains. [Link]

WIRED » Red Hat Cloud Boss Blasts VMware Over Openness

Thursday 16 February 20:59:43 UTC 2012

Scott Crenshaw, Vice President and General Manager of Red Hat?s Cloud Business Unit, during a Webcast today called VMware?s claims of openness for its cloud solutions bogus. [Link]

WIRED » Icon Aircraft Receives First-Ever Spin-Resistance Seal of Approval

Thursday 16 February 20:59:40 UTC 2012

Icon Aircraft's forthcoming A5 light sport aircraft could practically eliminate the risk of spin/stall, a major cause of general aviation accidents. [Link]

WIRED » Peer-to-Peer Pioneer Warns India About Road Infrastructure

Thursday 16 February 20:59:33 UTC 2012

Limewire founder Mark Gorton hates cars and campaigns aggressively to discourage their use. Now he's preaching his gospel in car-crazy India, where, he says, cities are courting disaster by catering to them. [Link]

ProgrammableWeb.com » APIs Make Mapping and Navigating a City Much More Fun

Thursday 16 February 20:45:13 UTC 2012

The Google Maps API is listed as the most popular API in the ProgrammableWeb API directory. Because of its ease of use, plus the infinite possibilities for hacking together mashups, has made it the most popular API by far, way beyond the Twitter API and Youtube API. The Google Maps API launched six months after the release of the Google Maps … [Link]

WIRED » Lawmaker Demands DHS Cease Monitoring of Blogs, Social Media

Thursday 16 February 20:45:00 UTC 2012

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-California) said Thursday she wants the Department of Homeland Security to cease its social-media and news-monitoring operation. [Link]

Slashdot » Ask Slashdot: Dividing Digital Assets In Divorce?

Thursday 16 February 20:27:00 UTC 2012

An anonymous reader writes "I am a long time Slashdotter and currently find myself in the beginning of a divorce process. How have you dealt with dispersing of shared data, accounts and things online in such a situation? Domains, hosting, email, sensitive data backups and social media are just a few examples." Share on Google+ Read more of this story at Slashdot. … [Link]

WIRED » OS X Mountain Lion: 5 Most Exciting New Features

Thursday 16 February 20:15:00 UTC 2012

Today, Apple unveiled a developer preview of its newest Mac OS, Mountain Lion. The OS introduces more than 100 new features to OS X, and we've teased out five of the most important, most innovative aspects of Cupertino's latest release. [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Settlers of Star Trek

Thursday 16 February 20:00:41 UTC 2012

“Will you give me two Dilithium for one Tritanium?” This might be a question you’ll be asking sooner than you think! A new edition of the classic strategy board game Settlers of Catan is primed for release in March, so be ready to get your Red Shirts on ladies and gentlemen geeks, for Star Trek Catan will soon be here! Of course, … [Link]

WIRED » Eagle Cam Returns: New Chicks Coming Soon

Thursday 16 February 20:00:00 UTC 2012

The Decorah Bald Eagle Cam, last year's runaway internet sensation, is back! And mom's about to lay her eggs. [Link]

WIRED » Honda's Going Electric-Motorcycle Racing

Thursday 16 February 19:45:00 UTC 2012

The motorcycle manufacturer will compete by proxy when its partner Mugen enters the Isle of Man TT Zero. [Link]

Slashdot » Double Fine Adventure Will Be Available DRM Free For IOS, Android

Thursday 16 February 19:43:00 UTC 2012

New submitter Garth Smith writes "Tim Schafer has a video update for his crowdsourced project, Double Fine Adventure. Because of the nearly $2 million in funding, the budget is now large enough for language translations, voice acting, music, and more platforms. The XBox and PS3 are absent. I wonder what would the chances of a DRM-free release have been … [Link]

WIRED » Guidestones Web Series Explores Mystery Behind Georgia Landmark

Thursday 16 February 19:43:00 UTC 2012

Guidestones, a new interactive web series, launched earlier this week. The fictional narrative plans on delving into the very real mystery of the Georgia Guidestones over the course of 50 episodes. Viewers can explore the clues embedded in the episodes to discover hidden storylines and additional content. [Link]

New Scientist – News » DNA origami nanorobot takes drug direct to cancer cell

Thursday 16 February 19:30:00 UTC 2012

A tiny clam-like robot made out of DNA releases its drug payload only when it meets and identifies a cancer cell [Link]

WIRED » Watch 12 Trippy Minutes of Creepy Cult Film Sound of My Voice

Thursday 16 February 19:28:00 UTC 2012

[Link]

WIRED » First Look: Mozilla's Boot2Gecko Mobile Platform and Gaia UI

Thursday 16 February 19:11:00 UTC 2012

Sneak a peek at Mozilla's Boot2Gecko project, which aims to develop an entirely new mobile operating system based on the tools that power Firefox. [Link]

Slashdot » Oracle Claims Dramatic MySQL Performance Improvements

Thursday 16 February 19:01:00 UTC 2012

New submitter simula67 writes "Oracle wins back some karma from the open source community by releasing MySQL cluster 7.2 with ambitious claims of 70x performance gains. The new release is GPL and claims to have processed over 1 billion queries per minute. Readers may remember the story about Oracle adding commercial extensions to MySQL." Share on Google+ Read more of this story … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Game of Thrones Season II Production Video

Thursday 16 February 19:00:26 UTC 2012

Go on set in Iceland as they film Season 2 of “Game Of Thrones,” which will premiere on April 1st, 2012. Oh, and no, this is no April Fools’ day joke. :)Oh, and for those who are interested, the box set for season 1 is coming out in just 3 weeks. You can pre-order it right here on Amazon.com (44% … [Link]

New Scientist – News » Today on New Scientist: 16 February 2012

Thursday 16 February 18:49:30 UTC 2012

All today's stories on newscientist.com, including: Heartland deniergate, grow your own electricity and young goats can develop distinct accents [Link]

New Scientist – News » Leaked files expose Heartland Institute's secrets

Thursday 16 February 18:49:29 UTC 2012

The tables have been well and truly turned in "deniergate", the leak of documents from a key climate-sceptic think tank in the US, says Bob Ward [Link]

New Scientist – News » Japan's megaquake disturbed creatures beneath the sea

Thursday 16 February 18:49:28 UTC 2012

The 2011 earthquake triggered the release of a methane plume from the ocean crust to the east of Japan – carrying microbes that live in the crust with it [Link]

WIRED » Rackspace Buys SharePoint911: A Game-Changer?

Thursday 16 February 18:41:00 UTC 2012

Boasting, "The game just changed," the cloud giant Rackspace Hosting today announced it has bought SharePoint911. Why? Think serious SharePoint cred with Microsoft SharePoint users. But is it a game-changer? [Link]

New Scientist – News » Stuffed rat head tests how to scan a waking brain

Thursday 16 February 18:40:33 UTC 2012

Watch how a new motion tracking system could allow brain scans to be performed on awake animals [Link]

New Scientist – News » Why we have moral rules but don't follow them

Thursday 16 February 18:33:00 UTC 2012

A twist on the classic "trolley" psychology experiment suggests that our minds have two parallel moral systems, and they don't always agree [Link]

Pogue's Posts » Apple's Mountain Lion Makes the Mac More Like the iPad

Thursday 16 February 18:27:33 UTC 2012

Apple's Mountain Lion operating system software for the Mac brings even more of the iPhone/iPad features to the Mac. The juiciest payoff here is the suite of Mac apps that now mimic what's on the iPhone/iPad. Through your free iCloud account, all of these apps are synced instantly and smoothly across all your Apple gadgets. [Link]

Slashdot » Aderall Or Nothing: Anatomy of the Great Amphetamine Drought

Thursday 16 February 18:18:00 UTC 2012

pigrabbitbear writes "To prevent hoarding of materials and their potential for theft and illicit use, the Drug Enforcement Agency sets quotas for the chemical precursors to drugs like Adderall. The DEA projects the need for amphetamine salts, then produces and distributes the materials to pharmaceutical companies so that they can produce their drugs. But with the number of prescriptions … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » The Ultimate in Laziness [Pic]

Thursday 16 February 18:00:56 UTC 2012

Presented without comment[Via]Related posts:Corporate Logo Breeding [Pic]The Ultimate Contradiction [Pic]The Ultimate Holiday Wreath for IT Geeks [Pic] [Link]

New Scientist – News » One car, 11 big tigers

Thursday 16 February 18:00:00 UTC 2012

Eleven tigers in one place is a lot of cat. Especially when they're Siberian – the biggest of the big cats – and two are inexplicably large [Link]

Slashdot » Yet Another European Government Drops ACTA

Thursday 16 February 17:58:00 UTC 2012

An anonymous reader writes "The government of Bulgaria, which had already signed ACTA, yesterday reversed itself, and announced that it would not seek ratification of the treaty. This comes after similar moves by Poland, Germany and the Netherlands, and a weekend of massive protests against ACTA across the European continent." Share on Google+ Read more of this story at Slashdot. [Link]

New Scientist – News » Nature's weird relationships

Thursday 16 February 17:52:03 UTC 2012

Dancing seahorses and necrophiliac penguins make for a questionable Valentine's day aphrodisiac at London's Natural History Museum [Link]

WIRED » Highest Rates Ever Recorded of Multi-Drug-Resistant TB

Thursday 16 February 17:51:23 UTC 2012

News from the World Health Organization isn't good. Drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis are at the highest rates ever recorded. Superbug blogger Maryn McKenna reports. [Link]

WIRED » Uncharted for the Vita Is More Than Running and Gunning

Thursday 16 February 17:51:22 UTC 2012

Sure, the game looks good on the next-generation mobile game platform, but is it really Uncharted, or a miniaturized knock-off? [Link]

New Scientist – News » Eat me baby: wooing the sagebrush cricket way

Thursday 16 February 17:47:31 UTC 2012

Whether it's offering yourself as a Valentine's snack or drugging your intended, nature has some pretty gruesome ways of wooing [Link]

ProgrammableWeb.com » Go With the Flow: Real-time APIs Are Here

Thursday 16 February 17:37:15 UTC 2012

FlowdockCollaborative web app company Flowdock has upgraded its Flowdock API to include real-time streaming. It’s part of a new trend on APIs, a move from pull to push. If data changes outside of my app, I want to know inside of my app. Flowdock’s new API shows it’s in on this movement. With the company’s focus on enabling teams to “react … [Link]

Slashdot » WindowMaker Development Resumes, Has First Release Since 2006

Thursday 16 February 17:35:00 UTC 2012

First time accepted submitter brad-x writes "A new team of developers have recently picked up development of WindowMaker, and they've added many new features, including improved support for the freedesktop standard menu layout and Mac OS X style application and window switching from the keyboard, culminating in a new release, 0.95.2. A basic changelog is available on the newly … [Link]

New Scientist – News » Keep dead people's hearts beating to up organ donation

Thursday 16 February 17:05:00 UTC 2012

The British Medical Association has suggested some solutions to the UK's shortage of organ donors [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Now We’re Printing Houses Too!

Thursday 16 February 17:00:50 UTC 2012

The Man Who Prints Houses is a documentary about the self-styled “stone alchemist” robotics scientist who embarks on an epic quest to achieve his ultimate dream: to 3D print an entire house.The documentary is supposed to follow his heart-wrenching story, plagued by financial trouble and family estrangement, while he remains focused on achieving his goal.He has built the largest 3D … [Link]

Slashdot » Booktype: An Open Source, Cross-Platform Approach To E-Book Publishing

Thursday 16 February 16:36:00 UTC 2012

Despite Apple's protestation that the iBooks Author EULA was misinterpreted, the idea of a book publishing system that could be used to grab copyright of the prepared text is annoying — like the sort of EULAs that seem to give photo-sharing sites unlimited re-use rights of hosted personal photos. New submitter rohangarg points out a publishing system which shouldn't … [Link]

WIRED » Apple Announces OS X Mountain Lion for Mac Desktops

Thursday 16 February 16:22:00 UTC 2012

Apple has announced its latest version of OS X for Macs ? and like all iterations of its desktop operating system, the latest version is named after a big cat. It?s called Mountain Lion, and it will be more like iOS than ever, as Apple integrates various mobile services and moves to yearly OS updates across all its devices. … [Link]

New Scientist – News » Young goats can develop distinct accents

Thursday 16 February 16:10:00 UTC 2012

When they socialise, goat kids pick up different "accents" from their peers, a talent considered rare in mammals [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » The Robot Invasion Begins With A Buzz

Thursday 16 February 16:00:22 UTC 2012

It’s not going to be the I, Robot machines, not the Cylons, not even Skynet: it’s going to be the RoboBees that will lead the AI insurgence. Inspired by the artisan’s touch in origami constructions, a new fabrication technique is allowing doctoral candidates at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) to advance ever further in the RoboBee project, … [Link]

Slashdot » Library.nu and Ifile.it Shut Down

Thursday 16 February 15:54:00 UTC 2012

Ralph Spoilsport writes "A coalition of 17 publishing companies has shut down library.nu and ifile.it, charging them with pirating ebooks. This comes less than a month after megaupload was shut down, and SOPA was stopped. If the busting of cyberlockers continues at this pace and online library sharing dismantled, this under-reported story may well be the tip of a … [Link]

Slashdot » Antibiotics Are Useless In Treating Most Sinus Infections

Thursday 16 February 15:30:00 UTC 2012

An anonymous reader writes "While doctors routinely prescribe antibiotics to treat sinus infections, researchers on Tuesday revealed that amoxicillin, the most commonly prescribed medication for nasal cavity inflammation and sinuses, was just as effective as a dummy pill.Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, found that there was no significant difference in symptoms between … [Link]

New Scientist – News » Fish hybridise themselves extinct in Alpine lakes

Thursday 16 February 15:25:48 UTC 2012

Pollution in Swiss lakes caused fish species to interbreed, wiping out much of the lakes' diversity. The same could happen elsewhere [Link]

New Scientist – News » Power plants: Grow your own electricity

Thursday 16 February 15:25:47 UTC 2012

Imagine charging your cellphone from a meadow or harvesting electricity from rice paddies. The technology works, but can we make plant power a staple crop? (full text available to subscribers) [Link]

Slashdot » Indian Government To Track Locations of All Cell Phone Users

Thursday 16 February 15:11:00 UTC 2012

asto21 writes with this excerpt from The Indian Express: "As per amendments made to operators' licences, beginning May 31, operators would have to provide the Department of Telecommunications real-time details of users' locations in latitudes and longitudes. Documents obtained by The Indian Express show that details shall initially be provided for mobile numbers specified by the government. Within three … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Amazon Deal of the Day: 58% Off GOgroove audiOHM Ergonomic Earbuds with Interchangeable Noise-Reduction Silicone Ear Pieces – $14.99

Thursday 16 February 15:10:38 UTC 2012

For today’s edition of Deal of the Day, Amazon has the GOgroove audiOHM Ergonomic Earbuds with Interchangeable Noise-Reduction Silicone Ear Pieces for just $14.99. That’s 58% off the earbuds’ usual retail price of $35.99.The audiOHM Earbuds featuring AP Noise-Isolation and SonusMAX Technology deliver crystal-clear, uninterrupted audio. Enclosed within the audiOHM are Neodymium Magnetic Components that help produce great sound performance. The … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Apple Gets More Compliant

Thursday 16 February 15:00:10 UTC 2012

It may be too soon to say Apple has adopted a less combative approach in the post-Jobs era, but the company has taken three steps in close succession that are at the very least conciliatory. They involve privacy policies on apps, iPad sales in China, and the labor practices of suppliers.On the app front, Apple has said it will change its … [Link]

New Scientist – News » Sterile neutrinos leave ghostly fingerprints on cosmos

Thursday 16 February 14:51:00 UTC 2012

Hypothetical particles that have been playing hide-and-seek with physicists for decades may finally be stepping into view (full text available to subscribers) [Link]

Slashdot » An Early Look At Mac OS X 10.8

Thursday 16 February 14:30:00 UTC 2012

adeelarshad82 writes "Earlier today Apple announced their next OS, Mountain Lion. According to an early look, OS X 10.8 does more to integrate social networking and file-synching into a personal computer than any other OS. It tightly integrates with the whole Apple ecosystem that includes iOS devices and the free iCloud sharing service. Moreover Mountain Lion adds a powerful … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » The Best Wins from 2011 [Video]

Thursday 16 February 14:00:52 UTC 2012

A great compilation of clips from 2011! Enjoy![Via]Related posts:WonderCon 2011 Costume CompilationRobotnik Finally Wins [Video]Halo 4 E3 2011 Trailer [Video] [Link]

Slashdot » Why People Don't Live Past 114

Thursday 16 February 13:48:00 UTC 2012

kkleiner writes "Average life expectancy has nearly doubled in developed countries over the 20th century. But a puzzling part to the equation has emerged. While humans are in fact living longer lives on average, the oldest age that the oldest people reach seems to be stubbornly and oddly precisely cemented right at 114. What will it take for humans … [Link]

Slashdot » HP CEO Says Google-Motorola Deal Could Close-Source Android

Thursday 16 February 13:05:00 UTC 2012

swandives writes "WebOS could be an important player in the long run as an open-source mobile OS, because Android could become closed source with Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility, Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman said during a speech at the HP Global Partner conference in Las Vegas. It may take up to four years for the complete impact of webOS … [Link]

New Scientist – News » Zoologger: Itsy bitsy teeny weeny chameleons

Thursday 16 February 12:12:00 UTC 2012

They've got independently rotating eyes, a curiously curly tail, and strangely depressing names. Meet some of the world's tiniest – and cutest – chameleons [Link]

New Scientist – News » Searching the souls of dissidents

Thursday 16 February 12:05:00 UTC 2012

In Beautiful Souls, Eyal Press writes a beautiful narrative of whistle-blowers and refuseniks, but seeks in vain to pin down their psychological profile [Link]

WIRED » Win at First-Person Shooters, the Coward?s Way

Thursday 16 February 11:30:00 UTC 2012

Sure, camping is despised. But in first-person shooters (as in war), it's not cheating if you win. [Link]

WIRED » Can These Commandos Salvage the Afghan War?

Thursday 16 February 11:30:00 UTC 2012

U.S. Special Forces are desperately trying to get Afghan cops ready to secure their country. But during their first big firefight, half those cops lose control. "Somebody tackle his ass," barks one sergeant, "before he shoots us all." David Axe reports from Afghanistan. [Link]

WIRED » Racing Shovels See Serious Speed

Thursday 16 February 11:30:00 UTC 2012

Shovel racing returns to its roots in New Mexico, with one person, one shovel and a top speed of almost 74 mph. [Link]

WIRED » Feb. 16, 2005: Matter of Protocol

Thursday 16 February 11:30:00 UTC 2012

The Kyoto Protocol goes into effect. But without the participation of the United States, it's not very effective. [Link]

WIRED » YouTube's Nerdy Fiddlers Strike a Chord With Geeks

Thursday 16 February 11:30:00 UTC 2012

[Link]

WIRED » Nanosecond Trading Could Make Markets Go Haywire

Thursday 16 February 11:30:00 UTC 2012

[Link]

Slashdot » Microsoft's Killer Tablet Opportunity

Thursday 16 February 10:32:00 UTC 2012

snydeq writes "Advice Line's Bob Lewis sees ripe opportunity for Microsoft in the tablet market: Forget about outdoing Apple's iPad and give us the features that finally improve the way we work. 'The game isn't beating Apple at its own game. The magic buzzword is to "differentiate" and show what your technology will do that Apple won't even care … [Link]

O'Reilly News and Commentary » #Ebook Deal/Day: Machine Learning for Hackers – $15.99 (Save 50%)

Thursday 16 February 8:22:06 UTC 2012

Get "Machine Learning for Hackers" today and save 50%!This sale ends at 2:00 AM 2012-02-16 (PDT, GMT-8:00). [Link]

Slashdot » Decision Time For SKA Telescope Bids

Thursday 16 February 8:07:00 UTC 2012

angry tapir writes "An independent scientific committee will this week make a recommendation to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope project's board of directors in London about whether the array's core should be based in Western Australia or South Africa. A further month of negotiations is likely before the countries are officially notified about whether they have won … [Link]

Slashdot » SEC Decides Telcos Must Give Shareholders a Vote On Net Neutrality

Thursday 16 February 5:31:00 UTC 2012

suraj.sun writes with a link about a SEC decision that telecommunications companies must give shareholders an annual vote on wireless net-neutrality resolutions. "The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has told AT&T and other telecommunications companies they must include a resolution supporting wireless net-neutrality in annual shareholder votes. In a letter posted on the SEC website, the agency asserted that … [Link]

WIRED » A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 16

Thursday 16 February 5:01:00 UTC 2012

Google's daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills. [Link]

Slashdot » Ask Slashdot: Tech Manufacturers With Better Labor Practices?

Thursday 16 February 3:07:00 UTC 2012

First time accepted submitter srs5694 writes "In light of the recent flood of stories about abysmal labor practices at Foxconn and other Chinese factories that produce most of the tech products we consume, the question arises: Who makes motherboards, plug-in cards, cell phones, and other devices WITHOUT relying on labor practices that are just one rung above slave labor? … [Link]

ProgrammableWeb.com » Facebook Takes Credit for Pinterest Growth

Thursday 16 February 2:03:30 UTC 2012

PinterestThe red hot startup of late, Pinterest, certainly has a friend in Facebook. Users of the pinning site can sign in with an account from the dominant social network. In a new post, Facebook suggests it’s Pinterest’s inclusion in Facebook Timeline that is driving its growth. Facebook points to Pinterest in its early success stories of the Timeline feature: Pinterest: Since … [Link]

ProgrammableWeb.com » Today in APIs: Google Plus, YouTube Upload and 23 New APIs

Thursday 16 February 1:28:39 UTC 2012

Google PlusGoogle announces more Google Plus API hackathons. YouTube explains how to best upload videos through your apps. Plus: Another heavy Google Maps API user says goodbye, music developers and 23 new APIs. Upload with YouTube YouTube published some guidelines for developers uploading videos on behalf of users: The approach we recommend instead is using AuthSub or OAuth 2 (please don’t use … [Link]

Slashdot » Scientists Study How Little Exercise You Need

Thursday 16 February 1:04:00 UTC 2012

Hugh Pickens writes "Millions of Americans don't engage in much exercise, if they complete any at all and asked why, a majority of respondents, in survey after survey, say, 'I don't have time.' Now Gretchen Reynolds reports that instead of wondering just how much exercise people really need in order to gain health and fitness, a group of scientists … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Researchers Solve Ponytail “Mystery”

Thursday 16 February 1:00:27 UTC 2012

A team of British physicists have solved a problem pondered by Leonardo da Vinci that could help producers of children’s films and video games.The problem involves the way hair falls into shape as it grows, a subject mentionned by Da Vinci in his notebooks, where he discussed the way they appeared to act as much like a fluid as a solid.The … [Link]

Slashdot » Sony Raises Price of Whitney Houston's Music 30 Minutes After Death

Thursday 16 February 0:44:00 UTC 2012

First time accepted submitter M.Nunez writes "Just 30 minutes after Whitney Houston died, Sony Music raised the price of Houston's greatest hits album, 'Ultimate Collection,' on iTunes and Amazon. Many technologists, including chairman of the NY Tech Meetup Andrew Rasiej, suggests that Sony should be boycotted for the move. In a tweet, Rasiej wrote, 'Geez Sony raised price on … [Link]

Slashdot » Why Open APIs Fall Far Short of Open Source

Thursday 16 February 0:23:00 UTC 2012

itwbennett writes "451 Group analyst Jay Lyman opined in a LinuxInsider column that because of open APIs, 'non-open source software is often open enough.' Not so, says ITworld blogger Brian Proffitt. Sure, open APIs are an easy way for a small developer to 'plug into a big software ecosystem,' but it's a trap. 'If open APIs are the only … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » How To Troll Someone’s Computer [Pic]

Thursday 16 February 0:00:25 UTC 2012

[Via MUO]Related posts:A Jacket For Computer Geeks [Pic]How To Troll Mac UsersThe Hard Knock Life Of An Internet Troll [Pic] [Link]

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