Online Reputation Management To Keep Your Nose Clean?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday February 01, @01:07PM
from the if-you-don't-want-it-printed-don't-do-it dept.

Techdirt is reporting that as a response to all the hoopla about people being able to Google for information on potential employees (or lovers) a new market has opened up in "online reputation management". This seems to be the ultimate realization of those dubious firms who promised to scrub your records clean from a few years back. "From the description in the article, it sounds like this involves a combination of search engine optimization, plus legal bullying of anyone who says something you don't like. If anything, that sounds like a recipe for more trouble, but you can see how it would appeal to those who are unhappy with how they're perceived online. Obviously, it's no fun to have something bad about you exposed online, but efforts to suppress that information have a decent likelihood of backfiring and serving to highlight that information. I wonder if these online reputation managers have malpractice insurance for when that happens?"

Sunscreen killing coral reefs

by Patricia Mayville-Cox
Feb 1st 2008 @ 10:00AM

Filed under: News, Travel and Vacation

A new study has identified a culprit in the death of coral reefs all around the world: tourists' sunscreen.

The study was led by Roberto Danovaro of the Polytechnic University of Marche in Italy.

According to Danovaro and his team, ingredients in sunscreen can activate viruses in an algae that live inside the coral species. The viruses then replicate until their algae hosts explode, spilling viruses into the water, and infecting neighboring coral reefs. The algae, called Zooxanthellae, provide the coral with energy while lending them their vibrant colors. When the algae die, the coral will go white and die.

Even though you wouldn't think that there could be so much sunscreen in the water to make such a difference, it adds up. More importantly, according to the researchers, the effect is not dose-dependent; a small amount of sunscreen is just as dangerous as a large amount. Danovaro recommends using sunscreen with physical filters that reflect instead of absorb UV radiation.

Is plastic making us fat?

by Patricia Mayville-Cox
Jan 30th 2008 @ 1:15PM

Filed under: Health

Is plastic making us fat? Beth Daley at the Boston Globe takes on this question.

According to Daley, some scientists have put forth an argument that chemicals found in all sorts of plastics, such as bisphenol-A and tribuyltin, can make us fat. How? By acting as endocrine disruptors, these chemicals can mimic the actions of natural hormones, including those which regulate fat cells.

One researcher in this new field, Bruce Blumberg of UC Irvine has even come up with a clever nickname for these obesity-inducing chemicals, Obesogens.

For more, be sure to check out the Boston Globe Article here.

RIAA Drops Case, Should Have Sued Someone Else

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday January 30, @01:02PM
from the well-why-didn't-you-tell-us-you-were-innocent dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Once again the RIAA has dropped a case with prejudice, this time after concluding it was the defendant's daughter it should have sued in the first place. In the case of Lava v. Amurao, mindful that in similar scenarios it has been held liable for the defendant's attorney fees (Capitol v. Foster and Atlantic v. Andersen), the RIAA went on the offensive. In this case there was actually no attorney fee motion pending, making their motion all the more intriguing. The organization argued that it was the defendant's fault that the record companies sued the wrong person, because the defendant didn't tell them that his daughter was the file sharer they were looking for."

Artificial Bases Added to DNA

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday January 30, @10:55AM
from the totally-faked-you-out-man dept.

holy_calamity writes "Researchers have successfully added two 'unnatural' DNA letters to the code of life. They created two artificial base pairs that are treated as normal by an enzyme that replicates and fixes DNA inside cells. This raises the prospect of engineering life forms with genetic code not possible within nature, allowing new kinds of genetic engineering."

Wal-mart getting cheaper still with sun power

by Patrick Metzger
Jan 30th 2008 @ 4:32PM

Filed under: News, Polit-eco, Alternative Energy

Buoyed by the success - and flattering PR - of recent environmental initiatives, Sam Walton's union-free legacy is exploring renewable energy at some of its stores. A Sam's Club store in Chino, California, recently completed the installation of a 390 kilowatt solar power system, the first of seven such systems to be placed in stores around California. As part of the same deal with SunPower Corporation, it's expected that 22 Wal-mart owned facilities in California and Hawaii will also be going solar.

The installations will provide on average up to 30% of the power needed to operate the store or distribution center, and will also help Wal-mart reduce greenhouse gas emissions by some 8-1000 metric tons annually.

Not surprisingly, Wal-mart is getting a good deal on the pilot installation, taking advantage of a vendor program that allows them to install the equipment without upfront capital costs, while paying a guaranteed rate for the electricity going forward.

So should we be happy that Wal-mart is acting greener and more socially concious, or still a little suspicious because we had to shut down granddaddy's hardware store and go on the welfare when they built that giant store just outside of town? Might take a few more solar panels before everybody falls back in love with the nation's largest retailer.

Kraft and Sara Lee experimenting with alternative energy sources

by Ellen Slattery
Jan 30th 2008 @ 4:00PM

Filed under: News, GreenFinance, Alternative Energy

In response to the environmental lobbyists coming down hard on the lack of environmental standards by huge corporations, both companies are making baby steps toward a more green existence.

Kraft, producer of Oreo, Oscar Mayer, and Ritz, to name a few, is experimenting with the use of waste byproducts to fuel their production plants. According to the Chicago Business News, the company is using a byproduct of its Philadelphia Cream Cheese to power one of its New York plants. And according to its website, it decreased the amount of packaging in its Milka chocolate tablets (a European product), and it is "identifying opportunities to support agricultural sustainability in the areas of coffee, cocoa, and dairy." (Important to note: this is the same company that produces that neon orange-tinted mac 'n cheese, and those rubbery "cheese" slices). Just sayin'.

But where Kraft seems to still be finding its footholds, Sara Lee is surging ahead: last year, the company reported that it reduced wastewater in its bakeries by 16 million gallons, and it is currently working on reducing the distance trucks travel to deliver the company's products.

And while it is baby steps, at least it's something. It's a positive sign that companies are acknowledging that they use gobs of water and energy to produce and distribute their goods, and that they're actively trying to change their ways.

Magistrate Suggests Fining RIAA Lawyers

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 29, @06:48PM
from the just-fine dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Angered at the RIAA's 'gamesmanship' in joining multiple 'John Does' in a single case without any basis for doing so, a Magistrate Judge in Maine has suggested to the presiding District Judge in Arista v. Does 1-27 that the record companies and/or their lawyers should be fined under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules, for misrepresenting the facts. In a lengthy footnote to her opinion recommending denial of a motion to dismiss the complaint (PDF, see footnote 5), Judge Kruvchak concluded that 'These plaintiffs have devised a clever scheme to obtain court-authorized discovery prior to the service of complaints, but it troubles me that they do so with impunity and at the expense of the requirements of Rule 11(b)(3) because they have no good faith evidentiary basis to believe the cases should be joined.' She noted that once the RIAA dismisses its 'John Doe' case it does not thereafter join the defendants when it sues them in their real names. Arista v. Does 1-27 is the same case in which student attorneys at the University of Maine Law School, "enthusiastic about being directly connected to a case with a national scope and significance", are representing undergrads targeted by the RIAA."

Intel buys lots of green power

by Rebecca Onion
Jan 29th 2008 @ 3:25PM

Filed under: Alternative Energy

Yesterday, Intel announced that it has become the largest purchaser of green energy in the US. This means that they'll buy 1.3 kilowatt hours of renewable energy certificates, which show that their power will come from solar, wind, hydroelectric, and biomass sources.

In terms of environmental impact, this move is equivalent to taking 185,000 passenger cars off the road each year. (Which, you know, Intel couldn't actually *do*, short of activating some nefarious sci-fi car-destruct device...come to think of it, that's not such a bad idea...time to put together my own technology company!)

This announcement means that Intel will now be at the top of the EPA's Green Power Partners list, which tells consumers which 25 companies are the largest consumers of green energy (Pepsico and the US Air Force are numbers 2 and 3, which is strange).

Although this move, and the list, are great things, I'm worried that news like this obscures the need for governmental energy regulation, leading everyone to believe that companies will just naturally choose to do the right thing. Which, I would argue, is not always the case (um, Enron?)

"Antarctica on alert for alien invaders"

by Patricia Mayville-Cox
Jan 29th 2008 @ 2:42PM

Filed under: Climate Change

Yep, you read that title right (and I didn't make it up, that was from Reuters). Alien invaders to hit Antarctica but they won't be arriving via UFO.

These aliens include seeds, spores, mites and mosses that are alien to the continent and have hitched a ride with scientists and tourists. Antarctica has been isolated until relatively recently, but the combination of global warming and more visitors has increased the number of alien species arriving and thriving on the continent.

The most damaging invaders so far have been reindeer and cats. Grass can also be a problem. As global warming creates warmer conditions, more and more outsiders may find the continent appealing.

How-to get Windows XP past the June 30th cutoff (or not)

Posted Jan 29th 2008 9:29AM by Evan Blass
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

While it looked like Mac users couldn't wait to get their hands on the latest version of Apple's operating system, their Windows counterparts seem to have been a little more reticent about picking up Microsoft's oft-delayed Vista upgrade -- so much so that Redmond decided to both extend XP's shelf life by six months as well as offer an unprecedented "downgrade" service on select SKUs. Well with the June 30th cutoff fast approaching, PC World decided to take a look at your options for procuring an XP license after that date, but unfortunately, the picture isn't too pretty. Basically, personal users looking to purchase less than 25 licenses but not a new machine have almost no recourse; your only surefire move is to buy a new box pre-installed with Vista Business or Ultimate from an OEM opting to continue with that downgrade service. Still, caveat emptor: support for consumer versions of XP ends on April 14, 2009, and with it, the end of your Patch Tuesday celebrations.

World's Most Powerful Rail Gun Delivered to US Navy

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday January 28, @03:19PM
from the wanting-what-you-can't-have dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The worlds most powerful functional rail gun capable of delivering projectiles at up to Mach 8 has been delivered to the Navy. The new rail gun is a 32-megajoule Electro-Magnetic Laboratory Rail Gun. The Navy eventually hopes to have 64-megajoule ship mounted rail guns. 'The lab version doesn't look particularly menacing -- more like a long, belt-fed airport screening device than like a futuristic cannon -- but the system will fire rounds at up to Mach 8, drawing on tremendous amounts of electricity to generate the current for each test shot. That, of course, is the problem with rail guns: Like lasers, they're out of step with modern-day generators and capacitors. Eight and 9-megajoule rail guns have been fired before, but providing 3 million amps of power per shot has been a limitation.'"

Three Thieves Wine in juice boxes?

by Laura Malesich
Jan 28th 2008 @ 1:35PM

Filed under: Food

So, one of the gifts my husband received for the holidays were four little juice-box size cartons of red wine -- yes, red wine, not grape juice (no straw needed though).These little Tetra Paks of Bandit Cabernet Sauvignon (or Chardonnay, Merlot and Pinot Grigio) are interesting since wine typically comes in glass bottles and is poured into wine glasses for your tasting enjoyment. Not only are these little packs unique but apparently they are "Mother Earth Approved" as it states on the box. The carton is made largely of renewable resources and products and reduces packaging waste by 90% compared to glass wine bottles! Recyclable, transportable, and no cork needed, this could be a new wave in eco-friendly wine packaging not seen before.

Related Link

Report says climate change to cause global unrest

by Patrick Metzger
Jan 28th 2008 @ 12:03PM

Filed under: News, Polit-eco, Climate Change

Forget about orange groves in Wisconsin - if you're one of those irrepressible optimists who believes that global warming could actually improve life for those in Northern climes, think again. A new report out of the UK, titled An Uncertain Future: Law Enforcement, National Security and Climate Change, predicts that by the middle of the century, unchecked climate change will cause massive social upheaval around the world, including Europe and North America.

The report says that one of the chief challenges will be hundreds of millions of environmental refugees being driven from the the hardest hit countries in the south to developed nations in the northern hemisphere. However, there will also be home-grown problems in wealthier regions, as more frequent climate disasters like floods and heat waves outpace the ability of governments to find resources to deal with them. The report also suggests that climate "events' will have a major and unhappy impact on "communication, transport and energy supply networks", as sea levels rise and serious storms increase in number and intensity.

The study doesn't spend time recommending that more be done to curb CO2 emissions, focussing instead on coping measures such as the building of flood defences, creating local and renewable energy sources, and initiating international discussions on what to do with environmental refugees. These kind of ideas, while useful, leave the distinct impression that the authors believe catastrophic climate change is inevitable, and that the best we can do now is try to deal with the consequences.

Related Link

Windows 7 isn't headed for 2009, says Microsoft. More like 2011.

Posted Jan 28th 2008 11:55AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Hey, it's not Microsoft's fault that 2011 sounds like the realm of jet pack VR massage cars, but it's certainly a long ways away any way you slice it. Contrary to previous rumors of Microsoft planning a Windows 7 release sometime in 2009, Microsoft has apparently gotten in touch with WinVistaClub and set the record straight: Windows 7 is in "planning stages," and development will take approximately three years. Microsoft wouldn't comment on that supposed leak we spotted last week, and of course denied any implications that development was being accelerated to make up for Vista shortcomings. We can't help but wonder how different the OS landscape will look three years from now, with Linux rapidly reaching feature and usability parity, while Apple plugs away at OS X and cloud computing lands everywhere, but we're sure Vista SP1 won't be the last bid Microsoft makes at this generation.

[Via The Inquirer]

Military Robots to Gain Advanced Sight

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday January 27, @08:58AM
from the stay-on-target dept.

coondoggie brings us a NetworkWorld report discussing iRobot's plans to include Laser Radar technology in their military robots. Quoting: "Specifically the robot-maker is licensing Advanced Scientific Concepts' 3-D flash Ladar which uses laser beams to scan and process targets. The system has the ability to create a virtual 3D picture of an entire area. IRobot ... believes the technology will provide new navigation and mapping capabilities for future generations of robots and unmanned ground vehicles and pave the way for autonomous vehicles to lead convoys into dangerous territory, search contaminated buildings for casualties, or enable bomb squads to safely investigate suspicious objects."

Baptizing a Drunk (from a coworker)

A man is stumbling through the woods, totally drunk, when he comes upon

a preacher baptizing people in the river. He proceeds to walk into the

water and subsequently bumps into the preacher. The preacher turns

around and is almost overcome by the smell of alcohol, whereupon he asks

the drunk, 'Are you ready to find Jesus?' The drunk answers, 'Yes, I

am.' So the preacher grabs him and dunks him in the water. He pulls

him up and asks the drunk, 'Brother have you found Jesus?'

The drunk replies, 'No, I haven't found Jesus.' The preacher shocked at

the answer, dunks him into the water again for a little longer. He again

pulls him out of the water and asks again, 'Have you found Jesus my

brother?' The drunk again answers, 'No, I haven't found Jesus.' By

this time the preacher is at his wits end and dunks the drunk in the

water again --- but this time holds him down for about 30 seconds and

when he begins kicking his arms and legs he pulls him up.

The preacher again asks the drunk, 'For the love of God have you found

Jesus?' The drunk wipes his eyes and catches his breath and says to the

preacher, 'Are you sure this is where he fell in?'

Cell Phone Radiation Detectors Proposed to Protect Against Nukes

Posted by Soulskill on Friday January 25, @05:09AM
from the distributed-homeland-security dept.

crosshatch brings us news out of Purdue University, where researchers are developing a radiation detection system that would rely on sensors within cell phones to locate and track potentially hazardous material. From the Purdue news service: "Such a system could blanket the nation with millions of cell phones equipped with radiation sensors able to detect even light residues of radioactive material. Because cell phones already contain global positioning locators, the network of phones would serve as a tracking system, said physics professor Ephraim Fischbach. 'The sensors don't really perform the detection task individually,' Fischbach said. 'The collective action of the sensors, combined with the software analysis, detects the source. Say a car is transporting radioactive material for a bomb, and that car is driving down Meridian Street in Indianapolis or Fifth Avenue in New York. As the car passes people, their cell phones individually would send signals to a command center, allowing authorities to track the source.'"

Column from front lines of climate change

by Rebecca Onion
Jan 25th 2008 @ 10:15AM

Filed under: Climate Change

I just found out that Orion magazine is running a column by the author Seth Kantner, who wrote a book in 2005 called Ordinary Wolves, about growing up in the bush in Alaska (the book is an amazing read, if you're in search of a good one). The environmental mag has commissioned Kantner to write, twice a month, about the real effects of climate change on his life in Kotzebue, Alaska. The columns will be available online.

There are only three columns so far, so you're getting in on the ground floor if you start reading now, and they're not really political - they're much more focused on the real, day-to-day effects of changing climate on the community up there. It's easy to get lost in the glut of pictures of drowning polar bears, but it somehow means all the more to see a picture of one of Kantner's neighbors trying to get his snowmobile out of a patch of broken ice.

US Border Patrol: bringing back the horse

by Josh Loposer
Jan 25th 2008 @ 10:00AM

Filed under: Cars and Transportation

Anyone who's spent time along the US-Mexico is familiar with the infamous green and white SUVs that have been carting around US border guards for the last 30+ years, burning countless gallons of gasoline in search of smugglers and illegal immigrants. Recently, however some agents have begun reverting to an older method of tracking outlaws. They may not come with standard AC, but border agents in Arizona say that horses are a far better than 4X4s at patrolling the rugged back country areas.
Units in Arizona, Texas and California already do their work on horseback , and many other sectors are preparing to invest in horse-power. Not only can horses ascend rugged mountain terrains more quickly and cleanly than 4X4s, but they have many other natural advantages. Horses move quietly, allowing agents to sneak through the deserts undetected. Horses also have better hearing and vision than we do and can alert their rider to the presence of other people.

OK, so the choice to go horseback is not primarily motivated by environmental concerns, but it is interesting that horses seem to be making a comeback. With high gas prices and pressing concerns about climate change many people's minds seem to be opening to the horse as a viable means of transport.

Walking Chair tests your dedication to laziness, extravagance

Posted Jan 25th 2008 9:34AM by Evan Blass
Filed under: Household, Robots

Anyone can go into Office Depot and pick up a rolling desk seat for fifty bucks, but it takes a truly lazy individual to shell out almost $22,000 for a chair that very slowly "walks" you into proper working position. Actually, we doubt that the commercially-available Walking Chair from Vienna-based design studio Walking Things is really built for sitting; it's more likely meant as a showpiece for the ridiculous amount of disposable income you're pulling in. Each minimalist eight-legged unit is hand-assembled upon order, meaning that you'll need to wait at least six weeks to show your friends how very little €15,000 ($21,906) mean to you.

[Via Slashgear]

Amazon more deforested than ever last year

by Rebecca Onion
Jan 25th 2008 @ 12:15PM

Filed under: Food, News

In the last half of 2007, the Amazon saw deforestation at a rate much higher than the first half: 2,700 square miles cleared. If the deforestation continues at this rate, the period of August 2007-8 will see an increase of more than 1,000 square miles of cutting, when compared with the same period last year.

The important part of this news for those interested in eating right and eating environmentally is that a lot of the clearage happened because of soy farming. Brazil is the second leading producer of soy (after the United States), and Mato Grosso, the Brazilian state which saw some of the worst deforestation, is the leading producer of soy in Brazil. Soy's got a nice green image, but this news is making me think twice about feeling virtuous for my tofu. Time to start asking about origins.

New "Endoscope On a Pill"

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday January 25, @01:34PM
from the easy-to-swallow dept.

ScienceDaily is reporting that a new form of endoscope developed at the University of Washington is more like swallowing a pill than the typical "massive" cable. The pill, complete with a 1.4 mm wide tether, contains a single optical fiber for illumination and six fibers for collecting light. "Once swallowed, an electric current flowing through the UW endoscope causes the fiber to bounce back and forth so that its lone electronic eye sees the whole scene, one pixel at a time. At the same time the fiber spins and its tip projects red, green and blue laser light. The image processing then combines all this information to create a two-dimensional color picture."

Finally! The solar-powered pee-recycler you've been waiting for

by Jonathon Morgan
Jan 25th 2008 @ 2:31PM

Filed under: Gadgets and Tech, Alternative Energy

The next time you're stuck in some post-apocalyptic scenario, and are forced to fend for yourself in the wake of society's untimely demise, don't worry -- you'll still have drinking water.

That is, as long as you purchase the Landfall -- a solar-powered still that floats on the ocean collecting sea water, which it then converts into liquid you can drink. But that's not all! If you're really in a bind, you could just pee in the Landfall, leave it out in the sun, and presto -- drinking water for you!

OK, weird end-of-the-world scenarios aside, if you regularly take long boat trips, or happen to live on the ocean (or a lake, or whatever), and don't want to rely on the city for your drinking water, this might actually come in handy.

Heads up: Space junk coming home to die

by Patrick Metzger
Jan 27th 2008 @ 4:30PM

Filed under: News, Polit-eco

Say what you like about landfills, but at least when you throw stuff into them it doesn't come flying out years later, on fire and travelling at 10,000 miles an hour. Space junk, alas, is a different story . US government sources report that a spy satellite has lost power and is expected to crash into the earth as early as next month, no doubt to the considerable surprise of anyone who happens to be standing near the landing site.

Thus far the government is being tightlipped about details, but experts estimate that the satellite weighs around 9 tons. It's also not clear if the satellite contains hazardous materials. However, some spy satellites are nuclear powered, while even solar-powered versions may contain toxins that you wouldn't want in your drinking water.

While it's most likely that the device will either burn up in the atmosphere or hit water, at this point no one is making any predictions. However, the assurances of a government spokesman that they " are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible damage this satellite may cause" rings a little hollow in light of the fact that authorities have absolutely zero ability to control its course.

Multitasking Makes You Stupid and Slow

Posted by kdawson on Sunday January 27, @06:16PM
from the knew-it-all-along dept.

Reverse Gear recommends a long and interesting article over at The Atlantic in which Walter Kirn talks about the scientific results that support his claim and his own experiences with multitasking: that it destroys our ability to focus. "Multitasking messes with the brain in several ways. At the most basic level, the mental balancing acts that it requires — the constant switching and pivoting — energize regions of the brain that specialize in visual processing and physical coordination and simultaneously appear to shortchange some of the higher areas related to memory and learning. We concentrate on the act of concentration at the expense of whatever it is that we're supposed to be concentrating on... studies find that multitasking boosts the level of stress-related hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline and wears down our systems through biochemical friction, prematurely aging us. In the short term, the confusion, fatigue, and chaos merely hamper our ability to focus and analyze, but in the long term, they may cause it to atrophy."