Google Health Opens To the Public

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday May 20, @03:11PM
from the take-two-aspirin-and-don't-call-me-ever dept.

Several readers noted that the limited pilot test of Google Health has ended, and Google is now offering the service to the public at large. Google Health allows patients to enter health information, such as conditions and prescriptions, find related medical information, and share information with their health care providers (at the patient's request). Information may be entered manually or imported from partnered health care providers. The service is offered free of charge, and Google won't be including advertising. The WSJ and the NYTimes provide details about Google's numerous health partners.

World wide gas prices

This came courtesy of the MentalFloss Blog:

When I started driving, gas was less than a dollar. If you keep track of these kind of things, you may have noticed it’s a little bit higher than that now. But should we be complaining? Check out the highest gas prices across the globe courtesy of CNN Money and Air-Inc.

10 Most Expensive Places to Buy Gas

1. Eritrea $9.58
2. Norway $8.73
3. United Kingdom $8.38
4. Netherlands $8.37
5. Monaco $8.31
6. Iceland $8.28
7. Belgium $8.22
8. France $8.07
9. Germany $7.86
10. Portugal $7.84

And the U.S.??
108. United States $3.45

You see how little we have to really complain about?

Darren Etheredge

IT Service Desk TSSpec

IT/CPS/ITCSC

Darren.Etheredge@fcps.edu

(703) 503-1600

"Making IT Happen"

Wireless Wii nunchuk adapter frees you from cabled bondage

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted May 20th 2008 at 12:58PM

The Wii Wireless Adapter for Wii Nunchuk controller, as it's so eloquently called, connects to your current nunchuk, untethering you from that not-always-necessary Wii Remote (or simply preventing the cable waggle). It's powered by two AA batteries and is available from Brando for $20. It's not the first wireless nunchuk we've seen, but from the looks of this one, it could help direct your finger to that hard-to-find Z button.

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New Mid-infrared Lasers Show Doubled Efficiency

ScienceDaily (May 20, 2008) — Researchers at the Center for Quantum Devices at the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University have recently doubled the efficiency of infrared lasers under the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Efficient Mid-wave Infrared Lasers (EMIL) program.

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How Small Molecule Can Take Apart Alzheimer's Disease Protein Fibers

ScienceDaily (May 20, 2008) — Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown, in unprecedented detail, how a small molecule is able to selectively take apart abnormally folded protein fibers connected to Alzheimer's disease and prion diseases. The findings appear online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Finding a way to dismantle misfolded proteins has implications for new treatments for a host of neurodegenerative diseases.

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NBC admits "inadvertent" broadcast flag use, still doesn't explain why it actually worked

by Richard Lawler, posted May 20th 2008 at 11:23AM

Just an update on the broadcast flag controversy: NBC has copped to an "inadvertent mistake" in flagging the broadcast of American Gladiators as content prohibited from recording, while Microsoft stated it is only following the FCC's rules, and "fully adheres to flags used by broadcasters". This conveniently ignores the fact that there is no legal requirement for Windows Vista Media Center to recognize the broadcast flag and disable recording, but it does. Errant metadeta can and does happen, but for such a "feature" to be buried within one's software unknowingly is troubling. Expect to hear more from the EFF and others questioning why Media Center unnecessarily turns parts of itself off at a broadcaster's command, and rightly so. What's most disturbing, and likely to go sadly without protest is that someone out there is actually watching, and trying to record for later, American Gladiators. The more you know indeed.

[Via Techdirt]

Wired gets eco-contrarian

by Patrick Metzger
May 20th 2008 @ 11:28AM

Filed under: News, Activism, Climate Change

There's an excellent piece in Wired this week which takes some of the received truths around saving the planet and turns them on their head. To give you an idea, the story says if we really want to do some good, we should chop down old-growth forests, embrace nuclear power, forget about eating organic, and forgo hybrids in favour of used compacts car which have already paid off their carbon debt.

Interesting reading, and not surprisingly the article has already stirred a little controversy in the green-osphere, in part because it focuses mainly on the threat posed by greenhouse gases and climate change, and doesn't take an entirely holistic view on the meta-crisis that's threatening us. To their credit, Wired has already posted a counterpoint which raises that very issue.

Whether you agree, disagree, or both, the points made in the story - and by those who looking to debate them - are well worth reading, and offer insight into the immense complexity of environmental issues.

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Tiger brought back from extinction? Jurassic Park now possible in real life? OMG!

by Jonathon Morgan
May 20th 2008 @ 12:02PM

Filed under: News

It turns out that Jurassic Park is far more than an awesome movie that scared the pants of me as a teenager -- it is, in fact, a vision of the future.

Remember how scientists in the movie pulled dino DNA from the butt of a fossilized mosquito, thus making it totally plausible for man-eating monsters to terrorize Laura Derm, Jeff Goldblum and that other guy? Real-life scientists have now done more or less the same thing, having "resurrected" a gene from the extinct Tasmanian tiger by implanting it in a mouse.

Not that you can expect to see Tasmanian tigers roaming the Australian plains anytime soon, but this is the first step in bringing back animals that no longer exist though cloning. The fact that researchers were able to take tissue specimens from tigers' bodies preserved in alcohol, and successfully introduce the genes they extracted into the body of a living creature is a huge step forward.

OK, yeah, yadda yadda -- but when will you get to ride a dinosaur to work like Fred Flintstone? Unfortunately, the answer is probably never -- but your kids might. Pressed on this question, one researcher told reporters: "Maybe one day this might be possible but it won't happen in my lifetime. It might happen in my children's lifetime, but there's so many steps we need to achieve before you could actually make this work."

Time to start exercising and eating right if I'm going to live long enough to see this happen. Only after witnessing a T-Rex face to face will I be able to truly die happy.

Sitting Position Can Influence Risk Of Whiplash

ScienceDaily (May 20, 2008) — Women run a three times greater risk than men of incurring a debilitating injury in a rear-end collision. This is partly due to differences between the sexes regarding sitting position. This has been shown by Bertil Jonsson at Umeå University in Sweden.

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Spin Control: New Technique Sorts Nanotubes By Length

ScienceDaily (May 20, 2008) — Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have reported a new technique to sort batches of carbon nanotubes by length using high-speed centrifuges. Many potential applications for carbon nanotubes depend on the lengths of these microscopic cylinders, and one of the most important features of the new technique, say the scientists, is that it should be easily scalable to produce industrial quantities of high-quality nanotubes.

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Bypass Not To Blame For Heart Patients' Mental Decline, Study Suggests

ScienceDaily (May 20, 2008) — Heart patients often experience lasting problems with memory, language, and other cognitive skills after bypass surgery. However, these problems aren't caused by the surgery itself or the pump used to replace heart function during surgery, a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests. The findings may lead to better approaches to prevent cognitive decline regardless of which treatment heart disease patients receive.

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ET Will Phone Home Using Neutrinos, Not Photons

Posted by timothy on Tuesday May 20, @08:49AM
from the speak-and-spell-is-cross-particle-compatible dept.

KentuckyFC writes "Neutrinos are better than photons for communicating across the galaxy. That's the conclusion of a group of US astronomers who say that the galaxy is filled with photons that make communications channels noisy whereas neutrino comms would be relatively noise free. Photons are also easily scattered and the centre of the galaxy blocks them entirely. That means any civilisation advanced enough to have started to colonise the galaxy would have to rely on neutrino communications. And the astronomers reckon that the next generation of neutrino detectors should be sensitive enough to pick up ET's chatter."

Invasion of the crazy ants

by Josh Loposer
May 20th 2008 @ 9:00AM

Filed under: Local, News

There's a new invasive species on the march in the southern US. Invading hordes of "crazy ants" are spreading like wildfire through Houston and the outlying counties.

They swarm your house, bite you, harm local species and -- get this -- they destroy electronic equipment. How's that for the wrath of nature? No kidding. These tiny ants are somehow attracted to electric equipment and have been found responsible for fouling up fire alarms, sewage pumps, etc.

Like fire ants, experts think the tiny flea-sized ants were introduced by a cargo vessel and now the insects are flourishing in an environment with few natural predators. They were dubbed "crazy ants" for the way the seem to scamper around erratically, instead of walking single-file like most 'sane' ants.

Aside from cropping up by the thousands in homes and businesses this spring, the plague of tiny insects have been found swarming on Houston's airports and even the NASA Space Center -- although no major electrical problems have been reported yet. It's not quite as earth strikes back as the sinkhole incident, but some experts believe that the electricity-loving ants could soon be short-circuiting electrical gadgets across a large portion of the US. Ha!

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Roku reveals first Netflix set-top-box, reviews flow in

by Darren Murph, posted May 20th 2008 at 12:41AM

Well, would you look at that? After a mildly uncomfortable wait, the very first Netflix set-top-box has landed (the Xbox 360 with plug-ins notwithstanding). Thanks to Roku, users can finally tap into (a portion of) the Netflix library without having to wait for physical discs to arrive -- and for just $99.99, no less (though unlimited access to online films still requires an $8.95 or higher monthly fee for the traditional service). Better still, the HDD-less Netflix Player can even utilize a wireless signal to pull in streams, though your miles may vary on actual performance. As for ports, you'll find HDMI, component, composite, Ethernet, S-Video and a Toslink optical audio jack. Initial reports are looking pretty positive from here (save for the glaring lack of HD support), but feel free to dig into the reviews below to get a better feel of what this box really has to offer.

New Malware Report Hits Vista's Security Image

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday May 20, @05:47AM
from the cracks-in-the-armor dept.

An anonymous reader recommends a Computerworld article on a new report from Australian security vendor PC Tools. The company released figures on malware detection by its ThreatFire product, and in its user base 27% of Vista machines were compromised by at least one instance of malware. From the article: "In total, Vista suffered 121,380 instances of malware from its 190,000 user base, a rate of malware detection per system [that] is proportionally lower than that of XP, which saw 1,319,144 malware infections from a user base of 1,297,828 machines, but it indicates a problem that is worse than Microsoft has been admitting to." Microsoft hasn't responded yet to this report.

Improved Ion Mobility Is Key To New Hydrogen Storage Compound

ScienceDaily (May 20, 2008) — A materials scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has deciphered the structure of a new class of materials that can store relatively large quantities of hydrogen within its crystal structure for later release. The new analysis may point to a practical hydrogen storage material for automobile fuel cells and similar applications.

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The Prince is right: Prince Charles begins countdown to catastrophe

by Patrick Metzger
May 19th 2008 @ 2:30PM

Filed under: Celebrities, News, Polit-eco, Activism, Climate Change

While Madonna and Justin Timberlake reckon we've only got 4 minutes to save the world, Prince Charles is a little more comforting, postulating a leisurely year and a half before things start to fly apart irretrievably.

In a recent interview, the man who may one day be the greenest King of England ever noted that an area of forest equivalent to England, Wales, and Scotland is hacked down each year, with potentially dire climactic consequences. The Prince noted that trees are the "air-conditioner for the planet", and called for a $30 billion dollar cash infusion of cash to help preserve them.

The Prince's environmental musing don't have quite the influence they would have back in the day when disagreeing with the next King-Emperor could put a couple of English gunboats in your harbour, but his name still opens a few doors. He's already spoken to the leaders of Russia and France, as well as with several large corporations about organizing a partnership of businesses, governments and consumers that would pay countries not to chop down their forests.

Will the deep-pocketed players come to the table before it's too late? It's hard to say, but you've got to admire the Prince for being out there fighting the good fight when he could be retired to an estate in Scotland.

Bush acknowledges peak oil, sort of

by Josh Loposer
May 19th 2008 @ 3:30PM

Filed under: Cars and Transportation, Polit-eco, Climate Change

At a summit yesterday, President Bush told Middle East leaders that they need to get ready to diversify, because the oil days are coming to an end. Although he was referring more to the mass movement to find alternative fuel vehicles, and the movement's economic impacts of that on oil-rich nations, he seemed to be hinting around at the concept that oil is a finite resource. Whoa, that might be as close as he ever comes to saying the magic words: peak oil.

The warning to Mid East leaders might have been simple rhetoric, since they obviously already knew that the world would not be dominated by gas-guzzling SUVs forever. But, what's interesting about Bush's remarks is that he actually seems to expects some major changes to occur. Whatever administration takes over after this one, its environmental agenda will almost certainly be far more aggressive. With biofuel production growing by leaps and bounds, and a wave of electric cars in 2010, is it possible that we'll see dramatic changes in US oil consumption over the next 5 years?

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Steve Ballmer dodges eggs at Hungarian University

by Donald Melanson, posted May 19th 2008 at 3:48PM

We've already seen how quick on his feet Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer can be, and it looks like the big man finally had to put those fleet-footed skills to good use, as he was recently forced to duck for cover under a barrage of (three) eggs during a speech he was giving at a Hungarian University. Apparently, the disgruntled egg-tosser was angry with Ballmer for "stealing billions in Hungarian taxpayer money," which he demanded that Ballmer give back "right now." Head on past the break for a video of the thoroughly awkward encounter.

Room Temperature Semiconductor of T-Rays

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday May 19, @11:30AM
from the but-what-does-it-mean-man dept.

Fallen Andy noted a Physorg story that says "Engineers and applied physicists from Harvard University have demonstrated the first room-temperature electrically-pumped semiconductor source of coherent Terahertz (THz) radiation, also known as T-rays. The breakthrough in laser technology, based upon commercially available nanotechnology, has the potential to become a standard Terahertz source to support applications ranging from security screening to chemical sensing." What did you do at the office today honey? Oh, I just demonstrated the first room-temperature electrically-pumped semiconductor source of coherent Terahertz radiation. How was your day dear?

[+] science, toy, sharks (tagging beta)

An Ancient Protein Balances Gene Activity And Silences Foreign DNA In Bacteria

ScienceDaily (May 19, 2008) — Compared to humans, bacteria have a much tidier genome. The tiny microorganisms pack their genes closely together, and don't carry around a lot of extraneous DNA, so-called junk DNA that fills in the gaps between genes. Some 90 percent of the complete genome sequence of the bacteria E. coli contains sequences of DNA that code for protein, while 90 percent of the human genome is non--coding junk DNA.

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Bacteria-resistant Films Created: Microbe Adhesion Depends On Surface Stiffness

ScienceDaily (May 19, 2008) — Having found that whether bacteria stick to surfaces depends partly on how stiff those surfaces are, MIT engineers have created ultrathin films made of polymers that could be applied to medical devices and other surfaces to control microbe accumulation.

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Bone Drug Could Help Prevent The Spread Of Breast Cancer

ScienceDaily (May 19, 2008) — Maintaining bone density could be a key to decreasing the spread of cancer in women with locally advanced breast cancer, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

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Report: Warming not causing increase in Atlantic hurricanes

by Patrick Metzger
May 19th 2008 @ 10:38AM

Filed under: News, Polit-eco, Climate Change

You may be able to get insurance on the beach house again. A new study says that global warming is not causing Atlantic hurricanes to occur with greater frequency.

The research from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist Tom Knutson, uses new computer models to predict that no only will the number of hurricanes not increase, but they may actual decrease in number by the end of the century.

However, before you go and recycle the emergency kit, the model also suggests that while there may be fewer hurricanes, the ones we get will be wetter and more powerful.

The topic of hurricanes and global warming has been a controversial one since Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, with experts differing on how the latter might be affected by the former. This particular study is significant because it comes from Knutson, who has often spoken out about the dangers of climate change, and even criticized the Bush administration publicly for suppressing information on the subject.

Not surprisingly, some climatologists have already come out against the research, while others say it supports earlier findings, so look for more studies to come.

In any case, there are two things to keep in mind when your Hummer-driving neighbour sees this story on Fox News and chortles "See, global warming is a good thing": a) don't punch him in the face, because that's illegal and, b) hurricanes have never been considered a major risk of climate change; consider drought and disappearing farmland if you want to understand where the real crisis lies.

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The Effects of Censorship — a Tale of Two Websites

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday May 19, @09:07AM
from the something-to-think-about dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Two message boards devoted to the same topic have each been on-line for roughly eight years. One is censored, and the other is not. The two forums are virtually the only ones devoted to their topic (polygraph testing, a fairly arcane one), so they're in "competition" only with each other. The result? The uncensored forum has more than six times as many posts as the censored one." To be fair, there are a few other differences between the two forums, but the point may still be valid.