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Submission + - Top Ten Strangest or Cruellest Science Experiments 1

Submitted by
aalobode
aalobode writes: "The Times of London has a current story based on the review of a book by Alex Boase, Elephants on Acid and Other Bizarre Experiments. There they list the top science experiments — including the one from which the book gets its name — that were conducted by otherwise sane humans who tragically or otherwise ignored the effect of their research on the subjects themselves. Nowadays, most institutions have a review board for research on human subjects which would flag most proposals that could lead to harm for the subjects, but not so in the past. See for yourself at the url http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2779808.ece?OTC-HPtoppuff&ATTR=elephants"
Businesses

Submission + - Is Apple doing all it can to beat Vista?

Submitted by aalobode
aalobode writes: The NYTimes is running an article on the narrowing window that Apple has for beating Microsoft's Vista. According the NYT, not enough has been done to capitalize on the Mac user experience versus the "world of hurt that is Vista" and it also points out that that restructuring of Apple leaves ambiguities about Apple's exact commitment to the computer end of its business. The article calls MS Vista's certified vendors, developers and driver writers a flywheel that takes a while to come up to speed and then becomes unstoppable. Check it at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/technology/16digi.html
Technology (Apple)

Submission + - Can Apple+ATT shut down iPhone Unlockers? (businessweek.com)

Submitted by aalobode
aalobode writes: Do Apple and AT&T have the legal right to stop hackers from selling unlocked iPhones? Under their terms, only AT&T may sell iPhones, and Apple gets a commission. When unlocked iPhones are used on other providers' networks, AT&T and hence Apple get nothing beyond what they earned on the initial sale of the hardware. Can they prohibit unlocking? Reselling? The article in Businessweek gives the for and against arguments, but appears to indicate that the hackers have the law on their side for once.
The Internet

Submission + - Tim Berners-Lee discusses the future of the Web

Submitted by maximus1
maximus1 writes: In this exclusive interview, Tim Berners-Lee explains his vision of the Semantic Web. He says: "The Semantic Web is going to take off particularly when we see people using it for data processing, when we see people using it in more and more things, adding personal data, adding files to government data." His position on net neutrality. "We've seen cable companies trying to prevent using the Internet for Internet phones. I am concerned about this, and am working, with many other committed people, to keep it from happening. I think it's very important to keep an open Internet for whoever you are. This is called Net neutrality. It's very important to preserve Net neutrality for the future." And a fun tidbit — He mentions his 1989 memo to his boss at CERN that described his vision for the Web.
Databases

First "Real" Benchmark for PostgreSQL 275

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the waiting-for-the-opportune-moment dept.
anticlimate writes "A new benchmark published on SPEC shows PostgreSQL's performance approaching that of Oracle's and surpassing or on par with MySQL (however the test-hardwares of the other DB systems are somewhat different). The test was put together by PostgreSQL's core developers working at Sun. They certainly are not unbiased, but this is the first 'real' benchmark with PostgreSQL — according to Josh Berkus's blog. The main difference compared to earlier benchmarks (and anecdotes) seems to be the tuning of PostgreSQL."

Feed Techdirt: Blog Demonstrates Alternative To Closed Academic Journals (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
Academic journals have never been particularly big moneymakers, but they can offer successful contributors a certain amount of prestige. Still, it's never made much sense that these journals are so reluctant to open up their content to the public, potentially exposing contributing authors to a much wider audience. As it is, many interesting academic articles are locked behind prohibitively expensive paywalls. Any follow-on conversation is locked up as well, further reducing the value of the paper. The world of academic blogs isn't exactly a substitute for academic journals, although it does help bring some of these conversations out into the open, as well as offer professors an avenue to promote their research. Over at the popular law blog The Conglomerate, they're doing an interesting experiment, whereby several academics are discussing a paper that's been made open to the public. While you might not be interested in the subject itself -- Privatization and the Law and Economics of Political Advocacy -- the experiment offers a good opportunity to glimpse the kind of discussion that would occur among academics, usually behind closed doors. It would seem to behoove the world of academia to encourage more of these open discussions. Not only would it raise the profile of more professors, but it would continue to level the playing field, by eroding the dominance of a handful of elite universities and journals.

Feed Linux.com: Colorado Human Services opens an open source portal (linux.com)

From feed by lcfeed
When the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) couldn't depend on a proprietary portal solution to meet its needs any longer, CDHS County Infrastructure Manager Ron Cash turned to open source software, because of the benefits of community development and the flexibility to customize applications for a perfect fit. The financial benefits of open source are nice too, Cash says.

Feed Engadget: Fujitsu shows off T2010 and N6460 notebooks (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Laptops

At a shopping mall called Vivocity in Singapore, Fujitsu has shown off two new 12.1- and 17-inch notebook models. The 12.1-inch T2010 is actually a tablet, which weighs 3.3 pounds, is based on Santa Rosa, and has a fingerprint reader and Bluetooth. The 17-inch N6460 is very much not a tablet, instead targeting desktop replacement dudes with a full size QWERTY keyboard -- numpad and all -- and a 500GB drive and ATI graphics card. Both are expected to ship in August, but for how much we don't know.

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

Journal Journal: New method for reading DNA sheds light on cell identity

Journal by stemceller
The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard report new findings about about how a cell chooses its identity: "As a fertilized egg develops into a full grown adult, mammalian cells make many crucial decisions -- closing doors of opportunity as they adopt careers as liver cells, skin cells, or neurons. One of the most fundamental mysteries in biomedicine is how cells make such different career decisions despite having exactly the same DNA. By using a new kind of genomic technology, a new study unveil

Feed Engadget: HTC P4550 "Kaiser" reviewed (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Paul from MoDaCo has our envy today, having recently taken possession of HTC's pièce de résistance -- the HTC "Kaiser" -- which looks to make a self-branded debut bearing the model number P4550. As he points out, HTC left virtually nothing out of the P4550 as Windows Mobile-based QWERTY sliders go; the 256MB of onboard Flash, 128MB of RAM, 3 megapixel cam, HSUPA, and trick flip-up display all set new marks for lustworthiness in the category. What's more, the device is said to be really snappy with Windows Mobile 6 and a 400MHz Qualcomm MSM7200 core, picture quality from the camera is superb, and voice quality is apparently top notch. The conclusion? "It's quite simply awesome." Too bad it's also quite simply not available yet.

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

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It is wrong always, everywhere and for everyone to believe anything upon insufficient evidence. - W. K. Clifford, British philosopher, circa 1876

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