Waterworld: Aquadom Is Largest Cylindrical Aquarium in the Planet

What do you do with a 25-meter-high acrylic glass cylinder, 238,000 gallons of sea water, 2,600 fish from 56 different species, and two divers? The Aquadom, the largest cylindrical aquarium in the world, that's what. In its core there's an elevator that travels through a cylinder of glass. As you will see in the videos after the jump, it's simple stunning.

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Located in the atrium of the 5-star Radisson SAS Hotel in Berlin Mitte, the $18.8 million aquarium is 36 feet in diameter and sits on a 29.5-foot-tall concrete foundation. Without a doubt, the most impressive thing about the aquarium from an engineering point of view is the glass surface. Built by Reynolds Polymer Technology, it required 41 R-Cast pannels, 26 for the outside cylinder and 15 panels for the inside, plus 16 on-site bonds. The precision of the work, required to hold that water volume and pressure, it's amazing. Reynolds is specialized in creating this kind of aquariums, among other things, which other jewels like the AB Baltic Mega Mall Aquarium, which holds 43,000 gallons of water but has reef sharks, or the aquariums of the famous the Burj-Al-Arab tower, in Dubai.

It was built in 2003, but we just came across it as we prepare our trips to CeBIT 2008, which is going to happen in Hannover on March but will serve as a perfect excuse to jump to Berlin in order to see friends for the weekend. Needless to say, the Radisson SAS Hotel Berlin is going to be one of our destinations, hopefully staying in one of the rooms that overlook this awesome piece of engineering. And I will get my diving computer, just in case we can convince the pair of full-time divers that clean and feed the fish every day to let us dive for 30 minutes.

Waterworld: Aquadom Is Largest Cylindrical Aquarium in the Planet

Microsoft gives away free developer software to students

While we're not particularly used to hearing the words "free" and "Microsoft" in the same sentence, the software behemoth does offer a number of free utilities for download on its website. For example, there's SyncToy, Power Toys for XP, and Photo Story. Now Microsoft is also offering free downloads of its commercial developer tools. The only catch? You need to be a student in college or graduate school.
The programs available include:

• Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
• Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
• SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
• Expression Studio
• XNA Game Studio 2.0
• XNA Creators Club Online

Students can download full versions of these applications. They aren't limited versions of the full software like Microsoft Accounting Express. The promotion, which Microsoft is calling DreamSpark is available to any student no matter what their area of study. But right now the deal is only good in 11 countries: the US, UK, Canada, China, Germany, France, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Belgium.

You'll need a Windows Live ID to participate. And Microsoft will take steps to verify that you're really a student, so you need to enter the name of the school or institution that can confirm your status before you can download your program.

Microsoft gives away free developer software to students - Download Squad

Toshiba Officially Surrenders in HD Format War

R.I.P. HD DVD, March 31, 2006 - February 19, 2008

After days of intense speculation, Toshiba today officially announced that it will exit the HD DVD business. According to the press release, Toshiba decided after a thorough review of its overall strategy it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders.

Toshiba cited the recent changes in market conditions as the impetus behind the firm’s decision, in hopes for a healthier high-definition future. “We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation.

The Japanese company, however, said that it still believes in its product and continue to support others behind it. Toshiba will continue to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.

Beginning March 2008, Toshiba will begin to reduce shipment of HD DVD hardware to retail channels, with the closing stages of the business expected by the end of the month. The Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on is included in this action.

While HD DVD is usually viewed as a consumer home theatre solution, Toshiba also offers the format as a data storage medium in its notebook computers. Although it’s officially the end of HD DVD for movies, Toshiba said that it has yet to decide on the fate of computer drives and will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives.

Toshiba also expressed that it intends to “maintain collaborative relations” with HD DVD partner companies including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Animation, major Japanese and European content providers on the entertainment side, as well as Microsoft, Intel, and HP.

Nishida added, “While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.”

The company made it clear that its decision to dump HD DVD would not impact its current DVD business. Toshiba said that it will continue to market conventional DVD players and recorders, and contribute to the development of the industry, as a member of the DVD Forum – the body behind both HD DVD and regular DVD.

At the official press conference, Nishida answered questions asking if Toshiba would adopt Blu-ray Disc, to which the Toshiba chief replied, “No plans at all, not at this moment,” as recorded by Engadget. The executive also added that the company has no current plans for another next-gen optical disc format.

The official market lifespan of HD DVD will be around two years. The first HD DVD player hit the Japanese market on March 31, 2006 and the last players are expected to disappear by the end of next month.

Nishida revealed the total number of HD DVD player and recorder sales worldwide: 600,000 players in the U.S., 300,000 of which were Xbox 360 HD DVD drives. 100,000 units were sold in Europe, and about 10,000 players and 20,000 recorders in Japan. The total worldwide installed base current sits at 730,000 units.

Oddly enough, official numbers issued by the HD DVD Promotional Group announced following last year’s black Friday weekend that it had sold over 750,000 HD DVD players in North America, raising some eyebrows at the conflicting information.

Those already sold on high-definition movies will either declare this as a great victory or a tragic loss, though keep in mind that even HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales combined are barely a drop in the bucket compared to regular DVD. Recent statistics from Zip.ca show that high-definition disc rentals account for 0.87 percent of total shipments.

Retail sales of HD DVD movies also pale against regular DVD numbers. Transformers, a movie surely better appreciated in high-definition, sold 190,000 copies in its first week, leading Paramount to name it “the fastest and best-selling week one release on either high definition format as well as the best selling HD DVD ever.”

Day one sales of the standard definition easily obliterated the high-def alternative, selling 4.5 million, eventually accumulating 8.3 million in the first week.

For now, HD DVD owners may enjoy the flurry of clearance sales happening over the next few weeks, as retailers rid themselves of product. On a practical level, HD DVD movies share near identical characteristics with an equivalent Blu-ray Disc release; and in some cases, the HD DVD release is superior thanks to its more mature support of special features.

HD DVD hardware’s day of playing new software are numbered, with the only major releases left for release are Beowulf, Bee Movie and Sweeney Todd. Looking forward, however, Toshiba pointed out earlier this year that its HD DVD players make great DVD upscalers.

DailyTech - Toshiba Officially Surrenders in HD Format War

A look into game makers' political campaign contributions

Our coverage of American electoral politics rarely extends far beyond cheesy flash games, the occasional virtual world appearance, and the ever-looming threat of federal video game legislation. Thanks to Fundrace 2008 and 1UP, however, we have an opportunity to take a peak at the political leanings of the industry's biggest companies.

1UP has combed Fundrace's database of political campaign contributions to create an impressive list of contributions made by members of companies like Activision, EA, and Blizzard. These contributions are entirely separate from the ESA's proposed Political Action Committee, which is not planned to go into action until March.

Obviously political leanings have little to do with the creative output of these companies (and the leanings of some company members certainly have no weight on the leanings of others). Still, it's interesting to see how the big names of these companies spend their money (and, amazingly, how many contributed to failed campaigns).

A look into game makers' political campaign contributions - Joystiq

Spore Arrives on PC, Nintendo DS September 7

Ending years of speculation, EA Maxis has announced that its long, long, long-awaited evolution simulator Spore will hit PC, Nintendo DS, and Mac on September 7, 2008. No mention was made of the upcoming Wii edition.

Lead designer Will Wright, the renowned visionary behind the long-running Sims franchise, had previously stated the game was on track for a spring 2008 release, though EA would only confirm that the game would hit "before holidays" in a recent conference call.

"The wait is almost over," said Wright. "We're in our final stages of testing and polish with Spore, and the team at Maxis can't wait to see the cosmos of content created by the community later this year."

Spore Arrives on PC, Nintendo DS September 7 - Shacknews

HD DVD Promotional Group Wimpers at Netflix, Best Buy, Blu-ray Alliances

HD DVD Promotional Group offers little resistance to the latest Blu-ray victories

The HD DVD Promotional Group suffered two crippling blows yesterday. Early Monday morning, Netflix announced that it would become Blu-ray exclusive with regards to online high-definition movie rentals.

Monday afternoon, Best Buy announced that while it wouldn't drop HD DVD altogether, it would place more emphasis on Blu-ray and heavily promote that standard.

"Consumers have told us that they want us to help lead the way. We’ve listened to our customers, and we are responding. Best Buy will recommend Blu-ray as the preferred format," said Best Buy President and Chief Financial Officer Brian Dunn.

The HD DVD Promotional Group of course was not too happy to hear about the latest losses in the format war and offered up this rather tame response:

We have long held the belief that HD DVD is the best format for consumers based on quality and value, and with more than 1 million HD DVD players on the market, it's unfortunate to see Netflix make the decision to only stock Blu-ray titles going forward. While the Best Buy announcement says they will recommend Blu-ray, at least they will continue to carry HD DVD and offer consumers a choice at retail.

Perhaps the HD DVD Promotional Group doesn't have any fight left. Toshiba already went to great lengths to cut the prices on its third-generation DVD players, but that obviously wasn't enough to stop the shift to Blu-ray. Toshiba's HD DVD commercial during the Super Bowl also didn't help to win over any new supporters.

However, maybe consumers can take solace in the fact that things may be finally winding down in the HD DVD versus Blu-ray battle. Studio support is lining up fervently behind Blu-ray, so the days of finding a high definition movie on HD DVD, but not on Blu-ray, may soon be over.

Early adopters of the HD DVD standard though may just be left with their existing HD DVD library and an excellent upscaling DVD player.

DailyTech - HD DVD Promotional Group Wimpers at Netflix, Best Buy, Blu-ray Alliances

Dubai Building World's Largest, Tallest, Most Futuregasmic Arch Bridge Next Month

Dubai is the Tetsuo of cities, expanding so fast it's on the verge of creating of its own universe. And architecture that looks like it's from the 22nd century only adds to the sheer grandeur of its growth—this bridge, envisioned by NY architecture firm Fxfowle, will be the largest and tallest arch bridge in the world, at one mile long and 670 feet tall. Construction starts next month and is due to wrap up in 2012 after running some $817 million dollars. World's first vacuum tube mass transit system will launch in Dubai shortly thereafter.

Dubai: Dubai Building World's Largest, Tallest, Most Futuregasmic Arch Bridge Next Month

Farthest Galaxy Found, Perhaps

Astronomers have glimpsed what may be the farthest galaxy we've ever seen, providing a picture of a baby galaxy born soon after the beginning of the universe.

Images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope have revealed the galaxy at almost 13 billion light-years away, making it the strongest candidate for the most distant galaxy ever seen, said European Southern Observatory astronomer Piero Rosati, who helped make the discovery.

Since the galaxy is so far away, its light took ages to reach us, so what we see now is a snapshot of how this galaxy looked 13 billion years ago. At that point in time, the galaxy would have been newly formed, so the new observations provide a baby picture.

"We certainly were surprised to find such a bright young galaxy 13 billion years in the past," said astronomer Garth Illingworth of the University of California, Santa Cruz, a member of the research team. "This is the most detailed look to date at an object so far back in time."

The young galaxy, called A1689-zD1, was born about 700 million years after the Big Bang that scientists think created the universe. For most of its early life, the universe languished in "dark ages" when matter in the expanding universe cooled and formed clouds of hydrogen. Eventually matter began to clump into stars and galaxies that radiated light, heating up the universe and clearing the fog.

Scientists think this newly discovered galaxy may have been one of the first to form and help end the dark ages.

"This galaxy presumably is one of the many galaxies that helped end the dark ages," said astronomer Larry Bradley of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, leader of the research team. "Astronomers are fairly certain that high-energy objects such as quasars did not provide enough energy to end the dark ages of the universe. But many young star-forming galaxies may have produced enough energy to end it."

The discovery was made possible by a natural magnifying glass — the galaxy cluster Abell 1689, which lies between us and the distant galaxy. Abell 1689's gravity is so strong it bends light that passes near it, acting like a giant zoom lens that magnifies what we see.

"This galaxy lies near the region where the galaxy cluster produces the highest magnification," Rosati said, "which was essential to bring this galaxy within reach of Hubble and Spitzer."

The discovery, announced today, will be detailed in the Astrophysical Journal.

SPACE.com -- Farthest Galaxy Found, Perhaps

Shuttle Endeavour Moves Closer to March Launch

The orbiter Endeavour is in the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building after a move this morning from its shuttle processing hangar.

Mounted atop a 76-wheel transporter, the $1.8 billion spaceship was backed out of Bay No. 2 of the Orbiter Processing Facility at 7:36 a.m. About 100 workers escorted the orbiter as it was wheeled into the 52-story assembly building. The quarter-mile move took about 20 minutes to complete.

The orbiter will be hoisted about a mobile launcher platform and then connected to an external tank with attached solid rocket boosters. The fully assembled shuttle is scheduled to roll out to launch pad 39A a week from today.

Endeavour and seven astronauts are scheduled to launch March 11 on a mission to delivery a two-armed Canadian robot and the first section of the Japanese Kibo science research facility to the International Space Station.

SPACE.com -- Shuttle Endeavour Moves Closer to March Launch

Microsoft Hastens Vista SP1 Release Date; MSDN, Volume Customers Only

Microsoft backpedals on release delay, says it will release SP1 this month to select developers

Despite announcing that SP1 for Windows Vista was completed and released to manufacturing, Microsoft angered many IT professionals when it said that it would not be releasing the product until March.  Microsoft said that it would instead only be releasing the SP1 RTM to testers.  As the service pack fixes a number of key performance, security, and compatibility issues, many developers were eager to get their hands on it, and became disgruntled with the delay.

Now Microsoft is looking to soothe the discontent by announcing that late this month it will be releasing SP1, ahead of schedule, to MSDN and TechNet Plus subscribers.  As many developers are MSDN subscribers, this will likely quell much of the ill will towards Microsoft.

Better yet, Microsoft announced that English-language volume-licensing customers will be receiving an even faster deployment, and will be receiving the SP1 release by the end of the week.  Some foreign language developers may be disappointed, however that Microsoft gave no indication of when the foreign language versions would be released, or if their release would be bumped up at all.

The first customers to received the SP1 RTM were the testers who participated in the SP1 Beta.  These testers received the final bits of SP1 on Friday.

Windows SP1 introduces support for a number of key hardware and software standards, including the exFAT file system, 802.11n wireless networking, IPv6 over VPN connections, and the Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol.  For gaming fans Direct X 10 is updated to Direct X 10.1, which includes minor iterative improvements in rendering and a handful of new rendering tools.

DailyTech - Microsoft Hastens Vista SP1 Release Date; MSDN, Volume Customers Only

Microsoft Calls Yahoo Rejection "Unfortunate," Pursues Hostile Takeover

Microsoft plans to take its bid for Yahoo directly to shareholders

In the world of mergers, there are numerous levels of "hostility" which characterize bids.  There are unilateral talks, mutually agreed upon, which are typically labeled as more germane, even if one company ends up absorbing the other. 

Then there are unsolicited bids, such as Microsoft's initial offer to Yahoo, which are often labeled as "partially hostile".  On the far end of the spectrum are "fully hostile" bids, in which one company tries to bypass another company’s executive and board leadership by offering a buyout directly to shareholders.  Among the famous examples of takeovers considered "hostile" was the HP and Compaq merger, which passed by a meager 51% margin in a shareholder vote.

Having been rejected by Yahoo's board, Microsoft commented that it was "unfair" that Yahoo did not embrace its "full and fair proposal to combine" the companies.  Now, Microsoft indicates it is planning to bypass the board and take the issue directly to a shareholder vote.  Microsoft states, "We are offering shareholders superior value and the opportunity to participate in the upside of the combined company. The combination also offers an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market."

Microsoft's statement continues, "The Yahoo! response does not change our belief in the strategic and financial merits of our proposal. As we have said previously, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!'s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal."

The decision by Microsoft to pursue a fully hostile takeover is truly a sign of the times at Yahoo.  Yahoo despite promising big changes continues to lose ground to Google in search engine market share, which in turn leads to sinking advertising profits.  The company dismissed 1,000 employees recently.  Yahoo aggressively acquired companies throughout last year, but its investments left it with little to show for it.

The hostile bid by Microsoft may nix a future board-arranged merger with Yahoo, but at this point it may be a moot issue.  If Microsoft has to, it can simply wait out the company until it falls further towards its demise, though it would prefer a quick merger while the company still has some vitality.

Yahoo has a lot to offer Microsoft.  Despite its dropping search engine share, Yahoo still represents a significant portion of the market and a major market name.  An alliance with Microsoft could establish a strong competitor to Google.  Further, Yahoo has a wealth of intellectual property, domain names, and other assets that could come in handy to an ever-evolving Microsoft.

The board is left to ponder Microsoft's words, and their significant decision -- as it may be their last.

DailyTech - Microsoft Calls Yahoo Rejection "Unfortunate," Pursues Hostile Takeover

NVIDIA Acquires AGEIA: Enlightenment and the Death of the PPU

Last week, NVIDIA announced that they have agreed to acquire AGEIA. As most here probably know, AGEIA is the company that make the PhysX physics engine and acceleration hardware. The PhysX PPU (physics processing unit) is designed to accelerate the processing of physics calculations in order to offer developers the potential to deliver more realistic and immersive worlds. The PhysX SDK is there for developers to be able to write game engines that can take advantage of either a CPU or dedicated hardware.

While this has been a terrific idea in theory, the benefits of the hardware are currently a tough sell. The problem stems from the fact that game developers can't rely on gamers having a physics card, and thus they are unable to base fundamental aspects of gameplay on the assumption of physics hardware being present. It is similar to the issues we saw when hardware 3D graphics acceleration first came on to the scene, only the impact from hardware 3D was more readily apparent. The long term benefit from physics hardware is less in what you see and more in the basic principles of how a game world works.

Currently, the way the developers make use of PhysX is based on the lowest common denominator performance: how fast can it run on a CPU. With added hardware, effects can scale (more particles, more objects, faster processing, etc.), but you can't get much beyond "eye candy" style enhancements; you can't yet expect game developers to implement worlds dependent on hardware accelerated physics.

The NVIDIA acquisition of AGEIA would serve to change all that by bringing physics hardware to everyone via a software platform already tailored to scale physics capabilities and performance to the underlying hardware. How is NVIDIA going to be successful where AGEIA failed? That's the interesting bit.

Read More:

AnandTech: NVIDIA Acquires AGEIA: Enlightenment and the Death of the PPU

Fusion Power in the Next Five Years!?

A prominent venture capitalist, Wal van Lierop, of Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, has begun to invest in companies (such as General Fusion) who are providing patents and technologies for economical fusion power. In a recent interview at the Clean Tech Investor Summit (which we're very sad we're not attending), van Lierop said that he expects large energy companies to start thinking about building fusion plants within the next five years.

As we've noted before here at EcoGeek, the best way to track down that technologies are going to (very shortly) change the world is to watch what the venture capitalists are doing. These are people who basically make ridiculous sums of cash by predicting the future...and investing in it. And since they've got so much riding on their bets, they like to do a lot of research.

Often this is research that people like me (because I don't have billions of dollars to invest) can't do. So I follow the VCs, and pay attention to what they're saying.

And what van Lierop is saying seems almost crazy, on the surface. But dig a little deeper, and things start looking exciting. Despite sounding like a comic book hero, General Fusion's technology is very realistic. In a world where we're all used to hearing that "Fusion power has been twenty years away for twenty years" hearing that it's five years away is pretty remarkable.

General Fusion hopes to create small fusion reactors that cost around $50 million a piece and generate roughly 100 megawatts allowing for roughly 4 cent / kwh electricity. That's about the same cost as coal.

The fusion system the use, called Magnetized Target Fusion which uses lithium as a fuel. The lithium is heated and mixed with intensely pressurized plasma. The lithium then breaks down into tritium (hydrogen with two neutrons), which is then mixed with deuterium (hydrogen with one extra neutron.) In the high energy environment, the tritium and the deuterium fuse to form helium, and create a whole lot of heat.

The heat captured is significantly greater than the energy used to run the device and the only byproduct is helium and other harmless gasses.

Fusion Power in the Next Five Years!? | EcoGeek

NVIDIA Introduces HD Handheld Computing Platform

High-definition video and graphics processing coming to a Windows Mobile Smartphone near you

It wasn't too long ago that cell phone LED screen resolutions touted incredible resolutions of 100 pixels.  After the switch to LCDs, most mobile phones today carry resolutions in excess of 100,000 pixels, and in full color too.  With the convergence of hand-held and mobile devices, it was only a matter of time before the graphics giants jumped headlong into the world of mobile computing.

NVIDIA announced today the APX 2500 application processor for mobile devices.  The new chip features high-definition computing capabilities such as HD 720p video playback and capture.

One of the more significant hurdles of any mobile platform is power consumption. Because mobile devices rely on low power batteries in such small packages, NVIDIA designed the processor to operate with restrictions under an ultra-low-power GeForce core.  NVIDIA won't tell just how low yet, but competing processors from Samsung and AMD run in the 10 milliwatt range.

The APX 2500 will support decoding of 720p H.264, MPEG-4, and VC-1/WMV9 media and encoding of 720p H.264 and MPEG-4 media along with the support for standard audio formats including AAC, AMR, WMA, and the ever popular MP3 format. The display subsystem of the APX 2500 also includes HDMI 1.2 support for outputting video at 720p as well as output to a monitor at resolutions up to 1280x1024.

Additional features of the APX 2500 processor include support for up to 12 megapixel camera sensors (opposed to current 3 megapixel cell phone cameras) and 3D graphics processing capabilities including OpenGL ES 2.0 and Direct3D Mobile support.

NVIDIA worked closely with Microsoft on the APX 2500 so its safe to assume the processor will initially or ultimately be a Windows Mobile device exclusive.

The APX 2500 will take center stage at NVIDIA's booth at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The company indicates it will announce high-definition mobile video and graphics processor by mid-summer 2008.

If the APX 2500 solution is indeed an exclusive for Windows Mobile-based devices, Microsoft may see a powerful gain in the mobile OS market among mobile software developers such as Nokia and Google's upcoming AndroidOS.

DailyTech - NVIDIA Introduces HD Handheld Computing Platform

New Cosmic Theory Unites Dark Forces

The two biggest mysteries in cosmology may be one. A new theory says that dark matter and dark energy could arise from a single dark fluid that permeates the whole universe. And this could mean Earth-based dark matter searches will come up empty.

Dark matter, as originally hypothesized, is extra hidden mass that astrophysicists calculate is necessary for holding together fast-turning galaxies. The most popular notion is that this matter is made of some yet-to-be-identified particle that has almost no interactions with light or ordinary matter. Yet it seems to be everywhere, acting as a scaffolding for galaxy clusters and the whole structure of the universe.

On the other hand, dark energy is needed to explain the more recently-discovered acceleration of the universe's expansion. It supposedly exists all throughout space, delivering a pressure that counteracts gravity.

It's counterintuitive that one substance could be both a gravitational anchor for galaxies and anti-gravity force for the universe. However, HongSheng Zhao of the University of St Andrews in Scotland claims that a fluid-like dark energy can act like dark matter when its density becomes high enough.

"Dark energy is a property of the vacuum — of fields that we do not easily see," Zhao told Space.com. "From it, we can derive the dark matter effect."

Zhao compares this dark fluid to Earth's atmosphere. Atmospheric pressure causes air to expand, but part of the air can collapse to form clouds. In the same way, the dark fluid might generally expand, but it also could collect around galaxies to help hold them together.

Read More:

SPACE.com -- New Cosmic Theory Unites Dark Forces

Solar Activity Diminishes; Researchers Predict Another Ice Age

Global Cooling comes back in a big way

Dr. Kenneth Tapping is worried about the sun. Solar activity comes in regular cycles, but the latest one is refusing to start. Sunspots have all but vanished, and activity is suspiciously quiet. The last time this happened was 400 years ago -- and it signaled a solar event known as a "Maunder Minimum,"  along with the start of what we now call the "Little Ice Age."

Tapping, a solar researcher and project director for Canada's National Research Council, says it may be happening again. Overseeing a giant radio telescope he calls a "stethoscope for the sun," Tapping says, if the pattern doesn't change quickly, the earth is in for some very chilly weather.

During the Little Ice Age, global temperatures dropped sharply. New York Harbor froze hard enough to allow people to walk from Manhattan to Staten Island, and in Britain, people reported sighting eskimos paddling canoes off the coast. Glaciers in Norway grew up to 100 meters a year, destroying farms and villages.

But will it happen again?

In 2005, Russian astronomer Khabibullo Abdusamatov predicted the sun would soon peak, triggering a rapid decline in world temperatures.  Only last month, the view was echoed by Dr. Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. who advised the world to "stock up on fur coats." Sorokhtin, who calls man's contribution to climate change "a drop in the bucket," predicts the solar minimum to occur by the year 2040, with icy weather lasting till 2100 or beyond.

Observational data seems to support the claims -- or doesn't contradict it, at least. According to data from Britain's Met Office, the earth has cooled very slightly since 1998. The Met Office says global warming "will pick up again shortly." Others aren't so sure.

Researcher Dr. Timothy Patterson, director of the Geoscience Center at Carleton University, shares the concern. Patterson is finding "excellent correlations" between solar fluctuations, a relationship that historically, he says doesn't exist between CO2 and past climate changes. According to Patterson. we shouldn't be surprised by a solar link. "The sun [is] the ultimate source of energy on this planet," he says.

Such research dates back to 1991, when the Danish Meteorological Institute released a study showing that world temperatures over the past several centuries correlated very closely with solar cycles. A 2004 study by the Max Planck Institute found a similar correlation, but concluded the timing was only coincidental, as the solar variance seemed too small to explain temperature changes.

However, researchers at DMI continued to work, eventually discovering what they believe to be the link. The key factor isn't changes in solar output, but rather changes in the sun's magnetosphere A stronger field shields the earth more from cosmic rays, which act as "seeds" for cloud formation. The result is less cloud cover, and a warming planet. When the field weakens, clouds increases, reflecting more light back to space, and the earth cools off.

Recently, lead researcher Henrik Svensmark was able to experimentally verify the link between cosmic rays and cloud formation, in a cloud chamber experiment called "SKY" at the Danish National Space Center. CERN plans a similar experiment this year.
Even NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies -- long the nation's most ardent champion of anthropogenic global warming -- is getting in on the act. Drew Shindell, a researcher at GISS, says there are some "interesting relationships we don't fully understand" between solar activity and climate.

DailyTech - Solar Activity Diminishes; Researchers Predict Another Ice Age

NASA's wiring guide -- only the most demanding geeks need apply

In our opinion, the best rigs are the ones held together with duct tape and wired up with leftover speaker cable, but if you're looking to class things up -- and avoid any number of potential fire issues -- NASA's got you covered with the agency's official Workmanship Standards Pictorial Reference. The exhaustive guide covers everything from wire splicing to connector tightness, and if you're opening up walls to install a home theater or just trying to build the prettiest casemod on the block, it's well worth a look -- the rest of us can stick to using chewing gum and prayer to keep our gear running.
[Via Toolmonger]

NASA's wiring guide -- only the most demanding geeks need apply - Engadget

WGA ends strike; writers back to work by Wednesday

WGA leaders voted unanimously Sunday to endorse the proposed deal with studios, effectively ending the three month writers' strike that has crippled the television industry. While they do feel that the deal falls short, it still makes key gains in dealing with the new media; remember that it was this area of downloads and internet streaming that was one of the most important issues to the guild.

While the strike is ended per union leaders, writers won't return to work until the membership itself has had a chance to vote on the new deal. They are expected to vote "yes" on Tuesday and be back to work by Wednesday. The timing of this resolution means that some of this season can yet be salvaged and there's still time for pilot production for new series next year. For details on how this will affect your favorite shows, Keep up to date with Mike Ausiello's nearly comprehensive list of when your shows will return. And now things can get back to normal, and we can all go back to needlessly hating on According to Jim, the way God intended.

WGA ends strike; writers back to work by Wednesday - TV Squad

A Power Plant on Each Leg

I don't know about you, but I've been feeling downright un-bionic lately. What I need is a good on-board power source that will whir and buzz and make me really feel like I'm worth at least $10 million.

Thankfully a group of US and Canadian scientists have, together, created a "knee dynamo" that taps the power of walking to create enough power to charge mobile phones or iPods or increasingly advanced electrical prosthetics for amputees (and RoboCops). The device, aside from being obnoxiously large and loud, is really quite cool. It actually uses the energy of the leg swinging forward at the beginning of the stride to generate the power.

This energy would otherwise need to be counteracted by the leg muscles to keep the leg from jarring the knee. This way, the dynamo can actually produce more power than the extra energy the wearer spends to use the device. Think of it like regenerative breaking in hybrid cars. Every time you take a step, your thigh has to both speed up and slow down your lower leg. This thing just helps your leg slow itself down, and captures some of that energy. There's an excellent video of the thing in action at BBC news, I suggest you check it out.

I'm saying this right now...if I can't power my own iPod 15 years from now, I give up on this planet...thanks to these guys for getting this technology another step (or half-stride) closer to reality.

A Power Plant on Each Leg | EcoGeek |

Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Now Priced at $129.99

Microsoft's Xbox 360 add-on gets another price cut

There has been quite a bit of turmoil in the HD DVD market over the past month. With movie studios shifting their alliances from HD DVD to Blu-ray, Toshiba took the drastic step of slashing the MSRPs on its HD DVD players.

Microsoft is following suit and today cut the price of its Toshiba-manufactured Xbox 360 HD DVD player to $129.99. According to Microsoft's Major Nelson, the price cut is effective immediately in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The player originally retailed for $199 when it launched in late 2006 and received a price reduction to $179 in July of 2007.

While $129.99 is the new official price, some retailers are offering the Xbox 360 HD DVD player for even lower prices. Best Buy is offering the player for a low $119.99 on its online site.

For night owls that were browsing the Internet early this morning, Amazon had the peripheral on sale for $79.99 with free shipping for a short period of time according to Engadget.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD DVD player ships with an Xbox 360 universal remote and a copy of King Kong on HD DVD. Users can also hook the player up to a Windows-based machine with the proper drivers.

In addition to the new $129.99 price tag, customers are still eligible to receive five free movies via mail-in rebate [PDF] courtesy of Toshiba. The selection of movies won't set any hearts racing, but free is free.

DailyTech - Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Now Priced at $129.99

SPACE.com -- NASA: Space Shuttle on Track for Thursday Launch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA's space shuttle Atlantis is ready for a Thursday space shot attempt, mission managers said today.

Atlantis is slated to launch the seven-astronaut crew of the STS-122 mission into space from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Thursday. Doug Lyons, launch director for the mission, said he's hopeful for an attempt at 2:45 p.m. EST (1945 GMT) — fickle Florida coast weather permitting, of course.

"We're all thinking that Thursday's the day, regardless of what the weather guy might tell you," Lyons said. "We're ready to make [the launch] happen."

LeRoy Cain, chair of NASA's mission management team here at KSC, said he's confident problems are now resolved with two fuel gauge-like sensors in the bottom of the shuttle's 15-story external fuel tank as well as a kinked radiator hose in the payload bay of Atlantis. Engineers tracked the sensor glitch to a bad electrical connector and replaced it.

"We're not working any issues," Cain said. "We're hoping it will stay that way, of course, and we have some confidence that it will."

Cases closed

Lyons said technicians will constantly test the fuel gauge sensors, known as engine cutoff (ECO) sensors, during fueling of the external fuel tank early Thursday morning.

"We'll be keeping a close eye on our ECO sensors," Lyons said, noting that launch should commence even if one of the four devices fails during testing.

The sensors are designed to stop the three main engines of Atlantis before its 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of fuel runs dry. Because the cryogenic fuel runs through the orbiter's engine cones and cools them as it is expelled and burned, running out of fuel could cause catastrophic damage to the spacecraft, mission managers have said.

Cain said Atlantis' kinked hose is now tucked back into it's intended place, but engineers are still determining whether or not it could leak after the payload bay doors are opened and again closed — a maneuver that could again cause it to bend outwards in a stressed position.

"We're a long ways from having a leak develop in this particular hose we have on Atlantis," Cain said. But in the unlikely event of a leak, he explained, the orbiter's computers would shut down the redundant radiator system before Freon could leak out.

Anxious for orbit

Navy captain Stephen Frick will head the 11-day mission, the prime objective of which is to deliver the European Space Agency's (ESA) bus-sized Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station (ISS).

Alan Thirkettle, space station program manager for the ESA, said he's pleased with the work done by NASA to get Atlantis into orbit.

"From an ESA point of view that we're very confident and very comfortable with the design fixes ... since December," Thirkettle said. "It seems very, very solid."

As mission managers wait to see if the weather will shape up for a safe launch on Thursday, Lyons said the astronauts are waiting in good spirits.

"They're very anxious to get to launch day, get in orbit, and start their mission," Lyons said.

NASA will broadcast Atlantis' STS-122 mission live on NASA TV. Click here for SPACE.com's STS-122 mission coverage and NASA TV feed.

SPACE.com -- NASA: Space Shuttle on Track for Thursday Launch

Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Now Priced at $129.99

Microsoft's Xbox 360 add-on gets another price cut

There has been quite a bit of turmoil in the HD DVD market over the past month. With movie studios shifting their alliances from HD DVD to Blu-ray, Toshiba took the drastic step of slashing the MSRPs on its HD DVD players.

Microsoft is following suit and today cut the price of its Toshiba-manufactured Xbox 360 HD DVD player to $129.99. According to Microsoft's Major Nelson, the price cut is effective immediately in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The player originally retailed for $199 when it launched in late 2006 and received a price reduction to $179 in July of 2007.

While $129.99 is the new official price, some retailers are offering the Xbox 360 HD DVD player for even lower prices. Best Buy is offering the player for a low $119.99 on its online site.

For night owls that were browsing the Internet early this morning, Amazon had the peripheral on sale for $79.99 with free shipping for a short period of time according to Engadget.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD DVD player ships with an Xbox 360 universal remote and a copy of King Kong on HD DVD. Users can also hook the player up to a Windows-based machine with the proper drivers.

In addition to the new $129.99 price tag, customers are still eligible to receive five free movies via mail-in rebate [PDF] courtesy of Toshiba. The selection of movies won't set any hearts racing, but free is free.

DailyTech - Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Now Priced at $129.99

Facebook apps to begin feedback based notifications

For those who have hoped for less application madness on Facebook, an announcement on the Facebook Developers blog should be of interest to you: a reward system for applications that are "compelling."
So, instead of giving applications a limit of 40 notifications per user per day, the amount of notifications sent out will adjust in accordance with the feedback an application gets. The more an application gets ignored, reported as spam, or hidden, the less notifications users will receive. The aim of this little adjustment is to reduce notifications that users will find to be of a "spammy" nature, while encouraging developers to make applications that users will want their friends to know about.
Whether that means that notifications of friends adding or using applications that have gotten a "bad rep" will start disappearing, is still not clear. But, it's reasonable to think that some of the notification "noise" will be reduced.
In the meantime, until the update is put in place, developers will be provided with two new "Insight" statistics tabs, to give them a better understanding of how users are responding to their applications. Users can expect to start seeing changes as early as next week.

Facebook apps to begin feedback based notifications - Download Squad

ESA's Michael Gallagher: 'Everyone's A Gamer'

LAS VEGAS--The videogame industry would be wise to accept that gaming has gone mainstream and that "everyone's a gamer," ESA president Michael Gallagher told attendees at the DICE summit.

Gallagher said that although the industry had shown remarkable growth in the past year, it nevertheless had yet to recognize the changing nature of the gaming public.

"We've extended the gaming ecosystem," he said. "The stereotypes no longer apply."

While it's important for the industry to embrace this new definition "gamer," Gallagher cautioned against forgetting the core gaming audience.

"We must never forget our base. Avid gamers have been with us from the start, and when we deliver for them, they deliver for us," he said.

To illustrate his point, Gallagher explained that Halo 3 took in more revenue on its first day of release --"a Tuesday!''-- than Spider-Man 3 did during its opening weekend or the most recent Harry Potter novel did on its first day of sales.

That said, the industry still needs to "welcome new gamers. We need to make games easier, and more accessible." The best way to do that, he suggested, was to make easier, shorter games with less complicated control schemes.

"It's also very important that we change what we say relative to parents." More than half of Americans play games with their children, said Gallager.  "Parents are our partners in the growth of this industry."

It would also be in the gaming industry's best interests to change gaming's image as a couch potato activity. Games that use active play like Dance Dance Revolution are "another trend we need to embrace." 

Gallagher also suggested that the videogame console could take on the role in women's fitness that was once occupied by the VCR and Jane Fonda tapes.

Before leaving, Gallagher urged attendees to take an active role in defending the industry from those who would lay "everything from violence to obesity" at its doorstep by joining the Video Game Voters Network.

"Be helpful, have your voice heard," he said.

ESA's Michael Gallagher: 'Everyone's A Gamer' | Game | Life from Wired.com

Google tries to sneak "Team Edition" suite past IT help desk

February is turning out to be a busy month for Google's corporate IT initiatives. Earlier this week, the search giant announced a new, corporate-focused, suite of security and spam-filtering software suites under the "Powered by Postini" moniker. Today, Google announced another new Google Apps bundle, known as Google Apps Team Edition. Unlike the Powered by Postini product suite, Google Apps Team Edition is aimed at enabling user and group-level collaboration without the need for approval from the IT department.

Current business versions of Google Apps are linked to an organization's Internet domain and therefore require IT approval and at least some degree of administration. Team Edition eschews this approach, and allows end-users to create sharing workgroups so long as the individuals in question have valid e-mail addresses within the employer's Internet domain. Team Edition contains the standard core features of Google Apps, save for Gmail, as that service requires a degree of IT oversight and administration.

According to Google Apps senior product manager Rajen Sheth, "Google Apps has been, by definition, an IT project, and now we want to let people use it without IT involvement." Signing up for Google Apps Team Edition will allow registrants to see which of their coworkers has also signed up, which, in theory, promotes additional collaboration. Google emphasizes that this type of two-way visibility will allow workgroups to begin collaborating with each other—apparently spontaneously.

There is, of course, a rather obvious fly in this particular ointment. Sheth suggests that IT departments and administrators shouldn't be upset about discovering unplanned and unapproved implementations of Google Apps running on the corporate network because "[t]he IT department always has the option to sign up for the Standard Edition for free if they want to provide control over this. This is a solid, happy medium."

One problem with that: IT administrators tend to fervently dislike the sudden appearance of unapproved applications, even if said software package promises world peace, actually delivers all those free iPods, and periodically spits gold doubloons out of the CD-ROM drive.

Google's approach seems predicated on the old adage that it's always easier to get forgiveness than permission. One the one hand, Google Apps Team Edition could help facilitate group-level communication on projects, but the program could also engender a significant backlash from IT managers who aren't at all thrilled at its sudden appearance. This is particularly true of companies with strict(er) IT policies, or companies already in the middle of deploying an alternative work collaboration system.

Google claims that the purpose of Team Edition is to allow users to "share documents and calendars securely without burdening IT for support," are more likely to be greeted by raised eyebrows from the IT department. In the right (or wrong) circumstances, the unapproved presence and use of Google Apps Team Edition could, in fact, increase the burden on IT support staff. Google seems to be betting that if it can build enough grassroots support for Google Apps, IT departments and corporations will have no choice but to embrace it as a provider. Such an approach may work beautifully in the consumer market, but there's no guarantee corporations will be as flexible.

Google tries to sneak "Team Edition" suite past IT help desk

Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Now Priced at $129.99

Microsoft's Xbox 360 add-on gets another price cut

There has been quite a bit of turmoil in the HD DVD market over the past month. With movie studios shifting their alliances from HD DVD to Blu-ray, Toshiba took the drastic step of slashing the MSRPs on its HD DVD players.

Microsoft is following suit and today cut the price of its Toshiba-manufactured Xbox 360 HD DVD player to $129.99. According to Microsoft's Major Nelson, the price cut is effective immediately in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The player originally retailed for $199 when it launched in late 2006 and received a price reduction to $179 in July of 2007.

While $129.99 is the new official price, some retailers are offering the Xbox 360 HD DVD player for even lower prices. Best Buy is offering the player for a low $119.99 on its online site.

For night owls that were browsing the Internet early this morning, Amazon had the peripheral on sale for $79.99 with free shipping for a short period of time according to Engadget.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD DVD player ships with an Xbox 360 universal remote and a copy of King Kong on HD DVD. Users can also hook the player up to a Windows-based machine with the proper drivers.

In addition to the new $129.99 price tag, customers are still eligible to receive five free movies via mail-in rebate [PDF] courtesy of Toshiba. The selection of movies won't set any hearts racing, but free is free.

DailyTech - Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Now Priced at $129.99

NASA: Space Shuttle on Track for Thursday Launch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA's space shuttle Atlantis is ready for a Thursday space shot attempt, mission managers said today.

Atlantis is slated to launch the seven-astronaut crew of the STS-122 mission into space from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Thursday. Doug Lyons, launch director for the mission, said he's hopeful for an attempt at 2:45 p.m. EST (1945 GMT) — fickle Florida coast weather permitting, of course.

"We're all thinking that Thursday's the day, regardless of what the weather guy might tell you," Lyons said. "We're ready to make [the launch] happen."

LeRoy Cain, chair of NASA's mission management team here at KSC, said he's confident problems are now resolved with two fuel gauge-like sensors in the bottom of the shuttle's 15-story external fuel tank as well as a kinked radiator hose in the payload bay of Atlantis. Engineers tracked the sensor glitch to a bad electrical connector and replaced it.

"We're not working any issues," Cain said. "We're hoping it will stay that way, of course, and we have some confidence that it will."

Cases closed

Lyons said technicians will constantly test the fuel gauge sensors, known as engine cutoff (ECO) sensors, during fueling of the external fuel tank early Thursday morning.

"We'll be keeping a close eye on our ECO sensors," Lyons said, noting that launch should commence even if one of the four devices fails during testing.

The sensors are designed to stop the three main engines of Atlantis before its 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of fuel runs dry. Because the cryogenic fuel runs through the orbiter's engine cones and cools them as it is expelled and burned, running out of fuel could cause catastrophic damage to the spacecraft, mission managers have said.

Cain said Atlantis' kinked hose is now tucked back into it's intended place, but engineers are still determining whether or not it could leak after the payload bay doors are opened and again closed — a maneuver that could again cause it to bend outwards in a stressed position.

"We're a long ways from having a leak develop in this particular hose we have on Atlantis," Cain said. But in the unlikely event of a leak, he explained, the orbiter's computers would shut down the redundant radiator system before Freon could leak out.

Anxious for orbit

Navy captain Stephen Frick will head the 11-day mission, the prime objective of which is to deliver the European Space Agency's (ESA) bus-sized Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station (ISS).

Alan Thirkettle, space station program manager for the ESA, said he's pleased with the work done by NASA to get Atlantis into orbit.

"From an ESA point of view that we're very confident and very comfortable with the design fixes ... since December," Thirkettle said. "It seems very, very solid."

As mission managers wait to see if the weather will shape up for a safe launch on Thursday, Lyons said the astronauts are waiting in good spirits.

"They're very anxious to get to launch day, get in orbit, and start their mission," Lyons said.

NASA will broadcast Atlantis' STS-122 mission live on NASA TV. Click here for SPACE.com's STS-122 mission coverage and NASA TV feed.

SPACE.com -- NASA: Space Shuttle on Track for Thursday Launch

Bad to Worse: Fifth Undersea Cable Cut in Middle East

Undersea cable owners still won't speculate on cause of cable cuts

Reports are coming in this morning that a fifth undersea fiber optic cable was severed in the Middle East. However, by several accounts, the fifth cable cut is actually a second cut on a different segment of the FALCON cable. How exactly these cables are being cut is still unknown, though Egyptian officials maintain a ship didn’t cause the breakages near the port of Alexandria.

The saga of cut cables and lost bandwidth began on January 23 when the Flag Telecoms FALCON undersea fiber optic cable near the Egyptian port of Alexandria was severed. On January 30 another cable called the SeaMeWe-4 (South East Asia-Middle East- Western Europe-4) cable was cut according to the Khaleej Times Online. Egyptian officials said that a review of ship traffic in the area at the time of the breakage precludes the damage being caused by a ships anchor.

Khaleej Times Online reports that on February 1 another cut appeared in the FALCON cable, which resulted in severe disruption of data service in the Gulf region. The rundown of cut cables in the region includes the FLAG Europe-Asia cable near Alexandria, FALCON near Bandar Abbas in Iran, SeaMeWe-4 near Alexandria, SeaMeWe-4 near Penang, Malaysia, and FLAG near the Dubai coast.

Mahesh Jaishanker executive director of Business Development and Marketing for TeleGeography is quoted by the Khaleej Times Online as saying, “The submarine cable cuts in FLAG Europe-Asia cable 8.3km away from Alexandria, Egypt and SeaMeWe-4 affected at least 60 million users in India, 12 million in Pakistan, six million in Egypt and 4.7 million in Saudi Arabia.”
DailyTech reported that the first pair of cables were severed on January 31, followed by a third cut undersea cable on February 4, and a fourth cut cable on February 5.

DailyTech - Bad to Worse: Fifth Undersea Cable Cut in Middle East

Space Magnetism May Hold Secret to Fusion Power

New discoveries about magnetic field lines and the first-ever direct observation of their reconnection in space are offering hope that scientists will learn how to unlock fusion power as an energy source in the future.

"The reconnection processes in the [Earth's] magnetosphere and in fusion devices are the same animal," said James Drake, a University of Maryland physicist.

Space contains magnetic fields that direct the flow of plasma, an energetic fourth state of matter consisting of positive ions and electrons. The plasma particles normally follow the paths of the magnetic field lines like streams of cars following highways.

Magnetic reconnection can release that stored energy when two magnetic field lines bend towards each other and fuse to create new field lines. The effect is not unlike an earthquake forcibly realigning parallel highways into perpendicular routes and channeling cars along the newly created paths. Although some released plasma energy travels in a straight line — called a super-Alfvenic electron jet — other plasma particles fan out as though escaping the opening of a trumpet.

The effect not only fascinates astrophysicists but also frustrates efforts on Earth to create sustained energy sources through fusion. Experimental fusion reactors force atomic particles to fuse together and release energy as plasma. The plasma is contained within a "magnetic bottle," or a cage of magnetic field lines, so that the high plasma temperatures can maintain the fusion reaction.

However, magnetic reconnection can break the magnetic bottle and allow plasma to reach the colder walls of the reactor where fusion will not sustain itself.

Drake became interested in the topic when he looked at early fusion studies and realized how many theories at the time were "dead wrong" about magnetic reconnection. To learn more about the phenomenon, he had to look beyond Earth.

"I started realizing some of the best magnetic reconnection data is in space," Drake said.

During a sabbatical at the University of California-Berkeley, the theoretical physicist happened to work in the same office as Tai Phan, an observational physicist who was looking at magnetic field data from the European Space Agency's Cluster satellites.

"I was doing theory, Tai was doing data and we suddenly saw this correspondence," Drake marveled. "It was purely accidental."

The four Cluster satellites crossed through a turbulent plasma region just outside Earth's magnetic field in January 2003, when they happened to run into an area where magnetic reconnection had occurred. Physicists thought such areas, known as electron diffusion regions, were just over six miles long and so spacecraft would probably miss them in the vastness of space.

Instead, a new look at the Cluster data showed that the electron diffusion region measured 1,864 miles long — 300 times longer than early theoretical expectations and still four times longer than seen in the latest astrophysics simulations. That also marked the first ever direct observations of magnetic reconnection in space.

Although the basic physics behind magnetic reconnection remain a mystery, Cluster promises that future missions have a good chance of further examining the phenomenon. One example is NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, which will consist of four spacecraft that study why the plasma particles can become "unfrozen" or unstuck from the magnetic field lines they normally travel along. Magnetic reconnection is simply the most "dramatic" example of this, Drake said.

Such an energy release amounts to a conversion of magnetic energy into particle energy, which can occur in black hole jets and drives solar flares. Drake hopes to someday create a computer model that can accurately describe the conversion process — and if scientists can also apply some understanding towards improving fusion reactors, so much the better.

SPACE.com -- Space Magnetism May Hold Secret to Fusion Power

The O'Brien vs. Stewart vs. Colbert three-show throwdown - VIDEOS

 
As most late night TV lovers know, Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have developed a feud over who is responsible for Mike Huckabee's popularity in the presidential race. It's been a long, involved story, with each guy claiming that they "made" Huckabee and bashing each other back on forth. Well, Monday night was truly spectacular, because the world got to see the feud reach its climax, in the form of a conflict that crossed over The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Late Night. With the three hosts appearing on each others' shows all on one night, it was special appearances galore. It became a clash of the Titans, a battle of epic proportions, a heaping helping of Monday fanservice --
Goodness, for a minute there, I lost myself. Should I be worried by how overjoyed I was (and kind of still am)?

As a huge fan of all three programs, I was, needless to say, filled with joy for the entire evening. First up was The Daily Show, which I recapped in detail. In the middle of a seemingly normal show, Colbert and O'Brien popped up and prepped for some hardcore fighting.

Stewart made them wait outside as he wrapped up his own show, but by the time he met up with O'Brien, Colbert had scampered off to do The Colbert Report. Much to the delight of the rabid Report audience, Stewart and O'Brien showed up and tried to drag Colbert out to start the fight. I got a bit worried -- yes, that's the word I'm going to use -- when the boys started taking off their jackets and belts, but what proceeded was just some light desk abuse. Colbert shoo'd Stewart and O'Brien away so that he could finish up his own program.

Of course, as soon as Colbert finished up and found Stewart outside, O'Brien had run back to 30 Rock to do Late Night. The home audience then had to wait half an hour before Late Night started to see the final round of the event. It was definitely, definitely worth the wait. After O'Brien's monologue, Stewart and Colbert strutted West Side Story-style into the studio and pulled O'Brien backstage. It was one fight scene cliche after the other, from slow-mo punching to falling into cardboard boxes to rolling down a flight of stairs. Some dancing somehow made its way in there, but I'm not complaining.

In the end, a pre-taped Huckabee had to settle things and make it clear that none of these "idiots" made him. I'm looking forward to Colbert's inevitable sobbing breakdown after this betrayal from his runningmate... Or should I say, former runningmate.

I'm surprised that they managed to pull this off, since all their tapings occur around the same time in the evening. Apparently ticket holders started getting e-mails to come a little earlier or a little later and rumors began circulating that at least one crossover was going to happen. I doubt anyone expected anything as awesome as this. I would also like to note that even those that haven't found this fake feud particularly amusing must find a bit of sweetness in it. After all, these are hosts that have constantly expressed how lost they feel without their writers. There's something wonderful in seeing three comedians doing each other a favor by creating some silly material and taking it this far, just to help fill time. This one dumb fight alone has taken up so many episodes. Bless their little late night hearts for helping each other out.

Group hug!

The O'Brien vs. Stewart vs. Colbert three-show throwdown - VIDEOS - TV Squad

ICANN flips switch on IPv6 DNS root servers

 IPv6 took another significant step forward yesterday, as the root DNS zone was updated with IPv6 addresses for six of the 13 root servers. Most root servers are "anycasted:" physical machines are placed in different locations, but share an address. Requests are automatically routed to the closest server. 

As we noted a month ago, this change means that it's now possible for an IPv6-only system to connect to another IPv6-only system without the need to do DNS lookups over IPv4. In order to see how well that works, I turned off IPv4 on my Mac, started up a local nameserver, and started typing URLs. Of the 16 web sites that I tried, nine were reachable, seven were not. For instance, the Internet Systems Consortium that publishes BIND, the most popular DNS server software, was reachable, as were the RIPE NCC, LACNIC, AfriNIC, and APNIC, four of the five Regional Internet Registries that give out IP addresses around the globe. The missing RIR is ARIN, the American Registry for Internet Numbers, which fulfills this function in North America. Although the ARIN site is reachable over IPv6, ARIN only has IPv4 nameservers so an IPv6-only nameserver can't reach any of those nameservers to resolve the www.arin.net name.

Before the addition of the IPv6 addresses to the root zone, there was worry about the increase in the size of the DNS reply that lists all the root nameservers and their addresses. However, the names of all the root servers easily fit in a 512-byte packet. The addresses are extra information, and as such, may be omitted if the packet is in danger of becoming too large. So when a DNS server that doesn't indicate that it supports larger packets does its initial request for the list of root nameservers after it starts, it will always see the full list of 13 root server names in the reply. Some of the root servers then include all the IPv4 addresses and as many IPv6 addresses as will fit in the response (usually, two of them), others return a more balanced mix of IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, usually ten of the former and four of the latter. However, the reply is not marked as "truncated" so there is no need to repeat the query over TCP with all the firewalling dangers that that entails.

Interestingly, the K root server is already getting more than 100 queries per second over IPv6, while the maximum IPv4 query rate is around 9,000 per second. A bit more than 1 percent of the queries over IPv6 doesn't seem like much, but it does suggest that IPv6 uptake, at least in some circles, can no longer be accounted for by margin of error. It does, however, seem as though these figures aren't consistent from one root server to the next.

What does this step mean in the grand scheme of things? In practical terms, nothing, really: you pretty much have to go out of your way to run an IPv6-only nameserver, which will then be slower and more failure-prone than its easier-to-configure dual stack IPv4+IPv6 counterpart. Even then, you'll have to find a domain seller who can handle the necessary DNS records in the first place. But the move does mark a fundamental change: before yesterday, IPv6 was incapable of doing some things that IPv4 could do since the invention of the DNS in the late 1980s. Now, the two protocols are on an equal footing—in theory, at least.

In practice, it is of course possible to completely ignore IPv6 in favor of IPv4. The next big step for IPv6 is to become so ubiquitous that users will expect to be able to reach services over IPv6 as well as IPv4. For a long time, IPv6 proponents assumed—or at least hoped—this would happen before we ran out of IPv4 addresses, but appears increasingly unlikely. So it looks like in a few years we'll have a situation where most of the Internet is still IPv4-only, but newcomers won't be able to get IPv4 addresses to join the party.

"This is an important step in the direction of adopting IPv6 and with that, the preservation of an open Internet," said Erik Huizer, chair of the Dutch IPv6 Task Force. "But it's a first step, there is still a lot to be done."

So read everything you need to know about IPv6 and go forth and enable it on your systems. And don't forget to download the latest named.root file if you run a DNS server.

ICANN flips switch on IPv6 DNS root servers

Nvidia to Acquire AGEIA, Plans PhysX Integration

Hardware manufacturer Nvidia today announced its plans to acquire physics technology developer AGEIA, with the company stating it will integrate AGEIA's PhysX technology into its future line of GeForce graphics cards.

"By combining the teams that created the world's most pervasive GPU and physics engine brands, we can now bring GeForce-accelerated PhysX to hundreds of millions of gamers around the world," said Huang.

Founded in 2002, AGEIA made a name for itself by inventing the Physics Processing Unit (PPU) chip, the world's first dedicated hardware physics processor for personal computers. The company also develops physics software, boasting a list of over 140 games across multiple platforms that utilize PhysX technology.

"Nvidia is the perfect fit for us," added AGEIA CEO Manju Hegde. "They have the world's best parallel computing technology and are the thought leaders in GPUs and gaming. We are united by a common culture based on a passion for innovating and driving the consumer experience."

Processor manufacturer AMD was rumored to be eyeing AGEIA for purchase in November, but had since denied the claims. Competitor Intel picked up physics software developer Havok last September.

The deal is all but final, with only customary closing conditions in the way. More details of the acquisition will be available following Nvidia's quarterly conference call on Feb 13.

Nvidia to Acquire AGEIA, Plans PhysX Integration - Shacknews -