New Near-Production "Super" Lightbulb Lasts 60 Years, Costs $2.85

Future of lighting looks bright with new invention

The race towards better, more affordable solid state lighting is heating up quickly.  The U.S. government has sponsored a $20M USD prize for the first team of researchers to come up with solid state lighting that meets a strict set of standards.  New research has finally helped to eliminate the LED droop typically associated with the higher currents needed to provide greater efficiencies.

Now a team at Cambridge University may be close to having a winning design on their hands, perhaps for the L Prize, if they're eligible, and for the consumer market.  The university has produced a new design which costs a mere $2.85 USD and despite being the size of a penny, produces similar light to a fluorescent bulb while lasting over four times as long with a lifetime of 60 years. 

The new design triples fluorescent bulb efficiency and is 12 times more efficient than incandescent designs.  Also, it’s capable of instantaneous illumination, so the light lag associated with fluorescent bulbs may soon be a thing of the past.

If installed across all of Britain, the researchers estimate that it could cut the country's lighting portion of the energy budget from 20 percent to 5 percent a year.  The U.S. could muster a similar 10 percent drop with the design, according to recent DOE estimates.  The new bulbs last 100,000 hours and unlike other "eco" bulbs, they contain no mercury, a substance that can cause brain damage in humans.  They also don't flicker, while other green designs do, something that's been blamed for triggering epileptic fits.

Officials say the new design could cut 40 million tons of carbon emissions in Britain alone.  Britain recently stopped restocking certain incandescent bulbs in stores.  The new design relies on a specially formulated gallium nitride semiconductor, which builds on previous LED work.  It is brighter than traditional designs and relatively cheap from a chemical perspective, compared to more exotic chemistries.

The British researchers managed to make the LEDs even more affordable by growing them on silicon wafers instead of on sapphire wafers, the traditional method of production.  This makes them at last cheap enough for the consumer market.  Growing the LEDs on silicon was assisted by a number of advances at other U.S. and European research institutions.

While some designs take decades to reach the market, Cambridge's design is already being prototyped and readied for production.  RFMD in County Durham, England is the first manufacturer to jump at the opportunity to mass produce and ship the high-performing LED bulbs.

Professor Colin Humphreys, head of the team at Cambridge states, "This could well be the holy grail in terms of providing our lighting needs for the future.  We are very close to achieving highly efficient, low-cost white LEDs.  That won't just be good news for the environment. It will also benefit consumers by cutting their electricity bills.   It is our belief they will render current energy-efficiency bulbs redundant."

 

DailyTech - New Near-Production "Super" Lightbulb Lasts 60 Years, Costs $2.85

Intel snags energy out of thin air, tinfoil hat crowd cowers in the basement

Put on your tinfoil hats, everybody, because Intel has discovered there's enough energy in radio waves to fry an egg. Well, maybe those radio frequency (RF) waves aren't that powerful, but as you can see in the picture above, it's possible to harvest enough energy from a Seattle TV station's broadcast signal (originating 4.1 km away) to run that wireless weather station with an LCD screen.

Besides experimenting with wireless electric power, Intel is also working on ways to soak up energy from body heat, ambient light, waste heat from machinery, and a lot more. Makes sense, because when electric power costs 10 times what it does today, grabbing any source of power will be worth the trouble.

DVICE: Intel snags energy out of thin air, tinfoil hat crowd cowers in the basement

Boom Blox sequel due out this spring

Giving lie to the conventional wisdom that Boom Blox didn't sell well (it apparently had legs rather than a blockbuster opening), Electronic Arts announced a sequel, Boom Blox Bash Party, is in development for release this spring.

And before you fret that they're just throwing extra levels on a disc, check this out:

The game showcases new block types, including: virus and conveyor blox, new blox shapes, such as: cylinders and wedges, and new tools that will make for even more destructive fun. Players will find twists on BOOM BLOX game play favorites like throwing and grabbing. Players now can also sling, launch, and blow the competition away with new cannon, paint ball and slingshot tools.

Remember all those cute little animals on the sidelines? You know, the ones you wondered if you could hit and were then delighted aghast to discover that you could? They'll figure more prominently into the gameplay this time.

Even the characters are in on the action as BOOM BLOXBash Party features a new cast of wacky blox characters. This time they don't just cheer you on, they are now blox themselves and you can throw, stack or even launch them, utilizing them to create even more madness and mayhem!

Electronic Arts also sounds determined to make it easier to upload and share user-generated content, something that was more trouble than it was worth in the original Boom Blox.

With the press of a button, players will be able to grab, play and rate new levels from EA as well as levels created by members of the BOOM BLOX Bash Party community. Using the game's easy-to-use Create Mode, players now have the power to share the levels they built with friends, or submit their masterpiece to be shared with the world! The expanded Create Mode lets players build and create like never before, giving them access to the same tool set the EA development team used to create each and every level in the game!

Even the name is fun to say out loud. Seriously. Just do it now. I don't care where you are. Say it with me, out loud: Boom Blox Bash Party. See?

Boom Blox sequel due out this spring | Fidgit

Find Images that Have a Certain Size

Most image search engines offers an option to filter the results by size, but you can only choose between small, medium and large images. Google Image Search has an undocumented parameter that lets you specify the exact dimension of the results:
imagesize:WIDTHxHEIGHT.

Here's an example: [imagesize:640x480 muffin] finds 640px x 480px images related to muffins.

The operator could be useful if you need to find wallpapers for your computer, logos, illustrations for a school project or any other images that have standard sizes.

Find Images that Have a Certain Size

NASA Unveils New Orion Building at Florida Spaceport

CAPE CANAVERAL - Officials at Kennedy Space Center on Monday hailed the completed renovation of an Apollo-era facility as a sign that the future of manned spaceflight is taking shape even as NASA prepares to retire the space shuttle.

After a more than $55-million overhaul, the center's

Operations and Checkout Building is almost ready to house final assembly and testing of the Orion capsule slated to carry astronauts to the International Space Station, the moon and Mars.

The work is expected to save about 400 jobs within a few years and represents a breakthrough for KSC, which historically has only launched vehicles, not built them.

"This is a first for Kennedy Space Center," said Richard Harris, an Orion deputy program manager for Lockheed Martin Corp.

Inside the building's gleaming white high bay on Monday, mock-ups of the Orion capsule and its heat shield offered the only glimpse of the assembly work to come.

But officials said more evidence of progress was visible across KSC.

The spaceport is preparing for a July test flight of the rocket on which NASA hopes to launch Orion by 2015, with a crew of four to six astronauts.

Pieces of the test rocket are being processed in the Vehicle Assembly Building, and a shuttle launch pad is being modified for the new vehicle.

"This is a real program," KSC Director Bob Cabana told a crowd of assembled elected officials and dignitaries on hand to tour the renovated facility. "We have real hardware here."

The preparations for new launch and exploration vehicles come at an uncertain time for NASA and KSC.

President Barack Obama has not yet nominated a new administrator to replace Mike Griffin, who championed the Ares 1 rocket and Orion spacecraft.

And the nation's economic crisis could scuttle campaign promises to boost NASA funding to limit the projected five-year gap in manned spaceflight and the loss of 3,000 to 4,000 jobs at KSC after the shuttle's retirement in late 2010.

Despite those uncertainties, KSC is pressing ahead with post-shuttle plans.

The 70,000-square-foot high bay in the Operations and Checkout Building, or "O&C," was built in 1964 for integration and testing of Gemini and Apollo spacecraft. In the ensuing decades, it was the site of testing for the Apollo-Soyuz and Spacelab missions and housed surplus equipment.

"It was dark and it was cluttered and it had miles of abandoned electrical cabling, and the basement was wet," Harris, of Lockheed Martin, recalled of the facility before renovations began. "Now it looks more like a spacecraft cleanroom operation."

Lockheed Martin in 2006 won the multibillion-dollar contract to build Orion, and with the help of $45 million in state incentives brought the final assembly and integration work to Cape Canaveral.

Workers recently finished installing a new floor and a 104-foot high ceiling, walls, paint, electrical wiring, air conditioning and wirelessly operated cranes - replacing virtually everything but the essential structural elements.

Orion's major components will be moved around the high bay floor hovering on "air pallets," reducing the need for frequent lifting with cranes that can lead to accidents.

Tools for connecting the spacecraft to its heat shield are expected to be installed this year.

Pieces of the capsule will be shipped to KSC from around the country to be readied for launch, and the crew module will return to the O&C for refurbishment after splashing down off the coast of California.

"The whole lifecycle has its roots here in this building," said Mark Geyer, NASA's Orion Project Manager.

Geyer and Harris said the exploration vehicle and the assembly facility were flexible enough to accommodate any design changes that might arise under new leadership.

In interviews after the O&C tour, U.S. Reps. Suzanne Kosmas and Bill Posey, who represent KSC and its surrounding area, said they want a federal economic stimulus package to help NASA retain shuttle workers and speed up the Constellation program's development.

Packages proposed by the House and Senate include $600 million and $1.5 billion for NASA, respectively, but don't target funds for manned exploration.

"The reopening of this facility shows that we are committed to moving forward into the future," Kosmas said.

SPACE.com -- NASA Unveils New Orion Building at Florida Spaceport

Billboard: Rock Band to have 'as many as 5000' tracks available this year

MTV expects Rock Band to activate overdrive this year and have over 5,000 songs available for play, reports Billboard. Developer Harmonix hit its goal of having over 500 songs, spread across discs and DLC, on the music platform by the end of last year.

Although we have no reason to doubt Harmonix's ability to provide content, the math dictates that an average of over 90 songs would need to release every week for the rest of 2009. Even if that figure is mitigated by special discs (like AC/DC) or Rock Band 3 (unlikely), the developer has its work cut out. We've contacted Harmonix to find out if its publisher is being realistic.

Billboard: Rock Band to have 'as many as 5000' tracks available this year - Joystiq

Meet Jaluro, a Two-Wheeled Open-Source Lunar Rover

JALURO is an open-source two-wheeled lunar exploration robot. The robot is the entry of Team FREDNET in the Google Lunar X Prize competition. JALURO, which stands for "Just Another LUnar RObot", carries its payload underslung between two wheels.

Charlie Masi, of Control Engineering, has this to say about the

two-wheeled JALURO design:

Being underslung, it is in stable static equilibrium. Having independently controlled motors for each wheel, it is fairly simple to drive forward, backward, and to make turns in any direction with any radius from zero to infinity. It really is a neat concept!

The problem is that the underslung chassis acts like a pendulum or, more precisely, a rocking chair. Notice that the rocking amplitude seems almost random, depending mainly on the shape of any disturbing impulses. The problem is most obvious when the vehicle comes to a stop. The chassis can be seen to rock forward and back for some time after the forward motion ceases. This will be worse on the moon, where there is no damping from air resistance to slow the motion down...

The good news is that this problem is apparently surmountable, with an equation of motion that is "fairly straightforward."

FREDNET is the only open-source entry in the Lunar X Prize competition; they have a pretty exciting idea - that space is open for everyone! Fred Bourgeois describes his vision this way:

"Going for the moon. Open-source. Interested? My dream was about getting into space; exploring, discovering, learning and teaching. To do that, space needed to become more accessible. What better way to advance accessibility than through open-source and open participation?"

I'm sure there are lunar exploration robots elsewhere in science fiction, but somehow I was reminded of Arthur C. Clarke's spider tripod robot from his 1972 novel Rendezvous With Rama. It is also a "neat concept", and it has some obvious control challenges. (If you think a three-legged robot is impossible, take a look at the STriDER Tripedal Dynamic Experimental Robot .)

Learn more about Team FREDNET; watch a JALURO demonstration video. See also Ask Charlie comments on 2-wheel robotic vehicles.

SPACE.com -- Meet Jaluro, a Two-Wheeled Open-Source Lunar Rover

Western Digital Updates Green Lineup to 2TB

Western Digital cracks the 2TB barrier

Western Digital has announced its latest drive, a 2 Terabyte Caviar Green hard drive with 32 MB of cache and a seek time of 8.9ms. It runs between 7200 or 5400 RPM depending on load, which saves power.

Due to advances in Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR), it is able to achieve this using a four platter design, with 500 MB per platter. Having fewer platters reduces power consumption as well.

WDC's precious capacity champion was only 1TB, so this new flagship has been anticipated for use in DVRs and archival systems. The model number is WD20EADS, and is being shipped to distributors this week.

In addition to the 2TB model, Western Digital is also launching a 1.5TB model (WD15EADS) to accompany its revised 1TB model (WD10EADS). Both also feature 32MB of cache, which helps to increase access speed to commonly accessed data.

"While some in the industry wondered if the end consumer would buy a 1 TB drive, already some 10 percent of 3.5-inch hard drive sales are at the 1 TB level or higher, serving demand from video applications and expanding consumer media libraries," said Mark Geenen, President of Trend Focus.

WDC's primary competitor Seagate recently unveiled their Barracuda 7200.12 series of 3.5" desktop drives, featuring a 1TB 2 platter design. It is available with 32MB of cache as well.

Seagate is being particularly cautious these days, after firmware problems with the flagship Barracuda 7200.11 series of drives caused problems with RAID and Linux setups, and lowered prosumer confidence in the world's leading hard drive supplier.

Its Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB drive (ST31500341AS) was previously the largest single hard drive available to consumers, and the only one to go above 1TB.

Seagate may very well release their own 2TB 7200.12, but they still haven't been able to supply the Momentus 7200.4 500GB laptop drives that they announced six months ago on July 10.

DailyTech - Western Digital Updates Green Lineup to 2TB

Senate Unanimously Approves Delay in DTV Switch

Senate grands Obama's wish to delay the digital transition House votes on bill soon

TV viewers have been inundated with service announcements and coverage of the digital transition from analog to all digital TV broadcasts that is set to happen next month. Viewers who were using older TVs and don't get a converter or subscribe to pay-TV will lose the ability to watch free broadcast stations after the transition.

One of the first things that president Obama asked was to delay the digital transition to give Americans who weren't prepared more time to get ready. The government has been running a coupon program that gives people who need a converter box coupon to help pay for the cost of getting the needed converter.

The Senate drafted a bill last week that outlined a method for delaying the digital transition from February 17 to June 12 of 2009 to give viewers an extra four months to get a converter or subscribe to pat TV services.

MSNBC reports that the Senate has unanimously approved the bill to delay the transition to the June 12 date that the Obama administration wants. The delay is seen as a victory for the Obama administration and for Democrats in Congress who have been lobbying for a delay in the transition date.

The Nielsen Company performed a survey that found 6.5 million homes in America were unprepared for the digital transition and would lose the ability to watch TV after the transition. Funds in government coffers to help offset the cost of the converters for Americans dried up this month despite a long backlist of requests for the coupons.

Additional funds for the program are only being added as coupons that were requested and then not used expire after the 90-day usage window originally granted. The bill that was approved by the Senate will let those who asked for coupons and then didn’t use them apply for a new coupon. MSNBC reports that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is administering the coupon program, had 2.6 million coupon requests on its waiting list as of last week.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller said, "Delaying the upcoming DTV switch is the right thing to do. I firmly believe that our nation is not yet ready to make this transition at this time."

VP of the digital TV transition for the National Association of Broadcasters Jonathan Collegio says that the numbers cited by Nielsen may overstate the number of people not ready for the digital transition. Collegio says that the numbers exclude consumers who have purchased a converter box, but not installed it as well as those who have requested a coupon and not received it.

Gene Kimmelman from the Consumers Union says, "The government has failed to deliver the converter boxes these [elderly and low-income] people deserve just to keep watching free, over-the-air broadcast signals."

Republicans in both the House and Senate are concerned that a delay in the transition will do nothing but confuse consumers and cost broadcasters money. Paula Kerger from the Public Broadcasting Service claims that delaying the digital transition from February to June 12 could cost public broadcasters $22 million.

Part of the wording in the Senate approved bill will let broadcasters who have already purchased the needed equipment for digital broadcasts to transition to all digital in February, even if the House votes to approve the delay in the transition. The House is expected to vote on the bill next week.

DailyTech - Senate Unanimously Approves Delay in DTV Switch

Spooky memory at a distance with quantum teleportation

In a step that may help in the development of memory for quantum computers, researchers teleport a quantum state between two atoms that are separated by a meter using a technique that should scale to much larger distances.

The past several years have seen a number of advances towards the goal of creating a scalable quantum computer. Because quantum objects can be in a number of states simultaneously, these computers could sample a large solution space in an instant, providing solutions to certain problems that are currently very computationally expensive. But it's not simply enough to have something that can perform quantum computations; the other parts of a traditional computer, such as memory and communication busses will also be needed. Researchers have now demonstrated the teleportation of quantum states between two ions that are a meter apart, a development that has applications in both quantum computing and communications.

Teleportation, from a quantum perspective, doesn't mean the same thing as it does to everyone who immediately thinks of Star Trek's transporters. In general, it involves two entangled quantum objects, a sender and a receiver, and the quantum state of the former is sent to the latter. A measurement can be performed on the sender that, thanks to the entanglement, changes the state of the receiver. The results of the measurement of the sender can then be used to manipulate the receiver, placing it into the same state as the sender.

In this system, the sender and receivers are ions, which start out a meter apart and are unentangled. To change this, the researchers used a process called entanglement swapping. both ions were irradiated with a laser, placing them in an excited state. Each then emitted a photon that its state was entangled with. These two photons were then combined at a beam splitter (a partially reflective mirror), which swapped the entanglement between the ions and photons so that the two ions were entangled. The color of the light coming from the beam splitter let the researchers know if they succeeded with the entanglement swapping.

Successfully entangling the two ions at a distance is only the first step. The researchers then measured the state of the sender and used that to determine which of two microwave pulses to shine on it. Once that pulse was absorbed, the receiver was set in the sender's unknown quantum state.

Teleportation of quantum states has been observed before, but the new approach has a number of distinct advantages. Long-distance teleportation had been achieved in the past with photons, but photons are great at carrying information, yet not so handy for manipulating information. Atoms and ions are much better for that--especially these ions, which were nearly stationary at temperatures just above absolute zero. Teleportation of atomic states had been achieved in the past, but only over very short distances because of the need for the atoms to interact. The new technique provides a "best of both worlds" situation--entanglement can be created over arbitrarily long distances (far longer than the one meter used here) rapidly by photons, but the actual storage of the quantum state happens on ions that sit in a well-defined location.

That said, the technique is not without its issues. The key limiting factor appears to be the harvesting and interaction of the single photons at the beam splitter, which the authors say succeeds with a probability of about 2.2 x 10^-8. Since the system takes a measurable amount of time to recycle through a ground state before each attempt, the net result is that it takes an average of 12 minutes just to perform a successful entanglement. A 0.0014 baud quantum modem is not exactly going to set the world on fire. The authors suggest a number of ways to improve the efficiency of this process, primarily by using equipment that's already in use.

Another issue is that the process is only about 90 percent accurate. The authors argue, however, that this isn't a result of any inherent indeterminacy in the system. Instead, several pieces of instrumentation cause a series of small (generally less than four percent) errors to creep in that, in sum, influence the accuracy of the outcome. Again, it's possible that changes in instrumentation can limit the problems here.

The authors are well aware of the potential uses of their approach. "The teleportation scheme demonstrated here could be used as the elementary constituent of a quantum repeater," they wrote. "Moreover, the entangling gate implemented in this protocol may be used for scalable measurement-based quantum computation." There's no guarantee this scheme will show up in a future quantum computer, but it certainly provides those who are thinking about building these devices with a useful tool to consider.

Science, 2009. DOI: 10.1126/science.1167209

Spooky memory at a distance with quantum teleportation - Ars Technica

Ancestor For All Animals Identified

A sperm-looking creature called monosiga is the closest living surrogate to the ancestor of all animals, according to new research that also determined animal evolution may not always follow a trajectory from simple to complex.

Yet another find of the study, published in the latest PLoS Biology, is that Earth may have given rise to two distinct groups of animals: bilaterians -- animals with bilateral symmetry, like humans -- and non-bilaterians, which include corals, jelly fish, hydra, unusual, often poisonous, creatures known as cubozoans, and other organisms.

Free-living, unicellular organisms called choanoflagellates, however, could be on every person's family tree, so long as it was a gigantic one.

"It is clear that the choanoflagellates -- living representative is monosiga -- are the best candidate for the nearest relative of animals," co-author Rob DeSalle told Discovery News.

"So a choanoflagellate-like organism could be looked at as a probable common ancestor for animals," added DeSalle, curator at the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History.

He and his colleagues compiled data from multiple gene sequences derived from many sources to find over 9,400 variable characters that contain parsimony information, which collectively refers to the shared, derived traits that help biologists infer species relationships on the tree of life.

They determined that so-called "simple" and "lower" tier animals, such as corals and jellyfish, evolved in parallel to "higher" animals, like seemingly more complex insects and even humans. On the tree of life, monosiga then currently holds the root position for the latter group.

The new research completely shakes up the non-bilaterian animal ordering. Previously it was thought that either super simple-structured or comb jellies were at the root of the non-bilaterian animal tree. Instead, complete outsiders -- placozoans -- have been placed in that basal position.

First discovered gliding along glass in laboratory aquariums just over 100 years ago, placozoans are animals that lack a nervous system and possess four types of body cells.

DeSalle explained that, "placozoa, because of their simple body plans and their position in our tree, are a good candidate for the common ancestor of non-bilaterian animals."

Although non-bilaterians and bilaterians appear to have followed separate evolutionary paths, nervous systems appear in both groups. Placozoans and sponges don't possess them, but many of their closely related taxa do.

"So this means that if our work is right, nervous systems evolved twice: Once in the lineage leading to bilateria and once in the lineage leading to corals, jelly fish, hydra and cubozoa," he said.

Neil Blackstone, professor of ecology and evolution at Northern Illinois University, told Discovery News, "There is no doubt that Rob and his colleagues are leaders in the study of evolutionary relationships among animals."

Blackstone agreed that, "evolution need not be progressive. Perhaps there are two fundamentally different kinds of animals."

He added, "This makes the early history and evolution of animals more, not less, interesting."

Ancestor For All Animals Identified : Discovery News

Steam Achievements Coming with Major Unreal Tournament 3 Patch

Epic Games has detailed a major patch en route to the PC version of Unreal Tournament 3 that brings with it a number of changes, including a full complement of Steam achievements, reports BeyondUnreal.com.

On its own, the patch is a huge addition to a PC game that is now almost 15 months old -- positively geriatric in gaming terms -- but Epic has even greater plans for the game.

"We've decided that the best way to deliver the UT3 expansion we've been hinting about is in two parts. This patch is the first part," wrote lead designer Steve Polge in the BU forums. "We aren’t quite ready yet to start going into detail about the bonus content and gametypes that will be in the Titan Pack, which is substantially bigger than any bonus pack we've released in the past."

Full details on what the patch will change can be found at BeyondUnreal's listing for the addition.

Image courtesy Epic Games

Steam Achievements Coming with Major Unreal Tournament 3 Patch | Game | Life from Wired.com

Download Internet Explorer 8 RC1 for Vista, XP

Last week we told you IE8 RC1 was coming soon. This morning, Microsoft made the downloads publicly available on their web site.

In case you have trouble finding the files, here they are:

Windows XP 32-bit
Server 2003 32-bit
Windows XP and Server 2003 64-bit
Vista and Server 2008 32-bit
Vista and Server 2003 64-bit

Microsoft has yet to update the Internet Explorer page, which still invites visitors to download the IE8 Beta. You also won't find it by going to the downloads page and clicking on Internet Explorer. They may be waiting for the full RTM to make those changes, but it seems strange to leave prominent links to the beta version when a release candidate is publicly available.

And make sure to check out our continuing coverage of Internet Explorer 8 for more information about Microsoft's new browser.

Download Internet Explorer 8 RC1 for Vista, XP - Download Squad

NYC's New Incredible Eco-Island

The City and State of New York bought an old island off it's coast from the federal government for a whopping $1 in 2003. Since then, they've been struggling to turn the once dilapidated island into a tourist destination. But now, with a plan from West 8, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Rogers Marvel Architects, the Governor's Island is going to become one of New York's most interesting and greenest tourist (and local) destinations.

The park will be traveled only by pedestrians and bicyclists, and everyone will have access to a huge bank of wooden bicycles for use on the island. The designers will create a huge amount of artificial topography using fill from construction projects in the city.  The focus of the attractions will be in local nature. A floating restaurant will serve seafood straight from the Hudson, a marine center will open the eyes of young ecogeeks to the splendor of our ocean and several rubber bubble buildings will contain botanical and aquatic research centers.

NYC's New Incredible Eco-Island | EcoGeek - Clean Technology

Super Bowl XLIII's 3D commercials require 125 million free pairs of silly 3D glasses

Super Bowl 43 is coming up a week from Sunday (2/1/09), so it's about time to get your free 3D glasses so you can watch ... a couple of commercials? Whether you like 3D or not, Dreamworks is hyping up Intel's InTru 3D depth-enhancing imagery with a commercial to air just before halftime for the upcoming animated movie Monsters vs. Aliens, and immediately after that, SoBe will be pimping its Lifewater swill in three dimensions, too.

For you to see the two commercials in 3D, American Paper Optics is providing 125 million pairs of the 3D glasses, which use amber and blue filters in a process called Color Code 3D to bring the cartoon characters and sugary water right into your laps. The specs will be handed out at most grocery stores, or you can call (800) 646-2904 to get your free pair.

We've seen quite a bit of 3D imagery this past month and in the past few decades — and have mixed reactions — but we'll don the free glasses and keep an open mind as Dreamworks attempts to spur interest in a 3D format that might be able to get film buffs to stop watching so many movies in their sophisticated home theaters and start going to commercial-ridden movie theaters again.

DVICE: Super Bowl XLIII's 3D commercials require 125 million free pairs of silly 3D glasses

Monty Python Puts Free Videos Online, Sells 23,000% More DVDs

Monty Python started a YouTube channel with tons of their sketches streaming for free. The included links to their DVDs at Amazon. The result was a whopping 23,000% increase in sales.

For 3 years you YouTubers have been ripping us off, taking tens of thousands of our videos and putting them on YouTube. Now the tables are turned. It's time for us to take matters into our own hands.

We know who you are, we know where you live and we could come after you in ways too horrible to tell. But being the extraordinarily nice chaps we are, we've figured a better way to get our own back: We've launched our own Monty Python channel on YouTube.

No more of those crap quality videos you've been posting. We're giving you the real thing - HQ videos delivered straight from our vault.

What's more, we're taking our most viewed clips and uploading brand new HQ versions. And what's even more, we're letting you see absolutely everything for free. So there!

But we want something in return.

None of your driveling, mindless comments. Instead, we want you to click on the links, buy our movies & TV shows and soften our pain and disgust at being ripped off all these years.

Are you paying attention, MPAA and RIAA? A controlled release of free material keeps people from resorting to piracy and keeps them in your controlled ecosphere, which can include, yes, ways for fans to give you money. But when you're a bunch of pricks, people go to The Pirate Bay and think of you as the enemy, and then you don't get any money. Take notes, you idiots.

Streaming: Monty Python Puts Free Videos Online, Sells 23,000% More DVDs

Astronauts to Help Double Space Station Population

WASHINGTON - The first wave of an astronaut team set to double the International Space Station's population later this year is gearing up for what promises to be a busy mission aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Commanded by

veteran Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, the space station's three-man Expedition 19 crew is training for a planned March 25 launch that will ultimate be followed by another three-astronaut team to bring the orbital lab up to a six-person crew in May.

"Doubling your crew size means a lot," said NASA astronaut Michael Barratt, who forms the core of the joint Expedition 19/20 crew with Padalka, in a Friday briefing. "Certainly, onboard it means there'll be a lot of people in line for a small number of bathrooms, for the exercise equipment, for the galley table. Everything that, essentially, provides support for the crew, we're going to stretch those resources quite a bit."

Last year, NASA and its international partners attached new European and Japanese laboratories to the space station, then delivered vital new life support equipment - including a second toilet, extra kitchen, astronaut exercise gear and new sleeping berths - to prime the orbital outpost for the shift to six-person crews in 2009.

A new recycling system, which converts astronaut urine back into fresh drinking water, has been experiencing some hiccups since its activation last November. A spare part is due to be delivered to the space station next month during NASA's planned February flight of the shuttle Discovery in hopes of fixing the glitch, mission managers have said.

Padalka and Barratt expect to join a third member of their crew, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, when they arrive at the station in March. Wakata is part of the shuttle Discovery's STS-119 crew and is training for a Feb. 12 launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He will join the station's current Expeditoin 18 crew until Padalka and Barratt arrive.

Together, the three spaceflyers will prepare the station for the May arrival of three more astronauts, which will mark the start of a new joint Expedition 20 mission and the beginning of a series of crew changes that ends with October landing of Padalka and Barratt.

The new station crew expects to host two visiting space shuttles, one of which will ferry NASA astronaut Tim Kopra to replace Wakata, and Japan's first H-2 Transfer Vehicle, a new unmanned cargo ship slated for make its debut launch this summer. At least two spacewalks are planned to help install a new Russian module and docking port, the station astronauts said.

Padalka, a veteran commander of the International Space Station, said he will take great care to preserve the health and psychological well-being of the double-sized crew during the busy mission.

When Padalka and Barratt launch toward the space station in March they will be accompanied by space tourist Charles Simonyi, an American billionaire who is paying about $35 million for his second trip to the orbiting laboratory. The trio will blast off aboard a Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft from a launch pad at the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Simonyi last flew to the space station in April 2007. Both treks stem from deals brokered with Russia's Federal Space Agency by the U.S. space tourism firm Space Adventures. He paid a reported $25 million for his first 13-day flight to the space station.

SPACE.com -- Astronauts to Help Double Space Station Population

NVIDIA Forceware 181.22 WHQL

 

NVIDIA ForceWare software unleashes the full power and features in NVIDIA's desktop, gaming, platform, workstation, laptop, multimedia, and mobile products. Delivering a proven record of compatibility, reliability, and stability with the widest range of games and applications, ForceWare software ensures the best experience with your NVIDIA hardware.

New in this release:

• This driver is recommended for the best GPU PhysX experience in EA's hot PC title Mirror's Edge.
• This driver package automatically installs the new PhysX System Software version 9.09.0010.
• Additional information on specific bug fixes can be found in the release documentation notes.

Download: NVIDIA Forceware 181.22 WHQL

NVIDIA Forceware 181.22 WHQL

Space elevator may be possible thanks to revolutionary new material

The idea of a space elevator to allow for quick and easy transport to a space base is not new, but we may be getting closer to it becoming a practical reality. That's because a new form of carbon ribbon that's ultra-flexible and super-strong could be just what is needed to construct the first working model.

A space elevator would be excellent, as it could get people out to a base or a relocated asteroid without using as much energy as a rocket. Once out of the atmosphere, they could catch a ship at an out-of-atmosphere airport to go to their final destination. The new material, created by a team at Cambridge University thanks to a grant from NASA, could stretch up to 18 miles in length from a single gram. Pretty exciting stuff.

DVICE: Space elevator may be possible thanks to revolutionary new material

Majority of Windows 7 Installations Will Be 64-bit

Microsoft Says Tipping Point Already Reached

According to a source inside Microsoft, over 25 percent of Vista installations in the US at the end of last year were 64-bit. There were several major drivers for the switch to 64-bit, most related to cheap DDR2 DRAM.

Jon DeVaan, Senior Vice-President of the Windows Core Operating System Division, agrees. "From our point of view we believe that we have accomplished the tipping point in terms of 64-bit adoption. Now, this happened to a large degree because memory prices are coming down, and another dynamic that we've seen in the United States is that the retail channel is looking to use RAM upgrades as a way to boost margin. So what that means is that 64-bit machine run rate is increasing rapidly, and that means our ability to support those 64-bit machines fully in the broad ecosystem is a really important thing."

Any PC with 4GB of RAM or more must use a 64-bit installation of Windows in order to address the full amount of RAM. Typically a 32-bit installation would recognize a maximum of 3-3.5GB of RAM.

Instead of purchasing a 32-bit version and then having to change to 64-bit later when they purchase more RAM, many are choosing 64-bit at the start. Over 75 percent of Windows sales are based on OEM installations of new computers.
The majority of Core i7 platforms are also using 64-bit operating systems, due to the triple channel memory setup using more RAM.

If you bought Windows Vista as a retail packaged product, Microsoft offers a free 64-bit upgrade DVD for the cost of shipping and handling. The upgrade will be a full clean installation over the 32-bit version. Windows Vista Ultimate already includes 32-bit and 64-bit versions on the DVD.

Many OEMs also provide a free or low cost option to switch to 64-bit Vista.

Windows 7 is expected to be the last to natively run at 32-bits. The next major Windows revision after it will be 64-bit native, running 32-bit applications through the use of a compatibility layer.

Windows Server 2008 R2, the server version of Windows 7, is already exclusively 64-bit.

With the switch to Windows 7, it would be easiest for PC OEMs to adopt 64-bit exclusively. That would reduce the number of SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) and drivers that would be needed by half, not an insignificant number when you consider that Windows 7 will ship in at least 4 editions. Multiply that by at least 34 localized language versions.

Additionally, the price premium of DDR3 will drop significantly as 50nm production kicks in. DDR3 is the memory of choice for AMD's CPUs using the AM3 socket, as well as Intel's Core i7 and Core i5 (Lynnfield). Due to lower power consumption, DDR3 adoption on laptops is progressing rapidly as well.

"Put more simply, usage of 64-bit Windows Vista is growing much more rapidly than 32-bit. Based on current trends, this growth will accelerate as the retail channel shifts to supplying a rapidly increasing assortment of 64-bit desktops and laptops," said Chris Flores, a Director on the Windows Client Communications Team.

Since 64-bit Vista and Windows 7 can run 32-bit applications, the last remaining hurdle is driver compatibility. Many new devices now have 64-bit device drivers available for Vista, and those should be mostly compatible with Windows 7.

An important tool is the Windows Vista Compatibility Center. Devann thinks that 64-bit support will drive sales: "They can go here and look at 64-bit compatibility, and with the trend that we just saw this is a good place for communicating with your customers about your support for 64-bit, so that they can prefer your product if they have one of these 64-bit systems".

Devann addressed the crowd at WinHEC with the following message, "I urge everyone here to make sure that you have the right 64-bit support, and in general 32-bit software runs fine on 64-bit Windows, but when it comes to drivers, that's where the work is. And with this audience, it's something that we're all acutely aware."

DailyTech - Majority of Windows 7 Installations Will Be 64-bit

Coming soon: Internet Explorer 8 RC1

It look as though Microsoft is ready to officially release Internet Explorer 8. In a post on the IEblog, Microsoft UX and Compatibility Manager Frank Olivier seems to indicate that the countdown has begun.

In discussing a glitch in IE8 on Windows 7 where the whitehouse.gov drop-down menus don't hide properly, he states that "the version of IE8 in Windows 7 Beta is somewhat older than the Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate that we're about to release for Windows Vista and Windows XP."

That statement, coupled with last week's arrival of the IE8 blocker kit make a strong case for an impending release. If you're not excited about receiving IE8 as an automatic update, you may want to download the blocker tool.

There is speculation that RC1 will be build 18343. If that's the case, you can get your hands on it already - it's been leaked on torrent sites.

Windows 7 beta users will have to sit tight. RC1 for you is on the way, though there has been no official word as to when.

Coming soon: Internet Explorer 8 RC1 - Download Squad

Pandora adds brief, infrequent audio ads

Web based music streaming service Pandora has begun streaming something in addition to music: ads.

Now, you might not notice the ads at first. They're only about 15 seconds long, not every user will be hearing them right away, and Pandora CEO Tim Westergren says the average user will only hear about one ad every two hours. But the move does represent a potential new revenue stream for Pandora, which like other internet broadcasters is facing rising royalty rates for streaming music in the US.

This isn't the first time the company tried streaming audio ads in addition to the display ads that show up on the Pandora web page. Back in 2007 Pandora tried a similar experiment, but decided to cancel it due to negative feedback from users.

What do you think? Are you willing to put up with 15 seconds of advertising for 2 hours of free music? Or do you think this is a slippery slope toward 20 minutes of advertising every hour? Would you rather pay $36 a year for an ad-free service?

Pandora adds brief, infrequent audio ads - Download Squad

Battlefield Heroes Beta Signups Open Again

Developer EA DICE today began accepting applications for the next round beta testing for its free-to-play, web-launched multiplayer shooter Battlefield Heroes.

Those interested in participating are required to sign into the the official Battlefield Heroes website with their EA Account, and must then proceed to the sign-up form.

 

Those who have participated in past Battlefield Heroes beta tests are automatically signed up for the next phase, and do not need to enter. It was not said when the next phase will begin, though DICE noted that more players will gain access over time.

The last round of beta testing concluded on November 14, 2008. The free-to-play game, which relies on microtransactions and out-of-game ads for financial support, was originally slated to arrive last summer, then late 2008, and is now expected this year.

Battlefield Heroes Beta Signups Open Again - Shacknews

'Very Different' Team Fortress 2 Mode Coming 'Soon'

Team Fortress 2 developer Robin Walker has teased a new, "very different" mode will soon be added to the stylistic multiplayer shooter.

"A new Payload map is in the works, more community maps are on the way and the team will soon unveil a very different new game mode," writes The Escapist in a story on Walker and the team at Valve.

 

Walker also revealed that while the team is primarily focusing on bolstering the game's existing classes, it does have a running list of candidates for an entirely new class.

"We've got several new class designs floating around, some of which we like a lot, but right now we're focusing on the broadening of our existing classes through the addition of the unlockables," said Walker.

'Very Different' Team Fortress 2 Mode Coming 'Soon' - Shacknews

Philips Cinema 21:9 TV stretches the meaning of widescreen

You may have noticed that when you watch a blockbuster movie on DVD — like, say, The Dark Knight — you still see black bars on the top and bottom of your widescreen TV. That's because a lot of films are shot in aspect ratios that are more "cinematic" than your typical HDTV show. If movies like this are pretty much all you watch, you'll like Philips' latest announcement: a TV with an ultra-wide shape.

The Philips Cinema 21:9 TV (it's hard to know whether to call it an HDTV) is tailor-made for epic movies. The 21:9 aspect ratio (about 2.33:1) will mean virtually no black bars for when you cue up Transformers or Casino Royale, with the picture filling the whole screen without being distorted or cut off. Awesome, though there will be bars on the sides whenever you switch to 16:9 HDTV. And huge swaths of the screen will go unused if you ever (God forbid) watch 4:3 programming.

No specs or a price yet, though Philips says the elongated LCD TV will feature Ambilight tech, a built-in backlight that matches the screen color. The 21:9 set should be available this spring.

DVICE: Philips Cinema 21:9 TV stretches the meaning of widescreen

Circuit City Forced to Liquidate All Stores, 30,000 Employees to be Jobless

Best Buy shall rule the land when it comes to retail electronics in the U.S.

It’s been a tough road for Circuit City. The retail electronics giant has been pummeled over the years by the likes of Best Buy and Walmart, and has been unable to turn its operations around due to the current state of the economy.

In early November, the company announced plans to close 155 stores in the United States. The stores combined accounted for $1.4 billion USD in sales for fiscal year 2008.

Just a week later, Circuit City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection -- the filing showed that the company has $2.2 billion USD in debt and $3.4 billion USD in assets. The news got even bleaker today as Circuit City's CEO announced that the company failed to find a buyer and that it could not refinance its debt.

As a result, Circuit City will liquidate all of its remaining stores. The liquidators lined up to sell off the merchandise from the remaining 567 stores include Great American Group, Hudson Capital, SB Capital Group and Tiger Capital.

"We are extremely disappointed by this outcome," said Circuit City CEO James A Marcum "Regrettably for the more than 30,000 employees of Circuit City and our loyal customers, we were unable to reach an agreement with our creditors and lenders to structure a going-concern transaction in the limited timeframe available, and so this is the only possible path for our company."

In early July, Blockbuster rejected a deal to purchase Circuit City.

DailyTech - Circuit City Forced to Liquidate All Stores, 30,000 Employees to be Jobless

Study: violence in games not that compelling for most gamers

One of the undercurrents in the public arguments over the use of violent content in video games is that the game developers are foisting the material on what would otherwise be innocent youth. But that perspective avoids a very clear reality: developing games is a cutthroat business, and the developers wouldn't be producing these games if they didn't perceive a demand. A new study, however, suggests that the violence in most games is deeply tied to other factors that draw players in. When those factors are separated out, violent content alone appears to contribute little to the enjoyment of the game.

The long history of human violence has been used to suggest that violent content might have some intrinsic appeal to gamers, but the authors of the study point out that, for many games, violent content is inextricably linked to other factors that might also draw gamers in. These include a sense of competence and achievement, which often come from the defeat of computerized adversaries. In addition, the violence may contribute to the immersive nature of the game. Finally, for games like World of Warcraft and the Grand Theft Auto series, violent content is part of a world that offers the players significant autonomy, something which may be hard to come by in the real world.

To try to separate these factors, the authors performed both in-lab experiments using volunteers and surveys of forum users on a popular gaming site. The work included some basic personality profiling to assess any pre-existing violent tendencies, as well as questions that provided measures of the different aspects of a game's appeal.

So, for example, to assess whether a sense of achievement is a major part of a game's appeal, participants were asked how strongly they agreed with statements like "I felt competent at the game" and "I felt capable and effective while playing." Similar questions were used to probe the game's immersive nature and the overall appeal of the game. Violence was either controlled as part of the experiment or measured by a combination of ESRB rating and independent coding by the researchers.

The authors performed six studies in total, but they were in broad agreement, so we'll only discuss the more compelling ones here. For the experimental portion, these involved playing an essentially identical game with different degrees of violent content. One group of participants was randomly assigned to play the game House of the Dead 3 on the different extremes of its gore settings, while a second was split between those who played the normal version of Half-Life 2, and a those who played a modified version that turned the adventure into an elaborate game of tag.

In both cases, the primary influences on enjoyment were the sense of competence and satisfaction, along with the immersive nature of the game. Generally, females rated immersion as more important, while males went for competence (and consistently rated their own expertise very highly).

Violence didn't register when it came to enjoyment, even for those with pre-existing violent tendencies. That group did, however, express a preference for the game in general, as they indicated they were likely to play it again and would look forward to a sequel. But, when the levels of satisfaction were controlled for, this preference dropped below the point of statistical significance.

Survey says...

Similar results were obtained from the surveys, where gamers were asked to discuss games they play frequently. Again, ratings of enjoyment tended to correlate best with whether the players felt the games offered them a sense of achievement and autonomy, rather than violent content. In contrast to the controlled experiments, however, the factors were challenging to separate out.

"Violence ratings were mildly but significantly associated with more autonomy, both for our rating and that from ESRB," the authors note. "Further inspection of this relation suggested it was due largely to the popular massively multiplayer online World of Warcraft."

"Although many people, including many game developers and popular commentators, assume that violence motivates players or adds to video game enjoyment, our findings do not support that intuition," the authors conclude. "Instead, they suggest that video games are enjoyable, immersive, and motivating insofar as they offer opportunities for psychological need satisfaction, specifically experiences of competence and autonomy, to which violent content per se is largely unrelated." For those without violent tendencies, such content actually had a mild but consistent effect, in that it made the game less enjoyable.

The results suggest that game developers may, to a certain extent, be misreading the appeal of violent content—the autonomy offered by GTA may be far more important than its specific content, for example. Considering the background of the debate, however, it's also important to note that the researchers' measurements of violent tendencies consisted of asking people if they sometimes wanted to hit someone, not whether they actually did so.

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2009. DOI: 10.1177/0146167208327216

Study: violence in games not that compelling for most gamers

$6 billion broadband infusion in House appropriations bill

Within two weeks Congress will consider a massive investment bill that includes an infusion of $6 billion for broadband and $650 million to get the government's cash-strapped DTV coupon program back up and running. It's part of a $550 billion proposal that House Appropriations Committee Chair David Obey (D-WI) calls the only way to handle the nation's financial crisis.

"The economy is in such trouble that, even with passage of this package, unemployment rates are expected to rise to between eight and nine percent this year," Obey declared in a press statement released Thursday. "Without this package, we are warned that unemployment could explode to near twelve percent."

The "American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009" is designed to create and save between three and four million jobs, Obey says, "and begin the process of transforming [the United States] for the 21st century." It is also packed with tech- and science-related investment programs. The broadband plan will target high speed Internet access "so businesses in rural and other underserved areas can link up to the global economy." And the proposal includes $10 billion for science and research.

"We need to put scientists to work looking for the next great discovery, creating jobs in cutting-edge-technologies, and making smart investments that will help businesses in every community succeed in a global economy," the proposed law's summary explains. There's also $32 billion allocated for the development of renewable technologies, $31 billion to make public facilities more energy efficient, $10 billion for transit and rail construction, and $19 billion for water purification, flood control, and environmental restoration programs.

Not surprisingly, questions are coming in fast about how this tsunami of money will be spent, especially regarding broadband. Obey's statement promises that the appropriations bill will come with "unprecedented accountability." Programs with "proven track records" will be favored for the cash. Information about the grantees will be published on a Web site. The Government and Accountability Office will get funding to watch the programs. And the package comes without earmarks.

But the advocacy group Free Press has already filed comments on the broadband aspect of the plan. The group says it's happy about the bill, although it doesn't think $6 billion is enough. Beyond that concern, it wants Congress to require any new network funded by this program to adhere to open access and nondiscrimination principles, or possibly open them to providers at wholesale access rates. In addition, some government agency must oversee the program to "enforce concrete administrative accountability."

Ditto say Public Knowledge and the Open Internet Coalition, which rushed their press releases to Ars shortly after Obey released his summary of the bill. Everybody's praising this proposal, up to a point.

"We will monitor this process carefully to help ensure policymakers finance truly open and high speed Internet access and the money produces new construction," OIC's statement concludes. "Resources should be spent on creating high speed fiber networks. And funds should be prohibited for upgrades of existing equipment; priority should go to reach people who don't have access to broadband currently, and who are not covered by pre-existing build-out plans."

As for the net neutrality and open access ideas; well, they're already in the bill (see p. 53). NTIA, the executive branch agency tasked with disbursing the broadband money, is required to ensure that all grant recipients operate both wired and wireless services on an "open access basis," though it's left up to NTIA to define what this means and how it works.

In addition, anyone taking grant money must "adhere to the principles contained in the Federal Communications Commission's broadband policy statement," which lays out four basic neutrality provisions for Internet companies. In other words, although "network neutrality" isn't mentioned, it's already in the bill in a basic way. (Note that the FCC policy statement only protects "legal content," however; it's not a pure "end-to-end" packet delivery guarantee.)

As for the DTV money, $650 million is a nice chunk of change, but Obey's bill doesn't get it to the coupon program fast enough. Congress should just pass an emergency law waiving restrictions on how much money the National Telecommunications and Information Administration can spend on the program over the next three months. This is an emergency situation that can't wait for Capitol Hill to figure out how the rest of the development package will be spent.

$6 billion broadband infusion in House appropriations bill

Meet Son of Storm, Srizbi 2.0: next-gen botnets come online

As notable as the sustained fall-off in spam levels has been, we've all known it's only a matter of time before botnets began to worm their way back into the the Internet. It turns out that part of the reason spam levels may have stayed lower these past months is that the same authors who might have normally spent time resurrecting their dead botnets on new servers were instead writing new botnets altogether. The new malware networks aren't just rehashes of what's come before; many of them incorporate advanced techniques to render themselves harder to detect/remove.

First the good news: SecureWorks reports that Storm is dead, Bobax/Kraken is moribund, and both Srizbi and Rustock were heavily damaged by the McColo takedown; Srizbi is now all but silent, while Rustock remains viable. That's three significant botnets taken out and one damaged in a single year; cue (genuine) applause.

The bad news kicks in further down the page with a fresh list of botnets what need to be watched. Rustock and Mega-D (also known as Ozdok) are still alive and kicking, while newcomers Xarvester and Waledac could cause serious problems in 2009. Xarvester, according to Marshal may be an updated form of Srizbi; the two share a number of common features, including:

• HTTP command and control over nonstandard ports
• Encrypted template files contain several files needed for spamming
• Bots don't need to do their own DNS lookups to send spam
• Config files have similar format and data
• Uploads Minidump crash file

It's not clear yet whether this is actually Srizbi, or simply another botnet copying certain Srizbi techniques that happen to have worked rather well. Either way, Xarvester poses something of a threat. 

Waledac (Waled) is currently a small botnet with a number of updated features first seen in Storm. Not only are the types of spam similar, SecureWorks reports that "[a]lthough the code is completely new, it [Waledac] uses many of [Storm's] old tricks (P2P, encryption, e-card links, spam, DDoS, [and] double fast-flux hosting)."

SecureWorks expects Waledac to gain strength in the coming months, while Marshal has similar concerns about Xarvester. Hopefully the takedowns and successes of 2008 will turn out to be a trend, and help corral these newcomers before they infect enough systems to become a threat in their own right.

Meet Son of Storm, Srizbi 2.0: next-gen botnets come online

Democratic Controlled Congress Seeks to Legislate Nanotech Safety

Congress will push bill to research the risks of nanotechnology and oversight

The field of nanotech is among the hottest areas in the research community today.  From carbon nanotubes, to nanoparticles, scientists are cooking up particles with unique properties and a plethora of uses.

However, there’s a dark lining to the silver nanotech clouds -- some reports indicate that many nanoparticles may have high toxicity rivaling substances like mercury, arsenic, and asbestos.  Indeed, there is much fear of nanotech.  Noted science fiction author Michael Crichton, a global warming skeptic, was among those concerned about nanotech's progress.  Mr. Crichton, who recently passed away, wrote a book about a swarm of self-replicating nanomachines that consumed living matter and threatened to wipe out life on Earth.

While scenarios like Mr. Crichton's are obviously far removed from current developments, the Democratic-controlled Congress is taking monitoring the safety of developing nanotechnology very seriously.  The House Science and Technology Committee has introduced new legislation which will increase funding to federal and government-sponsored efforts to learn more about the potential environmental, health and safety (EHS) risks posed by engineered nanomaterials.

Currently, $1.5B USD in taxes is funneled into government nanotech research.  The new bill would help to increase this funding, and potentially move some of the preexisting funding into safety research. 

The bill has a very strong chance of passing.  Last year a similar bill skimmed through the House by a 407 to 6 margin, showing strong bipartisan support.  The Senate would have passed it, but they ran out of time to do so last year. 

The government's nanotech safety efforts had picked up over the last several months after Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official J. Clarence (Terry) Davies' work on the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN), Nanotechnology Oversight: An Agenda for the Next Administration, which included a report calling for improved nanotech monitoring.  Mr. Davies urged improved risk and analysis and oversight of nanotech products by the EPA, the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

David Rejeski, PEN's director, praised the pending legislation, stating, "We know that when materials are developed at the nanoscale that they pose potential risks that do not appear at the macroscale.  This new bill shows that lawmakers recognize both nanotechnology's enormous promise and possible problems. The legislation reflects mounting Congressional interest in understanding potential risks in order to protect the public and to encourage safe commercial development and investment."

The bill also follows a report by the National Research Council (NRC) panel, which blasted the Bush administration for dropping the ball on nanotech safety issues.  The report, which bears the lengthy title "Review of the Federal Strategy for Nanotechnology-Related Environmental, Health and Safety Research" calls for a plan that will minimize risks, without hindering the valuable progress that nanotech research may provide.

DailyTech - Democratic Controlled Congress Seeks to Legislate Nanotech Safety

7 addons and two tweaks for annoyance-free browsing with Firefox

Firefox is a great browser, even in its unmodified, fresh-from-the-install form. If you're installing it for someone else and are trying to provide the most irritation-free experience you can, you might want to install a few of these addons.

AdBlock Plus - One of the most popular addons, and with good reason. AdBlock Plus is a great way to keep annoying ads out of your browser. Text ads can be a little tricky, so the developer has also created Element Hiding Helper to help you keep them in check.

DownThemAll - Downloading a gigantic file only to have it fail at 75% is a huge pain. Yes, Firefox's built-in downlad manager has the ability to resume transfers, but I've had much better luck with DTA.

Flashblock - Flash is great, but some sites just take it a little too far. I don't always want to hear the fan on my netbook whine when I'm surfing, and Flashblock gives me an easy way to smack down power-hungry Flash content.

Greasemonkey - I didn't bother with Greasemonkey for the longest time, but now it's one of the first addons I install.

Userscripts.org has so many scripts that fix bothersome little things on so many websites. You'll likely find enhancements and tweaks for many of your favorite sites there, and you'll need Greasemonkey to run them.

NoScript - Not only is Javascript sometimes an annoyance, but on untrusted sites it's a potential security risk. NoScript even helps protect you from nasty clickjacking attacks.

Session Manager - Firefox does a decent job restoring your tabs after an "unexpected close," but Session Manager is even better. It saves tabs, history, form and post data, and you can encrypt your session folder contents if you like.

TextAreaCache - This addon is what prompted me to put this list together. I kept hearing my wife yell at her FF install for going back one page and dumping all the text she'd typed in. TextAreaCache monitors input and tucks it away for safe keeping, and puts it back when you return to the page. If it can't do the auto thing, just click the status bar icon to bring up your Cache for easy copy and pasting.

If you blog or message in your browser, there are two quick about:config tweaks you might want to consider: disabling the quick find (apostrophe) key and disabling backspace as a back button. Both keys can be a royal pain when they activate while you're typing a lenghty post.

' Quick find disable: go to about:config, right click and choose new then choose boolean. Enter searchkeys.disable.all and set the value to true.

No Backspace-as-back-button: search for browser.backspace_action and set its value to 2 (or any number greated than 1)

7 addons and two tweaks for annoyance-free browsing with Firefox - Download Squad

YouTube comes to the Wii and Playstation 3

YouTube is sick of being stuck on the computer. It wants an upgrade to your TV, and it knows the best way to get that is through video games. That's why YouTube is coming shortly to the Sony Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii. There's no love for the Xbox 360, sadly, but it may not be far off.

For PS3 and Wii owners, they merely have to point their console's browser to www.youtube.com/tv to get a specially-formatted version of the site for your TV. You'll then be able to surf through all the user-generated videos you want from the comfort of your couch. Now let's get this to the Xbox!

DVICE: YouTube comes to the Wii and Playstation 3

Mars Methane: Geology or Biology?

Plumes of methane gas detected over certain locations on Mars in 2003 could point to active geological processes on the red planet, or perhaps even to methane-burping microbes deep below the Martian surface, a new study reports.

There is no firm evidence for life on the red planet, however, despite news reports early today suggesting as much. Rather, scientists are puzzled by the new findings.

Methane, a small (but important) constituent of Earth's atmosphere, makes up an even smaller percentage of

Mars' atmosphere (which is 95 percent carbon dioxide), so detecting it on the red planet is a rare event.

In fact, it wasn't detected at all before 2003, when the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter (which is still circling the planet) picked up a possible methane signature.

A search conducted with three ground-based telescopes that covered 90 percent of the Martian surface over three Mars years (7 Earth years) detected extended plumes of methane that varied with the seasons and seemed to emanate from specific locations. These include the Arabia Terra, Nili Fossae and Syrtis Major regions of Mars. The work was supported by NASA and the National Science Foundation.

In 2005, scientists also found signs of water ice beneath the surface near Mars' equator and, interestingly, near an area where methane has been detected.

The methane plumes started to show up in the northern hemisphere spring of Mars, gradually building up and peaking in late summer. At one point during the study, the primary plume contained about 19,000 metric tons (21,000 tons) of methane, comparable to the amount produced at the massive hydrocarbon seep at Coal Pit Point in Santa Barbara, Calif.

"It's a heck of a signpost," said study author Michael Mumma of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Where exactly the methane comes from is still unknown, though scientists have some ideas. Mumma and his team detailed these ideas and their findings in the Jan. 15 early online edition of the journal Science.

Geo or bio?

The release of methane is likely connected to the heating that happens as summer progresses in the northern hemisphere, Mumma said.

This heat could be melting ice that usually seals up pores or fissures in deep-relief areas such as scarps or craters walls (this is similar to how in the winter here on Earth, the sunny side of the street will have water and slush, while the shady side will stay frozen). The methane in this case would be coming from deeper below the surface.

Alternatively, the methane could be released by geochemical processes nearer the surface, within the top meter of the Martian terrain, Mumma said.

"We can't really tell the difference at this point," Mumma told SPACE.com.

On Earth, one of the main geological processes that releases methane is volcanism, but Mumma said this doesn't look to be the case on Mars because other gases spewed out in much greater amounts by volcanoes haven't been detected. Another possibility is a process called serpentization, which transforms iron oxide into a mineral known as serpentine.

The most tantalizing possibility though is that the methane comes from subsurface Martian microbes.

Possible Earth analogues are the communities of microorganisms that thrive in gold mines a few kilometers below the surface in the Witwatersrand Basin of South Africa. The microbes use molecular hydrogen (produced as radioactivity in the surrounding rocks breaks apart water molecules) as an energy source, turning carbon dioxide to methane. Because photosynthesis isn't required, this same process could be taking place below the cryosphere boundary deep below the surface of Mars, where water transitions from ice to liquid water.

Of course, Mumma cautions, "we cannot state that we have detected biology or refute it."

Meanwhile, Tullis Onstott of Princeton University and colleagues are working on a new device for a potential future rover mission that could trace the origin of the methane.

Short-lived

Outside of the plumes, methane concentrations were very low, showing that the gas didn't get very far or last very long in the atmosphere. In fact, its lifetime was even shorter than expected or could be explained by the usual method of methane destruction, photolysis (reaction with sunlight).

Instead, oxidation (the same process that rusts iron) could be destroying the methane. The Viking landers demonstrated that peroxides were found in the Martian dirt, and the Phoenix Mars lander found evidence for perchlorates, another oxidizer (whether they are found outside of the polar regions is not yet known).

Mumma and his colleagues suggest that peroxide-coated dust grains lofted into the air could be eating away at the methane.

The team is planning to do more observations of Mars from ground-based telescopes to see if they find more plumes, as well as whether the previously-observed ones come back again in the summer.

"The issue still is was it a sporadic event or is it annual?" Mumma said.

But observations from Earth can only tell scientists so much, "ultimately the real test will be to go there," Mumma said.

The Mars Science Laboratory rover, now slated to launch in 2011, has the capability to detect methane, but whether or not it will have the chance to is another story.

"It may go to a site that is not actively releasing gases," Mumma said.

SPACE.com -- Mars Methane: Geology or Biology?