news...news... news 11-29-05

Gee.... You think they are opposing the option for 'only the channels
you want' out of some higher purpose? or because only people who
happened to be flipping through and got stuck ever join their 'flock'.
Televangelists on Unusual Side in Indecency Debate
By Jube Shiver Jr., Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Trying to preserve their electronic pulpits, the
nation's religious broadcasters find themselves in the unusual
position of fighting an effort by anti-indecency groups to thwart
channels offering racy programming.

The issue involves a debate over whether cable companies should
continue offering subscribers mainstream and niche channels in
bundles, or let them buy what they want on an a la carte basis.
http://tinyurl.com/debb4

Banking on a virtual economy
Late last month, Jon Jacobs, an independent filmmaker from Miami,
became the first person in the history of online gaming to spend
$100,000 on a single virtual item when he bought a space station in
the game "Project Entropia."

Jacobs, whose avatar Neverdie is somewhat of a celebrity in the space
fantasy game, is so confident of his ability to turn his hefty
investment into quick riches that he pulled cash out of his real-
world home to help raise the hundred grand.

His certainty is based partly on the experience of David Storey, who
earlier this year set the previous record for highest price paid for
a virtual item when he plopped down $26,500 for Treasure Island, a
private piece of "Project Entropia" land. Storey, Jacobs said, has
already made his money back through revenue earned by hunters and
miners who pay a tax to use his island.

http://tinyurl.com/8jdcy

Gartner sees less demand for IT specialists

Demand for IT specialists could shrink as much as 40 percent within
the next five years, according to Gartner analysts who unveiled a
list of key trends for 2006.

According to the market researcher, businesses will increasingly look
to employ "IT versatilists," employees who not only specialize in IT
but who demonstrate business smarts by handling multidisciplinary
assignments.

"The long-term value of today's IT specialists will come from
understanding and navigating the situations, processes and buying
patterns that characterize vertical industries and cross-industry
processes," Diane Morello, Gartner's research vice president, said
Tuesday in a statement.

http://tinyurl.com/d8zew

Baking privacy into personal data

It's not often that a high-school dropout becomes a distinguished
engineer at IBM. But Jeff Jonas, the company's chief scientist of
entity analytics, has done just that by developing ways to mine
personal data while maintaining privacy.

Jonas first developed "identity resolution" technology more than 20
years ago. He claims the software is now mature enough to let
government agencies and corporations do sophisticated analysis on the
reams of data they have--even sensitive personal information.

http://tinyurl.com/8ljpc

Attack code out for 'critical' Windows flaw

Computer code posted over the weekend can crash vulnerable computers
by exploiting a Windows flaw disclosed in October.

The exploit code takes advantage of a flaw Microsoft tagged as
"critical." The bug lies in a Windows component for transaction
processing called the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator,
or MSDTC. Microsoft addressed the flaw in security bulletin MS05-051.

Holographic Rival to Blu-ray, HD-DVD

The first holographic storage systems, capable of storing up to 300
GB on a single disc, will reportedly go on sale towards the end of 2006.
InPhase Technologies and Hitachi are jointly developing this
technology, dubbed "Tapestry holographic memory technology", which
uses laser light interference to store 300 GB on a single disc.
(Warning, this site might not be so fantastic.... make certain you
are not using explorer)
http://tinyurl.com/c2luk

SFFTech reviews and pans the AOpen Mini PC
SFFTech got their hands on the Apple AOpen Mini PC and churned out a
massive, and ultimately unflattering review of this Mac mini knock-
off. While Apple and AOpen target the low end or entry level market
with their mini offerings, SFFTech found the Mac mini to be a better
choice for beginners or the “less technologically inclined.” No
surprise there. And, although the Mini PC looks to be ideal for home
theater setup with its component, S-Video and composite video outputs
for standard and high definition television sets, SFFTech found
playback to “stutter and lag” HD videos while offering audio which
simply “isn’t up to the task.” While AOpen’s attempt at the
mini is actually 1.5-centimeters smaller in length and width than
Apple’s, you’ll still be limited in options for placement due to
the “very annoying whine” emitted by the Mini PC’s fans which
only intensifies when the system is pushed to its limit. In fact, it
was so bad during testing that the reviewer had to shut the machine
down at times. While SFFTech gives AOpen credit for offering a low
end PC in a “cool” form factor, they ultimately can’t recommend
it for PC enthusiasts or even as a file server due to the noise. Ouch.
http://tinyurl.com/88rgq

The Cyberhand bionic hand feels and flexes
The Europeans responsible for the “Cyberhand” have, along with
it’s scifi-esque moniker, given their creation some scifi-esque
capabilities that bode well for amputees and Luke Skywalker wannabees
the world over. The bionic hand not only has individually functioning
digits, including an opposing thumb for the multitude of actions that
require one, but those fingers should be able to feel, yet still only
take a relatively small number of nerves to control. It works in much
the same way as a real hand; by using synthetic tendons that run
through each finger, the artificial hand only needs 6 motors to
control motion. So far they’ve created a touch sensitive prototype,
and now it looks like their next task is to attach the hand and fire
it up. Though what’s really got us excited is the wireless
communication between the nerve endings and the hand, opening up a
whole realm of possibilities for hot-swapping arm attachments. We
think you know where we’re going with this.
http://tinyurl.com/bmtmy

Adaptec’s AVC-3610 USB TV tuner with dual encoding
If you’ve been looking for a tuner for your PC, and those PCI slots
are all full up, you might want to check Adaptec’s new USB 2.0 TV
tuner. The AVC-3610 is designed for the Windows Media Center 2005 OS,
but it should be fine with other DVR software. It has dual MPEG-2
hardware encoding from Coaxial, S-Video and RCA inputs, along with a
FM radio receiver, and they’re also throwing in a remote for
controlling your media center along with your other snazzy media
components. It’s no bargain, the box will cost you $229, but if you
can swing it we’re sure you can put all those inputs to good use.
http://tinyurl.com/bgw2o

Learn Ruby in your web browser
Why the Lucky Stiff, dynamo of the Ruby community and writer of the
Poignant Guide to Ruby, has created Try Ruby, an interactive Ruby
prompt that, though the magic of (you guessed it) AJAX runs right in
your web browser. If you've ever wanted to try programming in Ruby
but don't want to take the time to download and install it on your
machine, this is your chance. Try Ruby even has a built-in Ruby
tutorial, though Why says it's only half-finished, so if you run into
a brick wall and want to keep learning try the Poignant Guide above,
the Pickaxe, or, for the brand new programmer, Chris Pine's How to
Program.
http://tinyurl.com/drzl6

We already know how NOT to do this one:
How To: Create your own game company, Part One
While it's a little cost prohibitive to start developing Xbox 360 or
PS3 games from your bedroom, let's not forget games like Roller
Coaster Tycoon and Alien Hominid went from humble beginnings to
financially successful franchises. Although you'd have to spend
hundreds of hours developing AAA titles, there are some ways to get
slick games up and running quickly. I'm going to show you a few ways
to do just that.
http://tinyurl.com/cxcn6

USEFUL
The Definitive BIOS Optimization Guide
While I won't make any claims about its authority, I will say that
the Definitive BIOIS Optimization Guide is an impressive piece of
work. If you can get past the ads and the many cries to "Buy my
book!", the free text is an exhaustive list of arcane BIOS settings,
their purposes, and recommended settings for the best performance. If
you're having performance issues you think might be at the BIOS
level, or want to squeeze the very last drop of performance out of
your motherboard, it's worth a look.
http://tinyurl.com/bbghu

Pictures by Hive Mind
Posted by Hemos on Monday November 28, @06:48PM
from the we-are-playboy-of-borg dept.
nofrance writes "A very interesting little experiment where multiple
viewers get to select whether to set a single pixel to black or
white, to help build a picture. All pictures can also be viewed as
animations over time, often showing just how close the picture got to
finished before returning to something closer to static."
http://tinyurl.com/7frv5

The world’s lightest solid finds myriad other applications
November 29, 2005 When we first wrote about aerogel, we treated it as
somewhat of a technological novelty. Aerogel is 99.8% air and 1,000
times less dense than glass yet it can withstand high temperature,
delivering 39 times more insulation than the best fibreglass. This
exotic substance was invented in the 1930s but has been refined by
NASA in recent times for the purpose of catching space-dust. Now it
has been recognised that aerogel’s unique properties are in fact
very applicable to some of man’s greatest challenges. Its unique
nanostructure offers higher electrochemical surface areas, better
mass transport, reduced or eliminated ionic contamination and price
competitiveness – in short, lower cost and higher performance
compared to current membranes on the market, making it ideal as a
high performance electro-catalyst for fuel cells, non-electro-
catalysts for emissions control, and aerogel materials for energy
storage.
http://tinyurl.com/azwxp

Fantasy tabletop game built out of legos


BrickQuest is a tabletop fantasy game that is built out of legos,
both official and custom -- the "BrickMaster" snaps together
elaborate dungeons, and then little legomen move around the board,
fighting monsters, finding secret doors, etc. Link (Thanks, Mark!)
http://tinyurl.com/9cjfe

SCIENTOLOGISTS TAGGING THE EARTH WITH GRAFFITI THAT CAN BE SEEN FROM
SPACE:
http://tinyurl.com/8tsdn
A better view:
http://tinyurl.com/crblu

Rushkoff's Thought Virus #4
BB pal Douglas Rushkoff has posted the fourth excerpt from his
forthcoming book "Get Back In The Box: Innovation From The Inside
Out." From the excerpt:
In a renaissance society driven by the need to forge connections,
play is the ultimate system for social currency. It's a way to try on
new roles without committing to them for life. It's a way to test
strategies of engagement without being defined by them forever. It’s
a way to rise above the seemingly high stakes of almost any situation
and see it as the game it probably is. It’s a way to make one’s
enterprise a form of social currency from the beginning, and to
guarantee a collaborative, playful, and altogether more productive
path toward continual innovation.

And this play begins at work....
http://tinyurl.com/95fea

Mid-Range Graphics Card Round-Up


(review of midrange graphics cards)
http://tinyurl.com/ar5rg

Nanochannels Don't Feel the Humidity

By Adrian Cho
ScienceNOW Daily News
28 November 2005

Tiny, tight-cornered channels etched into a piece of glass dry out
far faster than round ones do and at the same rate regardless of the
humidity, nanotechnologists report. The curious phenomenon could one
day be adapted to cool computer chips or to make textiles that draw
away moisture with great efficiency, the researchers propose.
(they will dry quickly, even in 95% humidity)
http://tinyurl.com/9nn7n

CO2: This time it's personal
So you've filled your tank with petrol, wiped the bugs off your
windscreen, and you're standing in the queue holding two pieces of
plastic which will finalise the purchase.

One card carries the logo of your bank; the other, a picture of a
burning planet.

The first will deduct money from your bank account; the second,
credits from your carbon account.

You cough up your money and your credits, get back to the car and on
your way; your tank is filled, and, what's more, the planet saved
from the uncertain fallout of man-made global warming.

http://tinyurl.com/7ooak

Designer Emulation Kits: A 9-volt Castiglioni?

http://tinyurl.com/c992l

these are really cool little kits for things that fit on top of a
9volt battery... and here is the source site:

http://tinyurl.com/bd36k

First-ever analysis of green roofs’ ability to keep buildings warm
in winter
A Univerity of Toronto Professor will be presenting his findings on
the abilty of green or "living" roofs to offer energy benefits during
the cold season. Appropriately, his poster session will debute at the
Toronto Design Exchange, featured in the "Design for Cold"
exhibition. Professor Brad Bass' work is a vital element of spreading
Green Building concepts. Because Green Building designs were
pioneered in warm temperate zones, work like this is essential not
only to validate performance merits in different settings but also to
avoid getting arrows in our backs. The specializing-in-climate-change-
denial Think Tanks are doubtless ready to draw their bows at
whichever high profile green building project can be first claimed as
a "failure", blaming TreeHuggers for idealogical over-reach.
http://tinyurl.com/dezsc

How Many Hands Did She Shake?
Eary stage VC's must make investments decisions with very little
information. No wonder that barely half our investments turn a profit.
Here's a question I have often asked aspiring VC's to see if they
persist in the face of seemingly incomplete information...
My wife and I went to a dinner party with four other couples. At the
beginning of the party, some people shook hands. (Obviously, no one
shook his or her own hand or spouse's hand, and no one shook hands
with the same person twice.) During the party I surveyed all the
other people as to how many hands each one shook. I got different
answers from everyone. What did my wife say?
If the aspiring VC gives up on this solvable problem, I don't see how
he or she will face down the much murkier puzzle of predicting a
startup's success.
http://tinyurl.com/97w5w