Links for 13-12-2006
iTunes sales collapsing, productdevelopment2.0, surrealist compliments generator, Google tools and tweaks, why teens do – y’know – dumb stuff…
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“…analysts are theorizing that the DRM-era may actually be winding down in favor of “blanket licensing,” which was cast aside just years ago in favor of the “per purchase” approach.” But will common sense appeal to the labels?
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“CrowdSpirit is a website that attempts to harness the “wisdom of crowds” to develop new consumer products … site members can vote on concepts to develop, decide on specifications, and even select funding options.” I’m not going to hold my breath.
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“Teacups smash, flounders ignite spontaneously in your presence.” Random surrealist compliment generator. Relive your youth, write your own Python sketch!
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“…we’re releasing all the source code for GWT under an open source license. We’ve been working hard to build great tools for AJAX development, and now we’re happy to begin working with the open source community towards the same goal.”
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“Google is a great search engine, but it’s also more than that. Google has tons of hidden features, some of which are quite fun and most of which are extremely useful…” Always good to have a full tool-box.
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“This use of data mining would waste taxpayer dollars, needlessly infringe on privacy and civil liberties, and misdirect the valuable time and energy of the men and women in the national security community.”
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“As startling numbers of Americans go without health insurance, more of them see their only hope in fleeing to far-flung nations like India for life-saving medial treatments.” A whole new slant on free-market ‘outsourcing’.
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“An estimated 5.5m British people live permanently abroad – almost one in 10 of the UK population. [...] some 2,000 British citizens moved permanently away from the UK every week in 2005.” Can’t imagine why…
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“The U.S. space agency’s newly unveiled grand plan for a continually staffed lunar outpost starting around 2024 does not come with a similarly grand price tag. It does not come with a price tag at all.” Flexibility or bluff?
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“Jimmy Wales said a free service dubbed OpenServing.com “would go live shortly” to give anyone the ability to build websites devoted to shared interests. OpenServing computers would host the websites.” Business models, anyone?
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“In fact, they are more likely to ponder the risks … than adults — and actually overestimate the risks. It’s just that they often decide the benefits — the immediate gratification or peer acceptance — outweigh the risks…”
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“Nanoscale ice formations resembling the double helices of DNA will form when water molecules are frozen inside carbon nanotubes, detailed computer simulations suggest.” No hints as to what use this may be, but interesting nonetheless.
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“…specifically, how information technology has increased America’s conventional military supremacy (in land, sea, air, and space), and how this military edge may be subverted by determined radicals armed with new technologies of death.”
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“Snippy, or Snippy’s skeleton, dropped out of sight for decades, only to surface last week on eBay with a minimum bid of $50,000.” Is there *anything* you can’t buy on eBay?
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“Tiny microrobots are under development at Monash University in Australia. A remarkable micromotor will allow them to swim like an E. coli bacterium, which uses its flagella to move around.”
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“These designs have a sustainable character: they are economical in their use of nuclear fuel and are capable of rendering a great deal of their own nuclear waste harmless. The ability to actually build such reactors is however still in the very distant f
Tags: links
December 13th, 2006 at 6:19 am
Do me a favor. Link to http://technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=845 for the microrobot story – I published it two weeks before I gave it to livescience.