My Clippings on NewsGator Online

John Lilly to take over as Mozilla Corporation CEO

segphault@arstechnica.com (Ryan Paul) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 02:48:16 GMT

Mitchell Baker intends to step down as the CEO of Mozilla. Mozilla COO John Lilly will take over the CEO position and plans to make a strong Firefox 3 release his top priority.

17th century brain surgery, digitally recreated

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:00:00 GMT

A reader of neuroscience blog Retrospectacle wrote in to say they'd created a video simulation of how a 17th century brain surgery tool would work, and it's a wonderfully vivid, if not somewhat gruesome, animation of the tool in action.

The tool was the elevatorium biploidum and was described by the pioneering Dutch surgeon Cornelius Solingen in his book Manuale Operatien der Chirurgie.

Boerhaave Museum describes the use of the tool:

Bullets from seventeenth-century guns had slightly less velocity than the bullets of today. The damage they caused, particularly if you were hit in the head, was consequently sometimes less serious than might have been expected. Not every bullet penetrated the skull, but they often left a sizeable dent. Under the dent there might be haemorrhaging, because of the rupturing of local blood vessel as a result of the impact. In order to treat that bleeding and the associated pressure on the brain the Hague surgeon Cornelis Solingen (1641-1687) has developed a sort of 'corkscrew', with which you could raise the dented cranium again.

The tool obviously had (if you'll excuse the pun) quite an impact at the time as it is featured on the front page of the museum's website. Indeed, similar surgical techniques are still in use today.

Link to video animation of the elevatorium biploidum.
Link to Retrospectacle post.
Link to Boerhaave Museum page on the tool.

Lack of imagination in older adults linked to declining memory

BJS — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:04:21 GMT

Most children are able to imagine their future selves as astronauts, politicians or even superheroes; however, many older adults find it difficult to recollect past events, let alone generate new ones. A new Harvard University study reveals that the ability of older adults to form imaginary scenarios is linked to their ability to recall detailed memories.

Daytime sleep improves memory consolidation

BJS — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:06:30 GMT

A ninety minute daytime nap helps speed up the process of long term memory consolidation, a recent study conducted by Prof. Avi Karni and Dr. Maria Korman of the Center for Brain and Behavior Research at the University of Haifa found. The research was published in the scientific journal Nature Neuroscience. "We still don't know the exact mechanism of the memory process that occurs during sleep, but the results of this research suggest the possibility that it is possible to speed up memory consolidation, and in the future, we may be able to do it artificially," said Prof. Karni.

Living in Three Centuries : The Face of Age | Image 6 | Mark Story Photography

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:15:58 GMT

Scientists restore walking after spinal cord injury

NLN — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:05:13 GMT

Spinal cord damage blocks the routes that the brain uses to send messages to the nerve cells that control walking. Until now, doctors believed that the only way for injured patients to walk again was to re-grow the long nerve highways that link the brain and base of the spinal cord. For the first time, a UCLA study shows that the central nervous system can reorganize itself and follow new pathways to restore the cellular communication required for movement.

atmospheric pollution

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:50:28 GMT

a visualization about contaminants released by humans into the atmosphere. it seeks to visualize the dimension of the protective layer of the atmosphere and the effects of human intervention in it.

[link: dreamaddictive.com|thnkx thedlab]

The Pigou Club watches the debates

Greg Mankiw — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 15:41:00 GMT

The following exchange in yesterday's Democratic Candidates Debate made me sit up and take notice:

MR. GIBSON: All right. Let me turn to something else. Reversing -- you invoked the name of Al Gore a few moments ago. Reversing or slowing global warming is going to take sacrifice. I'm sort of sorry Chris Dodd isn't here because he's talked a lot about a carbon tax in this election. Al Gore favors a carbon tax. None of you have favored a carbon tax. Is it a bad idea? Or is it just so politically unpalatable that you guys don't want to propose it?
GOV. RICHARDSON: It's -- can I answer? You know, I was Energy secretary. It's a bad idea because when you have a carbon tax, first of all, it's not a mandate. What you want is a mandate on polluters, on coal companies, on -- on -- on those that pollute to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a certain target -- under my plan, 30 percent by the year 2020, 80 percent by the year 2040. It takes international leadership.
The better way to do it is through a cap-and-trade system, which is a mandate. Furthermore, a carbon tax, that's passed on to consumers. That's passed on to the average person. That's money you take out of the economy. So it's a bad idea. Cap-and-trade is mandate, but it's also going to take presidential leadership. It's going to take all of us here, every American, you know, to think more efficiently about how we transport ourself, what vehicles we purchase, appliances in our homes.
It's going to take a transportation policy that doesn't just build more highways. We have to have commuter rail, light rail, open spaces. We got to have -- we got to have land use policies where we improve people's quality of life.
MR. SPRADLING: Senator Obama?
SEN. OBAMA: Well, I agree with Bill, that I think cap-and-trade system makes more sense. That's why I proposed it because you can be very specific in terms of how we're going to reduce the greenhouse gases by a particular level. Now what you have to do is you have to combine it with a hundred percent auction. In other words, every little bit of pollution that is sent up into the atmosphere that polluter is getting charged for it. Not only does that ensure that they don't game the system, but you're also generating billions of dollars that can be invested in solar and wind and biodiesel.
I do disagree with one thing, though, that Bill said, and that is that on a carbon tax the cost will be passed onto consumers and that won't happen with a cap-and-trade. Under a cap-and-trade there will be a cost. Plants are going to have to retrofit their equipment, and that's going to cost money, and they will pass it onto consumers. We have an obligation to use some of the money that we generate to shield low-income and fixed-income individuals from high electricity prices, but we're also going to have to ask the American people to change how they use energy. Everybody's going to have to change their light bulbs. Everybody's going to have to insulate their homes. And that will be a sacrifice, but it's a sacrifice that we can meet. Over the long term it will generate jobs and businesses and can drive our economy for many decades.

For the passages I put in bold, Bill Richardson and Barack Obama deserve special commendation, for opposite reasons. As a former energy secretary during the Clinton administration, Richardson has presumably studied these issues. But here he demonstrates extraordinary ignorance (or perhaps extraordinary disingenuousness) about the economic impact of cap-and-trade systems. By contrast, Obama shows extraordinary clarity and honesty about the effects of the policy he is proposing.

The economics is straightforward and uncontroversial. Both carbon taxes and cap-and-trade systems put a price on carbon, raising the cost of producing carbon-intensive products such as gasoline. In both cases, this cost will be passed on to consumers. The government can, however, raise revenue through a carbon tax or auction and use that revenue to reduce other taxes and help offset the adverse income effect.

In case you are curious, Hillary Clinton is the next speaker on this question, but she does not weigh in on the particular issue of carbon taxes vs cap-and-trade. Instead, she offers some typical vacuous blather about requiring utility companies to help us all become more energy efficient. I think of this as "magic-wand economics." Like your fairy godmother, the President can wave a magic wand and make your problems disappear.

After more than 15 years and $14.8 billion, Boston's Big...

jason@kottke.org — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:00:24 GMT

After more than 15 years and $14.8 billion, Boston's Big Dig project officially ends today.

A study by the Turnpike Authority found the Big Dig cut the average trip through Boston from 19.5 minutes to 2.8 minutes.

Given the number of people moving through the area each day and how much time is saved, $14.8 billion doesn't seem like such a huge amount.

(link)

YouTube - 「今年のロボット」大賞2007受賞作品

billdobie — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 02:21:06 GMT

Japanese robot arms in action...cool.

bookmark this on del.icio.us - posted by billdobie - more about this bookmark...

100 things we didn't know last year

Magazine Monitor — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:01 GMT

The most interesting and unexpected facts can emerge from the daily news stories and the Magazine documents some of them in its weekly feature, 10 things we didn't know last week. To kick off 2008, here are some of the best of last year.

1. Coach travel is the safest form of road transport in the country.
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2. Saddam Hussein's codename while in US custody in 2004/5 was "Victor".
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3. Adding milk to tea negates the health-giving effects of a hot brew.
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4. The word "jaywalking" came from the US slang "jay", a term popular in the early 20th Century meaning a rustic newcomer unfamiliar with city ways.
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5. Cloudy apple juice is healthier than clear, containing almost double the antioxidants which protect against heart disease and cancer.
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6. Dishcloths are purged of 99% of their bacteria during two minutes in a microwave.
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7. A haddock's mating call starts as a slow knocking sound, before turning into a quicker hum similar to a small motorcycle revving its engine.
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8. Newcastle is the noisiest place in England.
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9. The people who built Stonehenge lived at an ancient village in Durrington Walls.
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10. Brazil nuts are seeds encased in an outer shell that weighs more than 1kg.
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11. Astronauts wear nappies during launch and re-entry because they can't stop what they're doing should they need to urinate.
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12. Georgic is a punishment dished out to Eton pupils which involves the copying out of hundreds of lines of Latin.
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13. Tony Blair does not keep a personal diary.
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14. Antony and Cleopatra were ugly.
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15. 10% of university work from across the UK is plagiarised.
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16. Chimpanzees make their own spears for hunting.
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17. Two cups of spearmint tea a day is thought to control excessive hair growth for women.
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18. Burglar alarms, traffic wardens and crowded buses are good news for home owners, signalling an area is on the up.
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19. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hosts a daily radio phone-in show.
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20. More than half (52%) of smokers haven't told their parents about their habit.
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21. Only about half of China's population can speak the national language, Mandarin.
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22. The brief flowering of the cherry blossom tree is taken so seriously in Japan that forecasts are used to plan festivals, and travel agents use them to plan tours.
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23. To be found attractive, women should sway their hips and men their shoulders (although researchers call this a "shoulder swagger").
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24. The are 30,000 wild parakeets in London.
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25. Martina Navratilova has spent four years secretly working as an artist.
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26. Harvesting rhubarb in candlelight helps preserve its flavour.
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27. Drinking, drug-taking teenagers are in the decline, according to a survey by the Information Centre.
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28. Designer discount retailer TK Maxx is called TJ Maxx in the US.
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29. The average duvet is home to 20,000 live dust mites.
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30. Serving anything more than tea and biscuits at a political meeting is an offence called "treating" and punishable by a year in prison or an unlimited fine, under the the Representation of the People Act 1893.
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31. There is mobile phone reception from the summit of Mount Everest.
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32. Anti-Americanism began in Paris in the 18th Century.
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33. Female civil servants in India are questioned about their menstrual cycle as part of their appraisal.
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34. Kryptonite exists.
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35. Denmark is the happiest country in Europe; Italy the unhappiest. (The UK was 9th out of 15.)
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36. A water-tight denial by a politician – as opposed to one that leaves room for later manoeuvre - is known as a Sherman pledge. The other sort is called a non-denial denial.
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37. Spiralling obesity rates are forcing councils to upgrade their crematoria, to take wider coffins.
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38. Gerry Adams doesn't own a credit card, so gets a friend to download songs from the internet.
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39. The secret to happiness is accepting misery.
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40. A new three-bedroom house must have at least 38 plug sockets.
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41. There are 1,200 exhumations every year in the UK, but not all of those are part of criminal cases.
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42. Nearly seven out of 10 (69%) of adults are still in touch with at least one childhood friend.
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43. Bernard Manning worked as an armed guard watching over senior Nazis locked up in Berlin’s Spandau prison.
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44. Europe has a vodka belt comprising Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Denmark and Sweden, although the drink is also made in countries such as Britain, France, Italy and Spain.
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45. Domestic cats can trace their descent to the Middle East.
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46. Peanuts can be made into diamonds.
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47. The prime ministerial Jaguar is called Pegasus.
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48. You can be arrested for using someone's wi-fi network without permission.
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49. CDs were nearly called mini-racks.
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50. Left-handed people are called sinistral.
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51. Nick Clegg, the Lib Dems' new leader, once took a road trip across the US with his friend Louis Theroux.
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52. There are 17 surviving versions of the Magna Carta - or 17 Magnae Cartae.
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53. Renowned atheist Professor Richard Dawkins likes singing Christmas carols.
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54. The Australian town of Eucla has its own time zone.
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55. Books used to be bound in human skin.
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56. Eddie Irvine is Britain's wealthiest sports star – beating the Beckhams into second place by £30m.
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57. Sleeping on the job is tolerated in Japanese work culture, as long as you remain upright and obey certain other rules. It's called inemuri.
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58. The Romans had roadmaps.
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59. The word Blighty comes from "bilayti", the Urdu for homeland.
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60. The Queen took her corgi on honeymoon.
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61. Janet and John were named Alice and Jerry in the United States.
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62. Until the late 1990s, the RAF's nuclear bombs could be activated using a bicycle lock key.
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63. Cats can be police constables.
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64. King Tut had buck teeth.
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65. The Italian Mafia have commandments.
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66. Gun ownership per person in Finland is the third highest in the world.
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67. The brain can turn down its ability to see in order to listen to complex sounds like music.
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68. Of the waste in UK landfills, 0.1% is plastic carrier bags.
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69. Dogs occasionally shoot their owners in the US.
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70. IP addresses will run out in 2010.
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71. An ai is a three-toed sloth from South America (and the word that clinched Paul Allan the title of national Scrabble champion).
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72. Dumbledore is gay.
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73. UN population projections go as far as 2300.
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74. Sheffield FC is the world’s oldest football club.
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75. CO2 emissions from shipping are twice the level of aviation.
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76. George Clooney and Pierce Brosnan have had Bell's Palsy - a nerve condition that can result in paralysis on one side of the face.
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77. Leeches are used as treatment for cauliflower ears.
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78. A bdelloid rotifer is a pond-dwelling organism that has survived 80 million years without sex.
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79. Woodwork lessons are known as "resistant materials" in schools.
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80. Adults use maths skills 14 times daily on average and literacy skills 23 times a day.
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81. The opening bars to the theme tune of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em spelt the title of the series in Morse code.
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82. The children who sang on Pink Floyd's number one hit Another Brick in the Wall (Pt 2) couldn't appear in the video because they didn't hold Equity cards.
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83. Jack Straw has intervened in alleged crimes four times, apprehending a person on three occasions.
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84. On average a UK commuter travels the equivalent of two-and-a-half times around the globe over a full working career.
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85. A 23.8lb baby was born in the US in 1879, but it only survived 11 hours.
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86. There is a monastery in every village in Burma.
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87. Relocating crocodiles doesn't work - they come back.
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88. Deep-voiced men have more children.
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89. Being born without an ear is called microtia.
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90. Chickens can be diagnosed with depression.
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91. In Iceland, 96% of women go to university.
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92. Zsa Zsa Gabor is related to Paris Hilton.
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93. Dinosaurs had creches.
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94. Osama Bin Laden is known to fellow jihadists as Abu Abdullah.
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95. In Ethiopia the start of the year 2000 was celebrated in September.
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96. Bees can detect explosives.
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97. There have been at least two children given the name "Superman" in the UK since 1984.
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98. Prison officers are on average assaulted eight times a day.
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99. Each slug eats twice its body weight a day.
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100. Dogs can have two noses.
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ThinkGeek is selling a WiFi alarm clock that donates money...

jason@kottke.org — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:08:34 GMT

ThinkGeek is selling a WiFi alarm clock that donates money to an organization you hate every time you hit the snooze bar. I believe this is some sort of joke, but what an idea! (via magnetbox)

(link)

The Decapitator - a photoset on Flickr

tompreuss — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 20:20:49 GMT

Responsible Behavior

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 05:00:00 GMT

Slides

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Nokia 4G wireless tech hits 173Mbps in real-world test

hannibal@arstechnica.com (Jon Stokes) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:42:16 GMT

If your current 3G network isn't fast enough for you, then just wait a bit. A new real-world test saw a leading 4G contender, LTE, reach a 173Mbps download peak.

Adobe, Omniture in hot water for snooping on CS3 users

dchartier@arstechnica.com (David Chartier) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:45:00 GMT

It all began with a post at UNEASYsilence titled "Lies, Lies and Adobe Spies" which caught on to the fact that Adobe CS3 apps were calling out to a suspiciously-crafted IP address. As it turns out, the IP in question—192.168.112.2O7.net (note the capital O instead of a zero)—is not an IP at all, but rather a domain owned by statistics-tracking firm Omniture.

Criticism and conspiracy theories quickly erupted across the web, calling for an answer from Adobe over what looked like a clear invasion of privacy crafted to look like a typical local IP address. The holidays aren't always the best time to ask a corporation as large as Adobe for an answer on issues like this, but Photoshop Product Manager John Nack came to at least a preliminary rescue. Across a couple of posts at his official Adobe blog, Nack took it upon himself to dig into the matter.

According to Nack's investigation, Adobe's CS3 apps call out to Omniture's services to track a few usage statistics across Adobe products. Specifically, only three things are tracked: the news items presented in some apps' welcome screens, Adobe-hosted content loaded in Bridge's implementations of Opera and Flash Player (Bridge is the asset management component of Creative Suite), and Adobe online help systems like forums and the Exchange service, but only upon a user's request.

As for the suspicious nature of Omniture's faux-IP URL, Nack is less sure. He also agrees with users' concerns over the matter and says he's doing his best to find out more. It is likely, however, that Omniture is not returning Nack's calls just as it isn't returning Ars Technica's, again probably due to holiday vacations. Other theories postulate that the URL crafting is both a technical and social engineering attempt to fool curious users and firewalls that might use some kind of wild card to allow 192.168.* requests. An underhanded tactic to be sure, but one that would allow Omniture to continue collecting usage statistics from many of Adobe's users.

Adding fuel to the fire, Omniture's own explanation of the "2o7.net" domain (note the lowercase "o" in Omniture's usage) explains absolutely nothing about the disguising of the domain its clients' products call. Even worse, Omniture's opt-out method only covers individual web browsers, not applications. Neither Adobe nor Omniture offer an opt-out method that covers Creative Suite 3 applications, forcing power users concerned over this issue to add the specific Omniture URL to a firewall or other monitoring utility such as ObDev's Little Snitch. Needless to say, this isn't exactly as user-friendly as a splash screen check box, or even an application preference.

There's a lesson to be learned from this latest marketing and privacy snafu, and Adobe and Omniture had better be taking notes. Omniture is clearly at fault—and still owes consumers an explanation—for trying to sneak this URL into clients' products, and Adobe can't be short on alternatives for product statistics tracking. One of the oddest things about the whole situation is that the outcry has focused on the crafty URL and not the stats tracking, suggesting that many CS3 users are used to companies watching (anonymously) over their backs. But no one likes wool, even digital wool, being pulled over their eyes or their routers.

Pew: Internet satiates but also creates "information hunger"

jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 20:15:00 GMT

The Internet serves up a heaping platter of deep-fried information on every topic imaginable, much of it updated regularly to reflect current developments. The information found in the tubes may not always be accurate, but the Internet is still the first place people go when searching for new information.

A recent study released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project examined where people go when faced with the task of finding information on health advice, taxes, school enrollment, government benefits, legal help, and immigration. Unsurprisingly, 58 percent of the 2,796 people surveyed went to the Internet immediately for information. 53 percent said that they also went to other professional experts, such as doctors and lawyers, for help on related matters, but only 13 percent of the group reported going to a library for help.

Pew's study argues that that alternative sources of information aren't losing their gravitational pull on the information-hungry, despite the numbers. For instance, the organization found that 53 percent of those surveyed had visited a library at least once in the last twelve months (even if it's not the first place most would go), and that the largest group to frequent the library was the 18-29 age group. Perhaps because this group is of college age, "Generation Y" was the most likely to go to the library for any reason. Their most commonly-cited reason for attending the library was academic in nature, as you would expect, but those surveyed were also commonly looking for financial and career information.

Pew also found that the digital divide affected how often people used non-Internet resources, but the results weren't those you might expect. Those who have no Internet access whatsoever and those who only have dial-up (23 percent and 13 percent of the population, respectively) were less likely to visit libraries or government entities for any reason. This seems backwards, as Pew found that libraries were most commonly used for access to computers and the Internet, and they seem perfectly suited for those who don't have access to broadband at home.

Instead, the data suggests that those with broadband tend to use libraries and other industry experts as supplements to their overall research experience. "Instead of the Internet making libraries less relevant, Internet use seems to create an information hunger that libraries help satisfy," reads the report.

Still, libraries face a number of challenges as they continue to try to stay relevant in today's information-overloaded society. The report notes that some libraries are trying to stay up-to-date with what young people are looking to do online, such as maintaining their own Second Life characters and helping visitors with MySpace questions.

But that won't help older generations who are just seeking information and need more personal assistance. "[M]any more people consider going to libraries than actually do," wrote Pew, noting that awareness of the PATRIOT Act and library records have made people more wary of using libraries for some kinds of research in recent years.

Others believe that libraries could do more to improve the overall user experience. "I think it would help if the library, especially on our campuses, was a place people wanted to go—a destination—rather than a place they have to go," wrote StevenB on the Association for College & Research Libraries blog.

Netflix aims for the TV (and Apple TV) with set-top box

jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:03:00 GMT

Netflix is now making a foray into the world of Internet-based set-top boxes. The new devices may make a splash, but will face strong competition.

JPMorgan Predicts 2008 Will Be “Nothing But Net”

Erick Schonfeld — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:26:16 GMT

JPMorgan’s Internet analyst Imran Khan and his team released a massive 312-page report this morning titled Nothing But Net that paints a bullish picture for the major Internet stocks (Google, Amazon, Yahoo, eBay, Expedia, Salesforce.com, Ominiture, ValueClick, Monster.com, Orbitz, Priceline, CNET, etc.). Some key takeaways:

—Noting that, in 2007, Internet stocks delivered a 14 percent return versus 5 percent for the S&P 500, JPMorgan expects 34 percent earnings growth in 2008 for the Internet stocks it covers versus 8 percent earnings growth for the S&P 500.

—In general, as broadband penetration continues to rise, so do e-commerce revenues:

—But advertising revenues actually outpace the adoption of broadband:

—Free cash flow at large Internet companies will keep going up, fueling M&A and share buybacks. JPMorgan estimates that free cash flow among just five of the top Internet companies (Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, and Expedia) will rise from $8.8 billion last year to $12.5 billion in 2008. That is a lot of money for Web 2.0 acquisitions. Top acquirers Yahoo and Google, for instance, each spend about a third of their free cash flow on acquisitions.

—Search advertising will continue to dominate, rising from $22 billion globally last year to $50 billion in 2010. Here is JPMorgan’s forecast for the U.S. search advertising market (it expects global search revenues to rise 38 percent in 2008 to $30.5 billion):

—And here is its forecast for the U.S. graphical advertising market. Average CPMs for online ads, which bottomed in 2007 at $3.31, will start to rise again (see table below):

—As global GDP continues to grow faster than U.S. GDP (3.9 percent versus 2.2 percent in 2007), Internet companies with global reach will benefit. Amazon, eBay, and Google all get about half their revenues from international markets. Yahoo gets only a quarter of its revenues from abroad.

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