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Ready the telescopes: partial lunar eclipse on Saturday

People across the world will have the chance to see a partial eclipse of the Moon on Saturday.
[in PhysOrg.com]

Scientists to study synthetic telepathy

A team of UC Irvine scientists has been awarded a $4 million grant from the U.S. Army Research Office to study the neuroscientific and signal-processing foundations of synthetic telepathy.
[in PhysOrg.com]

EBay in talks to buy minority stake in Gmarket

(AP) -- The online auction company eBay Inc. said Wednesday it is in talks to buy a minority stake in the South Korean online marketplace operator Gmarket.
[in PhysOrg.com]

New Yahoo service helps users share their location

(AP) -- Yahoo Inc. is riding the wave of location-based services with the launch of a service intended to help users share their real-world location with their friends online.
[in PhysOrg.com]

Researchers find MSG use linked to obesity

People who use monosodium glutamate, or MSG, as a flavor enhancer in their food are more likely than people who don't use it to be overweight or obese even though they have the same amount of physical activity and total calorie intake, according to a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health study published this month in the journal Obesity.
[in PhysOrg.com]

A recipe for saving the world's oceans from an extinction crisis

Jeremy Jackson, senior scientist emeritus of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, asserts in the Aug. 12 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that the following steps, if taken immediately, could reverse the demise of the oceans: Establish marine reserves, enforce fishing regulations, implement aquaculture, remove subsidies on fertilizer use, muster human ingenuity to limit fossil fuel consumption, buy time by establishing local conservation measures.
[in PhysOrg.com]

NREL Solar Cell Sets World Efficiency Record at 40.8 Percent

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have set a world record in solar cell efficiency with a photovoltaic device that converts 40.8 percent of the light that hits it into electricity. This is the highest confirmed efficiency of any photovoltaic device to date.
[in PhysOrg.com]

MIT solves puzzle of meteorite-asteroid link: New analysis makes it possible to 'know our enemy

(PhysOrg.com) -- For the last few years, astronomers have faced a puzzle: The vast majority of asteroids that come near the Earth are of a type that matches only a tiny fraction of the meteorites that most frequently hit our planet.
[in PhysOrg.com]

Webcast: Expand Your Market Reach More than Ever Before

In order to remain competitive in a global economy, effectively expanding your market reach is more important than ever before - and we can help.Listen to thi...

Tags: Citrix Systems Inc., Marketing, Marketing Research, Networking, Telecommunications

Sponsored by: Citrix OnlineDate: July 2008
[in ITpapers.com - Online Trading]

Google says thanks for Android petition

After 219 developers signed a petition asking for more information about Android's progress, Google offered a two-sentence reply saying thanks.

Developers building applications on Android, Google's mobile phone software that is still in the making, have been venting their frustration at what they say is a slow pace of updates released for the SDK and a general lack of information about the development schedule for the software.

[ For more background on Google and the Android developers, see InfoWorld's analysis. Also, get the inside scoop on Android in InfoWorld's special report, "Google Android: Invader from beyond." ]

In late June, developer Nicolas Gramlich, a computer science student in Germany, started a petition asking Google to release more updates to the SDK and to offer developers information about the development timeline of the SDK. Last week, he sent the petition to the Android Advocate at Google. The petition has by now been signed by 245 people.

A couple of days later, Gramlich received a response from Google via e-mail and he posted it in the company's official Android discussion group. The response has underwhelmed the developers.

"We appreciate the enthusiasm of our developers and we're excited that you're so passionate about the Android platform. Thanks for taking the time to send this," reads the note from Google signed by someone identified simply as David.

"Sounds like a polite way of saying nothing: a verbal silence," wrote a developer identified as Shane Isbell, on the Android forum.

Google has not replied to a request for comment or to confirm that the note came from the company.

In addition to the perceived slow release of SDK improvements, developers were also recently frustrated after a Google employee accidentally posted a note on a forum indicating that the company is offering an improved SDK to a small group of developers who won a contest. Some of the other developers were dismayed to learn that they are working on an inferior version of the SDK.

Now, developers are wondering why the continued silence from Google even after the petition. Perhaps there is some component of the SDK that Google doesn't want its competitors to see until Android launches, another developer identified as Denis Beurive speculated on the forum.

Or, perhaps the SDK isn't particularly stable and so Google doesn't want to release another weak version of it, he wondered.

The unrest comes amid speculation that the final Android software is delayed and after Apple has sold millions of iPhones to people who can buy applications from developers for the phones. Google has said that it is on schedule to launch Android and that Android phones will begin to appear this year.

[in InfoWorld: Top News]