Got A New Computer? Install These Nine Programs Right Away

New computer? Feed it a healthy diet of powerful software.
Heather McKinnon/The Seattle Times/Newscom

From Christian Science Monitor:

’Tis the season for a new computer. Whether Santa sneaked a PC under the tree or you’ve decided to install Windows 7 onto an older machine, millions of Americans this month will be booting up a fresh start.

What better time to get your computer on a healthy diet of lean but powerful software and to throw out the bloated junk food that comes preinstalled on many machines? Here are some free programs that’ll help your new PC chug along for many winters to come.

(Disclaimer: While most of the Monitor’s software suggestions cover both PCs and Macs, Apple fans will need to sit this article out.)

Read more ....

Microsoft Unveil HP Slate Just Weeks Before Launch Of Apple Tablet

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer holds the Hewlett-Packard slate PC during his keynote speech.

From The Daily Mail:

Microsoft and HP have unveiled a new touch-screen tablet computer they hope will overshadow a similar device that Apple is expected to launch this month.

To add insult to injury Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer referred to the gadget as a 'slate.' Technology pundits think Apple will call their gadget 'iSlate' after filing for the trademark.

The 10inch HP tablet is a touch screen computer that runs Windows 7.

Read more ....

Robot Border Guards To Patrol Future Frontiers

Walls alone won't seal US borders (Image: KPA/Zuma/Rex Features)

From New Scientist:

A MIGRANT makes a furtive dash across an unwalled rural section of a national border, only to be confronted by a tracked robot that looks like a tiny combat tank - with a gimballed camera for an eye. As he passes the bug-eyed droid, it follows him and a border guard's voice booms from its loudspeaker. He has illegally entered the country, he is warned, and if he does not turn back he will be filmed and followed by the robot, or by an airborne drone, until guards apprehend him.

Read more ....

Crack New Scanner Looks For Bombs Inside Body Cavities

From The Danger Room:

The “underpants bomber” has renewed calls for new and more invasive security measures. Already, there’s a push to install scanners that show travelers’ naked bodies through clothing, using either millimeter wave or backscatter X-ray imaging. But even those scanners might not have caught the terrorist who nearly brought down Northwest flight 253.

Read more ....

Thieves Use Google Earth To Find And Plunder Wineries' Solar Panels

Solar-Powered Vineyards "Just leave me in peace to tend to my wine" Langetwins Winery and Vineyards

From Popular Science:

Google's "do no evil" motto fails to halt heartless bandits.

Hot on the heels of news about Google's new energy venture comes this sorrowful tale about renewable energy. NPR reports on enterprising thieves who used Google Earth to do evil, and specifically to find California wineries with solar panels for the taking.

Yes, even the criminal underworld has embraced clean tech in the 21st century. Many thieves have reportedly used trucks to simply crash winery gates and steal up to 70 panels at a time. Local sheriff deputies speculate that online tools such as Google Earth might make it particularly easy to locate possible targets -- more than 400 panels worth over $1,000 each were stolen from Napa Valley vineyards in 2009.

Read more ....

Coral Reefs Are Evolution Hotspot

The reefs are centres of evolution as well as biodiversity.

From The BBC:

Coral reefs give rise to many more new species than other tropical marine habitats, according to a new study.

Scientists used fossil records stretching back 540 million years to work out the evolution rate at reefs.

They report in the journal Science that new species originate 50% faster in coral reefs than in other habitats.

The team says its findings show that the loss of these evolution hotspots could mean "losing an opportunity to create new species" in the future.

Read more ....

Greatest Finds Of The Year

From The Independent:

It’s been another fascinating and prolific 12 months in archaeology, with discoveries - ranging from a multi-million pound medieval gold hoard to a lost Roman city, a “missing link” in human evolution and a prehistoric erotic figurine - coming thick and fast from the four corners of the globe.

They’ve been made by all from hard-working heritage experts, after years of slaving at the archaeological coal-face, to fluky amateurs on their very first treasure hunt.

Read more ....

How Earth Survived Its Birth: New Simulation Reveals Planet Migration Prevents Plunge Into Sun

New simulations show that variations in temperature can lead to regions of outward and inward migration that safely trap planets on orbits around their sun. (Credit: iStockphoto/Kirill Putchenko)

From Live Science:

Science Daily (Jan. 8, 2010) — For the last 20 years, the best models of planet formation -- or how planets grow from dust in a gas disk -- have contradicted the very existence of Earth. These models assumed locally constant temperatures within a disk, and the planets plunge into the Sun. Now, new simulations from researchers at the American Museum of Natural History and the University of Cambridge show that variations in temperature can lead to regions of outward and inward migration that safely trap planets on orbits.

Read more .....

Polar Bears Forced To Land And Water

Polar bears depend on sea ice for hunting, breeding and denning. The bears wait for seals to pop up through breathing holes in the ice, but since the ice is melting earlier and earlier in the year, polar bears are shifting there habitat to land and water, and may be missing out on hunting opportunities. Credit: USGS

From Live Science:

As Arctic sea ice melts, polar bears are changing their habitat, shifting from their preferred ice hunting grounds to land and open water, according to a new long-term study.

The findings have implications for people as well as polar bears, since the shift makes it more likely that humans will encounter these large animals on land, the researchers say.

Read more ....

Dark Roasted Blend: Weird & Wonderful Things in 2009

From The Dark Roasted Blend:

Promoting "sense of wonder" and intense exploration of our world and beyond, shamelessly cynicism- and nihilism- free, "Dark Roasted Blend" is happy to serve our readers since 2006. As a sort of overview, but mostly trying to highlight the themes and articles of 2009 that you might have missed, here is a roundup of the most popular and interesting posts on DRB (arranged by months):

Read more ....

Top 10 Places You Can’t Go

#1: RAF Menwith Hill

RAF Menwith Hill is a British military base with connections to the global ECHELON spy network. The site contains an extensive satellite ground station and is a communications intercept and missile warning site and has been described as the largest electronic monitoring station in the world. The site acts as a ground station for a number of satellites operated by the US National Reconnaissance Office, on behalf of the US National Security Agency, with antennae contained in a large number of highly distinctive white radomes, and is alleged to be an element of the ECHELON system. ECHELON was reportedly created to monitor the military and diplomatic communications of the Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc allies during the Cold War in the early 1960s, but since the end of the Cold War it is believed to search also for hints of terrorist plots, drug dealers’ plans, and political and diplomatic intelligence. It has also been involved in reports of commercial espionage and is believed to filter all telephone and radio communications in the nations which host it – an extreme violation of privacy.

From List Verse:

The world is full of secret and exclusive places that we either don’t know about, or simply couldn’t visit if we wanted to. This list takes a look at ten of the most significant places around the world that are closed to the general public or are virtually impossible for the general public to visit.

Read more ....

100 Quotes Every Geek Should Know

Image by Wikimedia user Xander.

From Geekdad:

One thing that every geek can do is quote their favorite geek-culture media, whether it’s movies, books, television, theater or music. The GeekDads have tried to compile a list of such quotes for your enjoyment. This list is certainly not definitive. Indeed, it’s only the beginning! Feel free to add your own (clean) ones in the comments below.

Read more ....

Aboriginal Folklore Leads To Meteorite Crater

Researchers are using Aboriginal dreaming stories and Google Maps to
find new meteorite impact craters. Credit: Google Maps

From Cosmos:

SYDNEY: An Australian Aboriginal 'Dreaming' story has helped experts uncover a meteorite impact crater in the outback of the Northern Territory.

Duane Hamacher, an astrophysicist studying Aboriginal astronomy at Sydney's Macquarie University, used Google Maps to search for the signs of impact craters in areas related to Aboriginal stories of stars or stones falling from the sky.

Read more ....

Samsung 9000 Series 3-D TV Is No Thicker Than a Pencil

Samsung LED9000: It's a bit slim

From Popular Science:

Samsung is going whole hog into 3-D with their newly announced TV lineup, but at the top is the 9000 series: an LED-backlit panel that's just 0.3 inches thin. And on its remote. a color touchscreen that can carry broadcast TV while you watch a Blu-ray disc.

Read more ....

China Threatens To Slam Brakes On Price Of Lead

E-bikes were a feature of the Beijing Olympic Games last year, but reclassifying some of them as motorcycles will have an impact far beyond sales figures

From Times Online:

After a surge of more than 125 per cent, the price of lead ends the year in limbo — its future at the mercy of Chinese bureaucracy, the stroke of a pen and the legal status of 100 million electric bicycles.

The cycles in question, known as “e-bikes”, are battery-enhanced machines that are the darlings of the modern, urban Chinese. More than 20 million were sold this year, putting a vast army of commuters, unable to afford cars or motorcycles — and without licences — on the roads at a sedate maximum speed of 12 km/h (7½ mph).

Read more ....

Whistleblower Web Site Goes Dark, Seeks Funding

From FOX News:

A Web site that for years has let anonymous whistleblowers break stories of corruption and government malfeasance has gone dark and is expected to remain offline until it finds funds to support its operations and fend off lawsuits.

A Web site that for years has let anonymous whistleblowers break stories of corruption and government malfeasance has gone dark and is expected to remain offline until it finds funds to support its operations and fend off lawsuits.

Read more ....

Hubble Telescope Captures Earliest Images Of Universe - When It Was Just A 'Baby' At 600 Million Years

Deep space time: the Hubble picture shows the earliest ever seen galaxies which are circled in the boxes in the inset images on the left

From The Daily Mail:

The Hubble telescope has captured the earliest image yet of the universe - just 600 million years after the Big Bang.

It is the most complete picture taken in near-infrared light of the early universe, showing the first infant star clusters.

To give some perspective, the light left these galaxies 8billion years before our own Sun and Earth had even formed.

Scientists released the 'baby pictures' at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

Read more ....

First Earth-Like Planet Spotted Outside Solar System Likely A Volcanic Wasteland

How similar is exoplanet CoRoT-7b to Earth? The newly discovered extra-solar planet (depicted in the above artist's illustration) is the closest physical match yet, with a mass about five Earths and a radius of about 1.7 Earths. Also, the home star to CoRoT-7b, although 500 light years distant, is very similar to our Sun. Unfortunately, the similarities likely end there, as CoRoT-7b orbits its home star well inside the orbit of Mercury, making its year last only 20 hours, and making its peak temperature much hotter than humans might find comfortable. (Credit: ESO/L. Calcada)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Jan. 7, 2010) — When scientists confirmed in October that they had detected the first rocky planet outside our solar system, it advanced the longtime quest to find an Earth-like planet hospitable to life.

Rocky planets -- Earth, Mercury, Venus and Mars -- make up half the planets in our solar system. Rocky planets are considered better environments to support life than planets that are mainly gaseous, like the other half of the planets in our system: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Read more ....

Vampires Among Us: From Bats To Psychics

Films such as Daybreakers are examples of the
public's fascination with vampires. Credit: Lionsgate

From Live Science:

The new film "Daybreakers," which opens Friday, is set in 2019, after a global virus outbreak has transformed most of the world's population into vampires. This is not good news for the small remaining population of humans, who become the sole source of blood. Vampires are of course very popular in books and on the silver screen, especially recently. But are they real?

The answer depends on how literally you define "vampire."

Read more ....

What An Anti-Climax: G-Spot Is A Myth

While 56% of women overall claimed to have a G-spot,
they tended to be younger and more sexually active.

From Times Online:

A sexual quest that has for years baffled millions of women — and men — may have been in vain. A study by British scientists has found that the mysterious G-spot, the sexual pleasure zone said to be possessed by some women but denied to others, may not exist at all.

The scientists at King’s College London who carried out the study claim there is no evidence for the existence of the G-spot — supposedly a cluster of internal nerve endings — outside the imagination of women influenced by magazines and sex therapists. They reached their conclusions after a survey of more than 1,800 British women.

Read more ....