11:54 AM
DARPA wants a building material made out of solar cells:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/06/power_skin_darpa/
One big change announced by Defense Secretary Gates is that up to 39,000 contractors at the Pentagon will be replaced with civil servants:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/06/AR2009040604049.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Secretary Gates is also significantly cutting back on "boost phase" missile defense programs:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/04/gates-schwacks.html
Secretary Gates said that gutting the FCS program was the hardest decision he had to make:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/04/gates-why-i-kil.html
Lots of interesting tidbits in this transcript of Secretary Gates' briefing, including Gen. Cartright's slam on North Korea's missile capabilities (pointing out that they failed 3 times in a row and have never been successful):
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4396
Turkish authorities arrested a man who planned to pretend to be an Arab news network journalist in order to kill Pres. Obama:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/06/Arrest-made-in-alleged-Obama-plot/UPI-44601239054332/
Scientists discovered pentagonal ice, which could lead to new materials for seeding clouds and causing rain:
http://www.liv.ac.uk/news/press_releases/2009/04/pentagonal-ice.htm
A salmonella scare could devastate the entire pistachio industry even though the problem was only found at one processing plant. This is really bad for California's $540 million pistachio industry, where 96% of pistachios grown in the US are grown in California:
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1308966.html
The unemployment rate for software engineers jumped from 1.9% to 4.2%, with the overall unemployment rate for engineers increasing from 2.9% to 3.9% when compared to last year:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/adventures-in-it/engineer-unemployment-rate-spikes-446?source=NLC-DAILY
The economic slowdown has resulted in Americans being more worried about identity theft--75% think that the world economic crisis means they are at greater risk for identity theft. Financial security fears are now Americans' #1 concern while national security concerns are at an all-time low:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=7728
The Office for Security and Counter Terrorism in the UK had a link on its website for more information...but the link directed people to a Japanese porn site!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7986483.stm
Survey of UK businesses found that the credit crunch is becoming less severe in the UK:
http://www.cbi.org.uk/ndbs/press.nsf/0363c1f07c6ca12a8025671c00381cc7/e8dd5978e4f6373280257589004cbe0a?OpenDocument
The Australian government decided that they didn't like any of the 5 bids submitted for their national broadband network, so the Australian government will instead form a company and build the network itself:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=44767&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
Leaked HP memo seems to indicate that Microsoft will extend the life of XP until next year--consumers can "downgrade" from Vista or Windows 7 to XP:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/leaked-hp-memo-details-xp-reprieve-until-2010-report-says-456?source=NLC-DAILY
Scorecard for the winners and losers at CTIA:
Article link
Pepsi is coming out with environmentally-friendly vending machines:
http://www.brandfreak.com/2009/03/pepsico-set-to-debut-environmentally-friendly-vending-machines.html
Former pastor in NY is accused of stealing $84,537 to pay for plastic surgery, botox, and prescription drugs:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30088148/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/06/power_skin_darpa/
One big change announced by Defense Secretary Gates is that up to 39,000 contractors at the Pentagon will be replaced with civil servants:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/06/AR2009040604049.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Secretary Gates is also significantly cutting back on "boost phase" missile defense programs:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/04/gates-schwacks.html
Secretary Gates said that gutting the FCS program was the hardest decision he had to make:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/04/gates-why-i-kil.html
Lots of interesting tidbits in this transcript of Secretary Gates' briefing, including Gen. Cartright's slam on North Korea's missile capabilities (pointing out that they failed 3 times in a row and have never been successful):
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4396
Turkish authorities arrested a man who planned to pretend to be an Arab news network journalist in order to kill Pres. Obama:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/06/Arrest-made-in-alleged-Obama-plot/UPI-44601239054332/
Scientists discovered pentagonal ice, which could lead to new materials for seeding clouds and causing rain:
http://www.liv.ac.uk/news/press_releases/2009/04/pentagonal-ice.htm
A salmonella scare could devastate the entire pistachio industry even though the problem was only found at one processing plant. This is really bad for California's $540 million pistachio industry, where 96% of pistachios grown in the US are grown in California:
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1308966.html
The unemployment rate for software engineers jumped from 1.9% to 4.2%, with the overall unemployment rate for engineers increasing from 2.9% to 3.9% when compared to last year:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/adventures-in-it/engineer-unemployment-rate-spikes-446?source=NLC-DAILY
The economic slowdown has resulted in Americans being more worried about identity theft--75% think that the world economic crisis means they are at greater risk for identity theft. Financial security fears are now Americans' #1 concern while national security concerns are at an all-time low:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=7728
The Office for Security and Counter Terrorism in the UK had a link on its website for more information...but the link directed people to a Japanese porn site!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7986483.stm
Survey of UK businesses found that the credit crunch is becoming less severe in the UK:
http://www.cbi.org.uk/ndbs/press.nsf/0363c1f07c6ca12a8025671c00381cc7/e8dd5978e4f6373280257589004cbe0a?OpenDocument
The Australian government decided that they didn't like any of the 5 bids submitted for their national broadband network, so the Australian government will instead form a company and build the network itself:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=44767&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
Leaked HP memo seems to indicate that Microsoft will extend the life of XP until next year--consumers can "downgrade" from Vista or Windows 7 to XP:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/leaked-hp-memo-details-xp-reprieve-until-2010-report-says-456?source=NLC-DAILY
Scorecard for the winners and losers at CTIA:
Article link
Pepsi is coming out with environmentally-friendly vending machines:
http://www.brandfreak.com/2009/03/pepsico-set-to-debut-environmentally-friendly-vending-machines.html
Former pastor in NY is accused of stealing $84,537 to pay for plastic surgery, botox, and prescription drugs:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30088148/