5:12 PM
Quake scientists predicts that Iran will be shaken by a quake in late April. The theory is that the location and magnitude of an earthquake can be predicted by certain cloud formations:
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/04/quake-scientist-says-iran-will.html
Satellites show how the Earth moved during the Italy quake:
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEM4PJ9NJTF_index_0.html
Scorpion venom and nanoparticles have been found to cut the spread of cancerous cells by 98%!
Article link
Soldiers may someday carry several of these cheap, tiny (about 3 inches long!) helicopter-like UAVs in their pockets:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/17/black_hornet_outdoor_tests/
Harris is buying Tyco's Wireless Unit:
http://www.reuters.com/article/americasDealsNews/idUSTRE53F72220090417
http://www.harris.com/view_pressrelease.asp?act=lookup&pr_id=2690
Defense Secretary Gates said that the Future Combat Systems program was a mistake, saying that it was a bad attempt at having the DoD to be like Google:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/04/gates-to-army-w.html
North Carolina State PhD student came up with a way to use a *long* tether and ballast system to deflect asteriods that are headed towards a collision with the Earth. That 100,000 kilometer tether sure won't be easy to make and deploy, though:
http://news.ncsu.edu/news/2009/04/wmsfrenchasteroid.php
For the first time in many years, H-IB demand is well below supply:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/adventures-in-it/h-1b-demand-falls-short-supply-905
Google predicts that this will be a strong year for Android, including an expansion into netbooks--that could be a big problem for Microsoft. Interestingly, companies have started to use Android on netbooks on their own, Google wasn't pushing that:
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20090417/tc_pcworld/googlesceopredictsstrongyearforandroid
Sony Ericsson says that it will take them time to develop an Android-based phone:
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINLH51545920090417?rpc=44
Sony Ericsson posted a heavy Q1 loss and will lay of 2,000 people to try to become profitable again. Their sales went from 24.2 million two quarters ago to 14.2 million last quarter, with their market share shrinking (8 percent to 6 percent) due to fierce competition:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hn-2oWK1qjtdEbQdTTItLk70ZgGAD97K40SG2
The Garmin/Asustek smartphone will use a Linux-based operating system (LiMo) in one of their phones and Windows Mobile in their other phone. The LiMo smartphone is expected to be released in June:
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINTP31641020090417
The Pirate Bay defendants were each sentenced to a year in prison and have to pay entertainment companies $3.7 million for helping millions of internet users to illegally download music and movies:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=44806&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
Hackers have started a campaign to force vendors to pay them for the security bugs they report. The disturbing thing about this is that hackers can make more money by selling bugs on the black hat market than they would make by working with vendors to make products more secure:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/should-we-pay-hackers-find-bugs-876?source=NLC-DAILY
Piers Morgan talked about the Susan Boyle audition:
http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2009/04/piers-morgan-on.html
It turns out that Susan Boyle recorded a song for a charity record 10 years ago...they only produced 1,000 copies of that CD and there will be quite a demand for the copies that still exist!
Article link
Domino's responded quickly to mitigate the PR damage caused by the fast-spreading YouTube videos of two Domino's employees doing disgusting things to the food they are preparing (such as picking his nose and placing the result in the food he's making). The employees were fired and are facing criminal charges:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2009-04-15-kitchen-pr-dominos-pizza_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
Overweight passengers may have to pay for two seats or to upgrade their seat on United Airlines if there aren't two empty seats available on the plane:
http://www.suntimes.com/business/lazare/1529524,CST-NWS-united16.article
Driving instructor was drunk while giving a driving lesson--he wasn't behind the wheel while drunk, but he was in control of the passenger side brakes and moved the steering wheel during the lesson, so he lost his license for a year. It must have been strange for the student to have a driving instructor that was drunk giving him/her instructions!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30254947/
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/04/quake-scientist-says-iran-will.html
Satellites show how the Earth moved during the Italy quake:
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEM4PJ9NJTF_index_0.html
Scorpion venom and nanoparticles have been found to cut the spread of cancerous cells by 98%!
Article link
Soldiers may someday carry several of these cheap, tiny (about 3 inches long!) helicopter-like UAVs in their pockets:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/17/black_hornet_outdoor_tests/
Harris is buying Tyco's Wireless Unit:
http://www.reuters.com/article/americasDealsNews/idUSTRE53F72220090417
http://www.harris.com/view_pressrelease.asp?act=lookup&pr_id=2690
Defense Secretary Gates said that the Future Combat Systems program was a mistake, saying that it was a bad attempt at having the DoD to be like Google:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/04/gates-to-army-w.html
North Carolina State PhD student came up with a way to use a *long* tether and ballast system to deflect asteriods that are headed towards a collision with the Earth. That 100,000 kilometer tether sure won't be easy to make and deploy, though:
http://news.ncsu.edu/news/2009/04/wmsfrenchasteroid.php
For the first time in many years, H-IB demand is well below supply:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/adventures-in-it/h-1b-demand-falls-short-supply-905
Google predicts that this will be a strong year for Android, including an expansion into netbooks--that could be a big problem for Microsoft. Interestingly, companies have started to use Android on netbooks on their own, Google wasn't pushing that:
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20090417/tc_pcworld/googlesceopredictsstrongyearforandroid
Sony Ericsson says that it will take them time to develop an Android-based phone:
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINLH51545920090417?rpc=44
Sony Ericsson posted a heavy Q1 loss and will lay of 2,000 people to try to become profitable again. Their sales went from 24.2 million two quarters ago to 14.2 million last quarter, with their market share shrinking (8 percent to 6 percent) due to fierce competition:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hn-2oWK1qjtdEbQdTTItLk70ZgGAD97K40SG2
The Garmin/Asustek smartphone will use a Linux-based operating system (LiMo) in one of their phones and Windows Mobile in their other phone. The LiMo smartphone is expected to be released in June:
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINTP31641020090417
The Pirate Bay defendants were each sentenced to a year in prison and have to pay entertainment companies $3.7 million for helping millions of internet users to illegally download music and movies:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=44806&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
Hackers have started a campaign to force vendors to pay them for the security bugs they report. The disturbing thing about this is that hackers can make more money by selling bugs on the black hat market than they would make by working with vendors to make products more secure:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/should-we-pay-hackers-find-bugs-876?source=NLC-DAILY
Piers Morgan talked about the Susan Boyle audition:
http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2009/04/piers-morgan-on.html
It turns out that Susan Boyle recorded a song for a charity record 10 years ago...they only produced 1,000 copies of that CD and there will be quite a demand for the copies that still exist!
Article link
Domino's responded quickly to mitigate the PR damage caused by the fast-spreading YouTube videos of two Domino's employees doing disgusting things to the food they are preparing (such as picking his nose and placing the result in the food he's making). The employees were fired and are facing criminal charges:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2009-04-15-kitchen-pr-dominos-pizza_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
Overweight passengers may have to pay for two seats or to upgrade their seat on United Airlines if there aren't two empty seats available on the plane:
http://www.suntimes.com/business/lazare/1529524,CST-NWS-united16.article
Driving instructor was drunk while giving a driving lesson--he wasn't behind the wheel while drunk, but he was in control of the passenger side brakes and moved the steering wheel during the lesson, so he lost his license for a year. It must have been strange for the student to have a driving instructor that was drunk giving him/her instructions!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30254947/