4:32 PM
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2010/01/133_59176.html
Israeli group developed 4 new robots that can climb up walls:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/robots-climb-wall
Six-legged robot adjusts its walking style based on its terrain, and even has a "panic mode" to run away quickly for the first sign of trouble:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/robot-chooses-menu-walking-styles-escape-trouble
Scientists have been growing pig stem cells have been grown into meat since 2006 and say that it could offer a green alternative to raising livestock and help the world hunger problem. For example, one pig could have its stem cells used to create the meat of a million pigs, and they could actually produce hamburgers that *prevent* heart attacks instead of causing them:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2010/01/Life-Science-Stem-cells-transformed-into-pork/?wnnvz=1737,01280445876
Seismologists are worried that the big earthquake in Haiti could increase the chance of another major earthquake in Haiti or other populations in the Caribbean. Even worse, a massive earthquake is predicted for the Turkish city of Istanbul (12 million people live there!) that has built up even more strain than the fault that caused the Haitian quake, so they expect an even larger earthquake there (possibly 7.6) with a lot more people living in that area. Also, the southern portion of the San Andreas fault (near LA) hasn't had a big earthquake for 300 years and has now accumulated enough strain to produce an earthquake 7.0 or greater:
http://www.insidescience.org/current_affairs/after_haiti_worries_about_other_big_quakes
The hacking techniques used by Chinese government operatives in the assault on Google and 31 other Western companies is considered one of the most sophisticated hacking attacks ever, with multiple malware components and highly obfuscated code designed to confound security researchers. One thing the article points out is why was Google using IE6 instead of Chrome or Firefox?
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/experts-chinese-attack-google-one-most-sophisticated-hacking-attacks-date
German news program revealed a potential security breach at some of Germany's largest airports:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5128380,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-ger-1023-rdf
Physicist proposed using a cannon to send cargo into orbit--it currently costs $5,000 per pound to send cargo into orbit, but the cannon would cost just $250 per pound:
http://www.physorg.com/news183023838.html
Pres. Obama is adding $1.35 billion to his FY 2011 budget for educational grants. The plan rewards states that make the most progress in raising academic standards, boosting teacher quality, tracking student gains and improving failing schools:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-19/obama-to-add-1-35-billion-in-2011-for-school-grants-update1-.html
San Diego boy's science project resulted in his middle school being evacuated because they thought it was a bomb!
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/18/boys-science-project-prompts-school-evacuation/
Google decided to delay the planned release (supposed to be today) in China of two Android-based smartphones due to the uncertainty of Google's operations in China:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/google-postpones-android-phone-launches-china/2010-01-19?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
The Apple Tablet (and possibly the new 4.0 operating system for the iPhone) will be released on January 27--the iTablet sounds a lot like a much bigger iTouch:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/187172/apple_tablet_due_jan_27_maybe_iphone_40.html
AT&T followed Verizon and dropped the price on a number of their unlimited calling plans to match Verizon's price cuts:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/t-follows-verizon-offers-new-unlimited-plans/2010-01-15?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
The FCC adopted an order to ban wireless microphones that use the 700 MHz frequency band. This means that there might be as many as 500,000 illegally operating wireless microphones--and many churches, schools, and other organizations won't realize they are breaking the law. I think that it is pretty funny that one of the makers of wireless microphones exposed this illegal use of the airwaves when they complained about white space devices operating in the 700 MHz spectrum...after their complaint was received, the FCC realized that\ the complainers weren't supposed to be using 700 MHz!
http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/fcc-adopts-order-banning-wireless-microphones-700-mhz-band/2010-01-19?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
http://urgentcomm.com/policy_and_law/news/fcc-bans-wireless-mics-20100119/
RCA demonstrated its device that can convert WiFi signals into DC power for charging small wireless devices such as smartphones, so as long as you are within range of a WiFi network you could charge your phone:
http://news.techworld.com/mobile-wireless/3210221/wifi-wireless-signals-used-to-charge-mobiles/
Clearwire isn't rushing to test WiMax 2 (802.16m, 4x2 MIMO for 120 Mbps downlink and 60 Mbps uplink), but say that they might test it next year:
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=186735&
WiFi access at McDonald's became free to the public at 11,500 of their locations starting January 15:
http://wifinetnews.com/archives/2010/01/mcdonalds_starts_free_wi-fi_today_in_united_states.html
Article about why Firefox is doomed--it seems that no major upgrades are possible due to the problems with the existing code base, making it hard for Firefox (which is what I do all my web browsing on!) to compete with IE and Chrome in the future:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/why-firefox-doomed-143?source=IFWNLE_nlt_daily_2010-01-19