New frog species found hiding in NYC

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15 March 2012
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In Science, Wildlife
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Scientists say they have found a new type of frog living in New York City.

While new species are usually discovered in remote regions, this so-far unnamed type of leopard frog was first heard croaking on Staten Island.

Jeremy Feinberg of Rutgers University in New Jersey noticed the frogs there had a call he had never heard before.

They look identical to other species, but genetic analysis showed they are a new species of leopard frog that probably once lived in Manhattan — via redwolf.newsvine.com

AOL kills Instant Messenger

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15 March 2012
54 second read
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In Technology
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Likely the very first non-email application you ever used to speak with your friends and relatives is about to be shut down for good, AOL Instant Messenger, aka AIM, has been all but slashed entirely from the AOL family. This application’s 40 employees in charge of development as well as everything outside of basic maintenance has been let go entirely. While support staff for the ecosystem will remain, no future upgrades to the software will exist from this point on — via SlashGear

San Jose tries again with free downtown Wi-Fi

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14 March 2012
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The California city of about 1 million intends to offer high-speed Wi-Fi throughout its downtown, covering an area of 1.5 square miles (3.9 square kilometres) in the middle of this year. But unlike earlier municipal Wi-Fi initiatives, such as a Google-sponsored network that would have covered San Francisco, the San Jose system will be able to pay for itself entirely by helping the government do its job.

In the middle of the past decade, ambitious projects in several cities, including parts of San Jose, promised to blanket outdoor areas with Wi-Fi and provide built-in sources of revenue. Home broadband subscriptions, browser-based advertising or small-business use would help to pay for equipment and operations. But those complicated business models depended on assumptions that often proved unfounded — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Mayor’s speed cameras would help political ally

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14 March 2012
1 min read
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In Business, Politics
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When Rahm Emanuel was a first-time candidate for Congress, Greg Goldner was behind him, quietly marshalling the patronage troops that helped get him elected. When Emanuel ran for mayor, Goldner was there again, doling out campaign cash to elect Emanuel-friendly aldermen to City Council.

And when the rookie mayor was looking for community support for his school reform agenda, there was Goldner, working behind the scenes with the ministers who backed Emanuel’s plan.

Now, it turns out the longtime allies share another interest — the installation of automated speed cameras in Chicago.

As consultant to the firm that already supplies Chicago its red-light cameras, Goldner is the architect of a nationwide campaign to promote his client’s expansion prospects. That client, Redflex Traffic Systems Inc, is well-positioned to make tens of millions of dollars from Emanuel’s controversial plan to convert many of the red-light cameras into automated speed cameras — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Government uses special powers to slash cancer drug price by 97%

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14 March 2012
2 min read
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In Business, Health, Politics, World
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In a landmark decision that could set a precedent on how life-saving drugs under patents can be made affordable, the government has allowed a domestic company, Natco Pharma, to manufacture a copycat version of Bayer’s patented anti-cancer drug, Nexavar, bringing down its price by 97%.

In the first-ever case of compulsory licencing approval, the Indian Patent Office on Monday cleared the application of Hyderabad’s Natco Pharma to sell generic drug Nexavar, used for renal and liver cancer, at Rs 8,880 (around $175) for a 120-capsule pack for a month’s therapy. Bayer offers it for over Rs 2.8 lakh (roughly $5,500) per 120 capsule. The order provides hope for patients who cannot afford these drugs.

The approval paves the way for the launch of Natco’s drug in the market, a company official told TOI, adding that it will pay a 6% royalty on net sales every quarter to Bayer. The licence will be valid till such time the drug’s patent is valid, ie 2020. As per the CL (compulsory licence) order, Natco is also committed to donating free supplies of the medicines to 600 patients each year — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Hobbit pub in Southampton threatened with legal action

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14 March 2012
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In Business, Entertainment
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The Southampton pub has been accused of copyright infringement by lawyers representing the Saul Zaentz Company (SZC) in California.

The company owns the worldwide rights to several brands associated with author JRR Tolkien, including The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings.

Landlady Stella Mary Roberts said: I can’t fight Hollywood — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Judge Orders Failed Copyright Troll to Forfeit ‘All’ Copyrights

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14 March 2012
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In Technology
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Righthaven, a copyright-troll law firm that failed in its attempt to make money for newspapers by suing readers for sharing stories online, was dealt a death blow on Tuesday by a federal judge who ordered the Las Vegas company to forfeit all of its intellectual property and other “intangible property” to settle its debts.

The order is an ironic twist to a copyright trolling saga that began in 2010, when Righthaven was formed with the idea of suing blogs and websites that re-post newspaper articles or snippets of them without permission — via ars technica

Nodding disease: First Ugandan treatment centres open

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14 March 2012
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Uganda has opened its first clinics specifically set up to help thousands of children who have a mysterious fatal condition known as nodding syndrome.

The centres in the north — where the disease is most common — are to control the worst of the symptoms.

The disease’s cause is unknown, but it affects only children — who suffer from seizures, stunted physical and mental growth and nodding of the head.

There have also been cases of the disease in South Sudan and Tanzania — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Encyclopedia Britannica halts print publication after 244 years

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14 March 2012
1 min read
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In Technology
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Its legacy winds back through centuries and across continents, past the birth of America to the waning days of the Enlightenment. It is a record of humanity’s achievements in war and peace, art and science, exploration and discovery. It has been taken to represent the sum of all human knowledge.

And now it’s going out of print.

The Encyclopedia Britannica has announced that after 244 years, dozens of editions and more than 7m sets sold, no new editions will be put to paper. The 32 volumes of the 2010 instalment, it turns out, were the last. Future editions will live exclusively online — via redwolf.newsvine.com

WWII Bomber Regulator / Bell & Ross

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14 March 2012
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In Design
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The Bell & Ross WII Bomber Regulator has an oversized crown that has been placed on the left at 9 o’clock, rather than the more traditionally placed 3 o’clock. The large crown and the wide-notched bezel ensure optimal ease of use, facilitating operation while wearing gloves as a WWII pilot would have. This piece has a higher-end Dubois Dépraz movement — via Perpetuelle

Jimmy Wales: Wikipedia chief to advise Whitehall on policy

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13 March 2012
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In Politics, Technology
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The American internet entrepreneur, 45, will become an unpaid adviser across all government departments to help civil servants develop innovative new technology.

Under his role, it is expected that Mr Wales will also advise civil servants on how the public can be better engaged through the internet as part of its open government initiatives.

A Whitehall source told The Daily Telegraph on Sunday night that Mr Wales was one of a number of unpaid advisers who would provide help to civil servants rather than ministers — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Hollywood Hills House / Francois Perrin

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13 March 2012
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This private residence [Francois Perrin] is located in the Hollywood Hills, overlooking the City of Los Angeles. It is one of the rare remaining building lots of this neighborhood, also one of the few protected areas in the City. The building engages with the surrounding environment in order to produce an Architecture that merges with the Landscape. The contemporary design of the house interacts as well with the natural elements (air, sun and vegetation) but has only a little visual impact in the Hills — via ArchDaily

Police: Stalker planned wedding for her, victim

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13 March 2012
49 second read
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In Weird
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A Des Moines woman accused of planning to wed a man she relentlessly followed for more than a year has been charged with felony stalking.

King County prosecutors contend Madeline Ann Desmet went so far as to order a wedding ring and reserve a Seattle courtroom for the ceremony before she was arrested in late February. Having been convicted of stalking previously, she’s now again charged with the crime — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Twitter buys microblogging service Posterous

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13 March 2012
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In Business, Technology
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Twitter has bought the microblogging service Posterous and will be running it as an adjunct to its main client — for the time being, at least.

This team has built an innovative product that makes sharing across the web and mobile devices simple — a goal we share, said Twitter in a statement. Posterous engineers, product managers and others will join our teams working on several key initiatives that will make Twitter even better — via redwolf.newsvine.com

One Hertz Fire / Grönefeld

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13 March 2012
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The Grönefeld One Hertz Fire comes in a titanium case with striking orange accents. It is a new variation on the One Hertz watch introduced by Grönefeld last year. The One Hertz features a rare complication called dead beat seconds, which means that the seconds hand, which has a prominent place on the dial, makes one tick per second — much as a quartz watch would, but it is achieved through mechanical means — via Perpetuelle

Modify an Ikea Lack Table into a Dog Dining Table

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12 March 2012
1 min read
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In Design
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If you have medium-large to large dogs it can be difficult to keep their food area organised. My dog loves to push around his food and water bowls, often spilling them in process. Instead why not cut out holes in an $8 Ikea Lack side table to fit your dog’s food and water bowls to make sure they stay in one place.

This simple mod comes from the good folks at Ikea Hackers weblog. The author measured the cuts for standard steel food and water bowls and cut the holes with a Dremel so that the bowls can be easily popped in and out of the table. If your dogs are like mine it may be worth a try — via Lifehacker

Keep Single Serving Microwave Cake Mix on Hand for a Quick Fix

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12 March 2012
56 second read
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In Food
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For a quick pick me up at work or at home you can keep this cake mix in a ziplock bag for a fast coffee mug full of cake. You’ll just need to mix one box of Angel Food cake mix with one box of any other cake mix and combine them together in a freezer bag. When you need a shot of cake-y goodness put 3 tablespoons of this mix in your mug with 2 tablespoons water and microwave on high for 1 minute — via Lifehacker

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