Planes changing weather patterns: study

Researchers say planes might be changing local weather patterns around airports.

A study released in the American journal Science has found aeroplanes flying through clouds can lead to increased snowfall around airports.

The researchers say the effect is similar to the practice of cloud seeding, where aircraft are used to disperse chemicals to bring about rain or snow — via redwolf.newsvine.com

IBM Announces Paradigm Shift Memory Breakthrough

In a potentially game-changing development, IBM researchers have announced a new memory technology that could soon replace flash-based memory in everything from consumer devices to cruise missiles. Non-volatile phase-change memory (PCM) can store multiple data bits per cell over extended periods in a form that is cheaper, faster and more durable.

IBM is calling the technology a paradigm shift for enterprise and storage systems within the next five years — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Indestructible TDL-4 Botnet Controls 4.5M Windows PCs

A sophisticated botnet called TDL-4 has infected more than 4.5 million Windows-based PCs worldwide, according to Kaspersky Labs. TDL-4, a TDSS variant, uses encryption and has avoided detection. Kaspersky’s Sergey Golovanov said the creators of TDL-4 are trying to build an indestructible botnet that can survive having its control shut down — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Deodar / Frank Lloyd Wright

Tell you what really annoys me — when estate agents market houses for knocking down. Not least, when it’s as interesting as Deodar in Trip Garth, Linton, Wetherby, Yorkshire.

Anyway, large house, large plot, sought-after location. Never going to be cheap. Offers are invited around the £1,300,000 mark. Find out more at Rightmove — via WowHaus

BMW R100 Cafe Racer / Urban Motor

Urban Motor is a CR&S dealer in Berlin, Germany, but it doesn’t just sell new motorcycles. The company has put together a lovely classic BMW café racer, using a 1983 R80 G/S as the base. Earl Grey has been upgraded with a R100RS front fork, motor and driveline, putting a healthy 70hp at the rider’s disposal — via Bike EXIF

Myspace sells (finally) for $35 million

As I wrote yesterday, News Corp was on the verge of selling the incredibly shrinking social networking site Myspace for anywhere between $20 million and $35 million, with two bidders vying for the deal.

Well, we have a winner, and it’s Golden Gate Capital.

Meanwhile, the other bidding finalist, Specific Media, has purchased Myspace for $35 million, proving that Rupert Murdoch still knows how to drive a hard bargain! — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Researchers cut waste and lower cost of ‘CIGS’ solar cells using inkjet printing technology

Traditional solar cell production techniques are usually time consuming and require expensive vacuum systems or toxic chemicals. Depositing chemical compounds such as CIGS on a substrate using vapor phase deposition also wastes most of the expensive material in the process. For the first time, engineers at Oregon State University (OSU) have now developed a process to create CIGS solar cells with inkjet printing technology that allows for precise patterning to reduce raw material waste by 90 percent and significantly lower the cost of producing solar cells with promising, yet expensive compounds — via redwolf.newsvine.com

No Family Plots, Just Communal Burials In Ancient Settlement

Human remains discovered beneath the floors of mud-brick houses at one of the world’s first permanent settlements, were not biologically related to one another, a finding that paints a new picture of life 9,000 years ago on a marshy plain in central Turkey.

Even children as young as 8 were not buried alongside their parents or other relatives at the site called Çatalhöyük, the researchers found — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Fobe Home / Guilhem Eustache

We [Guilhem Eustache] used local materials and techniques like clay, tadelack, Pierre de Ourika. We have preserved the wildness of the land although we have planted more than 500 trees. We doubled the walls to help deal with the climate, creating room high-rise and sun protections. Each region and country deserves architectural answers, adapted in line with requirements climatic, cultural and economic conditions — via ArchDaily

Black Jack / Filippo Barbacane

Italian Moto Guzzi guru Filippo Barbacane has just finished a new custom, Black Jack. Simple and understated in silver and black, it’s based on the 1000 SP — a somewhat ungainly tourer built between 1977 and 1985. Barbacane has transformed the machine with his usual painstaking attention to detail, creating a stylish, usable and fast bike — via Bike EXIF

Google pulls paid apps from Taiwan after being fined

Taiwanese users of Google Inc’s Android Market were left in the dark yesterday as the search engine giant removed the paid app section from its online store.

The removal of the paid app section came after the Taipei City Government slapped Google with a NT$1 million (US$34,550) fine for failing to offer Taiwanese consumers a seven-day free-trial mechanism as mandated by law — via redwolf.newsvine.com