Some geologists are ticked off at the International Astronomical Union for using the word pluton
to describe a round object orbiting the sun with a period more than 200 years. A pluton, it seems, is a common type of rock formation that exists in most Geology 101 curricula. IAU head Owen Gingerich is quoted as saying that he was only peripherally aware of the definition, and because it didn’t show up on MS Word’s spell check, he didn’t think it was that important — via Slashdot
Red Hat and Novell, the two top Linux sellers, have only just begun building Xen virtualisation software into their products. But they’re already planning to add a higher-level option
Microsoft on Tuesday launched a new offensive against cybersquatters who allegedly gain illegal profits from thousands of Web sites, such as WindowsLiveTutorial.com and HaloChamp.com, that include the company’s trademarked names
People close to the production of Stargate SG-1 said Sci Fi Channel cancelled the series on the eve of its 200th episode, which aired last Friday night, making the show the first cable scripted series to reach such a milestone
Microsoft has issued an open invitation to the Mozilla to bring both its Firefox browser and Thunderbird e-mail application into the Windows fold
Scientists have found tasmanian devils in the state’s far north-west coast area remain cancer free, despite the spread of the disease across the rest of the state. In a recent survey, more than 100 devils were caught in the area over 10 days. Government wildlife biologist Clare Hawkins says not one was found to have the facial tumour disease, which has already wiped out about 40 per cent of the state’s devil population. Dr Hawkins believes the survey results, combined with a trial now under way, may provide avenues for keeping the north-west disease-free
Just a fortnight after Telstra dumped plans for a national fibre-to-the-node rollout, the Tasmanian Government is pitching its own state-wide fibre network as an alternative to the telco giant
YouTube, the popular California Web site that offers video clips, announced a plan to post every music video ever made for free download. The plan threatens iTunes, which charges for videos
Flash memory company SanDisk fired its latest salvo at Apple, taking the wraps off of its Sansa e280, a $250 flash-based MP3 player with 8GB of storage, or enough memory to hold some 2,000 songs
Fourteen-year-old Ben Underwood of Sacramento, California, is one of the few people known to use echolocation as a primary means of navigating the world on land. There’s not even a hint of light reaching his brain. His eyes are artificial, but his brain has adapted to allow him to appraise his environment. He makes a clicking
sound to communicate with objects and people around him — via Warren Ellis
Google has launched their beta version of Writely.com. Writely is their word processor and answer to Microsoft Word. In addition to the usual editing features it includes many collaboration features, as well as the ability to save documents as PDFs and RSS feeds
The FDA has recently claimed that there are no medical benefits to marijuana use. Yet at the same time, the FDA has approved synthetic versions of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active ingredient in marijuana, for use in high-priced prescription drugs. Surprisingly, the FDA also lists marijuana to be as dangerous as heroin and PCP — via digg
The first phase of clinical trials indicates China’s first AIDS vaccine is safe and possibly effective, government officials announced at the press conference after a two-month-odd assessment
A simple tweak to the way common silicon transistors are made could allow faster, cheaper mobile phones and digital cameras. Devices with the modification have already set a new world record for the fastest transistor of its type. To achieve the speed gain, researchers at the University of Southampton added fluorine to the silicon devices
Television screens and computer displays capable of producing a wider range of visible colours could someday be built incorporating tiny sections of electrically-activated polymer. This polymer contracts and relaxes, like a muscle, in response to a current
The US Federal Communications Commission has begun an investigation of the use of video news releases, sometimes called fake news
, at US television stations. Video news releases are packaged stories paid for by businesses or interest groups. They use actors to portray reporters and use the same format as television news stories
A mix of bacteria-killing viruses can be safely sprayed on cold cuts, hot dogs and sausages to combat common microbes that kill hundreds of people a year, federal health officials said Friday in granting the first-ever approval of viruses as a food additive. The combination of six viruses is designed to be sprayed on ready-to-eat meat and poultry products, including sliced ham and turkey, said John Vazzana, president and chief executive officer of manufacturer Intralytix Inc
Ryanair today threatened to sue the government for compensation unless airport security measures are returned to normal within seven days. Michael O’Leary, the outspoken chief executive of Ryanair, described the new restrictions as farcical Keystone Cops security measures that don’t add anything except to block up airports
, as he issued the ultimatum
Entrepreneurs are creating companies that exploit the creative opportunities in other people’s junk, sparing the environment in the process
Users of unreleased Windows update urged to fix critical security flaws. Microsoft has released two patches for its Vista operating system, saying that it too is affected by flaws that were disclosed during the company’s 8 August security updates
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