Miniature Eames Lounge Chair / KSpence

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29 June 2013
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Miniature Eames Lounge Chair / KSpence

The lounge chair and ottoman set is just one of two Eames designs that Shapeways user KSpence has scripted for our enjoyment, the other being Charles and Ray’s LCW molded plywood chair. These scaled models of mid-century icons (which come in various sizes) bring attention to the Eames’s thoughtful manipulation of form and material. The fact that these collectibles are 3D-printed, however, offers a bit of a funny paradox: While the Eames were working precisely within the limits of malleable plywood and plastics back in the 20th century, today, rapid prototyping has seemingly freed us from these design limitations, yet we continue to revisit technically dated forms — via Architizer

Yahoo to shutter ancient search engine AltaVista

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29 June 2013
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Yahoo has announced that it will be shutting down a few products, including the ancient search engine AltaVista. The company has deemed 12 products unfit for service and will be ceasing support for them as early as today. Specifically, AltaVista is being shut down on 8 July.

AltaVista, which the search engine company purchased in 2003 by Overture for $140 million in cash and stock, may surprise some people as still being around. After all, it was founded in 1995 and competed alongside the likes of AskJeeves, Lycos, and, of course Yahoo — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Thank you for using Google Reader

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29 June 2013
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As one of the dozens of talented people who made Google Reader a reality over the years, I would like to extend my gratitude to you, the millions of users who made it part of your routine and your lives.

Looking on the bright side, closing down a site with an active user base gives us all the opportunity to celebrate the product’s 7.5 year run in a much richer way than the far more common last one here please turn off the lights kind of demise. In the last three months there has been a renaissance of activity in the RSS/newsreader world. Products that had long been idling renewed development, products that relied on Google Reader for their back-end have successfully shifted to their own infrastructure, and major Web players rushed to create their own readers to fill the imminent gap.

Am I melancholy? Of course. Do I wish that Google wasn’t shutting down Reader? Duh. Yet in the midst of my mourning I’m excited by how many flowers are blooming in Reader’s wake. It’s really unprecedented. A testament both to the ever-lowering barrier to entry for website and mobile app creators, and the global demand for managing constantly growing streams of information (hardly just news sites), this is a cottage industry that is being reborn with vigour right before our eyes. I’m certain that in the coming years we’ll see a new breed of product, borne on the backs of ‘news’ and social that both owes its invention to those aggregators that came before, and makes them look primitive in retrospect — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Easy To Make Felted Cat Toy / Lynne Morgan

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28 June 2013
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Easy To Make Felted Cat Toy / Lynne Morgan

You can make a cute felted cat toy with this easy method of felting. The felted toy is tough and chewy like pretend prey. It also has the hairyness to give a sense of realism for your kitty… Without the charming hairball after. These are lighter than the full felt construction, easier and faster to make, and have a bell inside for added pleasure. It’s a simple and practical way to recycle small amounts of wool fleece and yarn that will felt — via 7 Yaks Design

Type 1 diabetes vaccine hailed as significant step

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27 June 2013
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It may be possible to reverse type 1 diabetes by training a patient’s own immune system to stop attacking their body, an early trial suggests.

Their immune system destroys the cells that make insulin, the hormone needed to control blood sugar levels.

A study in 80 patients, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, showed a vaccine could retrain their immune system.

Experts described the results as a significant step.

Normally a vaccine teaches the immune system to attack bacteria or viruses that cause disease, such as the polio virus.

Researchers at the Stanford University Medical Centre used a vaccine with the opposite effect – to make the immune system cease its assault.

In patients with type 1 diabetes, the immune system destroys beta cells in the pancreas. This means the body is unable to produce enough insulin and regular injections of the hormone are needed throughout life.

It is a different disease to type 2 diabetes, which can be caused by an unhealthy diet.

The vaccine was targeted to the specific white blood cells which attack beta cells. After patients were given weekly injections for three months, the levels of those white blood cells fell — via redwolf.newsvine.com

It’s official: SEO spam is out of control

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27 June 2013
2 min read
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In Technology, Weird
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Check out this email an SEO provider sent to someone at Google. Um, Google’s probably happy with its search ranking, buddy.

Oh boy. We couldn’t help but laugh at reading about this spammy-looking email sent by someone offering help with SEO.

Sound familiar? Apparently they’d been browsing a site and – what luck! – they think they can make a few changes that will “get it placed higher in the organic search results”!

Only thing is, the site they think they can improve is www.google.com.

Yep, apparently this supplier of SEO services sent one of these spammy emails we’re so familiar with to someone at Google itself. If they can improve Google’s search ranking, they’re must be pretty good at what they do.

Check out this email an SEO provider sent to someone at Google. Um, Google’s probably happy with its search ranking, buddy.

Oh boy. We couldn’t help but laugh at reading about this spammy-looking email sent by someone offering help with SEO.

Sound familiar? Apparently they’d been browsing a site and — what luck! — they think they can make a few changes that will get it placed higher in the organic search results!

Only thing is, the site they think they can improve is www.google.com.

Yep, apparently this supplier of SEO services sent one of these spammy emails we’re so familiar with to someone at Google itself. If they can improve Google’s search ranking, they’re must be pretty good at what they do — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Table Runner From Plastic Canvas Circles / Diane Gilleland

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27 June 2013
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Table Runner From Plastic Canvas Circles / Diane Gilleland

Most big-box craft stores carry these intriguing PC circles, and they’re handy for lots of projects. I love this table runner for its free-formness. All you need to do is stitch up a bunch of circles, and then put them together in any configuration you like – you could make a more circular arrangement for a round table. You could make a longer and thinner one for a credenza. See my point? — via CraftyPod

Five Lion Cubs / Monarto Zoo

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27 June 2013
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Five Lion Cubs / Monarto Zoo

Monarto Zoo recently announced that it has one male and two female lion cubs, whose sex was confirmed during the cubs’ first vet check on the morning of 5 June. It was the first time Monarto Zoo staff had the opportunity to directly interact with the cubs, which were born on 24 April, to review their physical health, administer their first vaccines and determine their sex. The cubs have spent the majority of their time tucked away inside a den being cared for by their mum Tiombe with zookeepers initially keeping their distance to give the new family complete privacy during the important bonding period — via ZooBorns

Obituary: Mick Aston

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27 June 2013
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Archaeologist and broadcaster Mick Aston, who found fame with TV programme Time Team, has died aged 66.

Close friend and former colleague Phil Harding, who also worked on the popular Channel 4 series, said he had received the news from Professor Aston’s son James.

Time Team’s official Facebook and Twitter accounts also paid tribute to the retired academic: It is with a very heavy heart that we’ve been informed that our dear colleague Mick Aston has passed away. Our thoughts are with his family.

Dr Harding said that although his friend had suffered health problems, learning of his death just two weeks after talking to him on the phone for the last time had come as a shock.

It just seems so incredible, like a bad dream, but unfortunately this is no dream, the 62-year-old said. He was a seriously good mate and a seriously good archaeologist, a unique man. Everybody loved him, he just had a way with people. I cannot believe there was anybody who disliked him, he just had such a relaxed way.

He had incredible knowledge and an effortless way of making archaeology accessible to people — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Wendy Davis filibuster and public protest defeat Texas abortion bill

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26 June 2013
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A controversial abortion bill was has defeated after a day of political drama in Texas that began with a marathon filibuster speech and ended with a raucous public protest that derailed a vote in the state legislature.

A live video stream and a social media swirl drew attention from around the world to the remarkable scenes in Austin, Texas, where Democrats led by Senator Wendy Davis staged a procedural filibuster to block a bill that would have severely restricted abortion in the

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, David Dewhurst, the Texas lieutenant governor, finally conceded defeat, saying he had missed the midnight deadline to sign the bill.

The attempts to stall the bill began on Monday morning when Davis launched into a speech that would last for 10 hours and 45 minutes. When procedural motions brought by Republican opponents forced her to stop, other Democratic colleagues took up the baton, using arcane procedural wrangles to run down the clock.

As the day wore on, a live video stream grew in popularity and supporters flocked to the chamber, filling the public galleries and spilling out into the hallways outside. Amid cheers and catcalls, a vote was eventually taken on the stroke of the midnight deadline.

Dewhurst told reporters the 19-10 vote was in time, but with all the ruckus and noise going on, I couldn’t sign the bill. He blamed the delay on an unruly mob using Occupy Wall Street tactics, according to the Austin American-Statesman, and denied mishandling the debate — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Kevin Rudd defeats Julia Gillard 57-45 in Labor leadership ballot, paving way for a return to PM – Labor in Turmoil

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26 June 2013
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Kevin Rudd has prevailed in a dramatic Labor leadership ballot, defeating Julia Gillard and paving the way for him to return to the prime ministership.

Labor caucus returning officer Chris Hayes says that Mr Rudd won the leadership ballot 57-45.

The vote was the third time the Labor leadership has come to a head this Parliament, after Ms Gillard overthrew Mr Rudd in 2010 — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Australian politics is the poorer for the loss of Oakeshott and Windsor

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26 June 2013
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Independent MPs Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott are two reasons why this minority government has — in spite of all dire mutterings and pronouncements of doom — functioned, and functioned well. It’s due to their insistence on examining legislation on its merits, refusing to be pressured by either the Government or the Opposition, that we have been faced with neither paralysis nor a runaway agenda. They’ve taken pains to consult with everyone from the Prime Minister to fellow Independent Andrew Wilkie to their local constituents, and helped broker significant parliamentary reforms.

And for their pains, what have they received? I’ve already written about the amount of ridicule levelled at Oakeshott for his tendency to speak his mind at length. Windsor became the target of an extraordinary amount of venom from the National Party, accused of everything from treason to megalomania. Nonetheless, they’ve continued to do their jobs, and done them well.

Their dedication to behaving as politicians should — as representatives who put the nation’s interests above their own gain — has gained them little praise, and far too much criticism. Australian politics is richer for their contribution.

And now, Australia will be far poorer — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Nerve cells re-grown in rats after spinal injury

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26 June 2013
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US scientists say they have made progress in repairing spinal cord injuries in paralysed rats.

Rats regained some bladder control after surgery to transplant nerve cells into the spinal cord, combined with injections of a cocktail of chemicals.

The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, could raise hopes for one day treating paralysed patients.

But UK experts say it will take several years of research before human clinical trials can be considered — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Shelved? No. Data retention will be back

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26 June 2013
3 min read
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Yesterday it was widely reported that the Federal Government had shelved its data retention plans, walking away from the controversial proposal to monitor all Australians’ communications. But the reality is the complete opposite: Data retention is still being actively considered as a policy and will shortly return to plague Australia once again.

If you believe most of Australia’s media outlets, yesterday the great multi-headed monster that is data retention was slayed by a cadre of victorious knights. Government shelves controversial data retention scheme, proclaimed The Age. Australian Government shelves data retention plans, wrote ZDNet. Govt shelves telco data retention scheme, added iTNews. Yup, there were plenty of footsoldiers waving flags in the air, their feet squarely planted on what they thought was the corpse of this long-reviled comprehensive surveillance project.

The only problem is, when you go back to the source material behind yesterday’s glorious proclamation and put it into context in terms of data retention’s wider history in Australia, it becomes clear that the project as a whole has only suffered a temporary setback in its progression at best, and that at worst, this week’s events have actually played right into its proponents’ hands. Things, if you’re a bureaucrat at the Attorney-General’s Department, are pretty much right on track.

The source of yesterday’s jubilation was two-fold. Firstly, the parliamentary committee which had been examining the data retention proposal as part of a much wider package of surveillance reforms, in a process known as the National Security Inquiry, had finally — at the last possible moment, in the last sitting week of the current Parliament — delivered a report into the proposed reforms, severely criticising the Attorney-General’s Department for its lack of transparency in developing the data retention policy, and recommending a wide range of transparency and accountability measures, as well as hard limits on its power, on the data retention idea — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Pee a Rainbow: Scientist Snaps Shot of Colourful Urine

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26 June 2013
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Pee the Rainbow
Pee the Rainbow, originally uploaded by Heather West.

From red to blue to violet, all the colours of the rainbow appear regularly in urine tests conducted at hospital labs.

The prismatic pee collection seen in this stunning photo took only a week to assemble for medical laboratory scientists at Tacoma General Hospital in Tacoma, Washington. Heather West, the laboratory scientist who snapped the picture at the hospital, said she and her colleagues collected the urine colours to highlight their fascinating behind-the-scenes work.

My picture was intended to illustrate both the incredible and unexpected things the human body is capable of, the curiosity in science, and also the beauty that can be found in unexpected places, West said. A mix between art and science — via redwolf.newsvine.com

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