FUTURE ZONE

TELCOS FALLING BEHIND IN INTERNET RACE

Sun Chairman Scott McNealy says telecom companies need to go beyond just providing bandwidth and begin acquiring Internet destination sites that are heavily trafficked

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/02/28/McNealy-Telcos-falling-behind-in-Internet-race_1.html?source=NLC-TB&cgd=2008-02-28

HOMELAND SECURITY ZONE

FEMA NEEDS TO BETTER COORDINATE GOVERNMENT & VOLUNTEER RESPONSE

The Federal Emergency Management Agency needs to better coordinate the roles of government and voluntary responders under the new National Response Framework, according to the Government Accountability Office. "The Red Cross agreed that FEMA should be the primary agency for mass care" under the framework because FEMA can "direct federal agencies' resources to meet mass care needs." But FEMA does not have the specialized staff to work with the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters, nor has it coordinated with the National Council on Disability to better serve the disabled during emergencies.

http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-08-369

U.S. NOT SET UP TO TRACE NUCLEAR DEVICE AFTER ATTACK

The first question asked after an atomic explosion in the US (or elsewhere) would be, "Who did this to us?" But the US ability to answer that question rapidly has faded since the end of the Cold War. A former director of the nuclear weapons laboratory in Livermore, California says a rejuvenated nuclear forensics program is urgently needed. ...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080216142207.htm

DETAINING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ALREADY HEADING HOME DRAWS CRITICISM

Public defenders in Houston are criticizing the recent arrests of illegal immigrants who were pulled out of airplane lines when attempting to fly home to their native countries. Since July, at least five people have been arrested at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport while trying to board planes headed to Mexico, Honduras or El Salvador, according to Customs and Border Protection officials. All five had been deported previously. Federal public defenders who take on these cases call the practice a waste of time and money.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1203939949820

NATURAL DISASTER ZONE

FEDERAL OFFICIAL PROMISES STATES MORE TSUNAMI MONEY

The head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday promised to fully fund tsunami preparedness programs for Oregon and other states, ...

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/02/federal_official_promises_stat.html

AIR PATROL PILOTS TAKE TSUNAMI ALERT SYSTEM TO THE SKIES

The distance makes it perfect for its intended use: to warn the south coast of an impending tsunami. Within 20 minutes, Bakker says, he or one of the other ...

http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls%3Fcid%3D69543%26sid%3D1%26fid%3D1

RTUAL 9.0 EARTHQUAKE SHAKES PACIFIC NORTHWEST

Scientists used a supercomputer-driven "virtual earthquake" to explore likely ground shaking in a magnitude 9.0 megathrust earthquake in the Pacific ...

http://www.physorg.com/multimedia/pix1578/

CYBERZONE

U.S. JUDGE POKES HOLE IN FILE-SHARING LAWSUIT

Legal experts say a recent U.S. court ruling could force the music industry to provide more evidence against people accused of illegal file sharing.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/02/26/US-judge-pokes-hole-in-file-sharing-lawsuit_1.html?source=NLC-TB&cgd=2008-02-26

Excellent article and substantive links

GOOGLE PART OF GROUP BUILDING CABLE TO JAPAN

Google is one of six companies in a new consortium called Unity that is building a new undersea cable to boost Internet capacity between the United States and Asia.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/02/26/Google-part-of-group-building-cable-to-Japan_1.html?source=NLC-TB&cgd=2008-02-26

WILL THE FAA BAN LAPTOP BATTERIES?

Laptop batteries explode. It's only a matter of time before it happens in-flight. Then what?

http://cwflyris.computerworld.com/t/2820092/1423585/100094/2/

FASTEST COMPUTER: ONE MILLION TRILLION "FLOPS" PER SECOND

Preparing groundwork for an exascale computer is the mission of the new Institute for Advanced Architectures, launched jointly at Sandia and Oak Ridge national laboratories. An exaflop is a thousand times faster than a petaflop, itself a thousand times faster than a teraflop. Teraflop computers -the first was developed 10 years ago at Sandia - currently are the state of the art. They do trillions of calculations a second. Exaflop computers would perform a million trillion calculations per second. ... > http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080221162405.htm

ANIMATED COMPUTER TUTORS HELP REMEDIAL READERS, LANGUAGE LEARNERS, AUTISTIC CHILDREN

Tools developed by researchers exploring language and speech comprehension can be powerful aids for remedial readers, children with language challenges, and anyone learning a second language, according to psychologists. ...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080214153532.htm

DETAILS EMERGE ON YouTube BLOCKAGE

Information has come to light about why Pakistani action against YouTube made the site inaccessible.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/technology/7266600.stm

YouTube OUTAGE UNDERSCORES BIG INTERNET PROBLEM

Sunday's inadvertent disruption of Google's YouTube video service underscores a flaw in the Internet's design that could some day lead to a serious security problem, according to networking experts.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/02/26/YouTube-outage-underscores-big-Internet-problem_1.html?source=NLC-TB&cgd=2008-02-26

FLAWLESS DATA RECEPTION FOR FIBER-BASED TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Virtually flawless data reception to end users of the Internet and other fiber-based telecommunications systems is possible with a new device. The technology uses a 3-D photonic crystal to filter out unwanted wavelength channels so the end user gets a clear signal without interference from the other optical frequencies. ...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080218162851.htm

WOOMAIL WANTS TO WOO YOU AWAY FROM SPAM

Are you bugged by spam? Plagued by e-mail-borne viruses? Worried about the security of your messages? Then you might like Woomail and control of your online communications.

http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=1230048OM3J3&nl=2

SCIENCE ZONE

HELPFUL HAIR

"You are what you eat and drink - and that is recorded in your hair,"

says geochemist Thure Cerling, who led University of Utah research with ecologist Jim Ehleringer. The scientists developed a new crime-fighting tool by showing that human hair reveals the general location where a person drank water, helping police track past movements of criminal suspects or unidentified murder victims.

http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20080228A2

KAVA LINKED TO LIVER DAMAGE, NEW EVIDENCE SHOWS

Scientists have found new evidence, using innovative techniques, to support the growing body of literature that indicates kava may have a negative effect on the liver. Kava is a plant native to the South Pacific that has been used as a ceremonial beverage in the region for thousands of years, and, more recently, as a natural treatment for medical conditions such as anxiety. In recent years, serious concerns about the dangers of kava and the effects on the liver have resulted in regulatory agencies, such as the US Food and Drug Administration and Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration, banning or restricting the sale of kava and kava products. ...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080222111446.htm

ENERGY ZONE

FIRST BIOFUEL FLIGHT TAKES OFF, FLIES...AND LANDS

The first flight by a commercial plane powered partly by biofuel lands in Amsterdam.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/uk/7261214.stm

STUDENT DESIGNS GRAVITY POWERED LAMP EQUAL TO 40 WATT BULB

The LED lamp, named Gravia, has just won second place in the Greener Gadgets Design Competition in New York City. Concept illustrations of Gravia depict an acrylic column a little over four feet high. The entire column glows when activated. The electricity is generated by the slow fall of a mass that spins a rotor. The resulting energy powers 10 high-output LEDs that fire into the acrylic lens, creating a diffuse light. The operation is silent and the housing is elegant and cord free -- completely independent of electrical infrastructure.

The light output will be 600-800 lumens -- roughly equal to a 40 watt incandescent bulb over a period of four hours.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080220221822.htm

ENVIRONMENT ZONE

CHEAP, CLEAN DRINKING WATER PURIFIED THROUGH NANOTECHNOLOGY

Tiny particles of pure silica coated with an active material could be used to remove toxic chemicals, bacteria, viruses, and other hazardous materials from water much more effectively and at lower cost than conventional water purification methods, according to new research.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080220094656.htm

ASIA PACIFIC ZONE

JAPAN LAUNCHES ASIA BROADBAND SATELLITE

Sunday's Japanese launch of an experimental communications satellite could bring high-speed broadband services to isolated areas of Japan and elsewhere in Asia. Known as the Wideband internetworking engineering test and Demonstration Satellite, or WINDS, the KIZUNA bird contains three antennas and could lead to Japan's building one of the globe's most advanced information and telecommunications networks, according to Japanese scientists.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7260673.stm

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10494466

SHARP'S SOLAR CELL OUTPUT TOPS 2 MILLION kw IN 2007

Sharp Corp said Wednesday that its cumulative production of solar cells came to 2.07 million kilowatts at the end of last year, about one-quarter the amount produced so far throughout the world. The output is expected to grow markedly when a new solar cell plant with an annual output capacity of about 1 million kw comes onstream in the year ending March 2010, company officials said. The facility, to be built in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, is touted to be one of the largest solar cell factories in the world. (Kyodo News) FULL ARTICLE

WIRELESS ZONE

DOUBTS CAST ON MUNICIPAL WiFi AS PROJECT HIT POTHOLES

Vendors have pulled the plug on wireless networks in several cities, raising doubts about the viability of the once-highly-touted municipal Wi-Fi market.

http://cwflyris.computerworld.com/t/2820092/1423585/100095/2/

SITE CITE

ROW OVER G SPOT NEARS CLIMAX

After more than half a century of debate and bedroom exploration, a row about the location of the fabled G spot may be settled at last, research suggests. http://abcmail.net.au/t/92841/681895/2014/0/