May 31, 2009 by alikat.

credit

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May 30, 2009 by alikat.

nature.com

“Cosmologists don’t usually take their lead from the animal kingdom. But a model that postulates the existence of a ‘chameleon’ particle — which would change its mass depending on its surroundings — is gaining attention.

A new paper claims to have spotted signs of this elusive particle, whose existence was first postulated in 2003 to explain the accelerating expansion of the Universe, which has been attributed to some unknown ‘dark energy’.” read

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May 30, 2009 by alikat.

http://www.schiratti.com/humour.html

ATC: "Cessna G-ARER What are your intentions? "
Cessna: "To get my Commercial Pilots License and Instrument Rating."
ATC: "I meant in the next five minutes not years."

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BB: "Barnburner 123, Request 8300 feet."
Bay Approach: "Barnburner 123, say reason for requested altitude."
BB: "Because the last 2 times I’ve been at 8500, I’ve nearly been run over by some bozo at 8500 feet going the wrong way!"
Bay: "That’s a good reason. 8300 approved."

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Tower: "Mission 123, do you have problems?"
Pilot: "I think, I have lost my compass."
Tower: "Judging the way you are flying, you lost the whole instrument panel!"

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A beautiful summer day with good thermals, near Billund airport, Denmark:
Billund ATC: "Gliders 82 and D5, state position and altitude?"
82: Overhead Coal Lake, 6400 feet."
D5: "Same position, same altitude."
ATC (cool, dry voice): "So should I go get my collision report form??"

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May 29, 2009 by alikat.

techcrunch.com

“Everyone knew thursday was the day that Microsoft was going to launch their new search engine. Everyone’s been talking about it for months, and the press and marketing efforts were carefully tailored to maximize the impact. Thursday, May 28, 2009 was supposed to be Microsoft Bing Day.” read

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May 29, 2009 by alikat.

Microsoft’s official press release:

“May 28, 2009 — Microsoft Corp. unveiled Bing, a new Decision Engine and consumer brand, providing customers with a first step in moving beyond search to help make faster, more informed decisions.” read

cnet’s take on bing

Wired’s article on bing

PS Bing.com is not live yet.

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May 29, 2009 by alikat.

smh.com.au

“Google co-founder Sergey Brin has put his reputation behind a project launched [yesterday] by a team from Google Australia which seeks to overthrow email as the dominant mode of internet communication and replace it with a new hybrid.” read

Official Google Wave Demo

TechCrunch’s article on Wave

Implications of wave as an open protocol are beyond E-mail replacement. Wave opens the door to a totally brand new and fresh mean of communication and collaboration.

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May 25, 2009 by alikat.

“Wolfram|Alpha (also written WolframAlpha and Wolfram Alpha) is an answer-engine developed by Wolfram Research. It is an online service that answers factual queries directly by computing the answer from structured data, rather than providing a list of documents or web pages that might contain the answer as a search engine might. It was announced in March 2009 by British physicist, mathematician, author and businessman Stephen Wolfram, and was released to the public on May 15, 2009." read the wikipedia article

Wolfram|Alpha home

Watch an introduction video by Stephen Wolfram

Wolfram Alpha: Review of reviews

Update:

Wolfram Alpha Approaches 100 Million Queries

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May 22, 2009 by alikat.

npr.org

“Nowadays, some scientists say, you can exercise your brain the way you exercise your body. If you sleep more, eat less and get plenty of exercise — using your body and your brain — says Richard Restak, you can improve your intelligence over the years and help stave off the dementia that comes with old age.” read more

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May 21, 2009 by alikat.

spectrum.ieee.org

“To cram more data on DVDs than the high-density Blu-ray format allows, manufacturers will have to go three-dimensional and stack data in multiple layers. Researchers at the Swinburne University of Technology, in Hawthorn, Australia, have now found a way to add two more dimensions to optical-disc recording: wavelength and polarization. The technique could pack 1.6 terabytes of data on a standard-size DVD, the researchers say—the equivalent of 30 Blu-ray discs. What’s more, it could be compatible with today’s disk-drive technology.” read more

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May 20, 2009 by alikat.

guardian.co.uk

“US government officials are concerned that the quality of the Global Positioning System (GPS) could begin to deteriorate as early as next year, resulting in regular blackouts and failures – or even dishing out inaccurate directions to millions of people worldwide.” read more

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