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Viewing 1 - 9 out of 26 Blogs.
India hails Moon mission 'find'
 India's Chandrayaan-1 probe carried US equipment to the Moon
India's inaugural Moon mission has been hailed as a "grand success" by the head of India's space agency, after helping find evidence of water on the Moon. Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) chief G Madhavan Nair said a spacecraft probe found more water on the Moon "than was expected." The mission was terminated last month after communication was lost with the orbiting spacecraft. The craft was launched last October for a two-year mission of exploration. Data from three spacecraft, including India's Chandrayaan probe, has shown that very fine films of H2O coat the particles that make up the lunar dirt, US space agency Nasa announced. The quantity is tiny but could become a useful resource for astronauts wishing to live on the Moon, scientists say. "We truly believe it is a path-breaking finding. But this is just the beginning," Mr Nair said. "Indians should be proud of the fact that the Chandrayaan enabled the discovery of water on the Moon," he said. Indian scientists have welcomed the discovery and said more studies needed to be done to find out how much water was available and whether it was fit for human consumption. 'Significant' "The results suggest that frost rather than water is present in the form of a thin film on the lunar surface. The quantity and its distribution across the Moon is still an open question," K Kasturirangan, a former chief of Isro told the Press Trust of India press agency. "Ultimately, in the long run if humankind has to go and inhabit the Moon, one of the important requirements is that you should have adequate water for survival," he said. An Indian scientist working in Nasa said it was a "significant discovery" "It is a very significant finding if we ever are to venture out to set up a base anywhere in the solar system, the Moon is the nearest destination," Amitabha Ghosh said. The Indian media has also hailed the role of Chandrayaan in the finding. One Big Step for India, A Giant Leap for Mankind, headlined The Times Of India newspaper. "[The finding] has helped shake off the failure tag from the Chandrayaan project that was aborted last month," the paper said. The mission was expected to cost 3.8bn rupees (£45m; $78m), considerably less than Japanese and Chinese probes sent to the Moon last year. But the Indian government's space efforts have not been welcomed by all. Some critics regard the space programme as a waste of resources in a country where millions still lack basic services. source BBC news
One of the scariest unknown technology risks of this decade is the issue of radiation from cell phones. There’s still an open question about whether long term exposure to these mobile devices will cause damage or disease to human beings. The Environmental Working Group has a comprehensive new study (download the full report as a PDF) that surveys the scientific research on cellphone heath risks and provides radiation data for most of the current cellphones in use. Here’s how the EWG explained the mission of its study:
The EWG study looks at all mobile phones, but since smartphones are becoming a standard tool for businesses and IT professionals, I’ve drilled down and looked at the list from a smartphone perspective. I’ve broken out the 10 smartphones that produce the most radiation, the 10 that product the least amount of radiation, and a list of the radiation ratings of some of the most popular smartphones that did not make either of those two lists. When you look at these lists, keep in mind that the EWG has also included some older models that are no longer being sold but are still used by many workers and consumers. Also note that “W/kg” stands for watts per kilogram, a measurement for power density. The 10 smartphones with the highest radiation
The T-Mobile MyTouch 3G, an HTC smartphone powered by Google Android that debuted to lots of fanfare this summer, topped the list of the worst radiation offenders. However, other popular smartphones dominated the list as well, especially BlackBerries and Treos. The BlackBerry Curve, the best-selling smartphone on the market in 2009, was a close second on the list, and it was joined in the top 10 by its cousins, the BlackBerry Pearl and the BlackBerry Bold. The 10 smartphones with lowest radiation
Nokia, with five models in this top 10, and Samsung with three, were clearly the winners in terms of smartphones that emit the least amount of radiation. It’s also interesting to note that although both of these companies produce dozens of different models, neither of them had a single model that made the list of the worst radiation offenders. The surprising member of the low-radiation club was the BlackBerry Storm (RIM’s first touchscreen device) since so many of the other popular BlackBerries were on the high-emitters list. Other notables, from lowest to highest
If there’s another phone you’d like to look up, here is the full list. Also, when seriously evaluating any smartphone on any of these lists, make sure you click through and look at the EWG page with the details of the phone’s radiation emissions using different connections and doing different activities. The number listed is the maximum radiation rating, but it can be deceiving in some cases until you look at the whole picture. For example, the iPhone 3GS has a rating of 1.19 W/kg, which is a middle-of-the-pack rating. However, 1.19 is its maximum radiation level, which only happens when it is connected in UMTS 1900MHz mode. In its other four modes, it averages 0.63 W/kg, which is more consistent with the lower tier of radiation emitters. Safety tipsAs part of the report, the EWG also provided eight safety tips for cellphone users who are concerned about radiation. Here is a quick list of the tips. You can click through to the original list for more detail on each of the items.
The EWG also offers a one-page PDF that lists all eight of these tips along with a further explanation of each. IT professionals might consider distributing this PDF to employees who use company cellphones or posting it on the corporate intranet. Of course, you should consult senior management and your legal department before distributing something like this since it involves employee health.
Bottom lineWhile there isn’t conclusive scientific evidence proving that cellphones cause illnesses or diseases in humans, the EWG report does point to research that has shown links between prolonged cellphone use and brain cancer, salivary gland tumors, migraines and vertigo, and decreased male sperm count (from carrying a cellphone in the pocket). A lot more research still needs to be done, but in the meantime it makes sense for mobile manufacturers to limit cellphone radiation whenever possible and for users to be aware of which phones produce the most radiation so that they can take steps to limit radiation exposure as a precautionary step. Tags: Smartphones Mobile Phones
by MG Siegler on July 30, 2009
Steven Frank doesn’t make iPhone apps, specifically for the reasons stated above. But he is a very popular Mac developer, that co-founded the OS X development house Panic In a candid post And so he’s now ditching his iPhone and boycotting any device that runs the iPhone OS (including, if applicable, the rumored Mac tablet). He says he’s going to get a Palm Pre, a device he considers inferior to the iPhone, but one that doesn’t (at least so far) have the app issues the iPhone does. (Nor does it have the AT&T issues.) Is Frank crazy? If he is, he’s not the only one. Perhaps you heard about Om Malik of GigaOM doing the same thing Personally, I’m not there yet. I still consider the iPhone to be too far ahead of the other smartphones even with its (sometimes major) flaws in the App Store. But I’m getting much closer than I ever imagined to looking at other phones simply because of my complete and utter disliking of AT&T at this point. At the very least, if Apple doesn’t get rid of the AT&T exclusivity agreement next year (which, for the record, I think it will), I’m going to unlock my iPhone to use it on another network. But that’s a separate issue from Frank’s. He’s right about Apple’s often odd, and sometimes downright hostile actions towards developers in regards to the iPhone. It needs a better set of guidelines for developers to work with, because clearly, the current ones aren’t cutting it. And it needs to be more consistant with adhering to its guidelines. I’d also say that some more transparency would be nice, but I know that will fall upon deaf ears. This is Apple, after all. The iPhone and the App Store remain too far ahead of the competition for one person, no matter how big, or even a group of people leaving, to have much of an impact. But Apple has to be careful that its rivals don’t mature quicker than anticipated (the Pre finally opened its webOS SDK, for example), or we could see some serious defections. By that I mean at first some developers, fed up with the App Store, may move on to other platforms. And that may lead to more doing then same. Eventually, that will trickle down to the end-users. I’m not saying that will happen, but there is a lot of outcry for changes right now. And it’s getting louder everyday. [photo: flickr/thetechbuzz
I have loved the iPhone, but now I am quitting the iPhone. This is not an easy decision. I was there in January 2007 when it was announced and I bought the first iPhoneiPhone 3G a year later. I’ve proudly yelled “I Am A Member Of The Cult Of iPhone.” I’ve been an unabashed cheerleader for the device to all who’ll listen. And I’ve scoffed at developers who said they’d abandon the platform. as soon as it was available. I happily bought the But I’m not going to upgrade to the iPhone 3GS. Instead, I’m abandoning the iPhone and AT&T. I will grudgingly pay the $175 AT&T termination fee and then I will move on to another device. What finally put me over the edge? It wasn’t the routinely dropped calls, something you can only truly understand once you have owned an iPhone (and which drove my friend Om Malik to bail). I’ve lived with that for two years. It’s not the lack of AT&T coverage at home. I’ve lived with that for two years, too. It certainly isn’t the lack of a physical keyboard, that has never bothered me. No, what finally put me over the edge is the Google Voice debacle. Most of you won’t know what I’m talking about, so I’ll explain. Google Voice is a call management service that lets you determine what calls get through to you based on who’s calling and what time of day it is, among other factors. It has amazing features, like automatically transcribing all your voicemails. And you can forward calls to any other phone easily and automatically. Here’s an overview of the service if you aren’t familiar with it. I’ve always wanted to use Google Voice but there’s a big switching cost - changing your phone number. Too many people have that phone number and use it to call in great stories. There’s no way I’m giving that up. And there’s another problem with Google Voice. When you make outbound calls from a phone, it (obviously) doesn’t use your Google Voice phone number, so recipients don’t know it’s you calling. Those were two hurdles I wasn’t willing to jump over. But now Google is planning on rolling out number portability, so I can move my mobile phone number to Google. None of my friends, family or contacts have to store a new number. That still leaves the problem of outbound calls, though. I can move my mobile number to Google and then get a new iPhone account, but outbound calls won’t be identified because they are on the new number. Google has a solution for that too, though. They are releasing apps for a variety of handsets that effectively take over the native dialer, address book and call log. Problem solved. I can use any phone I like, or a bunch of phones, and just choose the one that makes sense at any time. I never have to be tied to a carrier and their restrictive contracts again. Or so I thought. Apple and AT&T are now blocking the iPhone version of the Google Voice app. Why? Because they absolutely don’t want people doing exactly what I’m doing - moving their phone number to Google and using the carrier as a dumb pipe. So I have to choose between the iPhone and Google Voice. It’s not an easy decision. Except, it sort of is. Google isn’t forcing the decision on me, Apple and AT&T are. So I choose to work with the company that isn’t forcing me to do things their way. And in this case, that’s Google. So what phone will I use next? Well, that decision is easy, too. I’d move to the Palm Pre because I believe it is the best phone out there other than the iPhone 3GS. But Google hasn’t created an app for the Palm Pre yet, just Android and Blackberry phones. So for now I’m going to use the new Android myTouch 3G along with the Google Voice App. As soon as something better comes out, or Google makes an app for the Pre, I’ll switch. And keep the same phone number. No long term contracts for me. And Apple, if you ever decide to put the hammer down on AT&T and do the right thing for your loyal users, I’ll consider switching back. In the meantime, I’ll just use one of many iPod Touches laying around our office to test out new apps.
Google announces Chrome OS, coming to netbooks second half of 2010 We can't believe it's actually here, but after hearing whispers of a Google OS for what seems like ages now, the company's now gone official with its plans. According to the official developer blog, it'll be an open source, lightweight platform that can "power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems," and will be capable of running on x86 (that includes Intel Atom) and ARM chips. Addressing potential overlap with Android-based netbooks, the official line is that "choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google" -- a pretty wild statement to make, but hey, it's still all Google. A large portion of its fresh out of beta Google Apps suite already supports an offline mode, so we guess the groundwork's laid out. The company says it's currently working with a number of OEM manufacturers and that it'll initially appear on a number of netbooks coming to market sometime in the second half of 2010. Excited? We are.
Twelve facts about Michael JacksonRead about Michael Jackson's extraordinary life in facts and figures or click on the numbers in the Neverland clock on the picture below to jump straight to the facts.
FACT 1
 Michael Jackson is the third biggest selling pop act of all time, after The Beatles and Elvis Presley. His 1982 album Thriller is thought to be the biggest-selling album ever, shifting 65 million copies, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. With the music industry moving from selling whole albums to marketing individual tracks online he is likely to keep his position on the list of all time greats. ---------------------------------------------------------- FACT 2
 Michael Jackson's earnings from record sales, tours, merchandising and other business interests are estimated to have exceeded $700m (£423m) in his 40-year recording career. Since the early 1980s his recordings have generated more than $300 million in royalties. Despite this, in 2006 he is said to have secured a loan of around $300 million to pay off his debts. -------------------------------------------------------------- FACT 3
 In 2005 the jury at the trial of Michael Jackson in Santa Maria, California, sat through 66 days of evidence. He faced 10 charges, including molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo, giving alcohol to a minor and conspiring to kidnap him and his family. Had he been convicted Jackson could have faced up to 18 years in prison, but after hearing the evidence of 141 witnesses the jury cleared him on all charges. -------------------------------------------------------------- FACT 4
 Jackson was finishing rehearsals for a series of 50 concerts at the O2 Arena beginning on 13 July. Originally announced as 10 concerts, further dates were added until around 800,000 people had bought tickets worth a total of £52m. AEG Live, the organiser of the concerts has already spent $30m on the production but could be in financial difficulty since it only insured the first 10 nights, according to a report in Billboard magazine. -------------------------------------------------------------- FACT 5
 In 1985 Jackson paid $47.5 million for the publishing rights to a catalogue of 4,000-songs, including at least 200 Beatles tunes. By 2005 the catalogue, now co-owned by Sony, was worth $500m. One person said to have been irritated by Jackson's ownership of publishing rights for The Beatles is Paul McCartney, who is believed to have originally tipped him off about the financial benefits of owning music catalogues. -------------------------------------------------------------- FACT 6
 Fans had kept a vigil outside the Santa Maria courthouse during the whole of Jackson's trial in 2005. When it was announced that he had been cleared of all charges, a fan released 14 white doves to celebrate his acquittal. His acquittal was also a relief to local police who, in case of a guilty verdict, had dozens of officers on the street outside the courthouse carrying riot batons. -------------------------------------------------------------- FACT 7
 Michael Jackson won 13 Grammy awards. Ten were for his work as a solo artist, three others were shared with producer Quincy Jones, his sister Janet, and various artists who contributed to his Aid for Africa track, We Are the World. Thriller netted him Album of the Year and Best Pop vocal Performance awards. Tracks Billie Jean and Beat It each won him another pair of Grammys. He also picked two other awards for his music video work. -------------------------------------------------------------- FACT 8
 Michael Jackson was 11 years old when he performed on television for the first time with The Jackson Five. They were regulars on programmes such as 'The Ed Sullivan Show', one of the most watched shows in the US, and on which they performed their debut single I Want You Back. He quickly became the centre of attention taking lead vocal duties as the band built up a reputation on the live circuit. -------------------------------------------------------------- FACT 9
 Michael Jackson released 10 solo albums containing original material: Got to be There; Music & Me; Ben; Forever Michael; Off the Wall; Thriller; Bad; Dangerous; HIStory and Invincible. As well as his solo albums Michael recorded another 16 albums with his brothers as both The Jackson 5 and The Jacksons. -------------------------------------------------------------- FACT 10 Michael Jackson was the seventh of  His brothers, Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, Marlon and Randy, have all had careers as singers, after they stopped performing together. His sisters, Rebbie, La Toya and Janet, are also performers. He is survived by his three children: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, born to Mr. Jackson's second wife, Deborah Jeanne Rowe, and Prince Michael Jackson II, the son of a surrogate mother. -------------------------------------------------------------- FACT 11
 In 1987, Jackson bought a 2,800 acre property north west of Santa Barbara for $14.6m and named it Neverland, after the imaginary land in JM Barrie's novel Peter Pan. Within the grounds he built a private zoo and a fairground with a roller coaster and a ferris wheel. By 2006 it was costing $4m a year to run the Neverland ranch and its staff. -------------------------------------------------------------- FACT 12 This is the number of Michael
 Jackson statues floated down the River Thames. Asked how he would like to promote his 1995 album, HIStory, Jackson told Sony record executives: "build a statue of me". A 30-feet high glass fibre statue of the troubled popstar was placed on a boat and towed down the Thames. Tower Bridge was raised to let it pass and it was moored near the Tower of London for a week before "touring the country."
Tribute To Michael Jackson - Sleep well in your Death King of Pop - Star Michael Jackson has died in Los Angeles, aged 50. Watch LIVE VIDEO OF HIS TRIBUTE BELOW
He was pronounced dead two hours later at the UCLA medical centre. A spokesman for the centre said the star died of a suspected heart attack. Speaking on behalf of Jackson's family, his brother, Jermaine, said doctors had tried to resuscitate the star for more than an hour without success. He added: "The family request that the media please respect our privacy during this tough time." "And Allah be with you Michael always. I love you." Jackson, who had a history of health problems, had been due to begin a series of comeback concerts in the UK on 13 July.
Concerns were raised last month when four of the concerts were postponed, but organisers insisted the dates had been moved due to the complexity of staging the show. A spokeswoman for The Outside Organisation, which was organising the publicity for the shows, said she had no comment at this time. Broadcaster Paul Gambaccini said: "I always doubted that he would have been able to go through that schedule, those concerts. It seemed to be too much of a demand on the unhealthy body of a 50 year old. "I'm wondering that, as we find out details of his death, if perhaps the stress of preparing for those dates was a factor in his collapse. "It was wishful thinking that at this stage of his life he could be MJ again." Uri Gellar, a close friend of the star, told BBC News it was "very, very sad".
 Jackson had been in the spotlight from the age of five
Speaking outside the UCLA medical centre in Los Angeles, civil rights activist Rev Al Sharpton paid tribute to his friend. "I knew him 35 years. When he had problems he would call me," he said. "I feel like he was not treated fairly. I hope history will be more kind to him than some of the contemporary media." Melanie Bromley, west coast bureau chief of Us Weekly magazine, told the BBC the scene in Los Angeles was one of "pandenomium". "At the moment there is a period of disbelief. There are hundreds of people outside UCLA waiting for news. "He was buying a home in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles and the scene outside the house is one of fans, reporters and TV cameras - it's absolute craziness. "I feel this is the biggest celebrity story in a long time and has the potential to be the Princess Diana of popular culture." Musical icon
 
Paramedics were called to the singer's house in Bel Air at 1221 following an emergency phone call. They performed CPR on Jackson and rushed him to the UCLA medical centre. A spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department said the robbery and homicide team was investigating Jackson's death because of its "high profile", but there was no suggestion of foul play. Jackson began his career as a child in family group The Jackson 5. He then went on to achieve global fame as a solo artist with smash hits such as Billie Jean and Bad. Thriller, released in 1982, is the biggest-selling album of all time, shifting 65m copies, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. He scored seven UK number ones as a solo artist and won a total of 13 Grammy awards. "For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don't have the words," said Quincy Jones, who produced Thriller, Bad and Off The Wall. "He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever. I've lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him." Family The singer had been dogged by controversy and money trouble in recent years, becoming a virtual recluse. He was arrested in 2003 on charges of molesting a 14-year-old boy, but was found not guilty following a five-month trial. The star had three children, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince Michael Jackson II. He is survived by his mother, Katherine, father, Joseph and eight siblings - including Janet, Randy, Jermaine and La Toya Jackson. Micheal Jackson - Thriller (Full version, 13 min) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOj5H5W9zYo
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World hunger 'hits one billion'One billion people throughout the world suffer from hunger, a figure which has increased by 100 million because of the global financial crisis, says the UN. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said the figure was a record high. Persistently high food prices have also contributed to the hunger crisis. The director general of the FAO said the level of hunger, one-sixth of the world's population, posed a "serious risk" to world peace and security. The UN said almost all of the world's undernourished live in developing countries, with the most, some 642 million people, living in the Asia-Pacific region. In sub-Saharan Africa, the next worst-hit region, the figure stands at 265 million. Just 15 million people are left hungry in the developed world. "The silent hunger crisis - affecting one-sixth of all of humanity - poses a serious risk for world peace and security," said Jacques Diouf. "We urgently need to forge a broad consensus on the total and rapid eradication of hunger in the world and to take the necessary actions." 'Contradiction' The increase in the number of hungry people was blamed on lower incomes and increased unemployment, which in turn reduced access to food by the poor, the UN agency said. But it contrasted sharply with evidence that much of the developed world is richer than ever before.  WORLD HUNGER Asia-Pacific: 642m Sub-Saharan Africa: 265m Latin America and Caribbean: 53m Middle East and North Africa: 42m Developed world: 15m Source: FAO "It's the first time in human history that we have so many hungry people in the world," said FAO spokesman Kostas Stamoulis, director of the organisation's development department. "And that's a contradiction, because a lot of the world is very rich despite the economic crisis." Mr Diouf urged governments to provide development and economic assistance to boost agriculture, particularly by smallholder farmers. "Investment in agriculture must be increased because for the majority of poor countries a healthy agricultural sector is essential to overcome poverty and hunger and is a pre-requisite for overall economic growth," he said. Urban suffering The UK's international development ministry (Dfid) said the figures were "a scandal" and said it was helping some of the poorest farmers in the world to boost the amount of food they produce. "In the last year we have pledged more than £900 million to lift millions out of hunger to help farmers boost agriculture production," a Dfid spokesman said. The UN warns that poor people living in cities will probably face the most severe problems in coping with the global recession, because lower export demand and reduced foreign investment are likely to hit urban jobs harder. Many migrants to urban areas would be likely to return to rural areas, it added, transferring the burden. Incomes have also dropped "substantially" in some developing countries where families depend on remittances from relatives working abroad. With the financial crisis hitting all parts of the world more or less simultaneously, developing countries have less room to adjust, the UN agency says. Food prices Among the pressures is the reality that borrowing from international capital markets is "more limited" in a global crisis, the FAO said. Food costs in developing countries now seem more expensive, despite prices in world markets declining during the food and fuel crisis of 2006-08, it added. They remained on average 24% higher in real terms by the end of 2008 compared to 2006. "For poor consumers, who spend up to 60% of their incomes on staple foods, this means a strong reduction in their effective purchasing power," the FAO said. FriendsHub Lets Friendshub and FriendsHub Feeds kids automatically, for it... |
By now, you’ve heard the horror stories. Developers put their heart and soul into building an application for the iPhone App Store only to have it rejected by Apple. And sometimes apps are at first accepted and then later pulled for odd reasons. And sometimes app updates are rejected, even though there isn’t much difference with the version accepted. We get a half dozen or so stories sent to us now every single day. It’s no wonder that a lot of mobile developers are growing wary of the App Store. But Steven Frank is not one of those developers.
