New Intel Logos On the Way?

"Intel?s been in the news a lot as of late, much of it relating to the possible launch of Intel-based Macs at next month?s MacWorld. So it only seems fitting that the rumor mills are a-turning, here relating to the company?s logo. Allegedly, gone will be the now-familiar ?Intel Inside? sticker, replaced with a new sticker detailing the type of processor that lies within. That is, each processor family is getting its own tags. Will we be seeing one of these on Steve Jobs?s computers in a few weeks? time?

[link]:
"

New Study Shows Animal Family Tree Looking Bushy In Places

"Two decades ago, with the advent of methods to look at the family relationships of different organisms by analyzing DNA, scientists envisioned it would only be a matter of time before the various family trees for plants, animals, fungi and their kin would be resolved with genetic precision." [link]:

Motorized Bicycle That Works Off Fuel Cells

"Cidetec Technology Centre?s Energy Department has designed a prototype for a motorized bicycle that works off fuel cells. The project, financed by the Gipuzkoa Provincial Government, involved using a bicycle kindly provided by the ORBEA bicycle manufacturing company and the pedalling action of which is assisted by a motor. The novelty lies in that the battery power source for the motor is substituted by a fuel cell which, for its operation, only needs oxygen from the air and hydrogen contained under pressure in a small tank." [link]

Bigger Brain Size Matters For Intellectual Ability

"The study, led by neuroscientist Sandra Witelson, a professor in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, and published in the December issue of the journal Brain, has provided some of the clearest evidence on the underlying basis of differences in intelligence.

The study involved testing of intelligence in 100 neurologically normal, terminally ill volunteers, who agreed that their brains be measured after death." [link]:

The RFID address book desk

"Timo Arnall's excellent experiment with RFID and physical spaces, like his desk...'For the last couple of weeks I have been experimenting with tagging personal space with the NFC. This started by embedding RFID tags in my desk, to use it as an information surface for contacts, SMSes and links. Underneath the desk I have stuck a grid of RFID tags, and on the top surface, the same grid of post-it notes. With the standard Nokia Service Discovery application it is possible to call people, send pre-defined SMSes or load URLs by touching the phone to each post-it on the desk.' [LINK]

New Synthetic Compounds Appear To Prevent Brain Cell Death

"Spanish chemists have developed a promising set of synthetic compounds that one day could help slow or perhaps halt the progression of Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders. The preliminary finding, based on test tube studies by researchers at the Universidad de Granada and others, appears in the Dec. 29 issue of the American Chemical Society's Journal of Medicinal Chemistry."

[link]: thanks science daily

Research Clarifies How Brain Replenishes Memory-making Molecules

"New research on living neurons has clarified how the brain refreshes the supply of molecules it needs to make new memories. Focusing on live neurons cultured from rats, researchers have discovered clear evidence to dispel the prevailing view that receptors at the synapse are constantly being replaced by stores inside the cell. Rather, the scientists found that the synaptic receptors are relatively stable, lasting about 16 hours before they are replaced." Research Clarifies How Brain Replenishes Memory-making Molecules:

Scientists Narrow The Time Limits For The Human And Chimpanzee Split

"A research team proposes that the time when the most recent common ancestor of humans and their closest ape relatives -- the chimpanzees -- lived was between 5 and 7 million years ago -- a sharper focus than previous estimates of anywhere from 3 to 13 million years ago. Gene studies are needed because the interpretation of the earliest fossils of humans at the ape/human boundary are controversial and almost no fossils of chimpanzees have been discovered." Linky: Thanks Science Daily

Scientists Narrow The Time Limits For The Human And Chimpanzee Split

"A research team proposes that the time when the most recent common ancestor of humans and their closest ape relatives -- the chimpanzees -- lived was between 5 and 7 million years ago -- a sharper focus than previous estimates of anywhere from 3 to 13 million years ago. Gene studies are needed because the interpretation of the earliest fossils of humans at the ape/human boundary are controversial and almost no fossils of chimpanzees have been discovered." Linky: Thanks Science Daily

Bruce Schneier's op-ed on unchecked presidential power

"Xeni Jardin: Snip from an opinion piece by digital security expert Bruce Schneier, following up on last week's New York Times story on domestic spying by the NSA:

[T]he president's wartime powers, with its armies, battles, victories, and congressional declarations, now extend to the rhetorical 'War on Terror': a war with no fronts, no boundaries, no opposing army, and -- most ominously -- no knowable 'victory.' Investigations, arrests and trials are not tools of war. But according to the Yoo memo, the president can define war however he chooses, and remain 'at war' for as long as he chooses.

This is indefinite dictatorial power. And I don't use that term lightly; the very definition of a dictatorship is a system that puts a ruler above the law. In the weeks after 9/11, while America and the world were grieving, Bush built a legal rationale for a dictatorship. Then he immediately started using it to avoid the law.

This is, fundamentally, why this issue crossed political lines in Congress. If the president can ignore laws regulating surveillance and wiretapping, why is Congress bothering to debate reauthorizing certain provisions of the Patriot Act? Any debate over laws is predicated on the belief that the executive branch will follow the law. Minneapolis Star-Tribune link/a>: link - Boing Boing/a>:

Popular Antidepressants Boost Brain Growth, Hopkins Scientists Report

"Antidepressants, such as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil, have long been thought to exert their clinical effects by increasing synaptic concentrations of serotonin and norepinephrine, enhancing or stimulating their transference.

?But our findings -- that serotonin reuptake modulators increase the density of nerve synapses, especially in the front part of the brain - may offer a better explanation of why antidepressants are effective and why they take time to work,? according to Koliatsos."link - ScienceDaily:

Stalin's army of man-apes

"David Pescovitz: Recently-uncovered documents in Moscow apparently reveal that Josef Stalin hoped to crossbreed humans and apes to create superwarriors. In 1926, animal breeding scientist Illya Ivanov was sent to Africa with $200,000 to begin the project while a laboratory was established in Georgia. After the project didn't pan out, Ivanov was exiled to Kazakhstan. From The Scotsman:

According to Moscow newspapers, Stalin told the scientist: 'I want a new invincible human being, insensitive to pain, resistant and indifferent about the quality of food they eat...'

Mr Ivanov's experiments, unsurprisingly from what we now know, were a total failure. He returned to the Soviet Union, only to see experiments in Georgia to use monkey sperm in human volunteers similarly fail.

A final attempt to persuade a Cuban heiress to lend some of her monkeys for further experiments reached American ears, with the New York Times reporting on the story, and she dropped the idea amid the uproar. Link "Stalin's army of man-apes on BoingBoing:

Media Photoshop Retouching

Client: Ministry of Health and Social Affairs
Title: Retouch

The media world is becoming increasingly fixated on appearances. And the number of tricks used to achieve the increasingly exaggerated ideals is growing. Many models have plastic surgery and even more are retouched so they appear to have bigger breasts, smaller stomachs or fuller lips.

We wanted to show how easy it is to change someone?s appearance in this campaign.Media Photoshop Retouching

Biobased Plastic Flexes Its Muscle

Electroactive polymers?plastics that expand or contract when stimulated by electricity?can now be made from plants rather than petrochemicals, according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Peoria, Ill.

Biobased Plastic Flexes Its Muscle: "Biobased Plastic Flexes Its Muscle"

Bendy Microprocessor on Plastic - Gizmodo

Not much other then a report right now, but it looks like TDK has teamed up with Japanese Semiconductor Energy Laboratory to make a bendable microprocessor. The transistors will be made on glass first, then transferred to plastic. The processor will also have wireless capabilities and built-in signal encryption.

Firm makes bent CPU [The Inquirer]

[link] thanks Gizmodo!

QRIO: Sees the Future with Third Eye - Gizmodo

Ah yes, the third eye. We?ve all dreamed of having one, though where we?d put it is still up in the air. So it?s nice to know Sony?s toddler-sized QRIO humanoid robot now has this distinct advantage?smack in the middle of its forehead. The main point of this advancement? To be able to see several people at once, but focus in on only one. So yeah, it still dances, talks, makes general merriment, but now the QRIO can connect, man. This new, improved QRIO was introduced at an intelligent machines exhibit in the Japanese shopping district of Ginza, where the diminutive mechanical humanoid also put on quite a show flirting with the girls (and singling out one particular girl to freak out) and stacking blocks according to color and size. That?s quite an extra eye, Sony. Will it come standard on the PS3?

Sony?s robot attains enlightenment with third eye [Reuters]

QRIO Product Page [Sony]

[link] Thanks Gizmodo

NSA spies on US: calls, emails intercepted without warrants

NSA spies on US: calls, emails intercepted without warrants: "Xeni Jardin: Snip from NYT story today:

Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials.

Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible 'dirty numbers' linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications.

The previously undisclosed decision to permit some eavesdropping inside the country without court approval was a major shift in American intelligence-gathering practices, particularly for the National Security Agency, whose mission is to spy on communications abroad. As a result, some officials familiar with the continuing operation have questioned whether the surveillance has stretched, if not crossed, constitutional limits on legal searches. Link

"

Boys More Likely When Pregnancy Takes Longer

"The longer it takes to get pregnant, the more chance there is of having a boy, finds a study in this week's British Medical Journal. Dutch researchers analysed data for 5,283 women who gave birth to single babies between July 2001 and July 2003."[Link] Science Daily: "

Stretchable silicon

"David Pescovitz: Researchers have developed a form of single-crystal silicon that can be stretched so that electronic circuits could be fabricated on rubber. To prove the concept, professor John Rogers, a materials scientist at at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Chamapign, and his colleagues made diodes and transistors that matched the performance or rigid devices, but 'could be repeatedly stretched and compressed without damage.' From a press release:

Functional, stretchable and bendable electronics could be used in applications such as sensors and drive electronics for integration into artificial muscles or biological tissues, structural monitors wrapped around aircraft wings, and conformable skins for integrated robotic sensors, said Rogers...

To create their stretchable silicon, the researchers begin by fabricating devices in the geometry of ultrathin ribbons on a silicon wafer using procedures similar to those used in conventional electronics. Then they use specialized etching techniques to undercut the devices. The resulting ribbons of silicon are about 100 nanometers thick – 1,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.

In the next step, a flat rubber substrate is stretched and placed on top of the ribbons. Peeling the rubber away lifts the ribbons off the wafer and leaves them adhered to the rubber surface. Releasing the stress in the"

thanks boingboing:

Electronic Walls And Ceilings Make It Easy To Change Lighting And Room Design

"The Alliance for Solid-State Illumination Systems and Technologies (ASSIST), an LED industry group organized by the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, unveiled a novel concept for lighting homes and offices. The design integrates light-emitting diode (LED) technology with building materials and systems to create electronic walls and ceilings. The design includes interchangeable, modular panels with integrated LED lighting fixtures that 'snap' in and out of an electrical grid."[link] thanks sciencedaily!:

Google Adds Music Search and Purchase Features

"Google is at it again. They have now launched a new music searching feature that combs through artist and album information: The music search feature is prominently placed above the main search results in what Google calls its 'one box' area - where information such as weather, movies or books may also be highlighted. When a user..."

[link] thanks anandtech:

Google - Home Page layout

[Like the new home page attributes of Google however, I depend on thier reader more then the home page.  If they could add reader to the layout I am sold]

Read more at www.google.com/ig?hl=en

Sex for an Xbox 360?

From digg.com.

Craigslist ad purported to be from two female gamers who would do anything to get the next-gen console.

Link to article.

King Kong gets extra-special effects as quake rattles screening - Yahoo! News

"The quake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale hit Wellington about an hour into the film and at first it was difficult to tell what was happening." [link] thanks Yahoo!:

Fuel cell motorcycle

From popgadget." I think it would be pretty cool to own the world's first fuel cell motorcycle. It doesn't drive very fast and it's slightly homely but it emits water only and runs very quietly for $6,000. Still waiting for Vespa to get it together... (Sheigh)"

Incredibly tiny RC controller helicopters...

"Scott writes 'Alexander Van de Rostyne has been designing and fabricating ever-smaller micro-helicopters out of advanced materials, batteries and remote control systems for the last six years or so. The latest has 4 channel control and weighs in at 6.9 grams ( 1/4 ounce ) with battery.' Link. The site has tons of photos, details on the miniaturization efforts and hamster comparisons."Incredibly tiny RC controller helicopters...:

HP creates Halo effect for videoconferencing | CNET News.com

"NEW YORK--Hewlett-Packard has launched a new videoconferencing product, underscoring its ambition to become a leading player in the enterprise collaboration market.

Dubbed the HP Halo Collaboration Studio, the e-conferencing package encompasses digital visual products and collaboration software tools. It can create realistic collaborative interaction through a color-calibrated visual experience, a key differentiator compared with traditional products, the company said." [link] Thanks | CNET News.com:

Key Brain Regulatory Gene Shows Evolution In Humans

"Researchers have discovered the first brain regulatory gene that shows clear evidence of evolution from lower primates to humans. They said the evolution of humans might well have depended in part on hyperactivation of the gene, called prodynorphin (PDYN), that plays critical roles in regulating perception, behavior and memory." [link] ScienceDaily:

Recycled scrap-lumber bedframe

"Cory Doctorow: At €7,450 this bed-frame made from recycled and cleverly fitted lumps of scrap lumber is more the kind of thing you admire than the kind of thing you run out and buy. That said, the idea is cool enough to try out in a home workshop. Link (via Cribcandy)

[link] :

Cyclops: Brain-Frying Killer Robot?

" 'Cyclops' was just one of the new and fantastical prototypes from a group of young designers being showcased as part of the Leading Edge Design exhibition in Tokyo last weekend. Taking the form of a towering pillar of metal, Cyclops — now having been in development for a few years — is a robot that scans the area in front of it and detects movement. Its 'eye' constantly adjusts its focus and attention on different moving objects in the vicinity, giving it an almost curious, humanoid nuance even though it looks anything but. A computer screen showed us what the robot was seeing, complete with a red marker on each human object in the scene, picked out by the robot's software.

The designers weren't on hand to say specifically what the intended use of the robot would be, but I'm betting if you strapped a brain-melting raygun to this thing you would have a pretty devastating killing machine. I, for one, welcome our new mono-eyed overlords.

[link] thanks Gizmodo!:

Iqua UFO Bluetooth Headset/Table Ornament

Iqua has released a Bluetooth 'headset' that is not really a headset, but a tabletop conference calling system. Plop it down on the coffee table and start the 3-way calling action, because that's what Iqua has in mind for the UFO. It features a nice LCD that displays the time and date as well as caller information, and has Skype compatability, too, which is awesome. Battery life, you ask? Apparently up to 8 hours talk time on a full charge, with 220 hours standby time. Not too shabby. Complying with Handsfree and Headset Bluetooth profiles, the UFO can be paired with up to eight devices, one at a time. It retails for $150 and is especially useful if you have to do conference calling a lot and are an avid user of Skype.

Iqua UFO Bluetooth Headset [Mobile Whack]"

thanks Gizmodo: "

Celestron SkyScout Is Almost As Cool As A Pink Floyd Laser Light Show

"When I was a kid it was enough to stick those glow-in-the-dark stars and planets on the ceiling. At first, I tried to do a scale model of the universe but realized there was no scale that would make any sense in my bedroom. I got a bit older and turned the ceiling into a Van Gogh Starry Night-inspired trip-o-sphere. A month later, it became clear that the Starry Night was even dorkier than the scale model of the universe, and that I would never be able to convince a girl to come over and listen to my Pink Floyd albums, anyhow.

Puberty would have been different if I'd had the Celestron SkyScout. This gadget is about the size of a video camera and becomes your own personal planetarium. Just go outside into the freezing night and point the SkyScout to the sky at a specific star or object, and you'll get commentary on that particular object. Up to 6,000 objects are pre-programmed into the SkyScout, so expect to be entertained for hours.

One day, it might even play Pink Floyd.

The SkyScout won a Best of Innovations honor from the Consumer Electronics Association.

thanks Gizmodo:

Mobile Chic = Old Handsets

The other day as I headed out of the Versace store at the mall, I felt like I was missing something to go with my sequin-beaded, pre-torn shirt-and-jeans ensemble. I needed an accessory that screams chic, but is retro and old school. Then I found these DIY mobile handsets that I could customize yourself with paints and glitter! Like, totally! I pictured how good my ass would look with a bright orange, glitter-ridden phone handset hanging from the pocket and liked what I saw. The handsets come in all kinds of fashionable colors like white, pink, blue, and lime. Using a cellphone adapter, you plug in your handset to start talking like it's 1965 all over again. Regular models go for $2,500 while the baby model goes for $750. Or you could Google around a little, get some paint, and do it all for under $40 by yourself. But you have more money than taste, admit it. [link]

'Old school' headset for mobile phone [Akihabara]"

Mobile Chic = Old Handsets

The other day as I headed out of the Versace store at the mall, I felt like I was missing something to go with my sequin-beaded, pre-torn shirt-and-jeans ensemble. I needed an accessory that screams chic, but is retro and old school. Then I found these DIY mobile handsets that I could customize yourself with paints and glitter! Like, totally! I pictured how good my ass would look with a bright orange, glitter-ridden phone handset hanging from the pocket and liked what I saw. The handsets come in all kinds of fashionable colors like white, pink, blue, and lime. Using a cellphone adapter, you plug in your handset to start talking like it's 1965 all over again. Regular models go for $2,500 while the baby model goes for $750. Or you could Google around a little, get some paint, and do it all for under $40 by yourself. But you have more money than taste, admit it. [link]: "

Team Maps Dark Matter In Startling Detail

"Clues revealed by the recently sharpened view of the Hubble Space Telescope have allowed astronomers to map the location of invisible 'dark matter' in unprecedented detail in two very young galaxy clusters. The team's results lend credence to the theory that the galaxies we can see form at the densest regions of 'cosmic webs' of invisible dark matter, just as froth gathers on top of ocean waves, said study co-author Myungkook James Jee, assistant research scientist in the Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy in Johns Hopkins' Krieger School of Arts and Sciences." [Link]

This is the snapshot of the computer simulation of the dark matter Universe. These filamentary structures are called "cosmic webs" of dark matter. (Image courtesy of Johns Hopkins University)

Wireless USB Hub is Near

"Wisair is working on a USB wireless hub which will consist of a wireless dongle and the hub itself.  If it's reasonable enough, I'll be one of the first to sign up.  I have quite a few USB devices that connect to my laptop (probably around 10 or 12 using 3 hubs), so it'd be nice to get the wires off my desk: Not much else is revealed except the..."Link:

Coffee Jump-starts Short-term Memory

Just in, to help you remember where you put your keys drink more coffee. Interestingly enough, I remember being told several years ago that caffeine and ciggaretes increased memory retention as well. At least one of those components is still socially acceptable these days.

"Caffeine exerts a positive effect on short-term memory and reaction times, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)." [Link]:

Hopping Microbots for Mars Exploration

"Penelope Boston and Steven Dubowsky have received some bling-bling in the form of a grant to design hopping microbots for NASA. A rover would deliver hundreds of these miniature robots to the Mars surface for exploration purposes. The small spheres store up muscle energy and release it causing it to hop into various directions. The microbots would be able to analyze the surface material and map out the planet.

Hopping Microbots for Mars Exploration: