DNA 11 Sucks Major Oat Tote [FrinkTank]

DNA 11 Sucks Major Oat Tote [FrinkTank]: "

Anyone who has ever run a gel on some DNA will recognize the 'art' generated by DNA 11. And that's sort of the problem—all DNA 11 does, for a low special introductory offer of 390 big ones, is take some random snippet of your DNA—not even a deliberately meaningful one, mind you—and run a gel on it. You know, like any high school kid could do.

Then they blow it up real big so you can hang it o'er top of your italian leather sofa. (lyrics)

Far be it from me to poo-poo the convergence of science and art, but this is neither good science nor great art. Rather it trades, like so many of its ilk, on the fact that nobody else is simultaneously geeky, precious and greedy enough to even attempt it. Read the entire post | Read the comments on this post"

Digital sky-scope auto-locates and identifies stars

Digital sky-scope auto-locates and identifies stars: "Cory Doctorow: The SkyScout is a sky-watching digital scope that automatically identifies stars, provides directions to other stars, and recites mythology about celestial bodies:

Simply point the SkyScout at any star in the sky and click the 'target' button. The SkyScout will instantly tell you what object you are looking at...

To locate a star or planet, select the object's name from the menu and follow the directional arrows through the viewfinder...

The SkyScout includes entertaining and educational audio and text information, including facts, trivia, history and mythology about our most popular celestial objects.
Link (via Red Ferret)

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UK to US: we'll only buy open-source fighter jets

UK to US: we'll only buy open-source fighter jets: "Cory Doctorow: The UK government has threatened to cancel an order for US-built Joint Strike Fighter jets unless America turns over the source-code for the jets' firmware.

Britain is worried that the jets could contain back-doors that let the US remotely disable them.

Lord Drayson, minister for defence procurement, told the The Daily Telegraph that the planes were useless without control of the software as they could effectively be 'switched off' by the Americans without warning.

'We do expect this technology transfer to take place. But if it does not take place we will not be able to purchase these aircraft,' said Lord Drayson. This is the big fight for the next twenty years: do your devices take orders from you or someone else? Whether it's the box on top of your TV, the phone in your pocket, or the fighter-jet in the hangar, no one wants to own a device that can be 0wned by its manufacturer or whomever that vendor sells you out to. Link (via /.)

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Airline charges for aisle seats

Airline charges for aisle seats: "David Pescovitz: I'm surprised it took this long, but the first airline is now charging extra for emergency-exit row and aisle seats. According to a Reuters article, Northwest's 'Coach Choice' will save some of those seats for sale to passengers as $15 upgrades at check-in. Meanwhile, American Eagle announced that they'll stop charging for soft drinks because nobody was buying. Link (Thanks, Jason Tester!)

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Small Birthweight And Premature Births Associated With Higher Risk Of Child Abuse

Small Birthweight And Premature Births Associated With Higher Risk Of Child Abuse: "Small birthweight and premature birth may be associated with a higher risk of child abuse and neglect, suggests research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health."