Feb. 9, 1870: Feds Get on Top of the Weather
- President Grant signs the law creating what will become the Weather Bureau and eventually the National Weather Service.
Macworld Expo 2010 Caters to Apple Fans — Without Apple
- The Macworld trade show goes on without Steve Jobs. But will it live another year?
Video Gallery: Lightning Reveals Its Power in Slow Motion
- Ultrahigh-speed video reveals six lightning strokes in startling slo-mo.
Stormy Weather Cannot Defeat Re-Engineered Umbrella
- Saving up for a rainy day? Consider using some of that cash on an umbrella from Blunt. This reinforced dome will hold up to gusts short of hurricane force.
Storyboard: Chris Anderson on Long Tail of Stuff
- Advances in product design and prototyping signal the start of a new industrial revolution, Wired's top editor argues in his latest cover story. Anderson and Wired Executive Editor Thomas Goetz discuss the implications of these radical changes in this week's Storyboard podcast.
Feb. 9, 1969:Boeing 747 Makes First Flight
- The world's first jumbo jet, Boeing's 747, shows that it's ready for service.
Audio: DIY Recordings of Awakening Sun
- A backyard radio astronomer and artist in New Mexico has captured sound recordings of the newly noisy sun showering the Earth with particles.
JooJoo Tablet Faces Uphill Battle Against iPad
- Apple's iPad could sound the death knell for JooJoo, a tablet from an an unknown Singapore-based startup that was once the talk of gadget blogs.
Jurors Told to Stop Tweeting
- The federal judiciary is being told to instruct jurors not to tweet, Facebook or perform online research for cases they are involved in. The developments follow a rash of twittering, facebooking and internet researching by federal jurors — some of which have led to mistrials.
Google Making Gmail Into a Communications Hub
- Google is set to turn Gmail into a communications dashboard with rolling status updates. It's a bid to keep up with Facebook and make Gmail the place users turn to when they want to send messages, no matter what the medium.
Boeing's Biggest Bird Leaves the Nest
- The Boeing 747-8 made it's inaugural flight, more than a year behind schedule.
Electric Cars, and Chargers, Poised to Flood Israel
- Shai Agassi brokers a deal to electrify one-third of the country's fleet within 5 years.
Farewell to Sci-Fi Writer William Tenn
- William Tenn, one of science fiction's most imaginative writers, has passed. Tenn created vivid scenarios of mind-blowing alien worlds in novels and stories that illuminated emotional, political and ethic issues of good old humanity. And as a teacher, he inspired other aspiring writers. Including this one.
Artist Creates Paintings From Floppy Disks
- British artist Nick Gentry is using floppy disk drives to created mixed-media portraits.
First Chevrolet Volt Rolls Off the Line Nov. 1
- GM's date with destiny is set, but there's still no word on what the electric car will cost.
After 100 Years, Are The Boy Scouts Still Relevant?
- February 8 marks the centennial of Boy Scouts in America. At a time when shows like 'Man Vs Wild' and 'Survivorman' are experiencing immense popularity, wouldn’t it make sense that they'd see a surge in enrollment? But Boy Scouts, in many ways, are a struggling organization with membership plummeting annually.
Rewiring Haiti: Patience Wears Thin in Port-au-Prince
- PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI — With the disaster-relief phase ending, the streets of Port-au-Prince are now crowded with the white SUVs of international aid and development agencies shuttling purposefully around town. But while the focus may have shifted to rebuilding Haiti, rising unrest over aid and food distribution could sideline efforts to begin reconstruction in earnest.
10 Ways to a Geeky Girl's Heart
- If you’re a geeky guy looking to romance a geeky girl, it doesn’t matter if you’ve been with her forever or if she’s a new interest; realize that conventional romantic overtures won’t always work. Think outside the box. Here's some help.
Google's Super Bowl Ad: A Romance in Search
- Google debuted a Super Bowl ad Sunday. The ad tells the story of a romance helped along by a series of Google searches conducted by (one is left to imagine) a young man whose simple plan to study abroad in Paris ends with his need to know how to assemble a crib.
Review: Daddy-Daughter Killing Sprees Power 'BioShock 2'
- By building on the original's creepy setting and tweaking the troubling relationship between Big Daddies and Little Sisters, this sequel becomes a worthy successor to a groundbreaking game.
Missile Silo Confessions: Living on the Edge of Armageddon
- A renovated missile silo in the middle of the Arizona desert is a reminder of more chaotic times. Ex-crew members share their stories as we take a tour.
How Movies Activate Your Neural G-Spot
- Scott Brown considers the pros and cons of MindSign Neuromarketing's plans to create the "neurocinema," the real-time monitoring of the brain's reaction to movies.
Feb. 8, 1865: Mendel Reads Genetics' Founding Paper
- An Austrian monk is anything but pea-shy when he explains the principles of heredity.
Ad-Network Vets Try to Clean Up Their Act
- Do you wonder where those ads for work at home, teeth whitening and so on are coming from, and why they appear on otherwise respectable websites? The answer is complicated, but becoming less so.
A Would-Be Spy's Buried Treasure and Uncrackable Code
- Former Air Force sergeant Brian Regan buried stolen government secrets and encrypted the coordinates, hoping to sell the stash to the highest bidder. Then he had to crack his own code.
21st-Century Shooters Are No Country for Old Men
- Can aging gamers compete with twitchy teens on today's increasingly complicated virtual battlefields? War is extra hellish when you're too old, or too busy, to fight off the adolescent hordes in games like MAG and Modern Warfare 2.
Apple iPad's Tiny SIM Is Just There to Mess With You
- Evidence suggests that Apple's decision to use a smaller-than-usual micro SIM card in the iPad was motivated by business reasons, not a lack of space. The company is likely trying to prevent iPhone customers from using the same SIM cards in their iPads.
Ultra-Precise Quantum-Logic Clock Puts Old Atomic Clock to Shame
- Scientists create an atomic clock that uses quantum logic to be precise within one second in 3.7 billion years.
Authors Guild: 'To RIAA or Not to RIAA'
- The Authors Guild says it supports the proposed Google Books settlement to avoid the same mistakes the Recording Industry of America made in its litigation campaign against music pirates. Namely: if you can't beat piracy, you might as well as join it.
'The People vs. George Lucas' Is Really a Twisted Love Letter
- Star Wars fans unload on the creator of their beloved franchise in the crowdsourced film, which makes its world premiere in March at the South by Southwest film festival. Writer and director Alexandre O. Philippe talks about weeding through thousands of submissions from passionate fans to concoct his "participatory documentary."
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Stimulus funds for high-speed Internet access tangled up
- Interest in the $7.2 billion for high-speed Internet in the stimulus package, and objections from providers, overwhelm the agencies ...
'Dante's Inferno' represents one hell of a video-game concept
- The 14th-century epic poem has stirred imaginations for centuries. Now, video-game designers are using it for inspiration, too.
MySpace Music experiments with audio ads
- Hoping to boost revenue, MySpace Music has begun experimenting with audio advertisements that users must hear if they want to ...
Security chip that does encryption in PCs hacked
- Deep inside millions of computers is a digital Fort Knox, a special chip with the locks to highly guarded secrets, including ...
Google's Gmail to try to challenge Facebook
- Search giant Google is upgrading its Gmail program to add social-media tools similar to those found on Facebook.
Chinese police shut down hacker training business
- Police in central China have shut down a hacker training operation that openly recruited thousands of members online and provided ...
New federal climate change agency proposed
- The Obama administration on Monday proposed a new agency to study and report on the changing climate.
Macmillan books coming back to Amazon
- After a week-long absence, new copies of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and other books published by Macmillan are available for purchase ...
Space shuttle blasts off on last night flight
- Space shuttle Endeavour is rocketing toward the space station on one of the shuttle program's last scheduled missions.
AT&T now says SlingPlayer for iPhone on 3G is OK
- AT&T Inc. said Thursday it will now allow Sling Media Inc.'s television-viewing program for the iPhone to operate over its "3G" ...
Explorers' century-old whisky found in Antarctic
- This Scotch has been on the rocks for a century.
Scientists celebrate evolution on Darwin's birthday
- Darwin Day came in a big way last year with hundreds of Feb. 12 celebrations noting the bicentennial birthday of evolution's ...
Games, apps stand out in Facebook's latest design
- The latest evolution to Facebook continues Friday after starting to roll out late Thursday, the company's sixth birthday. Links ...
Fight between Amazon and publisher may be ending
- A standoff between Amazon.com and a leading publisher that has limited the availability of Andrew Young's "The Politician" and ...
PBS Kids' teaches biology in an online game
- Parents and teachers looking for a way to make learning biology fun for kids can find it in an outstanding free online game called ...
As Data Flows In, the Dollars Flow Out
- The average American is expected to spend nearly $1,000 this year on services like cable, Internet and video games.
Publishers Win a Bout in E-Book Price Fight
- Publishers have managed to take some control — at least temporarily — of how much consumers pay for their content.
Findings: Will You Be E-Mailing This Column? It’s Awesome
- A University of Pennsylvania study found that readers of news in print and online had more exalted tastes than might be expected.
With Shake-Up, SAP Seeks Better Customer Relations
- The chairman of SAP, the German software company, said a decision to raise maintenance fees was wrong and acknowledged that he had been partly responsible for the move.
Foursquare Signs a Deal With Zagat
- Foursquare, the hip social network whose software is on the phones of many young urbanites, is branching out.
Available Soon at a Barnes & Noble Near You: The Nook
- Want to do more than look at a Nook? Starting Wednesday, Barnes & Noble will finally have its e-book reader available for sale in its bookstores.
Job Postings Hint at Amazon's Plans for the Kindle
- While Amazon goes on a hiring spree for its Kindle division, hiring color LCD managers and Wi-Fi specialists, where does the company take the Kindle from here?
Imagining a World of Hardware Mashups
- Futurists look for "weak signals" that suggest where the world is heading. In technology, the signals may be pointing to hardware mashups.
China Announces Arrests in Hacking Crackdown
- Police officers also seized money and equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars during the crackdown, which occurred in November, state media reported over the past two days.
Making Solar Power Portable
- A growing number of business travelers are using portable renewable energy devices to power up their electronics when they work in places that offer little or no access to electricity.
World War II navigation system dies
- The U.S. Coast Guard is shutting down a mapping service called Loran-C, which has been in use since World War II. Some advocates say killing Loran will make the U.S. too reliant on its replacement: GPS.
China: Hacker training site shut down
- Police in China have shut down what is believed to be the largest Web site for training computer hackers, according to local media reports.
Endeavour lifts off on two-week mission
- Mission managers loaded the crew into the space shuttle Endeavour early Monday for a second attempt in as many days at getting into orbit.
Google analyst: U.S. Internet needs to get faster
- Google long has been an advocate of a single Web, one that's free of government censorship and barriers to information access.
Google-France book partnership stirs fears
- A proposed partnership between the French government and Google is stoking fears in France that the country's literary treasures will fall under commercial control of a U.S. technology company.
High-tech kept the Super Bowl on track
- As the players, coaches and halftime performers -- not to mention the Lombardi Trophy -- made their way to Miami's Sun Life Stadium for the Super Bowl on Sunday, Jerry Hunter and company were keeping a close eye on them.
'Off grid' brings power to the people
- The price of power has always been a political issue -- but now campaigners argue it could be the key to starting a green energy revolution.
NASA head concerned about possible job losses
- On the eve of Sunday's launch of space shuttle Endeavour, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said he supports President Obama's goal of making the space industry a commercial venture, but is concerned about potential job losses at the agency.
Facebook gets birthday face-lift
- Facebook updates its homepage to emphasize games and apps and make it easier to find updates from friends. The site now has 400 million users.
'MAG' brings worldwide war to PS3
- If you subscribe to the adages "the more, the merrier" or "bigger is better," then you should be plenty happy with Sony's MAG -- a PlayStation 3 exclusive that lets you battle with up to 256 players over the Internet in a number of near-future skirmishes.
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NOAA Tackles Climate Change
- Responding to public demand for climate change information, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plans to form an NOAA Climate Service line office and launches a new Website to serve as a single point of entry for NOAAs extensive climate information, data, products and services. - To accommodate the increasingly number of requests for climate change
information, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Feb. 8 it
is creating an NOAA Climate Service line office dedicated to bringing together
the agencys climate science and service delivery capabilities.
NO...
Microsoft Says Windows 7 Battery Issues Are Batteries' Fault
- Microsoft claims its engineers have been exploring complaints of poor battery life for some laptops running Windows 7, and that in every case the operating system is not at fault. Instead, Windows 7 had correctly evaluated via a new feature that those users batteries were failing, Microsoft said in a Feb. 8 blog posting. However, posts on Microsoft Watch, TechNet and other discussion forums seem to suggest that at least a percentage of users experiencing these issues also had batteries that were either new or nearly new, which in turn is raising further questions. - Microsoft's engineers have been exploring the alleged battery-life issues
associated with Windows 7 running on laptops, and report that the operating
system is not causing those batteries to prematurely fail. In every case,
claimed an official Microsoft blog posting on Feb. 8, Windows 7 correctly...
SAP Intends to Restore Market Trust Under New Management Regime
- SAP's new management team will have the task of getting the company growing again and restoring a sense of trust in the enterprise applications maker among SAP employees, partners and customers, according to Hasso Plattner, chairman of the company's Supervisory Board. - A new SAP management team will focus on
restoring trust inside and outside of the enterprise business software company
that was lost over the past couple of years as a result of policies that
led to discontent among SAP employees as
well as customers, according to Hasso Plattner, chairman of th...
HP Updates TRIM SharePoint Records Management Package
- Hewlett-Packard introduces Total Records Information Management 7, which enables an enterprise to manage all of its Microsoft SharePoint Server records within a single environment regardless of the source of each document. - Hewlett-Packard is coming at enterprise storage organization problems from a
Microsoft SharePoint read that nonstorage vantage point.
HP on Feb. 8 introduced a new version of its Web-based records management
package, TRIM (Total Records Information Management) 7, which enables an
enterprise to...
IBM Aims New Power7 Systems at the Smarter Planet
- IBM launches a set of Power7 systems that it says deliver up to four times the energy efficiency and twice the performance of the previous generation of Power systems and some of the current crop of competing systems. - NEW YORK IBM
launched a set of new Power7 systems that it says deliver up to four times the
energy efficiency and twice the performance of the previous generation of Power
systems and some of the current crop of competing systems.
At an old fashioned reach-out-and-touch launch at the swanky Mand...
New Intel Itanium Offers Greater Performance, Memory Capacity
- It may be two years late, but Intel's Itanium processor code-named Tukwila offers twice the number of cores as the current version code-named Montecito, with significant upgrades in memory and network bandwidth, features it shares with Intel's high-end Xeon server chip, and greater virtualization capabilities. The Itanium 9300 series comes as IBM is rolling out four new Power7-based servers and Oracle is integrating Sun into its business. - It took a little longer than expected, but Intel officials have finally
released quot;Tukwila, quot; the next-generation Itanium processor that offers
significant advances in performance and scalability and a host of features that
improve everything from virtualization capabilities to reliabilit...
10 Reasons Why the Linux Community Could Influence iPhone Sales
- News Analysis: Linux creator Linus Torvalds has publicly stated that he has purchased and likes Google's Nexus One smartphone. It's no small endorsement. With Torvalds' support comes a full Linux community that is ready and willing to take on the iPhone. - Although the combined market share of Linux distributions pales in
comparison with Windows or Mac OS X, the Linux community is strong, engaged
and, perhaps most importantly, loyal. Part of that is due to the community's
strong feelings against closed software, especially products sold by Microsof...
Barnes and Noble's Nook E-Reader Now in Stock, Soon in Stores
- Barnes Noble's Nook e-reader experienced months of delays due to supposed demand, a situation that may be changing with the booksellers announcement that the Nook will be available in most stores starting midweek. The Nook is also listed as in stock online. Competition in the e-reader arena has heated up as the Nook, Amazon.com's Kindle and soon the Apple iPad all compete for dominancy of the e-text market, with technological innovations and pricing seen as key factors in whether the manufacturers will seize a majority of market share. - Barnes amp; Noble announced Feb. 8 that its Nook e-reader will be
available in most of its stores nationwide by midweek, possibly bringing an end
to months of delays for the devices. The Nook was also listed as quot;In
Stock quot; on Barnes amp; Noble's Website.
The retailer originally attr...
Application Whitelisting Isn't Too Bad
- AppLocker is Microsofts take on application whitelisting, a process by which a user can only run applications or processes that are expressly permitted by policy. - Six months ago, when I started using Windows 7 full time on
my primary system, I wanted to take better advantage of the new operating
systems baked-in security features. I had already been running as a
limited-rights user that needed a separate administrator password to affect
system changes thr...
Facebook Homepage Redesign Puts Search Front and Center
- Facebook turned 6 years old Feb. 4. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg proudly told the world that the leading social network now has more than 400 million users. To celebrate the birthday, Facebook also began rolling out changes to the homepage. Though currently visible to only 80 million of the site's users worldwide, the changes are significant signs that the company is looking to improve the site's search and overall usability. See some of the changes, which will be rolling out to all users over the coming weeks, in this eWEEK slideshow. - ...
Facebook, Microsoft Sever Banner Ad Ties for Social Ads
- Facebook will no longer be serving banner ads from Microsoft, but this isn't a sign that relations between the companies have grown cold. A Facebook spokesperson said ad formats that feature social actions, or social ads, perform better and can be targeted to the site's 400 million users based on the info they provide about themselves on the site. Altimeter Group analyst Charlene Li wondered if and when Microsoft and Facebook will partner to let Facebook offer social ads, via the Facebook Connect application to extend the social network to third parties, to partner publishers that want to serve social ads on their sites. -
Facebook will no longer be serving banner ads from
Microsoft, but this isn't a sign that relations between the companies have
grown cold.
Rather, social ads are growing up and it is time for Facebook to
leverage them better, the social network and analysts who follow it believe.
...
10 Things Apple Doesn't Want You to Know About the iPad
- Apple has been touting its iPad since it was first announced a few weeks ago. But after the hype wears off and we take an honest look at the iPad, we quickly find that there are some major flaws with the company's tablet device that it just doesn't want us to know about. When a consumer picks up the iPad expecting a top-of-the-line experience, they might be surprised to learn that it can't quite provide that. They might be even more upset when they find out that the iPad isn't as appealing as Steve Jobs wants the world to believe. So before you pick one up, let's take a look at what Apple doesn't want you to know about the iPad. - ...
China Closes Hacker Training School, Arrests 3
- China officials have shut down Black Hawk Safety Net, the country's biggest hacker training Website, and arrested three people for making hacker tools available online. - China announced it has arrested three people in connection with operating a hacker training school that distributed malware and hacking tools to its members in online forums.
According to Xinhua,
China
s state-run newspaper, three people were arrested in connection with making the tools availabl...
Upon Meeting the Apple iPad, Fewer People Want It: Survey
- The Apple iPad is less coveted by consumers, now that they know what it is, says retailer Retrevo, which polled visitors to its site before and after the iPads introduction. While in early January, 26 percent said they werent interested, in early February, 52 percent said the same. - Were expectations for the Apple iPad raised too high to satisfy, or did the device simply disappoint? Either way, some consumers polled by electronics retailer Retrevo have changed their sentiments toward the tablet.
In surveys conducted Jan. 16-20, visitors to the Retrevo site were asked, “Ha...
Linus Torvalds Calls Google Nexus One a Winner
- Linus Torvalds, the man who created the Linux operating system on which Android is based, said he likes using the Google Nexus One smartphone for its Google Maps Navigation turn-by-turn GPS software. Torvalds said he generally hates phones because they are irritating and disturb you as you work or read or whatever, but is intrigued by Linux-based phones. The Google navigation Torvalds enjoys is the Google Maps Navigation turn-by-turn GPS feature so many users have found useful since it launched on the Motorola Droid in November. - The Google Nexus One smartphone, based on Google's Android
operating system, is getting fans in high-profile tech places even as it
battles a reputation for poor 3G service.
Linus
Torvalds, the man who created the Linux operating system on which Android
is based, purchased a Nexus One and spok...
Toyota adds new Prius to global recall list
- TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp said it would recall nearly half a million new Prius and other hybrid cars for braking problems as it battled criticism of its response to the spiraling safety crisis.
Iran says starts work on making 20 percent nuclear fuel
- TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran began work on Tuesday to make higher-grade nuclear fuel, a senior official said, and the Pentagon said the United States wanted a U.N. Security Council resolution on Iran "within weeks" over its nuclear program.
Obama's healthcare summit sets stage for end-game
- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's call for a healthcare summit including both his fellow Democrats and Republicans sets the stage for a final push to get stalled legislation through Congress, but skeptical Republicans said on Monday the only solution is to start over.
Weather closes government offices a second day
- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal government agencies in the capital region will remain closed for a second day on Tuesday as residents brace for another blizzard while trying to clean up from a weekend storm that paralyzed the area with two feet of snow.
U.S. missionary in Haiti says trusts God to free her
- PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - A Haitian judge made no decision at a hearing on Monday whether to free or prosecute 10 U.S. missionaries accused of kidnapping children, and their leader said she trusted in God they would be cleared and released.
Taiwan drops request for U.S. military subs: source
- TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan has effectively dropped a request for U.S. submarines to help shore up the balance of power with political rival China, a military source said on Tuesday, dissolving what could be a new rift in tense Sino-U.S. ties.
John Murtha, defense appropriations chair, dies
- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Representative John Murtha, chairman of the House of Representatives defense appropriations subcommittee who exercised enormous influence on defense issues, died on Monday.
NATO to Afghan assault villagers: keep heads down
- KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan villagers should stay inside and "keep their heads down" when thousands of U.S. Marines launch a massive assault on a densely-populated district in coming days, NATO's civilian representative to Afghanistan said Tuesday.
Church pews fill as Philippine poll campaign begins
- MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine politicians launched their campaigns on Tuesday in a wide-open race for the presidency, with poverty, corruption and unemployment the top issues for the impoverished Southeast Asian archipelago.
Ukraine's Tymoshenko girds to contest result
- KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko launched action on Tuesday to call rival Viktor Yanukovich's election as president into question.
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