News For Wednesday Oct 8, 2008 News For Wednesday Oct 8, 2008

Science  & Technology Science  & Technology

NASA safety panel worries about moon ship design - Added 8 weeks ago

NASA is not properly emphasizing safety in its design of a new spaceship and its return-to-the-moon program faces money, morale and leadership problems, an agency safety panel found Monday. The Aerospace Safety...

Nuance reports 3Q loss expands by 30 percent - Added 8 weeks ago

Nuance Communications Inc. posted a loss for the fiscal third quarter that was 30 percent wider than its year-ago results, but its adjusted numbers still managed to beat Wall Street's consensus estimate by a penny. The...

Auto dealer software company slashes '08 outlook - Added 8 weeks ago

Automotive dealer software manufacturer DealerTrack Holdings Inc. slashed its full-year earnings and revenue projections Monday, saying a challenging credit environment and slowdown in new car sales would impede...

Sector Wrap: Major Internet stocks rise - Added 8 weeks ago

Major Internet stocks rose Monday, with Amazon.com Inc. shares rising after some positive analyst notes, including one saying sales of the online retailer's e-book reader Kindle seem to be "much stronger than expected."...

Some like it hot, but not fungi - Added 8 weeks ago

Chiliheads who savor the kick of hot peppers are sampling one of the earliest examples of chemical warfare. In this case, it's a battle between the peppers and a type of microbial fungus that destroys their seeds,...

Need Antarctic data: Send in the seals - Added 8 weeks ago

Bitter cold and floating sea ice long frustrated scientists seeking to study the ocean around Antarctica in winter. The solution: Send in the seals. The polar regions are expected to be especially sensitive to climate...

Trees get too tall to drink - Added 8 weeks ago

The height of Douglas fir trees appears to be limited by their ability to raise water to the highest branches, a problem that can be appreciated by anyone who has struggled to suck a thick milkshake through a straw. ...

Plants move up mountain as temps rise, study shows - Added 8 weeks ago

Striking new research in the Southern California mountains suggests recent warming is behind a massive die-off and rapid migration to higher ground by nine different plants _ from desert shrubs to white firs. Within 30...

Review: Online Olympics is ambitious, but not TV - Added 8 weeks ago

NBC Universal is running an unprecedented 3,600 hours of Olympics coverage on television and the Internet, most of it live online, letting fans track their favorite sports in a way not possible even if they'd gone to...

Tiffany appeals eBay counterfeiting decision - Added 8 weeks ago

Tiffany & Co. challenged Monday a federal ruling that largely absolved eBay Inc. of policing its auction site for counterfeit items, saying the judge was wrong to leave the primary burden to the jewelry maker. ...

Broadband growth plummets in 2Q, cable stronger - Added 8 weeks ago

The number of new high-speed Internet subscribers in the United States fell in the second quarter to the lowest level since a research company began tracking the broadband market seven years ago. The 20 largest cable...

Georgian president's Web site moves to Atlanta - Added 8 weeks ago

The Web site of the president of Georgia, the small nation that is battling Russian forces over a breakaway enclave, was moved to a U.S. hosting facility this weekend after allegedly being attacked by Russian hackers. ...

Verizon, 2 unions agree on new 3-year contact - Added 8 weeks ago

Verizon Communications Inc. and two unions representing 65,000 workers who had threatened to strike within hours agreed Sunday on a new three-year contract that provides 10.5 percent wage increases and changes in...

Scientists closer to developing invisibility cloak - Added 8 weeks ago

Scientists say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people and objects invisible. Researchers have demonstrated for the first time they were able to cloak three-dimensional objects using...

Intel's new chip to be called Core i7 - Added 8 weeks ago

Intel Corp. said Sunday it plans to sell its new generation of chips for desktop computers under the established "Core" brand, with the first chips of the new line to be called Core i7. The microprocessors are based on...

Court blocks MIT students from showing subway hack - Added 8 weeks ago

A federal judge ordered three college students to cancel a Sunday presentation at a computer hackers' conference where they planned to show security flaws in the automated fare system used by Boston's subway. The...

Card-counting whiz eyes Facebook football fantasy - Added 8 weeks ago

!!-- pobj:FX112-0729081115 -->!!-- pobj:FX113-0729081128 -->!!-- pobj:FX114-0729081129 -->By the time he graduated from MIT, Jeff Ma already had led a life many guys dream about. His card-counting prowess at blackjack...

Some Web sites remain blocked at Beijing Olympics - Added 8 weeks ago

Some Web sites remained inaccessible to reporters as competition got under way Saturday at the Beijing Olympics. China's communist government routinely filters its citizens' access to the Internet, but in the runup to...

InfoGroup files long-overdue financial reports - Added 8 weeks ago

Database provider InfoGroup Inc. on Friday filed long-overdue financial reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, months after receiving a Nasdaq notice threatening delisting over the late papers. InfoGroup,...

Barbadians slam discovery, naming of tiny snake - Added 8 weeks ago

A small snake has sparked a big debate in Barbados. Residents of the wealthy Caribbean nation have been heating up blogs and clogging radio airwaves to vent their anger at a U.S. scientist, who earlier this week...

Hackers mull physical attacks on a networked world - Added 8 weeks ago

Want to break into the computer network in an ultra-secure building? Ship a hacked iPhone there to a nonexistent employee and hope the device sits in the mailroom, scanning for nearby wireless connections. How about...

Broadcom wins initial ruling in GPS patent dispute - Added 8 weeks ago

Telecommunications chip maker Broadcom Corp. said Friday that it had won an initial ruling against rival SiRF Technology Holdings for violating six patents covering technology designed for global positioning systems. ...

Anthrax case spurred field of germ-gene sleuthing - Added 8 weeks ago

The anthrax killer spurred a whole new branch of science that could give the nation a head start in the next emergency _ whether it's investigating more bioterrorism or even a food poisoning outbreak. It's called...

S&P upgrades outlook on Affiliated Computer - Added 8 weeks ago

Standard & Poor's Rating Services upgraded its outlook on Affiliated Computer Services Inc. on Friday after the technology administrator announced it had signed a record amount of new business during its latest...

Broadcom wins initial ruling in GPS patent dispute - Added 8 weeks ago

Telecommunications chip maker Broadcom Corp. said Friday that it had won an initial ruling against rival SiRF Technology Holdings for violating six patents covering technology designed for global positioning systems. ...

Yahoo to let visitors decline more targeted ads - Added 8 weeks ago

Yahoo Inc. will let its Web visitors decline ads targeted to their browsing habits, becoming the latest Internet company to break from a common industry practice as Congress steps up scrutiny of customized advertising...

Cable companies stole telcos' lunch in 2Q - Added 8 weeks ago

Phone companies have been feeling the heat from cable companies for years, as those traditional TV providers have expanded their own phone services and fought hard for broadband Internet subscribers. But in the...

2.5 million-year-old mastodon unearthed in Romania - Added 8 weeks ago

Miners in Romania have unearthed the skeleton of a 2.5 million-year-old mastodon, believed to be one of the best preserved in Europe, a local official said Friday. They stumbled on the remains of the mammoth-like...

Unions set Sunday deadline for Verizon talks - Added 8 weeks ago

Two unions representing 65,000 workers at Verizon Communications Inc. have set a Sunday night deadline for contract talks, saying a strike is possible next week. The phone company's contract with the Communications...

Google believes $1B investment in AOL is crumbling - Added 8 weeks ago

In an assessment that could lead to a substantial charge against its future profits, Google Inc. believes its $1 billion investment in advertising partner AOL is souring. The Mountain View-based company disclosed in a...

Scientists create stem cells for 10 disorders - Added 8 weeks ago

Harvard scientists say they have created stems cells for 10 genetic disorders, which will allow researchers to watch the diseases develop in a lab dish. This early step, using a new technique, could help speed up...

Reporters booted from conference for hacking - Added 8 weeks ago

With thousands of hackers milling around the Black Hat convention here, and widespread snooping on the public Wi-Fi network, one place was supposed to be off limits: the press room. But in a case of reporters spying on...

Reporters booted from conference for hacking - Added 8 weeks ago

With thousands of hackers milling around the Black Hat convention here, and widespread snooping on the public WiFi network, one place was supposed to be off limits: the press room. But in a case of reporters spying on...