Aww, Shucks!

You Are a Pundit Blogger!Your blog is smart, insightful, and always a quality read.Truly appreciated by many, surpassed by only a few.What kind of blogger are you?Give this site a try... it has all kinds of addictive quizzes that bloggers can then post to their own sites. Viral marketing at its be...

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[UPGRADE] Better Commenting and TrackBack

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog. Now, anyone can comment on a post, not just Blogger.com members. The downside is that existing comments to posts appear to have been wiped out by the Haloscan insta...

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Creepy Halloween Urban Legends

There's nothing like a twisted urban legend to run a chill down your spine, and Snopes.com is perhaps the Web's premier resource for the latest and greatest in modern folklore. Check out their collection of Halloween urban legends, including recent news stories and other ghoulish tales.Happy Halloween to all! Don't eat too much candy... and those of you who observe Daylight Saving Time, remember to turn your clocks back one hour Saturday night. Check your smoke detector batteries too!...

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Accuracy, Future of Phone Polls in Doubt

As the presidential election enters the homestretch, nobody seems able to make sense of incoming polling figures. One minute it's a dead heat, the next minute Bush is breaking out, and the next, Kerry's ahead. What's going on?Some experts believe that traditional methods of polling -- particularly telephone polls -- are no longer reliable. Brian Vargus, a political science professor at Indiana University, believes that the era of telephone polling is coming to an end. "This may be the last election where you'll see such a proliferation of telephone polls," he says.Several factors play into the decline in the reliability of telephone polling: More Americans rely on cell phones, and many -- especially young people -- use them as their primary phones. Cell phone numbers aren't listed, and...

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Deadly Flu Epidemic On The Way?

Not to frighten anybody, but the head of the Russian Virology Institute is predicting a major worldwide bird-flu pandemic this season, with fatalities numbering in the billions." 'Up to one billion people could die around the whole world in six months,' [Dmitry] Lvov said. The expert did not give a timeframe for the epidemic, but said that it is highly probable that it will start this year. 'We are half a step away from a worldwide pandemic catastrophe.' "Lvov believes that up to 700,000 Americans could die in such an outbreak. He is also urging Russian authorities to prepare for the epidemic by reserving hospital beds.Lvov has not provided many further details, and the credibility of this prediction remains unclear. It's interesting that he took pains to mention American fatalities, perhaps...

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Baby Likes Video Games

Video games are no longer the purview of pre-teens and teens, according to an article in the New York Times. Children as young as three are embracing computer games... either playing versions designed especially for them or mastering the games of their older siblings.The article cites research from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation stating that half of all children between the ages of 4 to 6 have played video games, and of those, one in four plays regularly. The survey also found that 14 percent of children below age 3 have played video games.Among the things this trend reveals are: Children have an innate comfort level with technology, as evidenced by young children's mastery of games designed for teens and adults. The game players of today will become the workers of tomorrow... and...

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Map of Creativity

A UK-based group called the Next Generation Foundation has created an interactive Map of Creativity that uses an innovative Flash interface to list educational, cultural and other socially beneficial projects around the world. The interface takes a bit of getting used to (about 30 seconds), but once you getthe hang of it, you can drill around and search by category, age group and geographic location.The NGF was founded by Kjeld Kirk, CEO of the LEGO Company.Source: Beverly T...

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Microsoft Develops Next-Generation PDA Interface

Microsoft is developing a new PDA interface that will allow users to access Web content more easily. As more PDA users get wireless Internet access, the problem of surfing the Web on a very small screen becomes evident. A standard web page is illegible on a PDA.Microsoft's solution is to allow users to zoom in on content of interest through pen strokes. The user can use standard web menus and links, then enlarge pages to be readable while preserving their context.Source: Futurismic...

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Political Bloggers Strike Again

Liberal bloggers have called the Bush campaign on an ad titled "Whatever It Takes." The ad itself is relatively conventional and, in its final scene, shows the President addressing an assembly of soldiers. Problem is, careful observers have noted that the soldiers in that group scene appear to have been digitally duplicated.By now you may have heard about this on the news, and the Kerry campaign is using this as evidence that the Bush team plays fast and loose with the truth. However, it seems that the only thing Bush is guilty of here is sloppiness.In the old days, no one would ever have given this ad a second thought. But in this superheated...

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Enterpreneur Uses Tech for Better Health

A must-read article from CNN.com regarding Vikram Kumar, a young MIT graduate who develops handheld technologies for developing countries. Using software developed by his startup company, clinicians in India and South Africa are able to manage thousands of patients and distribute test results... all while maintaining security and patient confidentiality. Kumar is also developing computer games for children with juvenile diabetes to help them better manage their blood sugar leve...

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Study: Businesses Not Prepared for Terrorism

In this election season, voters consistently rate terrorism and homeland security as among their top concerns. However, a two-year study reveals that businesses don't appear to share those worries.Shortly before 9/11, Ian Mitroff and Dr. Murat Alpaslan began a survey of Fortune 1000 companies to determine their preparedness for terrorist attacks and other emergencies. They followed up on the one- and two-year anniversaries of 9/11, and found that little had been done to increase levels of emergency preparedness and crisis management: Immediately after 9/11, preparation for all kinds of crises shot up dramatically, but especially for terrorism. The reasons were just as important as the increases themselves. Most executives that we talked to reported that their companies increased their preparations...

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The Future of Cars

What kind of car will you be driving in 10 years? According to an article on MSNBC.com, politics and the economy could play a large role in determining the future of cars over the next decade.States, particularly California, are mandating cars that emit less CO2. And since California is such a large car market, many auto manufacturers build their cars to comply with rigid California emissions standards by default. California also has tougher-than-average safety standards, such as mandates for daytime running lights.Higher-mileage cars typically emit less CO2... so aside from being environmentally friendly, they are also mor eeconomical to drive. And if oil prices remain high, drivers will likely seek high-mileage vehicles. Auto makers may be encouraged to expand their offerings of hybrid...

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Sick of Boring Old Jack-o-Lanterns?

So is this guy...If you're looking for creative pumpkin-carving ideas, check out ExtremePumpkins.com and see what some clever carvers are doing with the season's favorite gou...

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[FOLLOWUP] Cassini Relays Perplexing Titan Pix

After its successful fly-by of Saturn's moon Titan, the Cassini space probe sent back surface images, the most detailed yet seen. However, scientists don't know exactly what they're looking at yet.The infrared photos appear to reveal some types of topography, which may be coastlines or mountains. Some features may be clouds, while others might be lakes of liquid methane. Titan is the only moon in the Solar System in the atmosphere, yet it is so cold that substances that would normally be gases on earth are liquefi...

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Searches Increasingly Look for Business, Not Porn

Research from Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh have found that web users are searching more for business and e-commerce resources, and less for sex and pornography. The researchers examined Internet usage patterns and archived searches over several years.Researchers noted that sex-related searched comprised 20 percent of all searched in 1997, as opposed to 5 percent today. By contrast, shopping-related searches increased by 86 percent in the same period.Reasons for this shift are multiple, and may include such factors as: The growing acceptance of the Net as a business and productivity tool The general growth of e-commerce, and users' increased comfort level with shopping online The prevalence of anti-porn firewalls and strict policies against accessing adult content in the...

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Blogger Takes the Day Off

Many blogs hosted by Blogger.com -- including this one -- have been dark for much of the day today. According to Blogger's status board, they have been experiencing network difficulties since midnight last night. Things seem to be better now (obviously, I'm able to post). My apologies to readers who have been inconvenienced by this outa...

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Tech to Prevent SIDS

Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a "Smart Shirt" for infants that has sensors to record a child's heartbeat. The shirt can be used to monitor infants for risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS); data is recorded and played back by medical technicians, much in the way that a holter monitor operates. A next-generation shirt could send alerts directly to parents or clinicians.Elsewhere, design student Gary Cho has developed a "Caring Cot," a rocking crib that automatically rocks an infant back to sleep if he awakens. Aside from giving baby (and parents) a good night's rest, the device responds to sound, movement and temperature -- giving it the potential to alert parents if the baby is in distress.SIDS is defined as the sudden, unexplained death of a child under the age of o...

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Mobile Phone Cam Attachment Sees Through Clothes

Next time someone takes your picture with a phone cam, they may be getting more of an eyeful than you intend.A night filter attachment for Vodaphone phone cams can apparently penetrate clothing to reveal naked bodies. The device is made by the Japanese manufacturer Yamada Denshi, and is supposedly most effective in penetrating form-fitting bikinis.The device works because the images it produces are based on heat, not visible light. And since bodies produce heat and clothes do not, it ignores the clothes and images the bodies only.As you might expect, the gadget is becoming a fast fave of voyeurs, especially in Japan, who swap photos through the Internet.When I was growing up, the backs of comic books featured ads for "x-ray glasses" that offered the subtle but titillating promise of being...

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[FOLLOWUP] Cassini Flies Past Titan

The good news is that the Cassini space probe orbiting Saturn made a successful fly-by of the moon Titan today. The bad news is that we have to wait until later tonight to see any images. Cassini won't start transmitting until 9:30 PM EDT, and there's a several-hour time delay on top of that. Hopefully by tomorrow morning we'll have some eye can...

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Glucose Meter + GameBoy = GlucoBoy!

In one of those fits of pure genius, a company called Guidance Interactive Healthcare has developed the GlucoBoy, a glucose meter that attaches to Nintendo GameBoy devices. The idea is to make it easier and more pleasant for children to test their glucose levels.Technology combined with consideration for the end user. Gotta love it!Source: bT...

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Which Nigerian Spammer Are You?

Eighty percent of all Internet users say they have received spam messages informing them they are the recipients of untold riches in a bank account in Nigeria. The other 20 percent are either lying or haven't checked their e-mail in several years...The folks at BBspot, who are always good for something funny, have an online quiz to determine which Nigerian spammer you most closely resemble. Which Nigerian spammer are Y...

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License to Parent

Occasionally, there comes along a concept that's at once smart and horrifying. One of these is the idea of regulating parenthood. In the book Should Parents Be Licensed?, editor Peg Tittle has assembled essays exploring issues such as requiring prospective parents to be certified for fitness; prenatal child abuse; compulsory contraception; and who should determine the fundamental right to have children.We witness examples of abysmal parenting on a daily basis, whether we watch a parent explode at their kids in a mall or grocery store, or hear about someone convicted of infanticide on the evening news. Cleary, there are many parents out there who have no business being around kids, and don't have the financial, emotional or intellectual resources to raise them. Children don't ask to be born,...

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Cassini Saturn Probe to Fly Past Titan

The Cassini space probe currently orbiting Saturn is scheduled to fly today to within 745 miles of the surface of Titan, the planet's largest and most intriguing moon. The probe will take infrared and radar images that are expected to give us a much clearer view of the moon's surface, which is obscured by a thick atmosphere. It is this atmosphere that causes scientists to speculate that Titan might harbor primitive li...

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US Army to Use Microwave Guns

Science fiction meets reality! Next year, the U.S. Army will debut a microwave gun, which fires painful yet nonlethal and non-injuring electronic beams. It will most likely see its first use in Iraq for crowd control and to quell civil disturbances. These guns, known formally as the Active Denial System (what a name!), will be mounted on large armored vehicles already in Iraq, to be called "Sheriffs." The Army hopes to have at least several Sheriffs deployed by next fall. If the Sheriffs prove successful, they may be deployed elsewhere, such as sensitive military sites worldwide and for border patrols.The Active Denial System may be paired with another innovative weapon, Gunslinger, that detects enemy sniper fire, automatically determines its origin, and fires back. This device, however,...

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The Rebirth of Design

Have you noticed the increased attention paid to design of consumer items these days? In retail, Target broke out from the pack by infusing everything it sells with smart, hip style. Apple's iMacs and iPods are known as much for their appearance as their functionality. And what's up with all those home makeover shows like Trading Spaces?It seems like we've all gone design-happy these days, and an article in this month's American Demographics has some theories as to why. For one, thanks to increased attention to quality of consumer goods, many items have become commodities. If everything performs dependably, why choose Brand X over Brand Y, especially if it costs more? While consumers are oversaturated with advertising, they will gravitate toward products that look cool and appear to have some...

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Lessons Learned from Indymedia Server Seizure

The details surrounding last week's seizure of hardware belonging to the independent news service Indymedia remain as murky as ever. According to an article in the UK tech publication The Inquirer, no one seems certain exactly who ordered the seizure, or exactly what was being searched for.One thing, however, is crystal clear: the Internet is not immune to government control. The article notes that the old Internew saw "the Internet perceives censorship as damage and routes around it" didn't hold up this time. Why? The answer is surprising simple...Forty percent of Indymedia's servers were hosted at a single location, which made disabling the network a mere matter of unplugging hardware. Where were the failover servers? Why didn't Indymedia treat this as a disaster recovery situation and...

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Robots Rule!

An article in Wired cites the United Nations' Annual Robotics Survey, which says that the use of robots to perform household chores will increase sevenfold by 2007. Between falling costs of robot development and production, rising labor costs and increased functionality, robots are taking on ever more diverse and complex tasks. "By the end of the decade, the study said, robots will 'not only clean our floors, mow our lawns and guard our homes but also assist old and handicapped people with sophisticated interactive equipment, carry out surgery, inspect pipes and sites that are hazardous to people, fight fire and bombs.' "We seem to be reaching a "tipping point" concerning robots, where all of a sudden they seem practical. Part of it, as the Wired article mentioned, is driven by economics....

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How Blogging is Changing Journalism, Public Relations

Anyone following FutureWire (or any resource covering media and technology) has gotten an earful/eyeful of how disruptive technologies are changing the worlds of journalism, marketing and public relations. On a recent webinar hosted by the Public Relations Society of America, Pamela Parker Caird of Jupiter Media and ClickZ, in association with unmediated, presented on how blogs and other emerging technologies are changing the public relations game. You can download the PowerPoint presentation here, or access the archived webinar here.Bottom line: Journalists are relying more and more on blogs and RSS newsfeeds as sources of front-line information. The presentation includes an informal survey of journalists showing nearly 90% considering blogs "somewhat important" or "critically important"...

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Poll: College Students Politically Energized, Support Kerry

A study of college students conducted by Harvard University finds that students today are far more politically motivated than students in the past, more vested in political parties, more likely to be registered to vote... and are leaning strongly toward John Kerry.The poll found that Kerry holds a 13-point lead over George W. Bush among college students -- a lead that appears to have grown since the spring. Women support Kerry very strongly, whereas males are evenly split between Kerry and Bush.But what might be most remarkable is the "sea change" that the poll finds about political attitudes. The combination of the war in Iraq, the lingering possibility of a draft, realities of a post-9/11 world, concerns about the economy and a general sense that the country is "on the wrong track" have...

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Bottoms Up!

Disruptive technologies seem to be all over the place these days... especially in the blogosphere, where political bloggers are making their voices heard, and changing the rules of the game. Joe Trippi has an interesting take on what he calls the "bottom-up" phenomenon on MSNBC.com:We live in a top-down society, where information is power, and where those at the top have most of the information and hold most of the power. This is true within the institutions of government, political parties, the media, corporations, and the military. But something dramatic is happening: A giant wave of change is gathering more force each day. Power is shifting to the bottom, spawned by advances in technology and the decentralized bottom-up nature of the Internet...If information is power, then the Internet...

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Bush, Kerry Put Tech on Back Burner

Hear much about the presidential candidates' views on technology lately? Me neither. The omission hasn't gone unnoticed, as the Washington Post has noted.At the Gartner ITxpo in Orlando this past week, Intel head Craig Barrett issued a scathing assessment of the candidates' positions on technology. Barrett argues that this lack of attention to technology is causing the U.S. to lose its competitive edge: "I visit 30 countries a year and the country most blasé about IT is the one I'm in now," Barrett said. "Even the French believe in the Internet." Barrett added America lacks the "enthusiasm" for technology that he so often sees in Asia, Eastern Europe and even Africa...To get back in the game, the federal government should increase the $5.57 billion budget of the National Science Foundation,...

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10 Major Trends in the Internet's First 10 Years

The USC Annenberg School's Center for the Digital Future released a report on the top trends wrought by the Internet, titled "10 Years, 10 Trends." The center has been studying the Net since 1994 -- the first year that the Internet was made available to the general public -- and has been tracking Internet use, credibility of content, and the Net's impact on other media ever since. "What will happen as a nation that once spent an extremely large portion of time in a passive activity (watching television) transfers increasingly large portions of that time to an interactive activity (the Internet)?" was one question raised in the center's Year Four assessment of the Internet.The top 10 future changes take into account the increase in high-speed "always-on" connectivity, the evolution of e-commerce,...

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New Words in the Oxford English Dictionary

When words enter highly respected dictionaries such as the Oxford English Dictionary, we learn something about where society is headed, what it considers important, and what it figures is here to stay (at least for a while). After all, editors of these publications make changes only after much careful thought and deliberation.The Oxford University Press has published a list of words to be added to the latest edition of its hallowed dictionary. Technology terms that made the cut include bioweapon, blogosphere, cybercrime, desk jockey, designer baby, flash mob, guestbook, infowar, m-commerce, nanobot, plasma screen, pop-up, satphone, and spyware. Also included were jihad, metrosexual, mini-me, punditocracy, sex (as a verb, as to "sex something up"), sky marshal, urban (as in "urban music"),...

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A Step Beyond eBay

The BrianStorms blog has a post about the future of online auctioneering... and it's one that eBay might not lead.Since eBay is the Wal-Mart of the online auction universe, you'd think they'd own the direction of the industry. But, as this post points out, eBay appears to be behind the 8-ball in rolling out newer technologies such as RSS and automatic notifications that consumers not only want, but need. Plus, competitors such as Craigslist and Yahoo! are taking online auctions to the local level. This, the post asserts, is the next crucial step in the evolution of online auctions. Why buy a big-ticket item from someone halfway across the country when you can get the same thing from someone in your town... and save a bundle on shipping?Going forward, online auctions could leverage all kinds...

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P2P Grows Up

An article from Technology Review asserts that peer-to-peer networks have a lot more to offer than sharing music or even movies. Among the creative uses being found for P2P networks are: Internet telephony (Skype) Academic research (LionShare) Collaborative spam filtering (Vipul's Razor) Data backup (Magic Mirror) It shouldn't be surprising that P2P has caught on so. Massive distribution, redundancy, low cost of ownership and scalability all make P2P attractive... and what made the Internet itself so powerful in the first pla...

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Nanoparticles Aid E. Coli Detection

Scientific American is reporting that researchers at the University of Florida have developed a method of rapidly detecting the presence of E. coli bacteria in food through silica nanoparticles.The particles each contain a few molecules of flourescent dye, which reacts with the bacteria to give off a glow. Using this technique, the presence of E. coli can be verified in approximately 20 minutes.Detecting E. coli rapidly is a critical task, as it can spread quickly, contaminating food and causing illness. Researchers are optimistic that this approach may be used to detect other pathoge...

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Bloggers Flex Their Muscle Yet Again

Last month it was the conservative bloggers who called CBS on the forged documents purportedly showing that President Bush did not fulfill his National Guard obligations. Now, it's the liberals' turn.Democrats are up in arms about plans by the Sinclair Broadcasting Group to pre-empt its normal programming to show a film critical of John Kerry a few days before the general election. As a result, blogs such as Boycottsbg.com are organizing boycotts of network advertisers. Boycottsbg.com claims to have persuaded 80 advertisers to pull out so far. The Kerry campaign, having gotten up to speed on blogging, is in on the act as well.Historically, advertiser boycotts have a dubious record, being ineffective at best, conterproductive at worst. However, something is having an effect on Sinclair, as...

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Jon Stewart + iFilm, BitTorrent = Mass Disruption

By now you may have heard about the fiery episode on CNN's Crossfire, in which Daily Show host Jon Stewart spoke his mind, said Crossfire was "hurting America," refused to be a comedic "monkey" for the show, and called Crossfire co-host Tucker Carlson a naughty name. If you missed it, you can download the clip on iFilm or BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer technology that is being used to exchange video clips and movies the way Napster was used for music.A summary of the heated exchange on Salon reads:"I think you're a lot more fun on your show," said Tucker Carlson to Crossfire guest Jon Stewart this afternoon. "And I think you're as much of a **** on your show as on any other," Stewart shot back. It wasn't the faux avuncularity we've come to expect from Stewart on The Daily Show but there,...

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Asexuality: A New Identity Movement?

An article in New Scientist identifies what might be a new sexual identity: Asexuality. There's no formal definition for what it means to be asexual, but it can be loosely described as never having had any desire for any kind of sexual intimacy (different from having had sexual desires at one point and then losing them).Recently, an "A-pride" movement has been building among those identifying themselves as asexual, supported through Internet websites and chat groups. Among other things, they reject the notion that a lack of sex drive is unhealthy in of itself. And unlike people who choose celibacy as a way of life, asexuals feel they have no choice over their identity. Asexuals also seem to vary widely in their relationships with others, from those who want few or no relationships, to those...

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"CIO" Interviews Ray Kurzweil

You know that futurism is moving into the mainstream when CIO magazine -- an industry publication aimed at presumably level-headed IT executives -- interviews Ray Kurzweil, one of the world's leading futurists and technology visionaries. Here, Kurzweil presents his theories on pervasive computing, future productivity, nanotechnology, and the slowing of the aging process. Nothing here too earth-shattering for futurists and Kurzweil fans... but it ought to be eye-opening for typical CIO reade...

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Creative Ways of Forecasting Holiday Sales

It's two weeks until Halloween, but to retailers, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. And of course, their greatest concern is determining what their sales will be like this season. To that end, Money magazine is reporting that some Wall Street analysts are devising innovative ways to forecast holiday sales. Amond them: Watching sales of Christmas trees in mom-and-pop lots. The sooner they sell out, the better the season is likely to be. Measuring sales of peripheral holiday items such as wrapping paper and kids' photos with Santa. Again, the more brisk the sales of those items, and the longer the lines for Santa, the better the news for overall holiday sales. Observing sales of corrugated cardboard. Better cardboard sales indicate that manufacturers expect to ship more...

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Robotic "Tongue" May Increase Food Safety

The Discovery Channel reports that researchers in the University of Warwick in England have developed an electronic "tongue" that can verify the freshness of foods and detect contaminants. The device is essentially a flat surface that uses sound waves to "rattle" a substance placed on it. The operating principle is that different substances will repond to the rattling in different ways. Although it has no taste buds, the device can determine the four primary tastes: sweet, sour, bitter and salty. By using physical rather than chemical or electrical criteria, the devices is more flexible than other electronic tasting devices.Another advantage is that the device is very small, approximately the size of a fingernail. The hope is that the device could be marketed economically and incorporated...

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Psst... Wanna Buy a Rocket?

Researchers at Japans's Hokkaido University are planning to manufacture and market a small rocket that can carry a payload weighing just over a pound. The asking price: approximately $19,000.The Camui-50P rocket is only about 5 feet tall and weighs 23 pounds. It's also reusable. The team expects to market it to researchers as well as "hobbyists" who presumably never got to launch those Estes model rockets as kids. Anyone purchasing the rocket is require to undergo two days of safety instruction.Let's hope they also plan to do some security screening as well. If I were a terrorist, I'd be salivating over this. A rocket that can carry one-pound...

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Wear an Atomic Clock on Your Wrist

Ever since their invention, "atomic clocks" have been the gold standard for timekeeping, deviating by less than a second every million or so years. Most are extremely large and require plenty of technical expertise to operate. Now, scientists at the National Institute for Standards and Technology -- the primary keepers of atomic clocks in the U.S. -- has developed a miniaturized atomic clock that could one day be incorporated into a wristwatch.The NIST miniature atomic clock is accurate to within a second every 300 years -- not as impressive as its industrial-strength brethren, but hey... in 300 years, you'll probably want a new watch anyhow. It works through a tiny bit of cesium vapor trapped in silicon; the clock measures the oscillation of the cesium atoms to count off time. You might...

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High-Tech Pushback

Could reaction against the latest high-tech innovations be the newest technology trend? Maybe, if a contributor to Ed Foster's Gripelog is a representative of a movement. In a recent post, a writer argued that many of the newest high-tech gadgets and services are not worth the trouble and expense.The writer complains about high-speed Internet, high-end cell phones, PDAs, and online bill paying. He's not alone, as this columnist from the Detriot Free Press vents about label printers and has given up his PDA for a paper planner.High-tech developers and marketers had better be paying attention. The average user of technology is not a geek who will cheerfully while away hours trying to make something work. They need dependability, and they have little tolerance for malfunction, especially if...

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One-Third of Amphibian Species Threatened

One-third of the world's amphibian species face extinction, according to a paper published in the journal Science. Research has found that 122 species have either gone extinct or have not been sighted in the wild since 1980.Scientists are particularly alarmed at this study because frogs, newts, salamanders and other amphibians are especially sensitive to their environment. Amphibians are therefore often seen as barometers that provide early warnings about the health of their immediate habitats.Exactly what is causing the declines is not clear. Loss of habitat is one reason, but population declines are seen in remote areas of the world as well. Amphibians are also susceptible to fungal infections that increase when the animals are under stre...

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[FOLLOWUP] Seized Indymedia Servers Returned

According to a BBC News report, web servers belonging to alternative news organization Indymedia have been returned after they were seized the other day. Indymedia is reviewing the returned media now to determine what, if anything, has been damaged, and is consulting legal authorities, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, about what next steps it should take.Initial reports indicated that the FBI was involved in the hardware seizure, but that is now unclear, as the FBI is denying any involvement.Rackspace, the managed host from where the servers were taken, is under a gag order and cannot discuss details of why the equipment was initially seized. What is known is that they were taken under the auspices of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, an international agreement for prosecuting...

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FDA Approves Implantable RFID

Yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of an implantable radio frequency identification (RFID) chip for use in transmitting a patient's medical data to doctors and other healthcare providers. Healthcare facilities would have readers that would be able to receive and display the information.The rice-grain-sized VeriChip, manufactured by Applied Digital Solutions, has been successfully used to identify pets and livestock; similar chips have been implanted into humans in other countries.The chip can be implanted through a syringe in less than 20 minutes. In a medical context, RFID chips can be used to store a patient's...

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Wanted: Dirty Old Men

As our population ages, senior citizens will make their mark on the dating scene, according to an article in this month's edition of The Futurist. Senior women are expected to outnumber their male counterparts by 2.5 to 1, and many of these ladies will be single due to divorce or death of a partner. Single senior men, to be sure, can expect to be in great demand.To be sure, many of these women won't be interested in sexual relationships. But this will be the Baby Boom generation we're talking about -- the generation that redefined sex and sexuality. This, combined with increasingly relaxed sexual attitudes and pharmaceuticals that treat sexual dysfunction, will challenge traditional taboos against senior-citizen sex.This shift in senior sexuality will be so profound that esteemed futurist...

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Wal-Mart Rocks Music Industry

In what some may see as a form of just desserts, Wal-Mart is pressuring the music industry to allow it to sell CDs for under $10, according to an article in Rolling Stone. The labels don't appear to have much choice but to cave in, as Wal-Mart is the 800-point gorilla of retailers (no, wait... make that 8,000 pound gorilla). If you don't play by their rules, you don't play... and you lose your shot to be in front of the 138 million consumers who visit Wal-Marts every week.But wouldn't Wal-Mart lose money on this deal? Yes, but it doesn't really matter. Wal-Mart and the other "big box" discounters treat CDs as loss leaders in order to sell more profitable electronic gear. If Wal-Mart gets its way, rest assured that Target, K-Mart and other "big boxes" will follow suit. They'll have to if they...

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BlogExplosion

Recently I "drank the Kool-Aid" and joined BlogExplosion, a referral system for blogs that works much like a webring.The idea is to drive traffic to your site; the more you surf blogs through the BlogExplosion portal, the more times your own blog will appear. My goal isn't simply to raise raw numbers, but to get in front of the right audience, the people who really care about futurism and emerging technology.So far it seems to be working. BlogExplosion is growing, and seems increasingly able to deliver a targeted audien...

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"Road Pirates": Yet Another Radio Phenom

Yet another radio trend is emerging -- that of people using MP3 players and FM transmitters to not only broadcast their MP3 files to their car radios, but to others' radios as well. In traffic, these folks become mobile radio stations.Gadgets that allow device output to be broadcast to an open FM band have been around for years, usually sold to people who couldn't afford a cassette deck or CD player for their cars. They're ideal for attaching to an iPod so one can listen to one's MP3s while driving. But these transmitters have enough range so that others can listen in as well... and some are taking advantage of that.The article on ABCNews.com explains how one radio pirate got started:While Tim Lynch is wading through traffic on the way to his New Canaan, Conn., corporate consulting job,...

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Radio Reinvented as the "People's Medium"

UPDATE: An article in the Online Journalism Review discusses the impact of satellite radio, podcasting and other emerging radio phenomena.============================================Over the past week I've written about podcasting, microradio and satellite radio as part of a new, disruptive wave in broadcasting, one that puts the power of the voice in the hands of the people. In the case of podcasting and microradio, the application for individual programming is clear. But even with satellite radio, opportunities exist for individual creativity. And unlike the other two, satellite radio has potential to reach a very wide audience.MediaPost columnist Tom Hespos suggests that if satellite bandwidth were made public, individuals could craft their own radio programs that could reach a national...

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[FOLLOWUP] FTC Sues Spyware Companies

The Federal Trade Commission has filed lawsuits against two companies involved in distributing spyware, Seismic Entertainment and Smartbot.net. The suits claim that the companies exploited flaws in the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser to distribute software that then caused computers to malfunction.The man behind both companies named in the lawsuit is Sanford Wallace... a name familiar to long-time netizens. In the early '90s, Wallace was heavily involved in sending "junk faxes" before the practice was outlawed, and was one of the first spammers against whom legal action was taken....

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Why Johnny Won't Grow Up

Recently, a couple of my posts have mentioned "kidults," adults who indulge in kid-like activities such as video games, who wear clothes designed for much younger wearers, etc. The current issue of The Futurist cites research that indicates that the difficulty for young people making the transition to adulthood runs much deeper.Sociologist Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr. of the University of Pennsylvania has noted a fundamental shift in our definitions of adulthood. Half a century ago, marriage and parenthood were the hallmarks of a successful adult. Today, the primary milestones are obtaining an education and getting a well-paying job. Young people today are far more likely to postpone marriage and childrearing, unlike their parents' and grandparents' generations, who considered unmarried adults...

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Podcasting: The Next Big Thing?

Combine blogging, audio and MP3 players, and you have podcasting... a new way to distribute audio files that could become the next wave in Internet-based communication. The term comes from personal option digital 'casting. Podcasts can be used by musicians to distribute their music, by bloggers who want to try their hand at "talk radio," journalists who want to "publish" interviews, or educators who want to distribute their lectures.Podcasting is currently in its infancy, with only a handful of podcasters. The engadget blog has a detailed overview and how-to guide for receiving and creating podcasts. The instructions are geared for Mac and iPod users, but they at least provide the general idea.Here's how it works in a nutshell. Any sound file (spoken word, music, etc.) can be shared with...

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The Shape of Robotics to Come

When we think of robots, we think of humanoid forms, from the mechanical men in Forbidden Planet and The Day the Earth Stood Still to Star Wars' C3PO. However, today's robot builders are looking to other life forms for inspiration.An article in the IEEE's Computer magazine highlights "biomimetic robots," which mimic living creatures. So far, the most promising life forms to imitate have been not humans, but bugs. Insects are physically simple and stable forms, well adapted to mechanization, and are "tried and true" over billions of years. Engineers have found that by adopting insect forms, they can actually reduce the amount of computing power...

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The Ahh-nold Amendment

Nearly lost in the onslaught of other political news is the introduction by U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) in September of a constitutional amendment that would allow a foreign-born American who has been a citizen for 20 years or longer to run for President. This would effectively repeal Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, which states, "No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of president." The proposed amendment has some high-powered support in Washington, most notably from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).Now, who do you suppose would benefit from such an amendment? Hmmm...Both Democrats and Republicans have proposed such an amendment in recent years, claiming that...

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Halloween Is Frightfully Big Business

Have you noticed how more and more houses this time of year are as decorated for Halloween as they would be for Christmas? It's true -- we're spending far more on Halloween than we used to, and that trend doesn't appear to be changing. Gone are the days of simply carving a pumpkin, tacking a paper skeleton to your door and handing candy bars out to a couple of the local trick-or-treaters in homemade costumes. Today, both kids and adults are spending hundreds of dollars each on professional costumes.According to a National Retail Federation survey, consumers will spend an estimated $3.12 billion this year on Halloween costumes, decorations and...

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Death of a "Superman"

Early this morning, Christopher Reeve, the actor best known for his role in the Superman movies, passed away after having slipped into a coma the day before. Reeve, as you probably know, suffered a spinal cord injury in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Since then, he faced challenges that most of us can't even begin to imagine.It will be interesting to see whether and how Reeve's passing will affect the current debate over stem cell research. Many scientists believe that such research could lead to a cure for spinal injuries and other conditions that are currently untreatab...

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FBI Shuts Down Alternative Media Network

A disturbing story out of London today: the FBI has confiscated the servers of London-based Indymedia, an independent news service specializing in anti-globalization issues. The servers were located at a U.S.-based hosting facility.The exact reasons behind the shutdown weren't immediately clear, though it has at least temporarily taken at least 20 individual websites and audio streams offline. The FBI states that it was acting under the auspices of Italian and Swiss authorities, but has said little else.The main Indymedia site is still functioning, and is keeping users apprised of developments. Meanwhile, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is working to clarify the situation.There may be completely valid reasons for this action. But currently, the authorities' silence is speaking more loudly...

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Dead Malls

We all know of one or two of them. Once upon a time, they were the go-to places to shop in your neighborhood, the cool places to hang out. But over time, these malls got seedy, their stores closed, and everyone started shopping at newer, fancier malls. So these malls "died.""Dead malls" have recently become a source of interest from contemporary history buffs, urban redesigners, and environmentalists. The current issue of FORTUNE magazine has a piece on the history and future of malls, making special note of the dead-mall phenomenon. They are at once an eyesore, a development opportunity and a little bit of a community's heritage.Deadmalls.com...

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