Archive for December, 2009

This is a very cool conceptual video that demonstrates how digital magazines of the future might look on a full-color touch tablet. There is a demo version of of PopSci as well as the thinking around it, known as “Mag+”: From the video’s description: Bonnier Research & Development shows with the company Berg from London [...]

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Florida’s Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park has a long name — and an even longer list of Florida wildlife in residence. Meet the many animals who call the park home — including one you might not expect — in this episode.

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As soon as Scott and Ben realized they’d spent a month without any racing podcasts, they buckled down and took a look at the fascinating world of rally cars. Listen in and learn more about rally cars in this listener-inspired episode.

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There is large-scale scientific concern that the Mayon volcano in the Phillipines could erupt any day now. 45,000 people have been evacuated so far: Philippines’ Mayon Volcano to explode ‘within days’ The government is trying to enforce a “no man’s land” rule in the designated danger zone, with military and police instructed to double the [...]

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More than any other film on our list, “Lethal Weapon” hits upon an unfortunate holiday truism: The season can be depressing for reasons that have nothing to do with beefing relatives, flight delays and that elbow you took to the eye at the Apple store. In fact, until recently, many assumed that suicide rates skyrocketed in late December as the holiday spirit drove some lonely and depressed people over the edge. Despite the fallacy of this idea, Richard Donner’s 1987 blockbuster did its best to drive the point home.

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As it turns out, you’re not the only one who’s upset about Facebook changing its privacy settings. Earlier today, Ars Technica’s Jacqui Cheng wrote about the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s problems with the 360-million-member social networking site. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is among 10 groups which asked the FTC to take action against Facebook for its recent change in its privacy policy.

The problem with changing the settings over from Facebook’s previous version was the tool used to make the switch, Cheng said. When users logged into their accounts after the new policy went into effect, they were told about the change and offered a simple three-step process to adopt the new privacy rules. And step one was reading about the new privacy policy. But as Cheng points out, Facebook asks you simply whether you want to change settings or leave them the way they were, without going into any detail on what your previous settings were.

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If you’re like me, you’re not finished with your Christmas shopping yet. So that means our third suggestion isn’t coming too late for you. It might even be time to throw the budget out the window and just get the shopping done at any cost. Either way, we have another idea for you, and it should tuck nicely into your scientist’s stocking.

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Americans suck at saving money. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that last October consumers saved a whopping 4.4 percent of our disposable income. I’m not being facetious; that really is a whopping number. Back in June 2005, we saved exactly 0.0 percent of our disposable income.

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Spies have been using “laser listening devices” that can record sound waves off of windows since the idea was invented several decades ago. When someone is talking in the room, the sound waves cause the window to vibrate, and the laser is able pick up those vibrations. This video describes the process: Now you can [...]

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This article points out that, by buying food at a warehouse club like BJ’s, Costco or Sam’s Club, you can cut your food bill in half compared to a normal grocery store: Warehouse club vs. grocery store At BJ’s Wholesale Club in Cary, sugar, brown sugar, flour, butter, vanilla, eggs, chocolate chips, walnuts and pecan [...]

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