Cheap Hot Water? Just Add Sunshine – “Bill Banack doesn’t fancy himself an environmental “fanatic,” but his showers, dishwasher and washing machine all use renewable energy these days. The source: three slim solar panels perched atop his 2,200-square foot Hadley, Mass., home. They don’t provide electricity—they send him heat for hot water…”

Pictured: The little girl who had eight limbs and was worshipped as a deity starts school – “She was born with a unique body – eight limbs and two torsos fused at the hips. Now Lakshmi Tatma, the Indian toddler whose plight touched the world, has grown up and started school. Two years after a ground-breaking operation to separate her from a parasitic twin, Lakshmi is a lively and bubbly four-year-old…”

Laser fusion test results raise energy hopes – “A major hurdle to producing fusion energy using lasers has been swept aside, results in a new report show…”

The iPad is Not A Kindle Killer; Blame the Display – “The iPad, the much-anticipated Apple tablet computer announced today, is not going to revolutionize the display industry. It doesn’t sport a bright OLED display; it isn’t wearing the latest Pixel Qi technology that combines normal transmissive LCD technology with a black-and-white reflective version for easy viewing in bright sunlight…”

iPad Walk-Through:

Think iBooks Looks Familiar? You’re Not The Only One. – “When Apple was demoing its new iBooks application for the iPad today during their keynote address, I just kept thinking to myself: this simply must have been designed by Delicious Monster, the shop behind the brilliant Mac app Delicious Library. I’m not the only one who thought that either. Delicious Monster founder Wil Shipley thought the same thing. The only problem? His shop didn’t make it…”

Notion Ink Adam stripped bare and our in-depth video hands-on – “this Adam thing just won’t leave us alone with its Pixel Qi display, Tegra 2 innards and bona fide potential to blow the bloody doors off the homogeneous tablet market. We’ve gone back and grabbed video of the device in direct sunlight and it just kept on impressing us…”

10 things Netbooks still do better than an iPad – “While the iPad might win out on some particular functions–video playback quality, in particular–the truth is there are a great many things Netbooks can do that an iPad just can’t. Right now, at least. And while that may not make a Netbook better than a laptop, in some instances a Netbook certainly seems better than an iPad. Check out the rundown (and, yes, multitasking would certainly be an excellent No. 11)…”

Netflix to FCC: scary loophole in net neutrality rules – “”Netflix is concerned that network operators will use so-called managed services in a way that harms unaffiliated content or service providers that compete directly with services provided by the network operator,” the company told the FCC earlier this month. “In short, if left unchecked, the ‘managed services’ category could engulf the Commission’s open Internet policies altogether” and let ISPs end run any regulations…”

Deadline looms for Google Books deal – “Amazon has urged a New York court to reject a deal that would allow Google to build a vast digital library. The online retailer says that if Google is given exclusive rights to scan books for use on the internet, it is “likely to lead to a monopoly”. ..”

Caucasians and Asians Don’t Examine Faces in the Same Way – “Previous studies have shown that people collect information by mostly studying the eyes as well as the mouth of a face. “The problem is that these studies always used Caucasian test subjects,” says Blais. Questioning the universality of facial recognition began after studies showed that Asians study faces in an overall fashion, while Caucasians break down faces into distinct parts.”

Down, but Not Out, in Brooklyn: a Daughter’s Story – “Mariana proved us wrong. She not only lived in New York on a salary of less than $30,000 from a publishing-industry job, she managed to save $5,000 over the course of a year. On top of that, she stashed about $1,000 in her 401(k) account…”

10 Romantic Recession-Proof Ideas for Valentines Day – “Valentine’s Day is the time to show your love with memorable romantic gestures. During a recession, this can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. There are many creative ways to show your love for someone without breaking the bank. Decide which of these 10 ideas would work for your relationship…”

Poll: 83% of Speech Watchers Approve of Obama’s State of the Union Proposals – “A large majority of Americans who watched President Obama’s State of the Union Address generally approve of the proposals he outlined in his speech, according to a CBS News Poll conducted online by Knowledge Networks immediately after the President’s address…”

Welcome to the future. Your newspaper is here – “Whether you’re using Windows, a Mac or Linux, in less than a minute, you get everything you’d expect from The Times in print, delivered straight to your computer. ..”

A Hydrogen Highway for the East Coast – “One of the big issues facing hydrogen is just where we’re supposed to fill the cars that might run on the stuff. A Connecticut company is answering that question on the East Coast with plans for a “hydrogen highway” that will extend from Portland, Maine, to southern Florida…”

Sky launches 3D channel in pubs – “Sky is kicking off the UK’s first 3D channel with a live Premier League football match to be broadcast in nine pubs around the UK this weekend…”

Panopticlick – “Is your browser configuration rare or unique? If so, web sites may be able to track you, even if you limit or disable cookies. Panopticlick tests your browser to see how unique it is based on the information it will share with sites it visits. Click below and you will be given a uniqueness score, letting you see how easily identifiable you might be as you surf the web…”

Imitation Google, YouTube sites emerge in China – “Imitation Web sites of both Google and YouTube have emerged in China as the country faces off against the real Google over its local operations. YouTubecn.com offers videos from the real YouTube, which is blocked in China. The Google imitation is called Goojje and includes a plea for the U.S.-based Web giant not to leave China, after it threatened this month to do so in a dispute over Web censorship and cyberattacks…”

IBM, researchers get 24M DOE supercomputer hours to develop controversial lithium air battery – “The Department of Energy and IBM are serious about developing lithium air batteries capable of powering a car for 500 miles on a single charge – a five-fold increase over current plug-in batteries that have a range of about 40 to 100 miles, the DOE said. ..”

Videogame statistics

Solar Shingles See the Light of Day – “Dow Chemical is moving full speed ahead to develop roof shingles embedded with photovoltaic cells. To facilitate the move, the U.S. Department of Energy has backed Dow’s efforts with a $17.8 million tax credit that will help the company launch an initial market test of the product later this year…”

‘Altruistic’ robots produced through evolution – “A Swiss team has applied Darwinian selection to robot development, producing robots that can walk, cooperate and even hunt each other. “Just a few hundred generations of selection are sufficient to allow robots to evolve collision-free movement, homing, sophisticated predator versus prey strategies, coadaptation of brains and bodies, cooperation, and even altruism,” say the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and University of Lausanne researchers. ..”

Russia To Test Stealthy Fifth Generation Sukhoi T-50 Fighter Jet – “Only a few people – designers, engineers and test pilots – have seen the new Russian fighter so far. It was said, however, that the plane would develop the speed of 2,100 km/h and fly at the distance of up to 5,500 kilometers…”

Wireless Optical Transmission Key to Secure, Safe and Rapid Indoor Communications – “Light is better than radio waves when it comes to some wireless communications, according to Penn State engineers. Optical communications systems could provide faster, more secure communications with wider bandwidth and would be suitable for restricted areas like hospitals, aircraft and factories…”

Quantum Computer Simulates Hydrogen Molecule Just Right – “Almost three decades ago, Richard Feynman — known popularly as much for his bongo drumming and pranks as for his brilliant insights into physics — told an electrified audience at MIT how to build a computer so powerful that its simulations “will do exactly the same as nature.” Not approximately, as digital computers tend to do when facing complex physical problems that must be addressed via mathematical shortcuts — such as forecasting orbits of many moons whose gravities constantly readjust their trajectories. Computer models of climate and other processes come close to nature but hardly imitate it. Feynman meant exactly, as in down to the last jot…”

Extreme Weirdness: Antarctica’s “Blood Falls” – “There is a glacier in Antarctica that seems to be weeping a river of blood. It’s one of the continent’s strangest features, and it’s located in one of the continent’s strangest places — the McMurdo Dry Valleys, a huge, ice-free zone and one of the world’s harshest deserts. So imagine you’re hiking through this…”

A softer ride for barefoot runners – “Barefoot endurance runners may have a more cushioned ride than most people who run in shoes, according to a biomechanical analysis…”

MMR scare doctor ‘acted unethically’, panel finds – “The doctor who first suggested a link between MMR vaccinations and autism acted unethically, the official medical regulator has found…”

[[[Jump to - Interesting Reading #405 – More on the Apple iPad tablet, no D&D in prison, potential death to the moon mission, 3-D arteries and much more...]]]