A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web – “Today, when reading the dozens of comments about DecorMyEyes, it is hard to decide which one conveys the most outrage. It is easy, though, to choose the most outrageous. It was written by Mr. Russo/Bolds/Borker himself. “Hello, My name is Stanley with DecorMyEyes.com,” the post began. “I just wanted to let you guys know that the more replies you people post, the more business and the more hits and sales I get. My goal is NEGATIVE advertisement.” It’s all part of a sales strategy, he said. Online chatter about DecorMyEyes, even furious online chatter, pushed the site higher in Google search results, which led to greater sales. He closed with a sardonic expression of gratitude: “I never had the amount of traffic I have now since my 1st complaint. I am in heaven.”.. “

Harvard scientists reverse the ageing process in mice – now for humans – “Harvard scientists were surprised that they saw a dramatic reversal, not just a slowing down, of the ageing in mice. Now they believe they might be able to regenerate human organs…”

Telomerase reverses ageing process – “Premature ageing can be reversed by reactivating an enzyme that protects the tips of chromosomes, a study in mice suggests….”

Microsoft develops shape-shifting touchscreen – “Microsoft this week filed a patent application covering a novel way to construct a “tactile” touchscreen – a display that uses technical tricks to convince users they are actually touching the ridges, bumps and textures of a displayed image…” See also: Microsoft’s ‘tactile’ app ‘could spell end of mobile keypads’

Futuristic touch screen puts the desk in desktop – “And too, we’ve got “Minority Report”-like gesture-driven interfaces and now this: a multiuser touch screen the size of a desk, which curves up to create a, well, desktop like the metaphorical one you may be staring at right now…”

7 Planes Perfectly Designed (To Kill The People Flying Them) – “We don’t know if you’ve ever tried it, but trust us when we say that building aircraft is really, really hard. It takes large teams of smart people a long time and a lot of money. Building a military aircraft is even harder — it not only needs to fly, it needs to survive repeated attacks and make other planes dead. So you can imagine the care and expense nations put into building them….”

Boeing’s Spectrolab subsidiary set to mass produce 39.2 percent efficient solar cells – “Those come in the form of the company’s new C3MJ+ solar cells, which boast an average conversion efficiency of 39.2 percent, making them the most efficient mass produced cells to date…”

U.S. Shuts Down Web Sites in Piracy Crackdown – “In what appears to be the latest phase of a far-reaching federal crackdown on online piracy of music and movies, the Web addresses of a number of sites that facilitate illegal file-sharing were seized this week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Department of Homeland Security…” See also: DHS Announces New Center to Target Unsafe Products

Bike lock invention:

Family’s Fall From Affluence Is Swift and Hard – “That luxurious world was fueled by a check Mr. Martin received in 1998 for $14 million, his share of the $600 million sale of Martin Media, an outdoor advertising business begun by his father in California in the 1950s. After taxes, he kept about $10 million. But as so often happens to those lucky enough to realize the American dream of sudden riches, the money slipped through the Martins’ fingers faster than they ever imagined. They faced temptations to indulge, with the complexities and pressures of new wealth. And a pounding recession pummeled the value of their real estate and new financial investments, rendering their properties unaffordable. The fortune evaporated in little more than a decade…”

WP7 vs Android: a struggle for supremacy – “The specific issues of OS updates highlights wider concerns about Android, which Google needs to address to prevent consumer irritation becoming fury – thus opening opportunities for Apple, Microsoft and Nokia to bite back. Nearly all the major concerns relate to fragmentation, caused by Android‘s open source nature and Google‘s relentless upgrade process. Not only are there multiple and incompatible releases in the market at any one time, but operators and OEMs add their own tweaks too, and most software vendors struggle to keep up with all the variations….”

Black Friday – “When I was a kid we’d argue if black was a color or not. Of course it is, some kids would say: there’s a crayon called black, and that is — for a kid — clearly the definitive source of evidence. But then someone would point out that black is the lack of color, the lack of light…”

De-Anonymizing Web Communities with Gravatar – “Gravatar’s e-mail address hashing is ostensibly used to prevent spammers from harvesting e-mail addresses. However, while it does obfuscate the user’s address, this hashing technique is insufficient to protect the anonymity of the user: * A user’s e-mail address can be recovered through a preimage attack, and * comments made by a single user posting with multiple identities can be matched…”

Why ‘Cyber Monday’ is mostly myth – “Five years ago, Shop.org published a press release: “While traditional retailers will be monitoring store traffic and sales on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), online retailers have set their sights on something different: Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, which is quickly becoming one of the biggest online shopping days of the year.” Ta-dah! The term “Cyber Monday” was born…”

A cache of diplomatic cables provide a chronicle of the United States’ relations with the world – “A mammoth cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables, most of them from the last three years, provides an unprecedented look at bargaining by embassies, candid views of foreign leaders and assessments of threats. The material was obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to a number of news organizations in advance….” See also: A Note to Readers: The Decision to Publish Diplomatic Documents

GOP Rep. asks Clinton to declare WikiLeaks a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ – “julianassange3 GOP Rep. asks Clinton to declare WikiLeaks a foreign terrorist organizationA Republican Congressman from New York has invented a new definition for the word “terrorism” that doesn’t require guns, bombs, vast underground networks of sleeper cells, a criminal conspiracy or even violence…” See also: US embassy cables leak sparks global diplomatic crisis

WikiLeaks And The Failure Of Cyberattacks As Censorship – “Another month, another massive WikiLeaks document dump–and another cyberattack on a site that has practically painted a red bullseye on its servers….” See also: Some clarification on what makes Wikileaks’ release of secret US cables so damaging

Embassy cable tells of elderly American’s escape from Iran – “After seven months in which he was prevented from leaving Iran, had his passport confiscated and saw his appeals ignored by the revolutionary courts, Vahedi took matters into his own hands. In a daring escape, he mounted a horse, hired two guides, and began a perilous 14-hour overnight climb across the freezing mountains of north-western Iran into eastern Turkey. After that he took a bus…”

A Greener Way to Make Plastic – “Chemical refineries are great at converting petroleum into gasoline and the building blocks of plastics and other consumer goods. But when it comes to sustainable starting materials, such as wood chips, corn stalks, or other plant “biomass,” refineries are too inefficient to make the process commercially viable. Researchers have now given that efficiency a major boost, perhaps enough of one to allow us to leave petroleum behind…”

Intel research projects bring Legos to life, make groceries interactive – “Intel’s Seattle research lab has also been working on a whole range of projects using what it describes “Kinect style” cameras, and it’s now showing off some of the results. Among the most interesting are a pair of projects that combine a depth camera with a projector for some rather inventive augmented reality applications….”

The Men Who Stole the World – “A decade ago, four young men changed the way the world works. They did this not with laws or guns or money but with software: they had radical, disruptive ideas, which they turned into code, which they released on the Internet for free. These four men, not one of whom finished college, laid the foundations for much of the digital-media environment we currently inhabit. Then, for all intents and purposes, they vanished…”

The internet’s cyber radicals: heroes of the web changing the world – “A generation of political activists have been transformed by new tools developed on the internet. Here, a leading net commentator profiles seven young radicals from around the world…”

Being too clean ‘causes allergies in teenagers’ – “The modern trend for using antibacterial soaps is actually harming young people by making them more prone to developing allergies. It seems teenagers are becoming over-exposed to a compound called triclosan, widely used in household products such as soaps, toothpaste, pens and nappy bags…”

Microsoft to compete with Netflix with own streaming service – “It seems that Microsoft may be in talks with media companies to license TV shows and movies for a new streaming service. With the addition of ESPN to the Xbox 360 over Xbox Live Microsoft may be in a position to do the same for different content providers and charge a subscription fee for them separately. The idea is to better personalize content and only pay for what you want to watch instead of paying cable companies for all the channels you don’t watch. Microsoft is looking into duplicating what they have done with ESPN to include channels such as Showtime or HBO and possibly Disney…”

Carriers fight to meet bandwidth demands – “The amount of data passing through mobile phone networks in the U.S. doubles every year. People watching Youtube, checking Facebook, and surfing the web on their smartphones adds up to about three quarters of the mobile system’s bandwidth. But will other devices soon cause traffic as well? “

New broadband satellite offers hope to rural areas – “High speed broadband connections could finally extend to remote rural areas thanks to the launch of a new satellite. The “Highly Adaptable Satellite” (Hylas) will launch this evening and offer up to 350,000 connections across Europe when testing is finished in early 2011…”

Buy this satellite

2010 Vimeo Awards – “We are very proud to announce the winners of the 2010 Vimeo Awards. These exemplary films and videos were culled form over 6500 submissions and voted on by our esteemed judges…”

Fibre to the sky funding could mean fast internet for rural Africa – ““O3b’s medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites are far closer – approximately 8,000km away from Earth,” the company said. “As a result, round-trip data transmission times are reduced to approximately 100 milliseconds.”..”

The Lessons of 10 Years of Talking Tech – “As tech decades go, this one has been a jaw-dropper. Since my first column in 2000, the tech world has not so much blossomed as exploded. Think of all the commonplace tech that didn’t even exist 10 years ago: HDTV, Blu-ray, GPS, Wi-Fi, Gmail, YouTube, iPod, iPhone, Kindle, Xbox, Wii, Facebook, Twitter, Android, online music stores, streaming movies and on and on…”

Microsoft: we can’t stop you from jailbreaking Windows Phone 7 – “Apple notoriously wars against its own jailbreaking community in an endless game of cat-and-mouse, and with little to show for their efforts besides the occasional speed bump… but Windows Phone 7 users don’t have to worry about getting in a similar tussle with Microsoft, who have lately been making some laudable efforts to embrace the hacker community…”

Inside North Korea – exclusive footage – “A growing group of North Korean dissidents are risking their lives to secretly film inside the repressive regime before smuggling the tapes across the Chinese border to show the outside world what is happening to their countrymen…”

Computer Calculates April 11 1954 Most Boring Day In History – “Every day something of significance occurs: a person is born who is destined for fame; an event happens in the arts or sports, history is created. So after 300 million of these facts had been added to the ‘brain’ of True Knowledge, an intelligent computer system created by Cambridge technologists, it was asked a most difficult question: ‘What was the most boring day in the 20th century?’”

Cosmos may show echoes of events before Big Bang – “Evidence of events that happened before the Big Bang can be seen in the glow of microwave radiation that fills the Universe, scientists have asserted….”

How long does it take to make a context switch? – “That’s a interesting question I’m willing to waste some of my time on. Someone at StumbleUpon emitted the hypothesis that with all the improvements in the Nehalem architecture (marketed as Intel i7), context switching would be much faster. How would you devise a test to empirically find an answer to this question? How expensive are context switches anyway? (tl;dr answer: very expensive)…”

Inside the bullied brain – “In the wake of several tragedies that have made bullying a high-profile issue, it’s becoming clear that harassment by one’s peers is something more than just a rite of passage. Bullied kids are more likely to be depressed, anxious, and suicidal. They struggle in school — when they decide to show up at all. They are more likely to carry weapons, get in fights, and use drugs….”

Hands-on: a first look at Diaspora’s private alpha test – “The Diaspora project has launched a private alpha test of its open source social network. It is opening up its own hosted instance of Diaspora to a select group of testers, starting with people who contributed financial support when Diaspora was first getting off the ground. The initial group of participants can invite other people, and the developers will be opening up the service to more users each week… See also: The ‘Facebook killer’ won’t look like Facebook “

Google TV Death Knell Sounded Amid Black Friday Sales – “Some say price cuts on Google TV Sony Blu-ray players and TVs indicate the service is in trouble. Toshiba and Vizio may launch Google TV products at the Consumer Electronics Show….”

Hebrew University researchers unveil a sarcasm detector – “Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers have devised patent-pending algorithms that can be used on an ordinary computer to detect sarcasm in text with an accuracy of around 77 percent….”

Australian Firm To Sell World’s First Armpit Testosterone Lotion In US – “The lotion, created by Melbourne-based drug delivery firm Acrux, treats men with hypogonadism, a disease which produces low testosterone levels and includes symptoms such as erectile dysfunction, low sexual desire and performance…”

Alcoholic Whipped Cream Causes Buzz On Campus – “The whipped treat comes in different flavors, and it’s infused with alcohol. The alcohol content is fairly high, 18 percent by volume, that’s more than three times the amount found in most beers….”

Ireland’s Relief Proves Fleeting as `Day of Reckoning’ Nears: Euro Credit – ““It’s no longer taboo to speak about a restructuring,” said Johannes Jooste, a portfolio strategist at Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management in London, which oversees about $1.4 trillion for clients. “The fact that bond yields continue to rise and put pressure on countries that have to fund from the market makes investors less and less confident, and it’s bringing forward the day of reckoning.”..” See also: Calling Germany, calling Germany: you alone can keep this eurozone show on the road and Iceland Is No Ireland as State Free of Bank Debt

Russia cleans up space with orbital pod – “Russia has announced its intention to spend nearly $2 billion on a space clean-up programme which will remove debris that is orbiting the earth…”

Are manufacturers cheating you out of printer ink? – “Does your printer ink run out too quickly? Can you ignore ‘low ink’ messages? Believe it or not, your printer may be fooling you into changing your cartridge before it’s even empty….”

San Diego drug tunnel had railcar, tons of pot – “Investigators suspect a major drug cartel was the driving force behind two long, sophisticated tunnels connecting Mexico with the U.S. that were discovered this month along with more than 40 tons of marijuana….”

A Way to Spot Secret Nuclear Reactors From Afar – “One of the thornier problems facing the international community is to monitor the spread of nuclear technology and prevent it spreading to rogue regimes. This task falls to the International Atomic Energy Authority based in Vienna and it is by no means easy….”

Top scientist urges ‘ambitious’ U.S. exascale supercomputer plan – “Peter Beckman, head of the DOE’s new exascale institute, says international rivals are working hard to displace U.S. as No. 1…”

‘Fourth generation’ Internet arrives in Hong Kong – “The latest generation of wireless Internet that will allow people to watch a crystal clear movie or live sporting event on the street or atop a hill is being deployed throughout Hong Kong….”

Pentagon to test 2nd near-space strike craft – “Defense Department scientists are set to conduct a second test launch next year of the Falcon HTV-2 experimental superweapon after the first flight this year ended when the autopilot deliberately crashed the unmanned glider into the ocean as a safety measure….”

Japanese facility aimed at creating a sun on Earth – “Outside a small town in Gifu Prefecture is a little-known scientific research establishment engaged in a project to “create a sun on the Earth.” If successful, this venture will profoundly affect the lives of most people in the world….”

[[[Interesting Reading #630 – Thermite, Crawler, Ants, Cancer, Age, Crime, Antarctica and much more…]]]

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