Intelligent Design Ruled "Not Science"

blane.bramble writes :

"The Register is reporting that the UK government has stated there is no place in the science curriculum for Intelligent Design and that it can not be taught as science. 'The Government is aware that a number of concerns have been raised in the media and elsewhere as to whether creationism and intelligent design have a place in science lessons. The Government is clear that creationism and intelligent design are not part of the science National Curriculum programs of study and should not be taught as science.'"

MSNBC is carrying Newsweek reporting on two new security breaches at Los Alamos

"MSNBC is carrying Newsweek reporting on two new security breaches at Los Alamos. Both of these latest incidents were 'human error' on the part of employees. In one, an e-mail containing classified material was sent over the open Internet rather than through the secure defense network. In the other incident, an employee took his lab laptop on vacation to Ireland, where it was stolen out of his hotel room. The machine reportedly contained government documents of a sensitive nature."

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Satellite Destruction Using Google Earth And Orbitron

Thomas Claburn in InformationWeek said :

After a brief stop by Wikipedia to brush up on China's destruction of its Feng Yun 1C weather satellite in January, you download Sebastian Stoff's Orbitron satellite tracking software and Google Earth, to make your attack easier to visualize.

You plot a "solution" or flight plan that takes into account the liftoff phase, the controlled orbit insertion phase, and the ballistic fall onto the target. You double check your math, because you've got a small chunk of change invested in this scheme

Apple and AT&T today announced service plans for iPhone

daveschroeder writes

"Apple and AT&T today announced service plans for iPhone, 4 days before its release in the US at 6pm local time on Friday, June 29. The plans are $59.99/mo for 450 minutes, $79.99 for 900 minutes, and $99.99 for 1350 minutes, and all include unlimited data, 200 SMS messages, rollover minutes, and unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling. Any other standard AT&T service plan may also be used. A two year service plan is required, with a $175 cancellation fee if terminated early. In addition, activations are done via iTunes, so only the hardware is purchased in the store. Interestingly, activation of a contract via iTunes is required to enable the iPod/syncing functionality of the phone as well. (It will remain to be seen whether there are workarounds for this for those who only want the iPod functionality of iPhone, and whether the iPhone is easily unlockable for those who wish to try it on alternate carriers, and so on.)"

Google asked the judge to extend the court's oversight of Microsoft.

A day before Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is scheduled to review Microsoft's compliance with the terms of the agreement that settled federal and state antitrust cases against the company, Google asked the judge to extend the court's oversight of Microsoft.

Microsoft was supposed to go free, at least partially, on Nov. 12, 2007. Thanks to Google, the world's largest software company may remain on probation for a while longer.

Citing "Microsoft's history of aggressively minimizing the impact of court-ordered relief," Google said on Monday that the changes Microsoft promised to make in Windows Vista last week to accommodate competing desktop search software providers are vague and need to be clarified.

"The Court and the public would benefit greatly from a description of the precise measures Microsoft is planning to implement and the practical effect they will have on users of desktop search," Google said in its legal filing.

Microsoft is required to keep its "middleware" open to third-party developers to make up for its past anti-competitive behavior.

When the joint status report was issued last week by the U.S. Department of Justice, 17 state attorneys general, and the District of Columbia, Google's chief legal officer David Drummond offered a qualified endorsement of the steps Microsoft agreed to take to address the government's concerns. The remedies, he said, "should be improved further to give consumers greater access to alternate desktop search providers."

In Monday's filing, Google clarified its objections. "For example, it appears that Microsoft will continue to show its own desktop search results when users run searches from prominent shortcuts and menu entries throughout the operating system, though users will now be given a mechanism to request results from their chosen desktop search product by taking a second step after they have first viewed results from Microsoft's product," the filing states.

Google also claims that Microsoft "may intend to remove [menu entries in the Vista Start menu and in various 'right-click' menus] from Vista and deprive users of these access points altogether rather than provide the user choice [under the terms of Microsoft's agreement with the government]."

And Google also objects to "the automatic invocation of Microsoft's desktop search product following the boot sequence," which it notes Microsoft is planning to address only by providing unspecified technical information to companies and users.

Microsoft's allies, unsurprisingly, disagree with Google's call for continued oversight.

"Media reports of secret complaints and 11th hour court filings by Google show they are desperate to hamstring their competition in the courtroom rather than compete in the marketplace," said Jim Prendergast, executive director of Americans for Technology Leadership, in a statement. "It's outrageous that they would disregard an agreement reached by the Department of Justice, the state attorneys general, and Microsoft to file a last-minute complaint to advance their own selfish interests."

Americans for Technology Leadership is a tech industry interest group that counts Microsoft as its most prominent member. It frequently issues press releases that one might easily mistake for official Microsoft news releases, such as "Global Shipment of Windows Vista Great News for Consumers."

In 2001, the Los Angeles Times published an article linking the group to what was ostensibly a grassroots letter-writing campaign aimed at promoting settlement of antitrust charges pending against Microsoft at the time.

By JEREMY CAPLAN

Poor Harry Potter. As he prepares for his swan song, it's the iPhone's wizardry--not his--that's stirring up the fevered anticipation usually reserved for a summer blockbuster. Nineteen million Americans say they want the hyper-hip gizmo sight unseen, reports research firm M:Metrics. And that collective clamor is not just about branded bling. It's about a widespread yearning for a better phone, a cooler calling tool that always works, that is easy to use, fun to play with and comes in a stylish, sexy shell

In Apple's shadow, a slew of mobile upstarts is quietly rethinking what phones can do, making them operate a little better for the millions of Americans who will still be non-iPhoners after Apple launches its latest gizmo on June 29. GrandCentral, for instance, consolidates all your phone numbers and personalizes the device you already have. EQO circumvents the carriers' steep rates for international calls. Spinvox and SimulScribe turn your voice mail into text. And TellMe lets you operate your phone with your voice, promising an end run around those confusing option menus. "Features have never been the carriers' strong suit," says GrandCentral CEO Craig Walker. "They're few, expensive and never work the same from one carrier to the next."

Apple expects to sell 10 million iPhones
within a year. Its mobile phone rivals are
juicing up their services to compete.

Until recently, carriers have had little incentive to improve the software that runs on their phones. Like network TV in the 1980s, the U.S. mobile-phone system is dominated by a handful of established giants: Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile control nearly 90% of the market. They have used that power to maintain tight control over their networks. In this so-called walled garden, when you sign up to use a carrier, you can use only the services they want you to use. Imagine if Seinfeld were available only on RCA televisions. Or if your broadband service let you use Hotmail but not Gmail. That's not far from the state of the mobile-phone system today. The carriers rule.

That was O.K. when most consumers just wanted to make a call. But today Americans are trying everything from video messaging and mobile blogging to photo sharing and customized ringtones. One ringtone alone, "Crazy Frog," has earned more than $70 million. Data demand increased about 68% last year, and it now constitutes 16% of the carriers' revenue. To guard that growing income stream, the carriers restrict the features available on your phone. They control the billing for add-ons, and most companies selling ringtones and games are so new that they need the carriers' help to gain a foothold.

But this new wave of mobile start-ups is finding ways to release consumers from the carriers' grip--by using the Web to get around carrier control and by training users to switch carriers for better add-ons. Other new services, though, still rely on the carriers because they are installed on phones or piggyback on the carriers' networks.

The big mobile-phone companies insist they have been responsive to consumer demands. They have bolstered their networks for better coverage, improved call quality by searching for and fixing dead spots, and made it easier to download ringtones and other add-ons. "There has probably been more change in the way phones operate in the past three years than in the 10 years prior," says Carlton Hill, a vice president at AT&T.

They may be forced to change even more. If the army of innovators, led by the iPhone, can build on their promise, the carriers will face stiffening competition and pressure to offer similar or better services. Lumbering giants, after all, have the furthest to fall. *

Source :

Relate (TIME.COM):

• Next-generation gadgets like the iPhone are turning your mouse into a dinosaur and introducing hands-on computing LINK
• When it comes to Apple's widely anticipated new gadget, both companies are starting to see the benefits of friendship LINK
• With its touchscreen, keypad-less cell phone, Apple once again kicks off a revolution. A behind-the-scenes look at iPhone's birth LINK

Obama Debuts Commercials in Iowa

By AP/MIKE GLOVER

(DES MOINES, Iowa) — Democratic Sen. Barack Obama is launching two biographical television ads this week, focusing on early voting Iowa in the first commercials of his presidential campaign.

The ads represent a strategic shift for the Obama campaign, which has focused on grass-roots efforts and now will introduce the candidate to a new population of voters watching at home.

Candidates typically hold off on advertising during the slow summer months, but the warp-speed campaign has forced the 2008 contenders to rethink the traditional approach. Republican Mitt Romney and Democrat Bill Richardson have run ads in Iowa — and seen their poll numbers increase.

Obama's two biographical spots are just the start of what could be an unprecedented campaign on television. The Illinois senator has millions of dollars to spend on advertising along with other campaign activities.

Obama aides planned a conference call Monday to discuss the new commercials, featuring a Republican lawmaker who worked with Obama in the Illinois State Legislature and Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe.

Both Tribe and Republican Sen. Kirk Dillard are featured in the new commercials.

A 60-second commercial, called "Choices," focuses on the decision Obama made after graduating from Harvard Law School, opting to turn down lucrative offers from law firms and instead move to Chicago as a community organizer.

The other 30-second spot, titled "Carry," addresses Obama's work in the Illinois Legislature, where Dillard praises him for pushing ethics legislation, expanding child care and health coverage and supporting tax credits for the working poor.

"Senator Obama worked on some of the deepest issues we had and was successful in a bipartisan way," Dillard says in that ad.

Aides described Tribe, a member of the Harvard law faculty, as a mentor for Obama. Tribe praises Obama for his decisions after graduating.

"It was inspiring, absolutely inspiring to see someone as brilliant as Barack Obama, as successful, someone who could have written his ticket on Wall Street, take all of the talent and all of the learning and decide to devote it to the community and to make people's lives better," Tribe says in the commercial.

The Obama campaign is spending a modest amount of money to run his first ads in Iowa.

A recent poll in Iowa showed Obama bunched at the top with rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards. His appearances in the state have drawn large and noisy crowds.

The ads come soon after an extensive mailing, which included a DVD biographical film on Obama, aides said.

Source : http://www.time.com

Relate :

View from Iowa: The Clinton-Obama Dust-Up

Iowans try to ignore the fracas but can't help worrying how it will affect the prolonged campaign season