Evilsoft.org

Biotech

1. Mind Control by Parasites
2. Stanford neuroscientist wants to implant an electrode in his brain
3. NIH-Created Ebola Vaccine Passes 1st Test
4. Sleeping on it best for complex decisions
5. Alzheimer’s Progresses Faster in Educated People

Culture

1. Egypt offers first look at newly discovered tomb, first saince the tomb of Tutankhamun
2. Love is the drug
3. The Future of Science: A Conversation with Alan Lightman
4. The Politically Incorrect Science Fair

Environment

1. Underwater Ocean Currents Used to Power Bermuda
2. Mazda Plans Dual-Fuel Car in Japan
3. Has World Oil Production Passed Its Peak?
4. Segway Inventor Turns To Environment
5. Greenland’s glaciers losing ice at faster rate
6. The World Oceans Now 70% Shark Free

Physics

1. NY team confirms UCLA tabletop fusion
2. Physicist to Present New Exact Solution of Einstein’s Gravitational Field Equation
3. Quantum computer works best switched off

Space

1. Continued Success for Space Elevator Tests
2. Human spaceflight must come first, argues NASA
3. New group to develop passenger spaceship
4. Astronomers get shortlist of possible ET addresses
5. Solar Sail News and Upcoming JPL Missions
6. NASA plans to park space shuttle Atlantis in 2008
7. Draft Rules for X Prize Lunar Lander Challenge
8. Spaceport Singapore
9. NASA Detects Totally New Mystery Explosion Nearby

Tech

1. New High-Speed Nano Imaging Device
2. US and Canadian skiers get smart armour
3. Moore’s Law Staying Strong Through 30nm
4. Stronger Future for Nuclear Power

Biotech

1. Innovative Hand-Held Insulin Device Effectively Controls Diabetes and Provides Reliable and Easy to Use Insulin Dosing
2. Babies` Cells Linger, May Protect Mothers
3. Skin Stem Cells Made into Bone and Muscle
4. Printable Skin: `Inkjet` Breakthrough Makes Human Tissue
5. Cow-free Beef Proposed
6. Sperm Cells Turned into Eggs
7. Has BYU prof found AIDS cure?
8. New pill increases dreaming sleep

Culture

1. 3 billion people seek basic financial services is Microfinance the answer?
2. NASA Chief Backs Agency Openness
3. NASA Public-Affairs Appointee Resigns in Disgrace
4. A Young Bush Appointee Resigns His Post at NASA

Entertainment

1. Physics students, duct tape extend faded couch’s mileage

Environment

1. Flying Electric Generator (FEG) technology
2. World at its warmest of past 1,200 years, researchers show

Military

1. C-130H Laser Gunship Program begins

Physics

1. Dark matter comes out of the cold
2. SLAC Physicists Develop Test For String Theory
3. No Time Travel, Sorry

Space

1. The solar system no longer has nine planets
2. NASA to divert cash from science into shuttle
3. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: Searching For A ‘New Moon’
4. Experts poles apart over Moon landing sites
5. Seeing `Strange` Stars
6. Should We Land on the Moon’s Poles or Equator?

Tech

1. Power Plastics to provide electrical power to packaging and intelligent clothing
2. Reclaiming all that space in the attic – EZ Attic
3. Web 2.0 new tools, amazing functionality, vast opportunities
4. VW and Google team to explore future vehicle navigation systems
5. Stiletto Experimental ship with carbon fiber M-hull design tops 50 knots (60mph)
6. The three-key mini-keyboard with OLED screen on each key
7. Buying, paying bills and transfering money with your mobile phone
8. Nano Technology may make cleaning Toilets a thing of the Past
9. Chip prototype gets under the skin
10. Don’t Bring Home the Bacon, Print It

As was reported here and here back in December, Google searches now provide a lot of nice information for a band. I was checking to see if ColdPlay had a new album in the pipeline, I searched for ColdPlay and got a really nice set of results listing their albums and links for purchase, lyrics, album art, etc. Wow – I love finding new features in Google like that.

Check it out.

The recent firefox 1.5.0.1 release has caused a number of problems for various parties, including extension authors and users. Sadly, many extension authors did not set up their extensions to be able to deal with firefox security updates gracefully. There have been no changes to the extension api, but a surprisingly large number of extensions report that they are Disabled – not compatible with Firefox 1.5.0.1. Well, if the extension is compatible with 1.5, you are in luck, there is a way to fix this that is not too difficult that doesn’t involve the extension author having to release a new version.

(in firefox, go to Tools->Extensions)

First thing you need to do is shut down firefox. Next, open the file “extensions.rdf” from your profile directory (something similar to C:\Documents and Settings\your username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.ugt in windows, ~/.mozilla/firefox/eucals91.default in linux) in a text editor. (it would be a good idea to save off a backup of this file, just in case). Search for every instance of 1.5 in the file. Those cases where the line says NS1:maxVersion=”1.5″ need to be changed:

Editor’s Note: This needs to be a text editor like notepad or textpad or ultraedit. If you use word or wordpad, you will break your extensions.rdf. At least two people have done this, so please, *be careful*. Also, some text editors will append .txt to the rdf file name. ensure that when it’s done, you have the right windows file extension.

  <RDF:Description RDF:about="rdf:#$0Q1PK2"
                   NS1:id="{3550f703-e582-4d05-9a08-453d09bdfdc6}"
                   NS1:minVersion="1.5"
                   NS1:maxVersion="1.5" />

You will want to alter them so that they say NS1:maxVersion=”1.5.0.*” as below:

  <RDF:Description RDF:about="rdf:#$0Q1PK2"
                   NS1:id="{3550f703-e582-4d05-9a08-453d09bdfdc6}"
                   NS1:minVersion="1.5"
                   NS1:maxVersion="1.5.0.*" />

Now, restart firefox, and go to Tools->Extensions:

Right click on the disabled exension, and select Enable from the dropdown. Finally restart firefox. If everything went well, your extensions should be happy again.

Ed: A second solution has come to my attention in the form of the Nightly Tester Tools extension which will allow you to install incompatible extensions via it’s interface. With this installed, in the extensions panel, you can right click on an extension, and select “Make Compatible”. This method may be somewhat riskier, as it makes an extension potentially compatible across larger updates that may have API changes. The original method carries no risk of this, as it only covers security updates to firefox 1.5

Biotech

1. Live cells jetted with electric fields
2. Scientists invent super-smooth, super-small pipes that could ferry medicine into the body
3. Caffeine Free: Blue Light Makes People Alert at Night
4. Mine Buster Targets Breast Cancer
5. New device fights tooth decay with electricity
6. Study Strengthens Link between Virus and Weight Gain

Culture

1. Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him
2. Radiation exposure drug availability blocked by feds
3. Sexual Chemistry Only Lasts Two Years
4. Let There Be Wi-Fi
5. AT&T Sued Over NSA Eavesdropping
6. NASCAR in the Clouds
7. Telegram Passes Into History
8. President panders to anti-manimal lobby! Dr Moreau flees country in rage!

Environment

1. How to Beat the High Cost of Gasoline. Forever!
2. Switch Grass: Alternative Energy Source?
3. Global Warming Risks Severe
4. Stark warning over climate change

Mathematics

1. Benford’s Law

Physics

1. Relativity, FTL and causality
2. Matter bound by light
3. South Pole Neutrino Detector Could Yield Evidences of String Theory

Space

1. Space Enthusiast Resources
2. The Mysterious Smell of Moondust
3. Sliding Into ‘Home Plate’, Onward To Victoria Crater
4. New `planet` bigger than Pluto
5. Augmented reality telescope brings universe closer

Tech

1. Inventor develops artificial gills
2. Lofting Balloons for Cell Service
3. These Houses Can Take a Lickin’
4. Honda Accord ADAS auto-pilot system takes the reins
5. Brain Scans May Be Used As Lie Detectors

Biotech

1. X-Prize for DNA Decoding Aims to Fuel Innovation
2. Science Creates a Living Bandage for Broken Hearts
3. Scientists Find Unusual Lung-cancer Tumor-suppressor Gene

Culture

1. Study: College students lack literacy for complex tasks
2. The New Boom
3. Science `not for normal people`

Environment

1. Growing crops to cope with climate change

Military

1. The first gun-toting robotic combat soldiers set to be deployed

Physics

1. Sonofusion Experiment Produces Results Without External Neutron Source
2. Gravity theory dispenses with dark matter
3. China to build world’s first artificial Sun

Space

1. 7 myths about the Challenger shuttle disaster
2. Smallest Earth-like planet found
3. Shuttle a deathtrap, says astronaut
4. Spacecraft, heal thyself
5. Buzz Aldrin’s Roadmap To Mars

Tech

1. Heavyweight transparency – Light Transmitting Concrete
2. The Gypsy MIDI controller turns the human body into a musical instrument
3. Transparent OLED On the Way
4. Nanotubes show their strength in numbers
5. Retro-fit heads-up display system for motorcycle and bicycle helmets
6. Fast track to a fine vintage

On evil… have 18 minutes and an mp3 player ? If so you are going to love it.

Biotech

1. nano-size battery to be implanted in eye to power artificial retina
2. Doctors claim suspended animation success
3. Measuring wrinkles, sun damage with software

Culture

1. Crisis in Science Prompts Sharing of Data

Environment

1. Doomsday seed bank to be built
2. Wound Up Over Windmills
3. California home to 27 new species

Military

1. Police, Army Robots to Debut in 10 Years

Physics

1. Scientists make first step towards ‘holy grail’ of crystallography
2. Is dark energy changing?

Space

1. Space propulsion breakthrough new spacecraft ion engine tested
2. First Galileo signals received
3. Mini-galaxies may reveal dark matter stream
4. Pluto probe launches from Florida
5. Nemesis, the Sun’s Binary Star Companion?
6. Elated Scientists Say Space-Dust Mission Exceeded Expectations
7. Space Junk Cleanup Needed, NASA Experts Warn

Tech

1. New Uses For LCD Technology
2. Tokyo to get world’s first maglev elevator
3. Flash memory to rival hard drives
4. Measure of Metal Supply Finds Future Shortage

Biotech

1. Caloric restriction appears to prevent primary aging in the heart
2. Taiwan Breeds Transgenic, Fluorescent Green Pigs

Culture

1. Are We Descended from Cannibals?
2. The fully-automated convenience store
3. Charles Arthur: Spam has passed its peak

Entertainment

1. New Music Player to Spread Files Wirelessly
2. N.Y. governor wants drivers to fill up with ethanol or biodiesel
3. DropShots service to help families stay connected and share life experiences

Environment

1. Citroen to reveal diesel hybrid C4
2. Honda FCX fuel cell vehicle production announced

Military

1. Improved Armored Vests Reflect Changing Enemy Tactics
2. New Radar Scope offers X-ray vision

Physics

1. Desktop fusion is back on the table

Space

1. Astronomers find magnetic Slinky in constellation of Orion
2. More to the North Star Than Meets the Eye
3. Dying Star Reveals More Evidence for New Kind of Black Hole
4. US Draw Up Rules for Space Tourism
5. Milky Way’s Warp Explained
6. Companion Dwarf Galaxy Discovered

Tech

1. Sony Reader targets book lovers
2. Spin Doctors Create Quantum Chip
3. The Optimus Organic LED keyboard

Sony is demoing what looks to be a fantastic device in the form of their new e-book reader that uses e-ink electronic paper to give it a printed feel instead of a display feel. Of course, the device itself while being way cool will inevitably be gimped by sony to only support the sony proprietary lifestyle, and most all us geeks refuse to buy anything from a company that so clearly feels it’s customers are criminals who’s computers need a good deep rooting. Still, this development will be followed by others, and perhaps we’ll see something in the next year or two by a company that will let it’s users put their own documents on it. This would be a fantastic development, as it will almost certainly lead to a paperback sized wikipedia.

Now stop for a second and think about that. I recognize that there are accuracy issues with wikipedia, but as a source to get the general concept of people places and things, wikipedia is pretty impressive. In 2 years, we could all be carrying around electronic paperbacks that contain a veritable library of alexandria with snippets to volumes about everything we see around us. This goes a great distance towards making stupid mode (read: being offline) a hell of a lot less….well…stupid.

Beyond reference works, I forsee that a large number of people could find decent use in a device like this to get their news sucked down to it via RSS so that when we sit on the light rail, or eat our wheaties we can have a newspaper that doesn’t leave us with a 400 pound pile of trash yearly.

All in all, this device looks very cool, now hopefully someone other then sony can bring one to market that doesn’t inherently distrust you.