News: Microsoft Takes on Google’s Customisable News

By | November 24, 2011
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 Microsoft is taking on Google, at least in its news. The New Scientist says Microsoft is testing a a news-gathering web site that tailors the stories selected to individual users. Once MSN Newsbot is fully functional, Microsoft says the site will personalise results within 10 minutes of a user starting to browse.
 
Microsoft is not revealing exactly how its site will work. But experts say there are several possible types of algorithm that could be used. One is similar to those Amazon.com uses to recommend additional books a buyer might like. This algorithm analyses the other choices of people who have already bought the first book. A news site would instead group articles according to the reading patterns of previous users.

News: More on Cellphone Dangers

By | November 24, 2011
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 Here’s more on the dangers of cellphones: the BBC reports that people who chat on their mobile phone while walking could be hurting their back, according to scientists at Australia’s University of Queensland.
They say the human body is designed to exhale when our feet touch the ground. This helps to protect the spine from sudden jolts. However, talking and walking at the same time disrupts this breathing pattern, leaving the spine exposed.
 
Of course, this has implications beyond cellphones. Seems that a lot of us walk and talk at the same time, with the possible exception of Gerald Ford.

News: How Healthy Are Cellphones?

By | November 24, 2011
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 Good article on the health effects of using cellphones. The Sun Sentinel says the U.S. is preparing to launch an investigation into the matter, and quotes Gary Brown, an adjunct professor in technologies at Nova Southeastern University, as saying people don’t realize the issue of cell phone safety has not been settled.
“The industry says there’s no problem and the public remains ignorant. Adults can do what they want, but where the issue becomes critical, is with children,” Brown said.

News: Shredded Stasi Documents To Be Pieced Back Together

By | November 24, 2011
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 The kind of story I love: technology used to bring the oppressor to book. The Register reports that documents of the East German State Security Service (Stasi), torn into shreds and stored in 16,000 brown sacks, may soon be pieced together by a software program developed by the Fraunhofer Institute.
 
On Monday, the Institute said it would take five years to solve the world’s biggest jigsaw puzzle electronically. If done by hand, the operation would take several hundred years.
 

Update: Nokia Batteries Safe Shock

By | November 24, 2011
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 Nokia, hit by a recent spate of reports, from Vietnam to the Netherlands, of its batteries overheating and catching fire or exploding, says a follow-up test by a Belgian consumer watchdog had shown its own-made batteries were safe for use, Reuters reports.
 
Nokia said in a statement a new test by Test-Aankoop, conducted on November 17, showed all Nokia-made batteries were protected against short-circuiting, believed to be the cause of the problems. The Belgian firm said in a separate statement its previous test released earlier this month had accidentally included counterfeit batteries in the sample. But it said Nokia should address the issue of many forged batteries sold under Nokia’s brand.