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An Intelligent Live Web Listing

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Startup will track live events, including streaming video, auctions, and competitions.

Live content is becoming a major component of the Web--particularly sporting events and webcast political events. But figuring out when and where stuff will pop up can be a challenge. The founders of a new company, called LiveMatrix, say their software can automatically keep track of live content and, eventually, to recommend what a person might want to see. They hope it could also offer an appealing new way for advertisers to reach people.

Tough Coatings for Airplanes

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

A strong material inspired by abalone shells could be applied over large areas.

For decades, materials scientists have looked to naturally existing composites as inspiration for tough, lightweight materials that could lighten vehicles. Such materials could save on fuel costs, protect airplanes, and be used in engine turbines that run more efficiently. The material that lines abalone shells, called nacre, has been of particular interest: it's lightweight and strong, yet shatter-resistant. But mimicking the microscale structures responsible for its properties has been difficult, and hasn't resulted in materials that can be manufactured on a large scale.

Searching for Another Earth

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

A new discovery advances the hunt for Earthlike planets beyond our solar system.

An international team of astronomers has discovered an exoplanet--one outside our solar system--that has a more Earthlike orbit than any alien planet discovered so far using the same technique.

Blog - Patterns of Prostitution Captured in Social Network

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:10:00 GMT

The patterns of links between buyers and sellers of sex in an online forum differs in important ways from other internet related networks, says a new study. This may have important implications for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases

"Over the past decade, the Internet has become an increasingly important vehicle for sharing information about prostitution," say Luis Rocha at Umea University in Sweden and a couple of buddies. That makes it possible to study the network of links between buyers and sellers at a level of detail that has never been possible before. Today, Rocha and co reveal the results one such study of prostitute-related activity in Brazil.

Blog - Google, Intel, and Sony Plan New TV System

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:00:00 GMT

Set-top boxes will offer easier Web surfing, and let developers create TV apps.

A Google-Intel-Sony partnership will soon offer TVs and set-top boxes that make it easier to browse the Web on a TV, according to a report by The New York Times. The Google TV platform will be based on the Android operating system and will be open to developers, who will presumably be able to create downloadable TV apps, like games.

Blog - Google's Ranking Algorithm Wants to Organize Your Calendar

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:00:00 GMT

The search company hopes that a new scheduling feature will appeal to business clients.

Blog - SXSW Goes Solar

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:00:00 GMT

Sun-powered "SolarPumps" help concertgoers keep phones, laptops and even scooters charged up.

SXSW is a marathon event, from the Interactive conference to the music festival--and it can be hard to keep all your gadgets charged and running.

Video - GM’s Augmented Reality Display

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

GM explains how its enhanced vision system would work to help drivers.

Drug Production Gets Aquatic

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Algae could provide a cheaper, easier method for manufacturing drugs.

Green algae are cheap to grow, hard to kill, and quick to thrive. Such traits make the tiny plants an ideal production factory, one that is already being extensively explored as a source for biofuels. But a few people are also looking to algae to do a completely different brand of work: the manufacturing of therapeutic drugs, a system that could one day produce large quantities of certain drugs at one-thousandth of today's costs.

Startups Aim to Reinvent Local Advertising

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Automatically tailored display ads could attract small businesses.

Advertising has been a killer Internet business model, making billions of dollars for Google and others. But a number of startup companies think there's a huge untapped market in providing automatically tailored display advertising to thousands of local businesses.

Creating Apps Just for Cars

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Ford and the University of Michigan are developing social networking apps.

If you have a smart phone, chances are good that you add to its functionality pretty often by downloading new software apps. But updating the computer systems built into your car usually requires a long visit to the dealership, where company technicians install new software using special interfaces.

Data Mining for Dodgy Machines

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

A study highlights efforts to take down ISPs that allow malicious activity.

In recent years, cyber gangs have been careful to spread their operations across multiple Internet service providers, a tactic that makes it much harder for law enforcement and security administrators to track organized crime activity.

Blog - The Rise and Fall of the Human Genome Project

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:10:00 GMT

It's not just financial markets that experience bubbles, society does too. And the Human Genome Project is a perfect example, says a new study.

The world has become painfully familiar with the notion of financial bubbles in the last two years. These are periods of in which prices are temporarily raised above their fundamental value, sometimes by orders of magnitude.

Blog - U.S. Congress Worries about Materials Shortages

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:00:00 GMT

Rare earth minerals are key to advanced technology, but almost all come from China.

From wind turbines to cell phones, rare earth minerals play a big role in advanced technology, and they could be key for future clean energy. But congress is worried about the fact that almost all of these materials come from China, and could be subject to tight export controls by that country's government.

Blog - GM Develops Augmented Reality Windshield

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMT

The display outlines the road, and pinpoints obstacles, people and signs, even in bad weather.

A new "enhanced vision system" from General Motors could help drivers by highlighting landmarks, obstacles and road edges on the windshield in real-time. Such a system can point out to drivers potential hazards, such as a running animal, even in foggy or dark conditions, GM says.

Fingertip Bacteria: A Promising Forensic Tool

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

The genetic makeup of microbes on a person's skin could provide crime scene evidence.

It's not just our genomes that make us unique. The genomic profile of bacteria that rub off our fingertips and onto objects we touch--a computer keyboard, for instance--also provides a "fingerprint" that could be used for forensic purposes, according to researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Giving Plastic Solar Cells an Energy Boost

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Plastic cells are lighter than silicon ones, but they're not as efficient--one company aims to fix that.

Polymer solar cells are finding use in solar charging backpacks and umbrellas, but they still only convert around 6 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity--or around a third of what conventional silicon panels are capable of. If the efficiency of polymer solar cells--which are cheaper and lighter than silicon cells--can be boosted significantly, they could be ideal for plastering on rooftops or laminating on windows.

Smarter LED Lights

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

A new lighting system uses network cables, instead of electrical wires, to supply power and carry data.

A new approach to LED lighting uses network cables, rather than conventional electrical wiring, to supply power to lights. Developed by a startup in Fremont, CA, the system also allows the cables to carry data from an array of sensors on the lights to a central control station. The system would cost about the same as a conventional lighting system, but because it can sense and control every light in a building, it could cut power consumption from lighting by 50 to 80 percent.

Blog - Light-Harvesting Bacteria Reveal Photonic Defense Mechanism

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:10:00 GMT

Rhodospirillum Photometricum has a mechanism that allows it to harvest more light in dim conditions but protect its cellular machinery from photon damage when it's too bright.

A few years ago, scientists studying the light-harvesting bacteria, Rhodospirillum Photometricum, made a curious discovery. This bacteria is able to exploit solar energy because its cell membrane is filled with chromophore vesicles: regions containing pigment molecules capable of absorbing light and turning it into chemical fuel.

Blog - Will Spotify Be Fair to Artists?

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:00:00 GMT

Daniel Ek dodged the question during a keynote interview at South By Southwest Interactive.

Here at South By Southwest Interactive, the keynote interview of Daniel Ek, the 26-year-old founder of European music service Spotify, provided some satisfying insight into the major new music site.

Blog - The Chemistry of Hangovers

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:00:00 GMT

In time for St. Patrick's Day, an American Chemical Society video details why the morning after feels so bad.

When your head is pounding and you can't stomach even a dry piece of toast, who among us has not asked why? Not, "Why did I drink so much?" but "Why is this happening to me?"