The Rigged-Up Net

Five San Antonians are among world’s richest people

Five San Antonio businessmen have been named to Forbes Magazine’s 2004 list of World’s Richest People.

Superflu is being brewed in the lab

After the worldwide alarm triggered by 2003’s SARS outbreak, it might seem reckless to set about creating a potentially far more devastating virus in the lab. But that is what is being attempted by some researchers, who argue that the dangers of doing nothing are even greater.

Reaching out to younger crowd works for Tiffany

The fourth quarter was bright for luxury retailers, and on Wednesday, Tiffany (TIF) posted sales and earnings that sparkled like its famous diamond settings.

Will more safety rules save many more lives?

Late last year, federal regulators toughened the standard for protecting car fuel tanks in rear-end crashes. Several automakers argued against the standard, noting it could save as few as eight lives a year while costing more than the estimated $41 million to change cars and trucks.

Origin Systems to close Austin operations

Austin-based game development company Origin Systems, a division of Electronic Arts Inc., will shut down local operations and lay off 64 employees in the next three months.

Converting an existing development system to the 2.6 kernel

The white papers in this series highlight primary issues in migrating your existing drivers, development systems, applications, and custom Linux deployments to the 2.6 Linux kernel. The previous white paper in this series, “Migrating Device Drivers to 2.6”, provided an overview of 2.6-related changes to device drivers, explained the new device driver compilation process, and discussed the implications of some of the new features of the 2.6 kernel to existing device drivers. This installment in the series provides an overview of converting an existing development system to use a 2.6 kernel.

I scored:

         72% (Dixie).  That is a pretty strong Southern score!

Go see if you’re Yankee or Dixie… click here

(thanks Johnny)

Teen brains show low motivation

Teen brains show less activity in the regions associated with motivation, reveals a brain imaging study.

AIDS researchers investigate anti-HIV protein in monkeys

Scientists say they’ve discovered how some monkeys resist infection with the AIDS virus, a finding that might lead to a treatment that blocks HIV in people.

Rich media enriching PC ads

While banner ads have become passé and pop-ups a nuisance, the use of so-called rich media ads is poised for rapid growth, industry experts say. Rich media combines animation, video and sound with interactive features.

Time Warner Cable introduces wireless “speed zones” in SA

Time Warner Cable Road Runner customers soon will be able to stay connected to the Internet even on the road.

Taking Aim at a Stealthy STD

Most of the people who have HPV don’t know it. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , about 20 million men and women in the United States have HPV and about 5.5 million are exposed to the virus each year. At least 50 percent of sexually active people have the virus, and by the age of 50, 80 percent of women have contracted HPV.

Also…

Oral sex linked to mouth cancer

Oral sex can lead to oral tumours. That is the conclusion of researchers who have proved what has long been suspected, that the human papilloma virus can cause oral cancers.

Business texts the ‘next big thing’ – Voda

Vodafone is looking to drum up extra revenues by getting business users to text more.

Geeks do *so* have friends

Gaming fans are a deeply social and friendly people, not isolated geeks. This is the main finding of a survey of gamers, published by GameMore , a UK gaming event co-ordinator.

BudNet Tracks Your Suds

“CNN is carrying a story about Budweiser’s national internal sales tracking network called BudNET. It allows Anheuser-Busch to instantly track sales across the country, and ‘If Anheuser-Busch loses shelf space in a store in Clarksville, Tennessee, they know it right away.’ It brings up some interesting privacy issues, because according to the article ‘The last time you bought a six-pack of Bud Light at the Piggly Wiggly, Anheuser servers most likely recorded what you paid, when that beer was brewed, whether you purchased it warm or chilled, and whether you could have gotten a better deal down the street.’ Frankly, I don’t want Budweiser knowing when I choose to buy their beer versus another brands.”

Losing ground in the innovation race?

Computers will change our lives more in the next 10 years than they have in the last 20.

TiVo-like devices to get booster shot

Having proved their popularity with American couch potatoes, digital video recorders are about to get a boost in features that will allow them to zap several video streams throughout networked homes.

A Brief History of Microsoft on the Web

In the beginning, www.microsoft.com was just one computer tucked under a table at the end of a long hallway. It was designed to test Microsoft’s first 32-bit Windows implementation of TCP/IP, the software plumbing in Windows that enables Internet communications.

Eminem sues Apple

Eminem’s publishing company has claimed Apple used one of his compositions in a TV ad without the the hip-hop star’s “yo!”

Visual Autopsy Of An ATM Card Skimmer

“A chap at work was recently the victim of an ATM card skimmer which took his card details, cloned them and allowed the fraudster to take 550 pounds out of his account. Having tried to explain how the fraudsters can hide a camera and card reader around the ATM, he decided it would be easier to show one of them after a few drinks down the pub. He was a little surprised to find that the machine he chose had a card reader and camera in place. These were removed and analysed, we believe we have reclaimed about 800 pounds worth of kit. Result: Pictures.”

Mammal mums can alter their offspring’s sex

Knowing whether a pregnancy will produce a boy or girl is not left up to chance for some mammals – UK biologists claim they have conclusive proof that zebras, bison and certain other mammals actively adjust the sex of their offspring.

iPod proves a massive hit with thieves

Apple’s iPod music player is not only popular with shoppers – it is also becoming increasingly popular with criminals.

pPod

1000’s of Songs in your Pocket PC

This superb MP3 player is an essential addition to your Pocket PC! No need to waste money on an expensive player and carry two items.

Scientists studying possible link between glaucoma, Alzheimer’s
.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio has formed a research group to study the possibility of a link between glaucoma and Alzheimer’s.

Smiles fade at Napster

MUSIC SERVICE IS LOSING MONEY AND EXECUTIVES

Student honored for device that makes quick, cheap eyeglass lenses

An MIT graduate student won the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize and $30,000 on Thursday for inventing a device that makes low-cost eyeglass lenses within 10 minutes. Saul Griffith, a 30-year-old doctoral candidate, also created electronic goggles that diagnose vision problems.

Hollywood Wins DVD-Copying Case

A federal judge ruled on Friday that 321 Studios, a software developer, must stop selling its DVD copying program, delivering a huge win for the entertainment industry.

Smelly device would liven up web browsing

A scent-generating device being tested by the UK internet service provider Telewest Broadband could soon allow internet users to transmit aromas of their choice across the internet.

Humans are hardwired to feel others’ pain

Humans are hardwired to feel empathy, suggests a new imaging study showing that certain pain-processing regions of the brain light up when a loved-one is hurt.

S.A. has three of the worst bottlenecks in nation

A new report by the American Highway Users Alliance released Thursday urged congressional leaders to invest more money over the next six years to alleviate the nation’s worst highway bottlenecks.

Ok, you have to see this video. If you’re one of those people who refuse to wear seatbelts, this video is for you folks too.

Watch it here

Steak shop’s name stirs controversy

TO SUSANNAH Park and most any Asian-American, the word “chink” is as hurtful as the n-word is to African-Americans.

Geek Love

If there’s anything computer geeks love more than next-generation hardware and massive RAM, it’s hot giga-babes. With the provocative motto “New things. Turn us on,” the upstart TechTV network goes for the hard drive of nerd-dom by staffing its prime time lineup with some model-caliber techsperts. These plugged-in girls gone wired are just the motivation millions of guys need to drop their optical mice and shift their attention to the boob tube for a few hours a night. Now in 43 million Nielsen homes, these women of TechTV enjoy the most rabid fan base of perhaps any network, if you judge by their popular blogs, copious fansites and endless waves of e-mail and IMs.

Development Of The TiVo Remote Charted

“The New York Times (anonymous readers need not apply) has an article about the development of the TiVo remote control. The article reviews the user-centered design approach the designers took. According to the lead designer, they considered ‘how it feels in the hand, for long periods of time.’ How about you – do you have an emotional attachment to your TiVo remote? Or other well-designed objects?”

Bank ATMs Converted to Steal IDs of Bank Customers

A team of organized criminals is installing equipment on legitimate bank ATMs in at least 2 regions to steal both the ATM card number and the PIN. The team sits nearby in a car receiving the information transmitted wirelessly over weekends and evenings from equipment they install on the front of the ATM (see photos). If you see an attachment like this, do not use the ATM and report it immediately to the bank using the 800 number or phone on the front of the ATM.

(There are pictures showing how this is done – its pretty elaborate)

Schlotzsky’s Offers Free Wi-Fi in Restaurants in Six States; Free Use of In-Store Computers Adds to Wi-Fi Appeal

Schlotzsky’s today announced it has expanded its popular free wireless Internet access (Cool Cloud(tm)) from its Austin base to include 38 restaurants in a total of six states (Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Arizona, California) with more to come. The expansion reflects the Company’s business model that “free wireless is great for business,” says Monica Landers, spokeswoman for Schlotzsky’s Inc. (Nasdaq:BUNZ).

Wrong diagnoses are killing patients

Many patients in intensive care units are being wrongly diagnosed, according to a study in a UK hospital. Some are dying because doctors fail to spot major conditions such as heart attacks, cancer and pulmonary embolism. The reason, experts say, is not incompetence but that so few post-mortems are now performed that doctors cannot learn from their mistakes.

Fertile women rate other women as uglier

Women judge the attractiveness other women more harshly when at their most fertile, suggests a new study. The phenomenon could be a strategy to devalue potential rivals, says the psychologist behind the work – being bitchy about others could help a woman win the attention of a desirable man.

Teen surfing Net learns he was allegedly abducted by mother

Authorities have arrested the mother of a 17-year-old boy who saw his picture on a missing children’s Web site and discovered that he had allegedly been abducted from Canada 14 years ago.

Character-defining tank tops

Do you spend like Carrie? Or perhaps shock like Samantha? Now you can pledge your allegiance to any of the Sex and the City sirens with one of four new tank tops that proclaim “I’m a Carrie,” “I’m a Miranda,” “I’m a Samantha” or “I’m a Charlotte”— just in time for Sunday’s series finale on HBO