A Google-backed startup that analyzes customers' genetic makeup to predict health risks... has slashed the price on its personal DNA test... from $999 to $399.
...next-generation DNA analysis chips have made the process... significantly cheaper
This could lead to a significant increase in the use of genetic testing and a renewed focus on political questions about its use.
23andMe is also compiling databases of customers' genetic information to make available to researchers seeking new insights into those links.
The price cut will ideally mean an influx of new information that will speed discoveries in the lab...
Hackers Publish German Minister's Fingerprint | Threat Level from Wired.com
Topic: Technology
2:36 pm EDT, Apr 1, 2008
To demonstrate why using fingerprints to secure passports is a bad idea, the German hacker group Chaos Computer Club has published what it says is the fingerprint of Wolfgang Schauble, Germany's interior minister.
According to CCC, the print of Schauble's index finger was lifted from a water glass that he used during a panel discussion that he participated in last year at a German university. CCC published the print on a piece of plastic inside 4,000 copies of its magazine Die Datenschleuder that readers can use to impersonate the minister to biometric readers.
A new web service that lets users rate and comment on the uniformed police officers in their community is scrambling to restore service Tuesday, after hosting company GoDaddy unceremonious pulled-the-plug on the site in the wake of outrage from criticism-leery cops.
Regardless of what you think of sites like "RateMyCop" the bottom line is that it is not appropriate for GoDaddy to pull a domain name without contacting the administrator. This is not a phishing site. Following this and a number of recent takedowns by ENOM; we need new regulation at the ICANN level that prohibits this sort of shoot first and ask questions later behavior. While the fact that GoDaddy personally contacted me in response to my complaints when they shut down seclists, this incident demonstrates that a year later their policies haven't changed. Actions speak louder than words.
This really does bother me. All my domain names are hosted at godaddy.com. As renewals come up, I am seriously going to consider moving to another registrar, even if it is more expensive.
Three propose wind farms off Jersey Shore | Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/05/2008
Topic: Technology
8:48 am EST, Mar 5, 2008
An established utility, a wind-farm developer, and a consortium of commercial fishermen each have proposed building giant turbine-driven power plants off the Jersey Shore, hoping to demonstrate the viability of the ocean breeze as a clean source of electricity.
The three proposals vary widely - locations, for example, are between three and 16 miles off Atlantic or Cape May County - and timelines are iffy. Theoretically, however, within five years 100 spinning turbines could be generating 350 megawatts, enough to power 125,000 homes.
This is the first I've heard of this. Pretty cool..
A new technique shows resizing of images while keeping the important features of the image undistorted, also allows you to protect or remove part of the image with anything removed being automagically and seamlessly filled in.
This is making the rounds in technical circles today. The technique simple and very effective! Apparently Adobe has hired this guy so hopefully we'll see commercial availability soon.
See Who's Editing Wikipedia - Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign
Topic: Technology
11:50 am EDT, Aug 14, 2007
Wikipedia Scanner -- the brainchild of CalTech computation and neural-systems graduate student Virgil Griffith -- offers users a searchable database that ties millions of anonymous Wikipedia edits to organizations where those edits apparently originated, by cross-referencing the edits with data on who owns the associated block of internet IP addresses.
Someone on Presidential hopeful John McCain’s staff is going to be in trouble today. They used a well known template to create his Myspace page. The template was designed by Newsvine Founder and CEO Mike Davidson (original template is here). Davidson gave the template code away to anyone who wanted to use it, but asked that he be given credit when it was used, and told users to host their own image files.
McCain’s staff used his template, but didn’t give Davidson credit. Worse, he says, they use images that are on his server, meaning he has to pay for the bandwidth used from page views on McCain’s site.
Davidson decided to play a small prank on the campaign this morning as retribution.
My mailbox is being filled with IETF announcements for the upcoming meeting in Prague. I see internet draft after internet draft making proposals that are going to cause implementation errors, security holes, and ultimately service outages.
Take for example the prime candidate protocol for VOIP - SIP... SIP is far too complex.
Consider how long it has taken to deploy IPv6 - a technology that celebrated its 10th anniversary a few years ago. And IPv6 has the luxury of being an alternative to IPv4 rather than a transparently compatible upgrade. Consider how much longer it will take to deploy VOIP protocol redesigns when the old protocol is embedded in telephones around the world?
I have great concern that our approach to the internet resembles a high pillar of round stones piled on top of other round stones - we should not be surprised when it begins to wobble and then falls to the ground.
