BBC NEWS - Cancer cells 'can live forever'

BBC NEWS - Cancer cells 'can live forever':
"Healthy cells have timers so they only live as long as they are needed.

Cancer cells do not have these timers and so can keep on replicating, say researchers from Cancer Research UK, writing in the journal Cell.

And they warn that if this 'timer' could be applied to healthy cells, slowing their ageing process, they could then become cancerous themselves."

News @ Nature - 'Heart-renewing' cells discovered

News @ Nature - 'Heart-renewing' cells discovered:
"The heart contains cells that can divide and mature after birth, which might allow the organ to regenerate itself. This surprise discovery raises the possibility of transplanting these cells into hearts crippled by heart attack to mend the damage."

GreenBiz News - Organic Roses Make Valentine's Day an Environmental Affair

GreenBiz News - Organic Roses Make Valentine's Day an Environmental Affair:
"QUITO, Ecuador, Feb. 14, 2005 - In the Ecuadorian highlands, near the Equatorial center of the world, Dr. Hernan Chiriboga gently pushes aside rows of chamomile, garlic and chili peppers and inspects his prize crop -- organically grown red roses.

With a mere eight acres of mostly roses, Biogarden La Pampa is the world's first commercial-scale organic rose operation. Together with a handful of small to large-scale environmental growers in Colombia, South Africa, the Netherlands and California, Chiriboga's roses discover love and lovers via Internet eco-florist OrganicBouquet.com."

GreenBiz News - ChevronTexaco Launches First Hydrogen Fueling Station

GreenBiz News - ChevronTexaco Launches First Hydrogen Fueling Station:
"CHINO, Calif., Feb. 21, 2005 - ChevronTexaco Technology Ventures has unveiled its first Chevron Hydrogen energy station at the Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center in California.

The hydrogen energy station, located in Chino, Calif., is part of a five-year DOE cost-sharing program designed to demonstrate safe, practical hydrogen technologies in real-world settings. CTTV is leading the project in collaboration with Hyundai Motor Co. and UTC Fuel Cells."

LinuxDevices - PalmSource debuts Linux mobile phone software platform

LinuxDevices - PalmSource debuts Linux mobile phone software platform:
"Having completed its $16M acquisition of China MobileSoft (CMS) earlier this month, PalmSource today announced the addition of four former CMS products to its product line. Included among them is PalmSource mFone for Smart Phones, a Linux smartphone software stack that includes a GUI, device drivers, network protocols, development tools, and end-user applications such as a browser, PIM functions, email, SMS, MMS, MP3 players, and games."

Forbes - You're Never Too Old to Exercise

Forbes - You're Never Too Old to Exercise:
"FRIDAY, Feb. 25 (HealthDayNews) -- One of the best ways to ward off health problems as you age is the same as when you're young, health experts say -- exercise.

'Most of the issues we look at as aging really are disuse. We're meant to move,' said Colin Milner, CEO of the International Council on Active Aging, an umbrella group of about 4,000 organizations that deal with aging populations."

The Telegraph - Nanomedicine’s promise anything but tiny

The Telegraph - Nanomedicine’s promise anything but tiny:
"'Nanobots' remain imaginary for now, but a number of other futuristic nanodevices are already proving their potential in animal and human experiments. More than 60 drugs and drug delivery systems based on nanotechnology, and more than 90 medical devices or diagnostic tests, are already being tested, according to NanoBiotech News, a weekly newsletter that tracks the field. These examples, drawn from recent scientific publications, offer a glimpse of just how small the field of medicine is getting."

Life Extension - Gaining weight increases risk of dementia: Swedish study

Life Extension - Gaining weight increases risk of dementia: Swedish study:
"STOCKHOLM, Feb 20 (AFP) - People who gain even just a few extra kilos/pounds when they reach middle-age increase their risk of developing dementia later in life, according results from a new Swedish study published in the Dagens Nyheter paper on Sunday.

Based on data collected over a 28-year-period from more than 7,000 men in the southwestern town of Gothenburg, the study reveals a clear link between middle-age weight-gain and later deterioration of intellectual faculties."

EurekAlert! - Schepens scientists regenerate optic nerve for the first time

EurekAlert! - Schepens scientists regenerate optic nerve for the first time:
"Boston, Mass. – For the first time, scientists have regenerated a damaged optic nerve -- from the eye to the brain. This achievement, which occurred in laboratory mice and is described in the March 1, 2005 issue of the Journal of Cell Science, holds great promise for victims of diseases that destroy the optic nerve, and for sufferers of central nervous system injuries. 'For us, this is a dream becoming reality,' says Dr. Dong Feng Chen, lead author of the study, assistant scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute and an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. 'This is the closest science has come to regenerating so many nerve fibers over a long distance to reach their targets and to repair a nerve previously considered irreparably damaged.'"

AZ Central - Christian groups sue to stop California stem-cell research

AZ Central - Christian groups sue to stop California stem-cell research:
"SAN FRANCISCO - Conservative public-interest groups with ties to Christian organizations filed lawsuits Tuesday seeking to invalidate the $3 billion stem-cell research institution approved by California voters in November.

One lawsuit alleges the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine violates state law because it's not governed exclusively by the state government, and the committee that controls the research money it will dole out isn't publicly elected."

The Telegraph - Kidney cloned in rats

The Telegraph - Kidney cloned in rats:
"Tokyo, Feb. 23 (Kyodo): Researchers in Japan have succeeded in cloning a human kidney by cultivating human stem cells extracted from adult bone marrow into rat embryos, team members said.

The development is expected to increase the possibility of expanding regenerative medicine to anatomically complicated organs such as the kidney and lung as a potential means to treat patients with disorders of those organs."

Wired News - Mind Control

Wired News - Mind Control:
"John Donoghue, head of neuroscience at Brown University and the founder of Cyberkinetics, eventually wants to hook BrainGate up to stimulators that can activate muscle tissue, bypassing a damaged nervous system entirely. In theory, once you can control a computer cursor, you can do anything from drawing circles to piloting a battleship. With enough computational power, 'everything else is just engineering,' says Gerhard Friehs, the neurosurgeon from Brown who implanted Nagle's device."

Wired News - No More Crash-Test Surgery

Wired News - No More Crash-Test Surgery:
"Stanford engineer and surgeon Charles Taylor has worked for about a decade to bring more predictability into surgery. He and his collaborators have amassed medical data including MRIs and CT scans, and combined them with algorithms the team has worked out to predict blood flow, the flexibility of veins and arteries, among other parameters. His goal is to develop a simple software tool that allows surgeons to practice each individual operation before touching scalpel to skin."

CNET News - Firm eyes RSS feeds as ad vehicle

CNET News - Firm eyes RSS feeds as ad vehicle:
"On Monday, the company introduced a self-service system that lets online publishers pair advertising with their RSS feeds. Called BrightAds RSS (after the technology format known as Really Simple Syndication), the service takes advantage of Kanoodle's keyword advertising system to match Web content to relevant ads. Once a publisher signs up, an advertising link will piggyback on its syndicated feed sent to third-party news readers."

The Industry Standard - Digital decorum for the urban masses

The Industry Standard - Digital decorum for the urban masses:
"You're hip, you're urban, and you're on the go.

Before you leave the house each morning you make sure your headphones are snugly tucked into your ears, ensuring that no matter how bad the commute goes, it's at least to your own soundtrack. As the train doors snaps shut, you shove yourself into the last millimeter of space, and apologize at high volume to your fellow passengers. With your playlist still rolling you buy your newspaper from a man who mouths the price before you nearly get hit by a silent ambulance."

eMarketer - From the Big Screen to the Computer Screen

eMarketer - From the Big Screen to the Computer Screen:
"So far, premium movie sites have not created a thriving industry the way iTunes has for the digital music market. It's not clear whether the sites' business models need tweaking, or whether awareness is still too low for greater success. Online movie sites run into some factors that didn't affect digital music providers. For one, movie file sizes are much bigger, requiring more time for downloading. Additionally, services like NetFlix combine the convenience of the Web with the ability to watch movies on a TV instead of a computer."

BBC NEWS - Clinton urges Taiwan Strait calm

BBC NEWS - Clinton urges Taiwan Strait calm:
"Former US President Bill Clinton has called on China and Taiwan to set aside their differences and work together for common economic goals."

Popular Science - Better Living Through Curiosity

Popular Science - Better Living Through Curiosity:
"Bose’s rental Cadillac isn’t equipped with one of the high-end sound systems for which the Bose name is famous. Nor is it outfitted with what may be his most audacious innovation yet, the Bose Suspension System. Unveiled this summer after 24 years of R&D, the Bose suspension is a mega- breakthrough that replaces automotive shock absorbers with ultrafast linear electric motors. The system, which Bose expects to bring to market within four years, isolates the passenger compartment from bumps and dips and, at the same time, eliminates pitching and rolling during braking and turning."

USA TODAY - Hotels loosen their ties for a younger crowd

USA TODAY - Hotels loosen their ties for a younger crowd:
"The hotel stay is getting a makeover. The growing wave of style-conscious Generation Xers — 60 million Americans ages 24 to 40 — is forcing hotels across the USA to revamp lobby layouts, menu offerings and front-desk clerks' attire.

Some chains are launching new hotel brands designed for the under-40 set. And even stuffy hotel speak — 'It's my pleasure, sir' — is going the way of the polyester floral bedspread as the industry adjusts to the habits and values of younger, hipper travelers. (Excerpt: Hotels plan changes)"

St. Petersburg Times - Diversity in ads not reflected in real life

St. Petersburg Times - Diversity in ads not reflected in real life:
"Only about 7 percent of marriages are interracial, according to Census data. About 80 percent of whites live in neighborhoods in which more than 95 percent of their neighbors are white, and data show most Americans have few close friends of another race, Gallagher said."

HBS Working Knowledge - How Advertising Depicts Gays and Lesbians

HBS Working Knowledge - How Advertising Depicts Gays and Lesbians:
"Companies that have repeatedly incorporated LGBT themes into mainstream ads include Viacom (particularly MTV), Unilever, IKEA, and Levi Strauss, among others. During the 1997 'coming out' episode for the television show 'Ellen,' Volkswagen ran a commercial that showed two men driving silently down the road. They stop, pick up an armchair they see on the sidewalk, then stop again to drop it off when they realize it smells bad. Volkswagen said that they didn't intend for the couple to be gay—but that it was okay if viewers thought that was the case. 'In 1997, no company had ever said that,' said Wilke, who described the commercial as 'gay vague.'"

The Detroit News - Nissan's smart cars return to lanes

The Detroit News - Nissan's smart cars return to lanes:
"YOKOSUKA, Japan (AP) -- A car that swerves back into lanes on its own and a video system that makes parking a breeze were part of technological features on display by the Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co.

The technology that reporters tried out in test drives Monday at a research center outside Tokyo is part of Nissan's efforts to make driving safer. Similar smart-car features are in the works at most of the world's top automakers, including Japanese rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., as well as General Motors Corp. of the United States and others."

Strategiy - adidas launches 'mi adidas'

Strategiy - adidas launches 'mi adidas':
"Launched at the Dubai Tennis Championships, and firmly placing their footprint in sports shoe history, adidas introduces ‘mi adidas’. Using a revolutionary computer-aided system to measure your feet, mi adidas will not only ensure you get the perfect fit from your sports shoe, but allows you to choose your own design as well."

IndiePodcasting.com - Music Podcasting and Promotion for Unsigned and Indie Bands

IndiePodcasting.com - Music Podcasting and Promotion for Unsigned and Indie Bands:
"IndiePodcasting.com is a new service devoted to promoting unsigned and indie artists using a combination of podcasting technology, syndication, and viral marketing."

LA Downtown News - Grand Avenue Work Could Begin Next Year

LA Downtown News - Grand Avenue Work Could Begin Next Year:
"'We were encouraged at every stop to be bold, urban and dense,' Witte said, referring to a six-month public comment process. 'This is L.A.'s opportunity to build an urban, mixed-use neighborhood.'"

Betterhumans - Feeling Old? Time for a Mitochondrial Tune Up

Betterhumans - Feeling Old? Time for a Mitochondrial Tune Up:
"Halting aging and the development of diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's may one day be as simple as seeing the doctor for a mitochondrial 'tune up.'"

Prospect - Happiness is back

Prospect - Happiness is back:
"Those who want to cut taxes should explain why they think we should work harder and sacrifice our family and community life in pursuit of a zero-sum status race. They may say that hard work is good for the consumer. But workers are the same people as consumers. There is no point killing ourselves at work in the interest of ourselves as consumers."

NeoFiles - Is A Trans Bunny Art?

NeoFiles - Is A Trans Bunny Art?:
"In 1999, Eduardo Kac, an internationally recognized artist who was best known for his interactive net installations, commissioned a French biotech lab to create a “transgenic bunny.” The scientists injected the egg of an albino rabbit with the green fluorescent protein of a Pacific jellyfish. In 2000, Alba, the green fluorescent rabbit, was born in Jouy-en-Josas, France. It was not his first foray into “transgenic art” but it was definitely his most famously controversial."

Wired News - Embracing the Artificial Limb

Wired News - Embracing the Artificial Limb:
"The goal is to create artificial 'biohybrid' limbs that merge man-made components with human tissue -- muscles, skeletal architecture and the neurological system --and work like fully functioning human appendages."

Betterhumans - Protein Gives Mice Super Skeletons

Betterhumans - Protein Gives Mice Super Skeletons:
"A protein that blocks the production of fat in mice also gives them a bone mass four times that of normal mice, hinting at new ways of treating osteoporosis in humans."

Betterhumans - Toothpaste Fills Cavities without Drilling

Betterhumans - Toothpaste Fills Cavities without Drilling:
"A paste containing synthetic tooth enamel can seal small cavities without drilling. Kazue Yamagishi and colleagues at the FAP Dental Institute in Tokyo say that the paste can repair small cavities in 15 minutes. Currently, fillers don't stick to such small cavities so dentists must drill bigger holes. Hydroxyapatite crystals, of which natural enamel is made, bond with teeth to repair tiny areas of damage."

Science@NASA - Rainbows on Titan

Science@NASA - Rainbows on Titan:
"Titan's 'water' is liquid methane, CH4, better known on Earth as natural gas. Regular Earth-water, H2O, would be frozen solid on Titan where the surface temperature is 290o F below zero. Methane, on the other hand, is a flowing liquid, of 'a temper not liable to Frost.'"

Listen to this story via streaming audio, a downloadable file, or get help.

The Register - FCC 'crosses the line' with broadcast flag

The Register - FCC 'crosses the line' with broadcast flag:
"The FCC argued that its ancillary powers authorize it to regulate the reception of broadcasts, not just their transmission. While Congress did not authorize the Commission to regulate the proper designs of the devices, it also didn't expressly forbid it, which FCC takes as a license to issue specifications.

'Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world,' judge Edwards observed.

Judge David Sentelle wondered if FCC thought it could regulate washing machines, since Congress didn't expressly forbid that, either."

Adrants - Calacanis And Copeland: Weblog Advertising Outlook

Adrants - Calacanis And Copeland: Weblog Advertising Outlook:
"In what could be construed as either a validation of the weblog business model or a backhanded slap, Calacanis referred to competing Gawker Media publisher Nick Denton thusly, 'When Nick Denton launched knock-offs of Autoblog, Joystiq, Gadling and HackADay three or four months after we launched them I was thrilled. Not just because it establishes us as a leader in the space and Nick as the follower, but because advertisers could look at each of the blogs and say 'do I want Coke and/or Pepsi' as opposed to 'do I want to drink that strange dark fizzing liquid?!?!'"

PRWeek - CheapTickets.com pulls sponsorship of Gawker blog

PRWeek - CheapTickets.com pulls sponsorship of Gawker blog:
"Nick Denton, publisher of Gawker Media, declined to comment specifically about CheapTickets.com, but, wrote via e-mail, 'We'd rather lose the occasional advertiser than the character that attracts the audience in the first place. If an advertiser wants a safe environment, there are thousands of tired media outlets to choose from.'"

eMarketer - Outlook for Cable in Convergence Race

eMarketer - Outlook for Cable in Convergence Race:
"In-Stat attributes this rise in ARPU to digital cable TV services like high-definion TV (HDTV), video-on-demand (VOD), personal video recorders (PVRs) and high-speed data and telephony. In fact, survey respondents say over 90% of their subscribers have digital cable services."

The Industry Standard - Skype users may soon be sending text messages

The Industry Standard - Skype users may soon be sending text messages:
"Users of the Internet phone service offered by Skype International SA may soon be able to send text messages to mobile phones thanks to a service that went into beta testing on Friday."

Cyborg Democracy - Conservative Wants to Enslave Women to Make More Gay Babies

Cyborg Democracy: Conservative Wants to Enslave Women to Make More Gay Babies:
"[via Amor Mundi] Republican Representative Brian Duprey has submitted a bill to the Maine State Legislature that would make it a crime to abort an unborn child if that child is determined to be carrying the as-yet-undiscovered and possibly-fantastical 'homosexual gene.'"

Cyborg Democracy - The Vatican condemns condoms, praises disease and pain

Cyborg Democracy - The Vatican condemns condoms, praises disease and pain:
"Yes, most of the world's population has no access to modern health care, and yes, health care resources should be managed, locally and globally, in such a way as to ensure as fair as possible a distribution of their benefits. Nothing to object here, but this is not the main thesis that Vatican officials want to defend.

The main thesis if formulated a few paragraphs later: in the words of psychiatrist Manfred Lutz, a Vatican academic, 'Precisely in the handicap, in the disease, in the pain, in old age, in dying and death one can, instead, perceive the truth of life in a clearer way'."

eMarketer - What Broadband Service Offers the Best Value?

eMarketer - What Broadband Service Offers the Best Value?:
"Measuring the 'best value' of a broadband offer by dividing the bandwidth offered by the monthly cost, eMarketer has determined that SBCYahoo!'s 1.5Mbps/384kbps plan for $26.95 per month is the best value broadband product in the country under $30.00 per month. For every $1.00 per month spent, SBCYahoo! provides 69.9 kbps of bandwidth. But nothing compares with Verizon's new 15Mbps/2Mbps fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) plan for $49.95 per month, which equates to 340.3kbps for every $1.00 per month spent!"

Wired News - Solar Tower of Power Finds Home

Wired News - Solar Tower of Power Finds Home:
"The Solar Tower is hollow in the middle like a chimney. At its base is a solar collector -- a 25,000-acre, transparent circular skirt. The air under the collector is heated by the sun and funneled up the chimney by convection -- hot air rises. As it rises, the air accelerates to 35 mph, driving 32 wind turbines inside the tower, which generate electricity much like conventional wind farms."

Business Traveller - Radisson opens in Rome

Business Traveller - Radisson opens in Rome:
"The hotel, Radisson's only Italian property, has a contemporary nautical theme and follows the London Stansted property, which has a glass wine tower holding 4,000 bottles, or Paris, once headquarters of Louis Vuitton, there is a strong emphasis on design."

LA Downtown News - Downtown Is Looking Up, Literally

LA Downtown News - Downtown Is Looking Up, Literally:
"Downtown is definitely looking up these days, with the anticipated high-rises on Bunker Hill and elsewhere in the Central City presenting a new image for its touted 'urban renaissance.' The upward trend is a challenge to the cliche that there is no 'there' Downtown because it doesn't look like New York, Chicago or even Miami."

ArriveNet - REAL Software Brings Home DEMOgod Award from DEMO@15! Conference

ArriveNet - REAL Software Brings Home DEMOgod Award from DEMO@15! Conference:
"(PRWEB) February 22, 2005 -- REAL Software president and CEO Geoff Perlman was presented the award for REALbasic 2005, a cross-platform application development environment. For their demo, REAL Software created a web services client from scratch on Windows, then ran it on Linux and Mac OS X, all in less than three minutes. The otherwise quiet DEMO audience responded with an approving round of applause."

World Transhumanism Association - Aging IS an engineering problem

World Transhumanism Association - Aging IS an engineering problem:
"This morning I found out that the current issue of the magazine contains an even more disturbing editorial 'Against Transcendence' by Jason Pontin. The editorial shares with the article a complete lack of appreciation of scientific facts and the scientific method, and has even more hooliganish personal attacks against de Grey, e.g. 'he dresses like a shabby graduate student and affects Rip Van Winkle’s beard; he has no children; he has few interests outside the science of biogeron­tology; he drinks too much beer. Although he is only 41, the signs of decay are strongly marked on his face. His ideas are trollish, too'"

Wired News - DNA Tests Offer Clues to AIDS

Wired News - DNA Tests Offer Clues to AIDS:
"As medical officials debate whether an HIV 'superbug' is on the loose in the United States, researchers hope a massive number-crunching operation in British Columbia will lead them closer to one of the holy grails of AIDS research: a way to accurately predict how every patient will respond to drugs."

The Nation: Action Alert - Reject Bush's Agenda on Social Security

The Nation: Action Alert - Reject Bush's Agenda on Social Security:
"All in all, the Republican Party's attempt to hijack Social Security and shuffle its funds to big business is not only founded on a false premise (the 'crisis' in funding), it's also built on shaky projections and risky financing. Contact your representatives today and urge them to reject the President's plan to transform the Social Security system."

New York Post - Bloomberg Mess

New York Post - Bloomberg Mess:
"February 22, 2005 -- Bloomberg LP Chief Executive Officer Lex Fenwick, who has had the top job ever since Mayor Mike Bloomberg stepped away from the company to run for office four years ago, has apparently been stripped of some responsibilities in a major restructuring at the media giant."

USA TODAY - High-tech customer giveaways hot but can be pricey

USA TODAY - High-tech customer giveaways hot but can be pricey:
"High-tech giveaways are hot because they generate buzz. Cutting-edge electronic devices are popular, but they can be pricey. Giving them away can create more interest than traditional deals such as discounts. 'It's a new trend,' says United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski, who says the BlackBerry deal is the first of its kind for the airline industry. More than 70,000 United customers have signed up for the offer."

Life Extension - Enzyme Shown to Help Protect Genomic Stability; Findings May Provide Insights Into Aging, Cancer

Life Extension - Enzyme Shown to Help Protect Genomic Stability; Findings May Provide Insights Into Aging, Cancer:
"Genomic instability, particularly in the regions at the ends of the chromosomes known as telomeres, has been linked to aging in humans and an elevated risk for aging-related diseases, the most prominent of which is cancer. For this reason, insights into the mechanisms of gene silencing could provide important guideposts for new approaches to retarding aging or treating cancer."

Josh Rubin: Cool Hunting - Grime

Josh Rubin: Cool Hunting - Grime:
"Grime is a form of music that has stemmed out from UK Garage in the underground music scene in the UK. The quickly fired lyrics are overlaid on top of some intense beats. Most of the this music can't even be played on the radio due to the explicit lyrical content. Club nights featuring Grime are popping up in New York City and Philadelphia. Some of the top artists are: Lady Sovereign (shown here), Dizzee Rascal, and Wiley."

AdAge - Branded Entertainment Moguls Embrace New Technologies

AdAge - Branded Entertainment Moguls Embrace New Technologies:
"Everything from magazine content to video games will increasingly be delivered to consumers via wireless networks, panelists said. Mr. Frost, who previewed a new Motorola cell phone that acts like an iPod, said that bite-sized bits of content will become the new currency."

Audio Kingdom - Advertainment

Audio Kingdom - Advertainment:
"Ads and entertainment go hand-in-wallet in many other ways, some pretty strange. In music alone, we have all wondered about Bob Dylan's 'Love Sick' in Victoria's Secret commercials (not to mention Mr. D himself smirking between shots of the lovely bodies wearing the lingerie). But don't overlook Keith Richards in the 'Cover Girl' ad while 'Honky Tonk Women' plays, or Willie Nelson's 'Red Headed Stranger' in the Herbal Essence spot, or Iggy Pop's liquor/drug/sex-soaked 'Lust for Life' blasting throughout the Royal Caribbean commercials. (Love to work with the Account Executive who was able to sell that concept!) By contrast, Sting crooning from the back seat of a Jaguar seems a very model of demographic compatibility."

USA TODAY - Pop goes our culture

USA TODAY - Pop goes our culture:
"We're a complex bunch, capable of lifting Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ into box-office heaven ($370 million and counting) while also making a runaway hit out of ABC's tawdry Desperate Housewives"

Personal Tech Pipeline - Users Willing to Sacrifice Features For All-In-One Smart Phone

Personal Tech Pipeline - Users Willing to Sacrifice Features For All-In-One Smart Phone:
"Sales of smartphones will grow because those who prefer to carry a single mobile device instead of multiple devices are willing to put up with sacrifices, a survey released Thursday by JupiterResearch says."

CNN - Tools to ease Web collaboration

CNN - Tools to ease Web collaboration:
"A new crop of tools aims to help turn the Web -- be it on the public Internet or a company network -- into much more than a collection of documents one visits like a museum: Look, but don't touch."

Gear Live - Are Nanobots The Key To Immortality?

Gear Live - Are Nanobots The Key To Immortality?:
"It seems that author and scientist Ray Kurzweil believes that human immortality is a mere twenty years away. Rather than chasing the fountain of youth, however, Ray believes that nanobots are the secret ingredient needed to keep a person alive forever - barring a major accident. Nanobots are microscopic robots which are the size of a human blood cell. They swarm through the body repairing brain cells, bones, muscles, and arteries. In fact, Kurzweil believes that you can download programs to these nanobots which will then have them compensate for genes that may cause health problems. Sounds odd, I know - until you see that he is an extremely accomplished scientist and inventor."

Betterhumans - Gene Therapy Brings Dead Bone to Life

Betterhumans - Gene Therapy Brings Dead Bone to Life:
"Around dead bone, they found minimal expression of genes that create two key proteins in living bone, RANKL and VEGF.

Based on this discovery, they loaded the genes into a harmless virus, developed a way of freeze-drying a paste containing the virus and painted the paste onto bone grafts during surgery on mice."

Betterhumans - Engineered HIV Hunts Down Cancer

Betterhumans - Engineered HIV Hunts Down Cancer:
"A modified AIDS virus has been used to hunt down cancer cells in living mice, suggesting a new vehicle for targeting tumors with gene therapy.

'For the past 20 years, gene therapy has been hampered by the lack of a good carrier for therapeutic genes that can travel through the blood and aim itself at a precise location, thereby minimizing harmful side-effects,' says Irvin Chen, director of the AIDS Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles."

Agenda Inc. - Gas stations notch up coffee competition

Agenda Inc. - Gas stations notch up coffee competition:
"Drivers joke that they can't tell the coffee from the motor oil at U.S. gas stations, but Exxon Mobil Corp. is trying to change that perception.
Faced with stiff competition at the pump, the world's largest public oil company plans to keep drivers tanking up at its stations by appealing to America's taste for gourmet coffee -- with its own brand of brew."

Times Online - Shop where $1m is not enough

Times Online - Shop where $1m is not enough:
"The boutique is the latest and brashest symptom of Moscow’s new status as a playground for some of the richest and most extravagant people in the world. A rich list published by Finans magazine indicated last week that the number of Russian billionaires had risen from 25 to 39 over the past year, thanks to high oil and metal prices and a domestic consumer boom. Moscow has more billionaires than any city in the world, having overtaken New York last year."

CNN/Money - Starbucks partners with Jim Beam in coffee liqueur

CNN/Money - Starbucks partners with Jim Beam in coffee liqueur:
"NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Just in case you needed a little more pick-me-up in that caffeinated beverage, Starbucks Corp. announced Thursday that it is partnering with whisky maker Jim Beam to produce a coffee flavored liqueur."

Wired News - A Living Boob Job

Wired News - A Living Boob Job:
"Saline implants can leak, rupture, interfere with mammograms, and lose their shape. But scientists are studying ways to make breast augmentations from stem cells, which are famous for their self-renewing capabilities. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago will publish a study in the April issue of Tissue Engineering showing that stem-cell tissue implants in mice kept their shape longer than traditional implants."

Wired News - Embracing the Artificial Limb

Wired News - Embracing the Artificial Limb:
"This isn't a silly cyborg fantasy, but what a group of scientists from Brown University, MIT and the Providence VA Medical Center in Providence, Rhode Island, see as the future of artificial limbs -- a project they have funded through the next five years via a $7.2 million research grant and an additional amount to build an advanced rehabilitation facility from the Department of Veterans Affairs."

FMQB - Cell Phones Ready To Enter Radio's Space

FMQB - Cell Phones Ready To Enter Radio's Space:
"Yesterday, Motorola introduced iRadio, a new service that will allow Internet radio to reach mobile phones. The iRadio technology fine-tunes existing media-ready mobile phones and allows them to record select Internet streams (XM, Sirius anyone?) when connected to a personal computer."

eWeek - Intel Builds First Continuous Laser with Silicon

eWeek - Intel Builds First Continuous Laser with Silicon:
"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)—Researchers from Intel Corp. have created the first continuous laser beam using silicon components, a development the chip maker called a major scientific breakthrough that could herald significant advances in communications and medicine."

BizReport - Microsoft to Release New Internet Browser

BizReport - Microsoft to Release New Internet Browser:
"Microsoft Corp. will release a new version of Internet Explorer, the world's most popular Internet browsing software, with new, built-in security features, Chairman Bill Gates said on Tuesday."

The New York Times - Op-Ed Columnist: No Mullah Left Behind

The New York Times - Op-Ed Columnist: No Mullah Left Behind:
"This is a perfect example of the Bush energy policy at work, and the Bush energy policy is: 'No Mullah Left Behind.'"

Fortune - 10 Best Tech Companies to Work For

Fortune - 10 Best Tech Companies to Work For:
"High-tech can also mean high worker satisfaction. Both small and large companies made our top ten, from behemoth Microsoft, to tiny chip supplier Xilinx. Employees at Microsoft love the stock grants, health benefits, and the company's match of charitable donations, while workers at Xilinx are awarded stock options upon hire and a profit-sharing bonus."

USA Today - Missile defense system flunks another test

USA Today - Missile defense system flunks another test:
"WASHINGTON (AP) — A test of the national missile defense system failed Monday when an interceptor missile did not launch from its island base in the Pacific Ocean, the military said. It was the second failure in months for the experimental program."

The New York Times - Open-Source Practices for Biotechnology

The New York Times - Open-Source Practices for Biotechnology:
"Researchers from Australia will report in a scientific journal today that they have devised a method of creating genetically modified crops that does not infringe on patents held by big biotechnology companies."

Wired News - The Doctor Will See Your Prototype Now

Wired - The Doctor Will See Your Prototype Now:
"To Peter Hunter, the future of medicine looks like this: You visit your doctor after weeks of feeling fatigued and lethargic. She takes a blood sample, records your DNA profile, does a quick CT body scan, then uploads the raw data to a workstation. Within minutes, software stitches together a head-to-toe living, breathing digital reproduction of your innards, which the doc can poke and prod just like the real thing. Turns out you have lung cancer. Rather than focusing on one treatment, your physician can test various scenarios on your digital doppelgänger - surgery, radiation, chemotherapy - and watch how your system reacts. The cure is the simulation that doesn't kill the virtual you."

The Boston Globe - US denies patent for part-human hybrid

The Boston Globe - US denies patent for part-human hybrid:
"But in an age in which science is increasingly melding human and animal components for research -- already the government has allowed many patents on 'humanized' animals, including a mouse with a human immune system -- the decision leaves a crucial question unanswered: At what point is something too human to patent?"

The New York Times - Please Don't Call the Customers Dead

The New York Times - Please Don't Call the Customers Dead:
"THE live-in customers at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation here reside in eight 10-foot-high steel tanks filled with liquid nitrogen. They are incapable of breathing, thinking, walking, riding a bike or scratching an itch. But don't refer to them as deceased."

Wired News - Never Say Die: Live Forever

Wired News - Never Say Die: Live Forever:
"The famed inventor and computer scientist is serious about his health because if it fails him he might not live long enough to see humanity achieve immortality, a seismic development he predicts in his new book, is no more than 20 years away."

Wired News - Altered HIV Attacks Mice Tumors

Wired News - Altered HIV Attacks Mice Tumors:
"The research is a step forward for the beleaguered field of gene
therapy, which has enjoyed isolated successes and suffered repeated
setbacks over the past 20 years. But tinkering and fine tuning will be
the key to a successful gene therapy, UCLA researchers believe. They
published their study in the Feb. 13 issue of Nature Medicine."

MarketingVOX - China Closes Thousands of Internet Cafes

MarketingVOX - China Closes Thousands of Internet Cafes:
"After several stop-and-start attempts to control burgeoning internet cafes, China's clampdown that started last October managed to close more than 12,000 cyber cafes."

Stereogum - The Lost Boys

Stereogum - The Lost Boys:
"On tonight's 20/20, Corey Feldman talks to Martin Bashir about the 'inappropriate' relationship he had with Michael Jackson in the '80s (Jacko was a apparently a huuuuge Goonies fan)."

All of these sorts of things make me believe that the utopian society has no sex. All I mean is that everyone is without any kind of sex-drive. I heard a communist once argue this in some respect. He believed that the utopian society would edit out people's sex-drive by putting something in the water. If you keep up on your science news you'll know that he wasn't being that unreal. It's a very realistic option. Now what the hell would you do with a bunch of people who get no sex? I'll answer that by saying, WORK LIKE HELL. It is likely that love would probably be replaced by a passion for work or whatever you'd like to call it. What's the point of mentioning any of this? I'll say because people seem so interested in a person's sexuality these days. It's bloody degrading! Everyone has to want sex from something or they're considered FREAKY. Having sex with lots of women shouldn't be a factor, but it sure seems like it is these days in order to be considered a real man. The only real MAN I can think of is one who has honor, pride, good judgement, and can stand alone for what they believe in. I'm not a very religious person, so don't get that impression. My ideas are better related to that of Buddhists, Communists/Socialists, Futurists, and Transhumanists.

The Register - Verizon close to MCI deal

The Register - Verizon close to MCI deal:
"US telecoms giant Verizon Communications Inc. could be on the verge of buying MCI Inc., according to the Wall Street Journal. Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper reports that the two companies are nearing a deal although they have yet to finalise the acquisition price or the appointment of senior execs."

Infolink - Green is the colour for Melbourne apartments

Infolink - Green is the colour for Melbourne apartments:
"To be known as K2 Apartments, the development, at a former Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind site in Raleigh St, will consist of 96 modern apartments in four medium-rise buildings of four, five and eight storeys, linked by a unique green spine."

The Industry Standard - Skype coming to Wi-Fi, cell phones

The Industry Standard - Skype coming to Wi-Fi, cell phones:
"The phones use Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile 2003 software for Pocket PCs and have both GSM/GPRS (Global System for Mobile communications/General Packet Radio Service) and Wi-Fi wireless LAN capability. Carrier Devices also plans to put the Skype software in its i-mate JAM, a smaller version of the handset. With the Skype software, users can make calls over a broadband Internet connection through a Wi-Fi network, bypassing the provider of GSM/GPRS service."

Business Traveller - Shangri-La to take luxury to new heights

Business Traveller - Shangri-La to take luxury to new heights:
"Shangri-La is set to open its first Europe hotel in a London skyscraper.
The luxury Asian hotel chain will open its London property in 2009 occupying the upper floors of a mixed-use skyscraper in London Bridge. Dubbed the "Shard of Glass", the 303-metre tower will take the title of London's tallest building from One Canada Square in Canary Wharf and will dwarf Swiss Re's 180-metre tall headquarters, dubbed The Gherkin, which currently dominates the City skyline across the Thames."

Business Traveller - Unique Boutique

Business Traveller - Unique Boutique:
"Lavishly designed and brimming with gadgets, a new generation of boutique hotels has arrived in Paris. Nick Redman explores the hi-tech and high glamour of the stylish new 'urban resorts'."

Fight Aging! - Objections To Healthy Life Extension

Fight Aging! - Objections To Healthy Life Extension:
Extended longevity means extended healthy life span, not more years of increasing infirmity. You would never be old for longer - you would be healthy and in the prime of your life for longer. Hopefully for as long as you choose, if medical research proceeds rapidly enough.

Changing World

Guardian - Life beyond the city limits
Space Daily - Dispute Over Life In Antarctic Lake
CNN - Fashion's future is a 6-figure job
bizAZ - Urban Living: Hot or Hype?