Technobriefs

by Craig Reynolds

Web 2.0 bubble: its the irrational exuberance of the dot-com bubble all over again: Facebook Worth WHAT? "If Yahoo! pays $1 billion for Facebook, we should all be very, very afraid. Or all start social networking sites." $1 Billion for Facebook? LOL! "Facebook's 9.5 million users may be worth six to eight times what News Corp. paid for MySpace's 30 million users last summer... News Corp. paid about $19.33 per user... Sony had purchased video-sharing site Grouper for $65 million, or $70 per user." Mark Cuban says Only a "moron" would buy YouTube. I guess the mergers and acquisitions people are gonna party like its 1999, until it all collapses again.

More on e-vote problems: Avi Rubin's Brave New Ballot fears for democracy, Who's Counting: Hacking Diebold Voting Machines, The Big Gamble on Electronic Voting, Officials Wary of Electronic Voting Machines, Vote check-in glitch is declared fixed (we'll see!), ACM Security Experts Urge Paper Trails for Electronic Voting.

Eco tech: there is good news: Google to Push for More Electrical Efficiency in PC’s current power supply designs date from the 1980's. Honda unveils diesel system to rival gasoline cars: again, ammonia is the "wonder drug" (see last week's item): "Honda... generates and stores ammonia within a two-layer catalytic converter to turn nitrogen oxide into harmless nitrogen..." Ultracapacitor to the rescue: Gentlemen, stop your engines "EEStor's new automotive power source could eliminate the need for the combustion engine - and for oil" (via 500 Miles on a 5-Minute Recharge?). And there is bad news: A Primeval Tide of Toxins "Runoff from modern life is feeding an explosion of primitive organisms. This 'rise of slime,' as one scientist calls it, is killing larger species and sickening people" (via Joel). Not only is the world the warmest it has been for 12,000 years, it is within 1 degree of the warmest it has been in the past one 1,000,000 years. But don't worry, the Wall Street Journal says its OK, and they know more about it than the climatologists.

Continuing train wreck of laptop battery recalls: the same manufacturing flaw leads to more recalls: Sony battery woes deepen on more PC maker recalls, Dell increases number of recalled batteries and Lenovo, IBM recall 526,000 notebook batteries. Elsewhere in battery tech: Engine on a chip promises to best the battery and Search for a better battery keeps going and going.

Flying robot swarms: MIT's intelligent aircraft fly, cooperate autonomously and UAV SWARM Health Management Project Website (via).

She shells see cells: dispatches from the fringes of cell phone technology. What happens when you throw them away?: Cellphones' second lives are varied and useful. Remote deactivation: Screaming cell phones plan to cut down theft. Making music: A Symphony for Cell Phones, this was tried back in 2001: Dialtones (A Telesysphony).

Technobits: Taking passwords to the grave --- Calif. cable-TV market opened to phone companies --- Folding@home for GPUs --- First pictures of Virgin Galactic SpaceShip2 tourist spacecraft interior (more, more) --- space elevator precursor --- Woz speaks: Co-founder tells his side of Apple story --- 'Disappearing' lakes may dot Titan --- Dino-Era Bird Flew With Four Wings, Study Says --- and now for something completely different: an elephant painted to match the wall paper (more).