By Joel Hruska
July 23, 2008 - 11:01PM CT

Intel launched its new embedded x86 system-on-a-chip (SoC) today, and in doing so, moved a small step closer toward eventually competing head-to-head with ARM. Formally, the new SoC platform is known as the Intel EP80579 Integrated Processor Family, but the project was code-named Tolapai, and that name trips off the tongue more readily.

Tolapai isn't just a new integrated SoC; it's Intel's first volley into a mobile and "embedded" market space that the company believes will grow enormously in the coming years. Unlike how ARM and other companies use the term, when Intel talks about "embedded systems," the company isn't just referring to point-of-sale terminals or industrial applications, but to a category of what it refers to as mobile Internet devices (MIDs).

The term MID, in Intel parlance, isn't just a reference to a form factor, but an expression of what a device is (or isn't) capable of. According to Doug Davis, vice president of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, MIDs should deliver the "actual" Internet experience. When asked to clarify, Davis stated that the word actual referred to "the ability to run the Internet applications that are typically developed for the IA architecture (i.e., Core 2 Duo, Centrino)."

From Intel's perspective, pushing x86 technology into such mobile Internet devices makes perfect sense. Non-x86 processors and system-on-chip (SoC) parts based on ARM, MIPS, and PowerPC architectures still hold a significant power consumption advantage over any hypothetical x86 SoC, but that once-insurmountable gap has narrowed recently by process shrinks and power optimizations.

July 24, 2008
By Elizabeth Montalbano

Microsoft has built its massive software business by watching other companies take the lead in emerging technology markets and then following fast with competitive products that eventually become dominant once those markets begin to pay out.

The company did it against IBM during the birth of the PC, Netscape during the browser wars, and is currently making a strong showing against Sony and Nintendo in the game-console market. However, Microsoft's inability so far to capitalize on online advertising and services and its inability to make any headway against Google shows that, despite its huge cash reserves, this strategy may no longer be effective.

On Wednesday in an unexpected move, Microsoft reorganized its Platform and Services division, which oversees its Online Services Business (OSB) and its lucrative Windows OS business, into two groups to separate its distinct online brands. It also announced the departure of the president of the group, Kevin Johnson, who is reportedly leaving the company to join Juniper Networks.

Both the new organizations -- one that oversees its online advertising and search properties and another that runs Windows Live services and Windows OS -- will report directly to Steve Ballmer. This move shows the CEO taking firm control of a part of Microsoft's business that has been searching for an identity since the company launched Windows Live services in late 2005 -- in part as a complement to its MSN and search businesses and in part as a rebranding of previous online efforts.

by Heather Clancy
July 23rd, 2008 @ 7:05 am

If you think about sheer performance-per-watt potential, it’s pretty hard to beat a supercomputer. So any company with gargantuan transaction processing needs might want to scout the latest Green500 list for insight.

This list was brought to my attention by SGI, which has 11 entries in the top 100 greenest systems: all of SGI’s entries are SGI Altix ICE models, those of the water-cooled door design that I wrote about a couple of months ago. SGI claims that the ICE supercomputers are, on average, 32.8 percent more energy-efficient than the typical system listed on the Green500 list.

Altix ICE is designed to remove up to 95 percent of the heat created by the computer. Among the installations for which it was recognized are Total Exploration Production, New Mexico Computer Applications Center and NASA Ames Research Center. IBM actually is the maker of the top-ranked system on the Green500. In fact, it looks as if it’s the maker of ALL of the top 10, which is a pretty big achievement.

by Rafe Needleman
July 23, 2008 3:59 PM PDT

Mark Zuckerberg today officially rolled out Facebook Connect, a way for apps not on the Facebook Platform to leverage the Facebook social network. It's an extremely powerful idea, and the demos we saw at the F8 conference were much more impressive than the MySpace Data Availability project that rolled out yesterday.

Facebook Connect allows other Web sites and apps to have their users log in, or authenticate, to the Facebook system, and once logged in, their social network comes with them. The reason it's a bigger deal than Data Availability is that it's two-way. Not only does your Facebook data come to you on the external site, but things you do on the site can be reflected back to your Facebook profile and news feed. Two examples:

Digg: Users on Digg will be able to connect their accounts to the Facebook profiles, and then when they digg a new item, that information will get fed to their Facebook feed, and presumably will be seen by all their Facebook friends. This is one of the best examples of an app exercising the "virtuous circle" of content and community that Zuckerberg discussed in his keynote today.

Movable Type: Facebook Connect will allow commenters on MovableType blogs to log in via Facebook authentication. Comments they leave will get posted to their news feed, which is somewhat cool. What I really like is that when a user posts a comment on a blog, they'll see which of the other people commenting on the item are in their social network.

By Nate Anderson
July 23, 2008 - 08:20PM CT

The small town of Monticello, Minnesota seems an unlikely spot for a battle over city-owned fiber-to-the-home. The town, which is a distant commute to Minneapolis, thought it could better attract residents and business by building its own fiber-optic network. After a couple years of due diligence, the town held a referendum; 74 percent of voters agreed to fund the $25 million scheme.

The city sought the needed municipal bonds, but the day before it closed on them, the local telco filed suit to stop the plan. Its claim: taking out bonds to build a fiber network is illegal. Bridgewater Telephone argues that the city cannot use tax-exempt bonds to "enter into direct competition with incumbent commercial providers of telephone, Internet, and cable television services."

The odd thing about the complaint, a copy of which was seen by Ars Technica, is that it makes almost no argument; instead, the company simply quotes a short bit of Minnesota law and essentially says, "See, it's illegal!" without offering an explanation. The statute in question says that cities can use bonds to fund nursing homes, garbage collection, parks, playgrounds, "homes for the aged," and more, including "any utility or other public convenience from which a revenue is or may be derived.

" If the judge finds that fiber-to-the-home is a "public convenience," the case seems to be over. "Current expenses" go back to the future - The only further comment that Bridgewater makes is that bond money cannot be used to pay for "current expenses," a clear sign from the state that towns cannot spend themselves into debt and just keep issuing bonds to pay for the mess.

Editors Note - AVG targeted this file as infected but no other anti-malware package in our testings did. Files of this type are often hit by false positives and we are certain the AVG hit is a false positive. if you have any concerns, do not download this file.

Process Lasso is a unique new technology intended to automatically restrain running processes that are consuming too many CPU cycles. Often times, processes that are 'out-of-control' can bring an NT system to a near halt. Once one or more processes have become CPU resource hogs, termination of the offending process(es) is very difficult since it is nearly impossible to even open the task manager. With Process Lasso, these processes are temporarily reduced in priority so that the system is returned to a responsive level. Process Lasso can even work when multiple processes are responsible for a decrease in system responsiveness.

This version is freeware, but a PRO version is available for $19.95 at the authors site.

Author: Bitsum Technologies
Date: 2008-07-23
Size: 446 KB
License: Freeware
Requires: Win 2K/03/XP/Vista

Publisher's Description:

PowerArchiver is an award-winning archive utility for the Windows family of products that provides support for most compressed and encoded files, as well as access to many powerful features and tools though an easy to use interface that seamlessly integrates with Windows Explorer. PowerArchiver natively supports ZIP, 7-ZIP, CAB, LHA (LZH), TAR, TAR.GZ, TAR.BZ2, BH, RAR, ARJ, ARC, ACE, ZOO, GZ, BZIP2, XXE, MIME, UUE and yENC file formats. An internal viewer displays TXT, RTF, and more than 18 image formats.

PowerArchiver creates and works with unlimited size ZIP archives with enhanced ZIP format speed and compression; a Password Manager stores your frequently used passwords; encrypts your archives using 5 different methods including 256-bit AES; backs up your work with PowerArchiver's Auto-Backup tool and FTP support; creates powerful CAB and ZIP self extracting (SFX) archives using a Wizard; a Batch ZIP tool compresses hundreds of files all at once; and a Multi-Extract tool can extract hundreds of archives instantly.

Latest Changes:

* First time in 7-Zip - Optimized compression that automatically selects best method between lzma and ppmd, for up to 40% smaller archive size
* Major 7-Zip improvements: delete, rename and update contents of 7zip files
* 7-Zip encryption - added support for 7-Zip encrypted file names (read/write)
* Faster startup time as much as 40% in certain situations
* Fixed Bug #651: open with MRU has icons for top 5 icons only
* Fixed Bug #649: cant read specific archive in explorer view
* Fixed Bug #638: when preview, change file via mouse does not work
* Fixed Bug #654: full and differential backups are not working properly
* Fixed Bug #659: backup: align timestamp text
* Fixed Bug #650: noop command for server timeouts
* Fixed Bug #660: Add folders in SFX Wizards does not work
* Fixed Bug #619: PA does not show error if no permissions to write to ftp
* Fixed Bug #661: drag and drop inside unicode 7zip archive does not work
* Fixed Bug #655: crash after web update, especially under Vista x64
* Fixed Bug #594: backup does not detect if there is no burner on computer

Released: July 23, 2008
Publisher: ConeXware, Inc.
License: Shareware; $19.95 to buy
OS Support: Windows (All)
Uninstaller?: Yes
Skin Support?: Yes; Supports XP Themes

Smart System Informer is a free tool that collects information on installed hardware and software. Specific information includes computer ID, processor, BIOS, memory, disks, video, motherboard, monitor, etc. This information is shown as number and graphical views - you may easily evaluate your computer´s performance, and save the received data as a text file.

Author: Smart PC Solutions, Inc.
Date: 2008-07-23
Size: 680 KB
License: Freeware
Requires: Win 2K/03/XP/Vista

Publisher's Description:

Vista Control Panel emulates the Vista control panel. All the links go to existing XP control panels and fully works. Just something to complete your VistaXp machine.

Released: February 25, 2008
Publisher: Element Software
License: Freeware
OS Support: Windows 2000/XP
Uninstaller?: No

POP Peeper is an email notifier that runs in your Windows task bar and alerts you when you have new email on any of your POP3, Hotmail, MSN, Yahoo, Mail.com, MyWay, Excite, Lycos.com, or RediffMail accounts. Send mail using your SMTP server or through your webmail account directly from POP Peeper. It supports HTML email, so you can see your email the same way as you would in your email client. Several options are available that will decrease or eliminate the risks of reading your email (viruses, javascript, webbugs, etc). If you share your computer, you can password-protect your accounts or password-protect access to POP Peeper.

Author: Mortal Universe Software
Date: 2008-07-22
Size: 1.01 MB
License: Freeware
Requires: Win All

by Zack Whittaker
July 23rd, 2008 @ 5:37 am

Oh the fun. Once again, another police website has been hacked by a student, showing that even the police aren’t safe from all crimes. This is another link in the long chain of attacks over the years from egotistical teenagers trying to get a kick out of life without sticking a needle in their arm.

Bedfordshire Police had their website hacked and defaced, replacing the content with Arabic and an animation of a man carrying a Tunisian flag. The perpetrator of the attack is known to be a 17 year old US student by the name of Arfaoui Firas, and a site snapshot shows the website after it was defaced. This comes as the news of the website being brought back from the ashes has finally gone live again.

A spokesperson for Bedfordshire Police said, according to the BBC: “The website is hosted externally, away from all other police systems so no personal or confidential data could have been obtained. Bedfordshire Police take security extremely seriously, which is why the website is hosted independently and outside all other IT systems.”

Let’s throw in some background material here. Police forces around the country and around the world have databases packed with information about crimes, people and citizens, drivers licence details, things like that. To then have a website on the same network or server as the rest of these secure databases would be a huge security risk; which is why they don’t.

By Robert McMillan
July 23, 2008

One day after a security company accidentally posted details of a serious flaw in the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS), hackers are saying that software that exploits this flaw is sure to pop up soon.

Several hackers are almost certainly already developing attack code for the bug, and it will most likely crop up within the next few days, said Dave Aitel, chief technology officer at security vendor Immunity. His company will eventually develop sample code for its Canvas security testing software too, a task he expects to take about a day, given the simplicity of the attack. "It's not that hard," he said. "You're not looking at a DNA-cracking effort."

The author of one widely used hacking tool said he expected to have an exploit by the end of the day Tuesday. In a telephone interview, HD Moore, author of the Metasploit penetration testing software, agreed with Aitel that the attack code was not going to be difficult to write. The flaw, a variation on what's known as a cache poisoning attack, was announced on July 8 by IOActive researcher Dan Kaminsky, who planned to disclose full details of the bug during an Aug. 6 presentation at the Black Hat conference.

That plan was thwarted Monday, when someone at Matasano accidentally posted details of the flaw ahead of schedule. Matasano quickly removed the post and apologized for its mistake, but it was too late. Details of the flaw soon spread around the Internet. And that's bad news, according to Paul Vixie, president of the company that is the dominant maker of DNS software, the Internet Systems Consortium.

By Joel Hruska
July 22, 2008 - 09:40PM CT

ICANN has unanimously approved a request by the Public Interest Registry (which handles .org domains) to become the first generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) to switch to the DNS security protocol DNSSEC.

As part of the agreement, PIR will trailblaze DNSSEC, while simultaneously developing an education and adoption plan that can later be disseminated across the Internet's infrastructure, PIR's use of DNSSEC is a significant step forward, but a mixture of contentious political and technological issues have slowed the worldwide development and deployment process.

DNSSEC is intended to fix fundamental flaws in the original DNS protocol that leave it vulnerable to several different attack vectors, including cache poisoning. This is accomplished in part through the use of digital signatures. By using such signatures, the DNS resolver can check to see if information it is receiving is actually from the appropriate address; the digital signatures effectively act as a password (the analogy is not exact).

The DNS flaws themselves aren't anything new—they were discovered back in 1990—but the solution to the problem has been no less than eleven years in the making, putting the length of its development cycle almost on par with Duke Nukem Forever. DNSSEC development lasted from January 1997 to the present day, or roughly 11 years and six months.

July 22, 2008
By Robert McMillan

Convicted penny-stock spammer Eddie Davidson walked away from a federal minimum-security prison camp in Colorado on Sunday, the U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday. Davidson, 35, had been serving 21 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to criminal spam charges in December.

He is now considered an escapee and is being pursued by U.S. marshals, with help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and local police. He earned millions of dollars between 2003 and 2006 by operating a spamming operation, called Power Promoters, out of his home. He would change the header information in his messages to make it appear as if they had come from legitimate companies such as AOL and then send them out to hundreds of thousands of addresses.

Davidson sent the messages on behalf of an unnamed Houston company, court filings state. He was asked to promote about 19 penny-stock companies, including one called Advanced Power Line Technologies in 2006 and 2007. He would earn fees based on the trading volume of the stocks he was promoting. The business was lucrative: The Houston company paid Davidson about $1.4 million for his services, court documents state.

Between 2003 and 2006, when his primary source of income was spam, bank account deposits into Davidson's account totalled about $3.5 million. Davidson, of Bennett, Colorado, had been incarcerated at the Florence Federal Correctional Complex, about 45 miles south of Colorado Springs

by Ryan Naraine
July 21st, 2008 @ 2:12 pm

[ UPDATE: Kaminsky has all but confirmed that, yes, the cat is out of the bag ] It looks very much like the nitty gritty of Dan Kaminsky’s super-secret — and heavily hyped — DNS cache poisoning vulnerability has been figured out by reverse engineering guru Halvar Flake.

Clearly irked by a demand request from Kaminsky and others to avoid speculating on the details of the flaw until the patch is fully deployed, Flake (left) published a reliable method to forge and poison DNS lookups. Flake, CEO and head of research at Sabre Security, said his speculation was driven by the need to discuss the vulnerability in public instead of a one-month embargo that culminates with Kaminsky’s presentation at the upcoming Black Hat conference.

“In a strange way, if nobody speculates publicly, we are pulling wool over the eyes of the general public, and ourselves,” Flake argued, before posting the following hypothesis: Mallory wants to poison DNS lookups on server ns.polya.com for the domain www.gmx.net. The nameserver for gmx.net is ns.gmx.net. Mallory’s IP is 244.244.244.244. Mallory begins to send bogus requests for www.ulam00001.com, www.ulam00002.com … to ns.polya.com.

ns.polya.com doesn’t have these requests cached, so it asks a root server “where can I find the .com NS?” It then receives a referral to the .com NS. It asks the nameserver for .com where to find the nameserver for ulam00001.com, ulam00002.com etc. Mallory spoofs referrals claiming to come from the .com nameserver to ns.polya.com. In these referrals, it says that the nameserver responsible for ulamYYYYY.com is a server called ns.gmx.net and that this server is located at 244.244.244.244. Also, the time to live of this referral is … long …....

By Nate Anderson
July 22, 2008 - 12:06PM CT

Now that the EU plan to retroactively add 45 years of copyright protection to old sound recordings looks set to keep the work of the 50s and 60s locked up for another half century, resistance is solidifying. Yesterday, a group of independent academics from across Western Europe signed a letter to the Times arguing that the new plan would only pad the pockets of "record companies, aging rock stars or, increasingly, artists' estates.

It does nothing for innovation and creativity." And that's one of the more pleasant things being said about the idea. The academics are all experts in intellectual property or copyright law, and they trash the EU's assertion that no outside expertise was needed before formulating the plan. That's ludicrous, say the learned doctors, since the data filed with the EU came in large part from the recording industry.

Not surprisingly, the data showed that prices wouldn't rise, that artists would make more money, and "that the record industry will invest in discovering new talents, as if exclusive rights for 50 years had not provided an opportunity to earn returns." The professors questioned these assertions. They point out that independent outside evidence against the plan already exists major forms like the UK's Gowers review of intellectual property, but the EU seems to have ignored much of this in favor of Big Content's far-reaching claims.

If the goal is to make sure that artists have enough money to live on, the solution shouldn't be extending copyright but going after "unreasonably exploitative contracts during the existing term" and taking a look at "remuneration during the performer’s lifetime, not 95 years." The UK's Open Rights Group has some strong words of its own for the plan, which it sees as more of a rights grab than an attempt to help poverty-stricken musicians.

by Greg Sandoval
July 21, 2008 12:14 PM PDT

Hollywood can celebrate that pirated copies of this year's hit films aren't showing up on major Internet sites. Too bad for the studios' enforcement efforts that some can still be found on smaller sites. At the same time that the new Batman film, The Dark Knight, was drawing record audiences (the movie is estimated to have earned more than $155 million over the weekend), several copies of the film was available online.

A half hour after returning home from watching the film on Saturday night, I got home to find my colleague, Elinor Mills, has sent me a link that apparently originated at VideoEmbedder.com. Sure enough, a grainy and dark copy of the hit film was available for viewing and for download. It was still up on Sunday but could not be accessed on Monday. Finding newly released movies is nothing new. In the past, it was easy to find them at Google Video and other video-sharing sites.

Michael Moore's documentary, Sicko, was posted to the Web even before it had debuted in theaters. Following the appearance of Sicko on the Web, some argued that movies posted to the Internet can help boost interest in a film. Back then, Google Video was loaded with full-length films and TV shows. The site is now focused more on shorter videos even while there is no limit on duration.

What this illustrates is the coming storm bearing down on the film industry. The size of movie files used to be too large to allow them to be streamed or downloaded easily. That's changing rapidly. The time to download big movie files is speeding up and streaming technology has also improved. The simple fact is it's getting easier to share movie files.

By Nate Anderson
July 18, 2008 - 06:00AM CT

Dutch academic Dr. Johan Pouwelse knows BitTorrent well, having spent a year of his life examining its inner workings. Now, as part of the EU-funded P2P-Next team, Pouwelse and his researchers have been entrusted with €19 million, and what the EU wants in return is nothing less than a "4th-generation" peer-to-peer system that will one day be tasked with replacing over-the-air television broadcasts.

P2P-Next is the largest publicly-funded team in the world working on such technology (though plenty of researchers at Microsoft, IBM, and countless tiny startups are also racing to deliver a better P2P experience), and today the team launched a trial program designed to test its progress to date. What sets the project apart from the traditional BitTorrent architecture is its focus not on downloadable video, but on live streaming.

Current BitTorrent implementations, focused as they are on offering easy access to downloadable content, aren't well suited to delivering live streaming TV across the Internet, but Pouwelse is convinced that this is the future. There's "no doubt that TV will come through the Internet in a few years," he told Ars earlier this week. Obviously, deployment of such a system depends on consumer electronics firms and broadcasters, but Pouwelse's job is to make sure that the technology is ready when they are.

Currently, streaming solutions like YouTube and Hulu are generally based on a server model; this doesn't scale well without inflicting massive bandwidth costs on the broadcaster. Downloadable video, already being experimented with by the BBC and NBC, can use P2P for distribution, but is only suited to after-the-fact viewing.

by Garett Rogers
June 29th, 2008 @ 11:27 pm

It’s unknown what kind of money was involved in the deal, but Google has teamed up with the creator of Family Guy to create two minute episodes of a new cartoon called “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy”.

MacFarlane will take a percentage of the profit made by advertising that accompanies the 50 two minute episodes that he plans to distribute only on the internet. The cartoon is to be distributed on the AdSense network, though I’m not completely sure how successful this will end up being.

I am guessing that Google will eventually provide a library of content that people can host on their websites — “Cavalcade” is just the beginning. The viewers, if they click on embedded advertisements in the video, will help the website owner, and content creators, generate revenue.

I guess if the content is entertaining enough, people will watch — but for the same reason Google is having trouble monetizing YouTube, I fear this won’t be a huge success either. According to the New York Times, this deal between Google and MacFarlane is one of the largest ever for AdSense.

by Greg Sandoval
June 20, 2008 11:31 AM PDT

news analysis Netflix, don't take half steps with your digital-delivery service. Give your users what they want, and what they want is the latest hit movies. CEO Reed Hastings and his management team have hit a home run--or at least a solid run-scoring triple--by partnering with Roku, the company behind the Netflix Player.

The $100 device enables customers to stream movies from the Web to their TVs. Most reviewers have applauded the device for its low cost, easy setup, and viewing quality (a good Internet connection means no stalling or long download delays). But a month after the Netflix Player went on sale, I haven't read a single review that hasn't deducted points for the lack of films available with Netflix's streaming service. It's the biggest complaint from device owners I've spoken with.

Mr. Hastings, you've done a good job by setting up your "Watch Now" streaming service with 10,000 catalog titles, but you need to go further. Let customers purchase new releases on a per-video basis if they want. Some might resent being asked to pay in addition to their monthly subscriber fees, but if you explain that Hollywood charges more for new releases, your customers will understand. Give us choice.

"Why would anyone feel alienated by this?" said Michael Pachter, a financial analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities. "You can't get a better deal elsewhere. Netflix would be essentially giving you Apple TV without charging you for the Apple box." This is an important comparison because Apple has already begun offering new releases for rent via iTunes.

July 23, 2008

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Hurricane Dolly slammed into the South Texas coast Wednesday with punishing rain and winds of 100 mph, blowing down signs, peeling off roofs and knocking out power to thousands before weakening over land.

Most of the destruction was on South Padre Island, a beach resort town on a barrier island off the Texas coast where the the storm came ashore as a Category 2 storm. Numerous roofs were ripped off and windows were smashed. The roadways and yards were strewn with trees, fences, power poles and fallen streetlights. Business signs rolled around on the streets like tumbleweeds. The causeway linking the island to the mainland was closed.

But local officials' greatest fear — that the levees holding back the Rio Grande would fail and cause massive flooding — eased when Dolly meandered 35 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border just before coming ashore. About two hours later, Dolly's winds slowed to 95 mph, and the storm was downgraded to a Category 1. "The levees are holding up just fine," said Cameron County Emergency Management Coordinator Johnny Cavazos.

"There is no indication right now that they are going to crest." The storm defied forecasts that it would swarm the mouth of the Rio Grande, pushing its current upstream and causing massive flooding on both sides of the border. But "it's still very early in the storm," cautioned Sally Spener, a spokeswoman with the International Boundary and Water Commission.

July 23, 2008

There was a time when brands like Evian and Perrier conjured up images of purity and luxury. That was before bottlers everywhere got their feet wet, and drinking bottled water became a very easy and healthy way to stay hydrated and refreshed. But now there is a growing backlash against bottled water.

Thanks to a growing green movement, phasing out water bottles — seen as the ultimate symbol of conspicuous consumption — has become the latest fad. Sales of reusable eco-friendly bottles like Sigg or Voss Water have surged. Green-minded Web sites list locations of municipal water fill-up stations. And cities like Chicago have added an extra tax to bottled water to discourage its purchase.

Some critics of bottled water cite concerns over the environmental waste of discarded bottles; others point out that municipal water systems were delivering excellent water long before plastic became all the rage. The latest volley in the war against bottles comes from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which voted last month to ban bottled water from City Halls across the country, except in emergencies.

From San Francisco, Calif., to Fayetteville, N.C., governments have barred water bottles from official events and even scrubbed them from government cafeterias and vending machines. So does bottled water deserve the bad rap it’s getting? Tara Gidus, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, says people might not drink as much water when they’re on the go if they can’t reach for a bottle.

July 09, 2008

A man scaled a portion of The New York Times' 52-story headquarters on Wednesday morning, becoming the third person to do so in a span of a few weeks, police said. The climber made it to the 11th floor of the building in midtown Manhattan before descending to a lower floor and spending hours making cell phone calls and talking to police. He was arrested about 5:30 a.m., police said.

At one point, the climber unfurled a banner on the "T" of the Times' sign that referenced Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden, the Times reported on its Web site Wednesday. Dozens of police and firefighters responded about 1:30 a.m. after the man was first spotted climbing the building, police said. Streets were closed off and an inflatable cushion was placed in front of the main entrance of the building.

The Daily News reported on its Web site Wednesday that it had received a call from a man identifying himself as the climber who said he was a 29-year-old college dropout from Connecticut. Police did not immediately confirm those reports. A spokeswoman for the Times, Catherine Mathis, said modifications were made to the building and additional security was added after two climbers managed to scale the building June 5.

Both made it to the top and were charged with reckless endangerment, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. The facade of the newly constructed building, which the Times moved into only last year, is covered with slats that allowed the men to climb the tower like a ladder. Mathis said the company was investigating how the most recent climber was able to overcome the additional obstacles.

July 08, 2008

Global warming is shrinking glaciers all over the world, but the seven tongues of ice creeping down Mount Shasta's flanks are a rare exception: They are the only known glaciers in the continental U.S. that are growing. Reaching more than 14,000 feet above sea level, Mount Shasta is one of the state's tallest peaks, dominating the landscape of high plains and conifer forests in far Northern California.

Nearby Indian tribes referred to its glaciers as the footsteps made by the creator when he descended to Earth. Hikers flock to Shasta's peak every summer to scale them. With glaciers retreating in the Sierra Nevada, the Rocky Mountains and elsewhere in the Cascades, Mount Shasta — the southernmost volcano in the Cascade range — is actually benefiting from changing weather patterns over the Pacific Ocean.

"When people look at glaciers around the world, the majority of them are shrinking," said Slawek Tulaczyk, an assistant professor of earth sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who led a team studying Shasta's glaciers. "These glaciers seem to be benefiting from the warming ocean." Climate change has cut the number of glaciers at Montana's Glacier National Park from 150 to 26 since 1850, and some scientists project there will be none left within a generation.

Lonnie Thompson, a glacier expert at Ohio State University, has projected the storied snows at Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro might disappear by 2015. But for Shasta, about 270 miles north of San Francisco, scientists say a warming Pacific Ocean means more moist air. On the mountain, precipitation falls as snow, adding to the glaciers enough to overcome a 1.8 degree Fahrenheit rise in temperature in the last century, scientists say.

By Ryan Paul
July 08, 2008 - 08:55AM CT

Linux filesystem developer Hans Reiser revealed the location of his wife's body to law enforcement officials yesterday. Reiser, who is a well-known figure in the open source software community, was found guilty of murdering his estranged wife, Nina Reiser, in a trial that concluded in April.

Nina Reiser disappeared in 2006 while she was involved in a bitter divorce dispute with Hans over his failure to provide child-care payments. He was arrested and charged with murder after police conducted an extensive investigation that included 24-hour covert surveillance.

Reiser vigorously denied responsibility for the murder during the ensuing trial. But the prosecution presented several key pieces of evidence, including a sleeping bag cover stained with Nina's blood, which was found in Hans Reiser's vehicle with books about murder investigations. The car was found with the passenger seat removed and an inch of standing water on the floor.

When Reiser took the stand in his own defense, his implausible claims and erratic behavior in the courtroom largely undermined his efforts to convince the jury that he was innocent. The location of the body was unknown during the trial, so Reiser repeatedly claimed that Nina had absconded with money from his company and had gone back to her home in Russia.