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Over-the-counter Viagra bid ends

allvoices / contributed news — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:42:30 -0600

The makers of the anti-impotence drug Viagra have withdrawn an application for the medicine to be available without a prescription.

Pfizer took the decision after concerns were raised by European regulators about supply.

A European Medicines Agency committee said there would be too little medical oversight - meaning related problems like heart disease could be missed.

Around 35 million men have taken Viagra globally since its launch a decade ago.

If the drug is available without prescription, there is no medical supervision which could delay diagnosis of underlying disease

European Medicines Agency spokeswoman

Pfizer had wanted to make 50mg tablets available over-the-counter.

It said the move would help those men too embarrassed to seek help from their doctor.

A spokesman said: "A lot of men don't go to the doctor or talk about their condition.

"By offering it via a pharmacy, it would offer them another option."

He said it could also help prevent men buying over the internet and potentially taking fake, and even dangerous, pills.

Potential 'misuse'

But the EMEA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), had major concerns over making Viagra available over-the-counter.

A spokeswoman said: "If the drug is available without prescription, there is no medical supervision which could delay diagnosis of underlying disease.

"The CHMP was particularly worried about the diagnosis of overt and silent cardiovascular disease, of which ED can be an early marker."

She said there had also been concerns over complicated product information, which could lead men to "unintentional misuse".

"In addition, a switch to being an over-the-counter medicine could lead to an increase in people who are not intended users taking Viagra recreationally."

Gmail Releases Themes feature

allvoices / contributed news — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:32:08 -0600

After Orkut its Gmail which is undergoing a change...Themes...There was much talk about google having this themes in gmail.Gmail has the launch of its all new feature - "Gmail Themes". You can have a look at it by simply entering into the ‘Theme’ tab in ’settings’ area. But, as customary, Google have started rolling out this feature phase wise, and this feature is not yet available for all users. I am lucky enough to have got this feature on the first day of its launch :)..

I was completely speechless on my first glance on the color customization options of my inbox. For those whom this feature is not yet available here’s a quick look on it

As pointed out on the image below you can set your current location so that the themes related to weather can change according to your local weather. It happened to be evening here in HYD so i guess the theme is showing dark sky..lets see if it changes in the morning :D....by the way the theme is named PLANETS

Also, Gmail have slightly modified the default theme, here’s a look of it as well which revamps your inbox just like a notepad. Here is a screen shot of it

There are totally 30 themes that have been released as of now so start experimenting :)

Astronauts vow remaining tool bag won't drift away

allvoices / contributed news — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:18:01 -0600

By MIKE SCHNEIDER – 49 minutes ago

HOUSTON (AP) — Astronauts vowed to double-check, even triple-check, to make sure a bag of tools is properly tied down during a spacewalk Thursday so it doesn't float away like one did earlier this week.

"We're definitely not going to do it again. You're not going to see us lose another bag," lead spacewalker Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper said in an interview from the international space station with The Associated Press.

During the two-week mission's first spacewalk Tuesday, the tool tote floated out of a larger bag as Stefanyshyn-Piper cleaned grease from a leaking grease gun. Tethered to the lost briefcase-sized bag were a pair of grease guns used to lubricate a jammed joint that controls the space station's rotating solar wing. The bag was one of the largest items ever lost by a spacewalking astronaut, and NASA guessed it cost about $100,000.

The mishap left Stefanyshyn-Piper and her fellow spacewalkers, Stephen Bowen and Robert "Shane" Kimbrough, with only a single pair of grease guns for three more spacewalks.

"We're going to double- and triple-check everything from here on out," Stefanyshyn-Piper said.

Thursday's spacewalk is almost identical to the earlier one, except Stefanyshyn-Piper will have Kimbrough as a partner instead of Bowen. The spacewalkers, some 220 miles above Earth, plan to clean and lubricate the troublesome joint. They also plan to relocate a railcar used on the space station's exterior rail track and lubricate the end of the station's robotic arm.

Some changes were made to the spacewalk plans because of the missing grease guns.

The remaining pair of grease guns will be tethered to a larger bag so they won't leak on other equipment. A dry wipe will be wrapped around the grease guns to catch any leaks. Finally, Stefanyshyn-Piper will use a prelubricated wipe to clean the metal shavings instead of a grease gun, so she and Kimbrough don't have to share as much.

"You've got to remember, we are working with humans here and we are prone to human error," said flight director Ginger Kerrick. "So we do the best we can and we learn from our mistakes."

Once safely back inside the space station, the spacewalkers were to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the space station along with the five other Endeavour astronauts and the station's three crew mates.

The astronauts also wanted to run the first test on a newly delivered contraption that converts urine and sweat into drinkable water. Astronauts spent a good part of the day Wednesday hooking it up. The urine converter was delivered by Endeavour, along with other equipment, and will help turn the space station into a home for six crew members next year instead of the current three residents.

On the Net:

NASA: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov

Can humans and aliens co-exist in another planet?

allvoices / contributed news — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:05:08 -0600

There is good news for scientists looking for a habitable planet to accommodate Earth's burgeoning population. According to a report in www.newscientist.com, many planets dismissed by astronomers as inhospitable may be reconsidered now as scientists realise that the pre-conditions for the existence of life may vary from planet to planet.

In a case of fact being stranger than fiction, scientists have discovered that water and life might exist in planets hitherto considered inhabitable. This one again throws open the age-old debate of whether aliens actually exist in the millions of planets in the universe, and if humans will be able to co-exist with them in conditions different from Earth.

Topping the wish-list of space scientists across the globe is the search for a planet that supports life, which has been going on for years.

Scientists have traditionally been looking for a plant in the 'Goldilocks zone' -- a plant at just the right distance from the sun, so that surface water remains liquid rather than being frozen solid or vapourising into gas, states the report.

But new findings have revealed that various other factors contribute in making a planet habitable. These include a planet's mass, atmosphere, composition and the way it orbits its nearest star, says the report. All or most of these factors together can keep surface water liquid, which gives rise to the speculation that there might be other forms of life out there in planets where the existence of life was not considered possible.

The findings have also forced scientists to consider the possibility of the existence of extraordinary forms of life in otherwise unlivable conditions. Independence Day-type aliens, swimming around in lakes of liquid chemicals in a frozen planet, may not be such a far-fetched scenario after all, scientists admit reluctantly in the report.

Photograph: NASA [Images]

US teen lives 118 days WITHOUT heart

allvoices / contributed news — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:47:58 -0600

An American teen-ager survived for nearly four months without a heart, kept alive by a custom-built artificial blood-pumping device, until she was able to have a heart transplant, doctors in Miami said on Wednesday.

The doctors said they knew of another case in which an adult had been kept alive in Germany for nine months without a heart but said they believed this was the first time a child had survived in this manner for so long.

The patient, D'Zhana Simmons of South Carolina, said the experience of living for so long with a machine pumping her blood was "scary."

"You never knew when it would malfunction," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, at a news conference at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center.

"It was like I was a fake person, like I didn't really exist. I was just here," she said of living without a heart.

Simmons, 14, suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the patient's heart becomes weakened and enlarged and does not pump blood efficiently.

She had a heart transplant on July 2 at Miami's Holtz Children's Hospital but the new heart failed to function properly and was quickly removed.

Two heart pumps made by Thoratec Corp (THOR.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) of Pleasanton, California, were implanted to keep her blood flowing while she fought a host of ailments and recovered her strength. Doctors implanted another heart on Oct. 29.

"She essentially lived for 118 days without a heart, with her circulation supported only by the two blood pumps," said Dr. Marco Ricci, the hospital's director of pediatric cardiac surgery During that time, Simmons was mobile but remained hospitalized.

When an artificial heart is used to sustain a patient, the patient's own heart is usually left in the body, doctors said.

In some cases, adult patients have been kept alive that way for more than a year, they said.

"This, we believe, is the first pediatric patient who has received such a device in this configuration without the heart, and possibly one of the youngest that has ... been bridged to transplantation without her native heart," Ricci said.

Simmons also suffered renal failure and had a kidney transplant the day after the second heart transplant.

Ricci said her prognosis was good. But doctors said there is a 50 percent chance that a heart transplant patient will need a new heart 12 or 13 years after the first surgery. (Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Scientific Blunder has put Credibility of Global Warming Alarm in Jeopardy!

allvoices / contributed news — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:01:56 -0600

This is probably the worst gaffe of its kind by any scientific organization that has been massively alarming and warning the world about the outcomes of environmental deterioration, spreading all the hue and cry on the credibility of their sacred data. Last week this surreal blunder pasted a huge question mark on the temperature records that essentially reinforce the worldwide alarm over global warming.

NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) which is run by Al Gore’s chief scientific ally, Dr. James Hansen announced on Monday, that last month was the hottest October on record. GISS is one of the four bodies that are responsible for monitoring global temperatures. This was shocking as the weather reports from across the world were telling an entirely different story for the same month – October.

All around the world, from the American Great Plains to China and from Alps to New Zealand there were reports of unseasonal snow falls and plummeting temperatures in the last month. In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snow fall records and 115 lowest temperatures ever for the month. It further ranked this year’s October as only the 70^th warmest October in 114 years. China’s official news agency also reported that Tibet had suffered its “worst snowstorm ever”.

If temperatures had plummeted so much last month all across the world then how come this weird anomaly appeared in the GISS temperature records? According to the GISS temperature readings, a large part of Russia had been 10 degrees higher than normal. This reading was proved wrong when expert readers of two warming-skeptic blogs, “What Up With That” and “Climate Audit”, began detailed analysis on the GISS data. They found out that the reason for those freak figures for the last month was that those figures were not based on October’s temperature at all. In fact figures from the previous month had been carried over and repeated for two months running.

When this error was reported on two blogs run by US meteorologists, Anthony Watts and Steve Mclntyre, GISS began revising its data. The situation got only worse for them when to compensate for the high temperature record in Russia, GISS claimed to have found a “hotspot” in Arctic. Unfortunately their new found hypothetical “hotspot” in Arctic was claimed to have appeared in the month when satellite images were showing Arctic sea-ice recovering so fast from its summer melt that only three weeks ago it was 30 percent more extensive than at the same time last year.

A GISS spokesman lamely explained that the reason for such anomaly was that the data was acquired from other source and they did not have the authority to run a quality check on the data. This is even strange as the figures form Dr. Hansen’s Institute are not only one of the four data sets UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) relies on to promote its case for alarm over global warming but these figures are most widely quoted as well.

If scientists and media are blaming one person for this blunder, it is no one else but Dr. James Hansen. He has quite a reputation of making extreme claims over the dangers of climate change. Such an incident puts the credibility of global warming alarm in jeopardy. It is no doubt true that we are facing global warming as a consequence of damages to the global environment. But such blunders will only provide a gateway to those economic and environmental measures that are presently restricted due to the damage they are causing to the environment and thus speeding up the process of global warming.

The Future of the Internet is in Outer Space

allvoices / contributed news — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:37:06 -0600

While most of us are quite disgruntled with how our Internet works on Earth, NASA is working on extending the ubiquity of data networks to outer space. The new protocol, appropriately called DTN (Disruption-Tolerant Networking), has been tinkered with for over 10 years now. The system successfully passed a communications test involving one spacecraft and nine ground stations.

Imagine the difficulties involved in communicating in outer space. Planets tend to be several light minutes apart introducing extra latency into communications. Powering devices and maintaining line of sight communications in space are exponentially complicated. You could be disrupted by anything from a meteorite to a solar flare. Having a coherent back and forth conversation in such an environment is obviously complicated.

Who better to be working on solving this problem than Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf now associated with Google? Under his design each node of information is required to retain data in its autonomous memory until it is sure the information has been transmitted to the next node. This should result in less frequent disruptions.

As the network out there becomes more reliable, the thought of colonizing space becomes all the more palatable.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Woolly Mammoth

allvoices / contributed news — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:59:46 -0600

It roamed the earth over 10,000 years ago but it is just now that we have learned more about the woolly mammoth through completing its genetic sequencing.

The current data set is 100 times more extensive than any used in the past and as such has been able to produce a complete genetic code. Access to such information means we could conceivably re-create the extinct species in the modern day. Think Jurassic Park.

How the public would feel about sharing its space with such creatures aside, scientists are indulging themselves with the possibilities. Apparently the meat from such a creature could feed 400 for several weeks but it is speculated that it would smell and taste like Limburger Cheese.

One concern is that the current database of mammoth DNA is 20% larger than expected. This suggests that the data may be contaminated by the genes of bacteria and other foreign species. Researchers are thus now focusing on cleaning up the data.

As funding becomes available, it should be possible to conduct similar exercises on the genes of sloths and Neanderthals.

US teen lives 118 days without heart

allvoices / contributed news — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:24:37 -0600

MIAMI, Nov 19 (Reuters) - An American teen-ager survived for nearly four months without a heart, kept alive by a custom-built artificial blood-pumping device, until she was able to have a heart transplant, doctors in Miami said on Wednesday.

The patient, D'Zhana Simmons of South Carolina, said the experience of living for so long with a machine pumping her blood was "scary."

"You never knew when it would malfunction," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, at a news conference at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center.

"It was like I was a fake person, like I didn't really exist. I was just here," she said of living without a heart.

Simmons, 14, suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the patient's heart becomes weakened and enlarged and does not pump blood efficiently.

She had a heart transplant on July 2 at Miami's Holtz Children's Hospital but the new heart failed to function properly and was quickly removed.

Two heart pumps made by Thoratec Corp (THOR.O: Quote, Profile,Research, Stock Buzz) of Pleasanton, California, were implanted to keep her blood flowing while she fought a host of ailments and recovered her strength. Doctors implanted another heart on Oct. 29.

"She essentially lived for 118 days without a heart, with her circulation supported only by the two blood pumps," said Dr. Marco Ricci, the hospital's director of pediatric cardiac surgery. During that time, Simmons was mobile but remained hospitalized.

When an artificial heart is used to sustain a patient, the patient's own heart is usually left in the body, doctors said.

In some cases, adult patients have been kept alive that way for more than a year, they said.

Simmons also suffered renal failure and had a kidney transplant the day after the second heart transplant.

Ricci said her prognosis was good. But doctors said there is a 50 percent chance that a heart transplant patient will need a new heart 12 or 13 years after the first surgery.

Source: Reuters

Rapid care 'cuts baby's HIV risk'

allvoices / contributed news — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:06:38 -0600

Rapid drug treatment of babies with HIV dramatically cuts their risk of death and debilitating disease, international research shows.

The study prompted the World Health Organization to change its guidelines, which had recommended delaying therapy until symptoms became apparent.

It found giving antiretroviral therapy (ART) straight after diagnosis cut the risk of death from Aids by 76%.

The study appears in the New England Journal of Medicine.

It is to be hoped that this will save countless babies across the world

Professor Mark Cotton
Comprehensive International Program of Research on Aids

The study, of 377 HIV-positive South African babies, found that babies given treatment immediately after they were diagnosed with HIV cut their risk of dying from the infection to just 4%.

In comparison, the risk of death for those whose treatment was delayed until their levels of key immune system CD4 cells began to fall, or other symptoms emerged, was 16%.

Immediate treatment also cut the chance of disease progressing measurably by 75%, from 26% to 6%.

The findings were so conclusive that treatment for all babies was re-assessed at the preliminary stage of the trial.

Unexpected findings

Professor Diana Gibb, from the Medical Research Council clinical trials unit worked on the study.

She said: "We did not expect to see differences so soon between the infants receiving early treatment and those in the group where treatment started only when immunity was falling or symptoms developed."

Lead researcher Dr Avy Violari, from the Comprehensive International Program of Research on Aids (CIPRA-SA) said: "Our results reinforce the view that there are no reliable predictors for small infants as to how their disease is progressing.

"CD4 counts do not tell us with enough accuracy if babies under a year of age are becoming sick.

"What was alarming was the speed of disease progression; some infants could seem fine in the morning and get sick and die by nightfall. Some did not even make it to the hospital.

"When these early data were analysed, it became clear that treating all infants at the earliest opportunity after diagnosis was the best course of action."

Saving lives

Her CIPRA-SA colleague Professor Mark Cotton, who also played a key role in the study, said he was delighted that the study had led to changes in the WHO guidelines.

He said: "It is to be hoped that this will save countless babies across the world, especially in low-income countries where mother-to-child transmission is still common.

"However, in order to start ART early, it is important to undertake HIV viral diagnosis very early in life which does require a programme with both manpower and resources."

Professor Gibb also stressed that avoiding mother-to-child transmission in the first place was the top priority.

She said: "These drug regimens are no picnic for these babies and even with improved outcomes in early life, there is still no cure for Aids."

The WHO issued a statement in which it confirmed the study had been instrumental in its decision to revise its guidelines.

US 'cyber-bullying' case begins 'Tragic death'

allvoices / contributed news — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:22:11 -0600

Initial jury selection has begun in the trial of a Missouri woman alleged to have used a fake MySpace profile to bully a girl who later killed herself.

Lori Drew, 49, allegedly posed as a boy on the website to befriend Megan Meier, 13, who hanged herself after the "boy" broke off the virtual relationship.

Ms Drew denies charges of conspiracy and accessing protected computers without authorisation.

The trial is being seen as a landmark case concerning internet law.

Megan, a neighbour of Ms Drew in St Louis and a former friend of her daughter, took her own life in October 2006.

It is alleged that she killed herself after receiving several cruel messages from a fictitious 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans, including one saying the world would be better off without her.

Prosecutors say Ms Drew and several others created the boy on MySpace, the social networking website, after Megan Meier fell out with her daughter.

'Tragic death'

Ms Drew is being charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act - usually used against computer hackers, as prosecutors were unable to find any existing laws within the state of Missouri under which she could be tried.

Each of the four counts against Ms Drew carries a maximum five-year jail term.

She is not being charged over Megan's death itself and District Judge George Wu had considered excluding evidence of the suicide from the trial, to avoid prejudicing the defence case.

But he dismissed the idea after deciding jurors would almost certainly know the details already.

Ms Drew's lawyers have expressed concern that a jury would still confuse the issues and "conclude it's about the tragic death of a young girl".

"The jury is going to end up thinking that Lori Drew is being tried for the death of Megan Meier," said Dean Steward.

The trial has been acknowledged as the first time the federal statute on accessing protected computers has been used in a social networking case.

Microsoft to offer free security , by Biodun Iginla, technology specialist and analyst for BBC News, London--on assignment in Paris, France

allvoices / contributed news — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:07:30 -0600

by Biodun Iginla, technology specialist and analyst for BBC News, London--on assignment in Paris, France

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Microsoft to offer free security

The new software will protect machines running XP, Vista, and Windows 7

In a surprise move, Microsoft has announced it will offer a free anti-virus and security solution from the second half of next year.

It will stop selling OneCare, its all-in-one security and PC management service, from the end of June 2009.

The new software, code-named Morro, will be a no-frills program suited to smaller and less powerful computers.

The software will be free to download and will support Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

The move comes as sales of the OneCare subscription service are flagging - reportedly because the anti-virus marketplace is already flooded with big-name players such as Symantec and McAfee.

Since its launch in May 2006, OneCare has garnered less than 2% of the security software market share.

In a statement, Microsoft said that Morro would be designed specifically to be a small-footprint program that uses fewer system resources. This, it said, would be ideal for users with low-bandwidth connections or computers without much processing power.

That will be of particular interest to consumers buying comparatively low-powered "netbook" computers.

Amy Barzdukas, senior director of product management in the online services division at Microsoft, said: "This new, no-cost offering will give us the ability to protect an even greater number of consumers, especially in markets where the growth of new PC purchases is outpaced only by the growth of malware."

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Sony Ericsson G502 Unlocked

allvoices / contributed news — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:24:51 -0600

Sony Ericsson G502 is a smart-looking phone that focuses on superior Web browsing. It offers built-in Google maps for mobile that will give you step-by-step directions to where you want to go. It comes with 2.0 megapixel Camera.

Sony Ericsson J110a Black USA version

allvoices / contributed news — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:13:24 -0600

There is a very nice 2 Megapixel camera with a resolution of 1600x1200. j110a enables you to take pictures in high quality. Finally the 3 hours of talk-time is more than sufficient for even the longest conversations.

After 500 years extinction ,new penguin found.

allvoices / contributed news — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:16:33 -0600

The research suggests that the first humans in New Zealand hunted
the newly found Waitaha penguin to extinction by 1500, about 250
years after their arrival on the islands. But the loss of the Waitaha
allowed another kind of penguin to thrive — the yellow-eyed species
that now also faces extinction.
Researchers studying a rare and endangered species of penguin have
uncovered a previously unknown species that disappeared about 500
years ago.
Rare, endangered penguin leads to discovery of previously unknown
species .

Scientists find new penguin, extinct for 500 years

allvoices / contributed news — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:56:08 -0600

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Researchers studying a rare and endangered species of penguin have uncovered a previously unknown species that disappeared about 500 years ago.

The research suggests that the first humans in New Zealand hunted the newly found Waitaha penguin to extinction by 1500, about 250 years after their arrival on the islands. But the loss of the Waitaha allowed another kind of penguin to thrive — the yellow-eyed species that now also faces extinction, Philip Seddon of Otago University, a co-author of the study, said Wednesday.

The team was testing DNA from the bones of prehistoric modern yellow-eyed penguins for genetic changes associated with human settlement when it found some bones that were older — and had different DNA.

Tests on the older bones "lead us to describe a new penguin species that became extinct only a few hundred years ago," the team reported in a paper in the biological research journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

Polynesian settlers came to New Zealand around 1250 and are known to have hunted species such as the large, flightless moa bird to extinction.

Seddon said dating techniques used on bones pulled from old Maori trash pits revealed a gap in time between the disappearance of the Waitaha and the arrival of the yellow-eyed penguin.

The gap indicates the extinction of the older bird created the opportunity for the newer to colonize New Zealand's main islands around 500 years ago, said Sanne Boessenkool, an Otago University doctoral student who led the team of researchers, including some from Australia's Adelaide University and New Zealand's Canterbury Museum.

Competition between the two penguin species may have previously prevented the yellow-eyed penguin from expanding north, the researchers noted.

David Penny of New Zealand's Massey University, who was not involved in the research, said the Waitaha was an example of another native species that was unable to adapt to a human presence.

"In addition, it is vitally important to know how species, such as the yellow-eyed penguin, are able to respond to new opportunities," he said. "It is becoming apparent that some species can respond to things like climate change, and others cannot. The more we know, the more we can help."

The yellow-eyed penguin is considered one of the world's rarest. An estimated population of 7,000 in New Zealand is the focus of an extensive conservation effort.

Source: Yahoo! News

Scientists find new penguin, extinct for 500 years

allvoices / contributed news — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:33:27 -0600

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Researchers studying a rare and endangered species of penguin have uncovered a previously unknown species that disappeared about 500 years ago.

The research suggests that the first humans in New Zealand hunted the newly found Waitaha penguin to extinction by 1500, about 250 years after their arrival on the islands. But the loss of the Waitaha allowed another kind of penguin to thrive — the yellow-eyed species that now also faces extinction, Philip Seddon of Otago University, a co-author of the study, said Wednesday.

Polynesian settlers came to New Zealand around 1250 and are known to have hunted species such as the large, flightless moa bird to extinction.

Seddon said dating techniques used on bones pulled from old Maori trash pits revealed a gap in time between the disappearance of the Waitaha and the arrival of the yellow-eyed penguin.

Competition between the two penguin species may have previously prevented the yellow-eyed penguin from expanding north, the researchers noted.

David Penny of New Zealand's Massey University, who was not involved in the research, said the Waitaha was an example of another native species that was unable to adapt to a human presence.

"In addition, it is vitally important to know ho w species, such as the yellow-eyed penguin, are able to respond to new opportunities," he said. "It is becoming apparent that some species can respond to things like climate change, and others cannot. The more we know, the more we can help."

The yellow-eyed penguin is considered one of the world's rarest. An estimated population of 7,000 in New Zealand is the focus of an extensive conservation effort.

Microsoft to offer free security

allvoices / contributed news — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:54:58 -0600

In a surprise move, Microsoft has announced it will offer a free anti-virus and security solution from the second half of next year.

It will stop selling OneCare, its all-in-one security and PC management service, from the end of June 2009.

The new software, code-named Morro, will be a no-frills program suited to smaller and less powerful computers.

The software will be free to download and will support Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

The move comes as sales of the OneCare subscription service are flagging - reportedly because the anti-virus marketplace is already flooded with big-name players such as Symantec and McAfee.

Since its launch in May 2006, OneCare has garnered less than 2% of the security software market share.

That will be of particular interest to consumers buying comparatively low-powered "netbook" computers.

National Geographic discovers videogames

allvoices / contributed news — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:45:13 -0600

WASHINGTON (AFP) – National Geographic, the monthly magazine famed for its glossy photographs and stories from obscure corners of the world, is venturing into videogames.

The magazine announced on Tuesday that its first game, "Herod's Lost Tomb," would come out this month ahead of the December 2008 issue which features an article on the biblical figure known for his architectural exploits.

The game will be available for free online at nationalgeographic.com/channel and will also be downloadable for PCs, Macs and iPhones, National Geographic said in a statement.

National Geographic said "Herod's Lost Tomb" was the first in a number of "family-friendly" games it would publish this year.

Other titles include "National Geographic: Panda," "National Geographic: Africa" and "Sudoku Traveler: China."

It said it was partnering with Namco Bandai Games America and Sony Computer Entertainment to distribute the National Geographic-banded games on handheld devices and gaming consoles such as the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3.

iPhone sex: Google application baffled by British accents (AFP)

allvoices / contributed news — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:32:11 -0600

LONDON (AFP) - A new voice-recognition search tool for the iPhone has problems understanding British accents, leading to some bizarre answers to spoken queries, a newspaper report and users said Wednesday.

The free application, which allows iPhone owners to use the Google search engine with their voice, mistook the word "iPhone" variously for "sex," "Einstein" and "kitchen sink," said the Daily Telegraph.

Comments left by users on the application's website seemed to confirm the problem. "Awesome job google. only problem is every time I say the word 'fish' it registers as 'sex'," wrote one, identified as Kevin.

A video demonstration of the Google Mobile App on the online giant's website shows an American engineer successfully asking for pictures of the Golden Gate as well as cinema timetables and temperature conversions.

The website also includes a link to a video showing people with Irish, British and Chinese accents asking for relatively complicated searches, with apparent success.

But British iPhone owners had less luck when speaking the word "iPhone" into the application -- a Scottish user was offered a porn website after it mistook his search for "sex," the Telegraph reported.

A user from Surrey, south of London, had his request mistaken for "myspace" and "Einstein" was another option offered for "iPhone" spoken with a Kent accent, it said.

The only British accent which correctly understood the request was for a user from Yorkshire, northern England, although he was also offered "bonfire."

A Welsh accent gave the suggestions "gorillas" and "kitchen sink."

"I've got a traditional Kentish accent and the thing kept on spitting back ridiculous things," said Roger Ellinson, 26, from Maidstone in Kent, southeastern England.

"I asked it to find my nearest pizza take away and it came back with something about volcanoes," he added.

"I asked it to find my nearest pub and it gave me a link to some kind of weird dating website," said Ellinson. "I'll have to try to put on my best American accent to get it to work."

On its website, Google points out that the new voice search system "is currently available only in U.S. English."

One British user, Edward Parsons, says on the site's comments board: "This is fantastic, except for the North American accent bias.

"It actually works pretty well, but I have to disguise my (North London) accent with a terrible folksy Texan tourist voice to get results. I can see this is going to be the source of much amusement and confusion."

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