Saturday, March 3, 2012

Oceans are acidifying faster than ever

Oceans are acidifying faster than ever | Green Tech - CNET News CNET News @import "http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/Ads/common/css/SponsoredTextLink/sponsoredTextLink.live.css"; Manage Packages With UPS My Choice Home Reviews Cell Phones Camcorders Digital Cameras Laptops TVs Car Tech Forums Appliances Cell Phone Accessories Components Desktops E-book Readers Games and Gear GPS Hard Drives & Storage Headphones Home Audio Home Video Internet Access Monitors MP3 Players Networking and Wi-Fi Peripherals Printers Software Tablets Web Hosting You are here: News Latest News Mobile Startups Cutting Edge Media Security Business Tech Health Tech Crave Apple Microsoft Politics & Law Gaming & Culture Blogs Video Photos RSS Download Windows Software Mac Software Mobile Apps Web Apps The Download Blog CNET TV How To Computers Home Theater Smartphones Tablets Web Marketplace Log In | Join Log In Join CNET Sign in with My profile Log out Click Here!
CNET News Green Tech Oceans are acidifying faster than ever Dara Kerr by Dara Kerr March 1, 2012 10:20 PM PST Follow @darakerr

Acidity in the Earth's oceans is increasing more rapidly than any time in the last 300 million years, leading to severe consequences for marine ecosystems.

An animation showing a computer forecast of how the ocean pH will look in 2100 under emission scenarios. Purple dots show cold-water coral reefs. Red dots show warm-water coral reefs. The pH scale is shown on the right.

(Credit:NOAA)

The burning of fossil fuels and the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere don't affect just the air--it also impacts the Earth's oceans, according to U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Oceans absorb the carbon dioxide, which in turn increases the water's pH acidity levels. What this means is that coral reefs are growing at a slower rate and the survival of marine species is decreasing, according to NOAA.

Now, the speed at which ocean pH level is changing is faster than any time in the last 300 million years, according to a new study published in the journal Science today.

"Ocean acidification may have severe consequences for marine ecosystems," reads the study. "However, assessing its future impact is difficult because laboratory experiments and field observations are limited by their reduced ecologic complexity and sample period."

To combat this obstacle, the scientists working on the study looked at ancient climate records dating back 300 million years to study marine and animal extinction and evolutionary changes, such as when the dinosaurs were killed off 65 million years ago.

They came upon a unique case 56 million years ago when there was a massive emission of carbon into the atmosphere that occurred naturally, which they believe was caused by volcanoes. With this data, the scientists then tried to decipher possible impacts they could translate to better understand modern-day climate change.

Related storiesOceans' salvation may lie in explorationCarbon dioxide + water = unhappy solutionLife's first cells may have evolved in geothermal pools Back then, the average temperature rose by 10.8 degrees, the oceans became 0.4 units more acidic on the 14-point pH scale, and many types of coral went extinct, according to the study. This change happened over a 5,000-year period.

One of the study's authors, Baerbel Hoenisch, told Reuters in an interview that what happened 56 million years ago was a fast warm-up and quick acidification, but was small compared with what has happened on Earth since the start of the industrial revolution 150 years ago.

Over the past 150 years, the earth's oceans have become more acidic by 0.1 unit of pH, and the study's scientists predict that by 2100 there will be an increase to 0.2 or 0.3 pH.

"Given that the rate of change was an order of magnitude smaller compared to what we're doing today, and still there were these big ecosystem changes, that gives us concern for what is going to happen in the future," Hoenisch said.

Posted by Ambar jaiswal at 10:52 PM 0 comments
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CIA said to be planning new software-acquisition strategy

CIA said to be planning new software-acquisition strategy | The Digital Home - CNET News CNET News @import "http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/Ads/common/css/SponsoredTextLink/sponsoredTextLink.live.css"; Manage Packages With UPS My Choice Home Reviews Cell Phones Camcorders Digital Cameras Laptops TVs Car Tech Forums Appliances Cell Phone Accessories Components Desktops E-book Readers Games and Gear GPS Hard Drives & Storage Headphones Home Audio Home Video Internet Access Monitors MP3 Players Networking and Wi-Fi Peripherals Printers Software Tablets Web Hosting You are here: News Latest News Mobile Startups Cutting Edge Media Security Business Tech Health Tech Crave Apple Microsoft Politics & Law Gaming & Culture Blogs Video Photos RSS Download Windows Software Mac Software Mobile Apps Web Apps The Download Blog CNET TV How To Computers Home Theater Smartphones Tablets Web Marketplace Log In | Join Log In Join CNET Sign in with My profile Log out .mad_center {text-align:center;} .mad_center div, .mad_center table, .mad_center iframe, .mad_center a img {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}
CNET News The Digital Home CIA said to be planning new software-acquisition strategy Don Reisinger by Don Reisinger February 22, 2012 7:49 AM PST

The agency's top technology employee, Ira "Gus" Hunt said it'll now start acquiring software on a pay-as-you-go basis, rather than enter into licensing agreements.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is changing how it buys software, according to a new report.

The agency's top technology decision-maker, Ira "Gus" Hunt, told software vendors yesterday that it's transitioning to a pay-as-you-go purchasing model, according to Reuters. Previously, the CIA entered into licensing agreements with vendors, like SAP and Oracle, to acquire new software.

The move might not make those companies too happy, since they currently have the CIA locked into deals that competitors can't encroach on. With its new policy, however, the CIA has the ability to get what it wants, when it wants, from whichever firm it wants. The move could save the agency money and according to Reuters, make it more agile as new platforms it could use are released.

Inevitably, concerns over the CIA's desire to change its acquisition policy might be raised. To lay down some fire before that happens, Hunt said yesterday that the CIA is not trying to harm vendors in any way, but they "really need to think differently about how we do these things." According to Reuters, Hunt also hinted at allowing vendors with security clearance to "peek under the covers" and see how the CIA is accounting for software.

Posted by Ambar jaiswal at 7:41 PM 0 comments
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Why You're Better Off with Low Capacity Memory Cards In Your Camera [SD Cards]

Why You're Better Off with Low Capacity Memory Cards In Your CameraSD cards have started getting cheaper, and you can find some pretty huge cards at prices that seem worth the joy of never swapping out cards again. Here's why that could be a bad idea.

Weblog Techerator notes that, while we never expect SD cards to fail, they can do so at inopportune times, just like the hard drives in our computer. This is why we regularly back our computers up, even if we have a brand new drive—sometimes things just happen. However, we don't always have this opportunity with SD cards:

Since you can't really back up a memory card when you're out in the field shooting photos and video, how do you protect yourself against bad luck? Well, there's obviously no way to fully protect your memory card data if you can't back it up, but there's still a way to lessen the disaster level when a memory card takes the plunge.

Instead of getting just one high-capacity memory card and risk losing all of your photos, have multiple low-capacity cards. That way, if one craps out, you'll still have a majority of your photos that are safe, instead of having all of them go down the drain at once.

Instead of worrying about capacity, see if you can't get some higher speed cards instead, or ones designed to survive the worst of conditions. That way, if one fails, you haven't lost everything—you've only lost a batch or two of photos. Of course, this only really matters for you serious photographers that are taking hundreds of pictures at once, but it's something to think about if you regularly run out of space on your current card. Hit the link to read more.

Think Again Before Buying a High-Capacity Memory Card | Techerator via #tips

Photo by Jasleen_Kaur.

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View the original article here

Posted by Ambar jaiswal at 6:17 PM 0 comments
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iPad and Kindle Fire: The top 5 technical annoyances

iPad and Kindle Fire: The top 5 technical annoyances | Digital Media - CNET News CNET News @import "http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/Ads/common/css/SponsoredTextLink/sponsoredTextLink.live.css"; Manage Packages With UPS My Choice Home Reviews Cell Phones Camcorders Digital Cameras Laptops TVs Car Tech Forums Appliances Cell Phone Accessories Components Desktops E-book Readers Games and Gear GPS Hard Drives & Storage Headphones Home Audio Home Video Internet Access Monitors MP3 Players Networking and Wi-Fi Peripherals Printers Software Tablets Web Hosting You are here: News Latest News Mobile Startups Cutting Edge Media Security Business Tech Health Tech Crave Apple Microsoft Politics & Law Gaming & Culture Blogs Video Photos RSS Download Windows Software Mac Software Mobile Apps Web Apps The Download Blog CNET TV How To Computers Home Theater Smartphones Tablets Web Marketplace Log In | Join Log In Join CNET Sign in with My profile Log out .mad_center {text-align:center;} .mad_center div, .mad_center table, .mad_center iframe, .mad_center a img {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}Click Here
CNET News Digital Media iPad and Kindle Fire: The top 5 technical annoyances Lance Whitney by Lance Whitney February 22, 2012 6:30 AM PST Follow @lancewhit

Trouble with Wi-Fi connections proves among the top issues confronting users of bothtablets, in a study by tech support Q&A site FixYa.

(Credit:FixYa)

Users of theiPad and the Kindle Fire share some of the same technical issues but also face their own unique challenges, according to a study out yesterday from FixYa.

Analyzing the array of problems seen by site users who own one of the two popular tablets, FixYa boiled the list down to the top five major glitches.

Looking at Apple's iPad, Wi-Fi connection issues came in first, cited by 35 percent of FixYa site users included in the study.

iPad 2 owners have bumped into trouble connecting or staying connected to Wi-Fi networks. The site noted that this problem often affects users with a Wi-Fi-only tablet or those with a 3G tablet close to their monthly data allotment. Turning Wi-Fi on and off, renewing your device's DHCP lease, or resetting the entire Wi-Fi network usually does the trick.

Next on the list was LED display issues, while screen issues in general took the fifth spot. Specifically, FixYa reported a problem with backlight bleeding in which iPad users noted patches of light around the edges of the screen. Though tricky to resolve since it's a hardware issue, the problem can sometimes be lessened by just tweaking the brightness of the display.

FixYa seemed confused about the third most prominent issue, pointing to microphone problems in its chart but citing the iPad not being recognized by the computer in the actual report. Assuming the site is referring to USB issues in general, it offered a few suggestions if iTunes isn't detecting your iPad.

Make sure you're running the latest version of iTunes. Try unplugging and then reconnecting the USB cable between your computer and your iPad. And finally, plug your iPad directly into a USB port on your computer rather than going through a USB hub.

(Credit:FixYa)

Turning its focus to Amazon's Kindle Fire, FixYa reported the one-click shopping experience as the top issue, cited by 30 percent of the users. The ability to buy an item without having to enter a password has opened the door to accidental purchases and unauthorized purchases by children. It could present even bigger problems should the tablet be lost or stolen.

FixYa didn't have much advice other than to set up a Wi-Fi password at home so your children can't go on a spending spree buying items from Amazon.

Related storiesHow to fix 95 percent of iOS app crashesMake a Kindle Fire safe for kidsAmazon Kindle Fire owners reporting Wi-Fi bugCNET review: Apple iPad 2CNET review: Amazon Kindle Fire

Like the iPad, the Kindle Fire can have trouble with Wi-Fi connections.

In this case, FixYa recommended upgrading to the latest 6.1 or 6.2 version of the Fire software. Resetting your router or setting up a static IP address for your tablet were also suggested.

"Product call centers are the closest thing to consumer hell, making the web the new owner's manual," FixYa CEO Yaniv Bensadon said in a statement. "We see this first hand and have experienced an explosion in consumer issues with tablets, mainly the variety of devices runningAndroid software. Despite Apple's god-like status with consumers, it is no stranger to consumer issues, as noted in [the] report."

Posted by Ambar jaiswal at 2:57 PM 0 comments
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