New Services Target DNC Delegates

With 50,000 people gathered in one auditorium in Denver, it must seem like a golden opportunity to push new apps for cell phones. Among the offerings being promoted, according to the Los Angeles Times: a service that has live people answering texted questions; an app that shows political TV shows on your phone; a service that directs radio broadcasts to cells.

Tech Firms Push for Free Trade

It’s not just the new products they’re pushing at the Democratic National Convention; technology companies are also lobbying politicians to support free trade. CNET News reports that the Consumer Electronics Association, which lobbies on behalf of 2,200 technology companies, is urging Democrats to restart stalled trade talks with Columbia, Panama, and Korea.

Election Likely to Change Stem Cell Policy, Says Expert

Whoever wins the presidential election, he’ll likely increase funding for all forms of stem cell research, predicts University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Art Caplan. Caplan tells Wired that, as stem cell research matures and the pile of money available for it grows, questions about ethics are likely to take a back seat to practical considerations. But he thinks there will still be arguments over what use to make of stem cells in humans and when to move them from the lab to actual use.

Changing Cells May Bring New Treatments

Arguments over the use of stem cells for medical treatments may be muted by a new discovery. The Associated Press reports that researchers at Harvard and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have found a way to coax ordinary pancreas cells to change into insulin-producing cells. If adult cells can be switched from one type to another, it may not be necessary to use stem cells to develop new therapies.

Home Carbon Footprint Can Shrink

People talk about carbon footprints—the amount of carbon emissions that can be attributed to the activities of a person—but few probably know what theirs is. The New York Times tells us that 40 percent of an individual’s carbon footprint comes from energy used in the home. Experts offer tips for reducing the footprint, from upgrading to more energy-efficient appliances to mowing the lawn without gasoline.

White House Issues Cyber Security Mandate

All federal agencies must adopt new cyber security measures by January, under an ordered issued by the Bush administration. The Washington Post reports that the measures, which are to be applied to all dot-gov domains, are intended to fix vulnerabilities discovered in the domain name system. The fix is intended to prevent cyber crooks from pretending to send messages from an official site.

Compressed Air System Could Store Energy

One criticism levied against solar and wind power is, what happens when the sun stops shining or the wind stops blowing. Now one inventor has come up with a solution: use some of the energy produced at peak times to store air under pressure. During down times, the compressed air can be used to power a turbine. Bloomberg says that New Jersey utility PSEG plans to develop the technology.

Bugs Could Be Source of Hydrogen

One stumbling block on the road to using hydrogen as an alternative energy source is how to produce the hydrogen without burning more fossil fuels. MSNBC reports that scientists at North Carolina State University are studying microbes that exhale hydrogen as part of their normal metabolic process. The trick will be in finding the right microbes and figuring out how to harness their hydrogen production in an economically feasible way.

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Nielsen Measures Obama’s Text Audience

If the phone rings at 3 a.m., it’s probably Barack Obama texting you the late news of his vice presidential choice. Nielsen, which normally measures television audiences, said about 2.9 million people received the cell phone message, which had already been scooped by the more old-fashioned media. The Wall Street Journal points out that Obama still wins, having collected all those cell phone numbers so he can contact supporters in the future.

Joe Biden Sends Out Video Message

The online campaign neither starts nor ends with the text message announcing Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s running mate. Biden has since sent out an e-mail with a link to a video that thanks supporters and tells them something of who he is. The Christian Science Monitor says this is all part of an ongoing digital campaign that’s getting a lot of attention.

Can Obama Bring Facebook Fans to the Polls?

Online support may be great for generating buzz—and donations—but it doesn’t necessarily translate into votes; Witness how Howard Dean’s online support in 2004 failed to win him the nomination. BusinessWeek asks if Barack Obama can translate his success in social networking into success in getting out the vote.

Candidates to Answer Science Questions Via E-mail

Despite months of calls for the presidential candidates to address questions of science and technology, it looks increasingly unlikely that there will be a debate on science in this election. But Science News reports that the organizing committee for Science Debate 2008 has gotten the candidates to agree to answer 14 questions, on issues ranging from stem cells to space exploration. It’s unclear, however, when the campaigns plan to respond.

Security May Be Better in the Cloud

Protecting computers from viruses and worms is a never-ending battle that can take up a lot of desktop processing power. According to Technology Review, researchers from the University of Michigan think computers could have better protection with no loss of performance if antivirus software were moved off the desktop and into the cloud, a collection of Internet-connected servers that act as if they’re one machine. The researchers found that, by using cloud computing, they could detect 88 percent of viruses, instead of only 73 percent found with a single antivirus program.

Wind Turbines Kill Bats With Pressure Changes

The mysterious deaths of large numbers of bats near wind turbines had scientists stumped; bats, after all, excel at not bumping into things. Now researchers have found that it’s the rapid drop in air pressure near the turbine blades that is causing the damage, the Discovery Channel reports. Necropsies showed that the sudden drop is causing the bats’ lungs to explode.

Pedal Pushers Produce Green Energy

While you’re sweatin’ to the oldies, why not use some of that muscle power to help the environment? That’s the thinking at a new gym in Portland, OR, which according to the Los Angeles Times is the first in the country to use human-powered cycling and cardio machines to generate renewable energy. Solar panels on the roof also make the gym more eco-friendly.

Scientists Contemplate Biowar Against Mosquitoes

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have found a virus that infects the world’s most dangerous type of mosquito. The New York Times reports that the virus in its current form is harmless, but the researchers feel it could be genetically engineered to kill the mosquitoes. The virus targets the type of mosquito that is chiefly responsible for spreading malaria in Africa.

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Boston- and Denver-based Buzzwire, which provides streaming video and audio content viewable on many Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T mobile phones, says it’s launching a “DNC 2008″ channel on August 25, to coincide with the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Denver. The channel will feature reports from Barely Political’s Obama Girl and convention updates from video site Political Lunch.

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Website Seeks Credibility From Readers

A new website is using a twist on popularity rankings by asking readers to score it on credibility. NewsCred, which just launched its beta version, lets users score its news stories by how credible they are, an attempt to add a new level of involvement to news sites, Reuters reports. The site is mostly in English, but plans to expand its Spanish and French content.

Google to Host Bloggers at Political Conventions

When hordes of bloggers join the swarms of delegates descending on Denver next week for the Democratic National Convention, and on Minneapolis for the Republican version the week after that, Google will be there with open arms, Internet access, and snacks. Google, which wasn’t a significant presence at the conventions four years ago, will set up a two-story, 8,000 square foot headquarters for bloggers in Denver, with something similar planned for the Republicans, the Wall Street Journal reports. Along with Internet-equipped workspaces, couches for napping, and free smoothies, the company will offer a closing-night party.

Democratic Platform Addresses Internet

The Democratic party platform, to be discussed and voted on at next week’s convention, takes special notice of the role of the Internet in modern life. The platform calls for a national broadband strategy. Wired says this is very different from the Bush administration’s stance, which has left issues of broadband access in the hands of the private sector.

Stem Cells Produce Blood in Lab

Blood drives may one day be a thing of the past, thanks to work at Advanced Cell Technology of Santa Monica, CA, the University of Illinois, and the Mayo Clinic. As the Los Angeles Times reports, researchers there say they’ve used embryonic stem cells to make blood. The team says they’re still several steps away from making blood suitable for transfusions.

Is Data Fusion a Boon or a Bust?

Data fusion, the process of linking several databases together to create a single, wide-ranging profile of a person for such purposes as preventing credit card theft or chasing down deadbeat dads, promises efficient use of personal data but seems like a nightmare to privacy advocates. But as it turns out, Scientific American reports, these databases may contain too many errors and meaningless coincidences to actually be useful.

Stolen Data For Sale Online

The Security Fix blog at the Washington Post continues its look at the tools of the trade for cyber criminals. Today, it talks about websites where thieves can purchase stolen credit-card data. The average price for such information is $1.20 per card number, along with names, addresses, and phone numbers.

LEDs May Light Up New York Streets

Long-lasting, energy-efficient LEDs have already become ubiquitous in traffic lights around the country. Now they may be poised to take over streetlights as well. According to the New York Times, New York City will conduct tests of new streets lights, complete with new pole designs, based on LEDs. If the tests are successful, the city could eventually replace all 300,000 of its streetlights with LED versions.

Bloomberg Proposes Wind Plan for New York

Windmills could top New York City skyscrapers and bridges, or supply power from the waters off Manhattan, if Mayor Michael Bloomberg has his way. Speaking at the National Energy Summit in Las Vegas, Bloomberg cited studies predicting that wind energy could provide 10 percent of the city’s electricity needs within 10 years, says CNET News. Most of the installations would likely be small turbines on tops of buildings. Well, after all, old New York was once New Amsterdam.

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