Science

Toronto, February 17: BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) Tuesday unveiled new server that will allow its smart phone users to wirelessly access their work or corporate email “without compromising security.”

A RIM statement here said the free BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express software will meet many demands of two segments of its market.

First, the software will offer economical advantages to small and mid-sized businesses seeking enterprise-grade security and manageability of (its higher end) BlackBerry Enterprise Server without requiring all of its advanced features.

Mumbai, February 12: The Indian arm of US-based drug-maker Eli Lilly plans to launch three injectible devices this year, one of them being an insulin pen to treat diabetes, a top company official said.

The company will launch the insulin pen, called Quick Pen over the next couple of months, its Chairman and Managing Director Sandeep Gupta told PTI here, adding that one more injectible would be launched for Type I diabetes later in the year and another to treat oesteopororis.

Washington, February 12: US opponents of climate change action are seizing on a record snowfall in Washington in hopes of killing legislation to curb carbon emissions, which already faced uncertain political prospects.

Environmentalists have launched a swift counter-attack, pointing out that Olympics host Vancouver is facing a dearth of snow and saying the extreme weather may in fact offer proof, not a rebuttal, of changing climate patterns.

New York, February 12: eBay Inc must stop using internet search terms that Louis Vuitton Malletier protested and pay the luxury goods maker $316 500 for damages and legal costs.

A Paris District Court found the online auction house liable on Thursday for harming the reputation of Louis Vuitton and ordered it to stop using keywords it had bought that were similar to the famed brand’s name.

A Louis Vuitton spokesperson said eBay had bought up common misspellings of the brand so online shoppers who typed them into search engines would be directed to links promoting eBay.

San Francisco, February 12: Google Inc has bought Aardvark, a free question-and-answer web service.

Aardvark co-founder Damon Horowitz confirmed the purchase on Thursday. He would not disclose financial details.

Aardvark was formed in 2007 by Horowitz and three others – two of whom are former Google employees. It lets users ask questions online that are routed to friends and friends of friends.

London, February 12: Britain has secured the removal of 30 Facebook pages used by prisoners after reports that they were being used to taunt victims, Justice Secretary Jack Straw said on Thursday.

Straw told the BBC that he approached the social networking site three weeks ago to address the issue and asked that the pages be removed within 48 hours.

“We’ve made requests for the removal of 30 sites and they’ve responded to do that positively, with no single refusal, within 48 hours, so we just want to push this forward,” he told the broadcaster.

London, February 12: Britain’s largest union says British Airways PLC has suspended 15 cabin crew members because they allegedly posted inappropriate comments on their Facebook pages.

The Unite union called the move unacceptable.

Airline spokesperson Euan Fordyce said on Thursday about a dozen cabin crew were suspended while internal investigations were being carried out.

Fordyce said there were a number of reasons for the suspensions including inappropriate comments posted online. He gave no details, saying only that the airline “will not tolerate intimidation of our staff”.

Cape Canaveral, February 12: Two astronauts from the US space shuttle Endeavour began the first spacewalk of their 13-day mission on Thursday, preparing to install a new node on the International Space Station.

Nasa said Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick began their walk at 21:17 (02:17 GMT on Thursday), leaving the decompression chamber where they spent the night some eight minutes later than scheduled.

Beijing, February 12: Jiang Hui hasn’t dated a girl since graduating from university four years ago, but the 26-year-old Beijing office worker hopes the internet will make this Valentine’s Day different.

Jiang joined an online dating site and began a cyber-search for a sweetheart three months ago – along with millions of other young Chinese taking advantage of technology and a new found freedom to control their own love lives.

In years past, Jiang, who hails from the central province of Hubei, might have had his future decided by match-making relatives in his rural hometown.

Cape Camaveral, February 12: A pair of shuttle astronauts ventured out on a spacewalk Thursday night to help put the last big addition onto the International Space station: a new room with a heavenly bay window.

Spacewalkers Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick quickly moved over to Endeavour’s payload bay, where the new compartments were launched, and got the pieces ready for installation on the space station.

New delhi, February 12: Though commercial release of genetically modified brinjal has been put on hold, documents made public by the government suggest a proposed study to assess the vegetable’s need and possible socio-economic impact on farmers was never done.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests, according to documents available on its website, had set up a Bt Brinjal Technical Review Committee early in 2007. The committee evaluated numerous comments from various stakeholders vis-a-vis the biosafety data generated by Mahyco — the company which developed Bt Brinjal.

New Delhi, February 11: Personal computer (PC) sales were almost flat during the first half of the fiscal at 3.71 million units, a meagre rise of one percent compared to the same period a year ago, primarily due to fewer orders from businesses, said a report released on Thursday.

The statistics were presented by the Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT) — an apex body representing India’s IT hardware sector — in its bi-annual report.

Washington, February 11: It is harder than experts thought to predict when sudden shifts in earth’s natural systems will occur, a new study has claimed.

Researchers at University of California, Davis, said many scientists are looking for the warning signs that herald sudden changes in natural systems, in hopes of forestalling those changes or improving our preparations for them but unfortunately that regime shifts can happen without warning.

San Francisco, February 11: Google plans to build a fiber optic broadband network that will connect customers to the internet at speeds 100 times faster than most existing broadband connections in the United States, the company announced Wednesday on its corporate blog. “Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make internet access better and faster for everyone,” two Google product managers, Minnie Ingersoll and James Kelly, wrote in the blog post.

Paris, February 11: Solar panels costing $58,000 bring a couple modest return as home-owners look to DIY system of emissions trading, as investments go, it does not look like a money-spinner.

Invest $58,000 to line the roof of your suburban home with solar panels, and pick up $17.20 in exchange for the reduction in your household carbon emissions. But the Pennsylvania couple who have earned the world’s first carbon credit for reducing personal emissions think it has been worth it.

Washington, February 11: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on Wednesday that two companies have been the winners of the 2009 George M. Low Award, the highest honor for quality and performance.

United Space Alliance and Applied Geo Technologies received their awards at the NASA’s seventh annual Project Management Challenge in Galveston, Texas on Wednesday.

Cape Canavera, February 10: Shuttle Endeavour arrived at the International Space Station early Wednesday, delivering a new room and observation deck that will come close to completing construction 200 miles (320 kilometers) above Earth.

The midnight rendezvous occurred as the two spacecraft sailed over the Atlantic, just west of Portugal.

“We’ve got the place ready for you,” space station commander Jeffrey Williams assured the shuttle astronauts. “Looking forward to welcoming you on board.”

California, February 10: Google is trying once again to capture some of the momentum surrounding social networking companies like Facebook and Twitter by adding new features to Gmail, its popular e-mail service.

Later this week, Google will introduce add-ons to Gmail that let users post and view messages about their day-to-day activities, according to a person at Google briefed on its plans.

Washington, February 10: NASA planned to launch a solar probe Wednesday to help unlock more secrets about the sun, whose massive storms affect earth’s weather and can pose danger to earth dwellers.

The Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) is the “crown jewel” of a fleet of NASA satellites planned to collect more details about what’s going on underneath and above the surface of the sun, said Michael Luther, a NASA official who is overseeing the programme, in a webcast briefing.

San Francisco, February 10: Google Tuesday launched a set of social networking tools for Gmail users, hoping to coax them to share photos, links and status updates without the need to visit sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Called Google Buzz, the new features were rolled out to a small number of Gmail account holders Tuesday and to the majority of users within the week.

It allows users to share photos, videos, web links, conversations with “friends” – defined as pre-existing Gmail contacts. Google said it may open Buzz up to outside users in the future.

Washington, February 10: NASA planned to launch a solar probe Wednesday to help unlock more secrets about the sun, whose massive storms affect earth’s weather and can pose danger to earth dwellers.

The Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) is the “crown jewel” of a fleet of NASA satellites planned to collect more details about what’s going on underneath and above the surface of the sun, said Michael Luther, a NASA official who is overseeing the programme, in a webcast briefing.

London, February 09: Forget cheques or credits cards, you can soon make your day-to-day payments through your mobile phone.

Britain’s recent decision to phase out cheques by 2018 has led to the development of new secure payments technology in the University of Oxford that allows people to make payments via mobile phone.

The new security technology developed by Professor Bill Roscoe and his team is designed to work in almost all situations: person to person, in a shop or restaurant, at a vending machine, online, or as part of a telephone conversation.

London, February 09: Scientists at NASA have claimed that Saturn’s moon of Enceladus “may contain life”, after they discovered new evidence suggesting presence of “liquid water” beneath its surface.

According to the scientists, the Cassini spacecraft flew through icy plumes created by ice volcanoes on Saturn’s moon and detected negatively charged water molecules, in a clear sign an underground sea exists.

On Earth, this short-lived type of ion is produced where water is moving, such as in waterfalls or ocean waves.

Ahmedabad, February 09: Terrain Mapping Camera on-board Chandrayaan-1 revealed such a formation in the Oceanus Procellarum area

Remnant tubular structures or tunnel-like formations from lunar volcanic flows in the past, which extend a couple of kilometres on the moon’s surface, could serve as ideal landing as well as human settlement sites for future missions, including Chandrayaan-II, according to some new findings from India’s Chandrayaan-1.

New delhi, February 08: The new innovation, pending patent approval in the U.S. and Japan, allows readers to buy or rent books online without falling prey to pirated contents

A few years after electronic book readers made inroads into the publishing industry, a new innovation now allows readers to buy or rent books online without falling prey to pirated contents.

Launched at the recently concluded World Book Fair in the capital, “thisbookreader” allows readers to rent a book for a specific time and price set by publishers.