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Charles Darwin's ecological experiment on Ascension isle

A lonely island in the middle of the South Atlantic conceals Charles Darwin's best-kept secret.

Two hundred years ago, Ascension Island was a barren volcanic edifice.

Today, its peaks are covered by lush tropical "cloud forest".

What happened in the interim is the amazing story of how the architect of evolution, Kew Gardens and the Royal Navy conspired to build a fully functioning, but totally artificial ecosystem.

 

Thomas Edison's plot to hijack the movie industry

It was a dark and stormy night on December 18, 1908. Okay—maybe it wasn't so dark and stormy. But it should have been, because that was the night Thomas Edison tried to hijack the motion picture industry.

"With his beetle brows, long wispy hair, and beatific look, Edison might have seemed the addled inventor," writes the historian Neil Gabler, "but he was a shrewd businessman and a fearsome adversary who was never loath to take credit for any invention, whether he was responsible or not."

Plan for nationwide free wireless broadband finally shot down

For four years the Federal Communications Commission tossed the idea  around like a beach ball: a coast-to-coast free wireless service across the low end of the 2GHz "AWS-3" band. The service would pay for itself via advertisements and by selling commercial access to various portions of the license area. The company that proposed the plan, M2Z Networks, would commit to building out the project in a decade, and pay five percent of its annual revenue to the United States Treasury.

Thermaltake Mobile Fan 12

The Thermaltake Mobile Fan 12 is a small external fan that one would use to cool themselves or any type of electronic device that you may be working one. Chances are you would probably like to use to help cool that overheating laptop you work with on a daily basis.

US undergrads crash NASA satellite into Arctic

Undergraduate students in America managed to get control of the manoeuvring thrusters of an orbiting 2000-lb NASA satellite at the weekend, sending it plummeting into the Earth's atmosphere to rain burning fragments across the chilly seas north of Norway and Russia.

Microsoft Unveils New Xbox 360 Wireless Controller

Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled a new wireless Xbox 360 controller, which features a new D-pad that transforms from a plus to a disc.

Computer World: Eight great virtual appliances for VMware, free for the downloading

Virtual appliances are great for the same reasons physical appliances took the IT world by storm: They make deployment a snap -- even instantaneous -- while at the same time reducing costs. It's a formula that made hardware-based appliances immensely popular for network security, backup, storage networking, file services, email, and many other single-focus solutions.

Computer World: 6 useful Wi-Fi tools for Windows

 We live in a mobile world; if you have a laptop (and who doesn't?), that means constantly connecting to the Internet via Wi-Fi. You most likely use Wi-Fi not just when you're on the road at cafés, airports or hotels, but to connect to your home network too. You might even connect to a wireless network at the office.

Microsoft Releases New 'Fix-it' for DLL Vulnerability

Microsoft released some additional help today to plug security holes opened by the DLL loading vulnerabilities present in many applications.

Antec's New soundscience(tm) Speaker System Delivers Full High-Definition 3D Performance

Designed to deliver an audio experience matching the visual immersion of 3D video, the soundscience rockus 3D 2.1 speaker system is the best way to experience game and movie sound in 3D.  3Dsst™, soundscience’s proprietary 3D technology, actively analyses incoming stereo audio signals and intelligently places them into a 3D sound field.  The results are realistic, immersive 3D soundscapes for your movies and games from 2.1 speakers.