Tech & Science

The Standing Committee on IT (Information Technology) Auditing of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions is meeting for the fourteenth time in Paro, Bhutan. On Wednesday the 27th, Bhutanese Foreign Minister Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk opened the conference, voicing support for the Bhutanese Auditing agency: "The Royal Government, have always considered the Royal Audit Authority of Bhutan as an important body towards promoting a corruption free government and a proper utilization of our resources." Fifty auditors from 21 countr

With two space walks, 78 million miles and six months on board the International Space Station under their belts, Commander-Science Officer Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov, the station's 10th crew, landed in Kazakhstan in a Soyuz spacecraft at 6:08 p.m. EDT Sunday. Also returning was European Space Agency Astronaut Roberto Vittori of Italy, who launched to the Station with the Expedition 11 crew and spent eight days doing experiments. He was aboard under a contract between ESA and the Russian Federal Space Agency. The re-ent

Earth science experts studying ocean currents and their relationship to snow melts have discovered that an unusual heating of the ground in one place on our planet can choke off sea life over a thousand miles away. In a new NASA funded study, they have found that a decline in winter and spring snow cover over Southwest Asia and the Himalayan mountain range is creating conditions for more widespread blooms of ocean plants in the Arabian Sea. The decrease in snow cover has led to greater differences in both temperature and pressure systems betw

Creative Technology Ltd, maker of the popular Zen and Zen Micro MP3 player ranges, has reported a 72% drop in quarterly profits. However sales rose 65%. Net income was $15.9m, $0.18 a share; down from $57m or $0.68 a share a year earlier. Sales were $333.8m. The results show the extent of Creative's current price war with rival Apple Computer. Both firms have dropped prices on key products on numerous occasions in recent months in an attempt to steal market share in the fast growing digital audio market. Creative, based in Singapore, has t

Papyrologists at Oxford University in England last week reported major literary finds in examining old fragments of papyrus with a new technique: multi-spectral imaging (MSI). The fragments were unearthed near the buried town of Oxyrhynchus, Egypt in a major archaeological find a century ago. Many of the fragments were unable to be read until now. Multi-Spectral Imaging Multi-Spectral Imaging (MSI) is based on technology originally developed by NASA to photograph features of other worlds in bands beyond the visible spectrum, both infrared

After several months in beta, Opera 8 for Windows and Linux was released yesterday. The Opera browser is considered by many to be fast, small and standards-compliant. Håkon Wium Lie, the CTO of Opera Software said "The vast majority of Internet users have had to deal with a slow and insecure browser for too long. People are spending more time online, and with the increase in online fraud it is vital that they have a browser that is fast, secure and easy to use. That's what we offer with Opera 8." He described Opera 8 as a "major leap in browse

The Romanian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has discussed its objectives for the future in a seminar about informational services development. Romanian Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, as well as the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Zsolt Nagy, presented the government's major targets for the expansion and development of information services. These include the sale of the government's remaining shares in telecommunication corporations Romtelecom and Postelecom, the relaunching of mobile phone

Adobe Systems, Inc. announced today that they will acquire Macromedia, Inc. for an estimated $3.4 billion in stock. Bruce Chizen, the chief executive officer of Adobe said that "Customers are calling for integrated software solutions that enable them to create, manage and deliver a wide range of compelling content and applications -- from documents and images to audio and video. By combining our powerful development, authoring and collaboration software -- along with the complementary functionality of PDF and Flash -- Adobe has the opportunity

Researchers at Oxford University are using state-of-the-art technology to uncover works from some of the most important writers of the ancient world, works which have not been read for many centuries. They come from a cache of papyri that were salvaged about a hundred years ago in the Greco-Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus. The ink on many of these papyri had faded to the point that no text at all was visible to the naked eye, yet using state of the art techniques borrowed from satellite imaging, researchers were able to use infra-red light to see

The 11th crew of the International Space Station rocketed into space Thursday at 8:46 EDT. The Expedition 11 crew rode aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and two of them will remain in their new home-away-from-home for six months. They were given a heartfelt send-off by Russian Mission Control chief Vladimir Solovyov: "The people who are doing the job are real romantics who are involved in fascinating work for a miserable salary," he told reporters after the launch, which he called a "remarkable event." Cosmonauts typically earn $144 to $179

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning to 3,747 laboratories in the United States and 17 other countries around the world, instructing them to destroy samples of the deadly H2N2 Asian influenza virus that was mistakenly sent to them last fall by the College of American Pathologists, US company Meridian Bioscience and several other organizations responsible for testing laboratory proficiency worldwide, as soon as possible. The H2N2 flu strain killed between 1 million and 4 million people in 1957 and is thought to have become extin

Microsoft has announced a low-cost Windows XP Starter Edition is to be launched in Brazil. Windows XP Starter Edition has been previously released in several other countries in Asia and Russia. These editions are sold only as a low-cost OEM bundle. The edition is quite similar to Windows XP Home but with some restrictions: only three applications may be run concurrently, 800×600 is the maximum display resolution and home networking is disabled. Brazil has been increasingly adopting open source software for IT projects, rather than using Micro