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Astronauts float inside SpaceX Dragon capsule

Sat, 26 May 2012 22:53:49 +0530

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station opened the hatch and floated inside a Space Exploration Technologies' Dragon capsule on Saturday, the first privately owned spaceship to reach the orbital outpost, NASA said. Running ahead of schedule, station commander Oleg Kononenko and flight engineer Don Pettit opened the hatch to Dragon just before 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT), NASA mission commentator Josh Byerly reported from Mission Control in Houston. The bell-shaped capsule, which was making its second test flight, arrived at the space station on Friday. ...

Canada's RIM to cut at least 2000 jobs - report

Sat, 26 May 2012 21:14:58 +0530

TORONTO (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd is preparing for a major restructuring beginning in the next couple of weeks that will see it eliminate at least 2,000 jobs worldwide, the Globe and Mail reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources. The Canadian newspaper, citing several people close to the company, reported that the next round is layoffs is said to be planned for around June 1 - a day before the BlackBerry smartphone maker's first quarter ends - but some expect the announcement even earlier. ...

People actually smile when they're frustrated

Sat, 26 May 2012 15:43:08 +0530

Washington, May 26 (ANI): It may be hard to believe but a new study has found that most people smile when they're frustrated.

New website to let you send email to your future self

Sat, 26 May 2012 15:09:04 +0530

London, May 26 (ANI): A website has launched a new service, which lets users send 'time capsule' emails to their future self.

Sound of fabled Aussie bush creature 'Yowies' recorded

Sat, 26 May 2012 15:08:16 +0530

Melbourne, May 26 (ANI): A US television crew has captured audio that they believe proves the existence of yowies -the fabled ape-like creature of the Aussie bush.

Africa and Australasia to host biggest radio telescope ever built

Sat, 26 May 2012 13:35:30 +0530

London, May 26 (ANI): South Africa, Australia and New Zealand have decided to host the biggest radio telescope ever built that will sweep the sky for answers to the major outstanding questions in astronomy.

Aliens that visit Earth won't enslave or vaporize us, says E.T. hunter

Sat, 26 May 2012 13:18:37 +0530

Washington, May 26 (ANI): Sci-Fi movies like 'Battleship' and 'Men in Black 3' often depict aliens terrorizing our planet.

Nasdaq chaos engulfed Facebook IPO

Sat, 26 May 2012 13:14:03 +0530

(Reuters) - Dead silence. For nearly 20 minutes on the morning of Facebook Inc's trading debut last Friday, the line Nasdaq had opened up to keep traders informed about the social media company's $16 billion IPO had been mute. Well after the stock was supposed to have opened at 11 a.m. New York time, no one from Nasdaq was talking - and there was still no sign of trading. Finally, at 11:28 a.m., an unidentified person announced that the shares would open in about 2 minutes. Nasdaq also said orders and cancellations were still being processed, according to several sources listening to the call. ...

Microsoft requested Google to remove 500,000 links to pirated software in April

Sat, 26 May 2012 12:46:45 +0530

Washington, May 26 (ANI): Software giant Microsoft requested Google to remove over 500,000 links from its search index in April, new figures published by the search giant have revealed.

US' SpaceX makes history after successfully attaching Dragon cargo ship with ISS

Sat, 26 May 2012 12:26:54 +0530

Texas, May 26 (ANI): The California SpaceX company has been successful in attaching its unmanned Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS).

Turmeric can help our immune system fight off infection

Sat, 26 May 2012 12:26:31 +0530

Washington, May 26 (ANI): Scientists have discovered that curcumin, a compound found in the cooking spice turmeric, can cause a modest but measurable increase in levels of a protein that's known to be important in the "innate" immune system, helping to prevent infection in humans and other animals.

How plants 'know' when to flower

Sat, 26 May 2012 11:28:35 +0530

Washington, May 26 (ANI): In a new study, scientists have claimed that they have pinpointed the last crucial piece of the 80-year-old puzzle of how plants "know" when to flower.

Delaying school entry until 7 can boost kids' reading skills

Sat, 26 May 2012 10:58:15 +0530

London, May 25 (ANI): Starting school at seven can improve children's grasp of reading at the end of primary education, researchers have revealed.

Twitter admits to tracking users' activities across Internet

Sat, 26 May 2012 10:34:56 +0530

London, May 26 (ANI): Micro blogging website Twitter has revealed that it tracks its users' movements across the Internet in order to suggest relevant content to tweeters.

SpaceX capsule docks at space station, opens new era

Sat, 26 May 2012 02:55:32 +0530

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship and guided the privately owned craft into a docking berth on Friday, opening a new chapter in the U.S. space program. The unmanned capsule was the first commercial spaceship to reach the orbital outpost. "This really is the beginning of a new era in commercial spaceflight," said Alan Lindenmoyer, who manages NASA's commercial space transportation programs. Using the station's 58-foot long (17.7-meter) robotic crane, NASA astronaut Don Pettit snared Dragon at 9:56 a.m. ...

Feeding frenzy for lawyers in botched Facebook IPO

Sat, 26 May 2012 02:20:19 +0530

(Reuters) - Facebook Inc's bungled initial public offering has gone from one of the most highly anticipated stock offerings to a hot legal opportunity for lawyers on both sides of shareholder litigation. Court battles over the fizzled IPO could run for years, as the social networking company, the banks that took it public and the Nasdaq OMX Group Inc face claims that they short-changed investors. Besides fighting off claims by Facebook shareholders, the defendants will also need lawyers to respond to inquiries from government investigators looking into how the IPO was handled. ...

Facebook options debut a wild card for volatility

Sat, 26 May 2012 02:16:41 +0530

REUTERS - Investors can hope the debut of options on Facebook Inc goes more smoothly than the long-awaited debut of the social networking service's stock on May 18. While the stock's puts and calls are expected to be popular, the big wild card is volatility and ultimately, the options price. Traders will get a fresh start on options on the Internet giant when the contracts are offered on U.S. options exchanges on May 29. ...

Citi unit lost $20 mln in Facebook IPO - source

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:47:13 +0530

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc's Automated Trading Desk had trading losses of about $20 million from Facebook Inc's botched initial public offering on Nasdaq OMX Group Inc's U.S. exchange, a source with knowledge of the situation said on Friday. The unit's losses were in addition to claims by market makers Knight Capital Group Inc and Citadel Securities, which each had losses of $30 million to $35 million. UBS AG , the other large market maker involved in the IPO of the social networking company on May 18, has not disclosed any losses. ...

SpaceX Dragon capsule docks with space station

Fri, 25 May 2012 22:41:47 +0530

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured Space Exploration Technologies' Dragon cargo ship and guided it into a berth on Friday, docking the first privately owned vehicle to reach the orbital outpost. Using the station's 58-foot long (17.7-meter) robotic crane, NASA astronaut Don Pettit snared Dragon at 9:56 a.m. EDT (1356 GMT) as the two spacecraft zoomed 250 miles (400 km) over northwest Australia at 17,500 miles (28,164 km) per hour. "It looks like we've got us a dragon by the tail," Pettit radioed to NASA Mission Control in Houston. ...

Story by Pultizer Prize winner serialized on Twitter

Fri, 25 May 2012 22:39:09 +0530

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jennifer Egan for the New Yorker is being serialized in 10 installments on Twitter, according to the magazine. The New Yorker said the first installment of the story, a spy thriller called "Black Box, went out on Thursday night. "The story is written in terse dispatches of 140 characters or less, which will be tweeted, through The New Yorker Fiction Department's Twitter handle, @NYerFiction, in ten nightly installments between 8 and 9 P.M. E.T," it said in a statement. ...

Groupon tests payments rival to PayPal, Square

Fri, 25 May 2012 21:25:55 +0530

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Groupon Inc is testing a payments service that lets merchants accept credit cards at what could be a knock-down price, according to two people familiar with the matter. The move puts the world's largest daily-deals company in direct competition with eBay Inc's PayPal, and start-up Square Inc, partly owned by Visa Inc. Groupon started in 2008 by offering heavily discounted deals on local goods and services. ...

They're here. They're geeks. Get used to it

Fri, 25 May 2012 21:24:32 +0530

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Turns out, geeks are inheriting the earth. Thanks to ubiquitous consumer electronics and the prominence of technology executives like Facebook Inc's Mark Zuckerberg and the late Steve Jobs of Apple Inc, it's no longer an insult to be called a geek. The geek -- broadly speaking, the tech-obsessed, socially-awkward type who spends more time online than offline -- is more respected than ever, according to a survey by Modis, the technology staffing arm of Adecco SA , the world's biggest staffing company. ...

Dell in talks to buy Quest Software - report

Fri, 25 May 2012 20:13:31 +0530

REUTERS - Dell Inc is in talks to buy Quest Software Inc, the network security software maker that had earlier agreed to be acquired by Insight Venture Partners for $2 billion, Bloomberg reported, quoting sources. Quest shares were up 5 percent at $26.45 in early trading on Friday on the Nasdaq. Shares of the company, which now has a market value of $2.12 billion, gained more than a third of their value after Insight Venture's offer. Quest said earlier this month it had received multiple alternative proposals during its go-shop period following the offer from the private investment firm. ...

Astronauts snare SpaceX Dragon capsule - NASA

Fri, 25 May 2012 19:41:28 +0530

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured Space Exploration Technologies' Dragon cargo ship on Friday, the first privately owned vehicle to reach the orbital outpost. Using the station's 58-foot long (17.7-meter) robotic crane, NASA astronaut Don Pettit snared Dragon at 9:56 a.m. EDT (1356 GMT) as the two spacecraft soared 250 miles (400 km) over northwest Australia at 17,500 mph. "It looks like we've got us a dragon by the tail," Pettit radioed to NASA Mission Control in Houston. ...

Giant radio telescope gets split location

Fri, 25 May 2012 19:23:33 +0530

LONDON/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The world's biggest and most advanced radio telescope, capable of detecting signs of extraterrestrial life in the far reaches of the universe, will be spread across South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The decision to split the location of the $2 billion "Square Kilometre Array" followed intense lobbying by the two leading bidders, South Africa one side and a joint bid from Australia and New Zealand on the other. ...

Solar powered plane takes 'last rehearsal' flight over Mediterranean

Fri, 25 May 2012 18:13:49 +0530

London, May 25 (ANI): A solar powered plane takes off for its "last rehearsal" before a round-the-world attempt in 2014.

Asteroid measured when nudged by sunlight

Fri, 25 May 2012 17:54:56 +0530

Washington, May 25 (ANI): NASA scientists have measured the orbit of asteroid, 1999 RQ36, with such accuracy that they were able to directly measure the drift resulting from a subtle but important force called the Yarkovsky effect - the slight push created when the asteroid absorbs sunlight and re-emits that energy as heat.

Potential new vaccine target for bacterial meningitis identified

Fri, 25 May 2012 17:54:56 +0530

Washington, May 25 (ANI): Researchers have identified a protein responsible for bacterial meningitis.

Now, floor tiles that generate electricity from pedestrians

Fri, 25 May 2012 17:26:21 +0530

Washington, May 25 (ANI): This summer shoppers at one of the largest malls in Europe, the Westfield Stratford City shopping center in east London, will be generating more than just revenue for the stores.

Now, helmet that wards off signs of ageing as users sleep

Fri, 25 May 2012 17:26:18 +0530

London, May 25 (ANI): A Japanese firm has unveiled a tight-fitting helmet, which claims to firm up complexion and reduce sagging while a person sleeps.