World's largest laser fires up for attempt to build new star on Earth

SCIENTISTS are using the world's largest laser in an attempt to build a star on Earth.

The laser at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is roughly the size of three American football fields, and those in charge of it aren't joking when they say they'll create a tiny sun in the next few months.

It's called the National Ignition Facility and it's all about finding the holy grail of energy production - nuclear fusion - a high-energy reaction that would theoretically provide limitless energy for humanity.

In a nutshell, the laboratory hopes to split its laser beam up into 192 beams, then fire them at a tiny target wrapped in gold that's smaller than a fingernail.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/worlds-largest-laser-fires-up-for-attempt-to-build-new-star-on-earth/story-e6frfro0-1225859764407

Burning Meteorite on Tel Aviv Beach

At Least Five Deadly Grenade Explosions in Thai Capital

Iceland volcano eruption intensifies again, altering UK and Ireland plans

http://www.examiner.com/x-3122-Chicago-International-Travel-Examiner~y2010m4d19-Iceland-volcano-eruption-intensifies-again-altering-UK-and-Ireland-plans

The Eyjafjallajökull volcano giveth and the Eyjafjallajökull volcano taketh away.

The trouble-making volcano under an Iceland glacier blew hot and less hot Monday, alternately creating despair and hope among European airlines.

The National Air Traffic Services in the United Kingdom was optimistic that some flights might be able to get in and out of London tomorrow, but late this evening was sounding pessimistic again.

“The volcano eruption in Iceland has strengthened and a new ash cloud is spreading south and east towards the UK,” a NATS statement noted. “This demonstrates the dynamic and rapidly changing conditions in which we are working.”

Google, YouTube Received 10,000 Government Requests for User Data

and the Google-owned YouTube received more than 10,000 requests for user data from government agencies in the six months ending Dec. 31, 2009, according to newly released data.

"Like other technology and communications companies, we regularly receive requests from government agencies around the world to remove content from our services, or provide information about users of our services and products," Google says on a new site that sheds more light onto government demands for user information and requests to take offensive material off the Web.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/194651/google_youtube_received_10000_government_requests_for_user_data.html

Working in a Chinese sweatshop for HP, Microsoft, Dell and IBM

http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20090212-working-hp-microsoft-china-serving-prison-sentence-sweatshop-dell-ibm-china

A report issued by human rights activists reveals that young migrant workers are labouring under sweatshop conditions for IBM, Microsoft, HP and Dell in a factory in China. Twelve hours a day, seven days a week, the people who put your keyboard keys into place are paid 60 euro cents an hour to do it. And they're not even allowed to raise their heads or go to the toilet...

Taiwanese-owned Meitai factory in Dongguan City, Guangdong province (southeast), employs two thousand young workers, 75% of them women, to produce computer equipment including keyboards and printer cases for Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Lenovo, Microsoft and IBM (as we go to press IBM and Dell are yet to confirm this). The damning research, published online by the National Labor Committee, was carried out between June and September of 2008, and updated mid January 2009. When we contacted the companies cited in the report, only Microsoft and HP replied to say that they had been made aware of the report. Both gave similar statements about their commitment to the "fair treatment and safety" of workers contracted to produce their software.

Microsoft's Skinput turns hands, arms into buttons

tlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- In Chris Harrison's ideal world, mobile phones would be the size of matchbooks. They'd have full-size keyboards. They'd browse the Web. They'd play videos.

And, most importantly, you'd never have to touch them.

Sound like too much to ask? Maybe not.

Harrison, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University and a former intern at Microsoft Research, has developed a working prototype of a system called Skinput that does just that, essentially by turning a person's hand and forearm into a keyboard and screen.

"People don't love the iPhone keyboard. They use them. But they don't love them," Harrison said in a interview at the recent Computer-Human Interaction conference. "If you could make the iPhone keyboard as big as an arm -- that would be huge."

The story of your enslavement

Europe's airlines and airports question flight bans

Europe's air industry has called for an urgent review of flight bans imposed because of volcanic ash from Iceland.

The bodies representing most European airlines and airports have questioned the need for the unprecedented curbs, which affect millions of travellers.

Airlines that have carried out test flights say planes showed no obvious damage after flying through the ash.

EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said he hoped 50% of Europe's airspace would be risk-free on Monday.

He said the current situation was "not sustainable" and European authorities were working to find a solution that did not compromise safety.

EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas: "We have an unprecedented situation"

"We cannot just wait until this ash cloud dissipates," he added.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8628323.stm

Volcanic ash disrupts more flights across Europe... :-/

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/04/16/iceland.flights.volcano/?hpt=T2

London, England (CNN) -- Volcanic ash from Iceland snarled air traffic across Europe for a second day Friday, causing the cancellation of some 16,000 flights, according to the intergovernmental body that manages European air travel.