Teenager unlocks iPhone's secret

NEW YORK -- The last summer before college is full of possibilities. George Hotz, a slight, curly-haired teenager in Glen Rock, N.J., spent it taking on two of the largest corporations in the US technology industry, and winning.

Along with a secretive group of online collaborators, Hotz broke the restrictions that make Apple Inc.'s iPhone, arguably the hottest gadget of the year, work only on AT&T Inc.'s cellular network.

The feat took him 500 hours, or about 8 hours a day since the iPhone's June 29 launch. The equipment used included a soldering iron and a large supply of Red Bull energy drinks.

In a phone interview yesterday, Hotz said he was using the unlocked iPhone on T-Mobile's network, the only major US carrier apart from AT&T that is compatible with the iPhone.

While the possibility of switching from AT&T to T-Mobile may not be a major development for US consumers, it opens up the iPhone for use on the networks of overseas carriers.

"That's the big thing," said Hotz, who heads to college today.

The phone, which combines an innovative touch-screen interface with the media-playing abilities of the iPod, is sold only in the United States. Apple has said it plans to introduce the phone in Europe this year, but it hasn't set a date or identified carriers.

An AT&T Inc. spokesman and an Apple spokeswoman said their companies had no comment. Hotz said the companies had not been in touch with him.

The hack, which Hotz posted Thursday to his blog, is complicated and requires skill with both soldering and software. Missteps may result in the iPhone becoming useless, Hotz warned. It takes him about two hours to perform.

Since the details are public, it seems likely that a small industry may spring up to buy US iPhones, unlock them, and send them overseas. "That's exactly, like, what I don't want," Hotz said. "I don't want people making money off this."

He said he wished he could make the instructions simpler, so users could modify the phones themselves.

"But that's the simplest I could make them," Hotz said.

Technology blog Engadget yesterday reported successfully unlocking an iPhone using a different method that required no tinkering with the hardware.

The iPhone has already been made to work on overseas networks using a third method, which involves copying information from the Subscriber Identity Module, a small card with a chip that identifies a subscriber to the cellphone network.

© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company

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NASA plants the seeds of space exploration

ENDEAVOUR returned safely to Earth last night bringing home teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan, now ready for a new mission - to persuade the public of the merits of manned spaceflight.

The space shuttle dropped through Earth's atmosphere at 25 times the speed of sound before gliding on to the landing strip at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and completing a 13-day mission to the International Space Station and around the world 201 times - a journey of 4.8 million miles.

"Although it's been a short two weeks, we've accomplished a lot," said the shuttle's commander, Scott Kelly.

But trumpeting those accomplishments has become a challenge for NASA, which even as it prepares to retire its three-strong fleet of space shuttles in 2010 still faces questions as to why it continues to fly them.

It is estimated that the shuttle programme will have cost the US government $145 billion (£73 billion) by the time it is completed, while the construction of the ISS comes at a cost of £50 billion to the US and its 16 partner nations.

Anxious to inspire future generations, rather than see them join its ranks of cynics, the US space agency is stepping up its educational efforts, with Morgan, 55, acting as an ambassador for NASA in tens of thousands of schools.

Among the mother-of-two's luggage are millions of basil seeds, part of NASA's efforts to devise ways of sustaining humans outside their home planet. Some of the seeds have been in test-beds fixed outside the orbiting laboratory to establish how they withstand the harsh, zero-gravity environment of space. The seed kits will be used by scientists and students to study seed germination and how fast they grow.

"I think the kids will be excited to work with something that's been in space and to know that, for this experiment, there are no answers in the back of a book," said Miria Finckenor, an engineer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre in Alabama.

NASA has plans for 14 more shuttle flights by the end of 2010, when it will mothball the fleet and focus on the development of Orion, the vehicle that will take future astronauts to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

Endeavour's mission involved delivering and installing a new gyroscope to keep the ISS correctly positioned in orbit, and part of a new truss to carry four sets of solar panels.

The astronauts also spent 100 hours transferring supplies such as food, clothing, communications equipment, spacewalk tools and medical supplies to keep the station crew kitted out for the next six months.

Without the shuttle, which is the only vehicle capable of carrying large-scale parts and equipment into orbit, construction of the ISS would remain incomplete, limiting the ability of NASA to fulfil its ambitions for long-distance space travel.

The ISS, with its programme of experiments such as the basil seed studies, is considered a stepping stone to those aims; the 500 million-mile round-trip to Mars alone would take two years, meaning that NASA must find ways for astronauts to grow their own food en route.

Alex Blackwood, founder of the Careers Scotland Space School in Glasgow, said last night: "The shuttle is something that is iconic ... the most important aspect is the positive role models that space exploration has produced when we're trying to get people to pick up careers in science."

He added: "To critics who say it's all a waste of money ... well, for thousands of years, people have taken that view about exploration, about science. My view is that man will always explore and if in doing that we can inspire young people, it's money well spent."

Dr Mike Griffin, the head of NASA, said: "If we are to become a spacefaring nation, the next generation is going to have to learn how to survive in other forbidding, faraway places across the vastness of space."

JUST OUT OF THIS WORLD

NASA's achievements and advancements in space include:

• Medicine: Progress in the search for treatments for cancer, diabetes and other immune system disorders has come from experiments which cannot be achieved in Earth's gravity.

• Environment: Climate-change researchers have been provided with data and photography from space enabling them to track changes on the Earth's surface and better understand the effects of air pollution, deforestation and natural disasters.

• History: University of Edinburgh researchers discovered a network of medieval, man-made roads criss-crossing the island of Islay after studying photographs taken during two shuttle missions in 1994.

• Communications: Shuttle astronauts have launched, and in some cases repaired, countless satellites that have become accepted parts of everyday life on Earth.

• Space exploration: The Hubble Space Telescope, which has recorded stunning high-definition images of far-off planets and the beginnings of time, was launched aboard the shuttle Discovery in April 1990.

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Did the Fed Do the Right Thing?

The Federal Reserve, responding to what it called deteriorating market conditions that threaten economic growth, early Friday announced a surprise half-percentage-point cut in the discount rate: what it charges banks for short-term loans.

Stocks in Europe and the USA rallied on the news.

"The statement is having the desired immediate effect of boosting the stock market ... and is designed to get credit markets to re-engage in bidding for higher risk assets," said Stuart Hoffman of PNC Bank.

A statement accompanying the discount rate announcement also appeared to increase the chance of a cut in the more important federal funds rate. The Fed has held its target for the fed funds rate at 5.25% for more than a year.

Since hitting a record close of 14,000.41 a month ago, the Dow Jones industrial average had shed 1,154.63 points in a string of triple-digit losing days that raised anxiety levels not just on Wall Street but also on Main Street.

The markets have been pummeled by a rapidly spreading credit crisis that began with rising defaults in subprime mortgages — home loans made to people with weak credit histories. Now the problems are spreading to other borrowers.

The Fed, which had already pumped billions of dollars of liquidity into the financial system over the past week, also said Friday that it would extend the terms of its discount loans, which must be backed by sound collateral, to 30 days from overnight. And borrowers can renew the loans.

The move, which cuts the discount rate to 5.75% from 6.25%, is designed to ease a credit crunch in financial markets by giving banks access to somewhat longer-term financing if they can't borrow anywhere else.

The Fed is clearly trying to make the discount rate a more attractive option for borrowers by extending the terms of the loans to up to 30 days or more, and cutting the interest rate.

The Fed explicitly noted that sound home mortgages can be used as collateral for the discount loans. That could be designed to give more lenders confidence to approve mortgages, including so-called jumbo loans over $417,000, for which the secondary, or resale, market has largely dried up.

But market analysts caution that the move is not as far-reaching as a cut in the federal funds rate, the key interest rate that the Fed uses to manage the economy. The Fed has held its target for that rate at 5.25% for more than a year. The central bank pumped billions of dollars into the financial system the past week to keep the rate at that level and make sure banks could meet cash demands. But that hasn't staunched the market bleeding.

"Unlike the Fed funds rate — which affects all banks' cost of funds — a discount rate cut only lowers the cost of emergency borrowing by institutions in distress," said Carl Weinberg of High Frequency Economics.

"However, we believe that the Fed's action and statement today raise the odds of a reduction in the Fed funds rate at the September FOMC meeting, or perhaps even before," he said.

"Financial market conditions have deteriorated, and tighter credit conditions and increased uncertainty have the potential to restrain economic growth going forward," the Fed said Friday, in language that makes a future rate cut more likely.

"In these circumstances, although recent data suggest that the economy has continued to expand at a moderate pace, the (Fed) judges that the downside risks to growth have increased appreciably," the central bank said.

The Fed said it would continue to monitor the situation and act as needed to mitigate adverse effects on the economy. It emphasized that it would stay engaged until market conditions "improve materially."

The discount rate is applied to loans the Fed makes directly to banks, while the federal funds rate covers loans that banks make to each other on a short-term basis. As a result, the fed funds rate is much more critical in determining interest rates in the economy, such as banks' prime lending rate, the base rate for many consumer and business loans.

"At the risk of lifting the wizard's curtain and ruining this gesture, I need to point out that a cut in the discount rate is not an ease," Stephen Stanley of RBS Greenwich Capital said in an advisory to clients, pointing out that borrowing through the Fed's discount window was minimal through Wednesday.

"This should be thought of as another (indeed, probably the last) intermediate step short of an ease" in the fed funds rate, Stanley said.

The Fed's policymaking Open Market Committee held a rare gathering Thursday — its next, regularly scheduled meeting is Sept. 18 — to debate Friday's move. Some of the Fed Board of Governors participated in person and other regional Federal Reserve bank presidents participated remotely. The vote was unanimous, though Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher voted as an alternate to St. Louis Fed president William Poole.

The nation's once high-flying housing market is sinking deeper into gloom, and credit, the lifeblood of the economy, is drying up. A growing number of economists believe these problems, including declining consumer confidence, could lead to a recession.

Contributing: Associated Press

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Antioxidants Don’t Lower Heart Risk

Vitamins C, E, and beta-carotene are not effective for preventing heart attacks, strokes, or related deaths, according to one of the longest studies ever to examine the cardiovascular impact of antioxidant supplements.

The study included more than 8,000 women at high risk for cardiovascular disease who took the vitamin supplements, either alone or in combination, for close to a decade.

During this time no evidence emerged of a benefit for antioxidant supplementation.

The findings are consistent with other major studies showing antioxidants and other nutritional supplements to be ineffective for the prevention of heart disease and strokes, cardiovascular nutrition expert Alice Lichtenstein, DSc, tells WebMD.

Some of these studies even found specific supplements to be harmful, although the latest study did not.

“Right now we are all being very cautious about dietary supplements,” says Lichtenstein, who directs the cardiovascular nutrition lab at Boston’s Tufts University. “These supplements don’t seem to have clear advantages in people who aren’t deficient, and there is a concern that overdoing them may have adverse consequences.”

Antioxidants and the Heart

Oxidative damage at the cellular level is thought to play an important role in heart and vascular disease by promoting inflammation. The thinking has been that antioxidants like vitamin C, E, and beta-carotene could protect against cardiovascular disease by reducing oxidative stress.

Researcher Nancy R. Cook, ScD, and colleagues from Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston tested the theory in their study, published in the latest issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

A total of 8,171 women were recruited who had had either a heart attack or stroke or who had at least three cardiac risk factors such as having high cholesterol, diabetes, or high blood pressure, being a current smoker, and being obese.

The average age of the women at recruitment was 60, and they were followed for an average of 9.4 years.

During this time, the women took either vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, a combination of the antioxidants, or placebo. There were 274 heart attacks, 298 strokes, 889 bypass surgeries or angioplasties, and 395 deaths due to cardiovascular causes.

None of the vitamins, either alone or in combination, were found to significantly impact any of these cardiovascular outcomes.

Women who took vitamins C and E did have slightly fewer strokes, but it was not clear if the association was real or a function of the study design.

“Overall we found no benefit on the primary combined end point for any of the antioxidant agents tested, alone or in combination. We also found no evidence for harm,” Cook and colleagues wrote in the Aug. 13/27 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

“While additional research into combinations of agents, particularly for stroke, may be of interest, widespread use of these individual agents for cardiovascular protection does not appear warranted.”

Healthy Diet Lowers Risk

While the intervention studies examining antioxidant supplements for protection against heart attacks and strokes have proven disappointing, study after study has also shown that eating a nutrient-rich diet can lower risk, says Lichtenstein, who is a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association.

“Isolating individual components of a healthy diet hasn’t worked, but it does appear that a diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains is protective,” she says.

Study co-author JoAnn Manson, MD, who is chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, agrees.

“This research underscores the importance of focusing on proven methods for preventing cardiovascular disease, including physical activity, healthy diet, controlling high blood pressure and high cholesterol, maintaining healthy weight, and avoiding tobacco,” she says in a news release

Source :© 2007 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved.

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NASA Finds Huge Gouge In Shuttle

There's new trouble for the Space Shuttle Endeavour, but we won't know how bad it is until the weekend. NASA had the crew of the rocket do an inspection Friday just before it docked with the International Space Station.

After studying the pictures from the maneuver, scientists believed they saw something wrong. So they took a closer look. Their analysis: a piece of ice that came from a fuel tank a minute after liftoff on Wednesday may have broken off and gouged the underside of the ship. Officials still aren't sure how serious the problem is or what it might mean when the crew - which includes Canadian Dave Williams - attempts a re-entry into Earth's atmosphere two weeks from now.

Astronauts will use the Canadarm to do further tests on Sunday, using lasers to gauge the size of the gash in order to determine if repairs are needed.

Even a small problem is deemed significant on the sturdy but still fragile craft. A piece of foam insulation that damaged the wing is believed responsible for the destruction of the Columbia, which broke into pieces in the skies over Texas in February 2003. At least nine other pieces of the same material are believed to have come off during this flight, and three pieces appeared to strike the craft. None is believed to have been big enough to cause critical damage.

BRUCE WEAVER/AFP/Getty Images

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Lily Allen’s Work Visa Has Expired

Lily Allen has just found out that her work Visa has expired when she landed in the US.

Lilly who is due to tour the US this September, was detained at LAX for 5 hours in connection with an arrest for an alleged assault in London a few months back.

A spokesman for Lily has said that “She’s still in America. All her commitments will carry on as normal. The work visa will be sorted out by her next visit.”

Lily will need a new work visa before she returns to the US on the 6th September which is when she is due to play in San Diego and attend the MTV VMA’s on 9th September

Lily said that “I want my fans to know that I will do everything I can to be back in America in September. I don’t like letting my fans down and this is a situation that I am sure we can sort.”

Do you think that she should have someone working for her that would have noticed that her visa was running out before it did?

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Russia accused of attacking Georgia with missile

Georgia - Georgian officials demanded that Russia explain why a pair of Russian fighter jets violated Georgian airspace and fired a missile that landed near a village north of the capital.

"We have summoned the Russian ambassador and protested the attack against a sovereign country and we do expect a serious explanation and a serious Russian response," said Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili.

According to the minister, Georgian radar and eyewitnesses recorded the aircraft entering Georgian airspace, dropping a 1,000 kilogram (2,200 pound) precision-guided bomb.

Authorities said the ordnance landed near the village of Tsitelubani, but did not explode and there were no casualties. Video from the site showed wreckage with Russian writing on it.

A senior official in Russia's air force quickly denied the reports.

© NewsGirl.Org

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Britney, K-Fed to celebrate divorce at Disney World

The Toxic singer - whose divorce from Kevin was finalised on Monday - wants to whisk him and their two children, 22-month-old Sean Preston and 10-month-old Jayden James, off to the Florida resort.

Although the couple are now officially divorced, custody arrangements for the two boys are yet to finalised.

Britney is keen to be the primary carer and sees the holiday as the perfect opportunity to show Kevin that she is a good parent.

A source said: "Britney loves Disney and thinks it's the perfect place for her and Kevin to show the children they are still a family.

"They are sharing custody at the moment, but Britney would love to get full custody but needs to win Kevin over."

The pair, who split last November after a two-year marriage, have rowed constantly over the care of their two sons.

Kevin, who has two other children from a previous relationship, previously claimed the 25-year-old pop star - who recently completed a stint in rehab for alcoholism - was too unstable to be a full-time mother.

Britney's lawyer, Laura Wasser, says the pair are willing to put their differences aside for the sake of Sean Preston and Jayden James.

She said: "The divorce is final. Britney is okay with the arrangements. She would like to be with the kids more. She said that. She thinks Kevin would like that too."

Source : The Stuff

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Minneapolis Bridge Into Collapses Into Mississippi River

Minneapolis Bridge Jammed With Rush-Hour Traffic Collapses Into Mississippi River, Killing 7

MINNEAPOLIS - An interstate bridge jammed with rush-hour traffic suddenly broke into huge sections and collapsed into the Mississippi River Wednesday, pitching dozens of cars 60 feet into the water and killing at least six people.

The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was in the midst of being repaired and had several lanes closed when it crumbled.

"There were two lanes of traffic, bumper to bumper, at the point of the collapse. Those cars did go into the river," Minneapolis Police Lt. Amelia Huffman. "At this point there is nothing to suggest that this was anything other than a structural collapse."

Jamie Winegar of Houston was sitting in traffic shortly after 6 p.m. when all of a sudden she started hearing "boom, boom, boom and we were just dropping, dropping, dropping, dropping."

The car she was riding in landed on top of a smaller car but did not fall into the water. She said her nephew yelled, "'It's an earthquake!' and then we realized the bridge was collapsing."

At least seven people were killed and 60 were taken to area hospitals, authorities said. Dr. Joseph Clinton, emergency medical chief at Hennepin County Medical Center, said the hospital treated 28 injured people , including six who were in critical condition.

Clinton said at least one of the victims had drowned.

The Homeland Security Department also said the collapse did not appear to be terrorism-related. The National Transportation Safety Board planned to send a team of investigators to Minneapolis, NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the bridge was inspected by the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 2005 and 2006 and that no structural problems were noted. "There were some minor things that needed attention," he said.

Police Chief Tim Dolan said officers were checking other bridges as a precaution.

The steel-arched bridge, which was built in 1967, rises about 64 feet above the river. An estimated 50 vehicles plunged into the water and onto the land below.

A burning truck and a school bus clung to one slanted slab. The bus had just crossed the bridge before it crumpled into pieces.

Christine Swift's 10-year-old daughter, Kaleigh, was on the bus, returning from a field trip and called her mother. "She was screaming, 'The bridge collapsed!'" Swift said.

She said a police officer told her all the kids got off the bus safely.

It appeared that the center section of the bridge dropped straight down and pancaked in the middle of the river, leaving several vehicles stranded on a broken island of wreckage. As divers plumbed the waters, other rescuers searched frantically for victims amid broken, zigzagged sections of blacktop. Some of the injured were carried up the riverbanks.

Dozens of vehicles were scattered and stacked on top of each other amid the rubble. Some people were stranded on parts of the bridge that weren't completely in the water.

Many motorists could have been headed to the Minnesota Twins game not far from the bridge. Team officials decided to play the game after conferring with department of public safety officials. It was decided that sending 20,000-25,000 people back into traffic could hinder rescue efforts, said team president Dave St. Peter.

The bridge was built with a single 458-foot-long steel arch to avoid putting any piers in the water that might interfere with river navigation.

Catherine Yankelevich survived a 1994 earthquake in Northridge, Calif., and was on the I-35W bridge when it began to shake. "Cars started flying and I was falling and saw the water," she said. After her car plunged into the river, she climbed out the driver's side window and swam to shore uninjured.

Workers have been repairing the 40-year-old bridge's surface as part of improvements along that stretch of the interstate, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported on its Web site.

"Obviously, this is a catastrophe of historic proportions for Minnesota," said Gov. Tim Pawlenty. "And right now we are focused on making sure that we are doing everything to respond to the needs of those individuals that may have been harmed in this incident."

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