Robo Scientist

That's an interesting piece of news which I came across while moving through a news website.....its interesting to note that now we need computers to do the job of thinking......hehehe.

Scientists have created an ideal colleague - a robot that performs hundreds of repetitive experiments.

The robot, called Adam, is the first machine to have independently "discovered new scientific knowledge".

It has already identified the role of several genes in yeast cells, and is able to plan further experiments to test its own hypotheses.

The UK-based team that built Adam at Aberystwyth University describes the breakthrough in the journal Science.Ross King from the department of computer science at Aberystwyth University, and who led the team, told BBC News that he envisaged a future when human scientists' time would be "freed up to do more advanced experiments".

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"I wanted to ask the readers about their view on this kind of development.....Robo scientist......this might seem to be advanced but what next!!!!! Are we going to witness a separate body in the science world to award the excellence in science by robots .....like the Nobel Prize in Artificial Research. .....hehe. Sometimes technological developments irritate me when I am not able to decide whether its good for the future of humanity or bad for the humans themselves."

What's your take on it??????? ........type on!!!!!!!! :) 

Selfhealing substances

Scientists have devised a coating that when scratched heals itself upon exposure to sunlight.

The secret of the material lies in using molecules made from chitosan, which is derived from the shells of crabs and other crustaceans.

In the event of a scratch, ultraviolet light drives a chemical reaction that patches the damage.

The work by University of Southern Mississippi researchers is reported in the journal Science.

They designed molecules joining ring-shaped molecules called oxetane with chitosan.

The custom-made molecules were added to a standard mix of polyurethane, a popular varnishing material that is also used in products ranging from soft furnishings to swimsuits.

Scratches or damage to the polyurethane coat split the oxetane rings, revealing loose ends that are highly likely to chemically react.

In the ultraviolet light provided by the sun, the chitosan molecules split in two, joining to the oxetane's reactive ends.

"In essence you create a scratch, and that scratch will disappear upon exposure to the sun," said Professor Marek Urban, director of the university's school of polymers and high-performance materials.

Professor Urban and graduate student Biswajit Ghosh found that their coatings were able to fully heal themselves in just 30 minutes.

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Selfhealing substances

FireFox Fastest!!!!!

Mozilla reported more vulnerabilities in its Firefox web browser last year than Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera combined, but it dealt with those flaws quicker than Microsoft, according to a new report by vulnerability-testing company Secunia.

Firefox had 115 reported flaws in 2008, nearly four times as many as every other popular browser, and nearly twice as many as Microsoft and Apple combined, according to browser vulnerability research released on Thursday. In comparison, Microsoft reported 31 flaws in IE, Apple reported 32 in Safari and Opera reported 30.

However, the report found that Mozilla was quicker to patch Firefox's flaws that were disclosed publicly without vendor notification compared with Microsoft. These 'zero day' vulnerability disclosures contain information that can be used by attackers to write exploits for the flaw. The longer it takes vendors to release an update that repairs the vulnerability, the longer users of the browser are at risk.

Secunia reported six incidences in which Microsoft was publicly notified of browser vulnerabilities, two of which the security company labelled as "high" or "moderate" in severity. Meanwhile, Mozilla experienced three such occurrences, all of which Secunia labeled as "less critical" or "not critical".

Microsoft took 110 days to issue patches for the two most serious flaws, while it took Mozilla an average of 43 days to address its three flaws, Secunia reported. One of the IE vulnerabilities remained open for 294 days in 2008, according to the report.

The revelation comes as Mozilla released an update on Wednesday to Firefox, its second in about a month. Mozilla developers said the update fixes six critical vulnerabilities found in Firefox 3.0.6, the most serious of which could allow attackers to run arbitrary code on a victim's computer.

Firefox continues to chip away at Internet Explorer's market dominance. Mozilla now has 21.77 percent of the global browser market share, compared with IE's 67.44 percent, a drop of more than seven percentage points in a year, according to figures from web-metrics company Net Applications.

TechnoPhiles Rocks!!!!

Hello Techies on the Net I take immense pleasure in announcing that Your own TECHNOPHILES has taken birth in the Web Arena!!!!!

We've Launched our own Website http://www.technophiles.co.in. This is Website contains all the details about the club and its activities. The Gallery section has been darted in to give a glimpse of the routine activities of the club.

Yes!!!!! if uptill now you've seen the site you must have noticed the very own child of Technophiles ----"BODH" has also been given a separate section which Flaunts the achievements of the Team BODH--2008. The planning and preparation of BODH-2009 have already begun.

We will speed the blood in our viens to the maximum and make this time's event a memorable one for everyone. Your Contribution to the event would be greatly welcomed by the team.

So Geeks and Techies if you haven't visited the Electronic Face of Technophiles -- Addicted to Questioning then what are you waiting for..........Chirstmas!!!!!

Go Check out http://www.technophiles.co.in

And ya don't forget to move your fingers on keyboard and give us a review of the website.

Browser Battles

Microsoft has stepped up the battle to win back users with the latest release of its Internet Explorer browser.

The US software giant says IE 8 is faster, easier to use and more secure than its competitors.

"We have made IE 8 the best browser for the way people really do use the web," said Microsoft's Amy Barzdukas.

"Microsoft needs to say these things because it continues to lose market share to Firefox, Chrome and Safari," said Gartner analyst Neil MacDonald.

Recent figures have shown that Microsoft's dominance in this space has been chipped away by competitors.

At the end of last year, data from Net Applications showed the software giant's market share dropped below 70% for the first time in eight years to 68%.

Meanwhile Mozilla broke the 20% barrier for the first time in its history with 21% of users using its browser Firefox.

Ms Barzdukas told the BBC: "What we are seeing for many consumers in particular is that their computing experience is a browsing experience.

The 'smart address bar' makes finding previously visited sites easier

"The role of the browser has become more and more important. Our focus is on delivering the best experience possible and one that is faster, easier and more secure."

To that end IE 8 offers performance upgrades to speed up page loading, new navigation features and tab isolation so that if you hit a bad site only that tab closes and not the whole browser.

WebSlices will give users a way to keep updated about a particular item on a web page like stock prices, the weather or an eBay auction.

Accelerators let users access Web services like maps or translations in a small window without having to leave the page.

"We believe with IE 8 much of the performance discussion is off the table," said Ms Barzdukas.

Security

Microsoft is making much of its security enhancements, which Ms Barzdukas said makes IE 8 "hands down the most secure browser on the market."

These include "InPrivate Filtering" which means users can see and block when a third-party content provider might be tracking their activities on the Web in an effort to target advertisements.

Intenet Explorer 8 is being touted as faster, easier and safer than ever

Web publishers and online advertisers have in the past expressed concern over this feature because it could "frustrate the business model".

"InPrivate Browsing" is also being touted as a major improvement which allows a user to start a browsing session during which the history of sites viewed will not be recorded.

Some bloggers have nicknamed the feature "porn mode" because it keeps online activity a secret and prevents those with access to a PC from seeing where other users of the same PC have been.

Online privacy advocates like the Centre for Democracy and Technology have called the features "a great step forward in terms of giving users more control".