Acclaimed by her peers in the United States as “possibly the greatest woman scientist of the 20th century” and known in her native New Zealand as a “world leader in modern cosmology and one of the most creative and significant theoreticians in modern astronomy,” the late Yale astronomer Beatrice Tinsley has certainly earned a place in the annals of history.
Now she’s earned a place in the World Atlas as well. (more…)
*Scientists discover how “Didymo” algae bloom in pristine waters with few nutrients*
The pristine state of unpolluted waterways may be their downfall, according to research results published in a paper this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
A species of freshwater algae that lives in streams and rivers, called Didymo for Didymosphenia geminata, is able to colonize and dominate the bottoms of some of the world’s cleanest waterways–precisely because they are so clear. (more…)
PASADENA, Calif. — Astronomers, including a NASA-funded team member, have discovered a new class of Jupiter-sized planets floating alone in the dark of space, away from the light of a star. The team believes these lone worlds were probably ejected from developing planetary systems.
The discovery is based on a joint Japan-New Zealand survey that scanned the center of the Milky Way galaxy during 2006 and 2007, revealing evidence for up to 10 free-floating planets roughly the mass of Jupiter. The isolated orbs, also known as orphan planets, are difficult to spot, and had gone undetected until now. The newfound planets are located at an average approximate distance of 10,000 to 20,000 light-years from Earth. (more…)
*Introduces industry-first tape library technology capable of storing nearly 3 exabytes of data — enough to store almost 3X the mobile data in U.S. in 2010*
ARMONK, N.Y., – 09 May 2011: IBM today announced new tape storage and enhanced archiving, deduplication offerings designed to help clients efficiently store and extract intelligence from massive amounts of data.
The amount of information generated is increasing dramatically each year driven by armies of sensors, mobile devices, social networks, cloud computing and public sources of information like the Web. At the same time, demand for storage capacity worldwide will continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 49.8 percent from 2009-2014, according to IDC (1). Clients require new technologies and ways to capitalize on the growing volume, variety and velocity of information known as “Big Data.” (more…)
*Males Spend 64 Percent More Time Viewing Online Video than Females*
*comScore Releases Latest Online Video Rankings for New Zealand*
Auckland, New Zealand, March 30, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its latest 
study of online video viewing habits in New Zealand based on data from the comScore Video Metrix service, which was launched in New Zealand earlier this year. The report found that 2.1 million online users in New Zealand watched online video in February 2011, representing 77 percent of the total online population. Google Sites led the market as the top online video property, driven largely by viewership at YouTube.com.
“Video viewing is an important and growing online activity for New Zealanders, with online viewers watching more than one video every day on average,” said Amy Weinberger, comScore vice president for Australia and New Zealand. “Online video offers an especially engaging experience for consumers that translates into the potential for high quality advertising impressions from desirable audiences that can be delivered at scale.” (more…)
*The Microsoft Local Language Program extends software to often underserved cultures, allowing people to experience technology in their native language. Feb. 21 is International Mother Language Day*
REDMOND – Feb. 21, 2011 – While visiting a government office in Vietnam nearly a decade ago, a Microsoft employee noticed one of the employees had Post-It® notes all the way around her computer monitor.
The notes weren’t daily “to-dos” or grocery lists, but English-to-Vietnamese translations of common Microsoft Windows and Office commands such as “file,” “save” and “print.” At the time, there was no Microsoft software available in Vietnamese. (more…)
They were called the Eighth Wonder of the World. Until the late 19th century, New Zealand’s Pink and White Terraces along Lake Rotomahana on the North Island, attracted tourists from around the world, interested in seeing the beautiful natural formations created by a large geothermal system. But the eruption of Mt. Tarawera on June 10, 1886, buried the terraces in sediment and caused the lake basin to enlarge, engulfing the land where the terraces stood. For more than a century, people have speculated whether any part of the Pink and White Terraces survived the eruption. (more…)
*Study Finds that Without Proper Adjustments, Site-Server Estimates can Overstate Audience Size by Factor of up to 2.7x*
Sydney, Australia, February 3, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its 
white paper, The Impact of Cookie Deletion on Site-Server and Ad-Server Metrics in Australia: An Empirical comScore Study. The study addresses the key sources of discrepancy between server-based and panel-based data and reveals that cookie deletion can lead to large overstatements in servers’ measurement of the size of online audiences. Without appropriate adjustments, site-server measurement of the size of website audiences in Australia can be inflated by up to 2.7 times the actual number of unique visitors. (more…)
