My Ramblings and experiments

Hoping to unlock the mysteries of black holes and the Big Bang, a team of scientists from Japan and seven other countries has apparently detected its first neutrinos in a multiyear project under way in Antarctica.The project, dubbed IceCube, was launched in 2002, but only detected its first neutrinos on January 29, recording the faint flashes of light given off by the particles when they interact with electrons in water molecules, team member Shigeru Yoshida, a cosmic-ray physics professor at Chiba University, said on Thursday.

Yoshida said it was the first time neutrinos had been captured in a natural environment outside a laboratory, but cautioned that the results still needed to be studied and confirmed.

A new gadget repels gangs of teenagers by emitting a high-pitched noise that can be heard only by under 20s.Police are backing the Sonic Teenager Deterrent, nicknamed the Mosquito because of its sound, reports the Daily Telegraph.

It annoys teenagers so intensely they have to clutch their ears. Eventually they can stand it no longer and have to move on.

But because the body’s natural ability to detect some frequency wave bands diminishes almost entirely after 20, adults are completely immune.

In its ADSL Draft Regulation submission to ICASA (Independent Communications Authority of South Africa) the wireless broadband provider Sentech has asked for a minimum local cap of 150 GB and a minimum international cap of 50 GB.When discussing caps imposed on the ADSL service, Sentech said “…Regulations should provide for the imposition of a minimum cap of 150 gigabytes in respect of national bandwidth and 50 gigabytes in respect of international bandwidth.”

Apple Computer, for the second time in less than two years, appears to have scrapped plans to include a built-in iPod dock with some of its forthcoming Mac mini desktop computers, AppleInsider has gathered.According to reports from multiple contacts, including some with ties to the Mac maker’s component suppliers, initial plans for the first Intel-based Mac mini computers called for some models to include a built-in docking station for the company’s iPod digital music players.

The dock connector, which was rumored to be located at the top of the computer, would effectively turn each Mac mini into an oversized docking station for iPods featuring the company’s proprietary dock-connector.

Apple originally planned to add the dock only to its top-of-the-line Mac mini model, which it currently sells for $699, people often familiar with the company’s pre-production computer plans said. The feature was scrapped for unknown reasons just weeks before the new computers are slated to hit production in the Far East, these people added.