ananyo writes “A 1.8 million-year-old human skull dramatically simplifies the textbook story of human evolution, suggesting what were thought to be three distinct species of early human (Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis and Homo erectus) was just one. ‘Skull 5’, along with four other skulls from the same excavation site at Dmanisi, Georgia, also shows that…

Our very own car guy doesn’t half find himself in some situations………

Carriers’ actions and reactions have made calculating the true cost of a smartphone more time-consuming than ever before…….

New submitter rex.clts writes “In the IT security world, it is common practice to withhold specifics when announcing a newly discovered software vulnerability. The exact details regarding a buffer overflow or race condition are typically kept secret until a patch is available, to slow the proliferation of exploits against the hole. For the first time,…

barlevg writes “Since the birth of film, shooting subjects of darker complexion has been a technical challenge: light meters, film emulsions, tone and color models, and the dynamic range of the film itself were all calibrated for light skin, resulting in dark skin appearing ashy and washed-out. Historically, filmmakers have used workarounds involving “a variety…

Proposed law says no bill, no serial numbers, no sale……

The decision marks the first time a court has said the state law forcing Illinois-based marketing affiliates to collect sales tax violates federal rules…….

The National Security Agency facility in Hawaii apparently didn’t have enough bandwidth to run the updated “insider threat” monitoring software…….

‘All-silicon’ chunk o’ RAM harder to create than bipartisan Congressional comity……

An anonymous reader with a snippet from Politico: “A finding in a study on the relationship between science literacy and political ideology surprised the Yale professor behind it: Tea party members know more science than non-tea partiers. Yale law professor Dan Kahan posted on his blog this week that he analyzed the responses of more…