Monday 29 October 2007

A (400 year old) clam dredged up off the coast of Iceland


"A (400 year old) clam dredged up off the coast of Iceland is thought to have been the longest-lived creature discovered."
"Can you imagine living for four centuries?  A team of scientists from Bangor University's School of Ocean Sciences believe they have found an animal which did just that, a quahog clam, Arctica islandica, which was living and growing on the seabed in the cold waters off the north coast of Iceland for around 400 years.

Myer trials in-store mammograms - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Women in western Sydney may soon be able to have their breasts screened for cancer while they shop.

The New South Wales Breast Cancer Institute and the Myer department store chain have agreed on an in-store pilot mammogram program.


Saturday 27 October 2007

Bold Move Pays Off


Bold Move Pays Off, originally uploaded by 4durt. Found on Digg.

Buyer's Guide: Ten Things You Should Know Before You Upgrade to Mac OS X Leopard


"Those of you who haven't been poring over all of Mac OS X Leopard's feature list (because you actually have lives) probably only know a few things about it. There's this new backup software...and...some iChat stuff? That's where we come in. We distill all the features down to ten points to help you decide whether or not the upgrade is worthwhile for you. Here are Ten Things You Should Know before you upgrade to Mac OS X Leopard."



Thursday 25 October 2007

Another digger (Australian Soldier) killed in Afghanistan

"An Australian soldier from the Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment has been killed in Afghanistan.The Defence Department says the soldier was on patrol in the Oruzgan Province, in southern Afghanistan, when he was severely wounded by small arms fire from Taliban extremists."

read more | digg story

Another digger killed in Afghanistan - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

It is the second death of an Australian soldier in Afghanistan this month. (File photo) (ADF)

Man killed in freak Time Team jousting accident


http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/23/2066866.htm

Posted Tue Oct 23, 2007 6:39am AEST
Updated Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:30am AEST

Freak accident: Knights jousting at a medieval tournament (file photo). (Reuters: Stephen Hird)

A man has died in a freak accident while filming a medieval jousting tournament for the archaeological TV show Time Team, Britain's Channel Four said overnight.

The unnamed man, a professional re-enactor, died after a splinter of wood from a lance flew through the slit of his helmet and penetrated his eye.

He died after a week in hospital. The accident occurred in September, but the man's death has only just been made public.

"We have been shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic accident," a Channel Four spokeswoman said.

"The professional company of historical enactors has an excellent safety record and took all the appropriate and necessary precautions and it does sadly appear this was a tragic freak accident."

The man had been filming a sequence for a Time Team special about King Edward III's Round Table at Windsor Castle, with the jousting demonstration taking place at Rockingham Castle in Leicestershire.

The participants were using lances with a balsa wood tip designed to break off on impact with an opponent's shield, but a splinter flew off through the slit of the man's helmet, Channel Four said.

The show's host, actor Tony Robinson, was not present when the incident took place, the broadcaster said.

The planned episode is to be screened, although the jousting footage will not be shown.

Time Team is broadcast on ABC TV in Australia.

- Reuters

Tuesday 23 October 2007

Microsoft Corp. reported revenue of $13.37 billion

Microsoft Corp. reported revenue of $13.37 billion for the quarter
ended June 30, 2007, a 13% increase over the same period of the prior
year. Diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.31.
Excluding $0.08 of previously announced charges primarily related to
Xbox 360™ warranty policies, earnings per share would have been
$0.39, an increase of 26% over the same period of the prior year when
also adjusted for certain items.

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2007, Microsoft announced revenue
of $51.12 billion, a 15% increase over the prior year. Diluted
earnings per share for the year were $1.42. Excluding certain items,
earnings per share would have been $1.49, an increase of 17% over the
prior year when also adjusted for certain items. $31 billion in cash,
or approximately 175% of operating cash flow, was returned to
shareholders during the year through share buybacks and dividends.

This fiscal year marked the general availability of Microsoft's
flagship products, Windows Vista® and the 2007 Microsoft Office
system. Revenue growth was primarily driven by solid customer
acceptance of these products, as well as increasing sales of existing
products such as SQL Server, Windows Server, Visual Studio, and Xbox
360™ consoles.

Business Outlook:

•Revenue is expected to be in the range of $12.4 billion to $12.6
billion.

•Operating income is expected to be in the range of $5.0 billion to
$5.2 billion.

•Diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $0.38
to $0.40.

Management offers the following guidance for the full fiscal year
ending June 30, 2008:

•Revenue is expected to be in the range of $56.8 billion to $57.8
billion.

•Operating income is expected to be in the range of $22.2 billion to
$22.7 billion.

•Diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $1.69
to $1.73.

Apple has announced their financial results for their 4th quarter 2007




Monday October 22, 2007 04:37 PM EST
Posted by arn and longofest

Apple has announced their financial results for their 4th quarter 2007 (July - September 2007). Apple posted revenue of $6.22 billion and net quarterly profit of $904 million, or $1.01 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $4.84 billion and net quarterly profit of $542 million, or $.62 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.

Apple shipped 2,164,000 Macintosh(R) computers, representing 34 percent growth over the year-ago quarter and exceeding the previous quarterly record for Mac shipments by 400,000. Apple sold 10,200,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 17 percent growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone sales were 1,119,000, bringing cumulative fiscal 2007 sales to 1,389,000.
"We are very pleased to have generated over $24 billion in revenue and $3.5 billion in net income in fiscal 2007," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We're looking forward to a strong December quarter as we enter the holiday season with Apple's best products ever."

"Apple ended the fiscal year with $15.4 billion in cash and no debt," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "Looking ahead to the first quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of about $9.2 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $1.42."

Apple will be broadcasting their FY 07 Fourth Quarter Results Conference Call live via Quicktime beginning at 2:00pm PDT, 5:00pm EDT. We will provide highlights and a summary of the call here.

Q&A Highlights:

• Reiterates that the iPhone is a multiyear exclusive agreement with AT&T
• Direct sales 57% of total company revenue. Up from 53% in year-ago quarter.
• Europe sales did not have typical lull in August.
• Holiday quarter is usually a big quarter for iPods.
• Sales of iPhones accelerated after price drop.
• Confident in shipping 10 million iPhones in Calendar 2008
• Still on target to get iPhone in Asia in Calendar 2008
• Japan continues to be the most challenging major market. iMac was well received.
• Over 40,000 iPod Distribution locations, 8700 Mac Distribution locations
• Apple rep guesses that 250,000 iPhones sold to unlockers
• No updates on Enterprise testing of iPhone. 
• Vast majority of Macs in the last 4 years able to run Leopard. ~21 million Macs.
• 15 million were eligible to run Tiger when it launched
• Over 50% of Macs sold in Retail stores were sold to individuals who had never owned a Mac before
• Most successful back to school season they have ever had. 


Rating (202 Positives; 18 Negatives)
[ 139 comments ] [ digg ]

Sunday 21 October 2007

Falsely accused woman freed after 70 years - Telegraph

Seventy years locked up in institutions hardly seems to be a punishment that befits the crime of stealing half-a-crown.

However, it is just such a fate that befell Jean Gambell when at the age of 15, in 1937, she was falsely accused of stealing 2s 6d (12.5p) from the doctor's surgery where she worked as a cleaner.






Tuesday 16 October 2007

Newsvine - Reveal Brethren links, (Australian) PM told.

Australian public broadcaster ABC in it's "Four Corners" current affairs 
show has claimed that a front company for members of 
The Exclusive Brethren sect has funded advertisements 
supporting the Australian Liberal Party and smearing its opponents.
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