Human Genome researcher Craig Venter (above) has built a synthetic chromosome out of chemical materials, and says that this is the first step toward creating artificial life on earth. He is expected to announce that he has in fact done so within the coming weeks.

In an article in the Guardian newspaper, Venter claims that his discovery is “a very important philosophical step in the history of our species. We are going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it. That gives us the hypothetical ability to do things never contemplated before.”

Venter is also the man who has worked to patent the human genetic code, leading some to wonder whether this is the best development for human history.

Maybe all those years of watching Sci-Fi movies and playing Resident Evil will serve as good training for what seems like the inevitable Zombie battle.

Full Story at the Guardian

British Telecom has struck a deal with Spanish wifi company FON that will create the world’s largest wifi community–a community built, essentially, by individuals and not corporations. Here’s how it works: customers receive a wireless router for their broadband connection at home, on which they open up a separate secure channel  for use, free of charge,  by other members who require it. There are already something like 200,000 FON hotspots around the world, and this project is bound to increase that number substantially, given that there are already half a million people using FON.

So maybe those frustrating days of  trying to access wifi and finding 30 impenetrable networks are about to be history.

Full Story at Ars Technica

Photo by ArkAngel

Apart from the first camcorder, no other video camera has enjoyed this much buzz. And there’s a good reason for that: Red Digital Cinema’s “Red One” is the first true HD camcorder with a reasonable price tag ($17,500 or therabouts, body only), which undercuts current models by tens of thousands of dollars. Weighing in at a slender 9 pounds and delivering something like five times the amount of information available per second compared to standard (heavier and pricier) HD camcorders, “Red One” means that even indie film-makers can now work in HD.

It’s a steal: no, really. The technology is so hot that baddies broke into Red’s headquarters in 2006 and stole documentation and a prototype model.

Trivia: the guy behind Red One is Jim Jannard, who founded Oakley sunglasses.

Red One is available now at Red.com.

University of Toronto researchers have discovered that women who play video games –for as little as 10 hours in total– reduced the inherent difference between the sexes in terms of spatial skills. While playing video games made both sexes better at spatial tasks, women actually improve so much that they catch up to men. And the effect apparently lasts for months.

via Joystiq