NewsBlotter.com

Discovery Channel - Alternative medicine has proven tricky to study, and sometimes dangerous to patients. Doctors are divided as to whether or not it has any merit at all.

WHOI Image of the Day - Ordinary seaman, and occasional Alvin support swimmer, Ronald Whims, relays directions to Alvin’s pilot and helps guide the submersible into position for recovery by the research vessel Atlantis during a July 2010 expedition in the Pacific Ocean. Researchers used the vessel and submersible to study hydrothermal vents along the Endeavour section of the Juan de Fuca Ridge and to deploy instrumentation for NEPTUNE Canada, a cabled seafloor observatory that will gather live data from a wide array of instruments deployed in a broad spectrum of undersea environments. (Photo by Lance Wills, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

InvestorWords.com - A group of investment banks which jointly underwrite and distribute a new security offering, or jointly lend money to a specific borrower. A banking syndicate is not a permanent entity, but forms specifically to handle a deal that might be too difficult or too risky for a single underwriter or borrower to handle. also called underwriting group or purchase group or banking syndicate or investment banking syndicate or distributing syndicate. Browse Our Entire Glossary | Business Dictionary | Stock Research Copyright© 2010 InvestorWords.com. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited.

Seth Godin - Passed a store the other day. The sign read 99 CENTS! And the subtitle was, "Everything $1 and up". The 99 cent store was never popular because there's some magical power about the price that is a penny less than a dollar. No, it's because it represents an attitude, that this stuff is CHEAP. Not absolute cheap, just relatively cheap. Not even a good value, just cheap. Cheap compared to its non-cheap competition. At the other end of the spectrum, the prices at the Hermes store appear to be missing a decimal point or two. The attitude is, "wow, this stuff is expensive." It's not about what you get, it's about how it feels to pay that much.

NYT > Health - Donors have not yet committed enough money for studies needed to confirm a promising South African trial of a microbicide and to get the product to women.

NYT > Science - Some scientists suggest carbon-based molecules may have been destroyed before the Viking landers could find them.

NYT > Health - After being flooded with complaints, the agency said it would continue to allow the sale of the drug midodrine.

NYT > Health - Safety experts have advice on ways to germ-proof your food, and still save money.

NYT > Health - The assessment makes it more likely that the fish will become the first genetically modified animal to enter the American food supply.

InvestorWords.com - CLU. A designation granted by the American College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania to individuals who have completed training in life insurance and personal insurance planning. To obtain the designation, individuals have to complete advanced courses and exams in several topics including insurance, investments, taxation, employee benefits, estate planning, accounting, management and economics. Browse Our Entire Glossary | Business Dictionary | Stock Research Copyright© 2010 InvestorWords.com. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited.

Discovery Channel - A New York hurricane in the early 19th Century set off a long debate about the size and shape of such storms.

NYT > Science - As lawmakers call for new inquiries into Thursday's accident, oil industry executives say it will now be more difficult to lift the government's offshore drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico.

Conversation Marketing - The short version: Learn to use the TRIM() command in whatever programming language you're using, so you remove spaces that some poor soul accidentally includes in a data they enter via web form. The TRIM() command Every programming language has some version of the TRIM() command. TRIM() removes leading and trailing spaces from any alphanumeric string. So, if you type ' blah blah blah ', TRIM(' blah blah blah ') ends up being 'blah blah blah'. Use that any time you're processing data from a web form. It's good defensive design. And, as it turns out, it costs a whopping $.75 to do it. That's the whole lesson. You're done. If you want to read the long version, with narration and cost-benefit analysis, though, here you go: I love Wells Fargo Bank I love Wells Fargo Bank. In Bizarro world I do, anyway. Actually, I hate them with a passion normally reserved for cat- and puppy-beaters. That's a long story with which I shall not bore you. But now and then you can learn something from them, like how not to create a usable web site. My story begins Today, I logged on to their web site to pay off my company's line of credit. It's a monthly ritual that now strikes fear in my heart, since you never know when you'll pay off said line only to have some demon at the bank say Oh, you paid it off? That's great! As a thank you, we're going to reduce your available credit by 75%. You're welcome. But I digress. I logged in. Their 'Accounts' screen shows you balances on credit cards, lines of credit, etc.. If you go to the 'Transfer' screen to pay them off, they don't show those balances. So you have to either memorize them, or copy-and-paste. No, that's not the usability snafu I'm writing about here - it's just the groundwork. So, I copied the balance, went to the Transfer screen and pasted the balance. Then I clicked 'Transfer', and got this dire warning: I looked at my number. Hmmm. It has a dollar sign, so I deleted it and clicked Transfer again. Same mysterious error. I double-checked that I was paying off the right amount, which required that I go back to the accounts screen, then start the transfer over again. I was indeed. At this point, I start to wonder the amount is 'invalid' because it pays the line off in full, and Wells Fargo would like a little interest, thank you very much. Finally, I realize that my copy-and-paste had included a space at the end. So instead of $999.99 I had pasted in $999.99_ where the '_' is a space. I deleted the space, and it worked. Cost-benefit analysis I wonder how many calls Wells Fargo has received because some poor bugger left a space in a transfer amount? Let's do a little math, shall we? If they get, say, 10,000 people per day using online banking (probably a small number) and of those people, 5% do balance transfers, that's 500 transfers per day. If 1% of those people include a space at the end of their transfer amount, because they copy-and-paste, that's 5 frustrated customer every day. If those customers call the bank for help (assuming they can reach someone), and they take an average

WSJ.com: The Numbers Guy - Though its often said that the average American will have seven careers in a lifetime, there is no statistical support for that figure.

Scientific American - Jeff Potter, author of Cooking For Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks and Good Food , talks with daily podcast correspondent Cynthia Graber, and podcast host Steve Mirsky (picture left) tests your knowledge of some recent science in the news. [More] Steve Mirsky - Podcast - Good Food - Cooking - Author

Official Google Blog - This is part of a regular series of Google Apps updates that we post every couple of weeks. Look for the label “Google Apps highlights" and subscribe to the series. - Ed. Recently we introduced powerful, time-saving features in Gmail: Priority Inbox and the ability to call phones right from Gmail. Google spreadsheets added new features, and many more businesses and schools moved to the cloud with Google Apps. Cut through the clutter with Gmail Priority Inbox Since its beginning, Gmail has been helping people cope with large amounts of email, whether it’s with more than seven gigabytes of storage, really fast search, great spam filtering or automatically organized conversations. This Monday we launched Priority Inbox, which helps you get through your inbox even faster by automatically putting important messages front and center. The more that you use Gmail, the better Priority Inbox will become at categorizing the email you receive. Our research suggests that the typical information worker can save a whole week of work time each year with this feature! Call phones from Gmail People in the U.S. can now call any phone right within Gmail. If you have a Google Voice account (it's free! and open to everyone in the U.S.), you can also receive calls to your Google Voice number right within Gmail. Calls to the U.S. and Canada are free at least until the end of the year, and international rates start at just $0.02 per minute. Google Apps customers won’t see this feature quite yet, but Google Voice and call phones in Gmail are coming soon with the new infrastructure for Google Apps accounts. Improved scheduler in Google Calendar Last Thursday we made it easier to set up new events in Google Calendar. The interface for repeating events is now more intuitive, and we’ve improved how we help you find a good time for your event, even if you’re coordinating a large group of people with busy schedules. In-cell drop-down with validation and more in Google spreadsheets We added two helpful features in spreadsheets last week as well. In-cell drop-down with validation allows you to configure cells to display a drop-down menu of accepted values. For example, you can require a cell’s value to be selected from a list of specific cities. We also introduced the ability to easily see wh

Getting Things Done - Your ability to deal w/surprise is in inverse relation to the amount of your backlog of "stuff".

National Geographic - See wrecked cars and collapsed buildings following a magnitude 7.4 earthquake that hit Christchurch, New Zealand, on Saturday. New Zealand - Earthquake - Oceania - Christchurch - South Island

HybridCars.com - Craneway Pavilion Every major global automaker, without exception, is making a shift to hybrids, electric cars, and alternative fuels. Not because it was their idea. They were forced in that direction by a growing group of passionate consumers fed up with the status quo of petroleum dependence. When carmakers didn’t move fast enough, these consumer-activists converted their cars to run on batteries or alternative fuels. Green Drive Expo, the Bay Area’s first eco-car expo, will provide an unprecedented opportunity for owners of unique green car creations to show off their work and express their desire for change. The event will take place at the waterfront Craneway Pavilion in Richmond—a renovated 1931 Ford Motor Company assembly plant, sporting a 1-megawatt solar array and stunning views of the San Francisco skyline. The event will take place on Oct. 9 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $10 at the door, or you can register for free admission by using this discount code: HYBRIDCARS on this page: http://greendriveexpo.com/greendriveexpocoupon Attendees will be offered free public test drives of prototypes of Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid and other hybrid and electric cars. Ford, Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Think will display their latest green vehicles. Auto company representatives will be on hand to discuss future products. But in many ways, the most exciting part of the show will be owners showing off their vehicles and discussing the issues with one another.read more

HybridCars.com - Lexus has released details about the four driving modes that will be included in its forthcoming CT 200h hybrid. The sporty compact is the second dedicated hybrid offering from the carmaker and is intended to boost the fun factor for luxury hybrid drivers—while still being capable of delivering fuel economy approaching the Toyota Prius's 50 MPGs. For the CT 200h, Lexus will essentially replace the Power mode found in its other dedicated hybrid, the HS 250h, with a new Sport mode which will be tooled towards maximum performance and handling. In Sport mode throttle is cranked up considerably, power control from the battery increases by about 15 percent, and the CT's Electronic Power Steering is adjusted to be more responsive. Lexus will also make its Vehicle Stability and Traction Control systems more passive, allowing for more driver control. These adjustments obviously cut into fuel economy, but much of the joy of owning a car like this isn't so much the extra performance it provides in all driving situations but the knowledge that it's there if you're in the mood for it. The three more efficient driving modes are called Normal, Eco, and EV. EV mode allows drivers to go all-electric for up to a mile—so long as the car is kept below 25 mph. Normal mode utilizes Toyota's Electronically Controlled Continuously Variable Transmission, allowing the car to respond to changing driving conditions by instantaneously adjusting its gear ratios. Eco mode alters that formula to provide maximized fuel economy for gas-electric driving—slowing cabin cooling, limiting throttle and accelerating battery charging. The CT 200h will essentially be smaller, more aerodynamic, 5-door hatchback version of the HS 250h—which had the same sized wheelbase as the Toyota Prius but dialed-down aerodynamics for the sake of a roomier, more luxurious interior—at the expense of about 15 MPGs of fuel economy. Lexus has essentially reversed that process for the CT 200h, with the result being a smaller, more efficient luxury small car that can still pack a punch when needed. The car will hit dealerships in the United States early next year.read more

National Geographic -

National Geographic - A surge in hormones allows millions of migrating Christmas Island red crabs to make their epic annual trek to the ocean, a new study says. Crab - Christmas Island - Christmas Island red crab - Oceania - Travel and Tourism

WebMD - High levels of cortisol in the hair shaft may increase the risk of heart attack, a study shows.

National Geographic - Recent "firenadoes" in Brazil and Hawaii aren't rare, just rarely reported, an expert says: Large-scale versions occur once a year in the U.S. Hawaii - United States - Brazil - South America - Tornadoes

WSJ.com: Digits - Apple’s decision to make iTunes more social sounds like a good idea, but the company's implementation of that idea -- through a new network called Ping -- is facing a fair amount of criticism.

WSJ.com Video - Business - For decades Scrabble has been an eight letter word for time sink. What began on kitchen tables has made its way onto Facebook, the iPhone and, now, the iPad. WSJ's Mary Pilon tests the game on the iPad to determine if it's worth the ten dollars.

National Geographic - Changes in the wall of clouds around Hurricane Earl's eye helped it diminish to a Category 1 storm as it moved toward Cape Cod, experts say. Cape Cod - Hurricane Earl - United States - Massachusetts - Counties

Scientific American - By Kristen Hays [More] Gulf of Mexico - BP - Oil well - Reuters - Kristen Hays

Scientific American - Wind turbines function best in wide-open spaces where they can capture airflow unobstructed by buildings or mountains. Unfortunately, these same conditions are also optimal for aircraft takeoffs and landings, creating tension between wind energy utilities and airports in a number of locations worldwide. Utility-scale wind turbines, many of which stand more than 100 meters tall, can interfere with the radar used to safely guide aircraft. [More] Wind turbine - Wind power - Energy - Wind - Business

WSJ.com Video - Business - Michael Casey talks to Dennis Berman and Brenda Cronin about why the investors remain in a buying mood, powering the Dow to a 127-point gain and its fourth consecutive winning session.

WebWorkerDaily - FilerFrog is a neat Windows utility that adds a bunch of useful file handling tools to your context (right-click) menu, handling tasks like moving files and image resizing. As it only adds one top-level item, it won’t clutter your context menu, but all the tools are just a couple of clicks away. FilerFrog used to be a commercial product, but it’s now available for free. Here’s a rundown of the things that FilerFrog can do: Extract from folder: Move a folder’s contents to its parent folder Extract to folder: Move any number of files or folders to a new folder. Copy/move: Copy and move files and folders without hunting through My Computer looking for the same often-used destination folder. Delete empty files or folders: Search for and delete empty files and folders. Copy path to clipboard: Copies the current path to the clipboard. Invert selection: Files that were selected are unselected, and the others are selected. Split and join: Split a large file of any type into smaller pieces. List of files: Makes a text or HTML listing of the files and folders selected. Encrypt/decrypt: Encrypts and decrypts files using, RC4 stream cipher encryption. Resize image: Resizes images. Put logo on image: Places a logo or other graphic on an image. Image album: Creates and album of images. Sort desktop: Arrange your desktop icons and forms them into groups. FilerFrog is a free download, with versions available for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows machines. Let us know what you think of FilerFrog in the comments. Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Enabling the Web Work Revolution (via Ghacks)

WSJ.com Video - Business - Dan Neil reviews the new Maserati GranTurismo Convertible and explains why he thinks it has an image problem.

Scientific American - * Power and water services disrupted * Widespread damage to buildings, no casualties [More] New Zealand - Christchurch - Earthquake - Oceania - Tsunami

NYT > Health - Food scares, such as the latest contaminated egg problem, often trigger a rethinking in cooking and shopping habits. In today's Patient Money column, Walecia Konrad explores the costs and options consumers face on their quest for germ-free kitchens.

WSJ.com Video - Business - Jon Hilsenrath talks to Dennis Berman and Brenda Cronin about the debate raging over why the nation's unemployment rate remains so stubbornly high and what it says about the prospect of a double-dip recession.

NYT > Health - Powerful drugs are given to young children despite a lack of study on how they affect development.

Getting Things Done - 8 course tasting dinner at Thornton's Dublin. Wow.

Getting Things Done -

WebMD - SAM-e plus prescription antidepressants may spell relief for hard-to-treat depression, according to a new study.

WSJ.com: Digits - "Duke Nukem Forever," a video game synonymous with never being released, is finally being released.

WSJ.com: Health Blog - A group proposes some standards for privacy and security for downloading personal medical info.

WSJ.com: Health Blog - We assumed medical societies and associations in all 50 states would sign on to the letter, but groups in Alabama, North Dakota and Kansas did not.

WSJ.com: Digits - Ever wondered what Google knows about you? The Internet giant on Friday made it easier to understand and control the information it collects.

WebWorkerDaily - Most of us are probably an expert in something, and we naturally get questions from people who want to learn more about our area of expertise. It is relatively easy to just jot down a few paragraphs, grab a couple of links and send off that email to the person asking the question. But think about how many times you’ve answered a similar question over the past month or the past year. Those 15 minutes chunks start to add up really quickly when you multiply them out across dozens of requests. That’s where reducing, reusing and recycling your work can have huge productivity benefits over time. Today, for example, I met with someone who is moving into her first community manager position. After the meeting, I sent what looked like a pretty impressive list of 17 links to relevant information, but it took me less than five minutes to compile what she needed because I had most of it available in canned responses and other online documentation. Being prepared and ready with common answers allows you to be extremely responsive with details and comprehensive answers to questions without spending much time on them at all. Here are a few of the things that I do to reduce, reuse and recycle my work. Online Documentation Don’t underestimate the power of online documentation. These frequently asked questions are a great way to come up with ideas for blog posts or other documentation that you can reuse over and over. I use my personal blog to publish most of my community management posts, and I have a “getting started” page where I’ve collected the posts that provide a good introduction to community management. A wiki is another good option for reusable documentation when you are working as part of a project, team or online community. The community that I manage has a wiki where we collaborate on FAQs, guidelines, technical documentation and many other documents. When I start to see questions coming up in the community on a common topic, it is often a sign that something isn’t well documented. After your core set of documentation is established, many individual questions can be answered by sending a link or two. Whether you use a blog, wiki, collaboration tool or website, spending a few minutes writing online documentation now can save hours later when you reuse it again and again. Collections Once you have a good set of online documentation, you can start organizing it into collections and FAQ documents. I mentioned that I have a “starting point” page on my blog that simply links to collections of documentation, organized by topic. I also do this in the online community with FAQ documents and pages that organize information to make it easier for people to find. In many cases this lets me send people a single link or a couple of links that provide them with a whole collection of information on a particular topic. As I add new content, I go back occasionally to these collections and add additional information or links to some newer documentation on the topic. Canned Responses When someone emails you with a question and you take the time to put together a complete, thoughtful answer, you should store it as a canned response ready for the next person who asks a similar question. I often use the canned response functionality in Gmail to do this, and your email client might have something similar available, but if not, you can always store snippets of emails for reuse in a text file or your favorite note-taking application. Now, I’m not saying that

WSJ.com: Digits - The Wall Street Journal’s Sam Schechner and Spencer Ante weigh in on what Apple and Amazon’s pricing moves mean for the ongoing battle for online media.

NYT > Health - If the traditional day of rest and worship has become your day to shop, it may be taking a toll on your happiness.

NYT > Science - A group of fisheries scientists argue that the Marine Stewardship Council, an influential body that ranks fish sources as sustainable, grants its seal of approval too easily. As a result, some fish populations may be more endangered than consumers believe.

Daniel Pink - Terry Brock sends this example from Harbour Coffee in Williamsburg, Virginia:

CNN - Personal Finance -

NYT > Science - The crackdown by Vietnamese forestry officials is part of a broader effort to halt the illegal international trade in the meat of threatened species.

WSJ.com Video - Business - Take-Two reported a surprise profit for the July quarter on Tuesday, citing strong demand for video-game titles like "Red Dead Redemption". MarketWatch's Dan Gallagher tell Digits how big-name games are the saving grace of the video game industry this year.

WSJ.com Video - Business - Spurred by Apple's recent update of Apple TV coupled with new content partners and 99-cent rentals, Amazon.com has responded by lowering prices for some of its online TV show rentals. Sam Schechner tells us who wins and who loses in this battle for control of your computer screen.

NYT > Health - The criminal division of the Internal Revenue Service is looking into the finances of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate in Oakland, CA, which has also begun its own investigation.

NYT > Health - If your Labor Day plans include a picnic or barbecue, be sure to check out Martha Rose Shulman's latest installment of Recipes for Health, which offers flavorful options for vegetarian eaters.

Discovery Channel - More than 100 tiger sharks were filmed preying on a massive school of fish off the east coast of Noosa, Australia.

SpeakersOffice - Steve Farber is interviewed by Robert Thompson and Mike Neiss on their weekly talk show, Thought Grenades on BlogTalkRadio. Listen in as Steve chats about his best selling book, Greater Than Yourself and other things leadership, including Steve's own GTY project: Listen to internet radio with Robert H Thompson on Blog Talk Radio ________________________________________________________ Steve Farber, author of Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Lesson of True Leadership, the president of Extreme Leadership, is a leadership consultant and speaker, and the author of the national bestseller The Radical Leap, and The Radical Edge.

NYT > Health - Dr. Mary Margaret Gleason answers some readers' questions.

Scientific American - Diseases can spread quickly. Someone with a cold infects a few casual contacts, who in turn infect others. Ideas can also spread that way, along so-called random networks. But Damon Centola at MIT says that ideas and beliefs spread faster and more efficiently when they’re reinforced in clustered networks, with overlapping connections among the members.Centola recruited more than 1,500 participants for what was billed as a Web-based health community. Each had an anonymous profile and was matched with health buddies. In one group, a minimal number of links connected the participants. The other group was denser, with redundant links. [More] Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Social network -

HowStuffWorks.com - Amazon.com announced this week that office supply retailer Staples will start selling the Kindle e-reader, which was once available only online, in their stores this fall. How can you buy e-books for Kindle and get them onto the device?

HowStuffWorks.com - Although unpleasant, nightmares are essential to our dreams. Nightmares are a manifestation of other common feelings like stress and anxiety. They aren't as straight forward as they seem, but there are several common nightmares most of us experience.

HowStuffWorks.com - Crack open any science textbook and the authors will tell you that such things don't happen. So how did a couple of paleontologists and an acid bath turn that widespread belief on its head?

HowStuffWorks.com - Over time, it's only natural that something in your house will need upkeep and/or repair; it's just one of the joys that come with home ownership. Take the DIY route, unleash your inner handyman and fix these five items yourself.

WSJ.com: Digits - Millions saw Roger Federer’s amazing between-the-legs shot at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships on TV earlier this week, but Panasonic says it would have been even better to watch in 3-D.

Reuters: Oddly Enough - BERLIN (Reuters Life!) - To sweeten their first day at primary school German children are normally given a cardboard cone filled with sweets, but schoolchildren in Essen this year opened their cones to find pens which project erotic images.

Scientific American - It's a David versus Goliath kind of story, with an ecological twist: In African savannas (regions with both trees and grass), acacia-dwelling ants can repel voracious, tree-eating elephants, according to new research by published online September 2 in Current Biology . [More] Tree - Savanna - Current Biology - Goliath - Biology

Scientific American - Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from Matthew Kahn's book Climatopolis .Los Angeles is a hedonist’s paradise. At night, you can cruise the Sunset Strip. Although The Doors no longer play there, you may run into Paris Hilton or Britney Spears before seeing Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at a red-carpet event. During the winter, you might venture downtown to watch Kobe Bryant and the Lakers play. Every day of the year you can sit outside at Starbucks and try to identify professional basketball players looking for a latte in West Los Angeles. In spring 2009 I spotted Baron Davis of the Los Angeles Clippers at a Westwood Starbucks (but he didn’t seem to recognize me). In fall 2009 I spotted Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys as he strolled in Little Holmby Park (he didn’t give me a knowing nod or wink either). I saw Vin Diesel jog past my house not long ago (again, no seeming recognition on his part). Even the dignified former secretary of state, Warren Christopher, didn’t recognize me as he got out of his car while parking on my block. These cases suggest that I’m not a VIP, but a player such as you will have the option of ending the night at a party at the Playboy Mansion near UCLA. [More]

Getting Things Done - A little Twitter humor for your holiday weekend! Reposted here with permission from the talented cartoonist Rob Cottingham. Thanks Rob!

Official Google Blog - Long, complicated and lawyerly—that's what most people think about privacy policies, and for good reason. Even taking into account that they’re legal documents, most privacy policies are still too hard to understand. So we’re simplifying and updating Google’s privacy policies. To be clear, we aren’t changing any of our privacy practices; we want to make our policies more transparent and understandable. As a first step, we’re making two types of improvements: Most of our products and services are covered by our main Google Privacy Policy. Some, however, also have their own supplementary individual policies. Since there is a lot of repetition, we are deleting 12 of these product-specific policies. These changes are also in line with the way information is used between certain products—for example, since contacts are shared between services like Gmail, Talk, Calendar and Docs, it makes sense for those services to be governed by one privacy policy as well. We’re also simplifying our main Google Privacy Policy to make it more user-friendly by cutting down the parts that are redundant and rewriting the more legalistic bits so people can understand them more easily. For example, we’re deleting a sentence that reads, “The affiliated sites through which our services are offered may have different privacy practices and we encourage you to read their privacy policies,” since it seems obvious that sites not owned by Google might have their own privacy policies.In addition, we’re adding: More content to some of our product Help Centers so people will be able to find information about protecting their privacy more easily; andA new privacy tools page to the Google Privacy Center. This will mean that our most popular privacy tools are now all in one place.These privacy policy updates will take effect in a month, on October 3. You can see the new main Google Privacy Policy here, and if you have questions this FAQ should be helpful. Our updated privacy policies still might not be your top choice for beach reading (I am, after all, still a lawyer), but hopefully you’ll find the improvements to be a step in the right direction. Posted by Mike Yang, Associate General Counsel

WebWorkerDaily - Kohive is a web app that provides shared collaborative workspaces for teams. In use, the app looks very much like a computer desktop — down the left-hand side of the screen is a series of icons that provides access to different “apps,” while each workspace (called a “Hive” by the app) is accessed via a tabbed interface at the bottom of the screen. Out of the box, Kohive makes a number of different “apps” available for collaborative tasks: Overview: Provides a list of recent activity on the Hive. Messages: Allows users to send messages to individuals and groups Bookmarks: A bookmarking facility, including tagging. Stickies: Online sticky notes. Tasks: A fairly powerful task management tool, with tags, assignments, due dates, milestone and file links. Notepad: Online notes, with tagging. Status updates: A microblogging tool, which can be linked to Twitter. File cabinet: A place to store files. Gallery: A photo gallery. You can upload images, or get them from URLs or Flickr. Videos: A video gallery that’s somewhat limited in that you can’t upload videos — they must be hosted elsewhere. Doodle: Online drawing tool. Chat room: An IRC-style chat room. Continuing the desktop metaphor, each app opens in its own window that can be dragged around the desktop and resized as required. Content is updated in real-time, so users can see changes from other team members instantly. The Kohive interface looks very slick and its functionality is impressive for a web app. However, while I like the idea of a comprehensive online space that can be used as a repository and workspace for everything related to a project, it’s not particularly snappy. On my machine, page elements take a while to load, and submissions were slow, which would probably make for a frustrating experience if it were to be used for a real project. Kohive is currently in beta, so hopefully the performance issues will be addressed, and is free. Let us know what you think of Kohive in the comments. Related GigaOM Pro content (sub req’d): HTML5’s a Game-Changer for Web Apps (via Lifehacker)

NYT > Health - A move of some of 186 chimpanzees to a research center in Texas has spurred outrage among animal rights advocates, primate experts and politicians.

WSJ.com Video - Business - Kelly Evans talks to Lakshman Achuthan, Managing Director at Economic Cycle Research Institute, about today's employment report and his outlook for the U.S. economy.

NYT > Science - Jeffrey Marlow answers questions about deep-sea vents at Hydrate Ridge.

NYT > Health - Steamed and grilled leeks are paired with romesco sauce, a nut-thickened pepper purée.

Scientific American - Helicopter-mounted lasers that can dazzle and defend against heat-seeking missiles are now under development, researchers reveal. [More] Laser - Missile - Infrared homing - Helicopter - Business

WSJ.com: Digits - Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson doesn’t think knock-off Chinese phones are harming its market share, but Chinese handset makers will be “serious” competitors long-term, the company’s chief executive said in Beijing this week.

Reuters: Oddly Enough - BERLIN (Reuters) - For tourists tired of traditional sightseeing tours, one Berlin tour guide is offering something altogether different: a tour of Berlin's public conveniences.

NYT > Health - New Web sites aim to connect those in need with friends and acquaintances willing to provide rides and meals, do chores or pay visits.

NYT > Science - Tibet's high-altitude meadows disappear as global warming and overgrazing accelerate desertification. "Once the grasslands are destroyed, they rarely come back," a Chinese official says.

WSJ.com: Driver's Seat - Dodge released photos of its new Durango. The vehicle has undergone a transformation from truck-based SUV to a more car-like crossover.

WSJ.com Video - Business - Financial firms need to make stress tests an ongoing exercise, and embed risk managers throughout the business. Private equity shops must focus on correlation and tail-risks of portfolio companies, Marshall Lux, senior partner at BCG, tells Lisa Lee.

Scientific American - A space-based survey of 101 objects that pass relatively close to Earth has found they have a wide range of reflectivity, indicating that their composition is varied as well. [More] Asteroid - Earth - Solar System - Astronomy - Small Bodies

Reuters: Oddly Enough - DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegalese security forces have arrested seven Koranic teachers for forcing children to panhandle, a police official said on Friday, days after the West African state announced a crack down on public begging.

WSJ.com: Health Blog - Just 5% of small firms reported reviewing performance indicators of health plans' clinical and service quality.

Reuters: Oddly Enough - BERLIN (Reuters) - A German company that fired a man for the theft of 1.8 euro cents (two U.S. cents) worth of electricity had no grounds for sacking him, a court ruled, dismissing the firm's appeal against his reinstatement.

WSJ.com Video - Business - German economic data, Bank of England interest-rate decision, August air traffic reports from Air-France KLM, easyJet and Air Berlin.

Scientific American - GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States reiterated on Friday that it was committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 even though the Senate has failed to pass legislation. "I am in no sense writing off legislation over time. And I'm quite sure the president isn't," U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern told a news conference during two days of talks in Geneva among about 45 nations reviewing climate finance. [More] Geneva - United States - Climate change - Todd Stern - Environment

Knowledge Problem - Michael Giberson The title above is a quote from Harold Margolis’s paper, “Are Economists Human?” HT Marginal Revolution. (I wonder if Tyler Cowen laughed when he read it?)

NYT > Science - The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change would do well to cultivate contacts between its authors and reporters in poor countries.

HowStuffWorks.com - It always seemed like a pretty gross idea. After all, what does venom taste like? And, do you really want to eat something that's deadly?

HowStuffWorks.com - We've all heard questionable medical assertions, such getting arthritis from cracking your knuckles. Read our list of 9 medical myths.

HowStuffWorks.com - We all know that a sleepless night can make us cranky in the morning. But did you know the other effects of sleep deprivation are far more serious than dark circles under your eyes and a short temper?

HowStuffWorks.com - Fall might seem like a bit of letdown, but you can plant these lovely fall blooms for a rejuvenating burst of color and scent. With a little planning, you can create a vibrant garden to help you survive the winter doldrums.

HowStuffWorks.com - On Discovery Channel's "Man vs. Wild," host Bear Grylls is in the Moab Desert in Utah. He teaches us a trick on how to stay hydrated.

HR Executive - This is in response to Diversity and Benefits.

HR Executive - As Labor Day approaches, union leaders and experts offer their takes on the coming year for organized labor as both their power and popularity decreases.

WSJ.com: Digits - At the Deutsche Telekom press conference this morning from the IFA technology fair in Berlin, everyone was wearing 3-D glasses.

Knowledge Problem - Michael Giberson Are monopoly municipal electric utilities supposed to be treated like piggy banks by city councils?  For over 90 years Lubbock Texas has had two electric utilities serving the town – one regional state-regulated investor-owned utility (Xcel) and a municipal utility (LP&L). Both ran wires throughout the city and most customers could switch between the competing utilities on a few days notice. For the most part LP&L stayed competitive by charging a slightly lower rate as Xcel. The LP&L website once trumpeted the benefits to consumers from the competition. Not any more. Last November the city and the announced that city-owned LP&L would buy out Xcel’s distribution service and customer accounts in the city, making LP&L the monopoly electric power provider in town. The deal is expected to be completed in October. Already the city council is beginning to treat the utility budget like a basketful of unattended Halloween candy. The deal is not even done, but the current city budget proposal for next year has LP&L customers picking up the $3 million tab for street light power and maintenance costs.  The budget also tags LP&L with a $1.46 million payment in lieu of property taxes. (Not clear from the news story but I think LP&L already pays a percentage of gross revenue into the city budget.) One of two council members objecting to the plan said LP&L customers ought not to be tapped to support city-provided services. Council members supporting the transfer assure us that “it was not council’s intent to tap the utility for more than the street light program it once supported.” Slippery slope arguments are overblown, they say. Sure the city council drained funds from LP&L in the past, almost pushing the utility into bankruptcy when it got caught by rising fuel costs a decade ago. “None of us on this dais would do that again — would start putting them into any kind of financial trouble again,” a city councilman said. “That is not what we’re after. That is not what we want to do in any way.” Feel better? RELATED PREVIOUS POSTS: BREAKING NEWS: RETAIL POWER COMPETITION TO END IN LUBBOCK AFTER MORE THAN 90 YEARS The (soon to be revised) history of electric competition in Lubbock How valuable will a monopoly be to Lubbock Power & Light? The REVISED history of electric competition in Lubbock

WebWorkerDaily - Successful coworking communities have always been diverse at their core; their ability to bring together tech professionals from various disciplines into a shared environment is part of the value of being a member of a coworking space. As the first generation of coworking spaces begins to reach maturity, it’s gratifying to see this innovative model of working now permeating beyond the technology sector into other industries. Indeed, niche coworking communities are now emerging to serve particular disciplines outside tech. Tech investor Fred Wilson recently highlighted In Good Company and Green Spaces – providing coworking services for female and green entrepreneurs, respectively — in a wide ranging post about coworking spacess in New York. Along with The Writers Junction in LA, which is tailored towards writers, it seems that these flexible work spaces are increasingly attractive to a broader demographic. Green Spaces Currently operating in New York and Denver, Green Spaces is seeking to provide local incubators for environmental and sustainability entrepreneurs. Monthly plans range from $50/month to $495/month, covering everything from a hotdesking to a permanent desk, with drop-in access available from $20/day. The residents are certainly a diverse bunch with everything from concierge service providers and magazine publishers to activist organizations and green realtors. Green Spaces seems to be much more eclectic than simply being “green”;  it’s actually a hub for progressive people and projects. In Good Company Also based in New York, In Good Company is focused on supporting women entrepreneurs through a combination of events, office space and a program of training activities; coworking is just one of a number of its offerings. Pricing is at the high-end of the coworking market, but there’s a lot of additional value (parties, events, supplier discounts) thrown into the mix. Plans vary from a flat $400/year community membership package to a number of full-time and part-time “work packages” that run from $150/month to $1,600/month that are inclusive of a number of hours of desk space or dedicated private office space. The Writers Junction

Scientific American - The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar. Hachette Book Group, 2010 [More] Sheena Iyengar - Arts - Literature - TED - Coca-Cola

WSJ.com Video - Business - Jerry Seib discusses what has happened to the American job creation machine.