Plethora of Links: May 30 ‘07

Astrophysicists try to weigh a black hole
MSNBC
Astronomers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center have developed an alternative weighing technique. They examine the spinning disk of hot gases that black holes gobble up from neighboring stars-also called the accretion disk.

Windows firewall squeezes into USB key
LinuxDevices
Yoggie Security Systems has squeezed a complete hardware firewall for Windows systems into a USB key sized form-factor. The “Yoggie Pico” runs Linux 2.6 along with 13 security applications on a 520MHz PXA270, a powerful Intel processor popular in smartphones and other high-end consumer devices.

Solar Powered Mobile Phone
SlashGear
If you?re looking for a phone that you don?t need to recharge constantly, you might want to check out what?s going on at the China Beijing International Expo 2007.

Science of the Silver Surfer
SciFi
Quantum physics teaches us that the vacuum of empty space isn’t really empty at all but pervaded by an enormous energy reservoir called the Zero Point Field. If the Silver Surfer is able to tap into this energy source?essentially cooling off the entire universe by a tiny amount every time he lifts a finger?it would explain an awful lot about his abilities.

Use of Animal Forensics on the Rise
Physorg
The killer had left his mark all over the crime scene. Grayish-tan hairs lay strewn on the ground below the old willow tree on Marylin Christian’s Loudoun County farm, inches away from where her beloved cat Cody was found dead.

China preparing for cyberwarfare
ZDNET
An annual report on China?s military capabilities reveals that the country is eying cyberweapons, network attacks and other plans to wage information warfare. The report from the Department of Defense outlines China?s overall military strategy and touches on some aspects of information warfare

Search for alien life to go round-the-clock
MSNBC
The SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute plans to have 42 radio astronomy dishes up and running in northern California by the end of 2007, which will enable it to scan the heavens for alien radio waves on a continuous basis.

Top 10 New Features in Windows Server 2008
BetaNews
The abilities to consolidate servers, to manage hardware more effectively, to remotely manage hardware without the graphical traffic, and to radically alter the system security model, could present a more compelling argument for customers to plan their WS2K8 migrations now, than the arguments for moving from Windows 2000 to Server 2003.