Microsoft has announced it is shutting down its online Encarta encyclopedia service in October this year and will also discontinue its Student and Premium Encarta software products.
(Source: Macworld UK) | For further info.../

GraphicDesignerToolbox 1.0 from Opcoders is a new type of graphics editor for creating textures, web graphics, logos, photos, applying effects to text and to photos. It takes a radically new approach to drawing: instead of conventional drawing tools and layers, it provides adjustable building blocks – over 80 in total – that apply certain effects in serial fashion and which the user tweaks, "much like a modular sound synthesizer." Users can download a free trial copy of unlimited duration, but which is limited to saving projects with 10 building blocks or less.
(Source: Macintouch) | Cost: US$39.95 | Requires: Mac OS X 10.4+ | For further info...

MacTrak utilizes advanced wi-fi positioning to provide the accurate location (10-20 metres) of your device in the event of theft, without the need for GPS or additional hardware,
MacTrak utilizes privacy-safe tracking technology. Unlike other tracking offerings, all images, location and network data are sent not to a third party, but only to your email and Flickr account. GadgetTrak integrates with the OS X security framework requiring admin priviliges to remove and modify its configuration.
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If you like Google Sketchup, you'll appreciate Sketchers Studio, which allows you to create 3D animations from your SketchUp models. It comes embedded with Google 3D Warehouse Browser, a timeline view, camera control including zoom, multi-camera switching, three types of effects, export to QuickTime movies, and more. Sketchers Studio is currently $59 for Mac OS X 10.5 (Universal Binary).
(Source: Macintouch) | Cost: US$59 (usually $79) | Requires: MacOS X 10.5+ | For further info...

Some species of algae have been found to contain domoic acid – a powerful neurotoxin,. Researchers at the University of Santa Cruz in California have found that, when consumed in sufficient quantities, it can affect sea lions, birds and humans. In people, it can cause headaches and memory loss, and even death.
Algae blooms are promoted by fertilisers leaching into coastal waters from agricultural and sewage runoff.
The toxin remains even when the algae dies off and sinks with it to the bottom, instead of being dissolved in seawater. This would explain the dead zones at lower depths in a growing number of marine areas. "[It is also] the missing link to explain why domoic acid also shows up in benthic organisms like crabs, shellfish and flatfish," says Raphael Kudela, one of the study’s authors.
(Source: New Scientist) | For further info...

Mind those arguments within families during childhood: they can be harmful to the children's mental health. This is the conclusion from a 30-year-long research study of 346 boys and girls in New England, each of which was monitored between the ages of 5 and 15.
Those who reported increased arguments with their parents and between their parents were found to be three times more likely to develop major depression, or indulge in drug or alcohol abuse. They were also nearly three times as likely to engage in antisocial behaviour, and more than twice as likely to be unemployed.
The report was published in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
(Source: New Scientist) | Cost: | For further info...

In 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez went aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound in Alaskan waters, dumping 45 million litres of crude oil which affected 1,800 kilometres of coastline in an ecologically sensitive area.

Twenty years on, the Living Oceans Society has released an interactive online animation that combines science and imagery to show how an oil spill today would spread, and examines how salmon, whale and shellfish habitat would be affected over a course of days. The animation is designed to raise awareness of the impact of shipping accidents should the moratorium on oil tanker shipping be lifted. Continued…

InternetFrog.com is a useful method to test the speed and other stats of your Internet connection.
While there, you can also test the Quality of your VOIP Circuit, get a Browser Info analysis (Client IP Address, Server Port, Request, Encryption, etc.), and there are also links to WHOIS (domain owner information) Continued…

A report by Natural England and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Cabe) says that urban areas could be transformed into healthier, wealthier and much more pleasant places if green infrastructure received even a fraction of the investment allotted "grey" areas.
Indeed, switching public spending from "grey" projects building roads and expanding airports , to "green" schemes creating parks and allotments, would save billions of pounds, improve health, cut climate emissions and create jobs, say official advisers to the government. Continued…

With many children now boasting their own iPod touch devices, the issue of protective browsing is no longer limited to the desktop computer at home or at school. To ensure they avoid unsavory websites while browsing on the move, parents can now install iWonder Surf. Based on the Safari Web browser.This allows you to filter site traffic, and even find out if your child is surfing the Web during school hours, and view traffic and control Web surfing permissions, or even disable its Web access, from anywhere without having to have physical access to the device.
(Source: iPhone Central) | Cost: US$15 | Requires: iPhone or iPod Touch, iPhone v2.2 software | For further info...

A study by The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, based in Washington, D.C., of 28 bath products for children, infants and babies found that 17 of them – 61% – tested positive for not-so-positive cancer-causing chemicals, such as formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane.
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iPresent It from ZappTek converts PowerPoint, PDF, and Keynote presentations into slideshows that can be synced to the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPod Photo and later models. The latest release (v.2.4) adds support for Keynote '09.
(Source: Macintouch) | Cost: US$17.95 | Requires: Mac OS X 10.3+, Windows | For further info...

MacFamilyTree 5.4 from Synium Software is a genealogy program that includes an interactive globe for visualization through space and time, a 3D kinship view with fly-through, an animated Family Assistant, support for unlimited relationships between any two people, drag-and-drop from iPhoto, built-in CD/DVD burning, and other features. This release brings new web page design, themes, and workflow for web page export, custom fonts and improved editing for charts, much better coordinates lookup for Virtual Globe, a larger and more detailed locations database, an option to save reports as HTML files, and more.
(Source: Macintouch) | Cost: US$49 | Requires: Mac OS X 10.4+ | For further info...