The annular solar eclipse will begin in southern China and end in northwestern Texas Sunday afternoon.

Astronauts living aboard the International Space Station may get a unique solar eclipse view.

Facebook IPO led to a lot of debate on technology sites about the true value of the company. Whatever you think about Facebook, however, is irrelevant. It's not going anywhere anytime soon. Read more...

arisvega writes "At a first level (the lowest court level in the Greek judiciary system) an order has been issued (article in Greek, Google translation is fair enough) for a 'plan on behalf of Internet Service Providers regarding he implementation of technological measures to deny access to internet users for webpages through which illegal copies of copyrighted work are being distributed.' The order seems to be general and descriptive, and is a manifestation of the implementation process for an even more general and vague larger-scale EU directive, which is the common source that caused the rulings recently posted on slashdot regarding the UK, the Netherlands and Finland. This appears to be one of the reasons that prompted Anonymous to launch defacing attacks on Greek government websites some three months back."

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What a week for Mark Zuckerberg! The Facebook founder saw his company go public, turned 28, and got married! Yep, that's right: the Zuck has tied the knot with his longtime girlfriend, Priscilla Chan. Read more...

See a list of many webcasts for today's solar eclipse from around the world.

symbolset writes "CNET is reporting that China has approved Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Previously approved by regulatory authorities in the U.S. and Europe, China was the last holdout. The deal will now reportedly close 'within days.'" I wonder what conditions Google may have faced from the regulators, and whether they include any exceptions to the "don't be evil" guideline.

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ananyo writes "California lawmakers are weighing a bill aimed at protecting their state's citizens from surreptitious genetic testing but scientists are voicing their growing concerns that, if passed, such a law would have a costly and damaging effect on research. The bill, dubbed the Genetic Information Privacy Act, would require an individual's written consent for the collection, analysis, retention, and sharing of his or her genetic information—including DNA, genetic test results, and even family disease history. The University of California has submitted a formal letter objecting to the bill, estimating that the measure could increase administrative costs by up to $594,000 annually — money which would come out of the cash-strapped state's General Fund. The university has also expressed concern that its researchers would suffer competitive losses in obtaining research grants."

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Preliminary results from an ongoing, large-scale study shows that oxytocin -- a naturally occurring substance produced in the brain and throughout the body -- increased brain function in regions that are known to process social information in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

New simulation study shows that atmosphere warms when pollution intensifies storms. How much the warming effect of these clouds offsets the cooling that other clouds provide is not yet clear.

When Halley’s Comet last come around (the Earth) was so excited about it. I was checking out books, making special folders and writing up my own reports of the celestial event. I made plans to camp out on the front lawn – which was a shared common plaza because I lived in an apartment complex with my parents, cousins, uncle, and grandmother. I had to wikipedia the exact date – 1986. Huh, I was sure it was 984, because I was sure I was only 10 years old at the time. But I do remember this much. I was cold out. I has the patio chaise lounge padded with blankets and the hot cocoa ready for an all-nighter. Sadly, I learned that I wouldn’t be able to see the comet from my front door. Light Pollution. That’s the one not-so-great-thing about being a child urban scientist interested in the night sky. You really can’t see all of the great stuff, unless you have expensive equipment or reliable transportation to leave town. In the 1980′s, my family had neither. Who knows, had that worked out, I might have become an Astronomer instead. Oh well. (Then again, it’s said that 1986 wasn’t a great year to see Halley’s Comet for anybody.)

But I’m still an Astronomy fangirl. Sunday, May 20, 2012, the northern hemisphere will have a chance to see a rare Annular Eclipse of the sun. Folks in Asia will get the best views of it. Which is why the Dr. Jarita Holbrook, Astrophysicist, Anthropologist and Documentary Filmmaker, wanted to be in Tokyo, Japan this weekend to film this event. She’s currently making a new film about the Annular Eclipse on May 20, 2012 and the upcoming full Solar Eclipse November 3, 2013, and the two scientists who study these events: Drs. Alphonse Sterling and Hakeem Olusey. (You can learn more about this project and make a contribution, too: Black Sun: Documentary Film about the 2012 Solar Eclipses .)

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This morning's nixed launch of SpaceX's Dragon capsule to the ISS with the company's Falcon booster was an exciting thing to be on hand for, despite the (literally) last-second halt. Shuttle launches used to cause miles of traffic backups extending well outside the gates of NASA's Cape Canaveral launch facilities; for all the buzz around the first private launch to the ISS, today's launch attempt was much more sparsely attended. In a small set of bleachers set up near the massive countdown clock, there were a few dozen enthusiasts and reporters aiming their cameras and binoculars at the launch site on the horizon. They counted down in time with the clock, and — just like NASA's own announcer — reached all the way to "liftoff." There was a brief flash as the engines ignited, but it died as fast as it appeared. It took only a few seconds for the crowd to realize that it was all over for today's shot. While the company's representatives remain upbeat, pointing out that the software worked as intended to stop a launch before anomalies turn into catastrophes, most of those on hand to see what they'd hoped to be a historic launch were a bit glum as they walked back to the parking lot and the press area — especially the ones who can't stay until the next try. I'm sticking around the area until the next scheduled launch window; hopefully next time the fates (and engines) will align.

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The newest Microsoft Store retail location has opened in Bridgewater, New Jersey and will play host to a concert by the band OneRepublic on Saturday night and quarterback Eli Manning on Sunday. Read more...

The makers of the upcoming indie biopic of the late Steve Jobs will film some scenes in the garage where Jobs and Steve Wozniak launched Apple, located in Jobs' childhood home. Read more...

oyenamit writes "In a significant boost to online privacy, Twitter has announced that they will officially support the Do Not Track feature in browsers. While this is a good news for privacy advocates and users in general, it leaves Twitter to use only the information that is handed over to them by the users for advertising purposes."

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schliz writes "The Australian software patent system could be used by open source developers to ensure their inventions remain available to the community, a conference organized by intellectual property authority IP Australia heard this week According to Australian inventor Ric Richardson, whose company came out on top of a multi-million dollar settlement with Microsoft in March, a world without software patents would be 'open slather for anybody who can just go faster than the next person.' Software developer Ben Sturmfels, whose 2010 anti-software-patent petition won the support of open source community members such as Jonathan Oxer, Andrew Tridgell, and software freedom activist Richard Stallman, disagreed."

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walterbyrd writes about a program from Microsoft to clean up bloated base installs, for a price. From the article: "Microsoft even offers up numbers to show how detrimental this OEM-installed crapware is to your system. Microsoft claims that Signature systems start up 39 percent faster, go into sleep mode 23 percent faster, and resume from sleep a whopping 51 percent faster compared to their crapware-ladened counterparts. (A 'Signature' system is one without crapware). But now, Microsoft will offer customers the opportunity to give their Windows 7 PC the Signature treatment by bringing it to a Microsoft Store and paying $99, according to the Wall Street Journal."

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The $12.5 billion merger of Google and Motorola Mobility could officially close early next week as the Chinese government has now given its approval for the deal. Read more...

Some newly leaked screenshots seem to show that Nokia is working on a new camera app for its Lumia smartphones called Camera Extension, which will add a number of camera features. Read more...

McGruber writes "The Federal Times is reporting that Northrup Grumman has filed suit against the US Postal Service, accusing the USPS of violating the terms of the 2007 fixed-price ($875 million) contract to produce 100 massive automatic sorting systems, each capable of handling millions of magazines, catalogs and other pieces of flat mail. The Postal Service embarked on the project just as mail volume was beginning to nosedive, cutting into anticipated efficiency gains. The sorting machines' performance has been uneven, according to a series of reports by the Postal Service's inspector general."

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