The team examined over 24,000 cases where police had used force, including almost 5500 incidents involving a Taser. After controlling for factors such as the amount of resistance shown by the suspect, they found that Taser use reduced the overall risk of injury by 65 per cent.

[New Scientist]

They say that sub-$400 netbooks are 20 per cent more likely to fail in the first year. But no real surprises there.

SquareTrade says it randomly selected over 30,000 laptops and netbooks covered by its warranty plans for the study. Brands with a minimum of 1000 laptops included Acer, Apple, Asus, Dell, Gateway, HP, Lenovo, Sony and Toshiba. Accidental damage and software issues handled by the retailer were not included in the numbers.

Summary below, while the full report can be found at: [SquareTrade]

• Over 31 percent of laptops will fail in the first three years of ownership.
• Of these failures, two-thirds came from hardware malfunctions (20.4 percent) and one-third (10.6 percent) was reported as accidental damage.
• Asus and Toshiba were the most reliable manufacturers, with fewer than 16 percent having a hardware malfunction over three years.
• Netbooks are projected to have a 20 percent higher failure rate from hardware malfunctions than more expensive laptop computers.
• Manufacturers proved to be a more reliable determinant of reliability than the type of laptop and should be a greater factor in making a purchase decision.

Since the levels of exposure faced by the factory workers are about 50 times that of the average person, we definitely need those extra studies to figure out what the safe threshold for BPA exposure would be, if there is one. So until there are numbers applicable to you, feel free to cringe every time you near anything containing BPA. Like your keyboard. Or that mouse. Or your glasses. [Oxford Journals via NPR]

Photo by Florida Dude

The HDTVs included models from the top-tier brands of (alphabetically) LG, Samsung, Sharp and Sony – from the mid-line to top-of-the-line models. All of the units were from the 2008 model year. Differences between the 2008 and 2009 models are primarily in their marketing hype. For this article we had three flagship top-of-the line LCD models from Samsung (LN-T5281F), Sharp (LC-52D92U) and Sony (KDL-52XBR4). By studying the top-of-the-line models from the market leaders we were assured of examining the state-of-the-art for each display technology and each manufacturer. The consumer mid-line models included LG (42LG50), Samsung (LN40A550P3F), and Sony (KDL-40V3000). The remaining two LCD units were consumer HDTVs but not commercially available models.

The top-of-the-line Sony XBR and Sharp units had 120 Hz screen refresh, the top-of-the-line Samsung had strobed LED backlighting, and all of the other units had standard 60 Hz screen refresh. The goal was to determine the degree to which this varied advanced technology affected visible motion blur.

DisplayMate analysed the blur using moving test patterns, moving photographs and live video (a Nikon D90 DSLR with a shutter speed of 1/160th of a second was used for the photography) and found that no actual motion blur detectable in any of the live video content — although there were incidents that were passed off as defects in the source video or temporary optical illusions.

After extensive side-by-side objective testing with moving test patterns, moving photographs and live video we found that there was no visually detectable difference in motion blur performance for current mid to top-of-the-line LCD HDTVs, regardless of their Response Time, 60 or 120 Hz refresh rates, strobed LED backlighting, or motion enhancement processing. While there was considerable motion blur in the moving test patterns, motion blur was simply not visually detectable in real live video content during our extensive side-by-side testing. With only a handful of minor exceptions, whenever blur was seen in live video we always found it to be in the source content or a temporary visual illusion that disappeared when the segments in question were reviewed. This is undoubtedly due to the way the brain processes and extracts essential information from dynamic and complex moving images.

In other words, DisplayMate thinks you are probably seeing things. Don’t be fooled by manufacturers charging extra for fancy motion blur technologies or claims of exceptional response times. If you purchased a mid to top tier model you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Of course, this test doesn’t remotely cover all of the LCD brands out there, so I have to ask — based on your experience, do you believe that LCD makers have finally tamed the motion blur beast? [DisplayMate]

Yes, the study, published in the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, suggests that electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile phones “may have a harmful effect on bone density”. And you’ve already suffered with the shame that comes from wearing a belt holster for your phone. When will the bad news end? [HealthDay News via Textually]

Here are some of the findings:

*Down time: Women prefer to spend more time socialising in their spare time (32 per cent) compared with men who prefer to play games in their spare time (40 per cent)
*Waking the imagination: Trying something new was seen equally by both men and women as one of the best ways to keep your mind active and your imagination flowing – as voted by nearly a third of respondents from both sexes
*A third of women also stated that reading books and newspapers was a great way to stimulate your mind while over a third of men preferred the idea of physical exercise through playing games and sports
*Accessing your imagination: Over 82 per cent of women use their imagination everyday – 28 per cent of which admit to using it every hour. Men came out a little less imaginative, with nearly 20 per cent ‘fessing up that they only use their imagination once in a blue moon – if at all
*Why play games? There was a clear distinction in the survey findings behind the reason that both men and women game. Over 52 per cent of women game to enable them to challenge their brain and think differently while 51 percent of men game to escape from reality
*How do you get your game on? This was echoed in the types of games that men and women prefer to play. Guys came up trumps when it came to console or computer gaming – receiving over 67 per cent of the votes, while women, who weren’t too far behind with the console and pc gaming (37 per cent) preferred to problem solve with puzzles, crosswords and board games
*Game on: Nearly 60 per cent of men game for under an hour each day compared with 41 per cent of women
*Left or right? Overall, despite women constantly wanting to stimulate the left side of the brain for through puzzles, crosswords etc. women actually rate themselves more as a right sided bunch – with over 72 per cent stating they are creative thinkers. Men on the other hand, voted themselves as more logical, with nearly 60 per cent stating they have a more systemic approach to solving problems.

What do you reckon? Are these accurate representations? Or just a heap of fluff? I know that I don’t feel very creative at the moment, but I think that’s got more to do with sleep depravity than anything else…

Two groups of 30 people watched the same video clip, individually, on the same television. Half were told to expect a better experience thanks to HD technology, an impression backed up by posters, flyers and an extra-thick cable connected to the screen. The other half were told to expect a normal DVD signal.

Of course, the group expecting HD reported a far better viewing experience, saying it was clearer and crisper than standard def. It wasn’t, of course. This basically explains why Monster Cable is still in business. [New Scientist via Consumerist]

The 2% figure is extrapolated from NPD less direct assessment:

[A]pproximately 12 percent of all U.S. computer owning households own an Apple computer, up from 9 percent in 2008. While Apple ownership is growing, those households are decidedly in favour of mixed system environments. Of those 12 percent, nearly 85 percent also own a Windows-based PC.

At first glance, these stats almost seem wrong, but when you start think about it, they make sense: The survey polled “households”, which on account of grandma’s Compaq or your roommate’s gaming PC, clobbers the exclusivity figure. (I live in what any reasonable person would call a “Mac household”—three people who use Macs almost exclusively—but that little Acer netbook sitting on the table means we’re not.)

Plus, PCs are cheap and they linger, and Macs, being pricier, tend to find their way into richer households, where more than one computer is almost a given. That, combined the fact that most Macs sold are laptops, and therefore a little more likely to be a supplemental computer, makes the 2% figure look a little less crazy, but still, 2%? Fanboys, you’re slacking. [NPD via Macrumors]

The research, which will almost certainly be used by Conroy and his pals to try and reinforce their argument for mandatory internet filtering, also states that two thirds of teenage girls surveyed have viewed porn online as well.

Even though the internet wasn’t anywhere near as prevalent when I was a teenage boy, I can say without a trace of doubt that any teenage boy saying they’d only seen porn online accidentally is lying. Because it’s completely natural for teenagers to be curious about the physical and hormonal changes in their body, and porn offers a fairly easy way to explore and understand those changes, even if it isn’t necessarily the best way.

I can’t speak for women here—never having been one—but I imagine it’s the same across the estrogen fence.

Let’s just hope that somehow the end result of this study is better parenting, rather than the government deciding they’ll try and “fix” the problem themselves…

[News.com.au]

Apparently, the job pays as much as $US160 a day—which means I could earn an extra $US5,000 per month writing for Giz while lying down and peeing into a bedpan. Sounds like a dream come true, but I will not be signing up. You see, these “pillownauts” experience nasty side effects like sore feet, muscle weakness, headaches, toothaches and runny noses/eyes. Plus, I would think that lying on your back for weeks on end like that would drive you to madness.

Still, this is what our astronauts will have to contend with should we make extended trips to the Moon and, eventually, Mars—so it is a necessary evil. But the question remains: could you handle this for a month in the name of science? [PopSci]