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Kace Networks on Monday unveiled systems management applications for the iPhone, designed to give the popular smartphone a buttoned-down look for corporate clients. The iPhone Management Module aims to give corporate customers the ability to centrally deploy, manage, and track their iPhones through a single integrated appliance.

The announcement by Kace, a systems management appliance company, comes as Apple is making a greater push to get its iPhone into the hands of Corporate America, with such companies as Genentech and Walt Disney adopting them for official use.

“As the iPhone continues to be the go-to smartphone for businesses, it’s important for IT organizations to be able to efficiently deploy, track, and manage the mobile devices, just as they would any other critical computing platform,” Marty Kacin, Kace’s chief technology officer, said in a statement.

The iPhone applications are designed to enable companies to automatically track their iPhones and handle such tasks as installing software on the devices, monitoring carrier contract information, and creating users’ profiles for configuring the devices.

Researchers at the University of Chicago researchers have found that the reorganization of neural activity during sleep helps young songbirds to develop the vocal skills they display while awake.It is known that sleep has a role in a broad range of learning processes studied in humans, but the neural mechanisms involved in the nighttime consolidation of learning are not well understood.

In order to study that, researchers used an animal model system, the developmental learning of song in songbirds, which long has been known to share features with learning speech and language.

In the study, Sylvan Shank, a recent Ph.D. graduate in Psychology, and Daniel Margoliash, Professor in Organismal Biology and Anatomy and in Psychology, found that when young zebra finches listen to an adult tutor’s song and then practice singing, the activity of premotor neurons in the brain is altered during the following night’s sleep.

The newly formed pattern of spikes in nighttime activity carries information both about the tutor song and auditory feedback the birds hear while singing.

These nighttime changes lead to improvements the young birds’ singing that can be observed the following day.

“This study takes big steps forward in finding out how sleep impacts learning. We looked at juvenile birds at the first moments of learning. We gained insight into the role of auditory information in structuring sleep activity, which in turn, we speculate interacts with daytime activity to drive vocal learning,” Nature quoted Margoliash, as saying.

Since the changes occur in the region of the brain that drives singing during the day, but occur prior to the changes in singing, this discovery provides a compelling hypothesis for how this learning might happen.

Juvenile songbirds show a complex, sleep-dependent circadian patterns of singing that have been observed during developmental vocal learning.

Their songs have less structure each morning and regain their complexity each afternoon. This daily pattern of variation is important for song learning-birds that have the greatest variation early in development are the ones that ultimately learn the best.

“We now have a new model for how this works. At night, the auditory information that the bird was exposed to during the day is reactivated, [carried by the spontaneous activity of neurons], changing the structure of the neural networks. These changes interact with changes during the day as birds listen to tutor songs and practice singing,” said Margoliash.

According to the researchers, reactivation of sensory information at night might be a general mechanism for learning a new skill.

The study is published in this week’s issue of Nature.

Zack O’Malley Greenburg, Forbes.com

Rappers and ‘tween stars pique the curiosity of Americans to a much greater extent than vice presidential politics. If that wasn’t clear enough already, Google’s annual Zeitgeist list, released Wednesday morning, serves as confirmation.

Searches for “who is Biden” ranked just ninth in Google’s “who is” search category, behind Miley Cyrus and Lil Wayne, who ranked fourth and fifth, respectively. The vice president-elect finished well below Nos. 1 and 2, “who is Obama” and “who is McCain.”

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That’s not to say that Americans weren’t especially interested in politics this year. The fastest-rising search of 2008 was “obama”; last year’s king was “iphone.” The former Illinois senator was joined on the top 10 by “Palin,” who clocked in at No. 7. Google calculated “fastest-rising” by looking at the most popular searches conducted for the first 11 months of 2008, then ranked them based on how much their frequency increased in comparison to 2007.

Google won’t share exactly how many times those searches took place, just the relative volume (the company doesn’t release the data for competitive reasons and for issues related to online advertising). But users can use the same trend-finding software to discover absurdly useless facts–for example, Jay Leno is slightly more popular than Donkey Kong among searchers over the past five years.

The 2008 rankings reveal more than a few surprises. Somewhat predictably, “Fox” was the leading search term for political news, followed by “CNN” and “ABC.” But “SNL” came in eighth, ahead of both “Huffington Post” and “Wall Street Journal,” thanks in large part to Tina Fey’s timely and scathing parodies of Sarah Palin.

Among devices, the Wii and Wii Fit from Nintendo won spots 1 and 2 among the most searched for products. (Even so, for up until the past couple of weeks, searches for “Obama” outdistanced those for the “Wii.”)Pea coats and chocolate fountains were also surprisingly popular.

Romantic rumors linking ‘tween stars Nick Jonas and Taylor Swift edged gossip about pop star Jessica Simpson and her quarterback beau Tony Romo, though both finished well behind the ageless Hugh Hefner and pal Holly Madison.

Dark Knight star Heath Ledger had the most-searched obituary; news buffs might be saddened to learn that Bernie Mac finished second, ahead of Tim Russert. Paul Newman ranked eighth.

More predictably, Americans’ Internet searches mirrored their concerns, with the economy toward the top of the list. Perhaps the best indicator is the return of the time-honored “layaway”; searches for the once-outdated term spiked in October as the Dow Jones industrial average fell to record lows. Even food and beverage preferences betrayed a hint of economic concern: topping the edible list was the ever-comforting “ice cream,” while boozehounds searched for “martini” to ease their pain.

International searchers seemed to have an obsession with social networking. “Facebook” was the most popular search in Belgium, Canada, South Africa and the U.K., while “YouTube” was the most popular search in 10 of the 31 countries ranked by Google, cracking the top 10 in all but South Africa, Russia, South Korea and Thailand.

Those seeking enlightenment on the Internet might have been expecting too much. The most searched “how to” this year was “how to draw,” followed by “how to kiss” and “how to write.” Coming in 10th is “how to spell,” though it might have been much closer to the top had untold errant scholars had their wishes granted before searching.

Finally, the aforementioned Lil Wayne may be more of an Internet celebrity than Joe Biden, but he finished a disappointing seventh in one all-important category: concert ticket searches. The rapper lost out to a bunch of teenaged boys, the Jonas Brothers.

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The Society of Geoscientists and Allied Technologists (SGAT), an association of geoscientists, believes that the country’s steel production target would be revised in view of the global meltdown.

“Several projections have been made. One of those says 217 million tonne will be produced during 2019-20. These forecasts have to be revised considering the meltdown in the global economy”, the SGAT has said. “The production target of over 200m tonne during 2019-20 will appear unattainable”, said SGAT general secretary MV Rao.

Speakers at Iron Ore-Genesis and Exploration Techniques, a seminar organised by the SGAT here on Friday, also expressed their apprehension about achieving the steel production target.

Orissa steel and mines minister Pradeep Kumar Amat said the global meltdown has cast its shadow over the steel sector. The pace and progress of investment envisaged for setting up new iron and steel making facilities and augmentation of the existing ones have slowed down. According to him, the Mumbai holocaust is going to aggravate the situation further.

While the Centre expects that the production will go up to 124m tonne by 2011-12 and 243m tonne by 2020, the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations has given a growth projection of 108m tonne by 2011-12 and 217m tonne by 2019-20.

As many as 16 papers were presented at the seminar, which was attended by over 160 delegates from across the country.

Social networking site Facebook has come under fire from Australian users for ignoring racial vilification on the site and allowing in racist groups which have been marked as offensive.Alex Gollan, a Sydney-based Facebook user, who campaigned against the racist groups, has been threatened with violence, and he now fears that the site will be used to rally people for violence.

This week the site permanently banned one offender, but only after the racism issue came under the spotlight after revelations that Scots College and Kambala students had created anti-Semitic groups on the site.

Some of the racist Facebook groups are, “F— Islam”, “I hate Israel”, “You’re in Australia … Speak English!”, “Aussie Pride! Love it or Get The F— Out”, “Learn the Aussie Language, Respect Our Way Of Life, It’s Not Hard!”, “Respect Australia or F— Off!”, “Asian drivers should be forced to display A-Plates” and “I cannot tolerate South African Accent”.

Some of the postings that were posted were full of racial epithets, derogatory remarks and threats and taunts for Muslim users to blow themselves up or leave the country.

“I have personally had groups which have been set up for the appreciation of where I live … which have had rude and racial pictures uploaded by members in a hope to spark some sort of ‘online fight’ where people become all hard and tough behind their computer screens and say things they would never say if they were put in person,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Sydney Facebook user David Cohen as saying.

Aboriginal Facebook user Chris Bonney and several of his friends tried for months to convince Facebook to shut down the group “I’m not apologizing for shit u f– abo’s - this is our country now!”, however, he received no response from the site.

Bonney said he eventually resorted to contacting people who appeared on the friends list of the group’s moderator, informing them of the racism.

“He eventually closed down the site because of our work … but the main issue is Facebook didn’t do one thing to stop this sort of behaviour,” Bonney said.

Asked to respond to the claims that it was not doing enough to stamp out racism on the site, Facebook said it took all complaints by users seriously and there was a “dedicated team” investigating such complaints, which can be made through the “report” function on any page of the site.

“Facebook is a platform, and as such we sometimes see users posting about, debating and discussing controversial issues,” the company said.

“However, this alone is not a reason to disable a group. Facebook will investigate, and will remove any content that violates our Terms of Use,” the company added.

Another repercussion of the emerging global economic crisis is the spurt in cyber crimes, especially online theft, if the report of a leading anti-virus solution provider released Tuesday in the US is anything to go by.Santa Clara-based McAfee Inc., one of the world’s largest computer security firms, in a report on ‘virtual criminology’ said ‘recessionary times are proving to be a hotbed for fraudulent activity as cyber criminals capitalize on a climate of consumer fear and anxiety’.

The phenomenon is not new and since the dotcom boom, thousands of people have been victims of organised Internet theft and duping schemes, apart from phishing and e-commerce frauds.

In its report, McAfee has predicted that malicious cyber activity will further strain the already suffering global economy by impacting consumer confidence, which could further stymie global recovery in 2009.

The report also said the volatile economic environment is diverting political attention worldwide and cyber security is not much of a priority around the globe for real headway to be made against the perpetrators of online crime.

‘Cyber criminals are exploiting the global recession by luring in susceptible victims through the promise of easy money. While governments and law enforcement bodies’ attentions are diverted by the current economic crisis, the door is left open for cyber criminals to continue to target bank balances worldwide and to potentially damage the consumer trust needed to aid rapid recovery,’ McAfee chief executive and president Dave DeWalt said in a statement.

In India, cyber crimes fall under the Information Technology Act 2000, which has been criticised as being an archaic law which has not led to desirable prosecution levels.

Telecom providers must cross-check the details of all their customers submitted by retailers before giving new connections, the police said Monday.The Kolkata police held a meeting with chief executive officers (CEOs) of all telecom providers, including BSNL, Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel and Reliance, at the police headquarters at Lalbazar here where the caution was deliverd to them.

Twenty-two illegal SIM cards of leading telecoms were recovered from Tausif Rehman and Mukhtar Ahmed, who were arrested Friday. The terrorists behind the recent Mumbai attack had used one of these SIMs.

‘As a part of our investigation, we called the teleservice providers to Lalbazar Monday. In course of our conversation, we found that they don’t cross-check the details of customers submitted by retailers for new connections. They just see if the forms are properly filled or not,’ Police Deputy Commissioner (detective department) Jawed Shamim told reporters Monday.

Shamim said the service providers have been alerted that if they continue their negligence in future, it will be regarded as a criminal offence.

‘With SIM cards playing major roles in terror attacks, details of customers must not be taken lightly or overlooked. It’s the duty and responsibility of the respective telecom service providers and if they remain negligent regarding this matter in future, it will be taken as a criminal offence,’ Shamim said.

Acting on a tip-off, the city police detained a Class-XII student Saturday night from Park Street area in south Kolkata with 10 illegal SIM cards. The boy used to purchase SIM cards against fake documents from various outlets across the city on behalf of Ahmed.

‘We are interrogating the boy about Ahmed and his operations and hence can’t disclose more on this to the media,’ Shamim said.

A 35-year-old Kashmiri Mukhtar Ahmed and 26-year-old Kolkata resident Tausif Rehman were nabbed Friday in a joint operation of the Kolkata Police’s detective department and the Special Task Force (STF).

The police said a SIM card recovered from a Mumbai attack site was one of the 22 Rehman sold to Ahmed a few months back.

All the 22 SIM cards were obtained fraudulently by Rehman. He used the voter identity card of his dead relative Asraf Numan to buy the cards from various local outlets in Kolkata, including some shops at Park Circus, Park Street, Beck Bagan and Beniapukur, police said.

Rehman, a resident of Tiljala area in eastern Kolkata, worked as a junior administrative staff in a local newspaper office a few years ago. He currently works for a travel agency.

Ahmed is said to be a resident of Rehanbari in Srinagar. He used to sell shawls in Kolkata, but had been working as an auto-rickshaw driver for the last one-and-a-half years, the police said.

Garmin 296 GPS has various advantages including the terrain mapping feature which is in built in it. This also has the advantages of USB transfer, faster processing abilities and a rechargeable battery in it. This portable GPS is hence highly comfortable and has an excellent performance as well.

You have the freedom to choose the different modes available including automotive as well as marine, on pressing a button. The Garmin 396 GPS is helpful to the pilots in determining the path of the flights. This will help pilots to determine the presence of obstacles or terrains in the path of the air flights. This will give the pilot a warning instruction, which will be of great help for the pilots in taking critical decisions. The warnings will help pilots to be prepared of such critical situations and thereby plan things ahead.

The details necessary are stored in the database and therefore when required, users can use this to view the altitude as well as relative height of obstacles on the path. The moving map display integrated with the weather detection facilities also helps the performance of the flight in air.

These aviation tools including toy planes are available in various shops and pilot supplies centres around the world.

There are some great options for shopping online. You just have to be willing to look through a few catalogs in some great niche stores. This is especially true for the market in stylish pet carriers. There are many websites dedicated to giving you a great selection of unique carriers that will let your pet travel with you in style.

If you want to get one of these carriers then you just have to search for them online. The beauty of an online store is that they can always carry a full catalog since they aren’t as limited by inventory needs. This means you can have a full selection of color and size. It’s should make it much easier to pick one if you have a full selection of luxury pet carriers available.

The simple truth is that you just have to have a pet carrier. You will need a some way to transport your precious pets from place to place, whether it’s across the country or across the street. You might as well get to pick from the best fashionable pet carriers around. It should just be common sense. Shopping online is simple, safe, and easy. What more could you want?

If you want to be in control with your own things, you have to know where they are located and how they are well placed inside a room. In your bathroom, you can make use of a bathroom organizer where you can put all your towels, under wear and etc. in it. Through this bathroom organizer, you will not have to go outside your bathroom and wet your entire floor with excess water from your body. Another thing that you can use inside your bathroom is a wall spice rack, quite surprising? Yes, you can make use of a wall spice rack by putting your toothbrush and toothpaste on it.

See? You just have to be imaginative to play around with your interior design. Another thing that comes from the kitchen and can be used inside the bathroom is a hanging spice rack. You can actually make use of it by putting some fresh flowers or plants in it. Through this, it will make you bathe more and more giving a natured feel inside your own bathroom, especially when looking up on your hanging spice rack. Undoubtedly, you can play with your imagination to give your bathroom a twist of design that you will surely love.