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A web-crawling system is providing vital, up-to-date data on the global spread of disease - including swine fluClusters of yellow and orange markers hover over a satellite image of the Earth, each representing a reported outbreak of disease. This is the screen that greets visitors to HealthMap, a near real-time web-crawling system that gathers and organises data from news sources, official alerts, online databases and blogs, overlaying it on to a Google map.The site is one of a number of initiatives aimed at identifying health, ecological and conflict crises earlier than official monitoring systems. Web crawlers - automated software programs that scour the web for information - are used to find patterns that may signify an emerging threat.A new alert marker on HealthMap is often the first indication of an outbreak of disease for both health organisations and the general public. Its colour - yellow, orange, or red - denotes the threat level.Infectious ideaJohn Brownstein and Clark Freif

DigiTimes is reporting that not only are memory chip makers like Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation (PSC), Nanya Technology and Inotera Memories, all seeing increases in revenues, but also that chip module makers like A-Data (and Kingston) are also seeing increased revenues in April. The trends signal a very strong message to the semiconductor industry that the global [...]

Slower consumer spending and lower demand from retailers led to Garmin's 'most challenging quarter' since going public in 2000, the GPS device maker's CEO said Wednesday.

One Silicon Valley hospital is connecting silos of transactional data from multiple, disparate clinical applications to help keep the CDC informed and the virus from spreading.

In a new report, SSD market researcher iSuppli said the increased deployment of SSDs could enable the world's data centers to reduce their cumulative electricity consumption by a whopping 166,643 megawatt hours from 2008 to 2013. This amounts to slightly more than the total electricity generation of the African nation of Gambia for the entire year of 2006, - Most people are already aware that solid-state server and storage disks only use a portion -- as little as one-half or less -- of the electrical power that a spinning hard disk requires, simply because there are no moving parts that need energy to activate them. As SSDs move slowly but surely in...

The European Commission said it would push for a new law that would require businesses, agencies and organizations to notify consumers when they lose sensitive customer data.

Four unannounced Samsung cell phones for T-Mobile have been leaked, all believed to support 3G for high-speed data transfers. The Samsung Gravity 2, SGH-t349, and two unidentified models are shown in photos. Read the full story here.

Company-Developed Software Program Pumps Both System Performance and Individual Customer Data to BlackBerry Smartphones, Allowing Prompt Attention to service Issues Read the full story here.

David Pogue adores the Novatel MiFi 2200: The tiny cellular gateway, which has a built-in Verizon EVDO Rev. A modem, sports a swappable battery and a tiny form factor. Pogue loves the notion that he can have a Wi-Fi hotspot on demand without any fuss of swapping in cards or hauling a large-format device. He found the device had about 4 hours of battery life in active use, but turning it on and off as needed can stretch it to a day. Standby is rated at 40 hours. Verizon's pricing is its usual awful level: $15 for 24 hours, $40/mo. for 250 MB per mo (10 cents/MB or $100/GB thereafter), or $60/mo. for 5 GB. Two-year contracts for subscriptions are required, but that discounts the MiFi to $100 with a rebate. A no-contract purchase is $270. I'll be more excited about the MiFi when it's bundled with WiMax or Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint get more realistic about the data people consume on 3G. Heck, the MiFi could be a multi-mode device and connect and extend Wi-Fi devices to your own private,

Eric Zuspan, senior system administrator, SAN/Unix, at MultiCare Health System, is looking to make his organization's storage more efficient through the use of a VTL solution while planning for forever. - Eric Zuspan, senior system administrator, SAN/Unix, at MultiCare Health System, is responsible for systems in four data centers and 500TB of data supporting 10,000 employees. He ensures that patients and employees have continuous access to patient files, appointment schedules and life-saving medical...