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“This is the most innovative thing I’ve seen Microsoft do in years. It had a huge emotional impact on me, as I realized the way my son will see the Universe will forever change, thanks to the work of two guys in Microsoft Research (Curtis Wong and Jonathan Fay). We meet both of them and get a look at why the WorldWide Telescope created a stir at last week’s TED Conference. Coming soon, you’ll get another look inside Microsoft Research as we get a tour of the new building that the researchers themselves help design. Tons of innovative ideas there that you’ll appreciate learning from.”

Photo courtesy of arka D

“You’re trying to log on to a Web site and it’s not working,” says Hannah Hickey. “The other computer might just be turned off, but the causes could be more mysterious. At any given moment, a proportion of computer traffic ends up being routed into information black holes. A University of Washington system named Hubble looks for these black holes and maps them on a Web site, providing an ever-changing constellation of the Internet’s weak points. “There’s an assumption that if you have a working Internet connection then you have access to the entire Internet,” said first author Ethan Katz-Bassett, a UW doctoral student in computer science and engineering. “We found that’s not the case.” Read more