Governments around the world have found a new rallying cry — Software libre!
— and Microsoft is working overtime to quell it. A recent global wave of legislation is compelling government agencies, and in some cases government-owned companies, to use open-source or free software unless proprietary software is the only feasible option
According to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings — disguised as mice — are using us to compute The Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, And Everything. Now earthling scientists have roped unsuspecting web servers into a similar — albeit slightly less ambitious — exercise in parasitic computing
Regional Altavista search sites have not added any new listings for more than four months
Civil liberties group Electronic Frontiers Australia has spoken out against recommendations that could see Internet service providers forced to put their customers under constant surveillance
The United States government agencies that once tried to breach the Iron Curtain with radio broadcasts are taking the information war to the Internet, hoping to finance an American-based computer network designed to thwart attempts by the Chinese government to censor the web for users in China
Graeme Shirley
Strachan, the rock singer and television personality, was killed yesterday when the helicopter he was flying solo crashed into a cliff face in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast
The Federal Government announced yesterday it was considering an overhaul of media ownership laws but Labor immediately branded the move a desperate bid to impress a few media proprietors
in the months before the election
Just as every Elvis fan longs to visit Graceland, Spam fans world-wide now have their own pilgrimage to make. On 15 September, Spam will have its very own museum, dedicated to the quirky joys and unprecedented excitement inspired by Spam
The Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Germany has electronically linked snail neurons onto transistor chips and got them to communicate with each other — and with the chips. It’s primitive, but it’s the first time a neural network has directly interfaced with a silicon chip. They’re now working on a 15,000 neuron-transistor experiment
Microsoft has quietly disclosed that the latest versions of its Internet Explorer browser will not support Netscape-style plug-ins — the software bridges that extend the capabilities of a browser. The move means many Web sites that use popular programs like Apple’s QuickTime won’t work right with Windows unless developers change the code to meet Microsoft’s requirements
A polar bear, an apparent health freak, stole toothpaste and vitamin pills after breaking into a tourist camp in the Norwegian Arctic, but bizarrely left food untouched
A flaw in at least one BigPond e-mail server allows spammers to hijack the infrastructure to send bulk e-mails, resulting in the Telstra server being blacklisted and innocent outgoing e-mails bouncing back to users
Brian West uncovered a security error on the Poteau Daily News web site — caused by the extremely dodgy Microsoft FrontPage — that meant anyone could edit the site without having to provide a password. He notified the editor and later met with undercover FBI agents asking him to reproduce the vulnerability — now he’s up on felony charges for wire fraud
A plastic filling that helps teeth repair themselves could soon cut visits to the dentist. The composite material releases calcium and phosphate that rebuild tooth enamel and can heal small cavities
IBM scientists have built a computer circuit out of a single strand of carbon, taking a step toward post-silicon computers
Forget your traditional Hawaiian skirts. A Belgian agri-design team has headed to greener pastures with clothing made of living grass
Italian fashion designers have come up with the most trouble-free shirt known to man. Not only does it not need ironing, but it will even roll up its own sleeves
Microsoft’s antitrust battle against the US government has drawn out of the woodwork a number of supporters for a quick resolution — unfortunately, not all of them are alive
In a scathing attack on the political culture of his own country, Sean Penn praised the anti-globalisation protesters’ commitment to change while dismissing the saccharine
lifestyle of Hollywood and dismissing many of his contemporaries as talentless
After 18 years on death row in Idaho, Charles Fain was freed, thanks to a DNA test, and the murder of a 9-year-old girl is once more an open case — now, perhaps, they could start testing the other people on death row
RSS – Posts