British defence giant BAE Systems is creating a series of tiny electronic spiders, insects and snakes that could become the eyes and ears of soldiers on the battlefield, helping to save thousands of lives. Prototypes could be on the front line by the end of the year, scuttling into potential danger areas such as booby-trapped buildings or enemy hideouts to relay images back to troops safely positioned nearby. Soldiers will carry the robots into combat and use a small tracked vehicle to transport them closer to their targets
Microsoft has withdrawn Vista SP1 from automatic delivery in the wake of news that XP SP3 can cause data corruption in business apps
Amazon.com has filed a lawsuit challenging New York state’s new law forcing online retailers to collect sales tax on shipments to state residents. On Friday, Amazon filed a complaint in the trial-level state Supreme Court in Manhattan objecting to the law, which was approved as part of the $122 billion state budget that Governor David Paterson signed last week. The law is expected to raise about $50 million
Even criminal hackers want to protect their intellectual property, and they’ve come up with a method akin to copyrighting — with an appropriate dash of Internet thuggery thrown in
This week, the world marks an anniversary that has changed the face — and other anatomical regions — of e-mail inboxes everywhere: the first known spam e-mail was sent 30 years ago on Saturday
Computers that boot instantly to the exact place where you left off and mobile devices that don’t need recharging for weeks. These are only some of the possibilities resulting from Hewlett-Packard research that proves the existence of what the company described as the fourth fundamental circuit element in electrical engineering
Yet another NSW Government infrastructure project has bit the dust, with the Minister for Commerce today announcing the promised free wireless broadband network for the Sydney CBD and other major centres would be scrapped
A substantial hunk of IP address space has apparently been taken over by notorious mass e-mailing company Media Breakaway, formerly known as OptInRealBig, via means that are at best questionable. The block in question is 134.17.0.0/16, which has been documented in depth in an independent investigation — via Slashdot
PC giant Dell has turned to Officeworks to help unseat its closest rival Hewlett-Packard in a bitter market share war in Australia. After months trying to woo the the retail gods, Dell has found its match in Officeworks. Officeworks will start selling Dell computers, laptops, printers and flat panel displays next week. The PCs will cost between $999 and $1800
Microsoft likes digital photography enthusiasts as customers, and plans to release a free new utility designed to keep them wedded to Windows. Pro Photo Tools is geared for photography professionals and enthusiasts, and its first notable feature is the ability to geotag photos, or add geographic information showing where the picture was taken. Geotagging is an onerous chore with today’s technology, but camera makers are working to build it into cameras, and it can pay off down the road
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