— via Behance
How do you combine an obsession with Zombie movies and data analysis of Google Maps?
Simple, you produce the map, above. It was created by Oxford University’s Internet Institute — and the guys behind the fantastic dataviz site, Floating sheep: Mark Graham, Taylor Shelton, Matthew Zook and Monica Stephens.
Using a keyword search for zombies
, it visualises the absolute concentrations of references within the Google Maps database — via redwolf.newsvine.com
In what may become a test case for intellectual property rights, the American design company Herman Miller is taking an Australian supplier of replica furniture to the Federal Court in a bid to stop it from using the famous Eames name.
The Australian furniture supplier Matt Blatt, with shops in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, sells replica designer furniture , generally at less than half the price of the real thing by legendary American designers, the late husband-and-wife Charles and Ray Eames.
But the American manufacturer Herman Miller, the owner of the Eames trademark, has had enough and is hauling Matt Blatt to the Federal Court of Australia, claiming that the Australian company has infringed trademark, contravened the Trades Practices Act and Australian Consumer Law, and is passing off
furniture products as authentic items by Herman Miller — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Following on from its move to fast track the issue of whether Australians should have a statutory right to privacy, the Minister for Privacy and Freedom of Information Brendan O’Connor today released an issues paper to discuss proposed legislation on the topic.
The issues paper is in response to a 2008 Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) proposal that legislation be introduced to allow Australians to take legal action if they feel that their privacy has been seriously invaded. As it currently stands, Australians have no legal right to privacy, and cannot take legal action when their privacy is invaded.
Before mass adoption of devices such as smartphones and the use of social networks, privacy had been a relatively simple issue, with O’Connor stating in the paper he released today that serious invasions are infrequent. However, he said that advances have made the issue more complex, and that discussion is now warranted as to whether legislation that gives Australians the right to privacy is appropriate — via redwolf.newsvine.com
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has forged ahead with plans to drop the current rate that mobile companies pay to connect calls between mobile networks, despite calls from Optus and Vodafone to maintain the status quo.
The ACCC regulates the price that telcos charge one another for fixed line and mobile calls that are made over each other’s networks, known as the domestic mobile terminating access service (MTAS). The charge is incurred against the telco of the user originating the call. It first became a declared service in 2004 and the price was set at 21 cents per minute, but has been reduced over time to the current rate of 9 cents per minute.
Following a review that commenced in June, the competition watchdog has today announced its draft determination: the cost will be dropped from 9 cents per minute to 6 cents per minute from 1 January 2012, and will drop again on 1 January 2014 to 3.6 cents per minute — via redwolf.newsvine.com
North of Viana do Castelo, between mountains and sea, Afife [Alfredo Resende Arquitectos] has views of wonderful landscapes that interlock perfectly. When the client showed me he had bought the land, it was hard to not be surprised by the fantastic panoramic view of the surrounding landscape and the sea — via ArchDaily
Dave Winer wrote a timely piece this morning about how Facebook is scaring him since the new API allows applications to post status items to your Facebook timeline without a users intervention. It is an extension of Facebook Instant and they call it frictionless sharing. The privacy concern here is that because you no longer have to explicitly opt-in to share an item, you may accidentally share a page or an event that you did not intend others to see.
The advice is to log out of Facebook. But logging out of Facebook only de-authorises your browser from the web application, a number of cookies (including your account number) are still sent along to all requests to facebook.com. Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit. The only solution is to delete every Facebook cookie in your browser, or to use a separate browser for Facebook interactions — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Researchers have found a way to prevent HIV from damaging the immune system, in a new lab-based study published in the journal Blood. The research, led by scientists at Imperial College London and Johns Hopkins University, could have important implications for the development of HIV vaccines — via redwolf.newsvine.com
If you get arrested in California, the photos, e-mails and other personal data on your mobile phone soon could be a bit safer from prying police eyes soon. A bill passed by the state legislature would require law-enforcement officers to obtain a warrant before searching the mobile phone of a person placed under arrest.
If signed by the governor, the bill would override a January ruling by the California Supreme Court. According to California Senator Mark Leno, who sponsored the legislation, this ruling had legalised the warrantless search of mobile phones during an arrest, regardless of whether the information on the phone is relevant to the arrest or if criminal charges are ever filed
.
The new California law unanimously passed in the state Assembly. Governor Jerry Brown has until 9 October to sign it into law, according to a spokesman from the governor’s office.
Under this legislation, California law enforcement officers would have to first obtain a search warrant when there is probable cause to believe a suspect’s portable electronic device contains evidence of a crime
Pharmacists have been accused of putting money ahead of patients’ interests after striking a controversial deal to market dietary supplements with prescription medicines.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, which represents 94 per cent of Australia’s 5200 pharmacies, has agreed to start recommending a range of Blackmores products to patients when they pick up prescriptions for anti-biotics, blood pressure drugs, cholesterol medicine and proton pump inhibitors.
Last week, Blackmores chief executive Christine Holgate told Pharmacy News the deal meant they could provide the Coke and fries
with prescription drugs while providing pharmacies with a new and important revenue stream
— via redwolf.newsvine.com
The previously unpublished first novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle will finally be available to buy from Monday.
Entitled The Narrative of John Smith, the novel — written between 1883 and 1884 — comprises the reflections of a man confined to his room by gout.
Conan Doyle sent it to a publisher but it was lost in the post. The book was then reconstructed from memory.
The British Library is now releasing the novel, alongside an audiobook read by actor Robert Lindsay.
The four notebooks that comprise the manuscript form part of an exhibition that runs at the Library until 5 January — via redwolf.newsvine.com
The BBC director-general has warned that British journalism is facing a dangerous period
because of attempts by police to force news organisations to hand over confidential sources.
Mark Thompson was speaking the week after Scotland Yard dropped its attempt to obtain a production order, which would have compelled the Guardian to disclose the source of a story revealing that a mobile phone belonging to Milly Dowler was hacked by the News of the World.
In a speech in Taiwan on Sunday morning, Thompson said the affair was part of a disturbing trend
for police forces in many parts of the UK routinely to demand that journalists disclose sources and hand over journalistic materials
.
He added: At the BBC, we receive an ever-growing number of demands for untransmitted news rushes which the police seem to regard as having no more privilege or protection attached to them than CCTV pictures.
The police asked broadcasters to pass them footage of rioters in the summer, a request which most of them said they were happy to comply with providing the police obtained court orders requiring them to do so — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Currently on display at Decoratum Galleryin London, the Cylinder Radial Engine Table is made from a US Army Boeing-Stearman PT-13 engine acquired from the Canadian Museum of Flight, Langley, British Columbia. Constructed between 1936 and 1938, the innovative piece features a simple clear glass top so you can see through to the complex engine workings below.
The table can be purchased through Decoratum Gallery for a cool £19,750 — via Design Milk
Women in Saudi Arabia are to be given the right to vote and run in municipal elections, the Gulf Kingdom’s King Abdullah has announced.
He said they would also have the right to be appointed to the consultative Shura Council.
The news will be welcomed by activists who have long called for greater rights for women in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
The changes will take effect from next year, the king said — via redwolf.newsvine.com
An Irish pensioner found burnt to death at his home died from spontaneous human combustion, an inquest has concluded.
The West Galway coroner, Kieran McLoughlin, said there was no other adequate explanation for the death of 76-year-old Michael Faherty, also known as Micheal O O Fatharta. He said it was the first time in his 25 years as a coroner that he had returned such a verdict.
An Irish police crime scene investigator and a senior fire officer told the inquest in Galway that they could not explain how Faherty burned to death. Both said they had not come across such a set of circumstances before.
The assistant chief fire officer, Gerry O’Malley, said fire officers were satisfied that an open fire in Faherty’s fireplace had not been the cause of the blaze.
No trace of an accelerant was found at the scene, and there was no sign that anyone else had entered or left the house in Ballybane, Galway city — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Here’s a kindergarden that little kids would love. The Ringaround Treehouse Kindergarden
is a kindergarden in Japan designed by Tezuka Architects.
It is not exactly a treehouse. Instead of the structure being attached to the actual tree itself, this one forms a ring around it so that the space can be climbed in a spiral ring around and up the tree — via Home Design Find
Wayne Harris — via PLANET-PULP
So, how does a huge place in a picturesque location for under half a million grab you? Amazingly, that’s what this 14-bedroom Ronachan House stately home in Ronachan, Tarbert, Argyll and Bute offers.
This is a large Victorian house that’s been maintained and sits on 10 acres of land in an ideal location. The land itself includes woodland, a tree-lined drive, greenhouses and listed stone bridges. It just needs some love and affection. Give it some and you could have the perfect country house hotel or your very own manor. All of that for £495,000. That doesn’t get you a semi-detached house in some places — via WowHaus
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