Obituary: Peter Falk

Peter Falk, the American actor most famous for his role as TV’s scruffy detective, Columbo, has died at the age of 83.

The actor died peacefully at home in Beverly Hills on Thursday night, his family said in a statement.

He had been suffering from dementia for a number of years — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Art Deco Property / Bexleyheath

It might be a little too stylised for some, but if you want a period house that really is ready to just walk into, this five-bedroomed art deco property in Bexleyheath, Kent could be for you… at a price.

Not the cheapest on the market at £950,000, but it was never going to be anything less. Find out more from Robinson Jackson — via WowHaus

Type 2 diabetes in newly diagnosed can be reversed

An extreme eight-week diet of 600 calories a day can reverse Type 2 diabetes in people newly diagnosed with the disease, says a Diabetologia study.

Newcastle University researchers found the low-calorie diet reduced fat levels in the pancreas and liver, which helped insulin production return to normal.

Seven out of 11 people studied were free of diabetes three months later, say findings published in the journal.

More research is needed to see whether the reversal is permanent, say experts — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Pressure builds on Thompson

Major corporate members of the Employers and Manufacturers Association are piling on pressure for embattled chief executive Alasdair Thompson to be sacked at an emergency board meeting on Monday.

Mr Thompson yesterday sparked outrage by suggesting once-a-month sick problems were a factor that affected women’s productivity.

He later started a fiery confrontation with Campbell Live reporter Mihingarangi Forbes when she questioned him on his statements — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Depth Master 3000 / DEEP BLUE Watches

DEEP BLUE Watches makes its Perpetuelle debut with an impressively spec’d dive watch, the new DEEP BLUE Depth Master 3000.  The 3,000 meter (about 9,800 feet) depth rating is what caught my eye — very few brands offer watches with such a rating, and those that do are among the elite — think Rolex, Breitling, Bell & Ross, Girard-Perregaux, Hublot, and CX Swiss Military, among others — so this is a nice accomplishment for DEEP BLUE and puts them in very good company. Based on price points of its other models, I would guess the Depth Master 3000m dive watch will price near $1,000, which is remarkably affordable for such performance.  As you can see for yourself, the watch looks great!  Note, however, that it is a monster on the wrist; 49mm diameter 19.5mm thick — via Perpetuelle

Hells Angel kills NSW anti-bikie laws

Police and politicians have been forced back to the drawing board in their fight against serious gang-related crime after a single Hells Angels member succeeded in having NSW’s tough anti-bikie laws scrapped.

In a remarkable legal challenge which could have national ramifications, Derek Wainohu, a Sydney Hells Angels member, asked the High Court to declare the Crimes (Criminal Organisations Control) Act invalid — via redwolf.newsvine.com

The FBI stole an Instapaper server in an unrelated raid

One of Instapaper’s five leased servers was hosted at DigitalOne, a Swiss hosting company leasing blade servers from a Virginia data centre. Early Tuesday morning, the FBI raided the data centre to seize servers used by another DigitalOne customer for fraudulent scareware distribution, according to the FBI’s press release, but they seemingly took a lot more servers that happened to be physically near the server(s) they were looking for — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Hand-hacking lets you pluck strings like a musical pro

PossessedHand: Techniques for controlling human hands using electrical muscles stimuli from rkmtlab on Vimeo.

Want to learn a musical instrument, but can’t find the time to practise? A device now under development can take control of your hand and teach you how to play a tune. No spirits of dead musicians are involved.

PossessedHand, being developed jointly by the University of Tokyo, Japan, and Sony Computer Science Laboratories, also in Tokyo, electrically stimulates the muscles in the forearm that move your fingers. A belt worn around that part of the subject’s arm contains 28 electrode pads, which flex the joints between the three bones of each finger and the two bones of the thumb, and provide two wrist movements. Users were able to sense the movement of their hands that this produced, even with their eyes closed. The user’s fingers are controlled without the user’s mind, explains Emi Tamaki of the University of Tokyo, who led the research — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Yamaha RD400 / Dennis

If the Yamaha SR400 is the easy-going, easily swayed favourite of café racer builders, the two-stroke RD400 is its delinquent half-brother. It was launched in 1976 as a slightly more refined version of the RD350 firecracker, but was still a quick, nervous bike to ride — via Bike EXIF

Saudi execution prompts Indonesia maid travel ban

Indonesia is to stop allowing its citizens to work as domestic servants in Saudi Arabia after the execution of a maid for murder last week.

Officials said the moratorium would begin on 1 August and last until the countries could agree on a policy of fair treatment for migrant workers.

Ruyati binti Sapubi, 54, was beheaded on Saturday after confessing to killing her employer, saying he had abused her.

Saudi Arabia apologised for not telling Indonesia, Jakarta said — via redwolf.newsvine.com