Online tracker claims to have data on 8 million Australians

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6 October 2010
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In Rights, Technology
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The online behaviour of millions of Australians is to be tracked and auctioned to advertisers by a new generation of internet businesses setting up shop here.

The world’s largest data exchange, the Californian company BlueKai, boasts it already has the computer addresses and purchasing intent of 8 million Australians it knows are in the market for cars, holidays and online shopping.

And a British company, Phorm, which has been investigated by European regulators for alleged privacy breaches, targets customers of consenting internet service providers with ads based on websites they visit and their customer details. It was found to have served up ads to users of British Telecom’s net service without seeking their prior consent — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Buoyancy Bazooka: Life-Saving Rocket-Propelled Grenade

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6 October 2010
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In Design, Weird
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Grenades are not exactly synonymous with life-saving, but they have inspired a young Sydney designer to create an award-winning device that could save swimmers from drowning.

Sam Adeloju’s design, named Longreach, with the unofficial name ”Buoyancy Bazooka”, shoots an emergency flotation device 150 metres out to sea. Made from hydrophobic foam, the buoy can expand up to 40 times its size on contact with water so the swimmer can stay afloat without risk the buoy will spring a leak. The device is also equipped with flares for night-time — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Internet Explorer browser share dips below 50%; Google Chrome rises

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6 October 2010
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In Technology
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Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which has dominated the Web browser market since blowing by Netscape in the late 1990s, last month fell below the 50% market share level for the first time in years.

IE’s share of the worldwide market fell to 49.87% in September, down from 51.3% in August and 58.4% a year ago. It is followed by Firefox, which increased its share slightly from 30.09% to 31.5% and Google Chrome, which grabbed 11.54% share, more than triple its September 2009 share, according to market watcher StatCounter — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Human waste turned into renewable gas to power homes

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6 October 2010
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In World
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Next time you flush the toilet, you could be doing your bit for green energy. After being stored for 18 days, human waste will from today be returning to homes in the form of renewable gas.

Centrica is opening a plant at Didcot sewage works which will be the first in the UK to produce renewable gas for households to use.

National Grid believes that at least 15% of all gas consumed could be made from sewage slurry, old sandwiches and other food thrown away by supermarkets, as well as organic waste created by businesses such as breweries — via djd.newsvine.com

Online Amigurumi Pattern Generator

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6 October 2010
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In Craft
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Our friends at Lion Brand Yarn Studio point us to this handy online amigurumi pattern generator. You can adjust the size, shape and placement of the parts of the figure and once you are satisfied, a simple click generates the pattern for the amigurumi. It looks like it could be a good place to get started with creating your own amigurumi or work out designs that have you stuck — via CRAFT

Salesman Pete

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4 October 2010
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In Art, Entertainment
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Pete is a nice and clumsy salesman. But he’s also a deadly super secret agent with a microprocessor implanted into his brain by some mad scientists from the governement ! He has to secretly stop a bunch of badguys who stole a magic stone that can change anything into seafood! — via Salesman Pete

Google Street View Gets Grisly

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4 October 2010
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In Technology, Weird
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Google sure does capture a ton of interesting stuff when it sends Street View cars around the world. Sometimes its 360-degree cameras pick up a disturbing image or two.

That allegedly is the case after Google announced this week it has added Antartica, Brazil, and Ireland to its Street View library. Shortly after its announcement, Brazilian site G1, allegedly found a corpse in Google’s online mapping service — via redwolf.newsvine.com

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