NSW to Allow Secret Searches, Hacking

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6 March 2009
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New South Wales Police are being given sweeping new powers to search people’s homes and hack into their computers for up to three years without their knowledge. The State Government admits police have already used the measures, even though the Supreme Court ruled the practices unlawful in 2006. The Government says new legislation, to be introduced into Parliament today, will ensure police evidence collected using the practices will hold up in court. Police Minister Tony Kelly says the reforms will allow police to collect enough evidence for a prosecution without tipping off criminals

Welcome to the New Gold Mines

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6 March 2009
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In Rights, Technology, World
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Li Hua makes a living playing computer games. Working from a cramped office in the heart of Changsha, China, he slays dragons and loots virtual gold in 10-hour shifts. Next to him, rows of other young workers do the same. It is just like working in a factory, the only difference is that this is the virtual world, says Li. The working conditions are hard. We don’t get weekends off and I only have one day free a month. But compared to other jobs it is good. I have no other skills and I enjoy playing sometimes. Li is just one of more than 100 workers employed by Wow7gold, an internet-based company that makes more than £1m a year selling in-game advantages to World of Warcraft (WoW) players. Customers may ask for their avatar’s skill level to be increased (power levelling), or for a virtual magic sword or precious ore to be obtained. As one player put it: Where there’s a demand, China will supply it

Bionic Eye Gives Blind Man Sight

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6 March 2009
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In Health, Science, Technology
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A man who lost his sight 30 years ago says he can now see flashes of light after being fitted with a bionic eye. Ron, 73, had the experimental surgery seven months ago at London’s Moorfield’s eye hospital. He says he can now follow white lines on the road, and even sort socks, using the bionic eye, known as Argus II. It uses a camera and video processor mounted on sunglasses to send captured images wirelessly to a tiny receiver on the outside of the eye

The Greatest Internet Pioneers You Never Heard Of: The Story of Erwise and Four Finns Who Showed the Way to the Web Browser

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5 March 2009
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In History, Technology
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Three quiet and unknown Finnish engineers in their late thirties, Kim Nyberg, Kari Sydänmaanlakka, and Teemu Rantanen, have spent their working careers at the engineering software company Tekla in Finland. Their clients have used the software they created to model several well-known buildings, including Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, New York’s Hearst Tower, the famous Bird’s Nest that is Beijing’s Olympic Stadium, and the world’s tallest building, Burj Dubai. But if matters had turned out a little differently, these men — and a former colleague named Kati Suominen (now Kati Borgers) who could not be present at the interview — might have become known as the Fathers and Mother of the World Wide Web browser

Cape Shopper Finds Human Teeth in Wallet

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5 March 2009
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In Weird
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A shopper at a Wal-Mart in Falmouth made a mysterious find on the shelves Saturday night: a wallet with a collection of human teeth in it, police said. The man was shopping at the Teaticket Highway store just after 9.30 pm when he found the 10 teeth in a zippered compartment of a wallet, said Kimberly Pacheco, a clerk at the Falmouth Police Department. The teeth were determined to be from an adult; one of them had a filling, police said. The customer brought the wallet to the attention of a sales clerk but left the store without giving his name. Police said they cannot perform DNA tests on the teeth because there was no blood or gum tissue attached

UK Government Wants To Bypass Data Protection Act

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4 March 2009
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In Politics, Rights, Technology, World
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Clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice Bill, currently being debated by the UK Parliament, would allow any Minister by order to take from anywhere any information gathered for one purpose, and use it for any other purpose. Personal information arbitrarily used without consent or even knowledge: the very opposite of Data Protection. An Information Sharing Order, as defined in Clause 152, would permit personal information to be trafficked and abused, not only all across government and the public sector — it would also reach into the private sector. And it would even allow transfer of information across international borders. NO2ID has launched a Facebook group to challenge this threat to data protection — via Slashdot

Canadian Stem Cell Breakthrough

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3 March 2009
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In Health, Science, World
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The ethical debate over embryonic stem cell use may soon be moot, thanks to a Canadian team of researchers who, together with a team out of Scotland, has found a safe way to grow stem cells from a patient’s own skin. The revolutionary finding, described in a paper published yesterday by the international science journal Nature, means doctors may be one step closer to treating a multitude of diseases, including Alzheimer’s, diabetes and Parkinson’s

Solar Panel Drops to $1 per Watt: Is this a Milestone or the Bottom for Silicon-Based Panels?

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3 March 2009
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In Science, Technology
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A solar power milestone was reached when First Solar Inc brought its manufacturing costs for solar panels down to $1 per watt. But a study from the University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs suggests that this might be the bottom for a price-point — if solar power is ever going to scale up to become competitive with other forms of energy

Web Censorship Plan Heads Towards a Dead End

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2 March 2009
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In Politics, Rights, Technology, World
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The Government’s plan to introduce mandatory internet censorship has effectively been scuttled, following an independent senator’s decision to join the Greens and Opposition in blocking any legislation required to get the scheme started. The Opposition’s communications spokesman Nick Minchin has this week obtained independent legal advice saying that if the Government is to pursue a mandatory filtering regime legislation of some sort will almost certainly be required. Senator Nick Xenophon previously indicated he may support a filter that blocks online gambling websites but in a phone interview today he withdrew all support, saying the more evidence that’s come out, the more questions there are on this

Hydrogen Produced from Aluminium and Water

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2 March 2009
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In Technology
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Scientists at Pennsylvania State University and Virginia Commonwealth University are producing hydrogen by exposing clusters of aluminium atoms to water. Rather than relying on the electronic properties of the aluminium, this new process depends on the geometric distribution of atoms within the clusters and requires the presence of Lewis acids and Lewis bases in those atoms. Unlike most hydrogen production processes, this method can be used at room temperature and doesn’t require the application of heat or electricity to work

Octopus Opens Valve, Floods Santa Monica Aquarium

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1 March 2009
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In Wildlife
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An octopus managed to pry loose a water-control valve at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, flooding the facility with more than 200 gallons of saltwater. The valve is inside the sea creature’s tank, and officials think the octopus grabbed hold of it while exploring. A worker arriving in the morning found water overflowing out of the tank and a lovely little lake on the floor — about 3 inches of water that damaged newly installed carpets, as well as walls and facades

Liquid Film Motors Finally Explained

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28 February 2009
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In Technology
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Last year, a group of Iranian physicists made the extraordinary discovery that motors can be made of nothing more than a thin film of water sitting in a cell bathed in two perpendicular electric fields. The unexpected result of this set up is that the water begins to rotate. Divide the water into smaller cells and each rotates too. The team at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran have a number of fascinating videos of it in action. They raise an interesting question: the electric fields are static, so what’s making the water move? Now Vlad Vladimirov at York University in the UK and a couple of droogs from Russia have delved into the hydrodynamics to work out what’s putting the oomph in this motor. The key turns out to be the scale on which the effect takes place

Sony Shows Off its Latest Fuel Cells and Cola-Powered Batteries

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27 February 2009
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In Science, Technology
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When the world’s largest fuel cell exhibition, FC EXPO 2009, kicks off in Tokyo, Sony will be there showing off the latest revision of its hybrid fuel cell technology. The system contains both a methanol fuel cell and a Li-on battery, enabling it to intelligently switch between power from the battery, fuel, or even both under high-draw circumstances. Sony will have two sizes on display: a portable model that could keep you talking on your mobile for a week, and a heftier interior model that could do the same for a month. The company’s even attached a bottle of methanol to a wireless speaker, resulting in infinite placement possibilities and a groovy light show to boot. If that weren’t enough, the company will be demonstrating an updated, more efficient version of its sugar battery, which can be powered by Coca-Cola

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