Research scientists at the University of Tokyo have come up with a unique sheet-like material that can transmit electrical energy over a large area to nearby devices without the need for direct contact, so it can be made into a tablecloth or wallpaper and your appliance can be anywhere on a surface to get charged. The system uses organic molecules as transistors, microelectromechanical switches, and miniature copper coils to transmit energy using electromagnetic induction — via Slashdot
Australian defence scientists are developing a dark chocolate for soldiers that does not melt in extreme desert heat and lasts for years. While normal chocolate melts at around 25 to 30 degrees Celsius, the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) says the new chocolate will be expected to keep its shape despite extended periods at over 49°C. The researchers are also developing ways to keep the vitamins in the chocolate fresh until it is eaten, possibly years later
One of the world’s oldest libraries, at the Vatican, is to close for three years for rebuilding, in an unexpected blow to scholars around the world. The decision to shut the library was made without warning. After the library closes for its summer break in mid-July, it will not reopen until September 2010, the Vatican says. The reason is that some buildings constructed only a quarter of a century ago are now considered unsuitable for the safe storage of ancient books
The paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force has declared that it is renouncing violence and will cease to exist as a terrorist organisation from midnight. It also said it will keep its weapons, but has put them beyond reach
. However, the arms decommissioning body has said this did not meet the requirements set out in government legislation
Australia’s first large-scale working demonstration of a solar energy system has been given the go-ahead. The Federal Government has agreed to fund half of the $14 million project, based on research from the Australian National University. Keith Lovegrove form the ANU says four solar dishes will be constructed in the South Australian outback, and will generate large-scale electricity
There has been a mixed reaction to the Federal Government’s new Do Not Call Register which started today. Telemarketers face big penalties if they call people who have added their name to the list. For people who may be sick of fending off unwanted calls during dinner, being able to register for the Do Not Call list may now provide relief. But president of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties, Cameron Murphy, says the new list does not go far enough
Google and the French-language newspapers of Belgium said Thursday that they had begun discussions aimed at defusing a legal battle over what content Google could index. The newspapers complained that the search engine’s cached
links, which show material that may have been taken off the Web by the site owner, offered free access to archived material that the papers normally sell
Attempts to gag the blogosphere from publishing details of a DVD crack have led to a user revolt. The row centred on a cease and desist
letter sent by the body that oversees the digital rights management technology on high-definition DVDs. It requested that blogs and websites removed details of a software key that breaks the encryption on HD-DVDs. The removal of the information from community news website Digg was a step too far for its fans. As quickly as stories relating to the issue were removed, they were re-submitted in their thousands, in an act described by one user as a 21st Century revolt
. The site collapsed under the weight of the attack at one point
A noise-negating method that thwarts vibration with vibration could be available for use in apartments, hotels and offices in five years. Wires running through the window link the stamp-sized patches to a computer controller and an amplifier. When a sound-generated vibration rattles the window, the piezoelectric patch senses it. That data goes to the controller, which in turn delivers a specific electric charge back up to the patch, causing it to vibrate at a phase that ideally cancels out the sound vibrations
Skyfacet, a site selling diamonds rings and other jewelery, dropped in Google’s rankings and saw a $500,000 drop in revenue in only three months after the site owner paid an SEO to improve the site. Google Hell is the worst fear of the untold numbers of companies that depend on search results to keep their business visible online. Getting stuck there means most users will never see the site, or at least many of the site’s pages, when they enter certain keywords. And getting out can be next to impossible — because site operators often don’t know what they did to get placed there
Google is having to search the United States for IT workers to staff the search engine’s growing operations in Australia. The Silicon Valley-based company will host an Australian-themed open day next Tuesday at its global headquarters in Mountain View, California. The session, branded G’day Google, will urge both American engineers and some of the 100,000 Australian expats in California to help address the chronic shortage of IT workers in Australia
Canonical and Dell have announced a partnership to offer Ubuntu 7.04 on select desktop and notebook products
Michel Xhaard, A French physician and ardent Linux supporter, is the one man you can all thank for adding support for 352 webcams in Linux. The Open Source OS world may still be a bit of a mess when competing with the ease of Windows, but efforts like this make you wonder. One man with drive, tenacity, and no funding does what no one else can do. And none of the major Linux distributions back this guy’s efforts, even the big players dipping into the corporate world’s coffers — via Slashdot
A team at London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital has made the world’s first attempt to treat a sight disorder using gene therapy. They operated on Robert Johnson, a UK man born with a sight disorder which deteriorates with age. At present Mr Johnson, who had genes inserted into one eye, can see outlines during the day, but little at night. It will be several months before the researchers know whether their work has been a success. If it is, they believe that it could be used to treat a wide range of inherited sight disorders
While there is no immediate safety risk, Apple has released a software update to fix battery-performance issues in some of its MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks
Dead Like Me
, the popular Showtime television series starring Mandy Patinkin and Ellen Muth, is returning as a made-for-DVD movie. Stephen Herek will direct the new film. There’s no word yet on who’ll be starring in the film — but hopefully they’ll revive the original cast
Mental stimulation and drug treatment could help people with degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s recover their memories. A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found two methods — brain stimulation and drugs — both worked
BBC shows such as Doctor Who and EastEnders are to be made available on-demand after the BBC’s iPlayer service was given the green light. The service — which will launch later this year — allows viewers to watch programmes online for seven days after their first TV broadcast. Episodes can also be downloaded and stored for up to 30 days
The Ontario government has given approval for a California company to construct a massive solar farm
near Sarnia that will blanket an area larger than all three Toronto islands with hundreds of thousands of sun-soaking panels. It will be the largest solar power station in North America and among the most expansive in the world to use photovoltaic cells that produce electricity when exposed to sunlight. Once complete, the 40-megawatt Sarnia project will be able to supply enough emission-free electricity to power between 10,000 and 15,000 homes on sunny days
Steve McQueen’s 1963 Ferrari is expected to fetch US$800,000 to US$1.2m at auction in August. Christie’s auctioneers unveiled the metallic-brown Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso on Friday. McQueen bought the car, with beige leather interior, in 1963 and used it as his everyday runaround for 10 years. It’s probably the best example of a Ferrari Lusso that’s out there on the marketplace,
said Christie’s Christopher Sanger. The car will be sold at auction on 16 August at Monterey Jet Centre in California
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