Harry Potter a Threat to US Security

By
15 September 2006
46 second read
Leave a comment
In Entertainment, Rights
609 views

American airport staff almost stopped Harry Potter author JK Rowling boarding a flight because she would not part with the manuscript for the final book. Rowling was not prepared to stow her top secret notes for book number seven in her check-in baggage when she flew back from a book festival in August. Eventually she was allowed to take them on the flight, bound in elastic bands — via BBC News

Air Force Chief Says Beta Test Weapons on US Citizens

By
14 September 2006
56 second read
Leave a comment
In World
571 views

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne on new non-lethal weapons such as the Active Denial System, which fires ultra-painful bursts of microwave energy: If we’re not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation. (Because) if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press — via Boing Boing

How to Find Confidential Reports with Google

By
14 September 2006
45 second read
Leave a comment
In Technology
597 views

Bill says: Sometimes I waste time on the Net by putting in interesting searches into Google. Today’s was quite interesting — Google this: Confidential do not distribute. I just can’t believe in this day and age that anyone would think, let’s keep it confidential, but put on our web site. I found some VERY interesting info I probably wasn’t supposed to see — via Boing Boing

Apple Forges Path to Digital Living Room

By
13 September 2006
50 second read
Leave a comment
In Entertainment, Technology
596 views

Apple overhauled its digital music and video offerings on Tuesday, introducing new iPods in three categories, an update on iTunes and announcing plans to make movies available for purchase through the iTunes store. Apple also plans to introduce a product in the first quarter of 2007 that lets consumers stream their movies or music to televisions. The new device, code-named iTV, has 802.11 wireless built in. It will sell for US$299 and works with PCs and Macs

How Many Lightbulbs Does it Take to Change the World?

By
13 September 2006
48 second read
Leave a comment
In Science, World
687 views

In the next 12 months, starting with a major push this month, Wal-Mart wants to sell every one of its regular customers — 100 million in all — one swirl bulb. In the process, Wal-Mart wants to change energy consumption in the United States, and energy consciousness, too. It also aims to change its own reputation, to use swirls to make clear how seriously Wal-Mart takes its new positioning as an environmental activist — via meta-roj blog

Wikipedia Won’t Bow to Chinese Censors

By
12 September 2006
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Politics, Rights, Technology, World
631 views

Jimmy Wales has defied the Chinese government by refusing to bow to censorship of politically sensitive Wikipedia entries. He challenges other internet companies, including Google, to justify their claim that they could do more good than harm by co-operating with Beijing. Wikipedia has been banned from China since last October. Whereas Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo went into the country accepting some restrictions on their online content, Wales believes it must be all or nothing for Wikipedia. We occupy a position in the culture that I wish Google would take up, which is that we stand for the freedom for information — via Slashdot

Tumour-Suppressing Gene Contributes to Ageing

By
12 September 2006
44 second read
Leave a comment
In Health, Science
772 views

Scientists have discovered a tumour suppressing gene which also leads to ageing in stem cells. The gene also known as p16INK4a when removed from knockout mice resulted in older mice having organs as healthy as younger ones. However they didn’t live any longer than normal mice. The new study was confirmed by three independent researchers from Harvard, UNC Chapel Hill and University of Michigan

German TOR Servers Seized

By
11 September 2006
38 second read
Leave a comment
In Technology, World
1041 views

Servers participating in the TOR anonymising network have been seized by public prosecutors during a child porn crackdown in Germany. TOR provides anonymity for clients and servers by redirecting traffic through a network of volunteer-operated relays; the German prosecutors may have been trying to locate an anonymous server by examining the logs of the captured relays — via Slashdot

Previous 836 837 838839 840 Next