Alon Bodner has developed an underwater breathing system, called LikeAFish, that literally squeezes oxygen directly from seawater, doing away with the need for compressed air tanks — via digg
Minnesotans buying mail-order prescription drugs from Canada are having medications confiscated by US Customs in escalating numbers, a step that has some worried that life-saving supplies may not reach customers on time
Scientists at the University of Kentucky have built tiny pipes that move water 10,000 times as fast as the conventional laws of fluid flow allow, mimicking for the first time the seamless way fluids progress through our cells — via digg
After 145 years, Western Union has quietly stopped sending telegrams. On the company’s web site, if you click on Telegrams in the left-side navigation bar, you’re taken to a page that ends a technological era with about as little fanfare as possible: Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage
— via digg
AOL and Yahoo have proposed a system to charge senders a quarter of a cent for guaranteed delivery on each e-mail sent to their customers. They justify this as an anti-spam measure, but of course it could make them billions, is unlikely to eliminate spam, and will undermine the ability of activist groups like MoveOn and others to correspond with their supporters. The justification AOL offers for this is that it could make e-mail just as good as postal mail — via Boing Boing
The British Library is concerned about DRM’s effect on its ability to make materials available to the public. Libraries have a legal right to distribute materials under the Fair Use provisions of the copyright law, but DRM systems may block this. Furthermore, they point out that DRM systems don’t automatically switch themselves off when a work goes out of copyright. DRM systems may allow copyright holders to retain control over their material longer than they are legally entitled to. Worse yet, if the software no longer exists to unlock a DRM-protected file, its contents may be lost forever — exactly the thing libraries are intended to prevent
Suwan Jayasinghe of University College London and colleagues at Kings College London has used a form of ink-jet printing to create
jets
of living cells. The biophysicists say their technique, which does not destroy the cells, could be used to grow biological tissue or even human organs — via digg
Hundreds of thousand of people could die in a nuclear attack, but hundreds of thousands of others could be saved. That’s because the Pentagon — after decades of searching — believes it has found a drug to treat radiation exposure. Why isn’t that drug available? Because bureaucratic red tape is blocking the availability of Neumune, a drug developed by San Diego biotech firm Hollis Eden to treat Acute Radiation Syndrome — via Boing Boing
Bug reports are already flooding in for Microsoft’s new Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Preview. Specific issues include the possibility of arbitrary code execution as well as incompatibilities with McAfee Security Center, anti-spyware programmes and online banking sites
Unwired is expanding its wireless broadband network to Melbourne as the first step beyond its Sydney base, but will not say when its service will be available in the Victorian capital. The move was made possible by the formalisation of the WiMax wireless broadband standard late last year
Google is working on a project to create its own global internet protocol network, a private alternative to the internet controlled by the search giant, according to sources who are in commercial negotiation with the company. Should Google successfully launch an alternative internet, it is theoretically possible for them to block out competitor websites and only allow users to access websites that have paid Google to be shown to their users. You think they’d learn from AOL on this issue
Cory Doctorow, a former EFF staff member, dared to criticise as malware an anti-copying technology used in many video games and created by a company called StarForce. Now StarForce’s PR Manager Dennis Zhidkov, who lives in Moscow, is making spurious legal threats. Zhidkov claimed, variously, that StarForce will press charges
, that the published criticism violates
11 international laws
, and that he has contacted the FBI to protest harassment
— via Politech
An Adelaide software startup is spoiling for a brawl with Google as it prepares for the launch of a technology that allows internet users to click on any phone number to set up an instant call. Pep-Talk International has patented on-the-fly conversion of phone numbers into telephone calls, allowing it to sell the service to companies that want to receive instant feedback from customers
John Kiel Patterson, a Louisiana man too stupid to turn the volume down, is suing Apple, claiming that the iPod can cause hearing loss for those who use it. The suit, which Patterson wants certified as a class-action, seeks compensation for unspecified damages and upgrades that will make iPods safer
The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T accusing the telecom giant of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by collaborating with the National Security Agency in its massive program to wiretap and data-mine Americans’ communications — via digg
An FCC mandate will require that all hardware and software have a wiretap backdoor that allows the government to tap into all your communications — via digg
A guy was selling his used video camera on Amazon, and a Nigerian scammer sent the seller a bogus sale confirmation e-mail that appeared to originate from amazon.com. Instead of receiving a valuable video camera, the scammer ended up paying shipping charges to Nigeria for a box of dog shit — via Boing Boing
Paper made from kangaroo and wallaby dung has shot an Australian paper company into the global spotlight. Joanna Gair, manager of handmade paper company Creative Paper Tasmania, says production of roo poo paper
only started in the past two weeks but she has been thinking about the idea for some time. I’ve been inspired by the African paper makers who’ve created an enormous industry out of elephant dung paper,
she says. I thought we needed an Australian version
— via Improbable Research
A librarian at Brandeis University forced the FBI to obtain a warrant to seize computers used to send threats. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents tried to seize 30 of the library’s computers without a warrant, saying someone had used the library’s Internet connection to send the threat to Brandeis. But the library director, Kathy Glick-Weil, told the agents they could not take the machines unless they got a warrant first. Newton’s mayor, David Cohen, backed Ms Glick-Weil up. After a brief standoff, FBI officials relented and sought a warrant from a judge
Funded by Google and Sun the Stop Badware project will expose the hidden extras that popular software, such as file-sharing programs, often has inside it and will also identify companies that develop the programs and distribute them on the Internet — via digg
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