Australian Senators wants Australians’ internet connections to be automatically filtered by ISPs. Anyone who wants to view pornography or other adult material
(details not specified) must apply to their ISP to be given access to it. Another step towards becoming a nanny state — via Slashdot
A US government study into the prevalence of dodgy web sites has found that 3.89 million domain names, or 8.6%, were registered with false or incomplete information
An Albuquerque TV station has discovered strange landscape markings [BugMeNot] etched in New Mexico’s barren northern reaches, resemble crop circles that are recognisable only from a high altitude. Also, they are directly connected to the Church of Scientology. The loony fundies tried to persuade KRQE not to air its report about the aerial signposts marking a Scientology compound that includes a huge vault built into a mountainside
that was constructed to protect the works of L Ron Hubbard, the late crap science fiction writer who founded the church in the 1950s — via Feòrag
A developer has added tabbed browsing of e-mail messages to Mozilla’s Thunderbird e-mail client, mimicking one of the most popular features of the Firefox and Opera Web browsers. It is unlikely the feature will be found in Mozilla’s imminent release of Thunderbird 1.5 — currently in testing — but software developer Myk Melez has put test versions of Thunderbird online with the tabbed browsing feature included
A new laser welding technique is repairing power station turbine rotor blades in minutes, rather than days, through advances in the way repair metals fuse together. Called In Situ Laser Surfacing, the development is the product of a collective effort by several research institutions and power station operators and has prompted a flurry of international interest
A company called PetsMobility has come out with PetCell, the first mobile phone for dogs. The phone will allow users to call their dogs in case the dog gets away and also includes a GPS tracking device if the dog doesn’t respond to the call. In addition, the PetCell will feature GeoFence, which will alert owners whenever their dogs wander outside a prescribed area
The US Air Force has unveiled its first hand-held laser weapon that gives security forces a non-lethal
option for controlling crowds and protecting areas like checkpoints. While only in prototype form and years away from fielding, the weapon, known as the Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response (PHaSR) system, they claim it holds great promise
Nissan has created a paint that repairs scratches on its own, restoring a car’s surface to normal within a week — via digg
Bunny Suicides is a large collection of cartoons of depressive bunnies showing great enthusiasm and inventiveness for removing themselves from the gene pool
Gay couples are now allowed to legally marry, tying the knot with what is officially known as a civil partnership, and among the first to do so will be veteran rock star Elton John’s civil and long-time love David Furnish
A shear thickening material, it is flexible when moved slowly, but when it is compresssed by an impact, its molecules lock together. The Ribcap is a combination soft, flexible beanie and tough helmet. Unfortunately, you will look like a dork wearing it — via digg
In the dense central forests of Borneo, a conservation group has found what appears to be a new species of mammal. WWF caught two images of the animal, which is bigger than a domestic cat, dark red, and has a long muscular tail — via digg
Shortly after learning of the New Orleans plan for free city-wide wireless internet, Bellsouth withdrew an offer to donate a damaged building to be used for police headquarters
MP3tunes, a company created by MP3.com founder Michael Robertson, has launched an unlimited online digital music storage service, called Oboe. The service costs US$39.95 yearly and lets customers back up and consolidate their music files and also stream their music to various computers
Seems like customers are at a huge disadvantage when dealing with dishonest retailers. This is the story of Thomas Hawk, a man who had a horrible experience with online camera retailer, PriceRitePhoto. In short he was lied to, yelled at and threatened to be sued if he posted the experience on his blog
South Africa’s highest court has ruled in favour of same-sex marriages. The Constitutional Court has struck down a law that bans gay unions and ordered Parliament to draft new legislation within a year. Justice Albie Sachs ruled that the common law definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman
is inconsistent with the Constitution because it does not permit same-sex couples to enjoy the same benefits as heterosexual couples
Mr T, Burt Reynolds and Dennis Hopper have all signed up to deliver celebrity voice content for turn-by-turn driving directions in the Navtones car navigation system produced by Los Angeles-based Wanderlust Media and digital map and location content provider Tele Atlas: Turn left, Fool — via digg
A BellSouth executive is arguing for his company’s right to degrade Internet services coming from people he doesn’t like. If they like Yahoo, they should be able to slow down Google — via digg
Apple disables the OSX screenshot capability while a DVD is playing. There is a work-around, though, for those times when you want to make a screenshot of your DVD player — via Boingboing
- Put your DVD in your computer and open DVD Player (Applications < DVD Player) if it does not open automatically. Go to Video < Maximum Size, or hit Command-3. Fast forward to the frame you want to capture, or select the scene to start at.
- Open the Terminal (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal). Type this, or copy / paste it right in the Terminal:
screencapture -i ~/Desktop/dvd.jpg
Your mouse should turn into crosshairs. Now hit the space bar. Your mouse should now be a camera. Click the window the DVD is playing in. A file calleddvd.jpg
will appear on your desktop.
Scratch-Less Discs are blank CDs with small raised bumps around their perimeters that keep the disc’s data from coming into contact with your desk when you set it down, reducing the likelihood of scratches that render discs unreadable. The discs have some other clever features, like a bevelled edge to make it easier to lift them off of flat surfaces. The manufacturer claims compatibility with 99% of CD burners and says that the remaining 1% merely have some problems ejecting the discs — via Boing Boing
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