The movie industry, in yet another illustration of just how much damage the Internet is doing to the long-suffering members of the MPAA, has just endured a record breaking $1 billion dollar takings for the single month of June. Clearly there is a desperate need to tighten up copyright laws in the face of this huge mountain of cash that is literally being metaphorically siphoned into the studios’ pockets. How will they survive? — via Slashdot
Australia’s most successful band, AC/DC, looks set to have a city lane named after it. Melbourne City Council is tonight expected to approve a recommendation to rename Corporation Lane, a narrow alley off Flinders Lane, ACDC Lane — not AC/DC Lane, as street names in the CBD are not permitted to have slashes — in honour of the band’s global success. There is already a street named Calle de AC/DC on the outskirts of Madrid
It used to be only Superman who could see through concrete walls, but an exhibit at the National Building Museum shows that mere mortals can do it, too.
Called Liquid Stone, the show features variations of translucent concrete, a newfangled version of the old construction standby that offers a combination of aesthetics and practicality.
A prototype wall of translucent concrete is shown at the National Building Museum. When backlit, a human form can be seen through the wall. The blocks are made by mixing glass fibers into the combination of crushed stone, cement and water — via boingboing
Developers at the open-source Mozilla Foundation have confirmed that the latest version of their Web browsers have a security flaw that could theoretically allow attackers to crash computers or launch unauthorised programs. The flaw was publicised Wednesday on a security mailing list, along with a link to a fix for the problem. Updated versions of the affected software programs, which include the Mozilla, Firefox and Thunderbird browsers, have been released
Italy is finally cracking down on the many fickle pet owners who dump their cat or dog on the roadside as they head to the beach for their summer vacation
Miners once used canaries to judge whether a mine was safe from poisonous gases and now Australian scientists at the University of Melbourne are using insects found in your garden to measure carcinogenic arsenic levels in old gold mines
A computer science researcher has highlighted the shortcomings of Microsoft’s latest patch for its Internet Explorer browser by identifying another way that online vandals could run malicious programs on a Web surfer’s computer. Download Mozilla now
A recent scientific study that indicate marijuana consumption can improve night vision. The results backed up claims by the Observer columnist Sue Arnold, who suffers from retinitis pigmentosa and is officially registered blind. She noticed several years ago that drawing on strong Jamaican skunk suddenly and temporarily enabled her to see things clearly. But Ms Arnold has since warned of side-effects that could impede night-time navigation. Only trouble was,
she said, I couldn’t stand up
— via Pagan Prattle
A new technique might allow surgeons to operate on internal organs without making any cuts in the skin. The Johns Hopkins University team says a mini-telescope could go down the throat and make a cut in the stomach wall to reach abdominal organs. The technique, tested in pigs, could mean faster recovery times say the authors in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy — via Die Puny Humans
A woman with the words HELP ME
carved on her stomach was killed after she fell off the scooter she was driving on the 79th Street Causeway. The victim — Desiree Lee Campasano, 36, of Miami Beach — appeared to have lost control of her scooter, hit a curb and then fell off it and hit her head. She was not wearing a helmet. She died at the scene — via Die Puny Humans
The US Centres for Disease Control offer print-and-clip collectable infectious disease trading cards. A little something to go with your plush Giant Microbes — via boingboing
A federal appellate court on Tuesday said a lower court erred in invalidating two patents for ergonomic computer keyboards, dealing a blow to Microsoft, which fought to have them voided after being sued by the holder of those patents
eBay is taking the unusual step of removing the option of setting a reserve price for users of its Australian site
Researchers have moved a little bit closer to the day when new teeth can be grown to replace damaged or missing teeth. One set of researchers has succeeded in growing teeth tissue on bio-degradable scaffolding
in rats. Another group has been able to coax stem cells to form tooth structures in mice. Both reports appear in the July issue of the Journal of Dental Research
A one-year-old Pakistani boy saw the world for the first time through an eye donated [BugMeNot] by an Indian. Mohammed Ahmed gained partial vision after a difficult operation at the Agarwal Eye Institute in the southern city of Madras. Doctors said Ahmed, who was born blind, would get near-normal sight by the time he heads back to Karachi next week
The contest to design a commemorative quarter for this year’s Canada Day was won by Nick Wooster, aged 11, of Saanichton, British Columbia with this great, cartoony moose design.
Possibly the cutest coin I’ve ever seen — via BoingBoing
The world’s largest truck is the Liebherr T 282B, used for hauling in the mining industry. At more than 7 metres tall and 14 metres long, the 200 tonne monstrosity can still putt along at 64 kilometres per hour. New Scientist has published an interview with Francis Bartley, head of R&D for Liebherr:
The first time I was in it at a mine, the driver started to drive away and actually ran into the back of a service truck. It seems we mashed it down to the ground. I saw someone yelling, but we didn’t feel a thing.
Delicious giant Tonka toy goodness — via boingboing
Microsoft has issued a security update which changes settings in Internet Explorer to protect users of its Internet Explorer browsers from a new virus risk, although it has not actually patched the flaw. Download Mozilla now
The Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement gives corporations the power to sue government, in either domestic courts or through international arbitration, riding over democracy
RadarVision has developed a radar system that uses ultra-wideband technology to produce three-dimensional pictures of the space behind a wall from a distance of up to 20 metres. The pictures, which reportedly resemble those produced by ultrasound, are relatively high-resolution and are produced in real time. It sounds like the potential benefits of this device are huge, saving lives of soldiers, firemen, or police; the potential for privacy invasion, however, is similarly large
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