Yahoo has introduced a new open Web services platform. Yahoo Search BOSS (Build Your Own Search Service) gives outside developers unprecedented access to Yahoo’s search technology
The new iPhone OS 2.0 software has been unlocked and jailbroken. It was released just hours ago and it has already been cracked by the iPhone Dev Team. The first one took a couple of months, but this one was actually unlocked before Apple released it to the public
Computer experts have released software to tackle a security glitch in the internet’s addressing system. The flaw, discovered by accident, would allow criminals to redirect users to fake web pages, even if they typed the correct address into a browser. Internet giants such as Microsoft are now distributing the security patch
A group of Australian scientists has found a way to make the world’s internet pipes run more than six times faster than today’s best technology. The breakthrough breaks through technical ceilings holding back the hundreds of thousands of fibre-optic cables that ring the earth. The breakthrough was jointly discovered by photonics whizzes at Australian National University and Sydney University who found they could etch circuit-like patterns in glass to switch fibre-optic signals much faster than conventional electronics
After announcing that Browser Sync was being discontinued, a lot of people asked for Google to open source the code so development could continue. Well, they’ve done just that. The code for browser sync is now available on code.google.com, and a blog post about the release can be found on the Google open source blog — via Slashdot
Flickr, a popular online photo-sharing site owned by Yahoo, is teaming up with Getty Images to offer shutterbugs a chance to turn their hobby into a moneymaking endeavor. Under a partnership announced this week, Getty’s editors will peruse Flickr to find pictures that may appeal to newspapers, magazines, book publishers, advertising agencies and other businesses
Google has open-sourced its protocol buffers, the company’s lingua franca for encoding various types of data, in order to set the stage for a wave of new releases. Practically everyone inside Google
uses protocol buffers, states a FAQ page. We have many other projects we would like to release as open source that use protocol buffers, so to do this, we needed to release protocol buffers first
Mozilla’s Asa Dotzler has said It’s really hard for me to believe that either [Microsoft or Adobe] have the free and open Web at heart when they’re actively subverting it with closed technologies like Flash and Silverlight.
But are they really subverting it? Where is the line between serving the consumer and subverting the Web? This blog post makes the case that the W3C’s glacial process should share in the blame for the growth of proprietary technologies — via Slashdot
Pioneer has developed a 16-layer read-only optical disc which it claims can store 400GB of data. The per-layer capacity is 25GB, the same as that of a Blu-ray Disc, and the multilayer technology will also be applicable to multilayer recordable discs. Multi-layered discs have been difficult to develop because crosstalk
from adjacent layers and transmission loss mean that getting a stable signal from the disc is often nearly impossible
An Australian living in East Africa has brought new meaning to the phrase keeping the bastards honest
. In the past year-and-a-half, Julian Assange and his band of online dissidents have helped swing the Kenyan presidential election, embarrassed the US Government and sparked international scandal. His site, Wikileaks, provides a safe haven for whistleblowers to anonymously upload confidential documents and, after 18 months of operation, Assange says no source has ever been exposed and no document — now more than 1.2 million and counting — has ever been censored or removed. Now the site is expanding its focus on despotic regimes and shady corporate dealings to include religion and even the cult of celebrity
Rant all you want in a public park. A police officer generally won’t eject you for your remarks alone, however unpopular or provocative. Say it on the Internet, and you’ll find that free speech and other constitutional rights are anything but guaranteed. Companies in charge of seemingly public spaces online wipe out content that’s controversial but otherwise legal. Service providers write their own rules for users worldwide and set foreign policy when they cooperate with regimes like China. They serve as prosecutor, judge and jury in handling disputes behind closed doors
After a frustrating few months of searching for a solution to the audio problems he encountered while ripping on-screen video with his Dell laptop, a ripten editor discovered that others were experiencing the same issue — and that the problem was not confined to Dell laptops. Apparently, the lack of a sound card Stereo Mix recording option is to blame — and numerous forum threads have suggested that the RIAA has put pressure on laptop manufacturers like Dell, Gateway and Pac Bell to remove it — via Gizmodo
A device consisting of a giant rubber tube may hold the key to producing affordable electricity from the energy in sea waves. Invented in the UK, the Anaconda
is a totally innovative wave energy concept. Its ultra-simple design means it would be cheap to manufacture and maintain, enabling it to produce clean electricity at lower cost than other types of wave energy converter. Cost has been a key barrier to deployment of such converters to date
When it comes to politicians taking a stand against anti-piracy bills
, such as the three-strikes legislation that’s being backdoored in Europe at the moment, the mind generally goes Swedish, to Rick Falkvinge for example. The mind doesn’t tend to think of North American politicians, but there is an exception, in Canada’s Charlie Angus
A site called LegalTorrents has just launched that hosts trackers and seeds for digital media licensed under the Creative Commons license. The site even provides a way to donate money to artists you like. LegalTorrents takes 15% off the top unless you are a member, which costs $50 one-time during the beta period — via Slashdot
Bletchley Park — otherwise known as Station X to keep its location secret from the Germans — now houses many exhibits and other memorabilia reminding visitors of the outstanding work of trying to crack the Enigma code. It also houses recently rebuilt replicas of the two main codebreaking machines: the Colossus and the Bombe. But despite its obvious historical importance, the Bletchley Park Trust had been unable to win significant funding. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation turned down its request, while the National Lottery, now the Heritage Lottery Fund, said it was ineligible. But, following a change in funding criteria by the Heritage Lottery Fund, there is suddenly light on the horizon
One of Japan’s biggest Internet service providers will soon begin imposing daily upload limits on its customers in response to a portion of its user base who upload massive amounts of data. OCN, the carrier operated by NTT Communications, will introduce a daily upload limit of 30G bytes from 1 August. Customers that exceed the amount will first be asked to observe it, but those that repeatedly break it will have their access suspended. Downloads will continue to be unlimited
Iran’s parliament is set to debate a draft bill which could see the death penalty used for those deemed to promote corruption, prostitution and apostasy on the internet
Google’s plans to launch a mapping tool in the UK could be referred to the Information Commissioner. Street View matches photos of locations to maps, including passers-by who were captured as the photograph was taken. Privacy International, a UK rights group, believes the technology breaks data protection laws
Google must divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched any video on YouTube, a US court has ruled. The ruling comes as part of Google’s legal battle with Viacom over allegations of copyright infringement. Digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called the ruling a set-back to privacy rights
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