Google has outlined plans to develop a universal search model that would offer up Web sites, video, news and other related results — all on the same page. Dubbed universal search
, Google’s vision for the future of its search service is to scour all its content sources, compare and rank all the information in real time, and deliver integrated search results that offer users precisely what they are looking for
Digital rights management took another blow on Wednesday, as Amazon.com announced that it would launch a DRM-free music store later in 2007, with the EMI catalog as the first major-label offering
Estonia says the country’s web sites have been under heavy attack for the past three weeks, blaming Russia for playing a part in the cyber warfare. Many of the attacks have come from Russia and are being hosted by Russian state computer servers, Tallinn says. Moscow denies any involvement
Mobile phone calls in Sydney’s CBD will be blocked by a sophisticated counter-terrorism measure to prevent bomb attacks during US President George Bush’s September APEC visit. The president’s motorcade will be shadowed by a helicopter equipped with signal-jamming equipment
Evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin thought the voyage of the Beagle was a magnificent scheme
allowing him to spend time larking round the world
. His delight at the five-year cruise is chronicled in a letter, available online for the first time. The note is one of nearly 5,000 from and to the scientist held in a database at the University of Cambridge. The Darwin Correspondence Project includes summaries of a further 9,000 letters, written from the age of 12
Meebo has launched Meebo Rooms, a rich media chat room product that users can put on their blogs and web sites. They can be private or public chat rooms, and can feature video content from sources such as youtube and NBC
Around 100,000 users have been infected with malware that has piggybacked on Windows updates. A Trojan, which began circulating in March via spammed e-mail, used an unique technique to download malicious files
A free programming tool that allows anyone to create their own animated stories, video games and interactive artworks has been developed. Primarily aimed at children, Scratch does not require prior knowledge of complex computer languages. Instead, it uses a simple graphical interface that allows programs to be assembled like building blocks. The digital toolkit, developed in the US at MIT’s Media Lab, allows people to blend images, sound and video
MySpace has launched a new tool to assist copyright holders in protecting their video content. Known as Take Down Stay Down
, the tool is designed to prevent MySpace users from reposting video content that the site has removed at the request of the content owner
The San Francisco controller’s office issued a favourable review Friday on a proposal by EarthLink and Google to provide the city with free wireless Internet access. The report estimates residents could save $9 million to $18 million in Internet bills annually by having the option of choosing the EarthLink service, which will offer free access as well as a paid service that is cheaper than other broadband options like DSL and cable
An attempt to force Google to stop censoring its search results in repressive countries has been rejected by its shareholders. The office of the comptroller of New York City, which oversees New York City pension funds, proposed the motion at the search giant’s annual shareholder yesterday. It won support from Amnesty — one of many human rights groups who criticised the company in early 2006 for bowing to pressure from the Chinese government and censoring its search results in China. The motion also named Belarus, Burma, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam as countries where governments restrict access to Internet content. But Google’s top management, who cast 66% of its votes, did not support the plan, and thus it was rejected
A skyscraper, to be built in Dubai, is called the Burj al-Taqa (Energy Tower
), and it will produce 100% of its own power. The tower will have a huge 60m diameter wind turbine on its roof, and arrays of solar cells that will total 161,459 square feet in size. Additional energy is provided by an island of solar panels, which drifts in the sea within viewing distance of the tower
A new £3.6bn project to upgrade the space communications network for British forces including the Army, Royal Navy, and RAF has gone underway. The first craft, Skynet 5A was launched from Kourou in French Guiana on 11 March 2007. There will be a constellation of three satellites in total. This system is also not an exclusive project for the armed forces, it is actually outsourced to a company called Paradigm Secure Communications. They work with NATO, France, Germany, Canada, Portugal and the Netherlands. They are also seeking new business in the US, Australia, and the Middle East
The US house of representatives today passed a bill outlawing illegal domestic wiretapping by the government. Now government agencies are only allowed to access your private communications under terms of FISA. The Bill ends plans by the Bush Administration that would give the NSA the freedom to pry into the lives of ordinary Americans. The ACLU noted that, despite many recent hearings about modernisation
and technology neutrality
, the administration has not publicly provided Congress with a single example of how current FISA standards have either prevented the intelligence community from using new technologies, or proven unworkable for the agents tasked with following them
Purdue researchers say they have made a major advance in the design of the internal combustion engine, one that could seriously boost fuel efficiency and cut emissions. A key portion involves building intake and exhaust valves that are no longer driven by mechanisms connected to the pistons, a departure from the way car engines have worked since they were commercialised more than a century ago. The concept, known as variable valve actuation, would enable significant improvements in conventional gasoline and diesel engines used in cars and trucks and for applications such as generators — via Slashdot
Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories are pleased to report that their project to construct a cheap home-built three dimensional fabricator has been a success. The fabricator is fully operational and has been used it to print several large, low-resolution, objects out of pure sugar
Hewlett-Packard said it will be beefing up select high-end PCs this week with options including a dual format HD DVD/Blu-ray optical drive by LG, digital cable tuners, Intel Core 2 Quad Processors, and Nvidia’s GeForce 8800 graphics cards
The BBC Trust — the organisation that oversees the BBC’s operations — has driven another nail into the BBC’s relevancy for the 21st century today by giving the broadcaster permission to use DRM on its online offerings. The BBC has turned its back on its promise to deliver a remixable, DRM-free archive of its video materials to the British public. Instead, it has opted for the iPlayer
, a crippling technology that infects PCs and makes them incapable of saving and using some of the files on their hard-drives. At the core of this is a Microsoft technology, the WMV file-format
The last time Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs took on major recording companies, he refused to budge on his 99-cent price for a song on iTunes. As a new round of talks ramp up this month, however, Jobs has opened the door to higher prices — as long as music companies let Apple sell their songs without DRM. Jobs contends that would tear down the walls
by allowing consumers to play music they buy at Apple’s iTunes store on any digital music player, not just the company’s iPods
One Laptop Per Child, which aims to bring laptops to schoolchildren in impoverished nations, recently pushed its price per laptop to $175, from $100. India’s HRD ministry, which rejected the offer from OLPC, says it thinks it can push that price down to $10. The manufacturing cost has already been scaled down to $47. So far no manufacturer has agreed to the $10 price
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