Andrew Carol has built a version of the Babbage Difference Engine No 2 out of Lego — via digg
In an effort to crack down on search engine abuse, Google has eliminated the German site of BMW from its index, charging the company with violating webmaster guidelines. Office equipment giant Ricoh has also now found itself on the end of Google’s search sanctions in Germany but some critics of Google’s death penalty
say companies are being punished unfairly for having the savvy to make Google’s system work for them. Others joining the debate however have praised Google for keeping large multinational companies in check
Google is tightening the link between Gmail and Google Talk by allowing users to conduct instant messaging text chat sessions from within the Web mail service’s interface. To use Google Talk from within Gmail, users don’t need to download any additional software nor a separate application
The US military is considering testing the principle behind a type of space drive which holds the promise of reaching Mars in just three hours. The problem is it’s entirely theoretical and many physicists admit they don’t understand the science behind it — via digg
iiNet is investigating problems with its popular Internet telephony service which have seen some customers lose signal in mid-call
Carbon nanotubes being used to make memory chips. As the name suggests, carbon nanotubes are extremely small cylinders of carbon, and they have some similar properties to the extremely fine hairs on the feet of Geckos that enable the lizards to climb walls and hang from ceilings. The new chips work faster than current technologies, and hold their data without needing a power source
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
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
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
Adobe have posted this question and answer PDF regarding Adobe products running on the new Intel-Based Macs. Looks like the Photoshop TV guys were right, a Universal Binary will not be available for CS2, Adobe will instead focus on making CS3 compatible with both Intel-Based Macs and the current Macs. CS3 could be available in the next 18 – 24 months if you look at Adobe’s rack record for major releases.
On a slight tangent, my 17-inch PowerBook arrived last week and I love it!
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