Many of us remember the scene from Star Trek IV where Scotty barters the formula for transparent aluminium for a small run. It now appears that we can now add transparent aluminium to the science fact column
Britain’s spy agency the Secret Intelligence Service, known popularly as MI6, has opened its first web site. While much about the agency is still not public, the web site has information on service history and career opportunities for would-be spies. This rare peek at the real group popularised by the James Bond series brought over 3.5 million visits in its first few opening hours
OpenOffice.org had hoped to celebrate its fifth birthday today by launching the next generation of its office software suite, but a glitch has delayed release of the product for one week
Dutch police has nabbed three men, aged 19, 22 and 27, who used the toxbot trojan to create a botnet of over 100,000 machines. The trio conducted a DDoS attack against an unnamed US company in an extortion attempt, as well as using phishing tactics to hijack PayPal and eBay accounts
Apple has unveiled its long-rumoured video iPod, as well as a new iMac and an updated version of iTunes that lets users buy music videos, TV shows and movies
A startup called Splashpower hopes to be able to wirelessly recharge all of our handheld devices. They have a working prototype that already recharges an iPod Mini and a cell phone. Now we can look forward to yet another way to get brain cancer — via Slashdot
Google produced a Cheat Sheet to help people use the various operators and commands, such as ~ and site:. This has inspired Nancy Blachman, author of the independent Google Guide, to create an Advanced Operators Cheat Sheet — via Onlineblog
The Ig Nobel awards for 2005 were presented at Harvard University
The High Court of Australia has unanimously ruled that mod-chips are legal, but the implications of the case for game manufacturers are not clear
University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists say they are developing a new lithium battery technology capable of making batteries smaller, last longer and, soon, accept a charge from outside the body without the need for surgery. These organosilicon batteries are projected to power tiny implantable devices for more than 12 years
Republican lawmakers are drafting new legislation that will make marriage a requirement for motherhood in the state of Indiana, including specific criminal penalties for unmarried women who do become pregnant by means other than sexual intercourse
. According to a draft of the recommended change in state law, every woman in Indiana seeking to become a mother through assisted reproduction therapy such as in vitro fertilisation, sperm donation, and egg donation, must first file for a petition for parentage
in their local county probate court — via JetAmI
Making Firefox Mac Behave Like IE 6
The web developer toolbar for Firefox is a fantastic tool for all us web devy people. Imagine being able to toogle a switch and have Firefox simulate how IE6 win renders html. Yeah, that’d be pretty fantastic, especially for us coding on a Mac.
Justin Palmer is proposing we get some people right on developing such a tool and have people donate money to the developers for their efforts. I’m All for it!
SpreadFirefox, the community marketing site for the Mozilla Foundation’s open-source browser Firefox has been hacked, just months after a similar breach occurred — via Kramut Kennels
Sony has an odd response to complaints from fans who have discovered they cannot import their CD content to an iPod. Individuals who complain to Sony BMG about iPod incompatibility are being directed to a web site that provides information on how to work around the technology. In short, some labels appear to have been instructing customers how to defeat DRM — which is a violation of DMCA
Google today continues its march toward dominating computer desktops. Google is teaming with Sun in what Sun called a collaborative effort
After seven years of production, Star Wreck: In The Pirkinning, the Finnish Star Trek / Babylon 5 parody movie, was finally released on DVD a month ago and is now available for download. In spite of its practically zero budget, the film has a hilariously captivating story, top notch CGI and even a couple of performances from professional actors
MIT is showing off a prototype of a $100 laptop. It uses a 500MHz AMD processor, stores everything on flash memory, and runs Linux. The AC adapter acts as the carrying strap, and there is a hand crank so if you can’t find a source of electricity you can charge it kinetically. The prototype laptop is also much more flexible and durable than your average notebook. In addition the unit has a screen that has a special daylight-friendly black and white mode that makes a great ebook
BitTorrent just got a massive infusion of cash from venture capital firm DCM Doll. Neither BitTorrent nor DCM have publicly stated how a legitimate service would work, but industry insiders have been busy speculating on how the distributed peer-to-peer service could help movie studios and filmmakers make for-pay content available
New Scientist has found a patent for a microphone that clips on your tooth, meaning you can stay in radio contact even the noisiest situations — like warzones. You use your tongue to flip it on and off
A new research report suggests that those who download music online are also likely to cheat at schools/universities and to shoplift. Not only does music file-swapping harm artists, but it also points to an erosion of respect for intellectual property that threatens Canada’s economy and values at the core of our society,
said Graham Henderson, president of the Canadian Recording Industry Association, which commissioned the polls. I’m sure paying for your own research project makes for wonderfully objective data
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