Microsoft has killed off Windows NT, maybe it should now release its source code to the open-source community in order to fight off the challenge from Linux. If nothing else the open-source community will be laughing so hard they won’t be able to fight back
Adobe Systems has begun testing online activation of its Photoshop 7.0 application in Australia as a way of stemming the illegal use of its software
lucie sent me a site with a collection of sometimes funny, but mostly scarily pathetic, quotes from IRC chats. If nothing else, it does offer proof for why I hate IRC so much and feel that stupid 13-year-old boys should not be allowed near computers.
Invisible soft walls
in the skies around city centres and other likely terrorist targets could make it impossible for hijacked planes to fly anywhere near them. The new avionics system comprises an on-board GPS database containing the coordinates of no-fly zones. If pilots try to enter these areas, they are physically countered by the onboard computer and gently steered from the area
The California Supreme Court has ruled that a former employee of Intel was free to send email messages to current company employees, overturning a lower court’s injunction. The court rejected Intel’s argument that the messages represented illegal trespassing into its computer systems
Steven Low, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and his colleagues have been developed that drastically improves download performance from the net. Running at 3,500 times faster than traditional broadband this software achieves download speeds of up to 7 gigabytes per minute
This one’s on a guy who blows up household appliances — amongst other things — for a living.
Anyone hoping to make lots of money charging consumers directly for WiFi internet access is in for very empty pockets. But making your money back on your shiny new WiFi hotspot by selling coffee or offering a room for the night is a more realistic approach
FireWire isn’t just for connecting iPods and DVD burners any more. A software package from Apple lets you use plain old — and fancy new — FireWire cables to connect Macs in a network. Apple’s IP-over-FireWire software turns a FireWire bus into something akin to an Ethernet port
Mozilla 1.4 is now available. It offers several enhancements over Mozilla 1.3.1; bookmarks improvements, smooth scrolling, junk mail improvements and proxy auto-config failover. It is the basis of today’s Netscape 7.1 release. In future milestone cycles, changes will be made to both the Mozilla technology and the project’s organisation, including a move towards the standalone Mozilla Firebird and Mozilla Thunderbird applications as the main focus of development
University of Perugia researchers have found that artisans throwing pots in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Umbria were practising an early form of nanotechnology. Coloured glazes in pottery samples from the Umbrian town of Deruta exploit the reflective properties of minute metal grains to give them a rich lustre
Your next personal computer may well come with its own digital chaperone. As PC makers prepare a new generation of desktop computers with built-in hardware controls to protect data and digital entertainment from illegal copying, the industry is also promising to keep information safe from tampering and help users avoid troublemakers in cyberspace
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is now advocating that third-world countries be given funds to implement WiFi technology and leapfrog into the future
In much the same way as bar codes entered our lives, RFID will soon be following our every purchase. But it has the potential to be misused to not only keep tabs on your purchases, but also on your movements and associations
A Brazilian consumer has sued EMI and Sony because of the copy protection technology in a best selling album caused it to be unplayable in his car — he won
Google’s Toolbar 2.0 Beta has a feature that Microsoft forgot to include — it automatically block popups for IE5.5 and higher browsers
With a sizeable chunk of the spam now clogging the Internet’s arteries emanating from Microsoft’s own servers, the software giant’s recent antispam campaign — splashy press events, high-profile lawsuits, emails from Chairman Bill — comes off as little more than grandstanding. The company should spend less time in court and more time working with other antispam communities on viable technology solutions. Fixing its own spam-spewing MSN service would be a good place to start
There are some cool hacks coming out of Amazon’s open API and XML feed policy. Some nifty stuff — 27,000 developers have apparently signed up to build hacks on Amazon data
A future generation of anti-aircraft missiles could be made far harder to dodge by a guidance system inspired by the flight of dragonflies and hoverflies. The missiles will mimic a strategy called motion camouflage, which predatory insects use to trick prey into thinking they are stationary
Australia could be the first country to outlaw spamming and spammers could face jail sentences by the end of the year
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