Yahoo has been accused of supplying information to China which led to the jailing of a journalist for divulging state secrets
. Reporters Without Borders said Yahoo’s Hong Kong arm helped China link Shi Tao’s e-mail account and computer to a message containing the information. The media watchdog accused Yahoo of becoming a police informant
in order to further its business ambitions — via Warren Ellis
Lawrence Lessig predicts that the public domain will die a slow death at the hands of anti-piracy efforts. The danger remains invisible to most, hidden by the zeal of a war on piracy. And that is how the public domain may die a quiet death, extinguished by self-righteous extremism, long before many even recognise it is gone
Australian scientists have created mice which can regenerate absolutely any tissue except for the tissues of the brain. Heart, lungs, entire limbs, you name it. This is the first time this has been seen in mammals
Massachusetts has cited legal concerns over Microsoft’s software as a factor behind its decision to only use document formats based on open standards
Thousands of German Harry Potter fans who could not wait for the latest JK Rowling epic to be published in their own language have translated the book in less than two days. The hobby translators
were too impatient to wait the 77 days required by German translator Klaus Fritz to complete the task and logged on to Harry-auf-Deutsch.de to finish the job in 45 hours — via BoingBoing
Some US libraries are using Microsoft Media DRM to automatically return audiobooks checked out of their catalogue. A patron with a valid library card visits a library Web site to borrow a title for, say, three weeks. When the audiobook is due, the patron must renew it or find it automatically returned
in a virtual sense: The file still sits on the patron’s computer, but encryption makes it unplayable beyond the borrowing period
Roborior, a house-sitting robot armed with a digital camera, infrared sensors, and a videophone is on sale in select Japanese department stores. The house-sitting robot can detect break-ins with its infrared sensors and then call the owners cell phone and stream video to the tiny screen. At US$2600 each the Roborior is not cheap. For those that require something a little more substantial, Tmsuk, the manufacturer of Roborior, has produced a four legged version called Banryu. This one is the size of a large dog and sells for around US$18,000. It’s not supposed to shed hair or sleep on the furniture which could make it quite popular — via Slashdot
Last year, the US Air Force dropped US$25k on a Teleportation Physics Study to examine whether it might be possible to beam people and objects from one place to another. The report [pdf] was written by Eric W Davis who holds a PhD in astrophysics. Not mentioned in the article is that Davis apparently has also been affiliated with the National Institute for Discovery Science, a private research organisation that studies aerial phenomena, animal mutilations, and other related anomalous phenomena
— via BoingBoing
Australias pay more for their home telephone services than anywhere else in the developed world, apart from Hungary. The Paris-based OECD estimates that a typical set of home telephone services, including calls to mobiles and international numbers, costs the equivalent of $975 a year in Australia. That is 50% more than is paid in Britain and 25% higher than the OECD average
Ryan Hamlin, head of Microsoft’s Technology Care and Safety Group spoke out against New Zealand’s proposed anti-spam legislation, warning that it could impinge on the amazing vehicle of e-mail marketing
. He also suggests that CAN-SPAM has been effective in deterring spammers. Though often criticised as too meek, US anti-spam legislation — which relies on people opting out of spam — has proved effective in supporting prosecutions and deterring spammers
British soldiers will be getting germ-fighting underwear. The antimicrobial underpants have been introduced by the Ministry of Defence as part of a new desert uniform for soldiers. They are the first undergarments issued to British troops, who traditionally have had to supply their own. Military officials said Thursday the unisex trunks were made from artificial fibres for comfort, with silver particles woven into the material to prevent sweating. According to Colonel Silas Suchanek: It is coated to prevent bacterial infection, and we have tried to arrange the seams so that they don’t chafe
8:50am – arrive at train station with intention of catching the 8:57 to get to a station which will let me catch the express 9:07, which will get me to work by 10-ish.
9:00am – announcement made telling commuters the 8:57 is running 20 mins late. Go to plan B: wait for 9:14 train.
9:04am – watch express train zoom past.
9:14am – finished coffee and make up application. Look up and see the 9:14 which happens to be a millenium train approaching.
9:16am – look up, train in same spot as 2mins ago approx 500m from the platform. WTF?
9:20am – train hasn’t budged. Boy these signals must be really fucked up!
9:22am – announcement made saying station don’t know WTF is going on.
9:25am – announcement made saying the millenium (mil-lemon) train has broken down. I grab keys and drive to work.
GRRRR!
King George II, living proof that man descended from apes and some haven’t quite managed to quite stand upright yet, has started a national debate in the US over the teaching of evolution in school. The retarded monkey boy has suggested that a theory known as intelligent design
— the current PC term for creationism — should be taught in the classroom. His championing of intelligent design will be interpreted as further evidence of the growing influence of the religious right
Professor Veena Sahajwalla of the University of New South Wales has won a prestigious Australian science award for developing a technique to use waste plastic in steel making, a process that could have implications for recycling scrap metal that accounts for 40% of steel production
Pollycarpus Priyanto, a pilot with Indonesia’s national airline Garuda, is on trial in Jakarta for the murder of Munir Said Thalib, a leading human rights activist, who died from arsenic poisoning on a Garuda flight to Amsterdam last September. The case is being seen as test of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s commitment to law and order
Freelance reporter and blogger Steven Vincent was murdered Tuesday night in Basra, Iraq. Reports Vincent wrote on ties that link Iraqi police with extremists likely led to his killing — via BoingBoing
A teenaged Israeli soldier has been lynched by a crowd after shooting dead four people on a bus in an Israeli Arab town
The loss of once-plentiful wolves in a part of Canada’s west allowed the elk population to mushroom, pushing out beavers and songbirds and showing the importance of top predators. Although scientists have long noted that the loss of even one species can have profound effects, the report is one of the first large-scale studies to show clearly the widespread consequences of losing a predator at the top of the food chain
The Irish Republican Army has formally ended more than 30 years of armed struggle in Northern Ireland, pledging to lay down its weapons and fight British rule through purely peaceful means
New South Wales Premier Bob Carr has announced his resignation from politics, effective from next Wednesday
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