Dell has issued a memo to its tech-support staff, telling them not to help Dell customers remove spyware from their systems. Dell has decided that its duty to its users is superceded by its duty to upholding contracts that you sign when you click on the I agree button after downloading software, contracts in which you promise to allow spyware to be installed on your machine, and promise not to try to remove it
Over 38,000 Optus pay TV and Internet subscribers have been double-billed in what has been described by the company as a manual processing error
A high-speed Japanese train set a new record of 581 km/h, breaking its own previous record. The Superconducting Maglev had real passengers on board this time. They proved that the distance between Osaka and Tokyo can be covered in one hour’s time
That’s right: two books of short stories and a website management animal book (probably for Moveable Type users). Info from the horse’s mouth and at O’Reilly
I hate the whole decoration part of Christmas, bring on the food and presents, but the stupid seasonal clothing and silly hats of family are difficult enough to tolerate for one day. Having to endure the same insanity at your place of employment for an entire month is a form of torture
A comment last year by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the hunt for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction was awarded the Foot in Mouth prize by Britain’s Plain English Campaign; ‘Reports that say something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.’ Aniruddha Bahal, an Indian investigative journalist, won Britain’s little-coveted Bad Sex in Fiction Award for a turbo-charged account of a lovers’ tryst that likens their amours to a speeding Bugatti sports car
Rumours have it that Sony is planning to let players interact with games using hand gestures, eye movements and emotion sensors in PlayStation 3. There’s a conceptual image of the PS3 doing the rounds that is very pretty, unfortunately its source in unconfirmed making it highly likely that it’s a fake
Toshiba and NEC have won a round in the fight for standardising the format for DVDs as their technology has been embraced by an industry forum, but the real battle is won by convincing consumers and Hollywood
Everyone who uses Perl should be reading the Perl Advent Calendar during Saturnalia. Behind each pixelated cardboard door is an education in using a CPAN module to get the most out your time. Topics covered so far include security, aspect-oriented programming, and validating web forms
Blogger offers support, not only on the everyday help items, but on the really tricky issues of what to do if your mother finds your blog and how not to get fired because of your blog. Perhaps Michael Hanscom should have looked the last one over before he mentioned the arrival of G5s to Redmond on his blog
Escape from Woomera is a first-person video strategy game, based on Half-Life, in which you play a refugee in the notorious Australian detention centre. The idea is to call attention to the deplorable state of Woomera and the inherent cruelty of the detention process
Nicholas Kristof offered the prize of an Iraqi 250-dinar note with Saddam’s picture for the best name for the Iraq conflict. Many imaginative suggestions rolled in, including; ‘I Waged Two Wars Against Saddam and All I Got Was His Headache’, ‘Visit Scenic Saddam and Gomorrah’, ‘Operation Gee Whiz, This Liberation Thing Seemed a Lot Easier When We Were Drawing It Up Back at the Think Tank’, ‘Mission Implausible: A Job Well Spun’, ‘The War That Cried Wolfowitz’, ‘War of Mass Deception’, ‘Dubya Dubya III’, ‘Mess in Potamia’ and ‘Blood, Baath and Beyond’ — via The Green Man
The record rate of woodchip exports is also a record rate of destruction in Tasmania’s forests. While Gunns got $419 million from sales to Asia, Tasmanians got just $25 million or so for royalties, plus the decimation of a natural resource
The Fairfax run MyCareer site ran an amusing ad yesterday looking for an Opposition Leader: ‘The successful applicant for this excellent short-term executive position must be thick skinned, opinionated and willing to be stabbed in the back. Prior experience in this type of role, including head-kicking and some leadership skills an advantage, though not mandatory. This bright and energetic role model will receive a generous package that includes travel at taxpayer’s expense with the unlikely possibility of promotion in the near future. For immediate start, prefer debater with knack for circular arguments. Previous applicants will be considered.’ Mark Latham won and has immediately followed the tried and true Labor approach of toadying up to Howard
The retarded monkey boy has brought the international treaty aimed at repairing the Earth’s vital ozone layer close to breakdown, risking millions of cancers, to benefit strawberry and tomato growers in the electorally critical state of Florida — via Southerly Buster
Outrage is growing over a factory processing dead bodies in northeast China for a German company that puts them on display in major European cities. The plant, near Dalian city, is used by Body Worlds which was founded by Günther von Hagens, the German anatomist who has created a stir with his exhibitions of flayed human corpses in a variety of poses
Hogblog leads us to the dark matter flowchart, laying out explicitly and definitively for all time the intricate nexus linking elementary particle physics with cosmology. It was designed, around 1986, by a group of Princeton graduate students who have now gone on to (arguably) greater glory elsewhere
Newly discovered security flaws in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer could let attackers invade a user’s personal computer, but a fix is not yet available
Not many keyboard jockeys could go past a keyboard key pendant.
Thinkgeek is overflowing with wonderful geeky stuff, but their James Bond Stealth Camera is worth pointing out. It’s a teeny digital camera in a Zippo case.
Then there’s the Digital Sundial. Placed on the inside of a north-facing window (south-facing in the northern hemisphere), the sundial can be read through the horizontal mirror. The display updates every ten minutes, and gives a remarkably accurate record of the time during the daylight hours.
Or maybe you’d prefer a crocheted tea cozy for your laptop in red go-faster stripes.
And not to leave out the kiddies, let them create their own fantasy pet with the Discovery Kids Ultimate Labs DNA Explorer. If you get one of these, it’d suggest keeping your junior Einstein away from small pets and younger siblings.
Movies like 101 Dalmatians, Snow Dogs and Finding Nemo unwittingly persuade movie goers to buy pets based on their movie experience. For malamute rescuers, the trend is tragic. By the time an abandoned malamute reaches an animal shelter, it is more likely doomed to euthanasia because only half are retrainable
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