Mexico’s equivalent of the RIAA used federal police to raid Grupo Mekong, responsible for half of the 400 million virgin CDs imported each year, accusing them of being in league with the Piracy business in Mexico. The rationale being that record companies buy only 20% of Mekong merchandise, so the other 80% must be going to pirates, disregarding computer users, independent labels or other legal uses — via Slashdot
The frenzied bidding for a tumbledown Northern California town closed at nearly US$1.8 million yesterday on eBay. If the deal goes through, 82 acres of Bridgeville will go to the unidentified buyer who put in a bid for US$1,777,877 just seconds before the Internet auction closed
While the Pentagon has spent the past year planning for a war against Iraq, the peace movement has been gearing up to disrupt domestic military activity, tie up commerce and get out the anti-war message
Since the dawn of the information age, computer security commandos have battled the Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse: child pornographers, drug lords, mafiosi, and terrorists. A noble struggle, to be sure, but mostly vapourware. The Feds have a massive, multi-agency plan to protect the national information infrastructure. Get ready for IT police and network smart bombs. Because of the inroads the Internet and other digital network technologies have made into everyday life over the last decade, it is increasingly possible to amass Big Brother-like surveillance powers through Little Brother means. The basic components include everyday digital technologies like e-mail, online shopping and travel booking, ATM systems, mobile phone networks, electronic toll-collection systems and credit-card payment terminals
The Japanese Government is funding the development of diamond-based semiconductors to replace silicon chips. The main advantages of diamond include heat resistance and higher electrical resistance — via Slashdot
The Chinese Government has ordered the closure of more than 3,300 Internet cafés for safety reasons after a fire destroyed an underground cafe in Beijing in June this year
In an attempt to out do Clark Griswold, Alek installed 22,000 Xmas lights on the outside of his house alone. A webcam that allows you to turn the lights on and off and see the results of your handiwork. It only works between 6pm and 10pm MST and I can’t imagine the neighbours are happy — via Slashdot
A Japanese manufacturer has come up with a spherical PC [translation], it comes in silver or an attractive shade of lime. PCs are enough trouble without having to worry about them accidentally rolling off your desk
A consortium of three universities and four Japanese companies is investing $25M into a project, that is supposed to deliver a 1.5TB DVD by 2010. Multiple layers being used for storage and, more importantly, they claim it will be backwards compatible to existing DVD technology
New Jersey has just enacted legislation that would require all handguns to be able to recognise their owners and only fire when their owners grip them. Gun manufacturers will be required to implement this within three years of the New Jersey Attorney General’s approval of an acceptable, commercially available model — via Slashdot
Google has quietly launched an Australian site, google.com.au. Most Australian internet users typing in the google.com address will be re-directed to the local site, which allows them to restrict searches to Australian web sites
Industry sources say that Microsoft have Macromedia in their sights. Whilst it could just be holiday gossip, if they do pull it off it could have a significant impact on the cross-browser compatibility of Flash applications — via Slashdot
The University of Alberta‘s undergraduate computing science student group modded the office shredder — with duct tape, 110v case fans and an Athlon fan — to increase the speed of the paper shredder from 12 to 37 pages shredded before overheating — via Slashdot
The US Copyright Office asked for public comment on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and it got it. Critics worry about everything from losing great art to restricting blind people’s access to information
Thirty-five-year-old Herve Bernaudon, a sheep farmer from the Hautes-Alpes region, has become the first person in France to be placed under formal investigation for killing a wolf
Psychologists at the University of Sussex found that people who get involved in campaigns, strikes and political demonstrations experience an improvement in psychological well-being that can help them overcome stress, pain, anxiety and depression
Data recorders in aeroplanes, the so-called black boxes, describe what went wrong after a disaster. Now, medical devices are emerging to act like a black box in the human body, except they’re being used to prevent disaster
A bizarre rumour that Malawi’s government is colluding with vampires to collect human blood for international aid agencies in exchange for food has led to a rash of vigilante violence
Joe Strummer, former singer, guitarist and songwriter for legendary punk rockers The Clash, died Sunday at his home in Somerset, England of an apparent heart attack; he was fifty
A mutual fund firm with ties to the Getty family oil fortune said it plans to offer a pair of ecology-friendly funds with the Sierra Club name that will not invest in oil stocks
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