The DJ-I, Robot Sound System, has come out of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It’s a box of tricks — a computer spinning vinyl to the beats randomly accessed from its memory
Exonerated by DNA testing after 15 years in prison, Bruce Godschalk was released, despite the resistance of the district attorney
Astronomers have found a weird double-star system — a super-fast spinning pulsar whose gravity has deformed its companion star into a giant red teardrop
During a recent quest to hunt down a 17-year-old copy of the National Geographic, I ran into problems contacting the Single Copy Sales department due to bugs in their recently revamped e-mail system. So I’m greatly appreciative to Lisa Walker for both persevering with my continual queries and hunting down an old office copy for me — and then sending it to the other side of the planet gratis
Internode has become the first non-Telstra local ISP to provide residential ADSL service to local web users
In a major about-face, Australia’s largest Web site publisher, the Packer and Microsoft joint venture NineMSN will begin to charge users to access premium Internet content
A computer optics company has developed a robot that can detect and dispose of antipersonnel land mines without detonating them
NXT’s collapsible speakers are made of acoustic fluted composite
— otherwise known as corrugated cardboard. Versions designed to be used with home sound systems are pyramid-shaped and stand about 70 centimetres tall
As the computer industry increasingly focuses on web services, the World Wide Web Consortium, the web’s premier standards body, is weathering vociferous criticism from members and analysts alike that it is dropping the ball on this hot trend
From the about bloody time department — local law enforcement agencies have a vision of Australia being the first country in the world to successfully block stolen mobile phones across carrier networks, and hope to have a more definitive timeframe for when such a ban will be enforced by May this year
The Federal Trade Commission has launched a campaign against spam, upon nearly extinguishing an e-mail scam it was investigating for more than a year
Anyone taking part in the SETI@home rip-off to find the cure for Cancer may unexpectedly find that their processor time has been hijacked by the Anthrax project without their knowledge or permission
What do you get if you cross a magnetic space sail with a rapid-fire machine gun? If you do your math right, you might end up with something like the SailBeam interstellar space ship
British Telecommunications has claimed it owns the patent on hyperlinks and should receive payment for their daily use by millions of people. However, 82 year-old programmer, Bob Bemer, claims his creation of escape invalidates BT’s hyperlink patent
ISP Internode has thrown a lifeline to thousands of Easymail customers who will be stranded when Telstra dumps the service next month, thrusting the telco titan in a somewhat selfish light
The number of mobile phones in Australia is poised to overtake the number of landlines, but there are still far fewer mobile calls made
There is confusion after British Sky Broadcasting first confirmed, and then denied that the company’s digital recorders have built-in support for recording restrictions
The prime minister has been asked to explain claims Australian citizens were spied on when private phone calls were intercepted by intelligence agencies and passed on to the government
The ACCC has stepped into a Federal Court case to challenge the international agreement on regional coding of DVDs. If the commission is successful in its bid, the result is likely to have serious global ramifications for several other major companies involved in the DVD games and movie industries
Telstra is warning BigPond customers of potential delays accessing international web sites, following the severance of its main cable out of Australia, SEA-ME-WE-3
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