Rights, Technology

MP3, DVD and CD Copying is Now Legal in The UK (For Some)

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3 June 2014
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In Rights, Technology
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Most people in the UK may not have realised it, but every time they backed up an MP3 or made a copy of a CD or DVD for personal use, they were breaking the law.

Starting today this is no longer the case for the disabled, thanks to a revision of copyright law that just went into effect. Disabled citizens can now copy and publish copyrighted material if there’s no commercial alternative available.

Disabled people and disability groups can now make accessible copies of copyright material (eg music, film, books) when no commercial alternative exists, the Government announced today.

Previously the Government also said that all private copying for personal use would be legal starting in June, but this has apparently been delayed pending Parliament approval.

However, following a thorough inspection of local copyright legislation the UK Government has already committed to change current laws in favor of consumers — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Science

Blasting bushfires with explosives / UNSW

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3 June 2014
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UNSW researchers are a step closer to proving whether explosives — rather than water — can be used to extinguish an out-of-control bushfire.

Dr Graham Doig, of the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, is conducting the research, which extends a long-standing technique used to put out oil well fires.

The process is not dissimilar to blowing out a candle: it relies on a blast of air to knock a flame off its fuel source.

Doig travelled to the Energetic Materials Research Testing Center — a high-explosives and bomb test site in a remote part of New Mexico — in January this year to scale up tests he originally conducted at UNSW’s heat transfer and aerodynamics laboratory.

The New Mexico tests used a four-metre steel blast tube — which contained a cardboard cylinder wrapped in detonation cord — to produce a concentrated shockwave and rush of air. This was directed at a metre-high flame fuelled by a propane burner.

The sudden change in pressure across the shockwave, and then the impulse of the airflow behind it pushed the flame straight off the fuel source. As soon as the flame doesn’t have access to fuel any more, it stops burning.

Doig hopes the concept can now be scaled up to fight out-of-control forest and bushfires burning in remote parts of the world — via Youtube

Business, Technology

Australia sees rise in cyber attacks, competitors to blame: CERT

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1 June 2014
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The main motivation behind rising online security attacks in Australia is competitors seeking commercial information and advantage, according to the latest Cyber Crime and Security Survey Report by Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) — part of the Attorney-General’s Department.

The main motivation for cyber-attacks is considered to be competitors seeking commercial advantage, said George Brandis, Australia’s Attorney General and Minister for the Arts. This aligns with the cyber threat of most concern to businesses, which is theft or breach of confidential information or intellectual property.

This of course has recently come to prominence through the US indicting Chinese officials for the theft of IP from US companies by cyber means.

While many of the companies surveyed reported the computer security incidents, others didn’t, raising concerns they don’t know what’s really happening on their networks — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Design, History

Bran Castle / Romania

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1 June 2014
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Whisper it quietly, rather than shout it from the rooftops, but Dracula’s Castle, in Transylvania, is on the market.

Not in the conventional fashion, with estate agents staking their For Sale signs in the ground, but in a quiet, offers-are-invited-from-the-right-people sort of way.

If someone comes in with a reasonable offer, we will look at who they are, what they are proposing, and will seriously entertain the idea, says Mark Meyer, of Herzfeld and Rubin. The New York law firm is handling the sale (he’s also the honorary American consul for Moldova)

The property comes with a long list of previous owners: everyone from Saxons to Hungarians to Teutonic knights. And although the facilities may not be exactly state-of-the-art (the plumbing is reported to require some work), there’s no questioning the detachedness of the property. It stands on top of a hill, and is most definitely not overlooked by neighbours — via Telegraph

Craft, Entertainment, Wildlife

Cadence and Shining Armour / morisato54

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30 May 2014
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Faith in your spouse is a crucial element in a lasting, loving relationship. But when the doom of an entire kingdom rests on a single death defying act of ultimate heroism, having lots of practice definitely helps too. With their display of top form and precision I can only guess Princess Cadence and Shining Armour must have belonged to a cheer-leading team in their younger days. Either that or they participate in possibly the strangest version of Caber Toss.

Both figures and stand are carved out of Philippine mahogany while the gears and Cadence’s tiara are made of narra hardwood. They’re hand painted in enamel and with a protective flat lacquer top coat. The pair stand at 10″ from Shining Armour’s hoof to the tip of Cadence’s horn while the entire piece measures 13″ high, 7 1/2″ long and 3 1/2″ wide. It took 148 1/2 hours to complete — via Youtube

Craft, Wildlife

Octopodes Pattern / Jennifer Raymond

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29 May 2014
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Octopodes, originally uploaded by Jennifer Raymond

Octopodes are a pair socks with stranded colour work on the foot, and helix knitting to stripe the ankle. All throughout, a pair of stripes shoot up the sides of the socks from toe to top, creating a strong visual line — via Ravelry

Design

Arne Jacobsen Villa Doll House / Minimii

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27 May 2014
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This is an authentic 1:16 model of Jacobsen’s 1929 villa in Charlottenlund, Denmark produced by the company Minimii. Well, not the whole villa — Minimii did manufacture one of those too, but sadly now have sold out. What you get is the frontage, which means the house can be both free-standing and wall mounted. And, as the frontage is hinged, it means it can double up as a quirky cabinet, if you don’t want to let the kids anywhere near it — via Retro To Go

Art

Calamityware Dinner Plates / Don Moyer

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26 May 2014
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The Willow pattern is both highly recognisable and also seeped in history. Still popular now, the (most commonly) blue and white floral style was inspired by the porcelain the English were importing from China in the 18th Century — and now graphic designer Don Moyer is creating his very own subversive version with Calamityware. Moyer’s deceptive designs seem — at first glance — like regular Willow plates, but upon closer inspection, all kinds of hell is breaking loose. From frightening sea monsters to swarms of flying monkeys, UFOs, pirates and giant robots, the plates’ tranquil scenes are being dramatically interrupted. While the first five plates in the project have been confirmed (some of which are already available for purchase), the final and sixth plate is still being considered; Moyer is tossing up between a volcano, Sasquatch, pterodactyls, bats, alligators and several other — unlikely and comical—invasions — via Cool Hunting

Politics

Frances Abbott scholarship: Leanne Whitehouse pressed PM to cut red tape

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25 May 2014
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The managing director of the Whitehouse Institute of Design, who is understood to have personally funded an unadvertised $60,000 scholarship for the prime minister’s daughter, issued a direct plea to Tony Abbott to reduce red tape across the board in higher education at an exclusive event last year, but the institute says any suggestion these remarks were an attempt at lobbying or seeking to interfere with the regulatory process are ridiculous.

The statement follows further revelations published by the independent news site New Matilda that the prime minister attended a champagne reception for the 25th anniversary of the institute where Leanne Whitehouse, the institute’s managing director, delivered a speech to attendees including the prime minister — via redwolf.newsvine.com

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