Wonder tonic keeps mobiles pumping web for longer

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28 November 2011
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Finnish boffins have developed a proxy to reduce the power required for mobile web access by up to 74 per cent, taking that consumption of power into the cloud instead.

The proxy works in much the same way as Opera Turbo, or Amazon’s Silk, in that it gathers the required content and pre-renders it before delivery. But by focusing on reducing the power consumed, rather than accelerating the web experience, the Aalto University researchers reckon they’ve got power consumed by browsing pages down by 74 per cent — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Tintin auction fetches $2.4m

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28 November 2011
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In Entertainment, History
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A Paris auction of items related to Herge’s comic book reporter Tintin, whose adventures have been adapted for the big screen by Steven Spielberg, fetched more than 1.8 million euros ($2.4 million) on Saturday.

Auctioneers Arcturial said the sale, including costs, brought in far more than the one million euros they had expected.

The 856 lots up for grabs were equally divided between recent objects and older material, including some very rare items. In all, 85 per cent of the items sold in a packed hall — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Immunise or lose benefits, parents told

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28 November 2011
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In Health, Politics
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Parents who do not have their children fully immunised will be stripped of family tax benefits under a scheme announced by the Federal Government.

The Government says 11 per cent of five-year-olds are not immunised and has announced a shake-up of the system which will take effect from July 1 next year.

Under the changes, families who refuse vaccinations face losing up to $2,100 per child in benefits — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Zappos to pay for some Turnpike tolls

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28 November 2011
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In Business
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If you are travelling to Boston on the Mass Pike Wednesday night, part of your trip will be a little less expensive, thanks to a famous online retailer.

Between 5:00pm and 7:00pm, the online shoe and clothing retailer Zappos.com will be paying the cost of tolls going in both directions at the Allston/Brighton toll plaza. Both cash and Fast Lane customers will be able to pass through the normally $1.50 toll plaza for free — via redwolf.newsvine.com

1977 Kawasaki Z1000A / Wrenchmonkees

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25 November 2011
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In Design
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It’s hard to believe that the Wrenchmonkeeshave been operating for three years now. But in that short time, they’ve become one of the most recognised names in the custom motorcycle world. The history of this 1977 Kawasaki Z1000A is entwined in the history of the company, because it’s been in and out of the Copenhagen workshop since the start — via Bike EXIF

Aussie ISPs Propose Copyright Enforcement Scheme

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25 November 2011
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In Rights, Technology
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Five major Australian internet service providers (ISPs) — iiNet, Internode, Primus, Optus and Telstra — have released a proposal for dealing with online piracy. It’s an education-based scheme that doesn’t force ISPs to cut off customers accused of piracy by movie studios, but there’s a way to go before it becomes reality.

ISPs have resisted an ongoing push by the entertainment industry to make providers primarily responsible for enforcing copyright laws against people who download movies and TV shows via torrents. The general argument is that making ISPs responsible for activities conducted by their users would be like holding a phone company responsible if two burglars plan a robbery on a mobile call. That view has generally been supported by the courts, but it’s clear that without some kind of system in place, brawls over the issue will continue — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Researchers Invent Everlasting Battery Material

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25 November 2011
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Could the days of the humble lithium-ion battery be numbered thanks to the everlasting battery?

Researchers at Stanford University have revealed a new nanoparticle material which could be used to create everlasting batteries suitable for electrical grids.

According to the researchers, the material could be used for batteries that would be good for 30 years of useful life. The short lifetime of large batteries has been a major drawback limiting their use, but the new material could produce batteries that could undergo 100 times as many charging cycles as today’s batteries — via redwolf.newsvine.com

European Court: ISPs Can’t Spy on Pirating Customers

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25 November 2011
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In Entertainment, Rights, Technology
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In the crucial 7-year legal battle between a music rights group and an Internet service provider, the European Court of Justice has now delivered an important ruling. Music rights group SABAM wanted ISP Scarlet to spy on its customers and block their communications to stop file-sharing, but the Court decided that would breach privacy and violate the fundamental rights of both the ISP and its subscribers — via redwolf.newsvine.com

MPAA Costs Hollywood More Than US BitTorrent Piracy

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25 November 2011
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In Entertainment, Rights, Technology
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During the last year Netflix managed to outgrow BitTorrent in terms of the amount of US Internet traffic it generates. A promising finding for Hollywood as it shows that there’s an overwhelming interest for the legal movie streaming service. At TorrentFreak we wondered what might happen if all US BitTorrent users made the switch to Netflix, and the results of this exploration are quite intriguing.

The movie industry claims that piracy is costing them billions of dollars a year.

Luckily for Hollywood, many Americans choose to consume their online media through legal services such as Netflix. In fact, there are now so many that the total Internet traffic generated by Netflix has outgrown that of BitTorrent.

This made us wonder — what would happen if all movie-downloading BitTorrent users made the switch to Netflix? What if movie piracy via BitTorrent disappeared?

Before we crunch some numbers we have to say that the model we use relies on a lot of assumptions. However, we try to keep these in favour of the movie industry to maximize their potential profits. We obviously chose Netflix as a BitTorrent replacement because it comes closest to what pirates want — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Entertainment

Obituary: Anne McCaffrey

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25 November 2011
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Author Anne McCaffrey, who penned the Dragonriders of Pern series of fantasy novels, has died at her home in Ireland at the age of 85.

The US-born writer became one of the first women to break into the male-dominated world of science fiction, winning two major prizes in the 1960s.

Much of her work was set on the planet of Pern, where humans and dragons are united against a common threat — via redwolf.newsvine.com

BNP threatens protest at headteacher’s home over sex education proposals

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25 November 2011
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British National party activists have warned a primary school’s headteacher and chair of governors that they will face demonstrations outside their homes if they do not drop plans to extend sex education lessons to children aged four.

A delegation from the far-right party picketed Grenoside Community primary school in Sheffield over proposals that would see children aged between four and six being taught about reproduction in mammals. Older children would be taught about the human body, including naming the sex organs, as well as receiving guidance on good and bad touching.

BNP activists, who arrived as the school was preparing to close on Tuesday, demonstrated outside and handed in a letter warning the head: We believe that your evil plans to introduce these children to sex at such a young age borders on paedophilia and that it is not acceptable — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Spider webs points the way to ant control

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25 November 2011
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A chemical used by golden orb web spiders to keep ants at bay could make a useful pest control agent, say researchers.

The research is published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Golden orb web spiders (Nephila antipodiana) are a common species found all over the world, particularly in tropical areas including in Southeast Asia and Australia.

They weave giant webs over 1 metre across, catching all manner of insects from flies to cicadas for their supper.

These spiders — and the insects they catch in their web — are potential prey for ants, says researcher Professor Mark Elgar, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Melbourne, so it’s surprising that ants are never found foraging on the webs of these spiders — via redwolf.newsvine.com

M70 / Ural

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24 November 2011
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In Design
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The new M70 is a tribute to its most famous forebear, the iconic M72 military motorcycle. Almost 10,000 M72s were built in the same Irbit factory as today’s Ural motorcycles, and in 1942, fleets of them were despatched to the WWII front lines. Like those machines, today’s M70 is available only in olive drab. It also comes with a spare wheel, a canvas tonneau cover, a wooden floor mat, a shovel and — wait for it — a machine gun mount — via Bike EXIF

Spectrum clash builds around bionic implants

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24 November 2011
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In Health, Science, Technology
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The battle over scarce radio spectrum that has embroiled the mobile broadband world even extends to a little-known type of wireless network that promises to reconnect the human nervous system with paralysed limbs.

At its monthly meeting next week, the US Federal Communications Commission will consider whether four sets of frequencies between 413MHz and 457MHz can be used by networks of sensors implanted in patients who suffer from various forms of paralysis. One intended purpose of these MMNS (medical micropower network systems) is to transmit movement commands from a sensor on a patient’s spinal cord, through a wearable MCU (master control unit), to implants that electrically stimulate nerves. The same wireless technology might be used in devices to restore sight or hearing — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Human spit build-up could cause bridge collapse

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24 November 2011
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The Howrah Bridge in the Indian city of Kolkata is at risk of collapsing because the steel at its base is being corroded by human saliva.

Pedestrians who have been chewing betel leaf, areca nut and slaked lime have been spitting on the bridge’s steel hangers, causing them to weaken.

The red stains left by the paan mixture — a mild stimulant chewed throughout India — are caked around the metal casings of the bridge.

Authorities say the paan-laced spit has reduced the thickness of the bridge’s hangers from six millimetres to three millimetres — via redwolf.newsvine.com

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