When Exit International wanted to ensure its members could access its pro-euthanasia material, set to be blocked under the government’s proposed Internet content filter, it turned to the Pirate Party of Australia. The Pirate Party hates the Internet filter and readily put Exit International in contact with member David Campbell, from Newcastle IT shop ClearComputers. The brief? To teach 70-year olds to bypass the Internet filter. Campbell accepted the challenge, and proved breaking the filter is not just child’s play. Your grandma can do it too
One of the first comprehensive local surveys of data breach costs shows organisations sustained financial losses of almost $2 million on average per incident, with an average $123 spent to deal with each compromised record. The 2009 Australian Cost of a Data Breach study, conducted by US-based Ponemon Institute on behalf of data encryption specialist PGP, examined the actual financial losses incurred by 16 organisations from different industry sectors following a data loss, with breaches ranging from around 3300 to 65,000 lost or stolen records. In the most expensive incident, one organisation spent more than $4m to resolve a single event
Inspired by a standard office inkjet printer, US researchers have rigged up a device that can spray skin cells directly onto burn victims, quickly protecting and healing their wounds as an alternative to skin grafts. They have mounted the device, which has so far only been tested on mice, in a frame that can be wheeled over a patient in a hospital bed
The idea that an annoying, unprofitable social network like Foursquare would turn down $100 million, a not-so-small fortune, is inspired in part by Twitter’s 2008 rejection of a $500 million offer from Facebook. Twitter had no revenue at the time, but the microblogging service thought it was on the verge of becoming a veritable gold mine. Facebook, in turn, rejected a $900 million bid from Yahoo for similar reasons. Both startups may well prove themselves prescient, but their arrogance shouldn’t be copied: Even for a hot startup-of-the-moment like Foursquare, it’s usually best to take the money and run
For $5000 you could buy a round the world air ticket — maybe even two — a Prada handbag, or a dozen Apple iPads. Or you could buy 1GB of mobile data on TPG’s $49.99 Super Cap plan when you go over the 500MB per month cap
Last night the UK Government rammed through the controversial Digital Economy Bill after its third reading and just two hours debate. This means that it will later become law, everyone will stop sharing files online and the music and movie industries will net billions in the years to come. Better still, it has the full support of the people
Google should not expect to be beyond international criticism while it offers the US Government access to its data on request but lambasts other governments for interfering with the rights of online users
On Saturday, John McAllister sat down at a friend’s house near Portland, Oregon to play a game of Asteroids. By Monday, he was still playing. At 10.18pm Pacific, he scored 41,338,740 points, a new all-time high score. In doing so, he beat a record that has stood for over 27 years. The official Asteroids high score of 41,336,440 is the longest-standing record in gaming history, having been set on 14 November 1982 by 15-year-old Scott Safran. He stayed awake for three days to accomplish this feat
Delegates to the University of Hertfordshire’s Open Graves, Open Minds: Vampires and the Undead in Modern Culture
conference to be held on 16-17 April will have their food served to them out of coffins as part of a mission to encourage students of all ages to study literature. English lecturer Sam George, who has just launched a Master of Arts degree in vampire fiction at Hertfordshire, said the most famous vampire narrative of all, Dracula, was written by Irishman Bram Stoker and set in London and Whitby in Yorkshire, but that now with the Twilight
saga and True Blood
, modern vampires have become Americanised
A new species of giant lizard has been discovered in the Philippines. The 2m-long reptile is a monitor lizard, the group to which the world’s longest and largest lizards belong. The monitor, described as spectacular by the scientists who found it, lives in forests covering the Sierra Madre mountains in the north of the country. The striking reptile has bright yellow, blue and green skin, and survives on a diet of just fruit, yet until now it has escaped the eyes of biologists
A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that regulators had limited power over Web traffic under current law. The decision will allow Internet service companies to block or slow specific sites and charge video sites like YouTube to deliver their content faster to users. The court decision was a setback to efforts by the Federal Communications Commission to require companies to give Web users equal access to all content, even if some of that content is clogging the network
I’ve got a lot of ebooks in PDF and other formats, but some e-readers—like, oh, this iPad I just bought—only support specific formats with their default reader apps. What’s the best way to convert those PDFs to ePub? — via lifehacker
In a time where torrent sites increasingly draw the short straw in legal cases brought by copyright holders, the developers of the Tribler BitTorrent client continue working on a decentralised BitTorrent ecosystem. Their latest release includes several features to avoid spam and ensure fast downloads
The giggling sounds of a hyena contain important information about the animal’s status, say scientists. In the first study to decipher the hyena’s so-called laugh
, they have shown that the pitch of the giggle reveals a hyena’s age. What is more, variations in the frequency of notes used when a hyena makes a noise convey information about the animal’s social rank
Weak magnetic fields are roaming
across the universe, according to a new study that may have solved the mystery of where the huge magnetic fields around galaxies come from. Galaxies such as our Milky Way have their own large-scale magnetic fields. Although these fields are weak compared to planetary fields, scientists think the galactic versions help establish rates of star formation, guide cosmic rays, and regulate the dynamics of interstellar gas. Most scientists believe the stronger magnetic fields of today’s adult galaxies grew from weaker seed
fields. But it’s unclear where these older fields originated
Turning the tables on a China-based computer espionage gang, Canadian and United States computer security researchers have monitored a spying operation for the past eight months, observing while the intruders pilfered classified and restricted documents from the highest levels of the Indian Defence Ministry. In a report issued Monday night, the researchers, based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, provide a detailed account of how a spy operation it called the Shadow Network systematically hacked into personal computers in government offices on several continents
Blu-ray discs may become more than just the prerecorded vehicle for high-definition movies. On Saturday, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) announced new media formats to enable write-once options on 100GB and 128GB Blu-ray discs, and rewritable capability on 100GB discs. The two formats are called BDXL, for high-capacity recordable and rewritable discs; and IH-BD, for Intra-Hybrid Blu-ray discs. Details about the specs are expected to be released within the next few months
Memory sticks and CDs containing the personal details of 9,000 school children have been stolen from a house in north London. The devices storing names, addresses and dates of birth of pupils in Barnet were taken during in a break-in at a council employee’s home two weeks ago
A police investigation into the theft of £10,000 of watches has been scuppered after DNA evidence was found to belong to identical twins. Blood containing DNA matching that of James and John Parr, 25, was found on glass at the scene. However, the Crime Prosecution Service (CPS) has decided not to press charges against the Manchester twins — who both deny responsibility — as it would be impossible to determine if one or the other of them was responsible
Only clinics in big cities can afford the blood work equipment that allows doctors to monitor the disease’s progression and treat it early and effectively. Doctors in rural areas often prescribe treatment based only on the visible symptoms their patients show. Responding to this need, researchers at California company Palo Alto Research Centre have shrunk the laser technology inside large laboratory machines down to about the size of an iPod. Their cheap, handheld device promises to provide an immune system check-up on the spot and in less than 10 minutes
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