The website of popular magazine BusinessWeek has been attacked via SQL injection in an attempt to infect its readership with malware. Hundreds of pages in a section of BusinessWeek’s website which offers information about where MBA students might find future employers have been affected — via Slashdot
The initiation of the World Wide Web Foundation has been launched with $5M of seed funding from the Knight Foundation. From the announcement: Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, unveils the World Wide Web Foundation. It aims to advance One Web that is free and open, to expand its capability and robustness, and to extend its benefits to all people on the planet
— via Slashdot
Amazon’s subsidiary the Internet Movie Database will allow users to watch feature films and TV shows for no charge on its web site, www.imdb.com. Over 6,000 titles will be available, including recent episodes of popular television shows like 24 and Heroes and classic films like Some Like It Hot
The use of nonclassified information, whether news accounts or other publicly retrievable information, is gaining credibility within the intelligence community. And officials say there can be good reasons for putting some of that open-source information under the secrecy umbrella. The information might be unclassified but our interest in it is not,
General Michael Hayden, head of the CIA, told the conference
Several industrialised countries, such as Great Britain, Spain, Australia and Italy, offer broadband speeds that on average are just below what is necessary to make good use of broadband applications, according to a study. These applications include watching videos on YouTube, video chatting and small file sharing. Sweden and The Netherlands have the best performing broadband internet connections in Europe, helped by investments in high-speed fiber-optic links and upgrades to cable TV networks, the study found
Scientists may soon shed light on a way to conquer superbugs
with nanotechnology and a simple flip of a switch. A new type of paint for walls and ceilings may, when exposed to fluorescent light, be able to kill superbugs
, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to preliminary studies led by Lucia Caballero from Manchester Metropolitan University in England. Many paints are infused with titanium dioxide for its brightening power. But when these particles are small, on the nanoscale of a billionth of a metre, they have more surface area exposed to light. As a result, they create a more reactive environment
If you’re a web developer looking forward to the new tools in HTML 5, the next generation of the language that powers the web, we have some bad news for you — you’re going to waiting a while. Ian Hickson, the editor of the HTML 5 specification, recently outlined the time table for HTML 5 and, even assuming browser manufacturers embrace HTML 5 when it reaches the final draft stage, that puts HTML 5’s widespread adoption at 2012. Worse, the final proposed recommendation won’t be released until 2022
Scientists have made the world’s first synthetic tree: a palm-sized duplication of the elegant process by which trees drink. Known as transpiration
, the hydration process appears to require no biological energy. Scientists theorise that as evaporation occurs on the surface of a tree’s leaves, the resulting drop in water pressure propels water from the earth and through their bodies. The same principle pulls oil through the wick of a candle
The IEEE working group that is putting the finishing touches on the 802.11n 100Mbps wireless LAN standard is about to launch a new project, for a 1Gbps WLAN standard. That would mean gigabit Wi-Fi
Greek hackers were able to gain momentary access to a CERN computer system of the Large Hadron Collider while the first particles were zipping around the particle accelerator on 10 September. Scientists working at CERN were worried about what the hackers could do because they were one step away
from the computer control system of one of the huge detectors of the machine, a vast magnet that weighs 12,500 tons, measuring around 21m in length and 15m wide/high. If they had hacked into a second computer network, they could have turned off parts of the vast detector and, said the insider, it is hard enough to make these things work if no one is messing with it
— via Slashdot
Keeping in step with rival Web browsers from Microsoft and Google, Mozilla has announced a privacy mode
for Firefox 3.1. The update is scheduled to be released in beta form in October
SanDisk has announced a new, 32-gigabyte CompactFlash card that it said can record more than 80 minutes of high-definition video. Called the Extreme III CompactFlash card, it targets photographers
A recently released study has claims that the current Intellectual Property
situation in the world is not working well. Driven by a fear of losing out, and bolstered by an attitude that profit is the aim of IP, progress is hampered. Not only by the entertainment industry, also in biotechnology where medicines are sometimes restricted or withheld, causing deaths
The Federal Government has been urged to fund the full cost of university research, with a report warning that Australia’s commitment to innovation is stalling development. The report received more than 700 submissions and has made 72 recommendations across a range of areas such as business and education. Report head Terry Cutler warns Australia’s innovation system must must be urgently remodelled
Schools in South Australia have complained they are being short-changed under Kevin Rudd’s education revolution, forcing them to buy cheaper laptops and spend up to 30 per cent of their grants on Microsoft licensing and government fees. South Australian public schools are paying $250 for licensing fees for each new computer and a $40 state government administration fee. They also pay $6 a student to cover existing licenses. Replacement computers do not attract the $250 fee. It is understood the NSW, Victorian and West Australian governments will absorb the licensing fees, passing the entire $1000 grant to schools
Tiny invertebrates called water bears
can survive in the vacuum of space, a European Space Agency experiment has shown. They are the first animals known to be able to survive the harsh combination of low pressure and intense radiation found in space. Water bears, also known as tardigrades, are known for their virtual indestructibility on Earth. The creatures can survive intense pressures, huge doses of radiation, and years of being dried out
Last night, physicists near Geneva switched on the largest, most powerful scientific tool ever built and the world did not vanish down a black hole, as alarmists had predicted. Instead, the $US8 billion ($9.9 billion) Large Hadron Collider successfully sent the first beam of protons — members of a group of subatomic particles called hadrons — hurtling around a 27km circular tunnel running beneath Switzerland and France. The event caused sighs of relief from more than 2000 scientists from 150 institutes in 45 countries, including Australia, who had waited 14 years for the moment
The federal Government’s plan to implement content filters at the internet service provider level is one step closer to reality with live trials set to commence after next month. The Government will seek expressions of interest in the second half of October for ISPs to participate in live trials
Google will begin selling ads on some cable networks owned by NBC Universal in a new partnership that will expand Google’s efforts to become a force in television advertising. Under the agreement, NBC Universal will make a relatively small amount of advertising time on networks like MSNBC, CNBC, Sci Fi and Oxygen available for sale through Google’s TV Ads program in the coming months, the companies said. The partnership could later be extended to other NBC Universal properties
Scientists say an understanding of how the Twin Towers collapsed will help them develop the materials needed to build fusion reactors. New research shows how steel will fail at high temperatures because of the magnetic properties of the metal. The New York buildings fell when their steel backbones lost strength in the fires that followed the plane impacts. Dr Sergei Dudarev told the British Association Science Festival that improved steels were now being sought. The principal scientist at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) said one of the first applications for these better performing metals would be in the wall linings of fusion reactors where temperatures would be in a similar range to those experienced in the Twin Towers’ fires
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