The Google Phone has arrived, sort of, but not in the long-rumoured embodiment that many had expected. Google announced this morning that it has developed a new mobile OS called Android
— a result of its acquisition of a mobile software company of the same name in 2005 — that will allow the company to get Google’s mobile apps into as many hands as possible starting in mid-2008. Android is Linux-based and open source, and aspects of the platform will be made available to handset manufacturers for free under the Apache license
I am now the proud owner of an RFID passport, complete with a very thick page that says “do not stamp… gadgetry inside”. Apparently this will get me through customs faster, but I’ll still have to shave my beard off if I don’t want my shoes to be randomly selected for chemical swabbing yet again.
Next up, biometrics and DNA samples.
John Papandriopoulos, a Research Fellow with the ARC Special Research Centre for Ultra-Broadband Information Networks (CUBIN) has developed a method to reduce crosstalk interference in ADSL technologies to bring speeds up the theoretical maxima possible. With an Australian Federal election due in a few weeks, and both parties promising improved broadband speeds and access, this is a welcome development, hopefully enabling higher speeds without huge expenses — via Slashdot
Because of the malware now hidden in the attachment, this round of PDF
spam is significantly more malicious than the flood that hit in
August
The synergy between batteries and capacitors — two of the sturdiest and oldest components of electrical engineering — has been growing, to the point where ultracapacitors may soon be almost as indispensable to portable electricity as batteries are now. Some researchers expect to soon create capacitors capable of storing 50% as much energy as a lithium ion battery of the same size. Such capacitors could revolutionize many areas possibly from mobile computing (no worries about battery memory), electricity-powered vehicles, and more — via Slashdot
A French judge has dismissed a defamation and privacy case against Wikipedia, after ruling the free online encyclopaedia was not responsible for information introduced onto its web site. The US-based Wikipedia Foundation, which is behind the popular compendium, was sued by three French nationals over a Wikipedia article that said they were gay activists. Judge Emmanuel Binoche ruled that a 2004 French law limited Wikipedia’s liability and noted that contentious references in the disputed article had in any case been removed
Google has purchased the shortest possible domain name to make it easier for Chinese users to find Google: g.cn
Joss Whedon of Buffy
and Firefly
fame has signed on to do another TV series on Fox starring Eliza Dushku. The series is going to be called Dollhouse
, and the story surrounds a group of people programmed
to do missions out of a sort of high-tech dorm — via Slashdot
JavaScript has become a crucial part of Websites built on AJAX underpinnings, which makes the upcoming revision to the ECMAScript standard crucial for the future of the Web. But in today’s browser environment, no one vendor can impose an update path — which may set things up for a nasty conflict. A fight is being fought on blogs between Mozilla Chief Technology Officer (and creator of JavaScript) Brendan Eich, who wants to the new ECMAScript standard to be a radical upgrade, and Chris Wilson, architect of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team, who would rather keep JavaScript as is and put new functionality into a brand-new language — via Slashdot
The University of Oregon has filed a motion to quash the RIAA’s subpoena for information on student identities in what is believed to be the first such motion made by a university with support from the state Attorney General. The motion explains that it is impossible to identify the alleged infringers from the information the RIAA has presented
If you’ve been waiting impatiently for Google to roll out IMAP access to your Gmail account, your wait is over — IMAP access is now available to all. Now everyone can turn Thunderbird into the ultimate Gmail IMAP client — via lifehacker
A handful of consumer groups have filed a complaint with the FCC over Comcast’s delaying
some BitTorrent traffic. The complaint seeks fines of $195,000 for each Comcast subscriber affected by the traffic blocking as well as a permanent injunction barring the ISP from blocking P2P traffic. Comcast’s defence is bogus,
said Free Press policy director Ben Scott. The FCC needs to take immediate action to put an end to this harmful practice. Comcast’s blatant and deceptive BitTorrent blocking is exactly the type of problem advocates warned would occur without Net Neutrality laws
— via Slashdot
The Australian Defence Department has injected $4.4 million worth of funding to further the CSIRO’s research into designing clothing which can be used as a self-recharging electrical source on the battlefield. The CSIRO’s Flexible Integrated Energy Device (FIED) was one of eight proposals selected as part of the latest round of Defence Capability and Technology Demonstrator (CTD) Program funding announced in October
Google has launched a system that will allow developers to create applications for a variety of social networks. Developers currently have to customise their designs for a particular site with many partnering with the hugely popular Facebook. Google’s OpenSocial system will allow a wider distribution for tools like Facebook’s music recommendation service iLike and its Top Friends application
New technology that can make tanks invisible has been unveiled by the Ministry of Defence. In secret trials last week, the Army said it had made a vehicle completely disappear and predicted that an invisible tank would be ready for service by 2012. The new technology uses cameras and projectors to beam images of the surrounding landscape onto a tank — via Warren Ellis
A team of researchers at UC Berkeley have invented a radio made of a single carbon nanotube. The device is just a few billionths of a metre in size — so small that it could fit inside a living cell, or float along in your bloodstream — via Gizmodo
Following the bust of the OiNK BitTorrent tracker, most of its 180,000 members are keeping their heads down and trying to stay inconspicuous. However, Trent Reznor, frontman of Nine Inch Nails isn’t worried: I had an account there,
he said. It was like the world’s greatest record store
The guys from The Pirate Bay are always working on interesting side-projects, but there is one in particular that’s so significant, it might be the future of filesharing. For a while now, they have been working on a brand new protocol — which may come to replace BitTorrent in the near future
The OSx86 Scene forum has released details of how Windows users can migrate to Apple’s new OS, without investing in new hardware — even though installing Leopard on an PC may be counter to Apple’s terms and conditions. The forum is offering full instructions on how to install the system, including screenshots of the installation process. Not all the features of Leopard function with the patch — Wi-Fi support, for example, is reportedly inoperable. Historically, Apple’s likely next move will be to track down and act against those behind the hack — via Slashdot
Copy and burn firm, Slysoft reckons it has cracked the beefed-up copy protection on Blu-ray disks, BD+. It reckons it has the routine cracked even though Sony says its protection will be good for ten years
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