Good news for those struggling with broadband, as the government has launched a web resource to help you get things up and running. Broadbandnow.gov.au lets you track down the options in your neighbourhood (excellent for rural folk), explains the technologies, lets you easily file complaints on your service provider, and gives information on assistance programs, initiatives and international comparisons
AMD has released details of two new ATI TV Wonder USB Dongles which will convert your PC or laptop into a DVR for your HD content. The TV Wonder 600 USB will work across multiple platforms via the A/V-input adapter to record video from your VCR and camcorder. It also includes a credit card sized IR remote — via CrunchGear
The Wellcome Trust, one of the UK’s largest medical charities, has released its image collection under Creative Commons licenses, with a new web site to search through it — via Boing Boing
A showdown between Rising Tech, a Chinese Antivirus vendor, and Kaspersky Lab in a Chinese court could have implications for software vendors that misidentify system files and files from their competitors as being malicious — via Slashdot
The NanoSphere finishing technology is based on the self-cleaning principle and is nearly a perfect copy of nature. Water, stains and other substances such as ketchup, honey, oil, red wine or blood simply run off the nano-surface — via William Gibson
Cleantech America, a San Francisco company, said Friday it plans to build the world’s largest solar power farm near Fresno, California. The 80-megawatt farm is to occupy as much as 640 acres (260 hectares) and upon completion in 2011 will be 17 times the size of the largest US solar farm. The farm will also be about seven times the size of the world’s biggest plant and double the largest planned farm, both in Germany
It’s been a year and two months since the worlds largest torrent tracker, The Pirate Bay, was originally raided and shut down by Swedish police, and now they’re at it again, but with claims of child pornography. Brokep, over at The Pirate Bay, got a heads up
from a friend that the Swedish Police are going to put the site on its porn filter blacklist; this means anyone who tries to access the site from Sweden will get redirected to another site with a message explaining that they are not allowed to visit child pornography sites
Scientists have told a conference in Switzerland that a genetically engineered herpes virus has shown early promise in clinical tests. They say researchers believe viruses — which are experts at killing cells — could one day become a valuable addition to the medical armoury against cancer
A young German entrepreneur has won a legal battle against Google on the use of its Gmail
brand for free electronic mail service. The regional court in the northern city of Hamburg ruled that Google may not use the name in Germany, upholding 33-year-old businessman Daniel Giersch’s claim to have a copyright on the name for an email service he has been developing for seven years
Researchers have demonstrated disk write speeds one hundred times faster than current hard drives. The method uses a laser to heat the recording surface and alter its magnetic field. There is no equivalent read speed increase though. Dutch scientists at Radboud University Nijmegen used a laser to send flashes of polarised light to a 5-micron-wide spot on a disk surface which was heated. The sheer angular momentum of the photons hitting the recording surface was then able to flip the magnetic field if the light was polarised one way, but left it unaltered if polarised in the other direction. A traditional magnetic field reader was then able to detect binary ones or zeroes accordingly
Although AllofMP3.com was shut down by the Russian Government this week, customers from the site who have existing credit can still purchase songs through its downloadable windows desktop and smartphone client, allTunes.com
A strange cephalopod has been found near Keahole Point on the big island of Hawaii. It appears to be a cross between an octopus and a squid, which is being called, you guessed it, an octosquid. The specimen, which has 8 arms, an octopus head and squid mantle, was brought up from a depth of 3000 feet by a pipeline operated by Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority
A tiny generator powered by natural vibrations could soon be helping keep heart pacemakers working. Created by scientists at the University of Southampton, UK, the generator has been developed to power devices where replacing batteries is very difficult. The device is expected initially to be used to power wireless sensors on equipment in manufacturing plants. The generator’s creators say their technology is up to 10 times more efficient than similar devices
A court has ruled that the Belgian ISP Scarlet Extended SA is responsible for blocking illegal file-sharing on its network, setting a precedent that could affect other ISPs in Europe, according to a recording industry group. Belgium’s Court of First Instance has given the Internet service provider six months to install technology to prevent its customers from sharing pirated music and video files. The music industry has long sought to hold ISPs responsible for illegal file-sharing on their networks, although in the US it has been largely unsuccessful. ISPs have argued that they provide a service like a post office or a telephone company, and shouldn’t be required to police the traffic on their networks
Media Defender, a company which does the dirty work for the MPAA, has been caught setting up dummy
web sites in an attempt to catch those who download copyrighted videos. The site, MiiVi.com, complete with a user registration, forum, and family filter
, offered complete downloads of movies and fast and easy video downloading all in one great site
. But that’s not all; MiiVi also offered client software to speed up the downloading process. The only catch is, after it was installed, it searched your computer for other copyrighted files and reported back
Auction giant eBay has launched an online classifieds service that will compete with market pioneer, Craigslist. Kijiji, a site eBay has operated overseas for two years, is now available in about 220 cities across the United States
A political battle is raging in Russian cyberspace. Opposition parties and independent media say murky forces have committed vast resources to hacking and crippling their web sites
If the X-Finger looks like a prop from The Terminator, relax. It isn’t out to kill you, and it isn’t robotic. In fact, it’s a mechanical prosthetic finger so effective it provides articulation as fast and flexible as the real thing. Invented by Dan Didrick of Naples, Florida, the device has no batteries, electronics, servos or actuators. Instead, each digit incorporates a simple mechanism which, when pushed by the surviving part of the wearer’s finger, curls a set of artificial phalanges
It appears for the moment that Universal will not renew its long term contract with Apple for content on the iTunes store. While the details are not known about the exact nature of the dispute, many speculate that it has to do with Apple’s stance on fixed pricing and Apple’s refusal to license their DRM. The worse case scenario may include Universal pulling its entire catalog from iTunes. Both sides stand to lose out with 1/3 of of new releases coming from Universal and an estimated 15% of Universal’s sales coming from digital downloads. Apple’s market share is about 75% of digital downloads, and digital downloads are growing while CD sales are shrinking
The armada of 29,000 plastic yellow ducks, blue turtles and green frogs broke free from a cargo ship 15 years ago. Since then they have travelled 17,000 miles, floating over the site where the Titanic sank, landing in Hawaii and even spending years frozen in an Arctic ice pack. And now they are heading straight for Britain. At some point this summer they are expected to be spotted on beaches in South-West England. While the ducks are undoubtedly a loss to the bath-time fun of thousands of children, their adventures at sea have proved an innvaluable aid to science
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