Despite being available in research for over 40 years, the holographic storage technology is getting commercialised only now, with InPhase Technologies launching its 600 GB write-once disk and a drive this fall. The first holographic products are certainly not mass-market — a 600GB disc will cost around US$180, and the drive costs about $18,000. Potential users include banks, libraries, government agencies and corporations
Google has outlined plans to develop a universal search model that would offer up Web sites, video, news and other related results — all on the same page. Dubbed universal search
, Google’s vision for the future of its search service is to scour all its content sources, compare and rank all the information in real time, and deliver integrated search results that offer users precisely what they are looking for
Digital rights management took another blow on Wednesday, as Amazon.com announced that it would launch a DRM-free music store later in 2007, with the EMI catalog as the first major-label offering
Estonia says the country’s web sites have been under heavy attack for the past three weeks, blaming Russia for playing a part in the cyber warfare. Many of the attacks have come from Russia and are being hosted by Russian state computer servers, Tallinn says. Moscow denies any involvement
Carnivorous sponges, 585 new species of crustaceans and hundreds of new worms have been discovered in the dark waters around Antarctica, suggesting these depths may have been the source of much marine life. The team, who scooped samples from as deep as 20,000 feet, found unexpectedly rich diversity of animal life
Hair loss in humans might not be irreversible, suggest scientists who have helped create new hair cells on the skin of mice. It was thought hair follicles, once damaged, could never be replaced. A University of Pennsylvania team say hair growth can actually be encouraged using a single gene
Mobile phone calls in Sydney’s CBD will be blocked by a sophisticated counter-terrorism measure to prevent bomb attacks during US President George Bush’s September APEC visit. The president’s motorcade will be shadowed by a helicopter equipped with signal-jamming equipment
A Brazilian rancher has been found guilty of killing US-born nun and environmental activist Dorothy Stang. A court in the city of Belem sentenced Vitalmiro Bastos Moura, 36, to 30 years for paying gunmen to shoot the 73-year-old missionary dead in 2005. Sister Dorothy campaigned for poor farmers’ rights and to preserve the rainforest from loggers and developers
Evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin thought the voyage of the Beagle was a magnificent scheme
allowing him to spend time larking round the world
. His delight at the five-year cruise is chronicled in a letter, available online for the first time. The note is one of nearly 5,000 from and to the scientist held in a database at the University of Cambridge. The Darwin Correspondence Project includes summaries of a further 9,000 letters, written from the age of 12
Meebo has launched Meebo Rooms, a rich media chat room product that users can put on their blogs and web sites. They can be private or public chat rooms, and can feature video content from sources such as youtube and NBC
Around 100,000 users have been infected with malware that has piggybacked on Windows updates. A Trojan, which began circulating in March via spammed e-mail, used an unique technique to download malicious files
South Korea’s LG Philips LCD has developed the world’s first A4-sized colour electronic-paper &38212; a paper-thin and bendable viewing panel. The e-paper — which measures 35.9cm across its diagonal and is just 300 micrometres (0.3 millimetres) thin – can display up to 4096 colours, the world’s second largest liquid crystal display maker said in a statement. It is designed to be energy-efficient, only using power when the image changes on the display
A free programming tool that allows anyone to create their own animated stories, video games and interactive artworks has been developed. Primarily aimed at children, Scratch does not require prior knowledge of complex computer languages. Instead, it uses a simple graphical interface that allows programs to be assembled like building blocks. The digital toolkit, developed in the US at MIT’s Media Lab, allows people to blend images, sound and video
MySpace has launched a new tool to assist copyright holders in protecting their video content. Known as Take Down Stay Down
, the tool is designed to prevent MySpace users from reposting video content that the site has removed at the request of the content owner
The San Francisco controller’s office issued a favourable review Friday on a proposal by EarthLink and Google to provide the city with free wireless Internet access. The report estimates residents could save $9 million to $18 million in Internet bills annually by having the option of choosing the EarthLink service, which will offer free access as well as a paid service that is cheaper than other broadband options like DSL and cable
The Church Of Scientology is currently engaged in a row with the BBC, a result of an investigation by reporter John Sweeney. Sweeney is investigating the Church Of Scientology, trying to judge changes in the organisation over the last few years; He’s trying to discover if they’ve moved away from the questionable practices and secrecy they have employed in the past. The conflict centres around a YouTube video posted by the scientologists. It shows Sweeney losing his temper with a scientology spokesman. Sweeney’s outburst came at the end of a tour of a scientology exhibition which attempts to portray psychiatrists as evil nazi type torturers entitled Psychiatry: Industry of Death
which is both gruesome and utterly unconvincing. The BBC appears willing to stand behind its reporter, in spite of the pressure brought to bear by the scientologist organisation — via Slashdot
An attempt to force Google to stop censoring its search results in repressive countries has been rejected by its shareholders. The office of the comptroller of New York City, which oversees New York City pension funds, proposed the motion at the search giant’s annual shareholder yesterday. It won support from Amnesty — one of many human rights groups who criticised the company in early 2006 for bowing to pressure from the Chinese government and censoring its search results in China. The motion also named Belarus, Burma, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam as countries where governments restrict access to Internet content. But Google’s top management, who cast 66% of its votes, did not support the plan, and thus it was rejected
A skyscraper, to be built in Dubai, is called the Burj al-Taqa (Energy Tower
), and it will produce 100% of its own power. The tower will have a huge 60m diameter wind turbine on its roof, and arrays of solar cells that will total 161,459 square feet in size. Additional energy is provided by an island of solar panels, which drifts in the sea within viewing distance of the tower
A new £3.6bn project to upgrade the space communications network for British forces including the Army, Royal Navy, and RAF has gone underway. The first craft, Skynet 5A was launched from Kourou in French Guiana on 11 March 2007. There will be a constellation of three satellites in total. This system is also not an exclusive project for the armed forces, it is actually outsourced to a company called Paradigm Secure Communications. They work with NATO, France, Germany, Canada, Portugal and the Netherlands. They are also seeking new business in the US, Australia, and the Middle East
Terrorists: You can run. But with that body odour, you can’t hide. That’s the idea behind a new program from the Technical Support Working Group, or TSWG. The research arm of the government’s anti-terror fight is looking to for someone to build a rugged, reliable, and compact system for canine handlers to collect human scent for future use to track a specified target
. There are similar systems around today, the group notes. But they’re too large and fragile to be used in an operational environment
. TSWG wants a handheld, rugged device to do the job, instead. And the group has laid an exhaustive set of criteria for any contractor looking to build the thing
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