In the grand tradition of if you value your sanity, don’t look
, I bring you Celine Dion butchering AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long
.
This is wrong on so many levels.
I think I need to go beat my head on the keyboard until the soothing sound of broken bone and plastic makes her horrible screeching go away.
There are some things you just cannot unhear. You have been warned.
Shoe Money has an interesting post about how his server got hacked via an old file in an unused subdirectory. After a bit of digging, he discovered how the hacker found the vulnerable code via Google’s Code Search, thanks to site maps and a poorly secured server. I pretty much fell into the same trap with some old unsecure directories leftover from a previous buggy software update and that was without the horror of site maps thrown in
Optical microchips that can store light for short periods of time before sending it on its way have been constructed for the first time by researchers at IBM in the US. The work is an important breakthrough for chip designers who hope one day to use optical buffers
in superfast processors that rely on photons instead of electrons for their processing power
For the first time the rising ocean levels have washed away an inhabited island. Lohachara island was at one point home to some 10,000 people. It, along with several other spits of land near the Indian mainland, is now permanently underwater. As the seas continue to swell, they will swallow whole island nations, from the Maldives to the Marshall Islands, inundate vast areas of countries from Bangladesh to Egypt, and submerge parts of scores of coastal cities. Eight years ago the first uninhabited islands — in the Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati — vanished beneath the waves. The people of low-lying islands in Vanuatu, also in the Pacific, have been evacuated as a precaution, but the land still juts above the sea. The disappearance of Lohachara, once home to 10,000 people, is unprecedented
Singer James Brown, known as the Godfather of Soul
, has died at the age of 73. He was admitted to hospital in Atlanta after being diagnosed with severe pneumonia but died at 0145 local time (0645 GMT). The star was famous for hits including I Got You (I Feel Good), Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag and Living in America
If you don’t believe that Santa Claus can deliver presents to millions of homes in a single night, Larry Silverberg, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University, explains that Santa’s society of elves has an understanding of physics and engineering that exceeds our own. In fact, Santa Claus and his crew really can deliver presents in one night because of their advanced knowledge of electromagnetic waves, the space/time continuum, nanotechnology, genetic engineering and computer science. For example, he doesn’t carry presents. He uses a nano-toymaker to fabricate toys grown atom by atom inside the children’s homes
The Department of Defence has taken the step of blocking HTML-based email. They are also banning the use of Outlook Web Access email clients. The DoD is making this move because HTML messages can easily be infected with spyware and executable lines of code that enable hackers to access DoD networks
Northwestern University researchers report that by combining organic and inorganic materials they have produced transparent, high-performance transistors that can be assembled inexpensively on both glass and plastics. Researchers have long worked on developing new types of displays powered by electronics without visible wires. But, until now, no one was able to develop materials for transistors that could be invisible
while still maintaining a high level of performance
Millions of rockhopper penguins are disappearing in a sinister and astonishing
phenomenon that is baffling biologists. In just six years their numbers have fallen from 600,000 to 420,000 in the Falkland Islands — one of its few remaining strongholds — according to the latest survey by Falklands Conservation. The decline equates to a drop of about 30 per cent, although the Falklands population is thought to have dipped by about 85 per cent since 1932, when there were more than 1.5 million birds
A new extension to USB that will enable sharing of various USB peripherals between computers will be available early in 2007. The new MultiSwitch hub technology, developed by SMSC, allows the sharing of information and content from devices such as DVD players, cameras, printers, and scanners, and between laptops and desktops using a simple USB cable. Future hubs may also allow wireless sharing of peripherals
Siemens engineers have reached 107 Gbps data transmission record over a fibre optic cable and expect the technology to be on the market within a few years. The test, 2.5 times faster than a previous maximum transmission performance per channel, was done in cooperation with Germany’s Micram Microelectronic, the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications and Eindhoven Technical University of the Netherlands
It is nothing new to see technology from military and governmental endeavors change daily life profoundly. One only has to look at the fruits of the space programme; from computers to microwave ovens to Tang. New military gear is on the horizon that promises to do the same, including biosensors, bandages that clot blood using soundwaves, and the ubiquitous Swiss Army Pen
As VHS tapes and VCRs head the way of Betamax and phonographs, commentator Bill Hammack warns that the right to fair use is in danger of disappearing right along with them
Around the time that the great pyramids were built in Egypt and Stonehenge was erected in England, a young woman living in what is now Iran lost an eye and was fitted with a prosthetic device. The find supports speculation that such prosthetics were available to a fortunate few in the ancient world. The newly found eye looked like the real thing
Azureus, the BitTorrent client software developer, has announced its first content distribution partnership. BBC television shows and original productions will be distributed to users of Azureus’ new Zudeo file-sharing service in the United States. Azureus mentions these BBC titles in its press release: Red Dwarf, Strange, Invasion Earth, Little Britain, Doctor Who, Fawlty Towers, Coupling, Keeping Up Appearances, League of Gentlemen and Ideal. No word on the full line-up just yet
A study by a team of neuroscientists and engineers has demonstrated that humans can follow a scent trail — an ability that most had assumed only animals possessed. Furthermore, the study demonstrated for the first time that humans make use of differential information from the two nostrils. The researchers blindfolded college students who crawled through grass to sniff out a chocolate-scented trail
The DMCA-like amendments to the New Zealand Copyright Act passed their first hurdle in parliament, with an overwhelming 113 to 6 vote to pass the Bill to the Commerce Select Committee for further discussion. The detail-oriented can read the full debate (or rather lack of debate), and one enterprising New Zealand legal blogger has an excellent series of posts on the Bill, its background, and its implications. New Zealanders interested in fighting this legislation have until the 16th of February 2007 to make submissions to the Select Committee, before the committee makes its recommendations and sends the Bill back for a second reading — via Slashdot
Following the lead of Mozilla and Microsoft, Opera Software has incorporated a new phishing filter into its Opera Web browser to block sites bent on stealing financial information
In a new pact with NASA, Google will help to develop new search capabilities, imaging systems, and other technologies to help make space exploration more appealing to Internet users
The UK government has just given the go ahead to two large offshore wind-farm projects. Between them the schemes would produce enough renewable electricity to power about one million households. The larger London Array project covers 232km² between Margate in Kent and Clacton, Essex and will be the world’s biggest when it is completed. The £1.5bn scheme will have 341 turbines rising from the sea about 20km off the Kent and Essex coasts, as well as five offshore substations and four meteorological masts
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