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Two researchers, from the Florida Institute of Technology and Boston-based Security Innovation, surprised the audience at a computer-security convention last month with their finding that a version of Microsoft Windows was more secure than a competing Linux operating system. This week, the researchers released their finished report, and it included another surprise: Microsoft was funding the project all along
Clocky is possibly the world’s ugliest alarm clock, but it is also the most devious. An MIT research lab designed specifically for people who have trouble waking up.
When the alarm clock goes off and the snooze button is pressed, Clocky will roll off the bedside table and wheel away, bumping mindlessly into objects on the floor until it eventually finds a spot to rest. Minutes later, when the alarm sounds again, the sleeper must get up out of bed and search for Clocky. This ensures that the person is fully awake before turning it off. Small wheels that are concealed by Clocky’s shag enable it to move and reposition itself, and an internal processor helps it find a new hiding spot every day.
In the aftermath of India being forced/coerced to adopt patent law that quite literally kills people as a condition for joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO), US representatives at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) are moving to counter efforts by developing countries and numerous non-government organisations (NGOs) to bring public-interest considerations — like protecting human health — to its decision-making. Specifically, representatives have reportedly been circulating a draft paper that attempts to reframe the problem, arguing that WIPO is already addressing development issues and proposing merely a WIPO Partnership Program
— an Internet-based database to bring together donors and recipients of IP development assistance
— via BoingBoing
A woman bit into a partial finger served in a bowl of chilli at a San Jose Wendy’s restaurant, leading authorities to a fingerprint database to determine who lost the digit. Employees at the Wendy’s were checked and the fingertip didn’t come from any of them, officials said, adding that the well-cooked finger may have come from a food processing plant that supplies the company. The woman involved at since been charged with grand theft for concocting the hoax in an attempt to swindle money out of the restaurant — via Moonbeam
Mozilla Firefox 1.0.2 and Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2 have been released
The helpful people at 3M Canada have published detailed instructions for turning gaffer tape into a wallet — via BoingBoing
If you are using your limbs to disguise yourself, how do you flee danger without giving yourself away? The answer, when you have eight arms, is to use six arms for disguise and to walk across on the seafloor on the other two. Defying the notion that bipedal motion requires muscles attached to a rigid skeleton, the octopuses used the strong, flexible muscles in their back arms to walk across the seabed when pursued by camera-wielding biologists. The two species have slightly different strategies. Octopus marginatus from Indonesia wraps itself into a ball while walking, perhaps to imitate a coconut rolling with the current. Tiny Octopus aculeatus of Australia holds up six of its arms to disguise itself as a clump of seaweed, while walking at up to 14 centimetres per second — faster than it can manage using more than two arms
A Tyrannosaurus rex thigh bone fossil was reluctantly broken to fit in a transport helicopter, and inside soft tissue was found. It appears to include blood vessels and bone cells. Scientists hope to isolate proteins, and perhaps even DNA
The Canadian government has reportedly said no to the DMCA. It has released its plans for copyright reform with a limited anti-circumvention provision that would not cover the likes of DeCSS. It even avoided the US notice and takedown system
that has caused a big headache for US ISPs
Yahoo has announced that it will give users of its free web e-mail service 1GB of mail storage matching offerings of rival provider Google
Over-paranoid wallies will call in the cops for anything these days — via boingboing
A friend of mine works at one of the major studios in Burbank. He works in the mail room x-raying packages as they come in, looking for bombs. A couple of months after 9-11, he got a package through that had a battery pack in the center, with sensors connected by coiled wires going out to all sides of the box. He called the Burbank police, and they called the bomb squad.
They evacuated the building and sent a guy in wearing one of those big bomb shield suits. He had a tiny video camera with him, and he poked a hole in the box away from the sensors and peeked inside with the camera. He came out of the building laughing, holding the box under his arm. He handed it to my friend who discovered it, and told him to open it.
My buddy opened it, and inside was a Tickle Me Elmo. The battery pack was in his belly, and the sensors were in his hands and feet to make him giggle. The bomb squad guy told everyone that the x-ray was a textbook example of what a bomb really looks like, and took a copy of it to use in training.
Even more amusing was the information that this wasn’t Elmo’s first brush with the law. Mark Johnson-Williams, the Tickle-Me Elmo
toy designer, had apparently been tagged as a potential Unabomber suspect.
I was always sending batteries and headless dolls in the mail. I think that’s what caught their attention.
Cybersource says it’s currently talking to two domestic banks about providing Linux-based bootable CDs to consumers to ensure Internet banking security
Solar Death Ray is made of 112 mirrors mounted on a platform 4′ wide and 6′ tall. Each mirror is a square roughly 3.5″ on edge. All these mirrors focus the sun to a single spot 5’6″ from the mirror platform. A wooden fork extends from the mirror base to the area near the focus and serves as a mounting point for Solar Death Ray targets. The mirror platform is mounted to the support frame on a pivot that allows the platform to be angled. The whole system is mounted on a set of wheels. And, most importantly, you can melt stuff with it, like; AOL CDs, plastic army men, crayons and plastic ducks, all with full comedic photos and commentary
Bioengineers at the University of Maryland are developing contact lenses that change colour in response to changes in blood sugar. The approach would benefit diabetics who traditionally use skin prick tests to monitor their glucose levels — via BoingBoing
Artefacts found in caves by the Red Sea, along with pottery, could put a name to a mysterious land which provided the ancient Egyptians with gold, ebony and incense
Moscow artist Aristarkh Chernyshev‘s TeleBlaster is pure retro 60’s futuristic design.
Aside from looking like a pretty lump of exploded red plastic, it also allows the user to tweak the signal processing. Users can load different effects algorithms from a flash-card or from the manufacturer web site.
TeleBlaster allows mixing users’ videofeed with a TV broadcast, and therefore gives unlimited possibilities for creativity: television becomes, literally, a Lego set from which users/watcher creates his/her own worlds.
Besides that, with TeleBlaster you can generate video effects synchronous to sound. This option turns it into a specialized multimedia entertainment centre.
You can pick one up from Electroboutique for US$1,499. I shudder to think what the packaging is like
A man from Sydenham Park, southeast London, was trying to coax his cat back into the house before he went to bed got more than he bargained for. Instead of a tame pussy, the cat-like creature that emerged from the bushes in response to his calls was nearer the size of a Labrador dog. Neither was the snarling beast in the mood for a quiet bowl of milk. It flew at the man, giving him the fright of his life, and several nasty scratches. Officers who visited the scene soon afterwards believe they saw the culprit. Looks like Pheral has been out and about again
New technology from IBM is designed to stop spam by identifying the Internet domain it came from, and can help spot online scams such as phishing attacks and e-mail spoofing. The company announced the release of FairUCE, or Fair use of Unsolicited Commercial E-mail
for the company’s AlphaWorks advanced technology program, citing a newly released IBM survey that found spam is 76% of all e-mail and may cost US companies $17 billion to fight this year
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