MIT has recommended Brazil install open source software instead of proprietary software offered by Microsoft on thousands of computers that will be sold to the poor
A fireball created in a US particle accelerator has the characteristics of a black hole, Horatiu Nastase has said. The Brown University physicist thinks the particles are disappearing into the fireball’s core and reappearing as thermal radiation, just as matter falls into a black hole and comes out as Hawking
radiation
The pilot episode of the BBC’s highly anticipated new Doctor Who series may have been intentionally leaked onto file-sharing networks to generate buzz. Earlier this month, the 45 minute premiere episode, entitled Rose
, showed up on BitTorrent. The appearance of the episode generated a flood of discussion in online forums, blogs and the mainstream media. As a result, interest in the show, which debuts 26 March on BBC One, has skyrocketed
The newly invented Building in a Bag is made from cement impregnated fabic, that is sealed in an easily transportable plastic bag. You literally just add water, and then inflate. Twelve hours later, you have a ready to use building. Possible uses include shelter for disaster areas, and instant field hospitals
In what is probably the most moronic corporate idea I’ve heard in a long time, McDonald’s is testing the use of remote call centres to handle drive-through orders. Company officials said the idea is aimed at reducing the number of mistakes at the window. Apparently McDonald’s brain trust has never heard of Chinese whispers
For the second time in about a month, a dog has been found hanged in suburban St Louis, and police are trying to determine if there is a connection — via Warren Ellis
The FTC has asked a US District Court to bar Spyware Assassin and its affiliates from offering consumers free spyware detection scans and from selling antispyware software, alleging that the software is not effective
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer said that California could no longer justify limiting marriage to a man and a woman. The ruling came after litigation stemming from the city’s decision last year to allow gays to marry. Those marriages were ruled invalid by the state‚Äôs Supreme Court but it then referred the issue to a lower court — via Warren Ellis
US politicians and journalists have said that internet bloggers should enjoy traditional press freedoms and not face regulation as political groups
Telemarketers world-wide are realising they can dodge long-distance costs, and US Do Not Call
restraints, by voice spamming VoIP users. Different from spam over internet telephony because it’s not automated, an analyst predicts homes and businesses could see some 150 calls a day from overseas call centres
A leading internet security researcher has warned that personal home computers were never designed to act as secure ATMs and could not be trusted for internet banking or any other online transaction. Yet Australian banks continued to promote internet banking as safe because they did not want to pay for the only technology that could guarantee internet transaction security — a home eftpos system
Apple won the green light to subpoena amateur publishers for their confidential sources, a Californian Judge ruled today. Apple Computer, which wants to discover who leaked product information to three web sites, can now proceed with its subpoena against one of the ISPs hosting two of the websites, Santa Clara county court Judge James Kleinberg has ruled, as well as the web sites themselves
A french appeal court has ruled in favour of a filesharer who downloaded 500 odd movies, on the grounds that they were private copies, that he didn’t redistributed them and that a tax was payed on blank media
The Bureau of Meteorology has upgraded its Web-based rain radar service, adding enhanced maps and finer grades of rain to a service that already ranks as the most popular and fastest-growing educational and government Web site in Australia
The Mozilla Foundation has published its Mozilla Application Suite transition plan, confirming that there will be no official Mozilla 1.8 release. There will be a 1.7.6 release to be maintained by the Mozilla Foundation. All future suite versions from the Foundation will be minor updates only. There is already a community effort underway to continue development
Irish comic and satirist Dave Allen, famed for his TV shows, dies in his sleep at his London home aged 68. I, for one, will miss him greatly
A Pentagon report into the interrogation of detained prisoners found senior officials and US military policy hasn’t led to abuse, despite failing to interview any of the detainees who claim they were abused. They vehemently deny the report is a whitewash and I have a bridge I’d like to sell them
AMD has officially unveiled Turion, its latest chip for mobile computing, a 64-bit processor aimed squarely Intel’s Centrino product, which currently dominates the notebook PC market
The Google News home page is now customisable, allowing you to add or delete main news categories, as well as increasing or decreasing the number of headlines within a section. They’ve also introduced a feature that lets you create your own section using keywords for a topic that interests you
A Brisbane rugby union team is facing legal action from a fast food chain because it has put McBrat
across the back of players’ shorts. McDonald’s claims the Brisbane Irish team sponsor’s nickname contravenes its intellectual property. But sponsor Malcolm McBratney, who is, ironically, an intellectual property lawyer, says the McBrats tag simply comes from his name. Mr McBratney says he is stunned that the fast good giant took exception when he tried to register the name in the Australian Trademarks Office
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