A study by US researchers, Pew Internet, suggests musicians do not agree with the tactics adopted by the music industry against file-sharing. While most considered file-sharing as illegal, many disagreed with the lawsuits launched against downloaders. Independent musicians, in particular, saw the internet as a way to get around the need to land a record contract and reach fans directly
A group of gamblers who won more than £1m at the Ritz Casino by using laser technology have been told by police they can keep their winnings. A laser scanner linked to a computer was allegedly used to gauge numbers likely to come up on the roulette wheel
An old Noodle Soup Flash animated pitch of Warren Ellis’ Transmetropolitan to Sony has surfaced of late.
Seems a shame that the deal fell apart, it’s lovely.
Chinese scientists have successfully produced a SARS vaccine. In a clinical trial beginning in May, 36 volunteers were vaccinated. Most have now developed antibodies, and there have been no side effects reported.
If you have a laptop, desktop and work PC keeping the information from Firefox and Thunderbird synced with each other is hard, not to mention the extensions. John Haller has packaged both Firefox and Thunderbird into Flash drive friendly
executables which can be run directly from a USB flash drive — Portable Firefox and Portable Thunderbird
Australia architects Stutchbury and Pape have created a house out of recycled cardboard, Velcro, nylon wing nuts and tape. It can be built in six hours by two people and can be transportable in a light commercial vehicle
The UK’s most senior police officer says that householders should be able to use whatever force is necessary to defend their homes against criminals
Looking for a place to toss your old inkjet printers? A team of scientists working to create human tissue may have a good use for them. Inkjets that are ten years old are perfectly suited to create sheets of human skin and other tissue that one day may help burn victims and even manufacture organs
A brain
, grown from 25,000 neural cells extracted from a single rat embryo, has been taught to fly an F-22 jet simulator by scientists
USC engineer, Theodore Berger, has used his expertise with nerve cells to create a surveillance system that can recognise the sound of a nearby gunshot — and identify the shooter. In a unique pilot program, LA and Chicago will deploy test units in high-crime areas. The creator emphasises that the system cannot recognise voices or words, but his previous research into speech recognition systems suggests otherwise — via Slashdot
Ben Edelman recently waded through Gator’s license agreement via Kazaa — all 5,936 words and 63 on-screen pages of it — and found some interesting things. It seems that once you install the hideous program, it is illegal for you to removal it
The Federal Government had rejected mandatory filtering of the internet to stop child pornography and has opted instead to undertake an education and information campaign to teach parents about the perils of the internet
Camera phones will soon have liquid lenses made from nothing more substantial than a couple of drops of oil and water, but will still be capable of auto focusing, and even zooming in on subjects
Exeem is a new file-sharing application being developed by the folks at SuprNova.org. Exeem is a decentralised BitTorrent network that basically makes everyone a Tracker. Individuals will share Torrents, and seed shared files to the network. At this time, details and the full potential of this project are being kept very quiet. However it appears this P2P application will completely replace SuprNova.org; no more web mirrors, no more bottle necks and no more slow downs. Exeem will marry the best features of a decentralized network, the easy searchability of an indexing server and the swarming powers of the BitTorrent network into one program. Once this program goes public, its potential is enormous — via Slashdot
Beijing had received criticism for choosing Microsoft for the three-year, $3.6m deal instead of homegrown software providers, with an official from the Chinese Science and Technology Ministry calling the deal a threat to national security. Chinese law stipulates that domestic software should be favoured in such deals. Nearly two weeks after the contract was signed, the Chinese government’s procurement office announced that it has changed its mind
There’s a new vaccine which has had an incredible effect in clinical trials. The vaccine, composed of human dendrites holding dead HIV viruses, has dropped test patients’ viral load by up to 90% in one year
Brazil says it intends to break patents on commercial anti-AIDS drugs as part of its battle against the disease. The head of Brazil’s AIDS programme, Pedro Chequer, told the BBC it was the only way it could afford to keep up its anti-AIDS strategy. Mr Chequer said Brazil would make copies of up to five drugs next year. Brazil currently makes eight of the 15 drugs it offers in its anti-AIDS cocktail, which is free to those with the disease — via BoingBoing
According to State Department documents, the retarded monkey boy has opposed security measures for new microchip-equipped passports that privacy advocates contended were needed to prevent identity theft
Laws abolishing 800 years of feudal property rights have come into force in Scotland. The legislation — brought in by the Scottish Parliament — is intended to make land ownership simpler and fairer. However, there have been fears that thousands of Scottish households could face unexpected bills as a result. Experts believe some people are unprepared for the introduction of the new legislation and could end up paying up to £400 in compensation — via Paul Mellen
British scientists seeking to protect the environment have designed a biodegradable mobile phone cover that breaks down in soil when discarded and sprouts a flower from a seed embedded inside the case. Researchers at the University of Warwick in central England said the novel device, made from a specially designed polymer, is a boon for the environmentally sensitive
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