Tag: news
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Mr. Sinus Theater 3000 In Name-Theft Lawsuit
The Austin Business Journal reports that the makers of Mystery Science Theater 3000 are taking to court the makers of a new show, Mr. Sinus Theater 3000, in which a group of guys sit in front of a cinema screen and take the piss out of the films they watch. And fair enough: it seems … -
World’s First Room-Temperature Plastic Magnet
New Scientist reports that researchers at the University of Durham have created the world's first plastic magnet to work at room temperature (previous plastic magnets worked only at extremely low temperatures, typically measurable in double-digit Kelvins).
I'm sure I'm likely to be corrected on some minor point by any of the physicists who read this blog, … -
Belt Buckle Shows Highlights Of Crazy Search Results
This is just crazy. Some mad geeks have adapted a Pocket PC into a hip 80s-esque belt buckle, such that it displays a scrolling list of popular web search terms of the last 24 hours, live... at your crotch.
I have no idea what the purpose of this is. -
How Google Could De-Throne AIM, And Other Geeky News
There's an article on how Google could overthrow AIM/ICQ (link removed; apple-x.net now seems to be occupied by domain squatters), and perhaps even MSN Messenger, from their dominant positions in the instant messenger market, and improve internet standards usage and accessibility, by releasing their own instant messenger tool powered by the (wonderful) Jabber protocol. It's …
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A.I. For Deluded Nutcases
Some goon (sorry: Californian counsellor) has patented Inductive Inference Affective Language Analyzer Simulating Artificial Intelligence (including the Ten Ethical Laws Of Robotics). It's nothing but unintelligible babble, interspersed by (inaccurate) references to artificial intelligence theory. The author (who also writes a book on family values with a distinct evangelic slant, from which most of the …
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Schoolboy, 12, Performs Armed Robbery And Is Placated With Crisps
Article on the BBC. A schoolboy holds up a shop and demands money, using a sawn-off shotgun.
My favourite bit: Mr Guliani said there was no money in the till and, on instruction to load the bag with cigarettes instead, told the boy he was under age. The retailer later offered him sweets and crisps instead. -
Teleportation Goes Long-Distance
The BBC have an article about Australian researchers successfully teleporting photons a distance of 600m, advancing upon their first efforts in the field, over two years ago.
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Executable Stenography… With A Difference
Somebody's come up with a program that hides secret messages in executable programs. Well... that's not so impressive - we've all hidden secret messages in JPEG files before by using programs to 'flip' certain pixels (example). This works by changing the image in subtle ways that the human eye won't detect, but that the descrambling …
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Ferreting Out Piracy
CNet News has a story on the BSA's attempts to educate children that copyright evasion and piracy is wrong, with the help of their new cartoon mascot - a ferret (shown).
And yes, I've used the picture of their new mascot without their permission. <wink>
Is a ferret really the best mascot they could think of...? -
Bushism Of The Day
"They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people - and neither do we."
Full story from BBC News. -
Magical Trevor
Everyone love Magical Trevor;
'Cos the tricks that he does are ever so clever.
See Magical Trevor in action. -
Something Cheery
I see that Slate, a magazine run by MSN (and owned entirely by Microsoft), recently published an article promoting the idea of not using Internet Explorer. Whoopsie, say Microsoft. Better yet, the article suggests using Mozilla Firefox, their main competitor in the browser market, instead.
Promised you something cheery. There it is. -
Software Projects In The Context Of Swings
Eons old, but I rediscovered it today while tidying up my hard drive, so I thought I'd share it with you all:
click for larger version -
Parallel Parking For Dummies
Have a go at the parallel parking game - let's so how good you lot are. I've managed to beat the rest of the folks at work with a stunning score of 87.72, parking in 5.7 seconds flat... not bad for the only non-driver!
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God Violates Intel Trademark
It's all news, today! Lots of fascinating little stories and nothing about me. I mean, who's blog is it anyway?
According to The Register, the authoritive source on such matters, God may have infringed upon Intel's intellectual property. Only moderately funny, but nice and geeky.
In other news, I hear that AMD are planning to release a …