Technology
Fidel Castro, Internet News Junkie
pickens writes "The LA Times reports that 84-year-old Cuban ex-President Fidel Castro consumes 200 to 300 news items a day on the World Wide Web. In a recent interview he called Web communication 'the most powerful weapon that has existed' and extolled its power to break a stranglehold on the media by 'the empire' and 'ambitious private groups that have abused it' adding that the Internet 'has put an end to secrets....samzenpus
Researchers Develop “Tea Bag” Water Filter
cybernanga writes "A group of researchers in South Africa has developed a filter that can purify water straight from the bottle. The filter sits inside a tube fitted on top of a bottle and purifies water as it is poured on a cup.samzenpus
Yellowstone Hot Spot Shreds Ancient Pacific Ocean
jamie passes along this excerpt from DiscoveryNews: "f you thought the geysers and overblown threat of a supervolcanic eruption in Yellowstone National Park were dramatic, you ain't seen nothing: deep beneath Earth's surface, the hot spot that feeds the park has torn an entire tectonic plate in half.Soulskill
The Joke Known As 3D TV
harrymcc writes "I'm at IFA in Berlin — Europe's equivalent of the Consumer Electronics Show — and the massive halls are dominated by 3D TVs made by everyone from Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic to companies you've never heard of.Soulskill
Digital Domain: A Strong Password Isn’t the Strongest Security
Elaborate requirements for account passwords may sound invincible, but experts say Americans aren’t paying enough attention to other online security threats.New York Times
White House Fingers PlayStation As Obesity Culprit
theodp writes "The winners of the childhood obesity infographic design contest sponsored by GOOD and First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative are in, and the overall winner calls out Sony's PlayStation as a major milestone on its timeline of childhood obesity (together with Coke, Pepsi, mall food courts, fructose and high sugar tariffs, TV, McDonald's, and other fast food).Soulskill
Take Heed, Tech Giants: Edison’s Failed Plot to Hijack Hollywood
Take heed, tech giants of today. Some of your companies or services aren’t much older than the Edison Trust Studios was when it collapsed. How much of your current business strategy is based on offering new and original products, and how much of it is based on laws, courts, and the fact that you got there first? .Matthew Lasar
Craigslist Removes Its Controversial Adult Section
Cyrus writes "The online classified website Craigslist has removed its controversial Adult Services portion of its website. Technology blog TechCrunch was the first to report the section had been blacked out with the word 'Censored.'" .timothy
Technology
Gubernatorial Candidate Wants to Sell Speeding Passes for $25
If Nevada gubernatorial candidate Eugene "Gino" DiSimone gets his way $25 will buy you the right to drive up to 90mph for a day. DiSimone estimates his "free limit plan" will raise $1 billion a year for Nevada.samzenpus
Top 10 Greentech IPO Candidates
Recent greentech IPOs have had mixed and less than stellar results. Here are some wild prognostications of ten potential greentech IPOs coming in late 2010 through 2012.Eric Wesoff
Dubai’s Police Chief Calls BlackBerry a Spy Tool
crimeandpunishment writes "Does the battle over the Blackberry ban in the United Arab Emirates have its roots in a spy story? Dubai's police chief says concern over espionage (specifically, by the US and Israel) led to the decision to limit BlackBerry services.Soulskill
DoD Takes Criticism From Security Experts On Cyberwar Incident
wiredmikey writes "Undersecretary of Defense William J. Lynn is being challenged by IT security experts who find it hard to believe that the incident which led to the Pentagon's recognizing cyberspace as a new 'domain of warfare' could have really happened as described.Soulskill
Prototype: Online Giving Meets Social Networking
The actor Edward Norton and his partners started Crowdrise, with a mix of edginess and good-humored competition, to bolster online giving.New York Times
New Copyright Lawsuits Go After Porn On Bittorrent
neoflexycurrent writes "Three adult media entertainment producers filed suit Thursday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleging copyright infringement against hundreds of anonymous defendants accused of trading videos using Bittorrent.Soulskill
Spammers Attack Apple’s Ping Social Network
An anonymous reader writes "Scammers and spammers have deluged the new Ping musical social network, created by Apple and built into the new version of iTunes. Sophos researchers have found that Ping is being overrun by scams and spam messages.Soulskill
In Defense of Google, Or Why Consumer Watchdog is Full of It
While there’s plenty of reasons to keep a critical eye focused on Google, Consumer Watchdog’s ad is a dishonest, factually inaccurate joke that shamefully got plenty of uncritical media attention.Ryan Singel
Technology
UN Tech Group Finds Most Expensive Broadband
destinyland writes "In the Central African Republic, broadband internet service costs 3891% of the average monthly income. 'Put another way, a month's broadband service costs more than three years' average wages in the country,' notes one technology blog, 'compared with less than two hours' earnings in Macau.' A United Nations' technology group released the figures in a new report in advance of a September 19 summit on the digital divide in developing countries.samzenpus
Judging You By the Online Company You Keep
theodp writes "Network analysis uses data about your social network interactions to make assumptions and predictions about your behavior. The Economist notes the upside for companies looking to sell products.samzenpus
Smarter Than You Think: The Boss Is Robotic, and Rolling Up Behind You
Mobile robots have been used for years by the military and law enforcement, but with falling costs, the next frontiers are the office, the hospital and the home.New York Times
Nasty Data-Stealing Bug Haunts Internet Explorer 8
Trailrunner7 writes "There's an unpatched vulnerability in Internet Explorer 8 that enables simple data-stealing attacks by Web-based attackers and could lead to an attacker hijacking a user's authenticated session on a third-party site.Soulskill
Simon Singh Talks With Wired About His Libel Battle
smellsofbikes writes "Wired has a short but pithy interview with Simon Singh about his defense against a libel suit brought by the British Chiropractic Association, in which he spent more than $200,000 and emerged victorious."timothy
The Ink of War: Afghanistan Air Base’s Best Tattoos
Tattooing, an aggressive and intimidating mixture of endurance and art, is as old as warfare itself. But each generation, and each war, yields its own warrior body art.Spencer Ackerman
Texas Opens Inquiry Into Google Search Rankings
Hugh Pickens writes "The AP reports that Texas' attorney general, Greg Abbott, has opened an anti-trust investigation against Google spurred by complaints that the company has abused its power as the Internet's dominant search engine.timothy
Technology
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The Last of the Punch Card Programmers
Peter Cus writes "Cluny Lace, an English lacemaking manufacturer, has reverted to 19th-Century Leavers machines in order to stay competitive. These 19th-Century machines use Jacquard punch cards.samzenpus
Leaders Aren’t Being Made At Tech Firms
theodp writes "In this article Vivek Wadhwa laments that short shrift is paid to management training these days at many high-tech firms. You can't be born with the skills needed to plan projects, adhere to EEOC guidelines, prepare budgets and manage finances, or to know the intricacies of business and IP law, says Wadhwa.Soulskill
Radiohead Helps Fans Make Crowd-Sourced Live Show DVD
Kilrah_il writes "After having a go with a Name-Your-Price album and an open-source video, Radiohead is again breaking new ground, this time with a fan-based initiative. A group of fans went to one of the band's shows in Prague, each shooting the show from a different angle.Soulskill
Google To Pay $8.5 Million In Buzz Privacy Settlement
eldavojohn writes "Google's Buzz service will cost the company $8.5 million in settling a class action lawsuit related to the privacy debacle from the days after its release.Soulskill
The Many Iterations of William Shatner
pickens writes "The NY Times weekend magazine has a long profile, well worth reading, of self-described 'working actor' William Shatner. He began acting at age 6 and at one point in the late 1950s was mentioned in the same breath as his contemporaries Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, and Robert Redford — until, without explanation, his career faded before it bloomed.Soulskill
Ubuntu 10.10 Beta Released
RandyDownes sends word that Canonical has released the beta version of Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat). The release announcement boasts faster boot times, GNOME 2.31, and a speedier version of Evolution.Soulskill
Australia Adopts EU’s Geographical Indicator System For Wine
onreserve writes with an excerpt from a site dedicated to laws affecting wine: "[L]ast week, Australia signed an agreement with the European Union to comply with the geographical indicator (GI) system of the EU.timothy