Saturday, 30 April 2011

What better way to honor a royal wedding than to crack down on free speech?

International Internet access

Roaming fees are ridiculously expensive.   An article at Engadget suggests Xcom Global, though $US12.95 per day, for a USB dongle is $US388.50 per month.

More interesting are the comments, particularly the one which suggests a service called iPhoneTrip


Engadget article: 

Sydney to use natural gas to produce electricity on site

A typical power station uses heat to make steam which is used to drive generators.  Waste heat is ultimately thrown away.  In a new project in Sydney, the waste heat will be used to provide heating and cooling:

Friday, 29 April 2011

Still Searching: SETI Pioneer Jill Tarter Talks Shutdown, Aliens

"Location Cache" clears location tracking from Android phones

Google Docs standalone app for Android now available

Toyota invests in WiTricity for wireless car charging

Apple more profitable than Microsoft

"Based on a true story"

Southpark scares us into reading Apple's terms & conditions: 

Saurik: Why you should jailbreak your iPhone (video)

http://www.funkyspacemonkey.com/saurik-jailbreak-iphone-video

And there's untrackerd, the jailbreak app that stops your iPhone from storing tracking information.

Mobile phone radiation could interact with human tissues in a never-before-considered way


A majority of brain surgeons use mobile phones only in speaker mode.

$US150 Million Will Ensure Your Seat On A Trip Around The Moon

It's so ... white!

White iPhone 4.

(shrug)

Thursday, 28 April 2011

The intermediate guide to living entirely inside Chrome

Google Docs brings native app with editing & OCR to Android

Get out of debt by switching to cash-only

Computer glitch leads to supermarket free-for-all

Sighting of God particle just a rumour

http://m.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/sighting-of-god-particle-just-a-rumour-20110425-1du5f.html

Education 2.0: the global university with just one lecturer

Wednesday, 27 April 2011

Queen Victoria Building, Sydney, Australia

Innocent man busted for child porn after neighbour leached Wi-Fi

YouTube to launch movie rental service

High-profile group to champion broadband

Apple sued over iPhone location tracking

Spy on your kids' Facebook without being their friend

http://m.smh.com.au/technology/security/spy-on-your-kids-facebook-without-being-their-friend-20110427-1dw6k.html

China unveils rival to International Space Station

National E-Waste scheme in danger of failing before it even begins

Lawyer bait: Steve Jobs in carbonite iPhone case

Cobra Tags: find lost keys with your Android phone (iOS coming)

Android popularity grows, while iOS & BlackBerry dwindle

US Government Powers Down SETI

Tuesday, 26 April 2011

The best camera is the one that's available


http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/04/hey-some-people-actually-use-the-ipad-2-to-take-pictures/

In practice, the best camera is the one you have with you.  That's the only reason I ever use the camera in my phone.  Given a choice, I'd always use my DSLR.  But it's big & heavy, so it usually stays at home.

When something worth photographing appears, I grab the best camera available.  If that was an iPad, I'd use that. 

The photograph at the top of this item was taken using a Palm Treo with a resolution of 640 x 480.

If you find string theory hard to understand, this may help

Then again, it may not:

How much fuel does a hybrid realy use?

We've all seen the figures for fuel consumption, achieved on a test machine.  "Your mileage may vary," & in fact it does.

For some real-world, long-term (since 2007) figures have a look at:

Monday, 25 April 2011

Miren is a speedy alternative browser for Android

Some interesting alternatives suggested in the responses: 

International Space Station improv sitcom

How a book accidentally gets priced at $US23m on Amazon

Dell's 10-inch tablet gets a name, specs: meet the Dell Streak Pro

WiFi photo transfer app for iOS devices – free

Saturday, 23 April 2011

Android location data collection is opt-in

Ozone hole linked to east coast weather

http://m.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/ozone-hole-linked-to-east-coast-weather-20110422-1drht.html

Revealing the hole truth on our wacky weather

http://m.smh.com.au/national/revealing-the-hole-truth-on-our-wacky-weather-20110422-1drgo.html

Oil giants play loose with facts on gas

Electric dreams: the charge ahead for electric vehicles

Friday, 22 April 2011

Water dragon

How to add a second layer of encryption to Dropbox

Greenpeace ranks data centers, names Yahoo cleanest & Apple the dirtiest

They're all doing it! (video)

It's not just Apple tracking phone users. Microsoft, Google & RIM are doing it too. 

Your hands give away your hotness

Jailbreak app stops iPhone track-tracking in its tracks

Tit-for-tat – Samsung responds to Apple with multiple patent suits

Let your iPhone help you find an iPad 2

The iPhone tracking fiasco and what you can do about it

This was previously mentioned in these pages.  More at: 

http://m.engadget.com/default/article.do?artUrl=http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/21/the-iphone-tracking-fiasco-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/&category=classic&subCategory=featured&icid=eng_featured_art&type=&postPage=

One more reason to jailbreak.

The item below, while excusing Apple at length, ignores two important points:
  1.  In many jurisdictions, clicking on an "Agree" button when installing software does not constitute agreement.  This recognises the fact that no one stops to read long legalese documents in the middle of a software installation.
  2. Most commentators, including HHG2Tech, are less concerned about what Apple might do with this data, but what a thief might do with it.
http://www.loopinsight.com/2011/04/21/iphone-data-collection-explained/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+loopinsight/KqJb+(The+Loop)#dsq-add-new-comment

Thursday, 21 April 2011

Vodafail The Musical – video rant about Vodafone, 3 Mobile

More "moral pygmies"

"We're allowing too much free speech" – Facebook

Cane toad breeding population located in Sydney


Cane toad (Bufo marinus)
Credit: coffscoastadvocate.com.au

If you're not familiar with the story of the cane toad in Australia:

There is an old song where a householder has a mouse, so gets a cat.  After it gets rid of the mouse, the cat becomes a nuisance & so the householder gets a dog.  To get rid of the dog, an elephant is the solution.

Australian experience with the cane toad has been similar, though not so amusing: sugar cane was introduced to the state of Queensland.  An accidental introduction was the cane beetle (Dermolepida albohirtum), which feeds on sugar cane.  On very little evidence, the cane toad was introduced to control the cane beetle.  It didn't.   Basically, the problem is: sugar cane grows 2 to 9 metres (7 to 30 feet) tall.  Cane toads can't climb & can barely jump.  So cane toads don't eat cane beetles.

What they do eat is almost everything else.

Cane toad tadpoles are poisonous if ingested & the adults have poison glands.  Between their voracious appetite & poisonous flesh, cane toads constitute a major threat to native animals, both larger & smaller.

And it gets worse: toads have been invading adjacent states, partly opportunistically, on human transport, & also by their own efforts.  At the moment, the front moves 40 to 60 km per year.
/ beetle breeding population cane toad feral pest population Sydney cane toad /

Whale navigation skills a mystery

From disaster to deep blue ... but what lies beneath the Gulf Of Mexico?

After Fukushima, time for more nukes

Nuclear energy has a long history of disasters and broken promises.  Now, in the aftermath of Fukushima, the nuclear industry in Australia is suggesting building more:

http://m.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/call-for-renewed-debate-on-nuclear-energy-in-australia-20110420-1dp13.html

Maybe its the possibility of safe nuclear energy using thorium, that has the uranium zealots in such a hurry.

Secret of longevity

The vagina travelogues


Can't be too careful.  An effort to avoid this kind of trouble quite a few years ago was the name of a word processor called "Samna".  The name was chosen because it had no meaning in any known language.

iPhone tracks & records your location (video)

Wednesday, 20 April 2011

Google using Mitsubishi i-MiEV in Australia

At the moment, there are no mass produced electric vehicles available in Australia.  There's the Tesla & the Blade (converted Hyundai), but neither are mass produced.

Mitsubishi are supplying their i-MiEV, but only to fleets at the moment.  Google has a fleet in Australia:


Blade Electric Vehicles:

Over half of all adults would "delete everything they have ever posted about themselves online"

NASA funding space taxi

How oven rust could power your future

Solid state drives – 4 compared

SSDs have come a long way, getting bigger & faster over the last few years.  Where are we up to?  Giz compares 4 of them:

Tuesday, 19 April 2011

Auckland, New Zealand – Skytower, tallest building in the southern hemisphere, looking upward through a glass ceiling to the floors above.  White, angular structures are eaves of the floors above.  Holes in eaves are presumably for drainage.  White-to-yellow globes in top left corner are reflected lighting.

Space plane

The tiny HP Veer phone to get a big launch party on 2nd May

2.6 inch screen?  I'm finding 3.5 inch too small.

"Little Bets", the book

Apple sues Samsung – claims its Androids are copycats

Whirlpool Annual Broadband Survey


Monday, 18 April 2011

Lego magic

Drugs lose effectiveness in space

Best ways to recycle your mobile phone

Better lighting for your computer – with F.lux

Interesting idea: 

Future Adobe technology will bring Flash video streaming to iOS (video)

iPhone 4 about to become most popular Flickr camera

Blackberry defends Playbook against tough reviews

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer photos released - NASA

Nuclear Cassandra finds an audience

Saturday, 16 April 2011

How Can Google Support All That Free Stuff?

Answer: to protect their bread-&-butter: search.

How Open Is Android?

U.S. State Department Builds A Panic Button App

Is Twitter In Trouble?

Sarah Lacy at TechCrunch thinks so:

Windows 8 Can Be Run From A USB Stick

Work Handsfree With The ICON Irix II Headlamp

Web Browser Security

Friday, 15 April 2011

How To Clean A DSLR Camera Lens

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/04/learn-to-properly-clean-a-dslr-camera-lens/

Is Google Prepping YouTube For Game Consoles?

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/04/is-google-prepping-youtube-for-game-consoles/

World’s Oldest Man Dies At 114

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/04/worlds-oldest-man-dies-at-114/

DoJ, FBI Set Up Command-And-Control Servers, Take Down Botnet

http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2011/04/doj-fbi-set-up-command-and-control-servers-take-down-botnet.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

Brazilian Police To Wear Glasses That Scan Faces To Find Criminals

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/04/brazilian-police-to-wear-glasses-that-scans-faces-to-find-criminals/

Skype For Android Vulnerable To Hack That Compromises Personal Data

http://m.engadget.com/default/article.do?artUrl=http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/14/skype-for-android-vulnerable-to-hack-that-compromises-personal-i/&category=classic&subCategory=featured&icid=eng_featured_art&type=&postPage=

Apple Releases iOS 4.3.2, Fixes FaceTime, 3G Issues & Security

Windows Phone Trounces iPhone 4 & Android In Browser Benchmark (video)

Lowering Wivenhoe Dam Level "no safeguard"

Wivenhoe Dam was constructed for flood mitigation.  It now seems to have been diverted to water storage.

Royal Easter Show – Fonzy Is The Biggest Bullock

After The Deluge, Volunteers Dry Up

http://m.smh.com.au/environment/weather/after-the-deluge-volunteers-dry-up-20110413-1ddwh.html

Nuclear Firm Says It Has No Blueprint To Resolve Crisis

Nuclear industry has no plans for disaster?  So what else is new?

Thursday, 14 April 2011

Bill Gates Didn’t "Get" Gmail When It First Came Out


Alternate: 

Birthplace Of The Internet


Alternate: 

Algae & Energy

Algae Could Replace 17% Of US Oil Imports 

A new study shows that 17% of the United States' imported oil for transportation could be replaced by biofuel made from algae. Researchers also determined that the water needed to grow that algae could be substantially reduced by cultivating it in the nation's sunniest and most humid regions:

A Single Source For Clean Water & Fuel

Sewage-munching algae may soon be hard at work, cleaning up wastewater and producing fuel, all in one go:

Windows Phone 7, you were supposed to be great … so what happened?

JaJah For Android Calls Your Facebook Friends For Free

iPhone version awaiting approval by Apple. 


Wednesday, 13 April 2011

Jailbreaks & Black Market Apps Bite Apple

Paul Ceglia Sues Facebook, Claims 50% Of Company

Lift-Off For Strap-On Flying Machine

ReWalk Robotic Exoskeleton Gives Paraplegics The Ability To Walk

Meet The Man Who Invented The Digital Camera (video)

Gizmodo 


Vimeo 

Web-Enabled TVs Ripe For Hacking

Tesla CEO Thinks Capacitors Will Power Future Electric Cars

Gizmodo 


Gizmag 


Gigaom 


CSIRO 

No Idea (video)

Anybody? 


Whatever, this may well be more of it: 

Levitation (video)

Northern Lights Spectacular (video)

At the moment, the Northern Lights are particularly active due to increased solar activity.  The most spectacular video I have seen is this:


If you know of something better, please provide a link.

Tuesday, 12 April 2011

iPhone Rising

"Five years ago the iPhone didn't exist but it now accounts for over 50 percent of Apple's revenue. I recently read that if you consider the iPhone business as a standalone business it would be in the top 10 most valuable businesses in the world."

On the other hand, in the 1960s, General Motors had even more spectacular statistics.  At that time, if regarded as a standalone economy it would have been third in the world.  More recently, it had to be bailed out of bankruptcy by the US taxpayer.

Not predicting anything here.

Anyway, more like the first paragraph at:

"Prior spaceflight experience an advantage"

Car Hacking

Cars That Can Drive Themselves


Optus Customers Pay To Fix Weak Signal

Helicopters Juggle & Play Table Tennis

Private Records Of 3.5 Million Texans Mistakenly Leaked

How To Set Up A Fully Automated App & Settings Backup On Your Jailbroken iDevice

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/04/how-to-set-up-a-fully-automated-app-and-settings-backup-on-your-jailbroken-idevice/

Flash On iOS With Skyfire Web Browser

Monday, 11 April 2011

Australia's Sydney Harbour.  Camera was resting on the rail of a ferry & so was being moved by the motion of the boat due to waves & vibrations of the engine.  These two motions produced the fine motion (engine) & the larger motion (waves).  Two more-or-less identifiable objects on the left of the picture are the Sydney Harbour Bridge (large, curved object) & another ferry (bright lights, bottom left).

The Health Benefits of Coffee vs Tea Infographic | Killer Infographics by Submit Infographics

Schedule Firefox Downloads For A Later Time

Top 10 Micro-Apps For Windows And Mac OS X

When Not To Google: Searches You’re Better Off Making Elsewhere

Optus Femtocell Trial Could Improve Poor 3G Reception At Home

Sunday, 10 April 2011

Vimeo Releases iPhone App With Video Editing Features

It's Almost Easter So ...

On an iPhone, type "tilt" into the Google search bar of the Safari or Atomic browser.

Reputedly works on Android too.

Anyone able to identify any others?

Study Finds Android Apps Outpacing iOS

Is Your Printer Spying On You?

Some laser printers include a virtually undetectable code in prints that can identify the printer.


Code sample at:

Urban Homesteaders Fight Baseless Legal Claims Over Generic, Descriptive Term

Lawsuit Against YouTube Threatens Global Growth Of Political Speech

"Android's problem isn't fragmentation, it's contamination"

Friday, 8 April 2011

Lithium-air Batteries May Give Electric Cars The Same Range As Petrol Cars

Mastering The Lost Art Of Talking On The Phone

Man Gives Wife World’s First Mosquito-Borne STD

Four Corners On The NBN Next Week

This one is only of interest to Australian readers: the long running ABC1 documentary "4 Corners" episode on Monday 12 April at 8:30 pm will be on the National Broadband Network.  Rebroadcasts at the usual times & on iView.  More details at: 

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2011/s3184746.htm

How This 20-Year-Old Entrepreneur Sold An Army General On His App


Alternate:

http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/07/innobells-android-app-adds-facebook-maps-paypal-youtube-and-more-to-group-chat/

Garage Sale Trail Hopes To Rally The Nation To Recycle Unwanted Goods

US Army Now Uses GPS To Blow Stuff Up With Extreme Precision

Thursday, 7 April 2011

The Soloist – Meet The Electric Wheel

Shell Oil Study Confirms Peak Oil Is Upon Us

Go Pano Micro – Capture 360 Panoramic Videos With An iPhone 4 (video)

U.S. Senate Rejects Bills To Limit E.P.A.’s Global Warming Efforts

Food Prices Stir Concern About Biofuels Mandates

G.E. To Build Largest U.S. Solar Panel Factory

Louse Family Tree Illuminates Cretaceous Evolution

E.U. Talks With Microsoft Called a Contradiction

Rise In Online Classes Flares Debate About Quality

Mirroring Facebook’s Culture In A New Corporate Campus

Wealthy Turn To Social Media For Investment Help

The New Commodore 64, Updated With Its Old Exterior

The Surge In Data Processing

Fowndr Offers Private Social Network For Start-Ups

Labor Board Plans Complaint Against Reuters Over Twitter Post

Attack In Comodo Sheds Light On Internet Security Holes

Minamisoma Mayor’s YouTube Plea Gets Big Response

Police Lesson - Social Network Tools Have 2 Edges

New Tool Helps Facebook Users Look Good Online

Artificial Eye Closer As Stem Cells Form Artificial Retina

Nude House job – undress to impress

Dell Australia Customer Names & Email Addresses Stolen

Another Reactor For Fukushima?!