31-Mar-2011 AM clippings

Enjoy:

Chapman Tripp and its allies are casting FUD at New Zealand's upcoming ban on software patents. The MED is not impressed:
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/chapman-tripp-urges-re-think

Two more Registration Authorities have had their SSL signing keys compromised. Web of trust fail:
https://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/comodo-says-two-more-registration-authorities-compromised-033011

Acer lines up a dual-screen tablet PC as Microsoft waits for the tablet fad to pass:
http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/29/6367167-acers-dual-screen-tablet-behaves-like-a-laptop

The first commercially viable nanogenerator, a flexible chip turning body movement into power, is shown to the American Chemical Society:
http://portal.acs.org/portal/PublicWebSite/pressroom/newsreleases/CNBP_026949

And finally. Atomic wristwatches go out of kilter all over Japan. Not from radiation; the radio sync transmitter is 16 km from the Daiichi:
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/03/atomic-clocks-go-dark-in-japan.html

Vik :v) Diamond Age Solutions Ltd. http://diamondage.co.nz

28-Mar-2011 AM clippings

Enjoy:

Microsoft seeks US state laws requiring customers of companies that use pirated software to pay the penalty (proprietary s/w only):
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=2011032316585825

Rumours abound that Amazon is about to release its own Android tablet, and ebook makers start to turn to Android too:
http://gigaom.com/mobile/how-e-books-are-coming-full-circle-thanks-to-tablets/

An attacker broke into the Comodo Registration Authority (RA) based in Southern Europe and issued fraudulent SSL certificates:
http://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/phony-web-certificates-issued-google-yahoo-skype-others-032311

The first processor is printed on a sheet of plastic. Well, two sheet. One for the CPU, one for the code:
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/37126/?p1=A2

And finally. What do you do if a grizzly attacks you while you're stoned? Why, you claim ACC of course:
http://www.brobible.com/bronews/montana-man-gets-workers-comp-for-getting-mauled-by-bear-after-smoking-pot

Vik :v) Diamond Age Solutions Ltd. http://diamondage.co.nz

23-Mar-2011 AM clippings

Enjoy:

The UK prepares to introduce a national IP blocking system in the name of preventing piracy of movies and music. For now:
http://torrentfreak.com/100-domains-on-movie-and-music-industry-website-blocking-wishlist-110322/

A look at the new features in the recently released Firefox 4 web browser:
http://www.businessinsider.com/new-features-in-firefox-4-2011-3

A new 3D nanostructure for lithium and NiMH batteries allows very rapid charging - an electric vehicle in 5 mins if you have the amps:
http://news.illinois.edu/news/11/0321batteries_PaulBraun.html

Quantum computing should hit the magic 10 qubit level this year. That's where it starts to surpass some standard computing techniques:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12811199

A discussion with a scientist who is actually building things atom by atom and his take on when it will be possible to make machines:
http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/03/philip-moriarty-discusses.html

And finally. A facebook app that peels the clothes off people in your friends' pictures. Works with guys, girls and sad people:
http://www.thesmokingjacket.com/humor/falseflesh-facebook-app

Vik :v) Diamond Age Solutions Ltd. http://diamondage.co.nz

22-Mar-2011 AM clippings

Enjoy:

NZRise is formed from a group of New Zealand IT firms as a non-profit organisation to promote home-growm IT expertise:
http://nzrise.org.nz/about/

The US is designing surveilance robots that know how to hide from human sentries. No news on the counter-surveilance robot yet:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20928044.700-surveillance-robots-know-when-to-hide.html

Ars Techinca asks why the web is not using the HTTPS protocol by default, rather than only for shopping carts? :
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2011/03/https-is-more-secure-so-why-isnt-the-web-using-it.ars

Nanotchnology promises low-power CPUs and is touted ans making mobile phones last longer. But call time is related to transmit power:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/nanotechnology/nanotechnology-could-make-batteries-in-mobile-devices-obsolete

And finally. A shipwreck in The Pirate Bay as the user database is compromised and used to send out spam. Again:
http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-user-database-compromised-and-exploited-again-110320/

Vik :v) Diamond Age Solutions Ltd. http://diamondage.co.nz

26-Jan-2011 AM clippings

Enjoy:

The Australian decision to use Microsoft OOXML as a standard fromat is reopened, and comprehensively dismantled in the comments below:
http://agimo.govspace.gov.au/2011/01/21/back-to-the-future-another-chance-to-influence-coe-development

Latvia announces that all Government departments must accept documents written in ODF format, as part of a Europe-wide programme:
http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Latvia-ODF-acceptance-mandatory-1173340.html

British police are caught posting messages to incite violence and illegal activity on independent open media bulletin board sites:
http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news755.php http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12232936

Free Openframeworks workshop to be held in Auckland on Thursday 27th January @4pm, Auckland University of Technology:
http://www.opentoko.org/upcoming-tokos-2/openframeworks-workshop-in-auckland/

And finally. An exclusive interview with that most controversial celebrity in qwertydom, Caps Lock:
http://www.cracked.com/blog/an-interview-with-caps-lock-most-misunderstood-key/

Vik :v) Diamond Age Solutions Ltd. http://diamondage.co.nz

21-Jan-2011 PM clippings

Enjoy:

Two NZ Open Source companies make the CIO list of those thriving on disruptive change; Ingress and Catalyst IT:
http://cio.co.nz/cio.nsf/specials/259284F8F3D2F03CCC25781D0004FF39

Twitter is sued for violating a patent on letting famous people talk to mere mortals:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/20/twitter-lawsuit-vs-technologies/

Vodafail.com sumbits a 30 page report and 12,000 complaints from Australian Vodafone users to the Australian watchdog committees:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/4564891/Vodafail-submits-damning-Vodafone-report

The first "dead drop" appears in NZ. Basically it's a USB stick cemented into a wall for people to share files through:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/4550538/New-Zealands-first-Dead-Drop-kicks-off

And finally. How to build a toaster from scratch, as in ore, oil etc. I prefer the fire & fork method myself, but here's to hi-tech:
http://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_thwaites_how_i_built_a_toaster_from_scratch.html

Vik :v) Diamond Age Solutions Ltd. http://diamondage.co.nz

13-Jan-2011 AM clippings

Enjoy:

Welcome to the 2011 season of Clippings. Happy New Year!

Catalyst IT starts a pilot "Academy" in Wellington to boost the number of students with skills in Open Source systems:
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/schools-in-for-open-source-advocates

France follows suit, announcing plans to make Paris a centre for Open Source software development to boost economic growth:
http://news.techworld.com/operating-systems/7508/france-plans-open-source-centre-of-excellence

World-wide protests planned on the 15th January in defence of WikiLeaks and our freedom of expression:
http://www.whyweprotest.net/en/

Sony starts shutting CD outlying plants as downloading starts to bite into the sales of physical media:
http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/sign-digital-times-sony-shutting-plant-used-m

Google's Chrome and Opera to end support for H.264 in favour of open codecs for HTML5 video. Apple holds back:
http://www.muktware.com/n/12/2011/661

And finally. Using outside air-cooled PCs in the home to do your little bit for the environment:
http://hackaday.com/2011/01/10/outside-air-cooled-pc

Vik :v) Diamond Age Solutions Ltd. http://diamondage.co.nz