Clippings for Thursday 14th August 2008

Not so good with computers at the Olympics. Microsoft Windows displays its characteristic blue error message, while the fireworks are faked:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4654329a26500.html

The European Commission reserves a slice of the radio spectrum for smart vehicle communication systems, warning of hazards etc.:
http://thefutureofthings.com/news/1280/cars-that-talk.html

A very glitzy keyboard with a customisable RGB LED under each key making for some awesome effects:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/a85c/?cpg=76H

Kevin Warwick uses neuron networks from rat brains to operate a robot. Things learned may help our understanding of brain diseases:
http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/mg19926696.100-rise-of-the-ratbrained-robots.html

And finally. The latest US airbourne laser is touted as having the advantage of "plausible deniability" in case of a screw-up:
http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14520-us-boasts-of-laser-weapons-plausible-deniability.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news4_head_dn14520

News collated from various sources by Vik Olliver for Diamond Age Solutions Ltd. The views presented in this document are the personal opinion of the collator, and should not be taken as any more than that.

Clippings for Tuesday 12th August 2008

Clippings is dragged screaming and kicking into the 21st century and now has a blog with an RSS feed:
http://viksnewsclippings.blogspot.com

Richard Stallman, the creator of the GPL, is interviewed on Radio NZ by Kim Hill on a variety of freedom-related topics. OGG and MP3 audio:
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/sat/sat-20080809-0845-Richard_Stallman_Freedom.ogg
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/sat/sat-20080809-0845-Richard_Stallman_Freedom-048.mp3

A video of the HTC Dream, a mobile phone powered by Google's new Android phone OS, shows orientation sensor and qwerty keyboard:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/217464/htc-android-handset-video-emerges.html

You can watch the Olympics under Linux. Instructions here:
http://newblogonstuff.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-watch-live-olympics-on-linux.html

The venerable PHP4 HTML embedded scripting language reaches its scheduled end-of life. 3rd Party support to continue:
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1239055978

The OpenGL 3.0 specification is announced at SIGGRAPH. Developers are reported to be significantly underwhelmed:
http://www.khronos.org/news/press/releases/khronos_releases_opengl_30_specifications_to_support_latest_generations_of/

Following Intel's recent chip branding announcement, AMD Promises to improve the way it makes chips. Doesn't quite say how:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2008/tc20080810_422113.htm

And finally. US Courts issue an order preventing the presentation of an MBTA e-ticketing system hack - the court order shows how to do it!:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/08/11/EFF_to_appeal_court_order_halting_subway_hacker_talk_1.html
http://www-tech.mit.edu/V128/N30/subway/10-declaration-henderson-vulnerability.pdf

News collated from various sources by Vik Olliver for Diamond Age Solutions Ltd. The views presented in this document are the personal opinion of the collator, and should not be taken as any more than that.