In the aftermath of last Friday’s plane crash off the island of Robinson Crusoe, Chile, officials have stated that no effort would be spared in the rescue/recovery of the 17 passengers. This apparently includes using the Find My iPhone app to isolate the coordinates of one of the passenger’s last known whereabouts before the crash.
Hello, internet people. Google Takeout has been launched for you – a “data liberation platform” that lets users export their data from a number of Google products. It’s an importance service! If all your information is on Google without a backup, then you don’t have much control over it. Click through and learn things.
Look, let’s not beat around the bush here. We are a confident nation, and we do like to win. But, we don’t jinx ourselves here in South Africa. Especially when it comes to something like playing a Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, because, well, that’s just silly. Gautrain marketing department, we’ll remember this if anything happens.
‘Nett Warrior,’ the military program that aims to give soldiers the tools for communications and mapping with each has been put on ice. It seems the US army have decided to cut a couple of kilograms in the solider’s kit and go with civilian technology. And they’re going Google.
Amazon’s tablet is coming soon. Very soon, according to some of the rumours doing the rounds. We could even see the new device in the next few weeks. Supposedly, it will be in the seven-inch region, run a tweaked version of Android and be quite affordable too. But what’s going to make it special, and better than any Google attempt?
Swedish designers have made a cycling helmet that isn’t totally obnoxious, which is pretty great. It won an award. Understand that no matter how nice this helmet is, it still isn’t okay to wear this guy indoors, because that’s rude. Still, it just won the Index:Award, the largest monetary prize for design in the world.
The Swedish are developing a new defence system that can make a tank not only disappear in front of its enemies, but look like something else. The system, known as ‘Adaptiv’ is being developed by Bae Systems and can actually blend in with its surroundings, when viewed in infrared. So, essentially, they could make an army vehicle look like a station wagon if they wanted to.
We already have the Regulation of Interception of Communication Act (Rica), and as the ad hoc committee from Parliament yesterday adopted the controversial Protection of Information Bill after nearly a year of deliberations, we might now also see the decryption of BlackBerry messages become a reality.
This coming Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of the attacks by al-Qaeda on the United States of America, and New York especially. Many iconic images depicting the terror of that day sit steadfast in all of our minds, but what is wrong with a photographer portraying a different kind of moment on that day?
Wendi Deng, better known as Mrs Murdoch, and pie face defender, has revealed in an interview with Vogue magazine that the ex British prime minister, Tony Blair, is the godfather of one of the Murdoch’s daughters. She went as far as to describe Tony as one of her husband’s closest friends.
I love Postsecret. I’ll just put that right there. It’s an ongoing community art project that started in the States in 2005. Now, after almost seven years of receiving the secrets, Postsecret are releasing their very own app for iPhone.
The National Disciplinary Committee has dismissed comrade Julius Malema’s application to have the charges that have been brought against him dropped. In what represents yet another blow to the embattled youth league leader, he’ll probably be staying in and drinking some hot chocolate this evening, contemplating what life holds in store for him next.
The device, which is due to be released shortly, was supposedly lost in a San Francisco tequila bar and then sold to Craigs List, an internet listings company. Apple engineers were reportedly franticly trying to get it back. Duh. This isn’t the first time a prototype has been ‘lost’, in April last year the iphone 4 was ‘found’ in a beer garden and sold to Gizmodo for $5000. Sneaky.
You’re not all on Twitter. I get that; I know people who don’t drink alcohol, either, and I don’t judge them for that. To all you cool social media cats, though, this is troubling: Twitter is readying a new ad product that will serve up ads to users from company accounts they don’t already follow.
Researchers in Gothenburg, Sweden, met this week to launch a new “meat without slaughter” initiative – with plans on being able to release bio-sausages in the next six months. Bio-sausages made from exotic animal cells, too, because vat-grown tiger meat isn’t any less ethical than vat-grown bacon.
It’s pretty neat – the new pen by Wacom draws like a regular pen, but has a pressure-sensitive receiver that records your actual drawings for digital import and computer manipulation. So when you doodle obscene images, they show up directly onto your screen. Welcome to the future.
The first picture of Steve Jobs since resigning from Apple has emerged. It was taken outside his California home and in it he appears looking gaunt and very frail. The image is fueling fears that he is nearing the end of his eight-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
No, not Season 4 of Jersey Shore, this is some truly traumatic Tuesday Science! Last weekend, a 16-year old girl in Florida died due to a rare species of amoeba infecting her brain cavity and eating her brain!
And in good news: researchers at the University of Cambridge re-examined the results of seven existing studies and concluded that high levels of chocolate consumption might be associated with a reduction in the risk of developing heart disease. The research was presented at Europe’s biggest medical meeting in Paris yesterday.
Scientists have made a unique discovery in the Brazilian rainforests of the Amazon: a subterranean river that flows underneath the Amazon River, some four thousand metres below the actual Amazon River. It’s also roughly the same length of the Amazon River, according to the scientists.
Remember the sad old days when the only screens that came with USB inputs in them were 15 inches wide, and you and 12 friends were forced to watch that awesome viral video on that single tiny screen, and inevitably there was a heated argument afterwards, because one of the guys who was watching from […]
Screenshots from a Chinese military propaganda video uploaded to YouTube last month reveal a cyberwarfare app designed to make attacks look like they’re coming from any IP address. In the video, the Chinese government can be seen sending attacks from an IP address belonging to the University of Alabama.
Wikileaks is parceling out another bunch of diplomatic cables today, in case we’d forgotten about Julian Assange amidst all the other hubbub. Expect people to largely ignore the allegations of internal corruption and the details of John McCain’s conversations with that Gadaffi chap, and focus on the whole rape trial thing.
14-year-old Matthew James’ left arm only developed to the wrist. Which is why Matthew sent a letter to the Mercedes F1 team, offering them free advertising space on a new £35,000 (ZAR 414 000) robot hand if they would pay for it. Which worked out pretty okay, because now has a custom i-LIMB Pulse hand from Touch Bionics.
What did you do today? New York elementary school student Aidan Dwyer has designed and constructed a solar array based on the Fibonacci sequence that stores and generates energy between 20% and 50% more effectively than existing setups. He got the idea after noticing growth patterns in oak trees.
Our Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, has caught a train to Russia and will meet and attend an energy summit with President Dmitry Medvedev later this week. The summit is expected to focus on energy cooperation and nuclear disarmament, no spice. But, Our Dear Leader is probably also after a business opportunity that will make money out of South Korea.
A new film that seeks to portray the life of Lady Margaret Thatcher has a fair amount of people hot under the collar. Directed by Mamma Mia! director, Phyllida Lloyd, the film shows Lady Thatcher constantly hallucinating, under the impression that her husband, who died in 2003, is still alive, while she herself appears to be going senile.
Google has begun to map parts of the Amazon and Rio Negro Rivers, as well as small areas of northwestern Brazil, in an attempt to capture panoramic images of the remote region and its communities for the world to see. Google enlisted the help of locals and will use camera-equipped tricycles as well as boats to capture the imagery.
On Tuesday, 2oceansVibe reported that there were possibly going to be new charges brought against ANCYL president, Julius Malema. Julius and other members of the league managed to infringe upon the ANC’s constitution, and the new charges that were served earlier, relate to his comments that the ANCYL will work against the government of Botswana to effect a regime change.
This is, once again, one of those things that should, but probably won’t shock many of you. Paris, France’s Orly airport has been experimenting with 2-D avatar hosts. Travelers will apparently be able to communicate with them as they show them to their boarding gates, and the best part is they won’t strike or take breaks.