BBC

Universities protest against government wi-fi plans

Libraries and universities are protesting about plans to make them police users of wireless networks.
The government’s Digital Economy Bill includes plans to make them responsible for what is done over free wi-fi.
The plans imply that libraries, universities and cafes offering free wireless will be responsible if people use it to [...]

Tags: digital economy, free wi fi, pirate, wifi, wireless networks
Posted in BBC, Communications, Consider This, Internet War | No Comments »

Wikileaks and Iceland MPs propose ‘journalism haven’

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Wikileaks has provoked the dream of Iceland becoming a haven for whistle-blowing
Iceland could become a “journalism haven” if a proposal put forward by some Icelandic MPs aided by whistle-blowing website Wikileaks succeeds.
The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI), calls on the country’s government to adopt laws protecting journalists and [...]

Tags: free speech, investigative journalism, investigative journalists, journalist, julian assange, start-ups
Posted in BBC, Democracy, Innovation Needed, Internet War | No Comments »

Quantum trick for pressure-sensitive mobile devices

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Hand-held devices could soon have pressure-sensitive touch-screens and keys, thanks to a UK firm’s material that exploits a quantum physics trick.
The technology allows, for example, scrolling down a long list or webpage faster as more pressure is applied.
A division of Samsung that distributes mobile phone components to several [...]

Tags: mobile devices, pressure sensitivity, quantum physics, touch screen, touch screens, Touchscreen, touchscreens
Posted in BBC, Communications, Cutting-edge Research, Innovation | No Comments »

ISP cleared of copyright infringement

In the first case of its kind, an Australian court has ruled that an internet service provider cannot be responsible for illegal downloading.
iiNet, Australia’s third largest ISP, was taken to court by a group of 34 movie production houses.
The group included the Australian divisions of Universal Pictures, Warner Brothers and [...]

Tags: australia, bittorrents, copyright infringement, downloads, film companies, films, illegal downloading, Internet service provider, isp, landmark, production houses, safe harbor, warner brothers
Posted in BBC, Communications, Consider This, IP, Internet War, Shape of Things to Come?, Worth Repeating | No Comments »

Vegetative state patients can respond to questions

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Scientists have been able to reach into the mind of a brain-damaged man and communicate with his thoughts.
The research, carried out in the UK and Belgium, involved a new brain scanning method.
Awareness was detected in three other patients previously diagnosed as being in a vegetative state.
The study in [...]

Tags: brain activity, functional magnetic resonance, functional magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, new england journal, new england journal of medicine, scanning technique, vegetative state
Posted in BBC, Cutting-edge Research, Health, Innovation | No Comments »