Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Carbon nanotubes used to more easily detect cancer cells, HIV

Cancer'snot slowing its march to ruining as many lives as it possibly can, so it's always pleasing to hear of any new developments that act as hurdles. The latest in the world of disease-prevention comes from Harvard University, where researches have created a dime-sized carbon-nanotube forest that can be used to trap cancer cells when blood passes through.

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NBN Co chief promises no volume discounts

NBN Co chief Mike Quigley has today promised the Government-owned telco has no intention of offering volume discounts to Telstra or any other service provider connected to the national broadband network.

Several service providers had raised concerns over the potential for NBN Co to grant volume discounts to large players in return for an "efficiency gain".

That possibility had been struck out of the NBN bills in the Senate last week.

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Record Labels Claim Limewire Liable for $75 Trillion in Damages

It's been nearly a decade since the music industry declared war against file sharers via its controversial policy of suing individuals supposedly identified via their IP addresses. After all this time one would expect the various companies to present a consistent, united front. As a recent court filing against Limewire shows this is absolutely not the case.

Limewire, the plaintiffs allege, owes them between $400 billion and 75 trillion. The latter, written out, comes to 75,000,000,000,000.

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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Firefox 4 has Already Eclipsed Internet Explorer 9

Mozilla has just release Firefox 4, and in less than a day clocked more than twice the downloads Microsoft boasted about after the release of Internet Explorer 9.

Now website analytics company StatCounter says Mozilla’s new browser has already taken 1.95 percent of the worldwide Internet browser market.

In contrast, StatCounter adds, Internet Explorer 9 has taken only 0.87 percent of the worldwide browser market a week after its debut.

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Auditor calls for Government ban on Gmail, Hotmail

The Australian National Audit Office has called on all government agencies to block free web-based email services like Gmail and Hotmail to mitigate security and information integrity risks.

An audit of electronic security at four Federal departments and agencies found one department - Prime Minister and Cabinet - allowed staff to access the free unsecured email services for business reasons

The auditor also called on agencies to review log-in credentials after administrator or service account passwords were compromised at three of the four agencies examined in the report.

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Apple to sell iPad 2 in Australia from $579

Apple has revealed prices for its iPad 2 tablet will start at $579 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model when the device goes on sale this Friday.

The second-generation tablet – which contained front and rear-facing cameras, a new chip and new operating system version – was released to US customers about a fortnight ago.

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Wireless: What a Difference a Decade Makes

The year is 2001. Alas, videoconferencing hasn't replaced the home phone (and neither Dave nor Hal have embarked on a manned mission to Jupiter). Instead 2G wireless networks, running at 0.006 MB/second, are the best Earth has to offer.

Fast forward one decade and 4G LTE networks are the rage, promising speeds of up to 100 Mbps.

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