Topic: CARS - on May 21, 2012 at 11:12:00 AM CEST
Siemens-Konzept für Elektro-Lkw: Stromschlag von oben
Wenn über die Senkung des CO2-Ausstoßes diskutiert wird, stehen meist die Pkw im Vordergrund. Großes Sparpotenzial gibt es aber auch bei Lkw. Siemens hat jetzt ein System zu Elektrifizierung der Laster gezeigt. Dabei setzt der Automobil-Zulieferer auf eine mehr als hundert Jahre alte Technik.
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Topic: WEB - on May 21, 2012 at 10:08:00 AM CEST
Zuckerberg's post-IPO wedding is smart legal move
Getting married was a smart business move as well as a personal milestone for Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, with the timing of the wedding, the day after the company's initial public offering, potentially proving particularly advantageous, California divorce lawyers said on Sunday.
Assuming the couple signed a prenuptial agreement, as most wealthy Californians do, Zuckerberg and Chan would have agreed exactly how to split assets, including his Facebook stock, if their marriage dissolved in future. Even without a prenup, the wedding's timing would help establish the value of their assets in the event of any future divorce battle, lawyers said.
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Topic: STRANGE - on May 21, 2012 at 10:03:00 AM CEST
JP Morgan Trade Losses Could Reach $5 Billion… Or More
When JPMorgan first announced that its CIO office had blundered into a huge trading loss, the number was pegged at $2 billion, though the company said it could go higher.
Then the loss was reported to be $3 billion.
And now....
$5 billion or more?
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on May 21, 2012 at 10:01:00 AM CEST
European Parliament Member Marietje Schaake's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week
This week's favorites post comes from Marietje Schaake, a Member of the EU Parliament, who has been called "Europe's most wired politician."
When Mike asked me to write a post about my favorite Techdirt posts of the past week, I was honored. Techdirt is one of the main blogs I read everyday to keep me informed about information law and policy developments. The Techdirt contributors focus on a number of areas of my work. That was the same this week.
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Topic: WEB - on May 21, 2012 at 9:59:00 AM CEST
FBI 'looking at' law making Web sites wiretap-ready, director says
Director Robert Mueller says FBI needs to be able to "capture communications" of people under surveillance, but declines to elaborate on renewed lobbying effort reported by CNET two weeks ago.
FBI Director Robert Mueller confirmed that the bureau has renewed its push for a new Internet wiretapping law, which CNET reported two weeks ago.
In an appearance this week on Capitol Hill, Mueller downplayed privacy concerns, saying the FBI's wiretap proposals -- social-networking Web sites and providers of VoIP, instant messaging, and Web e-mail are the primary targets -- would still require a court to be involved.
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Topic: DRUGS - on May 21, 2012 at 9:58:00 AM CEST
Legal highs making the drug war obsolete
If you want any evidence that drugs have won the drug war, you just need to read the scientific studies on legal highs.
If you’re not keeping track of the ‘legal high’ scene it’s important to remember that the first examples, synthetic cannabinoids sold as ‘Spice’ and ‘K2′ incense, were only detected in 2009.
Shortly after amphetamine-a-like stimulant drugs, largely based on variations on pipradrol and the cathinones appeared, and now ketamine-like drugs such as methoxetamine have become widespread.
Since 1997, 150 new psychoactive substances were reported. Almost a third of those appeared in 2010.
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Topic: DRUGS - on May 19, 2012 at 9:17:00 AM CEST
Willie Nelson: 'If we made marijuana legal, we'd save a whole lotta money and lives'
The veteran musician on God, politics, his favourite singer and why weed should be decriminalised
What were the songs that made you realise you wanted to be a musician?
When I first started out, I sang a lot in church. Amazing Grace was the first song that I can remember ever singing. Gospel was probably the main kind of music I was into. Then I got into Bob Wills (1) and Hank Williams and Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong, all those great singers. Ray Charles came along – I loved him. Ray Price. The greatest singer there is, I think, is Ray Price (2).
Sinatra was a big hero of yours, of course.
Yes, he was. Still is. He is my favourite singer. And I read somewhere that I was his favourite singer, so that really made me happy.
There's no better compliment than that …
That was the big one.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on May 19, 2012 at 9:16:00 AM CEST
Wozniak's Original System Description of the Apple ][
Opening with the line, 'To me, a personal computer should be small, reliable, convenient to use and inexpensive,' Steve Wozniak gave his system description of the Apple-II in the May, 1977 issue of BYTE. It's instructive to read what was worth bragging about back then (PDF), such as integral graphics: 'A key part of the Apple-II design is an integral video display generator which directly accesses the system's programmable memory. Screen formatting and cursor controls are realized in my design in the form of about 200 bytes of read only memory.' And it shows what the limitations were in those days, 'While writing Apple BASIC, I ran into the problem of manipulating the 16 bit pointer data and its arithmetic in an 8 bit machine. My solution to this problem of handling 16 bit data, notably pointers, with an 8 bit microprocessor was to implement a nonexistent 16 bit processor in software, interpreter fashion.
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Topic: SECURITY - on May 19, 2012 at 9:14:00 AM CEST
UK government staff caught snooping on citizen data
What a surprise: the U.K. government was forced to reveal under Freedom of Information laws more than 1,000 civil servants have ’snooped’ on British citizens’ private data.
Don’t worry about hackers illegally accessing government systems. It turns out government workers and civil servants who are trusted with private citizen data are more likely to access your data illegally.
The U.K. government is haemorrhaging data — private and confidential citizen data — from medical records to social security details, and even criminal records, according to figures obtained through Freedom of Information requests.
Just shy of 1,000 civil servants working at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), were disciplined for accessing personal social security records. The Department for Health (DoH), which operates the U.K.’s National Health Service and more importantly all U.K. medical records, saw more than 150 breaches occur over a 13-month period.
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Topic: STRANGE - on May 19, 2012 at 9:11:00 AM CEST
Saudi Arabia bans using Gregorian dates
The use of the English language to answer calls or communicate, mainly in companies and hotels, has also been banned
Saudi Arabia has banned all government and private agencies from using the Gregorian calendar in official dealings.
The use of the English language to answer calls or communicate, mainly in companies and hotels, has also been banned, a local daily said.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on May 18, 2012 at 10:11:00 AM CEST
New $74 Android mini computer is slightly larger than a thumb drive
A cheap white brand Android 4.0 USB/HDMI Stick based on AllWinner A10 has started to show up in Chinese websites. Initially, I thought it was like a low cost version of FXI Tech Cotton Candy (which will start shipping this month), but as you can see in the image below, the HDMI port is female so you’d still need a HDMI cable. The hole next to the USB port should be for the power supply, so this device is apparently not powered via USB (TBC).
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Topic: COMPUTER - on May 18, 2012 at 10:08:00 AM CEST
VIA unveils AMOS-3002 fanless rugged PC
VIA Technologies has introduced a new mini-desktop PC based around a Pico-ITX sysem board. The VIA AMOS-3002 measures just 7.8″ x 4.1″ x 1.9″ and it features a rugged case that can handle temperatures between about -4 degrees and 140 degrees depending on the configuration. It’s also vibration and shock tolerance.
The little computer has a 1 GHz VIA Eden X2 processor and VX900H media system or a VIA Nano E-series processor processor. It’s not exactly a speed demon, but these low power chips are designed for embedded systems with fanless designs.
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