Topic: BP - on June 5, 2010 at 11:56:00 AM CEST
BP Hires Former RIAA Boss For PR Work
It's been a little while since we last wrote about Hilary Rosen, who ran the RIAA for many years, and presided over its initial disastrous decision to fight the internet and go after users. However, we have to say that it's somewhat amusing to find out that BP has now hired Rosen for PR help in dealing with the oil spill in the Gulf.
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Topic: BP - on June 5, 2010 at 11:53:00 AM CEST
BP fined the equivalent of 600 illegal songs...
BP has been hit with a £47m bill by the US government for damage caused by the Gulf of Mexico rig explosion and resulting oil leak.
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Topic: GOOGLE - on June 5, 2010 at 11:50:00 AM CEST
As Google Hands Over Collected WiFi Data In Germany, France And Spain, Ireland Tells Google To Destroy It
We recently covered how the data that Google collected via its Street View WiFi efforts was caught in this weird legal limbo, between privacy laws, data retention laws and rules about destroying evidence. However, it looks like that's getting settled...
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Topic: GOOGLE - on June 4, 2010 at 12:33:00 PM CEST
Google is 'close' to handing over German wi-fi data
Pressure is mounting over Google's wi-fi data capture
Search giant Google has said it is "close" to resolving issues that have prevented it from passing a hard disk of data to German authorities.
The disk contains wi-fi data Google Street View cars gathered by mistake.
Google is attempting to patent the very same wardriving technology the search giant says it used by mistake to snoop on Wi-Fi users in more than 30 countries, attorneys said Wednesday.
A patent application published in January describes a method devised by Google for gathering and analyzing data sent via wireless access points. The application says the device "may be placed in a vehicle and data may be obtained continuously or at predetermined time increments" and that the speed of the vehicle "may be factored into the analysis," according to lawyers suing Google on behalf of people whose traffic may have been collected by the technology.
Google looks set to gain a surprising ally in its battle against the European Commission to retain its search logs - the European Parliament.
The dominant search firm has been under pressure from Brussels to erase personally identifiable information from its logs after six months. So far Google has agreed to some anonymisation after nine months.
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Topic: Terror - on June 4, 2010 at 12:32:00 PM CEST
EU and U.S. eye human rights in terrorism prevention
The transatlantic allies also pledged to bolster cooperation in diplomacy, law enforcement, judicial assistance, exchange of information and efforts to control suspect cash flows.
The policy was outlined days after U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a new national security doctrine that distanced the United States from the Bush-era emphasis on going it alone and underscored his efforts to rebuild ties with Europe.
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Topic: BP - on June 4, 2010 at 12:29:00 PM CEST
Caught in the oil - Big Picture
A short entry - AP Photographer Charlie Riedel just filed the following images of seabirds caught in the oil slick on a beach on Louisiana's East Grand Terre Island. As BP engineers continue their efforts to cap the underwater flow of oil, landfall is becoming more frequent, and the effects more evident.
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Topic: BP - on June 3, 2010 at 1:12:00 PM CEST
BP tells cleanup workers no photos of dead, oil-covered marine life
“When we found this dolphin it was filled with oil. Oil was just pouring out of it. It was the saddest darn thing to look at,” said a BP contract worker who took the Daily News on a surreptitious tour of the wildlife disaster unfolding in Louisiana.
His motive: simple outrage.
“There is a lot of coverup for BP. They specifically informed us that they don’t want these pictures of the dead animals. They know the ocean will wipe away most of the evidence. It’s important to me that people know the truth about what’s going on here,” the contractor said.
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Topic: POLITIK - on June 3, 2010 at 12:52:00 PM CEST
Zum Zweiten: Zensursula
Urusla von der Leyen: Bundespräsidentin aller Deutschen?
Update - ARD: Von der Leyen aus dem Rennen um Präsidentenamt
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Topic: MUSIK - on June 3, 2010 at 12:20:00 PM CEST
Watch: Massive Attack Interviewed on CBC
There was a slow and steady massive attack on the Sound Academy last night in Toronto. Creeping in across the crowd came that signature smokey lighting and grimy, hypnotic, sexy-soul. One of the godfathers of the 90's genre trip hop, Massive Attack is a collaborative British production duo from Bristol, UK. They have various co-producers and guest vocalists, whom tonight was Ms. Martina Topley Bird, most notably from Tricky. And your boy George was also in the house tonight bopping away to Massive Attack. He will be interviewing the band in the studio on Monday!
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Topic: FUN - on June 3, 2010 at 12:18:00 PM CEST
Coke and Mentos-propelled rocket car shown off in new Eeepybird video
The fizzy inventors behind the Coke and Mentos fountain series of viral videos have unveiled their latest creation - a rocket car propelled by 216 litres of soft drinks.
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Topic: LEGO - on June 3, 2010 at 12:14:00 PM CEST
The genius of the Lego Printer
Let’s be clear on one thing: Lego is brilliant. The block-based toy started life in Denmark and, since its current design was patented in January 1958, over 400 billion of the little plastic bricks have been produced.
We assumed that this simple toy would never go hand-in-hand with computers, but we’ve been proved wrong by a particularly inventive member of the B3ta forums. While the site is normally full of offensive pictures and jokes that Frankie Boyle wouldn’t tell, this show of ingenuity is guaranteed to put a smile on your face: by combining the diminutive plastic bricks with a Mac and a felt-tip pen, he’s built a fully-functioning Lego printer:
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Topic: STRANGE - on June 3, 2010 at 12:11:00 PM CEST
Dead elephant turned into fuel
An elephant given as a gift to the people of the former Yugoslavia has been turned into fuel.
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