What’s weirder than a naturally caffeine-free coffee plant? How about a two-foot long insect? Or perhaps a ghost slug. They are all featured in a list of the 10 strangest species discovered around the world in 2008. The list is the work of the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University, and is […]
By Casey Lynn Contributing Writer, [GAS] The headline to this story from a Japenese newspaper is “Aoyama Gakuin U. To Hand Out Free iPhones to Students.” I guess whether you see it that way or as “using iPhones to track students” is kind of a glass half empty or half full kind of thing. But […]
There are more rumors this week that Apple is planning a tablet computer – an internet-enabled device with a large touchscreen rather than a separate keyboard. But the excitement appears to be based on who the rumors come from, not the detail behind it. The basics of the rumors have been floating around for some […]
When you work for a Federal body and lose a hard drive containing data for more than 100,000 people, it’s pretty embarrassing. But it must feel even worse when you describe yourself as “the nation’s record keeper.” The National Archives and Record Administration agency, which keeps and maintains around 2% of government documents for legal […]
Google says a tool it designed for householders to measure their electricity use is so successful that utility companies around the world have signed up to extend it across their customer base. The technology, Google Power Meter, only works in homes with a ‘smart’ meter, an electronic device which measures power consumption in more detail […]
Proposed European guidelines could mean an end to the misery of bug-filled video games. But manufacturers say the rules would be unworkable and could even limit how many games are developed. The European Commission, the administrative arm of the European Union, says games should lose their current exemption from quality guarantee laws. As things stand, […]
By Sterling “Chip” Camden Contributing Writer, [GAS] Today marks the official launch date of Wolfram|Alpha, a “computational knowledge engine” from Wolfram Research. The stated goal of Wolfram|Alpha is “to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone.” Simplistically, you ask it a question and it gives you the answer – along with a […]
The firm which financed the epically-delayed and recently abandoned Duke Nukem Forever is suing to get some of its cash back. 3D Realms closed earlier this month after financial difficulties, putting an end to a saga of delays to the game on which production work first began in 1997. At the time of 3D Realms’ […]
Got your NES gun? Got your Wii Fit board? Got your Rock Band drum set? Well get this… Activision has announced the next game in its skateboarding series, Tony Hawk Rides, complete with a plug-in skateboard peripheral. It’s tilt sensitive and includes a series of buttons on the side, though the way these will be […]
A claim that the annual costs of piracy to the software industry has topped $50 billion for the first time highlights a major flaw in the way such ‘costs’ are estimated. According to the Business Software Alliance, 41 per cent of software worldwide is pirated. It argues that this represents losses to the industry of […]