Tech & Science

Victor "Lloyd" Clemett, one of Canada's last surviving veterans from World War I (WWI) died last night at age 107. Clemett died at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in his home-city of Toronto, Ontario. Clemett lived at his home until two years ago when he moved to a Sunnybrook residence. When interviewed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation last year he is quoted saying: "Just taking it easy, not running too wild and having a good time." The last remaining WWI vets are Percy Wilson 105 years old and John Babcock 107. About 620,000 Cana

The government of Cuba decided to change the OS on thousands of its computers. These will run on GNU/Linux instead of Windows. This step made by the Cuban government raises tensions between the country and the U.S. - based company Microsoft. The idea was welcomed by several Cuban ministers. This includes Ramiro Valdez, communication minister, who at a technology conference stated his position towards moving to free software. Richard Stallman, heading the Free Software Foundation, criticized the proprietary software saying that today it is ra

Audible Magic, a company in Los Gatos, California, is developing a new software that can filter music and video uploaded on the Internet without permission of copyright holders. The company's chief executive, Vance Ikezoye, demonstrated how the system works. He downloaded a poor-quality video from YouTube and fed it to the filtering software, which identified the video as a fighting scene of “Kill Bill: Vol. 2,” the rights to which are owned by Miramax. The entertainment industry is already demanding the adoption of the new system by the Int

Plymouth, Michigan, United States - This week, independent software developer Stardock released Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar, an expansion to their PC turn-based strategy game Dread Lords. Industry websites IGN and GameSpy responded with Editors' Choice awards, while UGO gave it an A. The expansion had previously been named as one of GameSpy's Most Wanted Games of 2007. Reviewers cited the significant increase in customization options, better artificial intelligence, and an improvement in graphics quality as decisive factors. UGO's A

Mobile phones are to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. Health-care workers will be able to report current health data from the field to a central database using their mobile phones, under a project to be launched with the help of leading phone companies and the U.S. government. The US$10 million project, called “Phones-for Health”, was announced on Tuesday at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona. The software used in this project is loaded on to a standard handset developed by Motorola. The information will be transmitted with the help of the stand

On Sunday the representatives of International Business Machines Inc. said that the company will launch its new desktop software system for businesses. IBM's new product is called “Open Client Offering”. The company hopes that its product will put Macintosh or Linux software on a more equal footing with Windows. The Open Client Offering software was developed by IBM in-house, as well as with partners like Novell Inc. and Red Hat Inc. It is to answer the questions regarding the cost-effectiveness of managing Linux or Apple desktop personal comp

During a press conference yesterday, United States military and intelligence officials presented material they say link weapons used by Iraq fighters to Iran. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters in Madrid on Friday that the there was "pretty good" evidence that Iranians are supplying either weapons or technology to Iraqi militants. No recording devices of any kind were allowed during the press conference. Reacting to the U.S. claims, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a television interview that the allegations were "excus

On December 29th 2005, Microsoft applied for a patent that allows the operating system to require users to pay attention to ads shown on their computers. According to the patent, a user will be asked to identify her / himself to a webcam or provide some data regarding the advertisement to be entered. The technology that is part of this patent is meant to give Microsoft the right to repossess one's computer if one does not pay attention to advertisements. According to the patent, the technology will be used so that the The stated aim of the

Russian prosecutors have charged a school headmaster with using pirated copies of Microsoft software on school computers. The teacher, Mr. Alexander Ponosov, pleaded not guilty and claimed that he did not know that the purchased computers were loaded with pirated software. The Russian president criticized the move against the teacher, saying it was "ridiculous" to arrest someone for using computers and that the distributors of pirated software should be targeted rather than users. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev also urged Microsoft t

Technology giant Sony is reportedly looking into cutting prices on Playstation 3 gaming consoles. Even though Sony loses about (U.S.) $200 for each unit sold, the company believes that selling units for less will increase sales of games and peripherals, which is apparently where the company makes the most profit. By reducing prices on Playstation 3 units, Sony's gaming division is looking to break even by 2008. The report is not indicative that Sony will reduce the price of the console, only that it is looking into doing so.

The United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing today on the accusation that the Bush Administration had interfered with data regarding climate change in order "to mislead the public by injecting doubt into the science of global warming." On January 23, 2007, Chairman Henry Waxman (D) and Tom Davis (R) had requested documents from the Council on Environmental Quality but were denied access. Waxman said that, "The committee isn't trying to obtain state secrets or documents that could affect our immediate nat

Friday Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on behalf of the government apologized to deportation victim Maher Arar. In 2002, Syrian-born and Canadian software engineer Maher Arar was arrested by U.S. officials and deported to Syria after the U.S. suspected that he was a terrorist. Arar was held in a Syrian prison where he was regularly tortured for a year. He came back to Canada in October 2003. The affair became very public in Canada. Arar is banned from the United States and the Canadian government says they will try to talk with U.S. of