Tech & Science

Apple has released an application that limits the volume produced from its iPod portable music players. The software update, iPod Software 1.1.1, works with the iPod Nano and the Video version. Apple released the program in response to complaints that it had not taken necessary measures to prevent hearing loss in iPod users. In California, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Apple in January over claims of hearing loss from iPod use. Apple's worldwide vice-president of marketing for the iPod, Greg Joswiak, indicated that this patch is

Stanisław Lem, one of the most popular modern science fiction writers who wrote in a language other than English, died March 27, aged 84. He died of heart failure while staying at a cardio-surgery clinic in Kraków, Poland. Lem, described as “one of the deep spirits of the age,” was the author of dozens of books, which have been translated into 41 languages and sold over 27 million copies. He gained international fame for The Cyberiad, a series of short stories from a mechanical world ruled by robots, first published in English in 1974. De

Australian Federal Police officers reportedly raided the home in Argenton, West of Newcastle, New South Wales of a man suspected of distibuting software to enable unauthorised access to pay TV services Foxtel and Austar. A spokesperson for the Australian Federal Police said that officers seized computer equipment, including an "external hardware drive". The spokesperson said police were assisted by Foxtel's fraud invesigators and computer forensic experts from Ferrier Hodgson. Debra Richards, Executive Director of the Australian Subscription

Jill Carroll, an American journalist, has been released by her captors after having been held for 82 days. Caroll was abducted on January 7, 2006 in Baghdad by gunmen and was dropped off by unknown individuals at the Iraqi Islamic Party's branch office in the western part of the Amariyah district in Baghdad. Her translator was killed during the abduction, but her driver escaped. Carroll is a freelance journalist who writes for the Christian Science Monitor. "She was released this morning; she's talked to her father and she's fine. This is a

Sony is delaying until November the release of its new PlayStation 3 video game console, for all countries. PlayStation 3 was supposed to be released this Spring, but the president of the Sony gaming division, Ken Kutaragi, says the company has decided on improvements since they last announced the release date. He says that Sony wants to include all the latest technology available today, and indicated that the system will run Linux out of the box The new, later release date could be advantagous to rival Microsoft Corp., which released its com

Longmeng, which means Dragon Dream in Mandarin, is the name of a low-cost laptop computer. It was developed by the Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. There are conflicting reports about the price: Bloomberg reported the laptop would be priced at 1,500 yuan (about USD 187 or EUR 153), while People's Daily and Shanghai Daily reported a lower price of 1,000 yuan (about USD 125 or EUR 102). The lower price would make the laptop competitive with the One Laptop Per Child project initiated by the Massachuset

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Shinzo Abe, has advised against using the Winny peer-to-peer software due to concerns over its interaction with viruses. One virus, Antinny (or Kintama (testicle)-virus) is believed responsible for uploading documents to the filesharing network without first obtaining user permission. This is believed to be the cause of virus-induced leaks from the police and Defense Agency. The Chief Cabinet Secretary stated in a press interview, "Unless each one bewares and takes counter measures, information leaks cannot be

NASA has announced that the Cassini spacecraft has found what seem to be geysers spewing water on the moon Enceladus. The find raises the possibility of life on other planets, as liquid water is believed to be a requirement for life. "This marks the first time that scientists have seen evidence of water in liquid form so close to the surface on another body beyond Earth," said Cassini scientist Torrence Johnson. Although life may be found on the moon, most scientists concede that if Enceladus does harbor life, it probably consists of microbes o

Jana Tylova, a 31-year-old Czech woman, came from behind to win the inaugural Sudoku world championships to become the top sudoku player in the world. Tylova works as an accountant for a construction company in the Czech city of Most, and she beat 85 players from 22 countries. A graduate student from Harvard University, Thomas Snyder, who had been leading, came in second and Wei-Ha Huang, a 30-year-old Google software engineer in California, came third. Tylova, the only woman in the top 18, finished only ninth after the first round before pas

A NASA spacecraft set to probe Mars reached orbit around the planet on Friday, joining five others currently active. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's two-year mission is expected to gather more information about Mars than all 12 previous successful missions put together. The MRO's tasks will include scouting for possible future landing sites, analyzing the planet's atmosphere, monitoring its weather, and searching for locations where there may have been water in the distant past. The US$450 million spacecraft is the most advanced probe so fa

Toronto's public utility, Toronto Hydro Telecom, will make Canada's largest city into a huge wireless hotspot. "This is both an exciting and very important initiative for the city of Toronto", said Toronto's mayor, David Miller. "It puts us on the leading edge of the telecommunications industry nationwide and globally." Toronto Hydro Telecom will offer customers free access for the first six months. After that, it will begin to charge for services. "Wi-Fi technology is the new benchmark for urban living", stated Toronto Hydro president David

__NOTOC__ The Australian foreign minister, Alexander Downer, has confirmed that Australia will not export uranium to India while it is not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The confirmation was prompted by a recently announced agreement between India and the United States involving the sale of civilian nuclear technology. "Well our policy has developed over many years, going right back to the time of the Fraser Government actually, our policy has been that we would only export uranium to countries that are signatories