Tech & Science

Oral arguments in the landmark case of MGM v. Grokster legal battle were heard before the Supreme Court of the United States March 29. In the case, 28 entertainment companies have joined together to sue StreamCast, maker of Morpheus software, and Grokster. A final ruling is expected on the case within a few months. The issue heard before the court was an appeal of prior decisions made since 2001 at the U.S. district court level and from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Both of those decisions were in favor of Grokster's right to market it

A Pakistan official admitted earlier this month that Abdul Khan, one of the country's nuclear scientists, provided centrifuges essential to high-grade nuclear fuel and weapon production to Iran. Centrifuges are used to refine Uranium fuel, a dual-use product which can be used in nuclear reactors or in nuclear weapons. The Pakistani government denied any knowledge or approval of the transfer of technology. Reportedly, Pakistan has refused to allow anyone outside the Pakistani government to interview Mr. Khan, who remains under house arrest at

A discussion group about weblogs, or blogs for short, that meets at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society last week began releasing video tutorials about how to blog using various web and software tools. Harvard University's Berkman Center hosts the blogging discussion group, which has met weekly for the past two years. After months of discussion and collaboration on the new tutorials, at Friday's evening meeting presenters showed off some of their early video tutorials, which stream recorded audio, and previously-captur

After almost a decade off the air, the science fiction television series Doctor Who returned with new episodes to BBC airwaves on Saturday night, drawing a large audience. Starring movie actor Christopher Eccleston, the ninth actor cast to play the Doctor, as the newly reincarnated Time Lord, the new series showed off a bigger budget with expensive special effects and a much darker — and sexier — tone. The new star and series got a blessing from actor Sylvester McCoy, who played the Doctor in the 1980s. "I am very envious about not being in i

NASA's comet busting spacecraft Deep Impact has moved into its cruising phase towards a rendezvous and collision with Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005. The cruising phase is the second of five phases mission planners have set for the mission. The first commissioning phase was begun soon after launch and was designed to test and calibrate the instruments on board the two-part spacecraft. All instruments have checked out except for the High Resolution Instrument (HRI). Mission controllers performed a "bake-out" or heating of the HRI to remove m

A company named Numenta was founded today by Jeff Hawkins, founder of handheld computer company palmOne, and his longtime partner Donna Dubinsky. The company is focused on the creation of technology to emulate the workings of the human brain. They are based in Menlo Park, California. Hawkins has been intrigued by the faculties of the human brain for years. In 2002, he founded the Redwood Neuroscience Institute. His theories on the working of the brain were explained in "On Intelligence: How a New Understanding of the Brain Will Lead to the C

A technology entrepreneur in northeastern Washington asked a doctor to implant an RFID chip into his hand in order to experiment with the technology. Amal Graafstra, who runs a technology company in Bellingham, WA, asked a doctor to place the chip under the skin of his left hand, and posted pictures of the procedure to the photo-sharing site, Flickr. Graafstra plans to use the chip for keyless entry to his car, home, or as a login for computer systems. Implanting RFID chips is a relatively old technology. Professor Kevin Warwick of the Univers

On Thursday, March 17, Google announced the launch of code.google.com, a new website for its open-source software (also known as "code") and APIs, for use by external developers. This launch is the first significant contribution Google has made to the open-source community. The release was announced at the end of the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego. Google's announcement comes two weeks after Yahoo announced its own Developers Program, offering access to a new collection of its APIs, at the Search Engine Strategies 2005

The trial against internet file-sharing network Kazaa in Sydney, Australia, is coming to an end, as closing arguments began today. Kazaa pleaded it could not be held responsible for the copyright infringements perpetrated by its users, as it cannot control how the software is used. The peer-to-peer distribution software and its owner, Sharman Networks Ltd. and its directors were sued by a group of Australian record labels for copyright infringements by the network's estimated 100 million members worldwide. Members of the software share music f

Environmentalist and science broadcaster David Suzuki, best known as the host of the hit TV show The Nature of Things, is taking a trip to Toronto to speak about climate change. Suzuki will be speaking about how to achieve sustainable development within one generation. The David Suzuki Foundation developed a report, "Sustainability within a Generation: A new vision for Canada", partly in response to research that found Canada ranked 28 out of 29 developed nations in environmental categories such as climate change. The report outlines an agenda

Romanian mobile telephony giant Connex, recently bought by Vodafone, announced the company is planning to introduce 3G services and video telephony. Romanian cities effected by the change are: Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timişoara, Braşov, Constanţa, Ploieşti, Craiova and Iaşi. The only 3G-enabled model currently sold by Connex is the Nokia 6630. Ken Campbell, chief marketing officer of Connex, said he expects the 3G introduction to be successful, given the Romanian interest in video telephony services. Connex's 3G technology will also provide a p

Between 10 to 15 of Bucharest's 61 Unirii Boulevard residents will be able to connect to the Internet through their power lines. Starting from May of this year, a trial was organised by Electrica Muntenia Sud, the electricity company of Bucharest and Southern Romania. The technology, known as Power Line Communications (PLC), enables the transmission of broadband Internet and fixed line telephony data through the existing electrical power network. The technology, in use by 13,000 people in 30 countries throughout the world, is considered very a