Chaser The Border Collie Knows More That Your GCSE Students

CHASER the border collie can understand the names of 1,022 household items. But can he use them?

It’s taken Wofford College, South Carolina, psychologists Alliston Reid and John Pilley three years to conduct their research. They have written up their finding in the journal Behavioural Process.

Anorak

Posted: 24th, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comment

Japanese Scientists Create Singing Mouse Choir With Dog Tails

THOSE whacky Japanese scientists has bred a mouse that chips like a bird. This mean birds will have to adapt or lose a big part of their charm. In the meanwhile, Hanna Barbera cartoons Inc have a new muse.

AS for the singing mice, well, the University of Osaka formed the creature in their “Evolved Mouse Project”. Lead researcher Arikuni Uchimura says:

“Mutations are the driving force of evolution. [Mr Uchimura’s mother was small bottle nosed dolphin-earwig half-breed called Danni.] We have cross-bred the genetically modified mice for generations to see what would happen. We checked the newly born mice one by one… One day we found a mouse that was singing like a bird.”

For good measure, Dr Moreau has created “a mouse with short limbs and a tail like a dachshund“.

Anorak

Posted: 22nd, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comment

Bank Of America Wonders If Brian Moynihan Sucks

AS WIKILEAKES and Julian Assange get ready for what many believe to be a news dump on Bank of America, the bank has set about securing a good press – or at last preventing a bad one – by buying domain names. It’s just taken onweship of BrianMoynihanBlows.com, BrianTMoynihanSucks.com and BrianMoynihanSucks.com. This is because Brian Moynihan is the bank’s boss and the bank’s enemies can’t spell, use Facebook or tweet…

Spotter: Business Insider

Anorak

Posted: 22nd, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comment

Australia Introduces Airbags On The Outside Of Cars

FANTASTIC travel news from Ashes-starved Australia, from where Tim Blair reports that Sydney cyclists are to get their own traffic lights and, in a bid to prevent injuries, cars will come with airbags on the outside. Yeah, the bag will inflate just, er, before the collision.

Anorak

Posted: 22nd, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comment (1)

Wikileaks Should Wear Its iPhone Ban With Pride

APPLE has banned Wikilekas app. from it’s iPhone. The Big Corporation disapproves. Julian Assange should not worry. He should wear the ban as a badge of honour, with pride.

Trudy Muller tells the New York Times that the Wikileaks app “violated our developer guidelines. Apps must comply with all local laws and may not put an individual or group in harm’s way.”

Anorak

Posted: 21st, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comment

ITV News Attacks Nigella Lawson On Twitter

NIGELLA Lawson is “nowhere near as attractive as she thinks she is”. Not our opinion, rather that of an ITV news worker who appears to have logged into the wrong Twitter account. The message lasted only a short while before being deleted…

Anorak

Posted: 20th, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comment (1)

Woman Sues Google Over Her Knickers

THE woman from Fukuoka, Japan, is so upset that Google Street View took photos of her knickers. She is now suing Google for 600,000 yen. Says she in court:

“I was overwhelmed with anxiety that I might be the target of a sex crime. It caused me to lose my job and I had to change my residence.”

Anorak

Posted: 19th, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comment

Emma Watson Is The World’s First Moving iPad Cover Girl

EMMA Watson, the Harry Potter WILF, is  the  first person to feature on a moving magazine cover for iPad, namely the Marie Claire offering. The Daily Prophet may yet be made real:

Says Joanna Coles, editor in chief of Marie Claire, New York:

“It’s the first time that it’s been done and I’m so excited. I showed it to a couple of men in the office and they just wanted it sitting on their desk, running on a loop, because it’s just so much fun – it looks like Emma’s kind of flirting, but in a nice way.”

Anorak

Posted: 17th, December 2010 | In: Key Posts, Technology | Comment (1)

British Soldiers Issued With Massive Utility Codpieces: Photos

WHEN all else fails, make the enemy in Helmand think you have a gigantic penis and balls the size of Aunt Bessie’s Yorkshire puddings. Time to wear the combat codpiece.

The “Tier 2” device (military speak, readers) aims to protect the soldier’s genitals, especially from roadside bombs which explode upwards. It is cable in khaki, vermillion and if you order now you get fairy lights, an inbuilt vinyl record player on which to play Christmas albums, two supper woofers, a flare gun and a button than when pressed releases a flag bearing the message “BANG! BANG! BABY!”.

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Anorak

Posted: 17th, December 2010 | In: Key Posts, Technology | Comment

Word Lens Means You’re Never Alone In Wales

WORLD Lens is the iPhone app that can translate any word it’s pointed at into any language via your iPhone’s video camera. You need never get lost in rural Wales again and be sent the wrong way by a farmer looking to pass the time.

Also, look out for it being fitted to Sky Sports cameras and so making those hard to read foreign fans’ banners easier on the eye.

Anorak

Posted: 17th, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comment

America Declares Antarctica A Wikileaks Free Zone

AMERICANS in Antarctica must not read Wikileaks’s leaks. Americans elsewhere can read all about the Wikileaks leaks all over the web – or is they worked for the US military, they might be one of the 3 million people who had access to the stuff before it was leaked.

Anorak

Posted: 17th, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comments (4)

Is Gary McKinnon The Original Julian Assange?

GARY McKinnon is not Julian Assange. Up the road from Westminster, Assange and his grandstanding celebrity pals was getting mobbed by the media. On Westminster Bridge, Janis Sharp held aloft a card signed by politicians and well wishers for her son, computer hacker Gary McKinnon.

The US military and politicos want him to stand trial for hacking into top secret military computers and, allegedly, messing with files. If he is found guilty for seven charges, he could be sent down for 70 years. Mr McKinnon is 44.

Anorak

Posted: 14th, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comment

Wikileaks Is Killed: Openleaks.Org Is The Future

ALL hail Openleaks.org. It’s been set up by Wikileaks insiders unhappy with Julian Assange. They say Assange “has weakened the organization”.

As we asked in September: Has Julian Assange’s Fame Wrecked Wikileaks?

Daniel Domscheit-Berg says Wikileaks is “too much focused on one person, and one person is always much weaker than an organization“.

Will he now turn whistleblower and expose Wikileaks? Looks like it. He is publish a book called “Inside WikiLeaks: My Time at the World’s Most Dangerous Website” in Germany in January.

Anorak

Posted: 12th, December 2010 | In: Key Posts, Technology | Comment

Students Use Google Live To Avoid Kettling In London Demo

TO avoid kettling at the student demo, the cool kids have been using a Live Protest Map on Google. There is no danger of police leaning about this and using it to counter the protesters because they only see the media as a tool to get their message out. They do not do the conversation the web is so good at.

The best bit is, of course, that the students now have mobile phones with GPS, video cameras, Twitter and all the tools of control the state used to keep for itself. Frr4edom is out there – it’s carrying a big stick…

Anorak

Posted: 9th, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comment (1)

Wikileaks: 4Chan Operation: Payback Brings Down Visa.com

WIKILEAKS: Operation Payback has hit Visa. Or is it Operation Avenge Asange?

The site Visa.com is down. Now if the hackers who hits Paypal ,Mastercard and Swiss bank PostFinance can disable those credit card systems, then who can fail but be impressed?

Incidentally, Visa Europe chose today to launches it’s contactless payment system. Consider it a fail…

4chan – can they save Wikileaks?

READ: US State Department Invites Julian Assange To Speak At World Press Freedom Day 2011

Anorak

Posted: 8th, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comments (4)

Can 4Chan Save Julian Assange And Avenge The Wikileaks Founder’s Arrest?

HAVE no fear Wikileaks, the chaps from 4chan are here to support free speech and truth (and once Julian Assange has decided what that is, he’ll let you know) by distributing denial-of-service attacks against Paypal , Mastercard and Swiss bank PostFinance. All three have declined to process Wikileaks cash. They are all capitalist enterprises, and Assange, an arch capitalist, will surely be sympathetic to the market forces that influence their decisions.

On 4chan, “Coldblood” vows that any organ “bowing down to government pressure” is a legitimate target for their payback.

Anorak

Posted: 8th, December 2010 | In: Key Posts, Technology | Comment

Facebook: A Gallery Of Anti-Paedophile Cartoon Profile Picture Fails

FACEBOOK users are combating child porn, violence against children and paedophilia by using cartoon portraits on the profiles. The paedos do not stand a chance! (If it hadn’t have been for you meddling kidzzzzzzz..!) But the cartoons can backfire. Choose wisely. Avoid Hentai and priapic doodles. To help you, we’ve compiled a gallery of inappropriate cartoons not to use…

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Anorak

Posted: 7th, December 2010 | In: Key Posts, Technology | Comment

Wikileaks: PayPal Blocks Donations

WIKILEAKS takes donations. But now Paypal has blocked it:

PayPal has permanently restricted the account used by WikiLeaks due to a violation of the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy, which states that our payment service cannot be used for any activities that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity. We’ve notified the account holder of this action.

Did the Guardian make a donation to get its hands on those cables..?

Anorak

Posted: 4th, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comments (8)

Facebook: Kill Paedophiles By Changing Your Profile Picture To A Cartoon (Non Hentai)

FACEBOOK will do down paedophiles and child abusers by changing your icon to a cartoon character. (If it is already a cartoon character, change it to a different one. Best avoid Hentai comics.)

The missive doing the rounds goes:

In support of anti-child violence, change your facebook profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood. Until Monday Dec. 6, there should be no human faces on facebook, but an invasion of memories. Join the fight against CHILD ABUSE. Invite your friends to do the same.

Anorak

Posted: 3rd, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comments (12)

Video: Very cool 4D projection in St Petersburg

Yota Space is a series of events and exhibitions from some very cool artists and musicians which is sponsored by, surprisingly enough, Yota a telecoms company.

Over the next few days I’ll be in Russia trailing the 4G gear and checking out if it matches the hype. I’ll also be talking to artists like Drive Productions and onedotzero who are harnessing technology to create some amazing art.

To see what Drive are capable of here’s their main production for the show – a 4D projection mapping of the Mikhailovsky Palace in St Petersburg, Russia.

The iconic, traditional landmark museum has been transformed into a towering, real life canvas on to which the artists have created a rather stunning display. Impressive isn’t it!

Anorak

Posted: 3rd, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comment

Inside The Wikileaks Headquarters: Photos

WIKILEAKS is being broadcast from a Cold War bunker deep within Sweden’s White Mountain, Stockholm. The site is being hosted by an isp called Bahnhof. This is effectively the headquarters of Wikileaks.

Wikileaks has been under attack. It moved from Sweden’s PRQ to Amazon’s cloud services, focused on Amazon’s EU cluster in Dublin. But now Amazon has kicked Wikileaks off and the site has moved once again.

Anorak

Posted: 3rd, December 2010 | In: Key Posts, Technology | Comment (1)

Twitter Is Worth $4bn: But What Is It?

DID you know that Twitter is worth $4billion? TechCrunch says this is so. Your witty lines and links to better stuff elsewhere is worth loadsa money.

And because people aren’t fickle and looking for the next big or cool thing, Twitter will be around for ages and in a few years be worth much more than $4bn.

Private investors need to get in quick before Twitter is worth a ludicrous amount.

Anorak

Posted: 1st, December 2010 | In: Technology | Comment

Human Jukebox Broadcasts Music From His Stomach: The iPod Orifice

FREDERIK Hjelmqvist, 45, has broadcast music live from his stomach. Inside Hjelmqvist’s tummy is a device. It’s a small battery-powered machine – 1.2inches long by 0.6inches wide.

Amid the sounds of digesting food, music fans can make out Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive and the Village People’s YMCA, channelled through a stethoscope connected to an amplifier. He calls himself the “Human Jukebox”.

Says the music man:

“It was a success. We were the first in the world to do this.”

Anorak

Posted: 29th, November 2010 | In: Technology | Comment

Twitter: @theashes Is An Angry American Woman

THE Twitter page @theashes is nothing to do with cricket, or so the page owner claims.

Her profile:

• Name: Ashes
• Location: Westfield, Massachusetts

Anorak

Posted: 28th, November 2010 | In: Technology | Comment (1)

Awkward Family Photos Banished With Windows 7 Family Photo (Pictures)

FOLLOWING our news that the taking of photos is banned from a school in Hertfordshire, we spot the TV advert for the Windows 7 Family Photo – to the Cloud – feature.

Here’s the blurb:

Mom wants the perfect family portrait. But some kid (or husband) always messes it up. So… to the Cloud! Where Windows 7 and Windows Live lets her mix and match her family’s best faces until she’s able to piece together a photo she’s proud to share.

Anorak

Posted: 28th, November 2010 | In: Key Posts, Technology | Comment