Tech Companies Set To Appeal 2012 Oracle Vs. Google Ruling
In 2012, Oracle took Google to court over Java. In the balance hung the legalities of writing code to mimic the functionality of copyrighted software. The trial was set to determine how all future software would be written (and by whom). Oracle's entire case boiled down to an inadvertent 9 lines of code; an argument over a simple ... Read More
Posted on 5 December 2013 | 7:11 am
The Status of the Fukushima Clean-Up
Ian Sample at the Guardian UK does a really thorough write-up of what's going on with the Fukushima Clean-up. From the article: 'Though delicate and painstaking, retrieving the fuel rod assemblies from the pools is not the toughest job the workers face. More challenging by far will be digging out the molten cores in the reactors ... Read More
Posted on 5 December 2013 | 4:37 am
World's Largest Ship Floated For the First Time
A ship with a hull longer than the Empire State Building is tall has been floated out of dry dock in Geoje, South Korea. Measuring 488 m (1,601 ft) long and 74 m (243 ft) wide, the hull belongs to Shell's Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility, which upon completion will be the largest floating facility ever ... Read More
Posted on 5 December 2013 | 3:04 am
China Prefers Sticking With Dying Windows XP To Upgrading
China says it wants Microsoft to extend support for Windows XP because that will help in its fight to stop proliferation of pirated Microsoft software.A state copyright official says the release of Windows 8 means a substantial increase in the selling price of a Windows operating system, especially in light of the upcoming ... Read More
Posted on 5 December 2013 | 1:59 am
Crowdfunded Afrimakers To Bring Arduinos, Raspberry Pis To African Tech Hubs
There's a chronic shortage of tech savvy teacher all over Africa, and at the same time a strong belief that the tech economy is vital to growth. Enter Afrimakers, a crowdfunded project to visit tech hubs in seven continents and leave behind Arduino boards, Raspberry Pis, soldering kits and — most importantly ... Read More
Posted on 4 December 2013 | 11:35 pm
Oldest Human DNA Contains Clues To Mysterious Species
Analysis of the oldest known genetic material ever to be recovered from an early human reveals an unexpected chapter in the story of human evolution. Researchers extracted mitochondrial DNA from the femur of a 400,000-year-old hominin found in the Sima de los Huesos ('pit of bones'), an underground cave in the Sierra de ... Read More
Posted on 4 December 2013 | 9:01 pm