French bread spiked with LSD in CIA experiment (Ed: Canadians may remember the CIA conducting experiments on people in Canada in the 50's.) - In 1951, a quiet, picturesque village in southern France was suddenly and mysteriously struck down with mass insanity and hallucinations. At least five people died, dozens were interned in asylums and hundreds afflicted. 3/12/2010 8:56:09 AM
The 5 Most Innovative New Online Business Models in 2010 One of the more interesting trends that continues to happen with surprising regularity is how frequently new business models and ways of doing business are emerging through social media and online tools. In many cases, these trends are helping to reinvent how businesses sell and consumers buy. 3/11/2010 6:37:32 AM
.XXX Domain Porn Corral "No Panacea" The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) board at its meeting Friday will consider a proposal from ICM Registry for adult sites to use the .xxx top-level domain instead of or in addition to .com. The proposal has been a hot button for years. 3/11/2010 6:27:00 AM
Stephen Harper to reach out to Canadians on YouTube Stephen Harper has befriended Canadians on Facebook and followed them on Twitter. He’s posted videos of campaign announcements and clips of public appearances on YouTube. Now he’s trying to launch a dialogue about the new federal budget on the video-sharing site. 3/11/2010 5:54:37 AM
MySpace readies site overhaul to rekindle growth With shrinking audiences, deep layoffs and two management shake-ups, MySpace, the one-time leader in Internet social networking, has had a rocky year. Mike Jones said that even within MySpace some employees have lost the will to keep fighting. 3/10/2010 6:22:53 PM
Cyber-bullying cases put heat on Google, Facebook Although Google, Facebook and their rivals have enjoyed a relatively "safe harbor" from prosecution over user-generated content in the United States and Europe, they face a public that increasingly is more inclined to blame them for cyber-bullying and other online transgressions. 3/10/2010 5:00:05 PM
Kelowna company launches national job website What should have been a simple process of hiring an employee has led two local entrepreneurs into a new opportunity which, if successful, will help thousands of people get hired. Robert Montgomery and Shaun Pilfold are the minds behind Ogopogo Media Inc. 3/10/2010 4:45:22 PM
Astronomers confirm Einstein was right An international team of astronomers has confirmed that the universe, at least within a distance of 3.5 billion light years of Earth, obeys Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. The study throws cold water on some alternative theories of gravity physicists have advanced. 3/10/2010 4:41:44 PM
Mobile that allows bosses to snoop on staff developed Researchers have produced a mobile phone that could be a boon for prying bosses wanting to keep tabs on the movements of their staff. Japanese phone giant KDDI Corporation has developed technology that tracks even the tiniest movement of the user and beams the information back to HQ. 3/10/2010 2:23:11 PM
A waste of $$$: Collider to shut down for a year The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) must close at the end of 2011 for up to a year to address design issues, according to an LHC director. Dr Steve Myers told BBC News the faults will delay the machine reaching its full potential for two years. 3/10/2010 6:56:42 AM
Workers feel pressured to check smart phones while driving: survey Despite the fact that it is illegal in much of Canada, workers are still checking their smart phones while driving, with many citing pressure from their jobs to do so. 51 per cent of workers who have smart phones - such as BlackBerrys or iPhones - said they check it while driving. 3/10/2010 6:38:22 AM
Cisco unveils faster internet gear Cisco Systems, the world's largest supplier of internet backbone equipment, is tripling the capacity of its gear, a move it is hyping as one that will change the internet forever. Cisco said the new system triples the capacity of its previous gear and can accommodate up to 322 terabits of data per second. 3/10/2010 6:20:11 AM
3-D TVs coming this week to U.S. Samsung and Panasonic will start selling 3-D TVs in U.S. stores this week, inaugurating what manufacturers hope is the era of 3-D viewing in the living room. For $3,000 (all figures US), buyers get a 46-inch set, two pairs of glasses and a 3-D Blu-ray player. 3/10/2010 6:00:28 AM
Rogers wants to put a Cell tower in B.C. Cemetary A telecommunications company wants to bring a new project to life in a B.C. cemetery. Rogers Communications Inc. has proposed to build a semi-permanent, 40-metre-high telecommunications tower in the Port Coquitlam Cemetery. 3/9/2010 9:26:46 PM
Class-action suit targets Microsoft software A British Columbia judge has certified a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft that could affect hundreds of thousands of people who have bought personal computers containing Microsoft software over the past 16 years. The PC software affected includes Windows, Word, Excel, Office, Works Suite and Home Essentials. 3/9/2010 9:21:27 PM
The Undiscovered Google: 7 Services You Need to Try For a company that's synonymous with one product--the world's most popular search engine--Google is far from a one-product company. Actually, it's a veritable idea factory, in part because it lets employees spend twenty percent of their time on pet projects. When it comes to new services, the Google philosophy is simple: When in doubt, try it out. 3/9/2010 9:00:12 PM
Shaw apologizes for fiery cable feud Cable giant Shaw Communications has apologized to an elderly Winnipeg man who says he was harassed for not paying a bill to replace an outdoor cable line that was damaged by fire. Edward Pilek, 77, had been in a heated battle with Shaw Communications since last spring. 3/9/2010 8:35:40 PM
Man Dies Pumping Gas After Static Electricity Starts Fire Authorities in Pennsylvania say a gas station patron died when static electricity ignited a fire as he filled up his tank. A gas station equipment expert says the only other fatality from a static-generated fire was in Oklahoma more than a decade ago. 3/9/2010 8:27:36 PM
Kelowna man caught using cellphone while driving busted with drugs in car A Kelowna man stopped by police Monday for talking on a cellphone while driving got into even hotter water. A search of the vehicle turned up more than seven grams of hash oil, 32 grams of hash, a small amount of pot, $1,000 in cash and drug paraphernalia. 3/9/2010 11:22:43 AM
Sony to start selling 3-D TVs in June Sony said Tuesday it will start selling 3-D televisions in June. The Japanese electronics giant, known for its PlayStation 3 game consoles and Bravia flat-screen TVs, will offer its fully capable 3-D TV model in four sizes this summer. 3/9/2010 7:04:24 AM
Get ready to replace your light bulbs For decades, lighting was a business where nothing much happened. Incandescent bulbs, invented in the horse-and-buggy age more than a century ago, were used in homes, while fluorescents, a technology of 1930s vintage, dominated in stores and offices. 3/9/2010 6:52:15 AM
Hard drive evolution could hit XP Hard drives are about to undergo one of the biggest format shifts in 30 years. By early 2011 all hard drives will use an "advanced format." The move to the advanced format will make it easier for hard drive makers to produce bigger drives that use less power and are more reliable. 3/9/2010 6:42:59 AM
Toyota With 'Stuck' Accelerator Hits 94 MPH, Driver Rescued James Sikes, whose 2008 Toyota Prius accelerated suddenly on a California interstate Monday, reaching 94 MPH before he was able to bring it under control with the help of the California Highway Patrol. "Nothing wrong with my mat, and the pedal wouldn't do anything." 3/9/2010 6:18:36 AM
Save BC Schools Website A new website launched in the West Kootenays is hoping to draw attention to school closures across the province. While the website is under a week old, Milligan adds his hope is PACs from across BC will share information and ideas. 3/9/2010 5:30:18 AM
Toyota disputes critic who blames electronics Toyota says faulty gas pedals and floor mats, not electronics, are the cause. It is fixing millions of vehicles to correct those problems. But some drivers have reported continued problems in vehicles that have already been supposedly fixed. 3/8/2010 3:00:33 PM
Four in five believe Web access a fundamental right Four in five adults believe access to the Internet is a fundamental right, and half believe it should never be regulated, according to a global survey. Of the 27,000 surveyed, more than half agreed that the "Internet should never be regulated by any level of government anywhere." 3/8/2010 2:06:07 PM
Ferguson to deploy "mothers' army" to connect women Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, announced plans on Friday to deploy an army of mothers worldwide as part of an Internet-based network to connect women in need with people ready to help. Ferguson described it as the "mothers' army initiative." 3/8/2010 1:57:44 PM
US advertisers to spend more on digital than print US companies will spend more this year on digital and online advertising and marketing than on print for the first time ever. Outsell, which provides research and advisory services to the publishing and information industries, described the spending shift as "an industry milestone crossover event." 3/8/2010 1:53:56 PM
Vineyard breakthrough wins water startup prize A Web application that alerts wine grape farmers when their vines are thirsty has won first place in a competition to spur entrepreneurs in the investment-starved water sector, organizers said. Fruition Sciences, which operates in both California and France, came first among 50 teams. 3/8/2010 1:51:31 PM
Facebook murderer to serve at least 35 years A convicted sex offender has been sentenced to life imprisonment after admitting the kidnap, rape and murder of a teenage girl. Peter Chapman, 33, must serve a minimum of 35 years in prison. Court heard he met and befriended 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall on Facebook by posing as a teenage boy. 3/8/2010 8:57:45 AM
Complete Manuscript of Albert Einstein's famous relativity theory displayed The original manuscript of Albert Einstein's groundbreaking theory of relativity, which helps explain everything from black holes to the Big Bang, went on display Sunday. Einstein's 46-page handwritten explanation of his general theory of relativity shows how gravity can bend space and time. 3/8/2010 8:50:41 AM
Quantum dots could lead to faster computers An international team of scientists has developed a new type of semiconductor that could lead to faster and more efficient computers with over double the average existing hard-drive storage capacity. The new research centres on a class of semiconductor called magnetic quantum dots 3/8/2010 8:44:43 AM
Microsoft offers first Google app Microsoft has made an application that works with Google's Android phone. Called Tag, the free software uses a handset's camera to turn it into a mobile barcode reader. It is the first application Microsoft has made for the Android operating system 3/8/2010 8:42:02 AM
Weak questions put e-mail at risk Questions used as security checks on websites need to be replaced by more complex tests to establish a person's identity, say researchers. A study has shown how easy it is to guess the answer to common questions, such as someone's mother's maiden name. "The numbers were worse than we thought," 3/8/2010 8:38:52 AM
Fake drug scam hijacks UK college websites UK academic institutions have unwittingly become the accomplices of criminals selling fake drugs online. A security firm has discovered many organisations using the .ac.uk domain are unknowingly pushing customers to websites offering the fake pills. 3/8/2010 8:36:27 AM
Google gripe shows Ottawa's cybersecurity 'vacuum' For nearly two months, Internet users in China have been waiting anxiously to find out whether the world's largest online search engine will close in their country. As ecologist Xiong Zhenqin told the journal Nature recently: "Research without Google would be like life without electricity." 3/7/2010 7:05:58 AM
DNA test 'may predict best diet' A simple DNA test may predict whether someone is more likely to lose weight on a low fat or a low carbohydrate diet The results from the small preliminary study of 101 women showed those on the best diet for their genes lost two to three times more weight than the rest. 3/7/2010 6:12:56 AM
Westside: Door unlocked on ancient era A driller was boring down into hard rock in December when he suddenly penetrated soft sediment. The unexpected discovery revealed evidence of an ancient glacier that covered the Okanagan Valley, and it changed the way scientists view the early history of the Southern Interior. 3/7/2010 5:42:23 AM
Cellphone charges while travelling can mount If you're travelling abroad and plan to use your mobile phone to download emails, watch out: international roaming fees charged by wireless firms can be expensive and difficult to predict, according to an investigation by CBC-TV's Marketplace. 3/6/2010 9:40:32 AM
Toyota secretive on 'black box' data Toyota has for years blocked access to data stored in devices similar to airline "black boxes" that could explain crashes blamed on sudden unintended acceleration, according to an Associated Press review of lawsuits nationwide and interviews with auto crash experts. 3/6/2010 4:30:49 AM
YouTube adds captions to video YouTube is making the tens of millions of videos it hosts more accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing by putting automatic captions on them. The Google-owned company said this use of speech recognition technology is probably the biggest experiment of its kind online. 3/5/2010 4:40:48 PM
Waste watchers? British trash bins being fitted with microchips, some fear garbage spies Monitored by millions of cameras and spied on by a secretive domestic intelligence network, Britons could be forgiven for feeling up in arms over the latest threat to their privacy: Intelligent garbage bins that can monitor how much they throw out. 3/5/2010 3:14:54 PM
Notebooks being overtaken by ultra-portable laptops, tablets The popularity of netbooks helped computer makers shore up their sales through the recession, but analysts suggest the market is changing again and the booming sales of these super-portable computers will be short-lived. 3/5/2010 3:09:48 PM
IPad coming to Canada in late April Apple says its iPad tablet device will be available April 3 in the U.S., and in Canada and some other countries later next month. The company said customers will get their hands on the Wi-Fi-only versions of the iPad on April 3, but the version that includes cellular 3G connectivity will come in late April. 3/5/2010 3:07:49 PM
Cure for info overload? News from friends Technology was supposed to make our lives simpler and save us time. In many ways, it's done just the opposite. Last month, we took a look at how often our gadgets let us down, and how screen-based devices are literally rewiring our brains and robbing people of focus and social skills. 3/5/2010 2:25:35 PM
FBI director warns of growing cyber threat Militant groups, foreign states and criminal organizations pose a growing threat to U.S. security as they target government and private computer networks, FBI Director Robert Mueller said on Thursday. He noted a cyberattack could have the same impact as a "well-placed bomb." 3/5/2010 1:11:06 PM
Penticton and area Science Fair winners list The following is a list of the winners in the Okanagan Skaha School District Science Fair held at KVR Middle school. All Gold winners have the chance to participate in
the Regional Science Fair at the
UBC-Okanagan in Kelowna on March 30 and 31. 3/5/2010 5:43:22 AM
Okanagan Skaha school board taking input online The Okanagan Skaha school board is taking a consultative approach to its forthcoming budget decisions: it‘s asking the public for input. Trustees believe they‘re making it as convenient as possible for people to offer suggestions for how and where cuts should be made. (Ed: Web address at bottom of story.) 3/4/2010 4:30:38 PM
Experts Agree: A Single Asteroid Killed the Dinosaurs An all-star panel of researchers says it was the crash of a giant asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs. Think you've heard that before? You're right. In 1980, Louis Alvarez and his son Walter published a paper blaming the dinosaur extinction 65 million years ago on an asteroid impact. 3/4/2010 2:59:44 PM
How much would you pay for Olympic hockey game puck? Interested in a hockey puck from the men’s Olympic gold-medal game? If so, you might want to participate in an online auction of Olympics paraphernalia (www.vancouver2010.com/auctions) that began Saturday and is expected to continue for another two or three weeks. 3/4/2010 1:12:20 PM
Chatroulette craze brings out the Web cam creeps Some creep pretending to be the Jonas Brothers asked me to show him my boobs on Chatroulette the other day. I declined, if you're wondering. The new bare-bones Internet chat program, invented by a 17-year-old whiz kid in Moscow, connects users by webcam with one random stranger after another. 3/4/2010 12:24:18 PM
Wind Mobile's Chris Robbins leaves telecom start-up Wireless upstart Wind Mobile has lost its No. 2 man not even three months into a bare-knuckle fight for market share with more established companies, leading analysts to assume that not all is well. Chris Robbins was the high-profile chief customer officer at Wind. 3/4/2010 12:08:20 PM
Astronaut to speak at Penicton's 'GetActive' series (Ed: No link, text only) - There are no borders in space! Join Astronaut Alvin Drew as he visits Penticton for this one time only presentation. Colonel Drew flew onboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in August 2007. He is currently in training to fly onboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. This mission is scheduled to be the LAST SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH EVER taking place on September 16, 2010. Do not miss this opportunity to meet Alvin and learn first-hand why humans explore space, the amazing training it takes to prepare for a mission, and what the future of human spaceflight holds.
It's at the Cleland Community Theatre Thursday, March 18th. $5. in advance, $10. at the door. 490-2426 for info. 3/4/2010 11:50:54 AM
Mind-reading computers turn heads at high-tech fair Devices allowing people to write letters or play pinball using just the power of their brains have become a major draw at the world's biggest high-tech fair. Huge crowds at the CeBIT fair gathered round a man sitting at a pinball table, wearing a cap covered in electrodes. 3/4/2010 10:02:58 AM
Electric vehicle range: What, me worry? To all those cities worrying about how they are going to get wired for electric vehicles: Fret not. "Range anxiety" may not be as acute as you think. Studies of drivers who already have electric cars are finding that they prefer the convenience of charging at home. 3/4/2010 7:15:37 AM
ConsumerMan: Tips to make passwords stronger Join a Web site and after you choose a password you’re normally asked to answer one or two challenge questions, such as your mother’s maiden name, the city where you were born or the name of your high school. Forget your password and you’ll be asked these challenge questions to verify your identity. It seems secure enough, but it really isn’t. 3/4/2010 6:00:29 AM
Canadian firm helps disable massive botnet A Canadian company has helped dismantle a massive computer-infiltration ring that infected more than 15 million computers around the world – including systems within Canadian banks and the federal government. 3/4/2010 4:52:12 AM
TiVo hopes for a lift from DVR blending 'Net, TV TiVo Inc., the pioneer of the digital video recorder, hopes its new DVRs coming out this spring will keep the company relevant in an age when broadcast and broadband will be combined in TVs.
"This is a whole new chapter in TiVo's evolution," CEO Tom Rogers said 3/3/2010 4:08:46 PM
'iShoe' aims to prevent falls Erez Lieberman-Aiden had a nagging feeling that his grandmother's death, which occurred after a hard fall, could have been prevented. Lieberman-Aiden invented a high-tech shoe insole to help older people manage their balance. 3/3/2010 3:26:29 PM
Israeli raid called off after Facebook slip Israel's military has "unfriended" one of its own — after a combat soldier potentially updated Israel's enemies on Facebook. The military said Wednesday that a planned raid on a West Bank village was called off after the soldier disclosed its details online. 3/3/2010 2:29:40 PM
Gadgets wow crowds at world's top high-tech fair Robots that teach Chinese, computers controlled by moving the eyes and flying alarm clocks were among the weird and wonderful gadgets wowing crowds Wednesday at the world's top high-tech fair. 3/3/2010 9:38:34 AM
Lap dancing teachers: Students may get punished Students who filmed two suspended teachers performing a lap dance at Churchill High School and posted the event online could face serious disciplinary action. The students appear to have violated Winnipeg School Division's zero-tolerance policies forbidding use of cellphone cameras. 3/3/2010 9:28:56 AM
Tiger inspires cheater-friendly app Accenture and Gatorade jettisoned him. Maybe the tight-knit community of love rats and international spies will pick up that slack. Tiger Woods has just inspired a new iPhone app called TigerMail. It allows users to send text messages that “dissolve” from the receiver’s phone screen within 30 seconds. 3/3/2010 6:56:15 AM
Apple suit likely a shock to Google phone maker Apple's patent lawsuit against HTC is likely coming as a shock to the Taiwanese phone maker, which holds the American company in high regard. Apple filed a lawsuit against HTC that claims the company has violated 20 of its patents. 3/3/2010 6:10:25 AM
Penticton area Students push science frontiers Everywhere you look, something different is going on. Kids waxing skis, hooking lemons up to voltmeters, working on remote control cars and wooden automatons or double-checking their research on the effects of electromagnetic radiation from cell phones. 3/3/2010 5:24:56 AM
B.C. girl implicated in online shooting plot A Port Alberni girl hailed as a hero for thwarting a possible school shooting in the U.S. after learning about it on the internet is now considered by police in the U.S. to be a suspect. The girl's parents reported the alleged plot to the RCMP Friday after checking the girl's email and Facebook account. 3/3/2010 4:36:18 AM
Spain busts hackers for infecting 13 million PCs Spanish police have shut down a ring of computer hackers who infected more than 13 million PCs with a virus that stole credit card numbers and other valuable data in what may be the biggest cyber raid to date. 3/2/2010 5:40:53 PM
Did the discovery of cooking make us human? Cooking is something we all take for granted but a new theory suggests that if we had not learned to cook food, not only would we still look like chimps but, like them, we would also be compelled to spend most of the day chewing. 3/2/2010 3:44:56 PM
U.S. Internet companies urged to protect Web's freedom of expression "If it were not for the Internet, God knows how many more people would have been killed on the streets of Tehran" after the 2009 Iranian elections, an Iranian blogger told a Senate subcommittee Tuesday. Omid Memarian, who said he was imprisoned and tortured by the Iranian regime for his pro-democracy Internet writings, was the star witness. 3/2/2010 3:20:04 PM
Pacific Northwest at risk for mega earthquake The disaster in Chile has brought new attention to an undersea fault along the Pacific Northwest capable of producing the same type of mega earthquake and inflicting heavy damage on bustling cities like Seattle, Portland and Vancouver. 3/2/2010 2:06:23 PM
Chile quake may have shortened day The 8.8-magnitude Chilean earthquake released so much energy that it may have slightly shortened the length of the Earth's day, a NASA scientist says. The change in the length of the day came as a result of the shift in the Earth's axis that occurred because of the quake. 3/2/2010 1:09:28 PM
Ice deposits found at Moon's pole A radar experiment aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar spacecraft has identified thick deposits of water-ice near the Moon's north pole. The US space agency's (Nasa) Mini-Sar experiment found more than 40 small craters containing water-ice. 3/2/2010 5:24:11 AM
PlayStation 3 clock bug 'fixed' Sony has said that a millennium-style bug that prevented thousands of PlayStation 3 owners from using its online games network has been resolved. The firm said that the fault had been caused by machines that had "recognised the year 2010 as a leap year". 3/2/2010 5:17:36 AM
Facebook chat prompts school shooting investigation RCMP officials said the parents of a 14-year-old Port Alberni girl contacted them on Friday about a Facebook chat their daughter had with a 17-year-old boy in Brewster, Wash. In that chat, the boy allegedly talked about his intention to go to a school and shoot people. 3/1/2010 5:15:01 PM
Too sexy for Apple? Daisy Mae suddenly vanished without a trace last Friday, leaving a concerned Hong-Yee Wong searching in vain for an explanation for her disappearance. Then, on Monday she was back. Why she disappeared, where she went and what caused her to be returned are questions only Apple Inc. can answer. 3/1/2010 4:40:00 PM
PlayStation 3 hit by Y2K-like bug Sony Corp. said a glitch has knocked PlayStation 3 users off the game console's online network and the company warned that data loss could occur if gamers continued using the machines. Sony said in a blog post Monday that the problem was likely caused by a bug in the clock functionality. 3/1/2010 3:36:36 PM
Liberalism, atheism, male sexual exclusivity linked to IQ Political, religious and sexual behaviors may be reflections of intelligence, a new study finds. People who identified as liberal and atheist had higher IQs. This applied also to sexual exclusivity in men, but not in women. 3/1/2010 3:00:25 PM
One in four Germans wants microchip under skin: poll It sounds like something from a sci-fi film, but one in four Germans would be happy to have a microchip implanted in their body if they derived concrete benefits from it, a poll Monday showed. The results appeared to surprise even the high-tech sector. 3/1/2010 2:41:12 PM
Microsoft lobs angry volley at Google The broadside comes days after a Microsoft-owned business, along with two other small online companies, complained to European Union regulators about Google's operations there. Microsoft is also fighting a plan by Google to digitize millions of books. 3/1/2010 8:52:13 AM
Flying hovercraft takes to the skies (Video) A New Zealand mechanic has created a machine that can be used on land, on water and in the air. The W.I.G. or "wing in ground effective vehicle" rides like a normal hovercraft but once it reaches a speed of 70km/h, it becomes airborne. 3/1/2010 8:15:43 AM
Westbank: Ancient land surfaces at construction site One of the most fascinating and significant geologic features in the province has been uncovered during construction of the multi-million dollar Westside Road interchange project. In fact, it could be one of the oldest undisturbed soil deposits found yet in Canada, says geologist Murray Roed. 3/1/2010 5:59:27 AM
Wind offering credits to break cell contracts Wind Mobile, fresh off launching service in Edmonton this week, is cranking up the heat on established cellphone providers. Wind said it would offer new customers $150 if they cancel an existing contract with Bell, Rogers, Telus or any of those companies' discount brands. 3/1/2010 5:54:08 AM
Large Hadron Collider restarts for new science Operators of the world's largest atom smasher restarted their massive machine Sunday in a run up to experiments probing secrets of the universe, a spokeswoman said. CERN plans to ramp up the energy of the beams to unprecedented levels and start record-setting collisions of protons by late March. 3/1/2010 5:50:35 AM
Girls, read my text: `Your driving is getting worse' Allstate Insurance recently released the results of an independent study conducted in the United States. Long vilified as dangerous demons on the road, boys are actually getting better in some regards, and it's the girls who are getting worse. And I don't have to tell you the biggest game-changer, do I? Cellphones and texting. 2/28/2010 2:46:36 PM
Video game sex that's sexy, not sophomoric I was having a hard time deciding who I wanted to jump into the sack with more — the green-skinned lizard-man assassin with the sexy voice or the battle-scarred space warrior with a face like a steel-plated grasshopper. 2/28/2010 2:42:33 PM
Toyota Woes Highlight Hi-Tech Car Pitfalls Investigations into whatever is lurking behind Toyota's crisis of quality have put a spotlight on all that can go wrong with auto electronics. A picture is emerging that shows the automobile industry's technology is racing ahead of quality-control testing and regulators. 2/28/2010 7:31:47 AM
Social Media Messages Telling Too Much? Your Twitter messages may just be 140 characters, but they can tell the world a lot about you. As "Early Show" National Correspondent Hattie Kauffman reported Friday, telling friends your every move on social networks could be dangerous. 2/28/2010 6:01:15 AM
Ocean robot 'plans experiments' Scientists in the US are using an underwater vehicle that can "plan its own experiments" on the seafloor. The "Gulper AUV" is programmed to look for the information that scientists want and plan its own route, avoiding hazardous currents and obstacles. 2/28/2010 5:51:52 AM
Old mice run faster with supplements (Video) Researchers at McMaster University have developed a cocktail of ingredients that forestalls major aspects of the aging process in mice. Generally, aging diminishes the mind and physical capacity. A cocktail of 30 dietary supplements such as B vitamins, vitamin D, ginseng and garlic counteracts symptoms of aging. 2/27/2010 5:55:45 AM
Highrises brush air-safety ceiling Federal airport height limits that affect much of Penticton‘s urban
areas have come to the attention of the city. Structures in these areas are limited to a height of 1,264 feet above sea level. Mayor Dan Ashton said it‘s premature to suggest that any projects are in jeopardy. 2/27/2010 5:33:21 AM
Tiny ear listens to hidden worlds A micro-ear could soon help scientists eavesdrop on tiny events just like microscopes make them visible. Initially, researchers will use it to snoop on cells as they go about their daily business. 2/26/2010 12:28:44 PM
Mammoth iceberg may alter ocean circulation: Study An iceberg the size of Luxembourg knocked loose from the Antarctic continent earlier this month could disrupt the ocean currents driving weather patterns around the globe, researchers said Thursday. Some 400 metres thick, the iceberg could fill Sydney Harbour more than 100 times over. 2/26/2010 5:58:01 AM
Solar-powered boat prepares to conquer world The biggest boat to be powered by solar energy, right, has been displayed in Germany before it begins preparations to circumnavigate the globe. The 31m (100ft) by 15m catamaran, PlanetSolar, has been developed to be silent and clean, its Swiss-based maker said. 2/25/2010 3:33:42 PM
Facebook briefly pulls down Norwegian pants Not to worry, curling fans — they were back up after a 2˝-hour scare. A Facebook page dedicated to the funky, diamond-print pants worn by the Olympic men's curlers was mistakenly taken down Wednesday, making it temporarily inaccessible to its 435,000 followers. 2/25/2010 1:57:34 PM
Migration to New World may have come through High Arctic Two U.S. scientists have published a radical new theory about when, where and how humans migrated to the New World, arguing that the peopling of the Americas may have begun via Canada's High Arctic islands and the Northwest Passage — much farther north and 10,000 years earlier than generally believed. 2/25/2010 1:28:53 PM
Heading out? New website lets everyone know it As more people reveal their whereabouts on social networks, a new site has sprung up to remind you that letting everyone know where you are - and, by extension, where you're not - could leave you vulnerable to those with less-than-friendly intentions. The site's name says it all: Please Rob Me. 2/25/2010 10:25:36 AM
Microsoft wins court approval to topple botnet: report Software giant Microsoft Corp has won a U.S. court approval to deactivate a global network of computers that the company accused of spreading spam and harmful computer codes. Microsoft now can deactivate 277 Internet domains, which the software maker said are linked to a botnet. 2/25/2010 10:17:45 AM
iTunes sells 10 billionth song Apple's iTunes Store hit a landmark on Wednesday with the download of its 10 billionth song. A counter on the company's home page hit the 10 billion mark at 4:43 p.m. ET -- approximately 6 years and 10 months since the store first opened in the U.S. 2/25/2010 10:13:04 AM
Losing Google would hit Chinese science hard More than three-quarters of scientists in China use the search engine Google as a primary research tool and say their work would be significantly hampered if they were to lose it, a survey showed. "Research without Google would be like life without electricity," one Chinese scientist said. 2/25/2010 6:47:06 AM
‘Millennials’ an always on, texting generation They bring their cell phones to bed with them. They admit to texting while driving. They're almost certain to have a profile on social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook or Twitter. You likely already know them, but in case you don't, meet a majority of the "Millennials," the generation born after 1980. 2/25/2010 5:36:45 AM
Robots for the home: Just Like Mombot Used to Make IN an empty fluorescent-lighted hallway on the second floor of Smith Hall here at Carnegie Mellon University, Prof. Paul Rybski and a pair of graduate students showed off their most advanced creation. “Hello, I’m the Snackbot,” it said in a voice not unlike that of HAL 9000, from “2001: A Space Odyssey.” 2/24/2010 7:14:26 PM
Apple to Replace Bad Hard Drives The computer company, while not formally issuing a recall, says it will replace for free “a very small percentage” of hard drives that are prone to failure in some MacBook laptops sold from May 2006 to December 2007. 2/24/2010 7:09:31 PM
Water-Cooler Effect: Internet Can Be TV’s Friend U.S. - Remember when the Internet was supposed to kill off television? That hasn’t been the case lately, judging by the record television ratings for big-ticket events. The Vancouver Olympics are shaping up to be the most-watched foreign Winter Games since 1994. 2/24/2010 7:05:58 PM
Latvian 'Robin Hood' hacker leaks bank details to TV An alleged hacker has been hailed as a latter-day Robin Hood for leaking data about the finances of banks and state-owned firms to Latvian TV. Using the alias "Neo" - a reference to The Matrix films - the hacker claims he wants to expose those cashing in on the recession in Latvia. 2/24/2010 5:52:24 PM
Trains and buses steal gold for Vancouver Vancouver's driverless trains have been steady winners at the Winter Olympics during which passengers have poured on to a transit system that has stretched way beyond expected capacity but not snapped. Vancouver's Translink local transit system says usage has averaged 1.6 million people a day over the Games so far. 2/24/2010 4:04:00 PM
We overpay for slow, old Internet: Study “Though it was among the first nations in the world to provide widespread, retail broadband service, Canada’s recent development has lagged behind other nations,” a 333-page Harvard University study says. Canada “is even weaker in 3G wireless service than fixed broadband." 2/24/2010 1:27:18 PM
Cannibal star is devouring a planet: Astronomers Like the Roman god Saturn who ate his own children, a star 600 light years from Earth is slowly gobbling up one of its own planets, according to a study in Nature. So close is its orbit that the gravitational tug of the star has helped to squeeze the planet into the form of an American football. 2/24/2010 10:37:06 AM
Madonna iPhone app cool - and free Within the past year, there's been a slew of them: Diddy's app lets you know where he likes to eat; rapper Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em's app lets the user remix his songs; T-Pain's gives the gift of Auto-Tune and Britney Spears’s “It’s Britney!” app blurts out an expletive when you shake it. 2/24/2010 8:02:01 AM
Google bosses convicted in Italy An Italian court has convicted three Google executives in a trial over a video showing an autistic teenager being bullied. The Google employees were accused of breaking Italian law by allowing the video to be posted online. 2/24/2010 6:28:34 AM
Winnipeg teachers sent home after 'lap dance' goes viral (Video) A pair of Winnipeg teachers engaging in risque business set off a media riot after a video of a simulated lap dance from a school event went viral. The video shows students giggling, gasping and screaming as a female teacher receives a strip club-style lap dance from a male teacher. (Ed: Example pictured.)
2/24/2010 5:55:18 AM
Olympic viewing figures soar in digital revolution Half the global population is expected to tune into the Winter Olympics with coverage worldwide due to exceed 50,000 hours amid the explosion of digital media. "97.8 percent of Canadians have experienced these Games on one of our multiple platforms, which is astonishing, and the ratings continue to soar beyond our expectation." 2/23/2010 3:58:27 PM
Webcams Spying: It's More than Software The Webcam spy case in the Lower Merion School District near Philadelphia has raised concern as to whether others with Webcams are vulnerable to remote spying. The school district admitted to activating the Webcams 42 times during a 14-month period, claiming that it did so only to track lost or stolen laptops. 2/23/2010 9:12:13 AM
Hugo Chavez unveils 'world's cheapest mobile' El Vergatario VENEZUELA is to start selling in May a mobile phone it is billing as one of the world's cheapest: at $14 US. President Hugo Chavez unveiled the phone - named "El Vergatario" - today, saying it would be produced by a joint Venezuelan-Chinese firm and marketed across Latin America and the Caribbean. 2/23/2010 8:19:57 AM
Three 'science fiction' films that would make Einstein blush An American physicist is calling for Hollywood producers to tone down the fanciful science in movies - and restrict themselves to just one scientific flaw per film. But which are the worst offenders when it comes to bad science films? 2/23/2010 7:38:54 AM
The Boneyard: world's 'biggest' plane cemetery up close Dubbed The Boneyard, but officially 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) facility, this sprawling US airbase is reputed to be the world's largest military aircraft cemetery. 4,000 retired aircraft, including nearly every plane the US armed forces have flown since World War II. 2/23/2010 7:31:22 AM
Anger as Apple purges adult apps Developers have expressed anger at Apple's decision to ban some adult-themed applications from its iPhone. Thousands of apps with adult-themed content have been removed from the store since Friday although some, such as one from Playboy, remain. 2/23/2010 7:28:21 AM
Under world's greatest cities, deadly plates Megacities are something new on the planet. Earthquakes are something very old. The two are a lethal combination, as seen in the recent tragedy in Port-au-Prince, where more than 200,000 people perished — a catastrophe that scientists say is certain to be repeated somewhere, and probably soon. 2/23/2010 6:01:03 AM
Canadian internet slow, expensive: Harvard A new report from Harvard University says that contrary to what the CRTC states, Canada has some of the slowest and most expensive internet access in the developed world. "Our...study...locates all of the Canadian companies but one in the cluster with the slowest speeds and highest prices," said the report. 2/22/2010 4:07:29 PM
Iran to build nuke facilities ‘inside mountains’ Iran said Monday it plans to build two new uranium enrichment facilities deep inside mountains to protect them from attack, a new challenge to Western powers trying to curb Tehran's nuclear program for fear it is aimed at making weapons. 2/22/2010 2:36:38 PM
The Bloom Box: An Energy Breakthrough? (Video) In the world of energy, the Holy Grail is a power source that's inexpensive and clean, with no emissions. Well over 100 start-ups in Silicon Valley are working on it, and one of them, Bloom Energy, is about to make public its invention: a little power plant-in-a-box they want to put literally in your backyard. 2/22/2010 8:34:29 AM
Google launches Streetview for Osoyoos Google’s Street View feature is now available for Osoyoos and web surfers can take a trip through the community while sitting in front of their computer. The search engine giant launched the Osoyoos street view feature overnight on Feb. 8.
Using Google Earth. (Ed: Story includes link.) 2/22/2010 7:51:21 AM
Centre of Excellence story goes to a global audience Okanagan College is taking the construction of the new Centre of Excellence at the Penticton campus to a worldwide audience. Dean, Donna Lomas, enthused about the addition of web cam to the Centre of Excellence website, allowing anyone to log in and follow the construction of the unique building. 2/22/2010 6:35:51 AM
IOC orders blogger to remove video The International Olympic Committee has ordered a P.E.I. blogger to remove a video of the death of a Georgian luger from his website. Stephen Pate, publisher of the online site NJN Network, published the video along with commentary about the death, and the IOC has since ordered him in an email to take it down. 2/22/2010 6:33:24 AM
Space shuttle Endeavour lands in Florida (Video) The space shuttle Endeavour has landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, following its latest visit to the International Space Station (ISS). The two-week mission saw the virtual completion of the ISS. The six-member crew of Endeavour installed the Tranquility Node. 2/22/2010 6:19:07 AM
Three ways to track your lost smartphone You’ve lost your most prized possession: your mobile device. Don’t write it off just yet. We explain what to do when your cellphone goes missing.
1. Track it down digitally....Install iHound on your iPhone so you can keep tabs on it if it’s lost. If you’re a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile device user, try GadgetTrak. 2/22/2010 6:05:26 AM
Peru poison frog reveals secret of monogamy The first monogamous amphibian has been discovered living in the rainforest of South America. Genetic tests have revealed that male and females of one species of Peruvian poison frog remain utterly faithful. "These frogs are truly devoted to their offspring, and to each other," says Dr Brown. 2/22/2010 5:57:34 AM
'Mountains' of e-waste threaten developing world Urgent action is needed to tackle the "mountains" of e-waste building up in developing nations, says a UN report. Huge amounts of old computers and discarded electronic goods are piling up in countries such as China, India and some Africa nations, it said. 2/22/2010 5:48:04 AM
US 'closes in on Google hackers' Investigators say they are closing in on the source of the cyber attacks that hit a number of US companies, including Google, according to reports. The Financial Times suggests that US officials have tracked the author of the code used to attack the company. 2/22/2010 5:46:41 AM
Documents: Toyota boasted saving $100M on recall Toyota officials claimed they saved the company $100 million by successfully negotiating with the government on a limited recall of floor mats in some Toyota and Lexus vehicles, according to new documents shared with congressional investigators. 2/21/2010 2:50:23 PM
Facebook users complain of glitches A problem with a single Facebookserver was responsible for glitches across the network that shut some users out and made it impossible for others to access some of the site’s features on Saturday morning. Some users were unable to log in, while others couldn’t post anything to each others’ profiles or upload photos. 2/20/2010 5:54:06 PM
Once more into the breach of online comments When the words “COMMENT REMOVED” started popping up on websites carrying stories about a lack of French at the Olympics, Keith Bilous' employees were hard at work. ICUC Moderation Services, which manages comment at globeandmail.com, were busy last week after the Olympian French flap. 2/20/2010 10:19:03 AM
U.S. school used webcams to spy on students A suburban Philadelphia school district used the webcams in school-issued laptops to spy on students at home, potentially catching them and their families in compromising situations. The school district can activate the webcams without students' knowledge or permission, the suit said. 2/20/2010 8:08:43 AM
Yahoo, Microsoft get government go-ahead to team up U.S. and European regulators have cleared the long-discussed Internet search partnership between Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., enabling the rivals to form a tag team challenge to Google Inc. The government approvals anointed an alliance that Microsoft and Yahoo proposed nearly seven months ago. 2/20/2010 5:26:43 AM
Internet making our brains different, not dumb A decade from now, Google won't make us "stupid," the Internet may make us more literate in a different kind of way and efforts to protect individual anonymity will be even more difficult to achieve, according to many of the experts surveyed for a look at "The Future of the Internet" in 2020. 2/19/2010 6:46:15 PM
2 China Schools Said to Be Tied to Online Attacks A series of online attacks on Google and dozens of other American corporations have been traced to computers at two educational institutions in China, including one with 'close ties' to the Chinese military, say people involved in the investigation. 2/19/2010 6:33:45 PM
Ocean Census discovers 5,000 marine species A preview of the Census of Marine Life has revealed that the project has discovered over 5,000 new species. These include bizarre and colourful creatures, as well as many organisms that produce therapeutic chemicals. The final report from the decade-long census will be released in October. 2/19/2010 5:34:54 AM
US school accused of web spying Parents in the US have accused a school of spying on children by remotely activating webcams on laptops. A couple from Pennsylvania have filed a lawsuit against a school district which gave laptops to its high school pupils. The school district gave the laptops to all 1,800 students. 2/19/2010 5:31:35 AM
Hibernating bear stars on webcam People around the world can now go online to peek inside the den of a rare kermode bear in British Columbia while the animal hibernates. A couple from the community of Rosswood installed the webcam after they discovered the den while hiking early last year. 2/19/2010 4:56:27 AM
NASA shows first WISE telescope images NASA released the first pictures from the WISE infrared space telescope Wednesday, including a new view of our closest galactic neighbour. The new images include a shot of the Andromeda galaxy and its smaller satellite galaxies, and cloud of dust and gas teeming with newly born stars. 2/18/2010 9:51:39 PM
Shaw tests ultra-fast internet speeds Cable provider Shaw Communications says it is testing ultra-fast broadband, with potential download speeds up to one gigabit per second. That speed is 10 times faster than the highest-end connections now available and more than 100 times faster than what many Canadians have. 2/18/2010 9:44:21 PM
Okanagan Regional Library updates website Expectations are that a new and improved design will draw even more online traffic to the Okanagan Regional Library‘s website. The site saw a 29 per cent rise in visitors last year, to 1.2 million hits. “This website has been in development for a year, and includes improvements." 2/18/2010 4:45:52 PM
African gene trawl may provide secrets to long life A genetic peek deep into the heart of Africa confirms that Africans have more genetic diversity than Europeans or Asians and provides insights into how to live a long life despite disease and famine. Researchers sequenced the complete genomes of five southern Africans over the age of 80. 2/18/2010 5:43:23 AM
PleaseRobMe website reveals dangers of social networks A website called PleaseRobMe claims to reveal the location of empty homes based on what people post online. The Dutch developers told BBC News the site was designed to prove a point about the dangers of sharing precise location information on the internet. 2/18/2010 4:46:09 AM
Shutters open at space station's new lookout In a highly anticipated grand finale to their mission, astronauts opened the shutters on the International Space Station's new observation deck Wednesday and were humbled by "absolutely spectacular" views of Earth from inside the elaborate atrium of windows. 2/17/2010 11:23:13 AM
Facebook launch 'Zero' for mobile phones (Video) The world's biggest social network has revealed details of a stripped-down, text-only version of its mobile site called Facebook Zero. The low-bandwidth site is aimed at people viewing Facebook on their mobile and will launch "in the coming weeks". 2/17/2010 6:25:14 AM
Telus says phone scam is targeting Olympic visitors Telus says Olympic visitors are being duped in a pay phone scam that is targeting key tourist hubs. A technician discovered stickers advertising a 1-866 international calling number posted on their phones around the airport Monday night. 2/17/2010 5:52:13 AM
Physicists create highest-ever lab temperature Physicists in the U.S. have achieved the highest temperature ever reached in a lab — four trillion C — hot enough to melt protons and neutrons into a "soup." The researchers are trying to recreate the conditions of the early universe. 2/17/2010 5:19:47 AM
Privacy commissioner reviewing Google Buzz Concerns around Google's recently unveiled Buzz feature are deepening with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada looking into the social-networking tool. Valerie Lawton, a spokeswoman for the privacy office, said the office is looking into concerns about Buzz. 2/17/2010 5:03:17 AM
Microsoft replays Zune design for phone comeback Apple rocked the wireless business by combining the functions of a phone and an iPod. Microsoft has its comeback: phone software that works a lot like its own Zune media player. The software, unveiled Monday at the Mobile World Congress, is a dramatic change from previous generations. 2/16/2010 12:28:56 PM
40 percent in US lack home broadband Roughly 40 percent of Americans do not have high-speed Internet access at home, according to new Commerce Department figures that underscore the challenges facing policymakers who are trying to bring affordable broadband connections to all Americans. 2/16/2010 12:25:40 PM
King Tut felled by malaria and broken leg Egypt's famed King Tutankhamun suffered from a cleft palate and club foot, likely forcing him to walk with a cane, and died from complications from a broken leg exacerbated by malaria, according to the most extensive study ever of his mummy. 2/16/2010 12:05:41 PM
Google admits Buzz testing flaws Google has admitted to BBC News that testing of its controversial social network Buzz was insufficient. The firm has had to make a series of changes to the service after a ferocious backlash from users concerned about intrusions of privacy. 2/16/2010 6:00:00 AM
Astronauts move old space station docking port Astronauts did some rearranging at the International Space Station for the second night in a row Monday, moving an old docking adapter into a new position. A pair of spacemen used the station's hefty robot arm to remove the 10-year-old adapter from the space station and transfer it to a port at the new room, Tranquility. 2/16/2010 5:53:51 AM
Repeat viewing of crash dubbed death porn No easy decision for news directors to air graphic footage of fatal luge training run armchair Olympian. There ultimately should be only one guiding principle over the decision to air the video of the late Nodar Kumaritashvili that remains responsible for the sombre feel to the opening few days of the Olympics. 2/16/2010 5:13:27 AM
World needs a reboot: TED Nobel laureates, technology titans, artists, scientists, and academics spent five days here grappling with how best to reboot the world. The annual TED gathering was a thought-sparking swirl of perspectives, revelations, and creative presentations delivered by vaunted personalities in an 18-minute punch. 2/15/2010 6:10:22 PM
ISPs fall short on Net neutrality rules Canada's ISPs have had ample time to comply with the new requirements. Yet, a review of the policies from the biggest ISPs – including Bell Canada, Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc., Telus, Cogeco Inc. and Groupe Vidéotron – reveals a decidedly mixed bag. 2/15/2010 5:23:59 PM
Google Buzz reveals who you've been talking to The internet giant last week rolled out a new product called Buzz designed to introduce features similar to social networks like Facebook to its email service Gmail. But in doing so it automatically made public its users' most frequently talked-to contacts, leading to an avalanche of privacy complaints 2/15/2010 10:43:04 AM
Oak Bay emergency services heed Toyota recall Oak Bay police and fire chiefs need to be able to take off in a hurry in department vehicles. So when Toyota Canada issued a recall for certain hybrid vehicles, Gerry Adam drove the department's 2008 Toyota Camry hybrid to the dealer. "But as soon as the mechanic saw the car pull up, he waved us away," Adam said. 2/15/2010 7:20:16 AM
B.C. man on internet tips police to shooting plot A man in Port Alberni, B.C., playing a video game over the internet may have helped stop a school shooting in Texas. The man playing an Xbox game Feb. 4 that included live audio from other players when he heard one team member begin talking about plans to take part in a school shooting the next day. 2/15/2010 6:05:34 AM
Mobile firms unite to offer applications The app market is currently a lucrative business for mobile firms. Apple currently dominates the app market, with more than 3 billion downloaded from its app store in 18 months. Blackberry, Google, Nokia, Symbian and Microsoft all offer their own app stores. 2/15/2010 6:02:09 AM
'Net Viral: Naked guy. Click. Naked guy. The first thing to know about Chatroulette – the latest gonzo fixation to sweep the Web – is that it's not safe for work. It's not safe for children; it's not safe for the squeamish; it's not safe for any purpose. It contains people. Chatroulette is a website that does one thing: It connects users to live video chats with complete strangers. 2/15/2010 5:49:48 AM
BMW Oracle easily wins 33rd America’s Cup U.S. challengers BMW Oracle won the 33rd America’s Cup on Sunday, beating Swiss holders Alinghi in the second race to claim the best-of-three series 2-0 in a triumph of superior design and technology. The American boat hit speeds of up to 33 knots, incredibly more than four times the speed of the wind. 2/14/2010 2:39:28 PM
New search engine aims to go where Google can't Borislav Agapiev has $50,000 in computer hardware, 25 engineers in his native Serbia and a firm belief that millions of people will lend him their computers and privacy for the purpose of searching the web. That's enough to take on Google. 2/14/2010 1:34:33 PM
4chan founder: Anonymous speech is 'endangered' I just met one of the Internet's most mysterious people: Christopher Poole, the founder of the site 4chan. Online he goes by "moot." Poole's image-board site, which he started at age 15, is known as one of the seedier dens of the Internet. Many posts on 4chan are pornographic. All are anonymous. 2/14/2010 8:07:31 AM
Plans unveiled for world's largest yacht Barely out of a global economic meltdown, the world's remaining billionaires have been presented with the largest and most extravagant superyacht yet. The floating palace has been designed at a whopping 656 feet end-to-end. 2/14/2010 8:02:22 AM
Bill Gates: We need global 'energy miracles' Microsoft Corp. founder and philanthropist Bill Gates on Friday called on the world's tech community to find a way to turn spent nuclear fuel into cheap, clean energy. "What we're going to have to do at a global scale is create a new system," Gates said. 2/14/2010 6:29:37 AM
Dot-com crash losers become winners again A decade ago next month, the so-called dot-com mania crested, soon followed by a widespread collapse across the entire high-tech sector. When the panic selling was over, some $8 trillion (U.S.) in stock-market value had been wiped out. Hundreds of tech start-ups disappeared. 2/14/2010 5:20:47 AM
Did the earth move for you, too? That slight shaking in the valley ground Friday night wasn‘t connected to the start of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. According to Natural Resources Canada, an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.3 occurred 14 kilometres northwest of Summerland at 7:42 p.m. 2/14/2010 4:06:56 AM
More Google Buzz tweaks, separate version coming? In response to the angry missive directed Google's way Thursday by blogger Harriet Jacobs, Google has made additional changes to the way Buzz interacts with Google Reader. Google Reader users can still share items on a private basis that their new Buzz-linked followers won't see. 2/13/2010 9:15:36 AM
Laser weapon knocks down missile in test A high-powered laser destroyed a target missile in flight off the Central California coast in a milestone test of a futuristic but troubled national defense system, the Air Force announced Friday. A laser weapon mounted on a Boeing jumbo jet tracked the missile as it accelerated over the ocean. 2/13/2010 6:22:52 AM
Bell offering ŕ la carte TV in Quebec Bell Canada on Friday announced new options that will allow television customers to subscribe to individual channels, rather than bundles that include unwanted channels. Customers must first take a basic $25 package that includes standard channels such as Global, CTV, CityTV and CBC, and can then choose. 2/13/2010 5:39:55 AM
Gillette's New Razor: No New Blades! A redesign of Gillette's Fusion razor, the nation's best seller, is coming and - before you ask - it doesn't have any extra blades. The company plans to have the Fusion ProGlide on store shelves in June. It's the first new shaver Gillette has developed since Procter & Gamble Co. took it over in 2005. 2/12/2010 9:48:56 AM
Shaw Communications to buy control of Canwest The company that owns Shaw Cable and the StarChoice satellite TV service has arranged to buy control of the restructuring Canwest Global Communications Corp. newspaper and TV company. 2/12/2010 6:35:32 AM
Don’t let tech ruin your Valentine’s Day Valentine's Day, or more properly St. Valentine's Day if you please, was invented a bazillion years ago by Catholics, not Hallmark. It wasn't fully conceived in its modern form with all the heart-shaped letters, and an economy of chocolates and diamonds for nooky and/or forgiveness. No, we can thank the French. 2/12/2010 6:18:29 AM
Scientists Decipher How Brain Handles Silence Scientists know a lot about how the ear and brain interprets sound; now they know it uses different mechanisms in times of silence. U.S. researchers say they've spotted mechanisms used by the brain to switch off sound processing at key moments. 2/12/2010 5:28:17 AM
CRTC struggling to rein in rising phone, TV prices Phone services were deregulated in 2006 after an order from the federal government. Then Industry Minister Maxime Bernier said that by allowing phone companies such as Bell and Telus to set their own prices, consumers would benefit from more choice and flexibility. 2/12/2010 5:01:58 AM
Spacewalking astronauts install room with a view Astronauts put the last big addition on the International Space Station early Friday, attaching a new room with an enormous bay window that promises to provide unprecedented panoramic views of Earth. The room, named Tranquility, was hoisted into place by the station's Canadarm 2 robotic arm. 2/12/2010 4:50:57 AM
Hybrid hysteria catches up to Ferrari During the official unveiling of the 2010 Ferrari F10 Formula 1 racing car in Valencia, Spain, Ferrari CEO Luca di Montezemolo announced that the Italian automaker will debut its first hybrid, an iteration of the 599 GTB Fioranao, at the Geneva auto show next month. 2/11/2010 5:36:32 PM
Bing gains search market share for eighth month in a row Microsoft's new Internet search engine Bing slightly increased its share of the U.S. search market in January, the eighth month in a row of modest gains, online tracking firm comScore said Wednesday. Bing's share of the U.S. search market rose to 11.3 per cent in January from 10.7 per cent in December. 2/11/2010 4:50:06 PM
B.C. auditor general sounds computer security alarm The B.C. government is trying to reassure British Columbians their health information is safe following an auditor general's report that found serious weaknesses in security at the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. There was a high risk of online interlopers being able to access information. 2/11/2010 4:31:58 PM
NASA Studying New Shuttle Problems NASA was assessing a cracked thermal tile and protruding ceramic ring Wednesday on the space shuttle Endeavour - two new problems that don't appear serious but warrant extra attention. "Initially, it doesn't look like we're going to be very concerned about them," said mission management team leader LeRoy Cain. 2/11/2010 4:23:52 PM
New online annoyance: the 'elationship' When it comes to online dating, we’ve come to expect deception, the posting of decades-old pictures and blatant lies about marital status, height, hair (or lack thereof). We’ve learned to deal with people who dematerialize after a few days or weeks of steady contact. 2/11/2010 4:05:52 PM
EBay found liable in Louis Vuitton suit EBay Inc. will pay about $316,500 to Louis Vuitton Malletier. Ebay had been buying keywords such as "Viton," "Vitton" and "Wuiton" so that online shoppers using these misspellings into a search engine, along with anyone using the brand's correct spelling, would be directed to links promoting eBay. 2/11/2010 4:02:13 PM
Study hints at dark matter action Researchers in the US say they have detected two signals which could possibly indicate the presence of particles of dark matter. But the study in Science journal reports the statistical likelihood of a detection of dark matter as 23%. 2/11/2010 12:51:48 PM
UK prisoners use Facebook to taunt victims Facebook has deleted the pages of 30 U.K. prisoners at the request of the British government, the justice minister announced Thursday, after several incidents in which inmates reportedly used the Internet to plot with criminals and intimidate victims. 2/11/2010 6:55:58 AM
Canadian slider claims Germans using illegal sled Canadian skeleton racer Jeff Pain thinks his German rivals are using an illegal sled at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and he wants the International Federation (FIBT) to do something about it. Pain said he has learned that the German sleds have a magnetic component in them and it gives them an advantage. 2/11/2010 5:59:15 AM
How computers took over our cars In this week's recall of the Toyota Prius, there is no faulty mechanical component. All that's necessary is a quick software update to recalibrate the electrically generated pedal "feel" in its braking system. Which just goes to show how deeply computer control is embedded in today's cars. 2/11/2010 5:26:28 AM
Google eyes pry into Valley Tourists and criminals could benefit from Google‘s launch of its street view in the Okanagan, experts say. The Internet search giant unveiled a feature this week that allows computer users to view and navigate panoramic, street-level images of roads in the Central Okanagan, Vernon and Penticton 2/11/2010 4:33:06 AM
Cellphone driving ban needs to go further: CAA It is not enough to ban drivers from using hand-held cellphones, says the Canadian Automobile Association, because research shows hands-free devices are just as dangerous, but no province has prohibited the use of hands-free devices yet. 2/10/2010 5:20:03 PM
Google launching fibre broadband networks Google is launching experimental fibre broadband networks in several U.S. cities in an effort to push high-speed internet development. The networks, which will be available to between 50,000 and 500,000 people "at a competitive price," will offer connection speeds up of up to one gigabit per second. 2/10/2010 5:17:16 PM
9 awesome uses for dead tech products Earbud speakers
If you're like us, you have an attic, closet or garage stuffed with unused, outdated tech junk. Oh, you think you'll recycle it -- but you don't, do you? Wouldn't you like to do something useful with them? 2/10/2010 6:48:13 AM
Google Maps climbs to Olympic peaks More than 150 Canadian cities are now fully viewable on Google Maps' Street View, as well as the Trans-Canada Highway and ski runs at Whistler, B.C., the web giant announced Tuesday. The addition of more than 130 municipalities makes possible a visit to the streets of nearly anywhere from Comox, B.C., to Corner Brook, N.L. 2/10/2010 5:44:36 AM
Solar observatory set for launch (Video) The US space agency (Nasa) will attempt to launch its latest Sun probe on Wednesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Solar Dynamics Observatory will acquire detailed images of our star to try to get a keener understanding of why it behaves the way it does. 2/10/2010 5:38:00 AM
Google adds social media to Gmail Google is adding Facebook and Twitter-like social media sharing features to its Gmail service with an addition called "Buzz." The Buzz tab will be automatically added over the next few days to Gmail users' accounts, underneath their inbox tab. 2/9/2010 2:59:58 PM
Polish newspaper: 'Pedobear' is 2010 Vancouver Olympic mascot The Gazeta Olsztynska published an image showing the bear alongside genuine Olympic mascots Quatchi, Sumi, Miga and Mukmuk to illustrate a feature about the Games. It appears that the newspaper lifted the picture from Google Images, unaware that it had been created as a prank by a Canadian artist. 2/9/2010 8:30:59 AM
Smartphone keys get quantum trick Hand-held devices could soon have pressure-sensitive touch-screens and keys, thanks to a UK firm's material that exploits a quantum physics trick. The technology allows, for example, scrolling down a long list or webpage faster as more pressure is applied. 2/9/2010 5:28:11 AM
Test controversial theory, but treat MS patients, Italian doctor says The Italian doctor behind a controversial new theory of multiple sclerosis said Monday he welcomes more rigorous scientific investigation of his ideas, but suggested there is no reason MS patients should not immediately undergo the testing and treatment he pioneered. 2/9/2010 5:09:19 AM
West Coast waves getting bigger: study West Coast waves are getting bigger, meaning greater threats of flooding or coastal erosion during storms. The research used data from buoys that have been in place off the coast of Oregon since the 1970s. The highest waves might now reach 15 metres compared with 10 metres in 1996. 2/9/2010 4:46:08 AM
Shuttle Endeavour in orbit toward space station Endeavour and six astronauts rocketed into orbit Monday on what's likely the last nighttime launch for the shuttle program, hauling a new room and observation deck for the International Space Station. The space shuttle took flight before dawn, igniting the sky with a brilliant flash seen for miles around. 2/8/2010 4:38:39 AM
Google leaps barrier with translator phone GOOGLE'S making the first phone able to translate foreign languages almost instantly. The Sunday Times of London reports that by building on existing technologies in voice recognition and automatic translation, Google hoped to have a basic system ready within a couple of years. 2/7/2010 8:11:12 PM
Genes reveal 'biological ageing' Gene variants that might show how fast people's bodies are actually ageing have been pinpointed by scientists. Researchers from the University of Leicester and Kings College London say the finding could help spot people at higher risk of age-related illnesses. 2/7/2010 7:07:10 PM
Hubble, sky survey catch rare asteroid crash, NASA says A mysterious X-shaped pattern of space debris seen by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was probably two asteroids that collided, scientists said Tuesday. The shape, and the streamers of dust shooting off of it, were photographed by Hubble on January 25 and 29, according to NASA. 2/7/2010 10:20:03 AM
Facebook dominates UK mobile use Facebook dominates the lives of mobile internet users in the UK, according to figures from a mobile industry body. The social network accounts for nearly half of all the time people in the UK spend going online using their phones. Google sites were second. 2/7/2010 8:40:26 AM
New online payment system takes cash for virtual goods The company launched a payment system called Kwedit Direct that allows users in the U.S. to pay for their digital purchases after the fact by mailing in cash, paying the bill at a 7-Eleven store or getting a friend or family member to pay on their behalf through a social payment network called Pass the Duck. 2/7/2010 4:56:46 AM
Clouds force delay in space shuttle liftoff Clouds prevented space shuttle Endeavour from blasting off Sunday on the last planned nighttime shuttle launch, delaying its trip with a final few building blocks for the International Space Station. The band of low clouds started moving in from the north late Saturday. 2/7/2010 3:58:57 AM
Onion ring batters PM in online popularity A single onion ring — the crispy, golden-brown snack — has quickly overtaken Prime Minister Stephen Harper in online popularity. A bizarre Facebook page started on Tuesday pitted an onion ring against the PM, asking the hard-hitting question: "Can this Onion Ring get more fans than Stephen Harper?" 2/6/2010 5:13:22 AM
Hubble sees Pluto changing colour, ice sheet cover Spurned Pluto is changing its looks, donning more rouge in its complexion and altering its iceball surface here and there. Colour astronomers surprised. Newly released Hubble Space Telescope photos show the one-time planet is changing colour and its ice sheets are shifting. 2/6/2010 4:02:03 AM
'Demon sheep' political ad takes web by storm (Video) A new political web ad featuring a "demon sheep" is taking the internet by storm. The ad, released this week by California republican candidate Carly Fiorina, takes aim at her primary opponent Tom Campbell. Ms Fiorina's ad shows a human dressed as a "wolf in sheep's clothing" with red laser eyes creeping around a field of real sheep. 2/5/2010 5:41:36 PM
Shuttle mission will leave Space station 98% complete It will be a busy week for astronauts on the International Space Station, with Friday's arrival of a Russian cargo ship and Sunday's scheduled U.S. shuttle launch. The space shuttle Endeavour is slated to launch early Sunday and dock with the station Tuesday. 2/5/2010 3:30:42 PM
Facebook redesigns site yet again Facebook is redesigning its site yet again, this time to better emphasize its applications, games and search function. Links and items have moved around the home page as Facebook tries to streamline navigation and make games and applications stand out more. 2/5/2010 3:28:06 PM
Stephen Hawking to visit Canada this summer Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking will make his long-promised visit to Canada this summer to work with other researchers in Waterloo and will deliver a special public lecture in June that will be broadcast across the country. 2/5/2010 2:57:33 PM
NASA puzzled by spaceship-like object About a month ago, the celestial object pictured here streaked by us at about 290 million kilometres from Earth. This image was taken by the Hubble telescope. Hubble takes pictures of all sorts of weird things, but seldom does NASA refer to them as “mysterious.” 2/5/2010 8:01:34 AM
Evidence Builds on Color of Dinosaurs Until last week, paleontologists could offer no clear-cut evidence for the color of dinosaurs. Then researchers provided evidence that a dinosaur called Sinosauropteryx had a white-and-ginger striped tail. And now a team of paleontologists has published a full-body portrait of another dinosaur, in striking plumage. 2/5/2010 5:54:38 AM
Microsoft to patch 17-year-old computer bug A 17-year-old bug in Windows will be patched by Microsoft in its latest security update. The February update for Windows will close the loophole that involves the venerable DOS operating system. The monthly security update will also tackle a further 25 holes in Windows. 2/5/2010 5:44:17 AM
Plasma jets could replace dental drills A new study shows that bacteria-killing jets of plasma could soon replace the drills used to treat cavities in our teeth, making visits to the dentist's office a bit less nerve-racking. 2/5/2010 5:29:16 AM
Skype on iPhone may signal end of voice plans The death of cellphone voice plans may be on the horizon as internet calling service Skype will soon be available over iPhone cellular connections. For about $60 a year, the user can sign up for an internet-based phone number that then forwards incoming calls to them via Skype. 2/4/2010 7:54:06 PM
Fears over Google alliance with spy-master Google is teaming up with the US National Security Agency to battle cyber-attacks from China in a move that is causing disquiet on the internet. The alliance puts Google in bed with the US Government because it challenges suspected Chinese Government interference on the internet. 2/4/2010 6:24:11 PM
Are wrong people on trial over Concorde crash? Few pictures in the history of flight are as shocking as the last take-off of the Concorde Foxtrot-Sierra Charlie. Lesser airliners disappear in the night. The Air France jet was filmed trailing a plume of fire as it struggled away from Paris airport on July 25, 2000. 2/4/2010 6:21:56 PM
'Healthy immigrant effect' extends to stroke risk New immigrants to Canada are at lower risk of suffering a premature stroke than longer-term residents of the country, according to new findings published today in the journal Neurology. 2/4/2010 3:43:38 PM
Legit Web sites team up with shady operators It's bad enough the Internet is a money-making machine for con artists and swindlers. Now you have to worry about “legitimate” companies that team up with dishonest marketing firms. The companies under investigation include Barnes & Noble, Orbitz, Expedia, Staples, FTD and Ticketmaster. (Ed: Worth a read if you buy on-line.) 2/4/2010 11:30:16 AM
CRTC may require Internet providers to improve rural access Shouldn’t Canadians all have access to broadband service? The CRTC is stepping up pressure on the telecom industry to improve wireless Internet access by calling for a surprise public hearing that could reshape how rural Canadians access the Web. 2/4/2010 10:38:58 AM
Hollywood loses key battle over illegal downloads Hollywood film studios lost a landmark court bid to hold an Australian Internet provider responsible for illegal movie downloads by its customers, in a serious blow to their fight against piracy.The movie studios hoped to set a worldwide precedent forcing ISPs to act against offenders. 2/4/2010 10:23:11 AM
Leonardo's work bloody interesting It's almost exactly 500 years since Leonardo da Vinci spent a winter immersed in the gory work of dissecting cadavers, research that led to the most celebrated, yet rarely seen drawings ever of the human anatomy. 2/4/2010 10:15:40 AM
N.Z. Student sells her virginity online to pay for tuition A student has auctioned her virginity to a stranger for almost $30,000 to help fund her university tuition fees. The 19-year-old New Zealand woman offered her virginity to the highest bidder in an online auction on the www.ineed.co.nz 2/4/2010 7:52:46 AM
Social media set to spoil opening-ceremony surprise For two and a half years the content of the ceremonies has been a closely guarded secret. But when thousands of spectators are allowed in for dress rehearsals at B.C. Place next week, observers say it's impossible that those secrets will remain under wraps. 2/4/2010 6:54:16 AM
B.C. gives video-game industry tax credits The British Columbia government announced changes on Wednesday to the provincial tax credit system that gives the video game industry its first major tax credit and puts B.C.'s film and television industry on an equal footing with Ontario and Quebec. 2/4/2010 6:30:53 AM
Google enlists US National Security Agency to fight Under an agreement that is still being finalized, the National Security Agency would help Google analyze a major corporate espionage attack that the firm said originated in China and targeted its computer networks. The objective is to better defend Google — and its users — from future attack. 2/4/2010 5:49:17 AM
PR nightmare: Toyota admits design flaw with Prius brakes Toyota Motor Corp. acknowledged design problems with the brakes in its prized Prius, adding to the catalog of woes for the Japanese automaker as it reels from massive gas-pedal recalls around the world. Toyota said Thursday it found design problems with the antilock brake system. 2/4/2010 4:43:03 AM
Google complaint highlights China-based hacking The hacking of Google email accounts from China suggests the Chinese military, which is a leader in cyberwarfare research, or other government agencies might be breaking into computers to steal technology and trade secrets to help state companies, experts say. 2/3/2010 4:59:46 PM
File-sharing scam targets Twitter Twitter has identified a scheme that uses compromised file-sharing sites to steal the log on information of users. The service said it had discovered a number of compromised "torrent" sites that had been set up specifically to skim usernames and passwords. 2/3/2010 4:30:40 PM
Blogging falls out of favour with young people The proportion of U.S. teen and young adult internet users who blog regularly has plummeted to about 14 per cent from 28 per cent in 2006, according to Pew Research Centre. The study also found that just eight per cent of teens age 12 to 17 who use the internet report using Twitter. 2/3/2010 3:05:07 PM
Sony launching 3-D TV by summer The company on Tuesday unveiled 3-D televisions in two Canadian Sony Style stores — in the Toronto Eaton Centre and Vancouver's Pacific Mall — where consumers can sample the much-hyped technology. Sony plans to add additional stores to its demo program in the coming weeks and months. 2/3/2010 2:58:25 PM
Vegetative state patient 'talks' using brain waves: study A man who had been presumed to be in a vegetative state for five years, can communicate yes and no via his thought patterns. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the patient's brain activity was mapped while he was asked to answer yes and no questions. 2/3/2010 2:47:08 PM
Apple's Wozniak: Toyota Has Software Problem Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said Toyota's problems go beyond faulty gas pedals and involve bad software. "Toyota has this accelerator problem we've all heard about," Wozniak said. "Well, I have many models of Prius that got recalled, but I have a new model that didn't get recalled. 2/3/2010 10:34:05 AM
U.S. Police want Backdoor to Private Web Data Anyone with an e-mail account likely knows that police can peek inside it if they have a paper search warrant. But cybercrime investigators are frustrated by the speed of traditional methods of faxing, mailing, or e-mailing companies these documents. 2/3/2010 10:31:15 AM
Youtube's radical shift to movies Internet famous still doesn't quite cut it in the film world. Last week, at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, YouTube held a press conference to launch its brave new US-$3.99 video rental service and introduce its featured filmmakers. 2/3/2010 9:46:08 AM
Raising Hell? EA's Dante's Inferno Stokes Fire Video game powerhouse Electronic Arts will make its Super Bowl debut this Sunday with an ad teasing the release of its upcoming game, "Dante's Inferno," but though the title hasn't even hit the shelves, it's already stoked a few flames. 2/3/2010 7:38:51 AM
Blackberry: RIM's smart-phone advantage It's the competitive advantage that happened almost by accident. When Research In Motion made the decision many years ago to route much of the e-mail traffic on BlackBerrys through RIM's own servers, they probably weren't thinking about a future in which everyone carries around a mobile, bandwidth-hogging computer. 2/3/2010 5:44:23 AM
Canadian wireless companies wary of Apple iPad's effect on data rates As the buzz of Apple Inc.'s iPad launch fades away, a cold reality is settling in for Canadian wireless carriers: What will they do when the device comes here? In the United States, AT&T Inc. is offering what many analysts consider a shockingly low price to service Apple's latest device. 2/3/2010 5:31:45 AM
People are quicker when reacting that when initiating Inspired by Hollywood cowboy films, researchers have delved into the science of gun fights. Scientists discovered that people move faster when reacting to something than when they perform "planned actions". 2/2/2010 4:53:08 PM
'Internet addiction' linked to depression, says study There is a strong link between heavy internet use and depression, UK psychologists have said. The study, reported in the journal Psychopathology, found 1.2% of people surveyed were "internet addicts", and many of these were depressed. 2/2/2010 4:46:22 PM
Free iPhone – or I'll take my business elsewhere Getting a human being on the phone without wanting to kill yourself – there should be an app for that. Over the past week, I have been through the automated phone service of two of Canada's largest communications companies so many times that my head is about to explode. 2/2/2010 3:08:02 PM
Students finding new ways to cheat though Internet In a new twist on using the Internet for academic cheating, students are outsourcing their essays and assignments through freelancer websites intended to allow prospective employers to post one-time jobs for skilled professionals to bid on. 2/2/2010 2:59:28 PM
Thanks Harper: Canada gets D for innovation Canada gets a D in innovation, according to a report card issued Tuesday, ranking the country 14th among 17 industrialized nations for its ability to turn knowledge into money-making products and services. This country ranked ahead only of Australia, Italy and Norway for innovation. 2/2/2010 9:08:12 AM
Google pushes Chrome browser as PC battle looms Google has taken the unusual step of using real-world advertising to promote its Chrome web browser in Europe. In a departure from its usual dependence on viral and word-of-mouth marketing, Google is running a billboard and newspaper ad campaign. 2/2/2010 9:04:50 AM
No regulations for GPS use despite safety risk Transport Canada has identified the use of GPS devices as a threat to road safety but after six years of consultation with industry and safety groups has done nothing to regulate them, a CBC news investigation found. 2/2/2010 8:51:29 AM
Bestiality ban in Netherlands to cut video source The Internet potentially will lose one of its main sources of bestiality videos under a ban approved Tuesday by the upper house of the Dutch parliament. Sex with animals had been legal in the Netherlands, as long as it could be proven the animals were not injured. 2/2/2010 8:42:57 AM
AP, Yahoo remain on same web page with new licensing deal; talks with Google, Microsoft loom The Associated Press has signed a licensing deal with Yahoo Inc. that gives the news co-operative a steady stream of revenue at a time less money is flowing in from newspapers and broadcasters. The announcement by both companies Monday didn't disclose the financial terms of the agreement. 2/2/2010 8:39:42 AM
Study: Most use bank password everywhere For years computer security experts have been preaching that users should never share the same password across their connected lives -- at online banking sites, at Amazon, on their Web mail services, even on their cell phones. Apparently, most people ignore that advice. 2/2/2010 6:00:24 AM
To commit something to memory, take a break Want to boost your memory? Then give yourself a break immediately after a lesson or learning experience. That downtime will apparently allow your brain a chance to absorb and consolidate the new information, according to the latest research findings. 2/2/2010 5:34:29 AM
Scammers exploit Apple iPad fever Cyber conmen are cashing in on hype surrounding Apple's iPad. Security firms have come across attempts to subvert search engines to catch out those seeking more information about the tablet. Those who follow rogue links are re-directed to pages that scan their computer looking for loopholes and vulnerabilities. 2/1/2010 4:47:53 PM
New PlayStation 3 show pits gamer against gamer In the reality show "The Tester," the top prize is a job. Sony Corp. is launching the show on its PlayStation 3 on Feb. 18. The premise? Pit a broad swath of video game fans against one another to see who's the best at testing out games. The winner will get a job as a real game tester. 2/1/2010 4:06:53 PM
If You Swat, Watch Out: Bees Remember Faces A honeybee brain has a million neurons, compared with the 100 billion in a human brain. But, researchers report, bees can recognize faces, and they even do it the same way we do. Bees and humans both use a technique called configural processing. 2/1/2010 2:47:52 PM
1,000 security cameras watching Vancouver, Whistler A vast network of cameras goes on line today to provide security for the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and Whistler. More than nine hundred cameras have been installed by the RCMP-led Olympic Integrated Security Unit, mostly covering Olympic venues. 2/1/2010 9:31:42 AM
Surfer inspires comparisons to Albert Einstein Some people just seem to have an answer for everything. And then there is Garrett Lisi. He's unemployed. He's a surfer dude. And, in the estimation of some, maybe the next Einstein. The California-born upstart seemed to have stumbled upon the answer to one of life's greatest mysteries. 2/1/2010 9:11:56 AM
Students failing English because of Twitter, Facebook Little or no grammar teaching, cellphone texting, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, all are being blamed for an increasingly unacceptable number of post-secondary students who can't write properly. For years there's been a flood of anecdotal complaints. 2/1/2010 4:58:05 AM
Hang up or pay up Don‘t answer that phone in your car or the long arm of the law will slap a ticket into your other hand. Starting today, police in B.C. are enforcing a new law that forbids motorists from using hand-held devices while behind the wheel. Those caught gabbing, texting or searching for music while motoring face a $167 fine. 2/1/2010 4:48:34 AM
Give me your money, or your computer gets it Turning hijacked computers into cash is still hard work for most computer criminals. They've got to trick the infected PC into sending spam, then trick a recipient into buying a useless product -- or they have to steal online banking passwords, bypass money transfer fraud controls, and so on. 1/31/2010 8:29:58 PM
Amazon revolution? Researchers unearth lost cities One of the many Hollywood films that will hit theatres this year is "The Lost City of Z," in which a group of explorers set out to find a colleague who vanished in the Amazon rainforest. Based on a true story, the movie stars Brad Pitt as Percy Fawcett, a world-famous British explorer who disappeared in 1925. 1/31/2010 5:32:13 PM
Summerland Secondary: Web Science lessons launched Students across the province will be using live video broadcasted from Summerland to prepare for an upcoming science exam. Summerland Secondary School teachers Trevor Knowlton and Raja Gupta are helping students review for the B.C. Science 10 exam with four sessions delivered by video over the web. 1/31/2010 5:19:12 PM
Is this the death of the kettle? Kitchen retailers say the tap, called a Quooker, has started to take off with as many as one in three designer kitchens now featuring the gadget. The Quooker supplies instant boiling water through a tap, connected to a small tank hidden in a cupboard underneath the work surface or sink. 1/31/2010 12:04:47 PM
The 3 Facebook Settings Every User Should Check Now In December, Facebook made a series of bold and controversial changes regarding the nature of its users' privacy on the social networking site. The company once known for protecting privacy to the point of exclusivity, now seemingly wants to compete with more open social networks. 1/31/2010 10:44:25 AM
Turkish twins with different fathers 'trigger divorce' A Turkish man decided to divorce his wife after DNA tests showed he was the father of only one of their twin boys. The phenomenon of twins with different fathers -- known scientifically as heteropaternal superfecundation -- is very rare in humans, though more common in animals such as cats and dogs. 1/31/2010 8:58:59 AM
Got a decision to make? Get some sugar in your system: study If you're about to try to negotiate a pay rise, it might be a good idea to have a sugary drink beforehand. Not only did having a higher blood sugar level make study participants less likely to act impulsively, but taking a diet drink made people more likely to act on impulse and take the immediate, smaller reward. 1/31/2010 8:55:30 AM
Toyota's acceleration issue 'not a simple problem' Toyota's decision to halt sales of eight models of its vehicles in Canada and the United States over the risk of sudden acceleration is "unprecedented" and will likely take more than a week to sort out, says used-car guru Phil Edmonston. 1/31/2010 8:28:56 AM
Drivers feel new police siren before they hear it The University of Windsor and Windsor Police are working to develop a siren that motorists will not only hear but feel. The new siren, called a rumbler, emits low-frequency sounds in a rapid pulsing signal while cruiser lights also flash. "The Windsor Police Force alone had lost nine cars [in crashes] this past year." 1/31/2010 8:25:56 AM
MacKay promises landing strip for UFOs Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Friday that he doesn't know what people in southern Newfoundland saw recently but he promised the federal government does have plans to help them. "We will provide money to build a landing strip for UFOs at Harbour Mille," said MacKay. "No, I'm only kidding. I'm joking." 1/31/2010 7:52:14 AM
OK Falls Elementary to become a Science Focus School OK Falls Elementary School will be initiating its first steps in becoming a Science Focus School like Bert Edwards Science and Technology (BEST) School in Kamloops. We are excited about complementing our present science focus with more hands-on science activities for the students. We are hoping to begin with a single classroom dedicated to science activities. 1/31/2010 7:45:25 AM
Handicap parking cheaters tagged by iPhone app A western Canadian non-profit company is making it easier to catch people who use handicap parking spots without a proper permit. Parking Mobility is an new iPhone application that not only helps users find accessible parking spots, it also lets them report the cheaters who misuse them. 1/31/2010 5:26:26 AM
Wind farms creating blackout zones for aviation radar Wind turbines may be seen by governments across the land as a power source for the future, but a group of Canadian engineers could hold the key to ensuring that the clean energy system doesn’t end up causing an aviation disaster. The spinning blades are being detected by the radars. 1/31/2010 5:05:07 AM
California 'protects' Apollo 11 landing site on Moon California has named a new site a state historical resource - despite the fact that it is not on Earth, never mind in the US state. The site where Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in 1969, the first US landing, is now included on the state's register. 1/30/2010 6:00:38 AM
Google phases out support for IE6 Google has begun to phase out support for Internet Explorer 6, the browser identified as the weak link in a cyber attack on the search engine. The firm said from 1 March some of its services, such as Google Docs, would not work "properly" with the browser. 1/30/2010 5:55:55 AM
What's in a name? iPad jokes swirl around web You have to wonder whether there were any women in the room when the marketing geniuses at Apple decided to call the company's new gadget the "iPad." Because the jokes about feminine hygiene products are flying. "Will women send their husbands to the Apple store to buy iPads?" went one joke on Twitter. 1/30/2010 5:41:03 AM
Google camera appears to catch illegal tree-cutting Three people have been charged with violating Vancouver's tree-cutting bylaw after trees were illegally removed from a property on the city's West Side – in an incident apparently caught on a camera operated by the internet giant, Google. 1/30/2010 4:40:25 AM
Facebook page devoted to Montreal killer appears, disappears Montreal police are investigating a new Facebook page devoted to Dawson College killer Kimveer Gill which appeared briefly on the Internet. "The Kimveer Gill fan club," popped up on the popular social networking site sometime this week, prompting a call from Dawson College to the police. 1/29/2010 6:25:41 PM
Quebec scientist unlocks superconductivity movement mystery Imagine a world where doctors carry portable MRIs and power lines transport five times more energy than they do today — it may not be far off, thanks to a Quebec physicist. The findings reveal an underlying force not previously understood, Universite de Sherbrooke professor Louis Taillefer said. 1/29/2010 5:12:25 PM
Obama to cut NASA's moon plan: officials U.S. President Barack Obama is essentially grounding efforts to return astronauts to the moon and instead is sending NASA in new directions with roughly $6 billion US more, according to officials familiar with the plans. 1/29/2010 10:29:14 AM
Italian scientists hope to solve "Mona Lisa" mystery by exhuming Leonardo's body The legend of Leonardo da Vinci is shrouded in mystery: How did he die? Are the remains buried in a French chateau really those of the Renaissance master? Was the "Mona Lisa" a self-portrait in disguise? A group of Italian scientists believes the key to solving those puzzles lies with the remains. 1/29/2010 9:56:07 AM
Microsoft earnings rises 60 per cent in Q2 as computer industry bounces back Microsoft Corp. said Thursday its earnings in the most recent quarter jumped 60 per cent, as a rebound in the personal computer industry drove sales of the company's latest Windows operating system. While consumers have resumed spending on new PCs, big corporations have not. 1/29/2010 9:47:48 AM
Boy, 12, and girl, 13, facing felony charges for 'sexting' nude pictures A 12-year-old boy and 13-year old girl from Indiana are facing felony charges for "sexting" each other with nude pictures. They face child exploitation and child pornography charges after the teacher confiscated the girl's cellphone when it rang in class last week. 1/29/2010 9:02:28 AM
'Saluting' Nazi filmmaker a no-win for VANOC It has been raining on Cypress Mountain of late, causing some logistical headaches at the Olympic venue, but the latest dark cloud on the horizon appears on the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) website. "Lights Will Guide You Home" is a four-minute video celebrating the Olympic torch run. 1/29/2010 5:45:23 AM
Scammers exploit Apple iPad fever Cyber conmen are cashing in on hype surrounding Apple's iPad. Security firms have come across attempts to subvert search engines. Those who follow rogue links are re-directed to pages that scan their computer looking for loopholes and vulnerabilities. 1/29/2010 5:22:35 AM
Russia tests stealth fighter jet (Video) A new stealth fighter has made its maiden flight in Russia's far east. The Sukhoi T-50 jet spent 47 minutes in the air over Komsomolsk-on-Amur and test pilot Sergei Bogdan said "it is easy and comfortable to pilot". 1/29/2010 4:58:50 AM
Why old media loves Apple's newest thing The cream of the New York publishing industry rose to the occasion of the Apple iPad launch, then sat in the shadows for almost an hour as chief executive officer Steve Jobs extolled the gadget's utility for just about everything – gaming, networking, browsing, watching videos – except reading. 1/28/2010 6:11:36 AM
Military, RCMP mum on Maritime UFO mystery People who saw a missile-like object soaring through the sky over a small rural community in Newfoundland Monday night are getting no answers about what it was, although police say they'd gotten to the bottom of the mystery. People say they saw three similar objects flying through the air minutes apart. 1/28/2010 6:06:37 AM
Apple unveils ‘iPad’ tablet After months of rampant speculation, Apple Wednesday announced a touchscreen tablet computer, the "iPad" for consumers who want to take their movies, TV shows, music, games and reading with them, around the house or on the go. Pricing starts at $499 U.S., and available in 60 to 90 days. 1/27/2010 12:39:51 PM
Internet companies voice alarm over Italian law Internet companies and civil liberty groups have voiced alarm over a proposed Italian law which would make online service providers responsible copyright infringements by users. It would make sites like Google’s YouTube, responsible for monitoring TV content on their pages, industry experts say. 1/27/2010 6:06:05 AM
They're heeeere? Scientists say alien life could already be lurking among For decades, scientists have scanned the heavens in search of extraterrestrial life. Perhaps they should have looked for alien life closer to home. "How do we know all life on earth descended from a single origin?" physicist Paul Davies said, speaking at London's Royal Society. 1/26/2010 5:21:34 PM
Consumer advocates declare war on copyright treaty The latest talks on a global anti-counterfeiting agreement kicked off Tuesday, and so did a new wave of opposition. The 'secret' treaty is motivated by U.S. entertainment lobbies, and would allow internet providers to spy on customers and criminalize millions of people, they said. 1/26/2010 4:59:55 PM
NASA's Spirit won't be roving Mars anymore After six highly successful years of exploring the red sands of Mars, NASA's rover Spirit will rove no more. With its six wheels stuck in powdery sand and two wheels no longer working, the resilient little explorer will become a fixed, immobile scientific observatory -- if it can survive the upcoming winter. 1/26/2010 4:19:40 PM
Are we alone? We may soon find out Rapid technological leaps forward in the last 10 years mean mankind is closer than ever before to knowing whether extra-terrestrial life exists in our galaxy, one of Britain's leading scientists said Tuesday. Martin Rees said science had made enormous progress in the search for planets grouped around other distant stars. 1/26/2010 12:16:30 PM
Sorry, all those Facebook friends aren’t really friends Technology may change, but the number of friends we can have appears to stay the same. While social networking sites allow users to have thousands of “friends”, the mind is only capable of handling a maximum of 150 relationships at one time, according to a new study. 1/25/2010 6:14:44 PM
Fraudsters cashing in on costly smart phones In North America, and particularly in Canada, big wireless providers subsidize the cost of devices such as Apple's iPhone to lure customers. In exchange, the company locks subscribers into long-term contracts to ensure a profit. The new 32-gigabyte iPhone 3GS sells at Telus for $799, and only $299 with a three-year contract.. 1/25/2010 5:56:48 PM
Rogers backtracks on unpaid cellphone bill plan Rogers has withdrawn a plan that would see cellphone providers become liable for the unpaid bills of new customers. The company officially withdrew the proposal in a letter to the CRTC on Friday, four days after first suggesting the idea to the regulator. 1/25/2010 11:07:11 AM
Mozilla leader worries about Internet limits The leader of the Mozilla Project, whose Firefox Web browser now has 350 million users, is concerned that legal restrictions could limit Internet expansion. Mitchell Baker said she worried about "the increase in laws that make it difficult to run an open network," especially rules about content. 1/25/2010 9:36:30 AM
Chinese Big Brother listening in on karaoke Chinese authorities have begun installing a “black box” in karaoke machines, allowing police to monitor the songs sung by bar patrons. Karaoke is enormously popular in China, and takes place at bars called KTVs. The pilot program targets nearly 200 of those bars. 1/25/2010 8:33:11 AM
Odds of finding E.T. never better: astronomer The U.K.'s leading astronomer says the chance of finding life elsewhere in the universe is better than ever, though others say looking for E.T. is a waste of time. Astronomers and other scientists have gathered in London for a two-day international conference on the search for extra-terrestrial life. 1/25/2010 8:04:55 AM
Reporters put Twitter, Facebook to 'Big Brother' test Five International journalists (including a Canadian), plan to lock themselves away in a French farmhouse with access only to Facebook and Twitter to test the quality of news from the social networking and micro-blogging sites. Rules ban television, radio and newspapers. 1/25/2010 7:34:42 AM
Movie made by chimps shown on TV (Video) The world's first film shot entirely by chimpanzees is to be broadcast by the BBC as part of a natural history documentary. The apes created the movie using a specially designed chimp-proof camera given to them by primatologists. The film-making exercise is part of a scientific study. 1/25/2010 5:06:15 AM
Adultery website owner aims for stock market listing Adultery enabler Ashley Madison may be too hot for Toronto's streetcars, but not for the stock market. Avid Life Media Inc., the parent company of dating websites such as .com , a site for people seeking extramarital relationships, is raising $60-million and is pushing for a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange. 1/25/2010 4:42:11 AM
Internet generation at risk of rickets: Study Bone-bending rickets can now be added to the list of ills linked to children spending uncounted hours before a computer screen, British researchers said Friday. Youngsters with rickets, caused primarily by a chronic lack of vitamin D, develop painful and deformed bow-legs that do not grow properly. 1/24/2010 10:21:04 AM
Carbon nanotubes used to make batteries from fabrics Ordinary cotton and polyester fabrics have been turned into batteries that retain their flexibility. The demonstration is a boost to the nascent field of "wearable electronics" in which devices are integrated into clothing and textiles. 1/24/2010 8:23:21 AM
Don't be evil? Where Google still censors Google's promise to end its self-censorship in China, a daring response to a Chinese cyber attack, may have brought the shine back to the search giant's "Don't Be Evil" ethos. But Google is still blocking certain content in other countries at the demand of their governments. 1/24/2010 7:43:53 AM
Haiti brings out Internet's best The Internet attracts many gestures, most empty, some not. And because the Internet is made of humans, you never know which one is going to take. So if you want the Internet to occasionally entertain gestures of stunning compassion, you have to accept them all. 1/23/2010 11:30:28 AM
Skydiver will try to break sound barrier (Video) The Austrian extreme sportsman Felix Baumgartner says his next goal is to try to break the long-standing record for the highest ever parachute jump. It is 50 years since the American Joe Kittinger made history by leaping from a balloon at 102,800ft (31km). 1/23/2010 9:34:03 AM
Club Penguin kids subvert privacy settings Children using Club Penguin and other kid-oriented websites are finding ingenious ways to subvert privacy settings to reveal personal information, says a mom who has gone undercover. For instance, to prevent online bullying and negativity many of the websites also try to block out certain phrases. 1/23/2010 8:56:54 AM
Viruses spread faster than expected Video A new video shows a virus infecting cells in a lab faster than previously thought possible. Scientists filmed the spreading virus under a microscope and say that understanding this rate of infection could lead to new drugs to stop viral diseases. 1/23/2010 5:55:57 AM
Russian Cop who condemned corruption on Youtube arrested Russia's top investigative body says a police officer who has complained on YouTube of abuse and corruption in the country's law enforcement system has been arrested on fraud charges. Alexei Dymovsky posted three videos on YouTube in which he said he was promised a promotion in return for jailing an innocent person. 1/22/2010 7:17:45 PM
Cellphones, Google among women's life-changing products of the decade Women rate the most life-changing new products of the last decade in a similar way to what you would expect from men, according to results of a new poll, but women are more likely to view the latest advancements as a solution to life's problems. Busy modern lifestyles play a role in the rankings. 1/22/2010 4:02:37 PM
Rogers wants rivals to pony up for unpaid cellphone bills Rogers Wireless wants to put all cellphone providers on the hook for ex-customers' unpaid bills. The company asked the CRTC to order all wireless companies to be responsible for the unpaid balances owed by customers who switch providers. 1/22/2010 10:48:38 AM
Imperva reveals top 20 passwords people use A California company has found that computer users consistently choose weak passwords, with the most common one being 123456. The second-most common password is 12345, followed by 123456789. Of 32 million passwords, more than 290,000 were 12345, the report found. 1/22/2010 10:33:52 AM
YouTube starts renting movies online in U.S. Google Inc.'s YouTube is joining the likes of Apple, Amazon.com and Netflix with a new online movie rental service in the United States. On its blog, YouTube said it will begin testing the service Friday with five movies from the Sundance Film Festival. 1/22/2010 10:27:40 AM
Meet the creatures that live beyond the abyss It is pitch black, icy cold and the pressure is phenomenal. The deepest parts of the ocean are some of the least hospitable places on Earth - yet footage from recent expeditions reveals that life in the oceanic trenches is thriving. Click on the images. 1/22/2010 5:06:55 AM
China rebuffs US internet demands China has denounced US criticism of its internet controls, saying it could harm ties between the two countries. "The US has criticised China's policies to administer the internet, and insinuated that China restricts internet freedom." 1/22/2010 5:05:06 AM
Tetris passes 100 million paid mobile downloads More than 25 years after its birth, Tetris is the best-selling mobile game of all time, having surpassed 100 million paid downloads on cell phones around the world. Adam Sussman said the milestone marked "a huge moment not just for EA but for mobile gaming in general." 1/21/2010 11:32:25 AM
Brain size governs 'game prowess' If you find video games a struggle, it could be to do with the size of certain parts of your brain, a study suggests. US researchers found they could predict how well an amateur player might perform on a game by measuring the volume of key sections of the brain. 1/21/2010 6:33:29 AM
Tim Berners-Lee unveils government data project Web founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee has unveiled his latest venture for the UK government, which offers the public better access to official data. A new website, data.gov.uk, will offer reams of public sector data, ranging from traffic statistics to crime figures, for private or commercial use. 1/21/2010 5:54:53 AM
US to seek world cyber crackdown after Google China row The US is calling for tough action against people and states that carry out cyber attacks, following an alleged attack on search giant Google in China. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will say in a speech an attack on a nation's networks is "an attack on all". Google has threatened to quit China. 1/21/2010 5:53:20 AM
China accuses Google, U.S. of conspiracy China has signalled a change of approach to the Google crisis, with state media describing the company’s threat to pull out of the country as a political conspiracy. Accusations in two newspapers that Washington was using Google as a foreign policy tool were echoed by the Chinese. 1/20/2010 1:33:52 PM
Grieving mom sends warning about texting and driving A mother whose son was tragically killed after text messaging behind the wheel is sharing his story in hopes it doesn't happen again. "He cut his own life short basically. I just don't want it to happen to anybody else." Michael Edward Wolsynuk was B.C.'s first fatality linked to texting. 1/20/2010 5:21:05 AM
Sony delays PS3 motion controller (Video) Sony has pushed back the release of its highly anticipated motion controller for its PlayStation 3 console until the autumn of 2010. The controller, which tracks a player's body movements to play a game, was planned to go on sale in spring. 1/20/2010 5:18:04 AM
Microsoft to patch browser hole Microsoft will patch a hole in its Internet Explorer browser that may have allowed Chinese hackers access to human rights activists' e-mail accounts. The firm normally issues patches at a set time each month but said that the attention forced it to move more quickly. 1/20/2010 5:16:43 AM
'Green jobs' are key to U.S., Canadian recovery Barack Obama's envoy to Ottawa says "green jobs" are the key to long-term economic recovery in both the United States and Canada. Ambassador David Jacobson told The Canadian Press he expects eventual progress towards harmonized environmental and energy policy between Canada and the U.S. 1/19/2010 8:27:56 AM
Social Web's true impact on China, Haiti We've seen some major world events unfold on the social media stage in the past week, the biggest being Google's threat to pull out of China and the Haiti earthquake. Just like the Iran election crisis, those events are causing people to reassess the impact of social media on the world. 1/19/2010 6:00:56 AM
Olympic surveillance cameras causing concern Security personnel are installing hundreds of closed circuit surveillance cameras around downtown Vancouver in preparation for the Olympics, but questions remain about whether or not many of the cameras will be removed after the Games. 1/19/2010 5:57:30 AM
A rare glimpse of the cave of crystals (Video) Mexico's Cave of Crystals stunned geologists when it was first discovered in 2000. The underground chamber contains some of the largest natural crystals ever found - some of the selenite structures have grown to more than 10m long. 1/19/2010 5:48:42 AM
Google postpones Chinese mobiles Google says it has postponed the launch of two Android based mobile phones in China following a dispute with the government over censorship. Google had planned to launch two handsets running its Android operating system in cooperation Samsung and Motorola. 1/19/2010 5:45:07 AM
Turkey blocking 3,700 websites, reform needed:OSCE Europe's main security and human rights watchdog said on Monday Turkey was blocking some 3,700 Internet sites for “arbitrary and political reasons” and urged legal reforms to show its commitment to freedom of expression. 1/19/2010 5:33:50 AM
FBI Illegally Collected Telephone Records for years From 2002 to 2006, the FBI was illegally collecting thousands of U.S. telephone call records and approving them afterwards to "justify their actions," reports The Washington Post. To do this, they cited terrorism emergencies that didn't exist. 1/18/2010 7:22:16 PM
France joins Germany warning against Internet Explorer (Video) France has echoed calls by the German government for web users to find an alternative to Microsoft's Internet Explorer to protect security. Certa, a government agency that oversees cyber threats, warned against using all versions of the web browser. 1/18/2010 3:16:59 PM
Story of Newton's encounter with apple goes online It always falls down. That's how the apple helped Isaac Newton. An 18th-century account of how Newton developed the theory of gravity was posted to the Web Monday, making the fragile paper manuscript widely available to the public for the first time. 1/18/2010 6:11:17 AM
Google probes possible inside help on China attack Google Inc. GOOG-Q is investigating whether one or more employees may have helped facilitate a cyber-attack from China that the U.S search giant said it was a victim of in mid-December. Some Google China employees were denied access to internal networks after Jan. 13. 1/18/2010 5:49:48 AM
NASA listens for silent Mars lander; chances of callback slim Will Phoenix rise from the dead? Don't bet on it. Despite the odds, NASA on Monday will begin a three-day effort to listen for signs of life from the Phoenix lander, presumed frozen to death near Mars' north pole after spending five months digging into soil and ice. 1/17/2010 10:12:15 PM
Forget Gum. Walking and Using Phone Is Risky. On the day of the collision last month, visibility was good. The sidewalk was not under repair. As she walked, Tiffany Briggs, 25, was talking to her grandmother on her cellphone, lost in conversation. Very lost. “I ran into a truck,” Ms. Briggs said. It was parked in a driveway. 1/17/2010 8:09:49 PM
Gaining a Toehold for the E-Bike TECHNOLOGY has eliminated many of life’s milder physical demands, like getting off the couch to change the channel, or going to the store to buy a book. The latest exertion to be conquered: biking uphill. 1/17/2010 8:04:50 PM
UK Gov't computer accused of 'warm bias' by BBC weatherman Paul Hudson said the error may have crept into the computer's climate model as a result of successive years of milder weather. Paul Hudson said the error may have crept into the computer's climate model as a result of successive years of milder weather. 1/17/2010 5:57:01 PM
Alarming glitch hits Facebook mobile accounts A Georgia mother and her two daughters logged onto Facebook from mobile phones last weekend and wound up in a startling place: strangers' accounts with full access to troves of private information. The glitch revealed a little known security flaw with far reaching implications for everyone on the Internet 1/17/2010 10:48:04 AM
Scientists warned Haiti officials of quake in '08 Scientists who detected worrisome signs of growing stresses in the fault that unleashed this week's devastating earthquake in Haiti said they warned officials there two years ago that their country was ripe for a major earthquake. 1/17/2010 8:10:57 AM
Germany warns against using Internet Explorer Microsoft Corp. on Saturday rejected a German government warning against using Internet Explorer until a patch can be developed to fix a security flaw, saying the problem is not a threat to general users. 1/16/2010 7:45:10 PM
Network flaw causes scary Web error A Georgia mother and her two daughters logged onto Facebook from mobile phones last weekend and wound up in a startling place: strangers' accounts with full access to troves of private information. The glitch revealed a little known security flaw with far reaching implications for everyone on the Internet. 1/16/2010 9:19:40 AM
Exercise: Get that blood flowing to protect your brain Alzheimer’s disease is an especially horrible affliction in part because modern medicine can offer little in the way of an effective treatment. But this week brought a few rays of hope on several research fronts for this mind-robbing illness. So what do you do in the meantime? 1/16/2010 5:57:37 AM
Agencies credit Internet, social networks for massive Haitian giving Social media like Twitter and Facebook as well as the Internet itself are playing a significant role in the speedy, massive outpouring of pledges and donations from Canadians. The Canadian Red Cross reported commitments of $15.8 million by late Friday afternoon, with some 85 per cent of donations coming from online. 1/16/2010 5:47:18 AM
Programming a GPS while driving a danger Programming your car's portable GPS while driving is a dangerous distraction, according to a Marketplace investigation, but so far the industry still allows drivers that option. The Marketplace team decided to test a couple of drivers to see the ease or lack thereof. 1/15/2010 7:14:11 PM
Social networks and the web offer a lifeline in Haiti (Video) The collapse of traditional communication in Haiti has again highlighted social media and the internet. Twitter is being used as a prime channel for communications, while sites such as Ushahidi are providing maps detailing aid and damage. Google and Facebook have missing persons lists. 1/15/2010 7:04:21 PM
ScoreMobile BlackBerry App Reaches 1-Million Downloads Score Media says its free BlackBerry application, ScoreMobile, has been downloaded more than a million times. ScoreMobile 1.3 provides BlackBerry users with scores and other information regarding baseball (MLB), basketball (NBA, NCAAB), football (NFL, NCAAF, CFL), golf (PGA), hockey (NHL), soccer (EPL, MLS), and auto racing (NASCAR). 1/15/2010 6:27:46 PM
Man charged with Internet luring tells court he didn't know girl was just 12 A 26-year-old man told a B.C. Supreme Court jury Friday he had no idea the Vancouver girl he met on the Internet two years ago and made a sex tape with was just 12 at the time. "Honestly, I had no clue that she was that young," said Albert Quinones. He said he believed the girl was 16. 1/15/2010 3:48:00 PM
Kodak sues Apple and RIM over iPhone and Blackberry Camera maker Kodak has said it will sue Apple and Research In Motion (RIM), the makers of the iPhone and Blackberry, over technology used in their handsets. Kodak has filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC). 1/15/2010 8:40:26 AM
China tries to limit Google fallout China tried Friday to keep its censorship row with Google from damaging business confidence or ties with Washington, promising good conditions for foreign investors but giving no sign it might relax Internet controls. The loss of such a high-profile company would be an embarrassment. 1/15/2010 5:22:20 AM
EU Web head backs Google threat to quit China The woman to become EU's top Internet official said Thursday that she backed Google's threat to quit China over the government's net censorship. "We have to have freedom of speech, we have to have the possibility to put things on the 'Net," Neelie Kroes said. 1/14/2010 3:11:33 PM
China tells web companies to obey controls In China's first official response to Google's threat to leave the country, the government Thursday said foreign internet companies are welcome but must obey the law, and it gave no hint of a possible compromise over web censorship. 1/14/2010 2:58:31 PM
Could Google mentor's gift revolutionize UBC science? A man widely hailed as the visionary behind Google has given the University of British Columbia a $2 million gift to revolutionize the way the institute teaches science. UBC grad David Cheriton, now a computer science professor at Stanford University, saw a need to transform antiquated teaching methods. 1/14/2010 2:46:58 PM
Kelowna Facebook group part of national anti-prorogation movement The power of Facebook will be put to the test on Jan. 23, when a series of more than 40 anti-prorogation rallies take place in communities across Canada, including Kelowna. “I think there is a time when the Canadian public needs to draw the line on what they feel is acceptable behaviour of politicians,” said Lisa Dahrouge. 1/14/2010 6:07:30 AM
China cheating/hacking Internet causes Google threat An Internet security expert who has been asked by Google to explore hacking attempts on that company from China says the rift between the two could forever change the face of the Internet. The attacks included the use of targeted computer viruses to spy on the G-mail accounts of several well-known Chinese dissidents. (Ed: No doubt it's government sponsored.) 1/14/2010 5:21:25 AM
2011 Ford Focus rocks segment If there is a car that North American aftermarket tuning enthusiasts, entry-level consumers and Ford dealers have been longing for more than just about any other, it’s Ford’s Euro-spec Focus, and at long last it’s at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in US-spec trim. 1/13/2010 6:23:51 PM
Light shed on fish gill mystery Biologists have cast doubt on the long-held theory that fish gills evolved primarily for the purpose of breathing. The researchers studied rainbow trout larvae. Their experiment suggests that it is likely that fish evolved gills for the primary purpose of regulating the chemicals in their bodies. 1/13/2010 6:08:01 PM
Internet He/She: Both lied about their ages, child-luring trial hears A Vancouver girl told her boyfriend she was 16, while he told her he was 17 or 18, a courtroom heard this week. The truth was the girl was just 12, while the Victoria man she met on the Internet was 24. Albert Quinones is now on trial before a B.C. Supreme Court jury. 1/13/2010 4:51:55 PM
Privacy is dead on Facebook. Get over it. Once upon a time at Facebook, or so the story from an anonymous Facebook employee goes, there was a general password employees could use to access Facebook accounts. For kicks and giggles, some Facebook employees recently interviewed on the Rumpus Web site, did just that. 1/13/2010 11:52:06 AM
Why nerds must rescue the economy Numbers are near and dear to nerds. Nerds like to guess how long it would take to for a penny dropped off the top of the empire state building to hit the ground, how many jelly beans fit in a one-liter bottle, or how piano tuners are there are in Chicago. 1/13/2010 11:44:56 AM
White House backs Google in China row The White House signalled its strong support for Google today after the company said that it would no longer submit to China's internet censors. The California-based search giant announced yesterday that it was withdrawing from China's Great Firewall. 1/13/2010 11:32:14 AM
Docs seek to stifle patients’ rants on Web sites Depending on who’s writing the rating, a certain New York plastic surgeon is either “very skilled and esthetically gifted” or “very bad,” with results that left one patient “wondering if doctor knows what a female breast looks like.” The anonymous comments are among the freewheeling posts on RateMDs.com 1/13/2010 6:48:07 AM
Montenegro's .me domain name gain When it comes to top level domain names, some countries are luckier than others. Take the Pacific Ocean island of Tuvalu, which offers the attractive .tv for the broadcast media. Or Tonga, whose .to domain has spawned sites such as go.to. Perhaps most fortunate is Montenegro, the country gained .me. 1/12/2010 6:15:19 PM
GSM phone encryption hacked, 'bad news' for users: report The phone calls of more than 80 per cent of the world's cellular users may be open to eavesdroppers, according to a report. The report claims the group has hacked the encryption used on GSM phones, a feat it says can be used by experts to listen in on phone calls. In Canada, both Rogers and Fido use GSM. 1/12/2010 5:31:04 PM
February shuttle launch on despite bad hoses for space station NASA is still shooting for a shuttle launch next month, despite bad hoses for a new room at the space station. Endeavour is supposed to blast off Feb. 7 with the Tranquility module. It's a chamber that will provide additional living quarters at the International Space Station. 1/12/2010 4:33:20 PM
Google to end censorship in China, may leave over compromise of email Google Inc. will stop censoring its search results in China and may pull out of the country completely after discovering that computers hackers had tricked human rights activists into opening their email accounts to outsiders. 1/12/2010 4:20:54 PM
Sleep helps birds remember Sleeping is known to help humans commit information to memory and learn skills, but now researchers say the same is true of birds. Researchers at the University of Chicago have found that sleep helps starlings remember how to perform a specific task. 1/12/2010 4:15:01 PM
Sea slug surprise: It’s half-plant, half-animal A green sea slug appears to be part animal, part plant. It's the first critter discovered to produce the plant pigment chlorophyll. The sneaky slugs seem to have stolen the genes that enable this skill from algae that they've eaten. With their contraband genes, the slugs can carry out photosynthesis. 1/12/2010 2:09:43 PM
Mystery object to whizz close by Earth Tomorrow A near-Earth object that could be manmade has just been discovered hurtling toward us. On Wednesday (Jan. 13), an object called 2010 AL30 will fly by Earth at a distance of just 130,000 km (80,000 miles). That's only one-third of the way from here to the moon, ie: very close. 1/12/2010 2:03:07 PM
How would you feel if you were an animal caged for scientific testing? Wearing my own clothes, I am in a room stocked with 7,000 tiny fish. The clothes are a relief after a morning spent in paper underpants, pyjamas, zip-up boiler suit, overshoes, hairnet and mask. If animal laboratories are the “hellholes” depicted by rights activists, then this is a peculiarly sterile vision of hell. 1/12/2010 8:10:17 AM
Facebook: Guantanamo guard reunited with ex-inmates (Video) Why would a former Guantanamo Bay prison guard track down two of his former captives - two British men - and agree to fly to London to meet them? The journey of reconciliation began almost a year ago in Huntsville, Texas. 1/12/2010 8:06:21 AM
Ron Jeremy says violent video games 'worse' than porn Violent video games have "a much bigger negative influence on kids" than pornography, a leading porn star has claimed. He said parents should be more worried about the harmful effects of such games. Mr Jeremy's appearance at CES in Las Vegas caused some raised eyebrows. 1/12/2010 8:03:35 AM
Genetics explains the Chinese wrinkly dog Just how did the Shar-pei get its famous wrinkled appearance? Scientists who have analysed the genetics of 10 pedigree dog breeds believe they now have the answer. The pedigree dog has become a fascination - and a remarkably useful research tool - for geneticists. 1/12/2010 8:01:27 AM
Google mentor donates $2 million to UBC David Cheriton has come a long way from his days as a UBC science student in the 1970s. The long academic road he has travelled brought him back to his alma mater Monday, where he announced an endowment of $2 million that will benefit 19,000 science students this year. 1/12/2010 4:48:19 AM
Beaver magazine finds name all wrong for Internet Canada's second oldest magazine — the Winnipeg-based history publication The Beaver — has been forced to change its name after 90 years because the title's inadvertently sexual connotation is getting caught in spam filters and preventing the publisher from reaching a new generation of readers online. 1/11/2010 6:36:00 PM
New discoveries suggest slaves didn't build pyramids Egypt displayed on Monday newly discovered tombs more than 4,000 years old and said they belonged to people who worked on the Great Pyramids of Giza, putting the discovery forth as more evidence that slaves did not build the ancient monuments. 1/11/2010 5:04:59 PM
Four-wheel-drive Lego robot carries team to championship A Lego robot named Circuit that moved up and down ramps, avoided obstacles and collected rubber rings helped win a Victoria team the big prize at a weekend tournament hosted by the B.C. Institute of Technology. 1/11/2010 4:52:22 PM
Hot gadgets at electronics show: wireless charging, iPhone TV, 3-D colour printing At the International Consumer Electronics Show last week, 3-D television, electronic readers and little laptops captured much of the attention. Here are some of the gadgets most worth keeping an eye out for this year. 1/11/2010 4:43:16 PM
Harper underestimates Facebook at his own peril Over at the National Post, Matt Gurney recently stated that "Facebook groups are just about the dumbest way to advocate a political cause." His comments echo those of a number of pundits and politicians who give online activism – and Facebook groups in particular – short shrift. 1/11/2010 3:27:01 PM
74 million a day now playing FarmVille Canadians are going mad for FarmVille – an online farming simulation that draws in 74 million users around the world every day, making it the most popular game among Facebook's 350 million users. 1/11/2010 7:10:12 AM
Cold, bad diet killed giraffe: Vet An animal autopsy indicated that lack of warmth and inappropriate diet likely killed one of two giraffes that died recently at Langley's Mountain View Conservation Centre, says the facility's veterinarian. Two Masai giraffes, a six-week old and a young adult, died at the rare-species zoo within days of each other. 1/11/2010 6:56:16 AM
Canada's DND experimenting with robot tanks and choppers Don't expect them to say "Hasta la vista, baby," but the robotic armoured vehicles and pilotless aircraft being developed by Canada's military scientists may one day be able to think for themselves. The aim is to improve on the current generation of remote-controlled devices designed for the battlefield. 1/11/2010 6:45:22 AM
Roxxxy the sex robot introduced at Las Vegas show A New Jersey company says it has developed "the world's first sex robot," a life-size rubber doll that's designed to engage the owner with conversation rather than lifelike movement. Owners will also be able to select different personalities for Roxxxy, from "Wild Wendy" to "Frigid Farrah." 1/11/2010 6:32:53 AM
Boxee Box crowned 'Last Gadget Standing' at CES The Boxee Box plugs into your TV and allows you to search and store Web content, play it on your television and and share it with your friends on social networks via a keyboard in the device's remote control. The device is scheduled to go on sale this spring and cost about $200. 1/11/2010 5:50:36 AM
Complaints greet Google phone Google is being inundated with complaints about its Nexus One phone. The touchscreen smartphone was launched on 5 January and can be bought direct from Google and used on almost any phone network. Many people are unhappy with Google only responding to questions by e-mail. 1/11/2010 5:21:30 AM
Jeremy Clarkson's 'Car of the Decade - 254 mph It all began when Volkswagen bought Bugatti, and Ferdinand Piëch — the mad-eyed boss — decided he wanted his new acquisition to make a 1,000 horsepower car that could do 400kph (248mph). Piëch was talking about a normal road car that could be driven round town like a Golf and last a thousand years. 1/10/2010 8:41:25 AM
Arthur C. Clarke's ‘2010’ still beyond reality The year 2010 has arrived, but humans have yet to travel out to the gas giants of our solar system as portrayed by Arthur C. Clarke in his book "2010: Odyssey Two" — much less unearth alien artifacts on the moon. Clarke was more than just a science fiction legend.... 1/10/2010 6:11:44 AM
California hit by 6.5-magnitude Earthquake (Video) Residents are cleaning up the damage caused by a 6.5-magnitude quake that struck Saturday off the coast of Eureka, California. Nearly a dozen aftershocks followed, the strongest at 4.5 magnitude. There was no tsunami warning issued. "It rolled and rolled and then it slammed." 1/10/2010 5:39:00 AM
Apps, apps, everywhere apps To most people these days, an "app" is something you download on your smartphone. But big tech companies, seeing how applications have boosted the appeal of gadgets such as Apple's iPhone, are starting to view apps as low-cost enhancements for a broader range of products, from netbooks to TVs and beyond. 1/10/2010 5:36:19 AM
Bathhurst, N.B.: Loblaws lawsuit backlash may linger: expert A marketing professor is amazed at how quickly public opinion on the internet spurred Loblaws to drop its lawsuit for damages in the 2008 New Brunswick accident that killed seven members of the Bathurst High School basketball team and the coach's wife. "It's disgraceful," said Lisa McLaughlin. "It's a shame." 1/9/2010 6:44:47 PM
Google seeks to trade wholesale power in U.S. Google Inc has asked the main U.S. energy regulator for authority to trade electricity in the wholesale market, which will make it easier for the Internet search giant to obtain renewable energy to power its huge data centres as part of its green initiative. 1/9/2010 11:04:18 AM
The killer app that busted ski-resort snow jobs Do you want to know how much fresh powder has really fallen on your favourite ski hill? There's an app for that. Ski resorts have for years pulled a subtle snow job on their customers, routinely inflating how much new snow falls. Once the app was embraced around a year ago, the snow jobs suddenly ceased. 1/9/2010 5:38:56 AM
WIND pushes to get Google's Nexus in Canada WIND Mobile, the startup carrier vying for market share against Canada's major wireless providers, is pursuing a powerful ally in Google. Chris Robbins said Thursday that the firm has contacted the Mountain View, Calif. search engine giant about getting the Nexus One smartphone into Canada. 1/8/2010 5:00:13 PM
FCC faces setback in ’Net neutrality push In hearing a legal dispute between the agency and Comcast Corp., a three-judge federal appeals court panel questioned the commission's authority to impose so-called "net neutrality" obligations on the nation's largest cable TV and Internet operator. 1/8/2010 3:40:10 PM
Bra colors sweep Facebook in awareness push This week a campaign apparently designed to raise awareness about breast cancer is sweeping the social networking site with a message asking women to update their status with one simple word: the color of their bra. 1/8/2010 3:38:06 PM
Texas mom 'groomed' Ontario teen for sex A 42-year-old Houston mom relentlessly "groomed" an Ontario teen online before flying north and having sex with him at a hotelU.S. authorities say. Lauri Price, a mother of four, met the boy online playing "World of Warcraft" in September 2008 when he was 15. 1/8/2010 9:21:07 AM
Avatar on course to sink Titanic Avatar is on course to become the highest grossing film of all time, making $1.14bn since its release less than three weeks ago. The Hollywood Reporter said James Cameron's film had overtaken the $1.12bn (Ł699m) taken by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. 1/8/2010 8:33:25 AM
Microsoft's hands-free games controller to launch this year (Video) Project Natal will go on sale in November 2010, Microsoft has announced. The system allows users to play games controlled by body movements and speech rather than a handheld device. Natal will work on all existing Xbox 360 consoles. 1/8/2010 8:31:49 AM
Mind-reading systems could change air security A would-be terrorist tries to board a plane, bent on mass murder. As he walks through a security checkpoint, fidgeting and glancing around, a network of high-tech machines analyzes his body language and reads his mind. Screeners pull him aside. Tragedy is averted. 1/8/2010 6:07:01 AM
Ford adding tweets, Internet radio to Sync Ford Motor Co. is adding Twitter messages and Internet radio to its in-car entertainment and communication service, known as Sync. Executives said Ford is talking with Google Inc. about bringing its services to cars as well. Ford Sync was developed by Microsoft in 2007. 1/7/2010 6:30:15 PM
'Cybermoms' get summit at gadget show "Cybermoms" have emerged as a powerful consumer group and are getting special attention at a summit being held at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The so-called mommy market is worth an estimated $90 billion US a year, co-founder of Living in Digital Times. 1/7/2010 4:35:01 PM
3-D TV coming, and sooner than later At this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, the prospect of 3-D television in your home has taken a fast and flamboyant leap. Manufacturers like Sony, Samsung, LG and Panasonic have either rolled out 3-D products or are expected to in the next couple of days. 1/7/2010 1:53:53 PM
Marketers mine your Facebook info Got an e-mail list of customers or readers and want to know more about each one, such as their full name, friends, gender, age, interests, location, job and education level? Facebook has just the free feature you're looking for, thanks to its recent privacy changes. 1/7/2010 12:44:58 PM
Project Natal, tablets and more with Microsoft's Robbie Bach Robbie Bach is trying to change the way people interact with technology. Consider the status quo: To operate computers, most people peck away at keyboards and use a mouse to scoot a digital pointer across the screen. 1/7/2010 12:38:24 PM
CES Show: Microsoft shows off 'slate' PC (Video) Microsoft and HP have teamed up to introduce a slate computer ahead of Apple's much rumoured device launch. The firms unveiled the Windows 7 powered touchscreen machine, also known as a tablet, at the Consumer Electronics Show. The aim of the device is to bridge the gap between laptops and smartphones. 1/7/2010 5:20:28 AM
Computer use transformed in the blink of an eye Forget clicking your mouse and tapping the keyboard. Soon, a wave of the hand will turn on your computer, a snap of the fingers will change tracks on your iPod, and the blink of an eye will bring up your e-mails. Microsoft is working on hands-free technology. 1/6/2010 4:58:06 PM
Better mental health through video gaming Based on knowledge that many of our reactions to life's stresses happen in a split-second and often without our awareness, Mark Baldwin's team at McGill University in Montreal started wondering whether they could program people's brains to react differently. 1/6/2010 11:38:13 AM
Nintendo shares jump on strong Wii sales Shares in Nintendo Co Ltd jumped 7 per cent on Wednesday after strong holiday sales in the United States helped erase market concerns that momentum for its Wii game console had peaked. Nintendo's U.S. Wii sales exceeded three million units last month. 1/6/2010 10:12:39 AM
Supernova explosion may wipe out earth A STAR is primed to explode in a blast that could wipe out the Earth, according to American astronomers. The experts said the Hubble space telescope photographed the star gearing up for its big bang with a series of smaller blasts or "burps", called novas. 1/6/2010 6:52:27 AM
Pornographic videos flood YouTube (Video) Video-sharing website YouTube has removed hundreds of pornographic videos which were uploaded in what is believed to be a planned attack. The material was uploaded under names of famous teenage celebrities such as Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers. 1/6/2010 6:41:02 AM
Texas woman charged with luring Ont. teen A Texas woman was arrested Tuesday for allegedly luring a 16-year-old boy from Barrie, Ont. The woman, Lauri Price, a 42-year-old mother of four, is charged with two counts of online solicitation of a minor and one count of child enticement. 1/6/2010 6:38:36 AM
Body Scanners: Weapons don't hijack planes, people do The problem is our politicians have become so worried about offending prickly minority groups they really don't seem to give a damn about the all-too-silent majority of air travellers. They also seem obsessed with the notion that hardware alone can solve the world's security problems. 1/6/2010 6:29:12 AM
Google pits Nexus 'superphone' against Apple Google Inc. took the wraps off a new Web-enabled smartphone on Tuesday it called a "superphone," a device bristling with features from speech recognition to a 3D interface that the Internet giant will sell directly to consumers. 1/6/2010 6:19:59 AM
Plate weighing 'can curb obesity' A talking, computerised weighing device that tracks how quickly food is gobbled off the plate could be a solution to childhood obesity. The Mandometer keeps tabs during meal times and tells the user if they are wolfing down meals too fast - a habit experts have linked to weight gain. 1/6/2010 4:58:45 AM
Chrome more popular than Safari: report Google's Chrome web browser was more popular than Apple's Safari as the year came to a close, according to data collected in a December 2009 report. Chrome now has a 4.63 per cent share of the browser market, followed by Safari at 4.46 per cent, according to the report by Net Applications. 1/5/2010 4:11:21 PM
Google unveils its 'super phone' Google officially entered the handset market with the launch of its Nexus One smart phone, a move mainly designed to stake out valuable real estate in the burgeoning mobile search market. The company unveiled the unlocked, customizable “super phone” and a new Web store where it can be purchased. 1/5/2010 2:52:25 PM
Hubble shows galaxies from toddler universe The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a snapshot of when the universe was just a toddler, 600 million years after the Big Bang, the earliest image yet. Astronomers on Tuesday released their most complete full-color picture of the early universe, gazing back as far as possible. 1/5/2010 12:04:46 PM
ESPN, Discovery to launch 3-D TV networks ESPN and Discovery Communications Inc both unveiled plans Tuesday to launch 3-D television networks reflecting a growing momentum in the entertainment industry to usher 3-D into the home. Following the blockbuster success of 3-D epic "Avatar," many believe 3-D is poised to take over. 1/5/2010 11:34:11 AM
Body-scanner decision 'speaks volumes about prorogation' The decision to install full body scanners at Canadian airports should have been debated in the federal Parliament. “I think it speaks volumes about prorogation,” Dennis Bevington, the MP for Western Arctic said, referring to Parliament has been suspended by the Conservatives until after the Olympics. 1/5/2010 10:45:32 AM
The 1,000mph car: How to keep it from rolling over RAF fighter pilot Andy Green intends to get behind the wheel of a car that is capable of reaching 1,000mph (1,610km/h). Powered by a rocket bolted to a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine, the Bloodhound car will mount an assault on the land speed record. 1/5/2010 7:14:54 AM
3D TV, e-readers and tablet PCs to debut at CES show Connectivity, 3D, e-readers and tablet computers are the trends to watch at the world's biggest technology conference in Las Vegas this week. The Consumer Electronics Show, CES, is famed for presenting new technologies before they hit the market. 1/5/2010 7:07:45 AM
Hands on the wheel, off the iPod British Columbia‘s new laws on the use of electronic devices while driving extend to more than cellphones. “The problem was so rampant, we were having people that were conducting business in their vehicles,” Dengis said, “and they were forgetting about driving.” 1/5/2010 6:51:04 AM
Facebook blocks deletion service Social network giant Facebook has blocked a website from accessing people's profiles in order to delete their online presence. The site, Web 2.0 Suicide Machine, offers to remove users from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Myspace. 1/5/2010 5:43:52 AM
Google expected to unveil phone today Google's new mobile phone is being released today. Google has said little about the phone except to confirm that its workers received the handsets three weeks ago for a final round of internal testing. Google is expected to provide the first concrete details about the phone. 1/5/2010 5:32:56 AM
20,000 join anti-prorogation Facebook group More than 20,000 people have joined an anti-prorogation group on Facebook following Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to suspend Parliament for two months until after the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Christopher White told CBC News that he was upset by the prime minister's decision. 1/4/2010 8:30:16 PM
Scientists say dolphins should be treated as 'non-human persons' Dolphins have been declared the world’s second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as “non-human persons”. Dolphins have distinct personalities, a strong sense of self and can think about the future. 1/4/2010 5:14:31 PM
Bono net policing idea draws fire Bono, frontman of rock band U2, has warned the film industry not to make the same mistakes with file-sharing that have dogged the music industry. Writing for the New York Times, Bono claimed internet service providers were "reverse Robin Hoods" benefiting from the music industry's lost profits. 1/4/2010 5:08:25 PM
‘Apps’ for the auto are coming You’re headed to a party but don’t know how to get there, so you decide to follow a friend. It always turns out the same: the lead car makes the light you don’t and then you’re lost, trying to figure out how to get there. 1/4/2010 4:59:36 PM
Dating site banishes 533 Canadians for weight gain Some 5,000 people have been booted off a social networking site for gaining weight over the holidays, with 533 Canadians among the so-called "festive fatties" shown the virtual door. "Canada has been one of the worst offenders," says Greg Hodge, managing director of BeautifulPeople.com. 1/4/2010 4:28:19 PM
World's tallest building set to open Dubai is set to open the world's tallest building amid tight security on Monday, celebrating the tower as a bold feat on the world stage despite the city state's shaky financial footing. The building boasts the most stories and ranks as the world's tallest structure. 1/3/2010 5:32:20 PM
Internet: Virtual friends no answer They may be more "connected" than ever, but even among young people loneliness is a problem. A recent survey found that young people worried more about loneliness than the elderly: 21 per cent of 18 to 24's said it was one of their main worries, compared with 8 per cent of the over-55s. 1/3/2010 6:03:49 AM
NASA's Spirit may rove Mars no more NASA'S Mars rover Spirit may be a rover no more after the upcoming Martian winter. It is bogged in loose sand and its solar panels may not be able to capture enough sunlight to drive it out of its current position, the US space agency said today. 1/3/2010 5:57:43 AM
Deep moon hole could be future colony Building a home near a moon crater or a lunar sea may sound nice, but moon colonists might have a much better chance of survival if they just lived in a hole. That's the message sent by an international team of scientists who say they've discovered a protected lunar "lava tube." 1/2/2010 7:37:42 PM
Tweet, app join list of hated words The Word Banishment Committee of Lake Superior State University has a message for the technically savvy this year — put down your app and chillax on the tweets, people. App, tweet and chillax are just three of the 15 words the committee has nominated for retirement from the English language. 1/2/2010 6:46:50 PM
Vernon brothers go global with robots The robots being built by Vernon brothers Hudson and Nelson Schier are taking them around the world. Hudson, a Grade 7 student at Harwood Elementary and Nelson, a Grade 5 student at Silver Star Elementary, went to Robocup 2009 in Graz, Austria with a dancing robot they named Eddy 4.0. 1/2/2010 9:47:35 AM
Technology not as advanced by 2010 as some had hoped Despite iPods, genetic sequencing, the Internet and Twitter, nearly a third of Americans said they thought there would be more technological advances by the year 2010. A survey of more than 3,000 adults showed many were less than enthusiastic about how far we have come 1/2/2010 9:22:05 AM
Apple blocking Dalai Lama iPhone applications: report Apple appears to be blocking iPhone applications related to the Dalai Lama and the exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer from its China App Store. IDG News said the move would make Apple the latest US technology company to censor its services in China. 1/2/2010 9:17:18 AM
China nabs 5,400 people in online porn crackdown Chinese authorities caught nearly 5,400 suspects last year in a crackdown on online pornography and have vowed to strengthen Internet policing. Beijing's pervasive policing of cyberspace and attempts to block the Internet are already among the world's most stringent. 1/2/2010 5:42:01 AM
Toyota's hybrid Prius faces investigation over brakes Toyota is facing a potential safety issue with its highest profile vehicle, the Prius, the latest in a plague of quality problems that forced it to recall four million vehicles in 2009. A growing number of owners allege that the brakes can malfunction unexpectedly. 1/2/2010 5:35:14 AM
Teen found after meeting his 42-year-old online 'soulmate' On Tuesday evening, 16-year-old Andrew Kane nonchalantly asked his mother and father if they would drive him from their Barrie, Ont., home to a hotel in nearby Midland, where he planned to meet a 42-year-old woman with whom he had been having a secret relationship over the Internet. 1/1/2010 5:49:12 AM
The future of brain-controlled devices In the shimmering fantasy realm of the hit movie "Avatar," a paraplegic Marine leaves his wheelchair behind and finds his feet in a new virtual world thanks to "the link," a sophisticated chamber that connects his brain to a surrogate alien, via computer. Researchers are already using brain-computer interfaces to aid the disabled. 12/31/2009 12:26:26 PM
Year to end on an appropriate note What’s been a blue year for many will end on a very appropriate note. According to Dr. Ken Tapping of the National Research Centre located in the South Okanagan, the last moon of 2009 will be a blue moon. 12/31/2009 12:22:48 PM
The top 10 Viral videos of 2009 (Video) Before she had the biggest-selling debut album in the history of the U.K. charts, frumpy Susan Boyle was YouTube's darling. In April, British television viewers watched the middle-aged Scottish woman astonish a live audience with a rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream." (Ed: See lists of others.) 12/31/2009 11:59:30 AM
Once in a blue moon event to ring in 2010; next New Year's Eve blue moon will be 2028 Once in a blue moon there is one on New Year's Eve. Revelers ringing in 2010 will be treated to a so-called blue moon. According to popular definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a month. But don't expect it to be blue. 12/31/2009 7:25:16 AM
2010 gears up for explosion of 3D If 2009 was dominated by touch technology then 2010 looks set to be the year of 3D. 3D has been one of the biggest hits of the cinemas this year and it is likely to continue its stride into other mediums during 2010, experts agree. 12/31/2009 7:07:06 AM
Motorists must change chat habits Friday Drivers can still chat up a storm while motoring along Okanagan roadways – they just have to make sure their hands are free while they do it. New laws on the use of cellphones while driving take effect provincewide Friday, and only hands-free systems will be legal. 12/31/2009 5:02:37 AM
Touch Pets Dogs for the iPhone: No Mess, No Fuss Touch Pets Dogs was released for the iPhone in early November by ngmoco, and I’ve had a chance to play with it for a while. It reminds me a lot of Nintendogs, a game my brother had on his Nintendo DS: you pick a puppy, and then you can play with it, teach it tricks, and take care of it. 12/30/2009 8:58:47 PM
Welcome to the wired future on wheels In the 1980s television series Knight Rider, David Hasselhoff plays a crime fighter driving a talking automobile named Kitt -- a black Pontiac Trans Am controlled by a computer with artificial intelligence. The show’s creator says he wanted to remake the Lone Ranger with a car. 12/30/2009 6:59:00 PM
Google phone pricing leaked: report The phone, which has been the subject of intense speculation online over the past few weeks, will sell in the United States for $530 US unlocked and without a carrier contract, or for $180 U.S. on a two-year deal with T-Mobile, according to gadget website Gizmodo. 12/30/2009 10:55:59 AM
Google loses domain dispute to Canadian startup For the second time in a week, a technology titan has been legally humbled by a small Canadian company. Last week, it was Microsoft losing an appeal regarding its Word software to Toronto-based i4i. This time it's Google, which on Tuesday lost a domain dispute to Oakville, Ont.-based Groovle. 12/30/2009 10:42:48 AM
U.K. fugitive taunts police on Facebook An escaped British prisoner is taunting police over the internet, using his Facebook page. Convicted burglar Craig Lynch, 28, has been updating his profile regularly since he escaped 3 months ago. He has been mocking authorities for failing to find him and openly musing about moving across the Atlantic. 12/30/2009 10:34:18 AM
This New Year's comes once in a blue moon No New Year's Eve plans yet? Consider bathing naked in the light of a blue moon. Otherwise known as the second full moon in a calendar month, it will show up on Thursday, back again after appearing on Dec. 2. 12/30/2009 9:39:08 AM
Russia may send spacecraft to knock asteroid off path Russia is considering sending a spacecraft to a large asteroid to knock it off its path and prevent a possible collision with Earth. When the 270-metre-long asteroid was first discovered in 2004, astronomers estimated it had as high as a 1-in-37 chance of it smashing into Earth in 2029. 12/30/2009 6:30:42 AM
Top five video games of 2009 With the holidays almost over, Canadians are now faced with the onset of that most horrific time of year: the dead of winter. It's a time when we become bear-like by hoarding food and transforming our homes into caves until the warmer weather returns. 12/30/2009 6:27:29 AM
Nokia says almost all Apple products violate patents Nokia is broadening its legal fight with Apple, saying almost all of the company's products violate its patents, not just the iPhone. The Finnish phone maker says Apple's iPhone, iPods and computers all violate its intellectual property rights. 12/29/2009 3:34:40 PM
Couple stranded after GPS leads them astray As Starry Bush-Rhoads and her husband, John, drove along a remote Oregon road on Christmas Day, their SUV struggling through freshly fallen snow, the familiar female voice of their GPS system informed them that they had just shaved two minutes off their trip home to Reno, Nev. 12/29/2009 2:06:40 PM
Out with the Aughts: The end of privacy In this series, we look at the ideas that shaped the past decade. Today, the end of privacy...With the advent of online social-networking sites, blogging, celebrity sex tapes and reality television, the past decade has seemed at times like a stampede to surrender privacy. 12/29/2009 10:16:15 AM
Author sues Google, wants money over scanned book A Chinese novelist is suing Google Inc. for scanning her work into its online library. Mian Mian, a counterculture writer known for her lurid tales of sex, drugs and nightlife, filed suit in October after the U.S. search giant scanned her latest book, "Acid House." 12/29/2009 7:51:35 AM
Excuses? Better airport scanners delayed by privacy fears High-tech security scanners that might have prevented the Christmas Day attempt to blow up a jetliner have been installed in only a small number of airports around the world, in large part because of privacy concerns over the way the machines see through clothing. The body-scanning technology is in at least 19 U.S. airports. 12/29/2009 7:22:50 AM
Keep Princeton in the top ten at Gamestown 2010.ca The wait is almost over. Local residents have been checking out the Gamestown website every Monday with breath held. Each Monday, the weekly votes are tabulated and posted under ‘Top Contenders.’ Princeton has been holding a steady second place spot in community votes. 12/29/2009 5:59:03 AM
How smart can smart phones get? Welcome to the beginning of the second BlackBerry Decade. Ten years ago, Research In Motion Ltd. was a small but growing technology firm building specialized two way pagers for businessmen and politicians. Today, RIM’s devices are sold in more than 150 countries and nearly 40 million people have a BlackBerry. 12/29/2009 5:09:04 AM
Merritt: B.C. astronomy buffs want dark-sky preserve Amateur astronomers are trying to persuade municipal officials in B.C.'s southern Interior to cut out nighttime glare from city lights and turn 1,700 hectares of mostly rural land into a dark-sky preserve. The area, nestled in the Nicola Valley, would draw astronomy buffs from around the world. 12/29/2009 4:54:20 AM
Bluetooth devices a hot buy on Boxing Day Electronics and clothing are traditionally the biggest sellers on Boxing Day, and this year was no exception - but it wasn't just flat screen TVs walking out the door. Hands-free Bluetooth devices were top sellers in Metro Vancouver on Boxing Day. 12/28/2009 9:37:10 AM
Tech changes 'outstrip' netbooks Rising prices and better alternatives may mean curtains for netbooks. The small portable computers were popular in 2009, but some industry watchers are convinced that their popularity is already waning. "The days of the netbook are over," said Stuart Miles. 12/28/2009 4:36:48 AM
# PETN a common and easily detectible explosive The explosive device used by the would-be Detroit bomber contained a widely available -- and easily detected -- chemical explosive that has a long history of terrorist use, according to experts. PETN was widely used in the plastic explosives terrorists used to blow up airplanes in the 1970s and 1980s. 12/27/2009 5:50:28 PM
Panasonic develops more powerful battery for autos, computers Panasonic Corp. has developed more powerful batteries for use in everything from laptops to electric vehicles, the Japanese electronics maker said Friday. They can raise the cruising range of electric vehicles on a single charge from 200 kilometres to about 270 kilometres, it said. 12/27/2009 8:51:21 AM
Armchair deputies enlisted to patrol US-Mexico border When John Spears gets home from his sales job in New York, he sits down at his computer with a bottle of beer and starts patrolling the US border. He is one of tens of thousands of people around the world who are volunteering to patrol the 1250-mile long (2000 km) stretch between Texas and Mexico via the web. 12/26/2009 8:07:20 PM
OMG, how obsolete am I? I exchange a lot of e-mail with a certain friend of mine, whom I'll call A. A is quite expressive, and until recently she concluded her e-mails by writing, “LOL, A.” Eventually she discovered her mistake – but only after sending several condolence messages 12/26/2009 7:27:30 PM
On Memory: Recalling music As a trigger for memories, music is a uniquely powerful medium. There is hardly a person alive who cannot be cast back to a childhood joy, or a teenage heartache, by hearing a familiar song. Other senses, such as smell, can do the same thing. 12/26/2009 12:25:22 PM
Toyota to Launch New Hybrid With the Prius in high demand, Toyota is working on another hybrid to help secure its dominant position in the future. The new car will be smaller and cheaper than the Prius, which has a starting price of $22,400. The Prius accounts for more than 75 percent of Toyota's hybrid sales. 12/26/2009 6:44:51 AM
A.I. aims to solve in-game chatter (Video) "Chatbot" technology is being used in an attempt to solve one of "the last uncracked problems" in games design. 221b, released in the run-up to the new Sherlock Holmes movie, harnesses the software to allow conversations between players and in-game characters. 12/26/2009 6:34:04 AM
Science student set to take on the world After winning medals and scholarships at local, regional and even national science fairs, Penticton Secondary student Nicholas Randall is ready to try international waters. On Jan. 30, Randall will be bound for Taipei, Taiwan to represent B.C. and Canada at the annual Taiwan International Science Fair. 12/25/2009 10:02:57 AM
A little song, a lot of dance: The year in viral video Where once political speeches and seminal films defined eras, these days, it's viral videos. The clips that get forwarded to friends by the thousands to enter the collective pop culture that we all enjoy. This year, one clip blew them all out of the virtual water: Susan Boyle. 12/25/2009 9:31:00 AM
Esa satellite senses Earth's pull Europe's Goce satellite is returning remarkable new data on the way the pull of gravity varies across the Earth. Scientists say its first maps clearly show details not seen in previous space and ground measurements. Its information is expected to bring new insights into how the oceans move. 12/25/2009 5:14:16 AM
Scientists 'decode' memory making
neurons
Neurons are core components of the brain, transmitting and processing data
US scientists believe they have uncovered one of the mechanisms that enables the brain to form memories. Synapses - where brain cells connect with each other - have long been known to be the key site of information exchange and storage in the brain. 12/24/2009 6:06:53 AM
HP camera 'can't see' black faces A YouTube video suggesting that face recognition cameras installed in HP laptops cannot detect black faces has had over one million views. The short movie, uploaded earlier this month, features "Black Desi" and his colleague "White Wanda". 12/24/2009 6:04:27 AM
New images may unravel mystery of the Northern lights (Video) Millions of Canadians have likely taken in the beauty of the aurora borealis and never wondered why the spectacular light show is exploding before their eyes. Scientists already know what causes it: an interaction between the solar wind and charged particles from space. 12/23/2009 2:40:46 PM
Turn over Facebook history, judge orders A New Brunswick judge has ordered a Miramichi woman to reveal how often she uses the social-networking website Facebook to a man she's suing after a 2004 car crash. e wrote in his decision there's a low threshold for disclosing evidence and it met the "semblance of relevance" test. 12/23/2009 5:59:06 AM
RIM says software update may be cause of BlackBerry problems The BlackBerry email service appears to still be having problems Wednesday morning after a widespread outage erupted overnight. Research in Motionthe Waterloo, Ont.,-based BlackBerry maker, confirms there are some email delays and said it had technical crews working on a solution. 12/23/2009 5:39:33 AM
Soyuz docked with space station (Video) A Russian spacecraft carrying an international crew has docked with the International Space Station, Russia's mission control says. American Timothy J Creamer, Soichi Noguchi of Japan and Russia's Oleg Kotov were on board. They join an American and a Russian currently on the station. 12/22/2009 6:10:06 PM
Facebook sex scam US teenager makes plea bargain A US teenager who blackmailed fellow students at his secondary school to have sex after using their Facebook images has agreed a plea bargain. Anthony Stancl, 19, who pleaded "no contest" to repeated sexual assault of a child - faces up to 50 years in jail. 12/22/2009 6:05:16 PM
Bird-like dinosaur was 'venomous' A bird-like dinosaur that prowled an ancient forest 125 million years ago used venom to subdue its prey, according to a new theory. Sinornithosaurus's upper teeth resemble those of "rear-fanged" snakes which bite their prey and channel venom into the wound. 12/22/2009 5:59:18 PM
LED Christmas lights don't cut it: holdouts Holdouts to the LED Christmas light revolution are finding it harder to get replacement bulbs for well-loved incandescent strings that have been passed on within families. Steve Walls of Oklahoma has been using the same old-style, torpedo-shaped Christmas lights for years. 12/22/2009 4:53:46 PM
The top 20 video games of 2009 Lists. We all love them—especially when we’re the ones making them. Of course, they’re generally rubbish, representing as they do the views of the person who makes them and no one else. But they’re still a fun and tidy way to organize our thoughts and opinions. 12/22/2009 7:31:05 AM
Canadian shouldn't have received Nobel, ex-colleagues say Former colleagues of a Canadian physicist recently awarded the Nobel Prize say the Royal Swedish Academy made a big mistake. Earlier this month, the academy cited Nova Scotia's Willard Boyle and American George Smith for inventing an image sensor that revolutionized photography. 12/21/2009 9:10:00 PM
One-month grace before cell ban kicks in: Heed Drivers will have a one-month grace period after a sweeping cell phone ban takes effect January 1, the B.C.'s solicitor general announced at a busy Vancouver intersection Monday. In just 11 days, drivers will only be allowed to use hands-free cell phones and devices that require only one touch to activate. 12/21/2009 6:01:53 PM
Snow removal: The Frakenblower When Kai Grundt decided to solve his snow-clearing problems, he didn't take half-measures. Mr. Grundt retreated into his garage with an arc welder, a truck axle and a Chevrolet V-8 engine. Three months later, he emerged with a machine that will probably go down in overkill history. 12/21/2009 5:18:50 AM
An iPhone in every crib, an app for every toddler Zacharie Bishop wriggled around in his booster seat, gawking at the flurry of activity around him at a Vancouver restaurant. As the two-year-old repeatedly stood up and sat back down, his mother, nibbling on an order of French toast, tried to distract him with crayons and scribble pad. No dice. 12/21/2009 5:07:21 AM
Earth on track for epic die-off, scientists say If the course of human history is any model, then the wheels are already turning on Earth's sixth mass extinction, thanks to habitat destruction, pollution and now global warming, a scientific analysis of millions of years of data revealed Friday. 12/20/2009 4:59:02 PM
Public's perception of nuclear power may be affected by TV's Simpsons:professor An American philosophy professor who has edited a series of books about how TV programs such as The Simpsons have affected popular culture says many people may be concerned about nuclear power from watching the animated cartoon show. The debate over nuclear power has been raging in Saskatchewan and Alberta. 12/20/2009 4:46:29 PM
Astronauts lift-off in Christmas season launch Three astronauts from the United States, Japan and Russia received the go-ahead Saturday for a holiday season rocket launch. Their Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft has been hoisted into place at the Baikonur centre for a mission that will boost the number of crew at the orbital laboratory to five members. 12/20/2009 5:55:41 AM
Summerland Museum to launch online exhibit Paintings, photographs and pieces of Summerland history will soon join many other communities as part of the Virtual Museum of Canada. Sherril Foster said the museum is putting the final touches on their submission to the federal online archive, more than 170 images along with historical notes. 12/20/2009 4:28:11 AM
In scientific first, researchers witness volcanic lava flows deep in Pacific Ocean Scientists have witnessed the eruption of the deepest submarine volcano ever discovered, capturing for the first time video of fiery bubbles of molten lava as they exploded 4,000 feet (1,200 metres) beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean in what researchers are calling a major geological discovery. 12/19/2009 6:20:15 PM
Battle for the oil sands Inside a small garage-like laboratory in a north-east Calgary industrial park, there sits a box. what it contains makes this a serious experiment. This box is designed to find a new way to lift the oil out of the thick, crude-filled sand that surrounds Fort McMurray. 12/19/2009 2:33:00 PM
Winter Solstice Monday, shortest day of the year While the weather may be getting colder and the nights longer, winter doesn’t officially begin in the Northern Hemisphere until around December 21st. Known as the Winter solstice, for locations north of the equator the Sun is the lowest in the southern sky making it the shortest day of the year. 12/19/2009 6:41:17 AM
3-D's next frontier: your living room Before Avatar opened in theatres this week, industry watchers were already hailing the big-budget film by Titanic director James Cameron as the future of 3-D. The technology may already be a staple in newly released family films, but Avatar is something different: It's aimed at adults. 12/19/2009 6:09:56 AM
The first glimpse of dark matter? US scientists have reported the detection of signals that could indicate the presence of dark matter. A team announced on Thursday detecting two events with characteristics "consistent with" what physicists believe make up the elusive matter. 12/19/2009 5:44:26 AM
'Boat' could explore Saturn moon A daring proposal to try to put a "boat" down on a sea of Saturn's moon Titan is about to be submitted to Nasa. The scientific team behind the idea is targeting Ligeia Mare, a vast body of liquid methane sited in the high north of Saturn's largest moon. 12/19/2009 5:42:23 AM
Porn popular with young web surfers Just when you thought little Susie was surfing for news of Twilight or Johnny was looking for Lego parts comes the distressing news from Symantec that youngsters have put sex and porn among the top overall search terms for kids age 18 and under. Symantec announced the results of data collected. 12/19/2009 4:49:14 AM
James Cameron's Avatar a jaw-dropping, epic, 3-D science-fantasy Only a filmmaker who once declared himself "king of the world" would have the ego to attempt something like Avatar, a nearly three-hour movie with an estimated $300-million US price tag that features characters who look like pointy-eared castoffs from the Blue Man Group. 12/18/2009 5:01:22 PM
Iraqi insurgents intercepted video feed of U.S. drones Insurgents in Iraq have intercept live video feeds from Predator drones, a major weapon in a Pentagon spy system that serves as the military's eyes in the sky. Although militants could see the video, there is no evidence they were able to jam the electronic signals. 12/18/2009 5:45:59 AM
Canadians support online voting: poll Nearly two-thirds of Canadians would be very likely or somewhat likely to vote online in the next federal election, a new EKOS poll suggests. Canadians were asked if Elections Canada offered a safe way of voting on the internet, how likely is it that they would use it. 12/17/2009 4:53:37 PM
Candu Nuclear reactor division to be sold The federal government is selling off its commercial Candu nuclear reactor division, Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt announced. Raitt said the government has invited investors to submit proposals. The bid for investors does not include the Chalk River Laboratories, where medical isotopes are produced. 12/17/2009 4:47:35 PM
Unexpected roaming charges vex consumers It took Robert Lendvai just 20 seconds and $600 to download a power-point presentation onto his BlackBerry while vacationing with his family in the Dominican Republic last March. By his reckoning, $600 for 20 seconds of work was a jackpot return for his wireless carrier, Rogers. 12/17/2009 2:55:22 PM
Geologist’s drill causes earthquake A geologist searching for cheap, clean energy is facing up to five years in jail for causing a series of earthquakes after drilling 3 miles (5km) down in an effort to generate electricity from hot rocks. 12/17/2009 1:22:13 PM
Human's Stone Age diet included processed grains A Canadian archeologist exploring a cave in Mozambique has found the earliest evidence of prehistoric humans using and processing wild grains for food. Julio Mercader of the University of Calgary found dozens of stone tools dating back more than 100,000 years ago. 12/17/2009 1:02:28 PM
BlackBerry email returning to normal after outage BlackBerry users in North America are slowly regaining access to email after a long shut down due to an unspecified network issue. Users with individual plans were unable to access email starting at about 3:15 a.m. Those under corporate plans received email as usual. 12/17/2009 12:51:38 PM
'Sexting' on the rise among U.S. teens (Canadians too) Fifteen per cent of U.S. teenagers aged 12 to 17 who own cellphones have received nude or nearly nude images of someone they know, according to a survey. The Pew survey found that girls and boys were equally as likely to have sent a suggestive picture to another person. 12/17/2009 7:30:36 AM
Check your Facebook privacy settings. Now! If Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg can't figure out his social networking site's privacy settings after they were ripped open earlier this month, what hope is there for the rest of us? Zuckerberg has since slammed the door on his Facebook profile's open access, and it's time for you to do the same. 12/17/2009 6:19:24 AM
YouTube video leads to Hollywood contract A producer from Uruguay who uploaded a short film to YouTube in November 2009 has been offered a $30m (Ł18.6m) contract to make a Hollywood film. The movie will be sponsored by director Sam Raimi, whose credits include the Spiderman and Evil Dead films. 12/17/2009 5:25:40 AM
Startup WIND offers cellphone service without the contract Startup cellphone carrier WIND Mobile says it will sell handsets at cost while offering customers pricing plans for “unlimited” voice and data services for far less money than its rival incumbents. 12/17/2009 5:13:09 AM
EU drops Microsoft browser charges The European Union said Wednesday it is dropping antitrust charges against Microsoft after the company agreed to give Windows users a choice of up to 12 other Web browsers. This will also allow computer manufacturers to ship PCs without Internet Explorer in Europe. 12/16/2009 4:39:21 PM
Cancer treatment takes a giant step, scientists crack code The complete genetic codes of two human cancers have been mapped for the first time. The move could herald a medical revolution in which every tumour can be targeted with personalised therapy. It's the most significant milestone in cancer research in more than a decade. 12/16/2009 4:17:05 PM
Organic molecules found ... on the moon? Indian researchers say they have found organic matter on the moon, a discovery that may be seconded by U.S. teams analyzing a plume of debris kicked up by the deliberate crash of a rocket body into a lunar crater. 12/16/2009 3:58:48 PM
McDonald's to provide free Wi-Fi in U.S. locations McDonald's Corp. said Monday that it will soon offer free wireless Internet access at most of its U.S. fast-food restaurants as it tries to broaden its appeal still further. "We're not just about hamburgers," said Dave Grooms. "We are about convenience and all kinds of value." 12/16/2009 6:27:33 AM
Microsoft admits blog code theft Microsoft has indefinitely suspended its Chinese microblogging service MSN Juku after admitting that it "copied" code used to create the site. A vendor contracted to work for the software giant was caught lifting code from a rival Canadian start-up, Plurk. 12/16/2009 6:07:34 AM
Susan Boyle tops YouTube's most-watched list The year's biggest hits on the internet's top video channel were anchored by an improbable singing sensation, a groggy boy nursing a sore mouth, a bride and groom dancing down the wedding aisle, supernatural heartthrobs and roller-skating babies. 12/16/2009 5:49:20 AM
Vint Cerf: we've only scratched internet's surface It's only over the past decade, when slow dial-up access gave way to faster broadband, that the internet began to revolutionize virtually every aspect of our lives, from communications and entertainment to education and government. 12/16/2009 5:48:15 AM
Boeing's new 787 jetliner takes off Boeing Co.'s new 787 jetliner finally took to the skies Tuesday, shortly after 10 a.m. PST from Everett's Paine Field on a four-hour flight over Washington state, beginning the extensive flight test program needed to obtain the plane's Federal Aviation Administration certification. 12/15/2009 12:32:52 PM
Globalive expected to offer Wind Mobile at $15 a month Wind Mobile, the cellphone offering by Globalive, which last week received federal government approval to operate in Canada, will “make a highly anticipated announcement” on Wednesday, the company said Monday. 12/15/2009 12:15:27 PM
New planets found around sun-like stars Astronomers have found as many as six new planets orbiting nearby stars that are very similar to our sun. Two of the planets are "super-Earths," rocky planets with masses five and 7.5 times the mass of Earth. They are the first super-Earths to be found around a sun-like star, the researchers say. 12/15/2009 8:54:33 AM
Australia introduces web filters Australia intends to introduce filters which will ban access to websites containing criminal content. The banned sites will be selected by an independent classification body guided by complaints from the public, said Communications Minister Stephen Conroy. 12/15/2009 6:55:42 AM
Cable, satellite revenue still rising: StatsCan Revenue at Canada's cable and satellite companies rose 14.4 per cent in 2008, the third consecutive year of double-digit increases. The cable and satellite companies are waging a public battle with the conventional television broadcasters. (Ed: The choice of pictures is not a mistake.) 12/15/2009 6:09:49 AM
Rogers charges for texts contract says are free A B.C. mother with three teenagers is speaking out about how Rogers Wireless cost her money she didn't expect to pay by arbitrarily changing the terms of her contract for her children's cellphones. It clearly states, "All text messages received are free." 12/15/2009 6:06:33 AM
Mass-produced electric car unveiled in Vancouver A car that automaker Nissan hopes will revolutionize urban commuting made its Canadian debut in Vancouver Monday. The Nissan Leaf is being touted as the first zero-emissions vehicle powered entirely by electricity to be mass-produced by a major car manufacturer. 12/15/2009 6:04:08 AM
Creating a Cableless Living Room Welcome to our living room. Take a seat, make yourself comfortable. Would you like to watch a movie, or the new “Family Guy” episode? Oh, that, over there. You want to know why there’s a pile of gadgets and wires on the floor? 12/14/2009 2:46:32 PM
Viruses That Leave Victims Red in the Facebook It used to be that computer viruses attacked only your hard drive. Now they attack your dignity. Malicious programs are rampaging through Web sites like Facebook and Twitter, spreading themselves by taking over people’s accounts and sending out messages to all of their friends and followers. 12/14/2009 2:01:07 PM
Google's Android phone new assault on iPhone Google Inc.'s development of a mobile phone that uses its Android operating system marks a new push by the company to take on Apple Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd. in the smart-phone market, analysts said. 12/14/2009 1:15:45 PM
Toyota forced to pull lewd website commercial (Video) It probably seemed like a good idea at the time. Hold an online competition for a short film promoting a car sold mainly to young women, then launch the winning film onto social network sites, sit back and watch the car fly out the doors. 12/14/2009 9:49:01 AM
New Facebook privacy settings make your private photos public As far as I can tell there is no way to keep your profile picture private on Facebook anymore. Not only that, Facebook has also now decided, in its infinite wisdom, that the whole world should know who all your friends are and what organizations, TV shows and/or political parties you are a fan of. 12/14/2009 9:27:45 AM
New telescope will hunt threats to Earth NASA launched a new telescope into space on Monday to scan the cosmos for undiscovered objects, including asteroids and comets that might threaten Earth. WISE will spend the next nine months in orbit, 326 miles above the Earth, mapping the universe in infrared light. 12/14/2009 8:16:19 AM
Have a look at Climate change in Google Earth (Video) Explore the potential impacts of climate change on our planet Earth and learn about solutions for adaptation and mitigation, in the context of the United Nation's Climate Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen. (Ed: The video and links do a pretty good job of explaining the world wide effects of climate change.) 12/14/2009 6:20:39 AM
UK: More drivers using mobile phones since penalty introduced (Video) More drivers are using hand-held mobile phones than before tougher penalties were introduced two years ago, the Transport Research Laboratory has said. Safety campaigners argue hands-free mobiles are little better because most of the problems come from the concentration. 12/14/2009 5:01:24 AM
Walking harpsichord-viola designed by da Vinci being played The first functional model of a harpsichord-viola designed by Leonardo da Vinci more than 500 years ago will have its premiere in New York City. The instrument combines a harpsichord keyboard with the sound of a viola. The instrument can play chords, like a piano. In Leonardo's time pianos didn't exist. 12/13/2009 11:15:23 AM
Good! Bankers 'whacked' in arcade game An arcade game that allows people to vent their anger at bankers has proved so popular the owner keeps having to replace worn out mallets. Inventor Tim Hunkin introduced "Whack a Banker", which is based on the older "Whack a Mole" game, at his arcade in Suffolk. "I keep having to replace worn-out mallets," he said. 12/13/2009 10:58:33 AM
Skywatchers await meteor shower Skygazers in the northern hemisphere are preparing for the high point of the annual Geminids meteor shower. The shower is expected to be especially easy to see this year because it is nearly the new Moon, meaning there is less moonlight to obscure it. 12/13/2009 10:55:54 AM
More heat on Facebook as privacy advocates slam changes Privacy advocates slammed revamped Facebook privacy controls on Thursday, saying the change masks a move to get members to expose more information online. The controversy came a day after Facebook began requiring users to refine settings with a new software tool. 12/13/2009 10:33:45 AM
Wheels: Muscle car pushes Prius out of the way That bane of any new-car salesperson, Consumer Reports, has come out with its annual "most satisfied new-car owner" list, and in a bit of a surprise move, the Dodge Challenger V8 muscle car has ousted the Toyota Prius as this year's overall winner. 12/13/2009 10:18:09 AM
Beware 'free-sample' online offers Wouldn't it be nice to have white, bright teeth? Jamie Naessens thought so. She went to the website, www.premiumwhitepro.com, and agreed to pay $1.95 (U.S.) to cover shipping costs. But a confirmation email showed $11.90 charged to her credit card. 12/13/2009 9:57:50 AM
Volume turned down on MP3 players The European Commission is calling for a suggested maximum volume to be set on MP3 players, to protect users' hearing. The commission wants all MP3 players sold in the EU, including iPods, to share the same volume limits. 12/13/2009 6:04:05 AM
Wireless devices may read words in the brain Wireless brain-machine interfaces could one day scan minds in real-time to help people with brain injuries talk. "It should soon be possible for profoundly paralyzed individuals who are currently incapable of speaking to produce speech through a laptop computer," Frank Guenther told LiveScience. 12/12/2009 9:17:06 AM
Genetic 'map' of Asia's diversity An international scientific effort has revealed the genetics behind Asia's diversity. Their findings support the hypothesis that Asia was populated primarily through a single migration event from the south. Previously, there has been some debate about whether Asia was populated in two waves. 12/12/2009 4:44:56 AM
First audiences rave about 'Avatar' James Cameron's feverishly-awaited sci-fi blockbuster "Avatar" has enjoyed its world premiere to strong reviews. Hyped as the most technically-ambitious and expensive film ever made, "Avatar," had a lot to live up to. It looks like the "Titanic" director's decade-long gamble had paid off. 12/11/2009 4:05:17 PM
Looking for alien Earths? Here they come Scientists are on their way to discovering thousands of new planets, potentially including hundreds of worlds the size of Earth, in Earth-like orbits around sunlike stars. They expect to achieve that goal within three years or so. But they'll start with the weirdest worlds. 12/11/2009 3:45:51 PM
Warning: Facebook phone app collects non-users' contact information A Facebook feature for cellphones is providing the company with a record of personal information about people who don't use the social networking site. Once enabled on a user's phone, it allows Facebook to upload all the names, email addresses and phone numbers from the phone's contact list. 12/11/2009 11:28:26 AM
1st high-energy collisions seen at Large Hadron Collider The world's largest atom smasher has recorded its first high-energy collisions of protons. Physicists hope those collisions will help them understand suspected phenomena such as dark matter, antimatter and ultimately the creation of the universe billions of years ago. 12/11/2009 11:07:25 AM
Globalive says wireless network launch imminent Upstart wireless company Globalive said it could launch its Wind cellphone network "as early as Monday" in Toronto and Calgary after the federal government approved its ownership structure Friday. Globalive plans to have its wireless service available across the country in 2010. 12/11/2009 10:21:49 AM
Canada getting a new cellphone provider, will it cost less? Industry Minister Tony Clement said Friday the federal cabinet decided to “vary” an October ruling by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission that Globalive could not enter Canada because it violated ownership rules. 12/11/2009 8:01:54 AM
Scientist discovers new way to repair damaged nerves After she arrived in Canada from Jamaica, 18-year-old Patrice Smith repeated her final year of high school in hopes of winning a university scholarship. And discovery, announced Thursday, is of a new way to coax damaged nerves to repair themselves. 12/11/2009 5:58:16 AM
Teens ignore laws against texting while driving Karen Cordova, a 17-year-old high school student and part-time supermarket cashier, admits she sometimes texts friends while driving home from work late at night, lonely and bored. But would a nationwide ban stop Cordova and her friends from texting in their cars? No way, she said. 12/11/2009 5:07:42 AM
Sex, lies and online profiles: Can you spot the fakes? Women lie more about their weight and men more about their height and balding patterns, says new research into deception in online dating profiles from a Cornell University professor who once worked as a Canadian border guard. Online daters who are lying tend to avoid using the words “I” and “me.” 12/10/2009 7:04:24 PM
November video game sales slump A market researcher says Americans spent 8 percent less on video games in November than in the same month last year. Retail sales of video game systems, software and accessories totaled $2.7 billion during the month, the NPD Group said Thursday. 12/10/2009 6:03:35 PM
Insurance Company Tricks: Internet users lured to oppose health bills Internet users looking for gift cards and other free merchandise are being steered to Web pages inviting them to send e-mails to Congress expressing their views on President Barack Obama’s push to reshape the country’s health system. 12/10/2009 5:59:32 PM
Discovery reveals where dinosaurs originated Scientists have not known with any confidence where initial dinosaur prints were made. Much more recently, hikers stumbled across a few bits of bone at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, leading to the discovery of a game-changing dinosaur that reveals where it all began. 12/10/2009 5:29:12 PM
Real Christmas trees ‘greener’ than fake Because of concerns over deforestation around the world, many people naturally worry that buying a real tree might contribute to that problem. But most Christmas trees for sale these days are grown not in the forest but on tree farms, for the express purpose of being cut. 12/10/2009 4:19:56 PM
World's fastest train unveiled in China (Video) As China's economy and population expand, so do its transport needs. Although car ownership is on the increase, the Government is investing more in the railways. China now has the fastest train in the world. 12/10/2009 4:04:27 PM
Canadian physicist accepts his Nobel Prize Willard Boyle, the Canadian scientist whose work virtually invented digital photography, received his Nobel Prize in Physics on Thursday alongside this year's laureates. The technology works as the "eye" of digital cameras and camcorders today. 12/10/2009 3:46:11 PM
Apple reveals top iPhone apps of 2009 For those whose high-tech itch isn't satiated by the phone, web browser, MP3 player, camera, video player, stock ticker, maps, weather updates, and compass that come installed with the iPhone, Apple has released a list of the best downloadable applications of 2009. 12/10/2009 12:38:56 PM
French army sides with Mozilla in Microsoft e-mail war A new e-mail client unveiled by Mozilla this week contains code from an unusual source – the French military, which decided the open source product was more secure than Microsoft's rival Outlook. 12/10/2009 11:45:39 AM
Roomba - Top Christmas gift for a Family (Video) It seems that every year before Christmas time the popularity of the automatic vaccum cleaner, the Roomba, surges. Roomba is the small electric circle that can sense dirt on a floor, then go and pick it up. The Roomba gained worldwide popularity 4 years ago and has been a popular gift ever since. 12/10/2009 11:27:31 AM
Facebook faces criticism on privacy change Digital rights groups and bloggers have heaped criticism on Facebook's changed privacy policy. Critics said the changes were unwelcome and "nudged" people towards sharing updates with the wider web and made them findable via search engines. 12/10/2009 7:28:30 AM
Sechelt girl's false Facebook abduction story spreads like wildfire A young Sechelt girl's made-up story of being abducted spread like a cancer and spawned other, equally false stories of abduction on the Sunshine Coast. Sunshine Coast RCMP issued a notice Tuesday in an effort to squash the stories. 12/10/2009 4:49:02 AM
Spiral Light show sparks UFO buzz in Norway A spectacular light show visible from northern Norway has energized the UFO crowd. Was that blazing pinwheel in the sky a signal from the aliens? Was it a practice run for an elaborate worldwide messianic hoax? You'd expect the experts to come out with a less sensational explanation, and they have. 12/9/2009 8:27:52 PM
Super cute kitty video the latest Internet sensation Stuck at home and bored because of the storm? Tired of worrying about the HST? Overwhelmed by the dire predictions from the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen? Then “Surprised Kitty” is for you. A 17-second YouTube video, billed as the “cutest kitten ever.” 12/9/2009 8:18:15 PM
How GPS can measure snowfall Researchers have figured out how to harness a "nuisance" GPS signal to measure how much snow has fallen. GPS signals bounce off the ground and arrive later than direct satellite signals, so they've been largely ignored, aerospace engineering professor Kristine Larson explained. 12/9/2009 4:31:24 PM
Zenn to close Quebec electric car plant Zenn Motor Company says it will close facilities in Quebec's Laurentians region, as it phases out production of low-speed electric vehicles. The Toronto-based company indicated Monday it will close its St-Jérome, Que., plant in April 2010. 12/9/2009 12:03:04 PM
Testosterone leads to fairness, not aggression: researchers Testosterone doesn't cause people to become aggressive or risky as many people believe but actually encourages fairness. Instead, the study, published this week in Nature, found that women who received the testosterone behaved more fairly and had fewer conflicts in their negotiations. 12/9/2009 11:44:59 AM
B.C. pastor gets jail time for making explicit video A Surrey, B.C., pastor has been sentenced to jail time for making an explicit video of a young teenage girl and distributing it on the internet. Larry Robert Collins, 45, was convicted on child pornography charges Tuesday. 12/9/2009 7:37:17 AM
Twitter creator unveils new venture Twitter creator Jack Dorsey Wednesday gave the first public demonstration of his hotly-anticipated latest venture -- a device to allow credit card payments by cell phone -- and revealed it would be given away for free. Square, a tiny cube about an inch in length, contains a magnetic strip reader. 12/9/2009 5:54:31 AM
Battery made of paper charges up Batteries made from plain copier paper could make for future energy storage that is truly paper thin. The approach relies on the use of carbon nanotubes - tiny cylinders of carbon - to collect electric charge. 12/9/2009 4:47:48 AM
CTV, Global and CBC band together on 'consumer first' solution Standing before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, conventional broadcasters CTV Inc., Global TV and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. say they have crafted a “consumer first” solution to the so-called fee-for-carriage debate. 12/8/2009 3:51:06 PM
Monitoring device: LoJack for the Infirm The idea of using an electronic device to monitor the movements of people and pets is not new. Several products exist that use GPS technology to keep an eye on kids, animals and those with some form of dementia. Now a new company has created a monitoring device with a twist. 12/8/2009 11:00:53 AM
It's Google Chrome Day! Extensions & Mac Version Available Now Google Chrome may be the best browser on the market. It's faster and more stable than Firefox and today began opening up to user modification with the availability of more than 300 browser extensions. Official Mac and Linux versions were just made available today as well. 12/8/2009 10:55:42 AM
Boxee, a Start-Up, to Offer a Device to Put Web Video on TV Boxee, a start-up that is trying to bring the boundless selection of Web video to the living-room television, said on Monday that it would put its software into a set-top box that will go on sale next year. They will make a device that will allow people to browse Internet videos on their TVs. 12/8/2009 10:54:13 AM
Yahoo launches online consumer privacy tool A new online tool from Yahoo Inc. will let users see and edit the personal profiles that the Internet company compiles about them to target Internet advertising. Yahoo's new Ad Interest Manager is part of a broader industry push toward self-regulation amid mounting concerns about online privacy in Washington. 12/8/2009 9:30:58 AM
Closed-circuit TV: Public safety tool or prying eyes? About 100 closed-circuit cameras will be keeping an eye on high-traffic pedestrian areas throughout Vancouver during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the city announced Monday. The city says the cameras will enhance public safety and will be deactivated once the Games are over. 12/8/2009 7:34:17 AM
Online spoofs targeting Tiger Woods go viral Christmas may be a time of good cheer, but peace and good will likely weren't on the minds of people behind a growing number of online spoofs aimed at poking fun Tiger Woods' alleged martial infidelity. The Tiger Woods Voicemail Slow Jam is the most popular of the spoofs. (*Link here.) 12/7/2009 12:56:15 PM
Software models aid gene expression toxin study Digital 3D models of the workings of genes are helping unpick the process of aging and how toxins poison the body. Scientists are using the technique to give a fuller picture of which genes respond to toxins and how poisons corrupt the biochemistry of worms. 12/7/2009 7:50:37 AM
Scientists, lawyers mull effects of home robots We're still far from the sci-fi dream of having robots whirring about and catering to our every need. But little by little, we'll be sharing more of our space with robots in the next decade, as prices drop and new technology creates specialized machines. 12/6/2009 6:41:05 PM
UK: Government Health IT system to be scaled back The government is to scale back its $20Billion NHS IT system in what the Tories are calling a "massive U-turn". Chancellor Alistair Darling said he would be delaying parts of the scheme in Wednesday's pre-Budget Report as it was "not essential to the frontline". 12/6/2009 8:21:34 AM
Sony signs 3-D video deal for 2010 World Cup The 2010 World Cup is going 3-D. Sony Corp said Friday it has signed a deal with FIFA, the international football governing body, to record up to 25 World Cup games in 3-D – a technology that gives viewers an illusion of depth on the screen. Sony plans to sell 3-D TVs for homes next year. 12/6/2009 5:34:17 AM
Okanagan Mixed-martial artist missing for more than a week More than one thousand people have joined a Facebook page dedicated to finding a missing Kelowna, B.C., mixed-martial arts fighter and promoter. Geoffrey Gordon Meisner, 33, disappeared Nov. 27, according to a missing person poster distributed by his family and friends. 12/5/2009 5:50:02 PM
Kelowna man charged with internet luring A Kelowna man is facing 33 sexual assault charges in connection with luring teenaged girls over the internet. RCMP Staff Sgt. Terry McLachlan said a man allegedly offered to buy the girls – between 13 and 16 – alcohol, drugs and cigarettes in return for sexual favours. 12/5/2009 5:28:20 PM
Kids still marketed violent entertainment content Violent entertainment is still being marketed to young kids, seven years after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission recommended music, TV and video companies voluntarily halt the practice, says an FTC report. 12/5/2009 5:35:11 AM
iPhone orchestra ready for debut A group of US students has created an entire orchestra out of separate iPhone applications. As part of their studies, the group from the University of Michigan built the applications themselves and composed music for them. 12/5/2009 5:25:16 AM
Lethal – from half a world away TWO weeks ago in Pakistan, CIA operatives killed eight people suspected of being militants linked to al-Qaeda, and wounded two others in a compound said to be used for terrorist training. Then, their job done, the CIA men drove home from the agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia. 12/4/2009 6:33:44 PM
Court orders Wikipedia to reveal identity of editor A nasty office dispute has led to the first court order against Wikipedia to disclose the identity of one of its editors. The entry "contained private and confidential information of a sensitive nature concerning herself and her child," the judge said. 12/4/2009 5:38:10 PM
Dutch scientists grow meat, see end to factory farming Scientists who have grown meat in a Dutch laboratory are hopeful that their breakthrough could eliminate the need for factory farming within a decade. 12/4/2009 5:24:27 PM
Did life begin in Sudbury, Ontario? The mountain-sized meteorite that struck Sudbury nearly two billion years ago — the northern Ontario city is a global mining mecca — may have also triggered changes in Earth's ocean chemistry that allowed complex life to begin evolving, two U.S. government scientists have theorized. 12/4/2009 5:06:23 PM
Ottawa boy ordered to shut down his radio station Industry Canada has ordered a 14-year-old Ottawa boy to shut down the unlicensed radio station he started a week ago. Jayhaed Saadé received a note from Industry Canada a few days after he began broadcasting his all-music pirate radio station MIX 91.9 FM. 12/4/2009 6:03:43 AM
Mobiles 'not causing brain risk' There has been no substantial change in the number of adult brain tumours since mobile phone usage sharply increased in the mid-1990s, Danish scientists say. The Danish Cancer Society looked at the rates of brain tumours among 20 to 79 year olds from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. 12/4/2009 5:20:40 AM
Video game's gay love scene stirs controversy It's when the male elf assassin and the strapping warrior peel off their clothes and start making out that you know you've left the realm of traditional video games far, far behind. It's the prelude to a same-sex love scene in the recently released role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins. 12/4/2009 4:58:30 AM
Supreme Court tightens Internet luring rules The law will no longer shield pedophiles who groom children over the Internet, the Supreme Court of Canada said yesterday in a ruling that moves Canada to the forefront of an international battle to stamp out online child exploitation. 12/4/2009 4:54:52 AM
Smart phones give disabled help on the go One day, a new driver dropped him off on the opposite side of the street. This made it difficult for Mr. Raman to get to his home, because he is blind. He and his colleagues went to work on a software application that uses a smart phone's capabilities to help users figure out where they are. 12/3/2009 1:47:50 PM
Summerland Cell tower now in operation The new cellular telephone tower in Summerland is now active. Shawn Hall with Telus Media Relations said the tower was made active as of Tuesday. The new network provides customers with one of the fastest broadband Internet services and allows customers to use IPhones and similar devices. 12/3/2009 1:02:01 PM
Hey, Tiger Woods: Why so dumb about tech? We’re talking about Tiger Woods here, and the voice mail message he left to an alleged mistress, released earlier this week by Us Weekly. In review: “Hey, it’s, uh, it’s Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favor. Um, can you please, uh, take your name off your phone. My wife went through my phone. And, uh, may be calling you." 12/3/2009 12:45:08 PM
Think your kid isn't ‘sexting’? Think again Sexting — sharing sexually explicit photos, videos and chat by cell phone or online — is fairly commonplace among young people, despite sometimes grim consequences for those who do it. More than a quarter of young people have been involved in sexting in some form, an Associated Press-MTV poll found. 12/3/2009 11:17:32 AM
Google strengthens news content walls In a nod to the growing debate on free access to news stories on the Web, Google has updated options to help news organizations limit access. The move comes after revelations that Microsoft has been in talks with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and other publishers to de-list from Google. 12/3/2009 6:24:08 AM
Facebook to lose geography networks, add privacy features Facebook users will soon lose the ability to join a network of friends who live in the same area but will gain the widely desired ability to control who sees every piece of information they post. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said the social networking site has outgrown regional networks. 12/3/2009 5:56:26 AM
Intel unveils 48-core cloud chip Intel has unveiled a prototype chip that packs 48 separate processing cores on to a chunk of silicon the size of a postage stamp. The Single-chip Cloud Computer contains 1.3 billion transistors, the tiny on-off switches that underpin chip technology. 12/3/2009 5:07:22 AM
Blue whales now singing in deeper voices: scientist Blue whales are changing their tune, but scientists have no idea why the largest animals in the world are singing in deeper voices. A study has found male blue whales all over the world have lowered their tone, even though different populations sing different songs. 12/3/2009 4:59:48 AM
Human-trafficking charges laid in Calgary cases A man has been accused of using social-networking websites to lure young women to Calgary from elsewhere in Canada with the promise of a modelling career -- and then putting them to work as prostitutes. The operation then used an online classified service to advertise sexual services for money. 12/2/2009 2:46:27 PM
Scientists say amputee controlled robotic hand connected to nerves A robotic hand has been successfully connected to an amputee, allowing him to feel sensations in the artificial limb and control it with his thoughts, a group of European scientists said Wednesday. 12/2/2009 12:24:09 PM
Nine more Canadian cities added to Google Street View Another nine Canadian cities have been added to the list of those offering virtual tours through Google Street View. Victoria, Nanaimo, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Sudbury, Ont., London, Ont., Sherbrooke, Que., and St. John's, N.L., are among the more than 20 Canadian cities that have been filmed. 12/2/2009 11:54:39 AM
Google to limit free access to some news content The concession follows mounting criticism of Google's practices from media publishers — most notably News Corp. chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch — that argue the company is profiting from online news pages. 12/2/2009 10:39:28 AM
Having two mothers may be key to a longer life Genes that are passed on by fathers may be shortening the lifespans of their offspring. Scientists have discovered that mice with two biological mothers but no father live about 30 per cent longer than usual, in an experiment that could have implications for understanding human ageing. 12/2/2009 6:37:44 AM
Racist Obama image shines light on Web searching When a racist image of first lady Michelle Obama surfaced from the ugliest corners of the Internet last week to top Google's image search results, the episode shined a spotlight on the mysterious workings of search engines. 12/2/2009 6:26:38 AM
Now Rogers sues Bell Mobility Proving that there's no better defence than a good offence, Rogers Communications says it has filed a suit in the British Columbia Supreme Court against BCE's Bell Mobility for claims the latter is making that its new high-speed service runs on “the largest, fastest, and most reliable network.” 12/1/2009 1:43:35 PM
New evidence for early life on Mars: NASA A new NASA study of a Martian meteorite that made headlines 13 years ago strengthens the original claim that the rock contains evidence of life on ancient Mars. Researchers at the Johnson Space Center used advanced electron microscopes that weren't available in 1996. 12/1/2009 5:28:24 AM
Microsoft investigates Windows 7 'screen of death' Microsoft has confirmed that it is investigating a problem described as the "black screen of death", which affects its latest operating system. The error means that users of Windows 7 see a totally black screen after logging on to the system. 12/1/2009 5:13:21 AM
Canadian Astronaut Robert Thirsk returns to Earth Record-breaking Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk has returned to Earth after spending six months aboard the International Space Station. A Russian spacecraft carrying Thirsk and two other astronauts landed in Kazakhstan, in central Asia. 12/1/2009 4:53:07 AM
New camera aims to photograph molecules inside human cells Scientists and politicians clapped and smiled Monday at the opening of Ottawa's newest lab, one designed to take pictures of chemical reactions as they happen. One day, it may follow drug molecules inside human cells, to see where they travel in the cells and how they change molecules. 11/30/2009 6:43:19 PM
CRTC seeks public input on TV spat Canada's television regulator has launched a website for the public to register their opinions ahead a round of hearings that could determine whether local TV stations can charge cable and satellite companies for distributing their programs. 11/30/2009 4:47:51 PM
Top 10 Searches for 2009: the Year of Twitter The year has not yet ended but Microsoft says "Twitter" was among the top searches of 2009 on its new search engine Bing and a company which monitors language has crowned it the top word of the year. Microsoft said "Michael Jackson," "Twitter and "Swine Flu" were the top three searches on Bing. 11/30/2009 3:40:23 PM
Schooling fish inspire efficient wind farms The patterns that schooling fish form to save energy while swimming have inspired a new wind farm design that researchers say will increase the amount of power produced per acre by at least tenfold. 11/30/2009 12:44:06 PM
Atom-smasher sets energy record The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment on the French-Swiss border has set a new world record for energy. The LHC pushed the energy of its particle beams beyond one trillion electron volts, making it the world's highest energy particle accelerator. 11/30/2009 6:08:49 AM
Don't fall for bait set by Phishers Wilfrid Sio was suspicious when he got an email from PayPal, with a subject line saying account verification. "Congratulations! You have been chosen by the Online Department to take part in our survey. In return, we will credit $99 to your account, just for your time." 11/30/2009 6:00:56 AM
Geist: Will web child-porn bill do more harm than good? Although all of these provisions give the appearance of a significant step forward in the fight against child pornography, the reality is that Canada is already a world leader in the area. (Ed: We learned last week that the RCMP has only spent 40% of it's anti-child pornography budget. Too busy on other things.) 11/30/2009 5:59:35 AM
Tips for safe online holiday shopping As Canadians enter their second holiday season under the strains of the global economic recession, they continue to turn to the web for bargains, product reviews and hard-to-find items. But if you're thinking about doing your holiday shopping online this year, there are a few safety tips to consider. 11/30/2009 5:40:28 AM
Overweight? Blame the Internet If you really want to win the weight-loss battle, learn to strike a balance — not just on your plate, but also in how you spend your free time. A new study finds that people who spend more time in front of computers have a higher obesity risk, even if they think they get enough exercise. 11/29/2009 11:43:43 AM
Jet-powered Ford guns for 300 mph (500kph) Joe Wilkins knew there was only one way to give his supercharged, alcohol-injected Hemi-engined hot rod more power: Put a jet engine in the trunk. "It started as a hobby and turned into a monster," said Wilkins. He plans to attempt a land speed record in the near future. 11/29/2009 11:19:02 AM
Phone fraudsters leave businesses on hook Fraudsters set up revenue-generating numbers around the world –similar to 1-900 numbers in North America – and then hack into phone systems in places such as Canada; they use those phones to call the money-maker lines over and over again, racking up fees as they do. 11/29/2009 7:02:03 AM
Science: Why smart people do dumb things Keith Stanovich, a professor of human development, studies why smart people do stupid things - or, in more scientific terms, how intelligence is distinct from rationality. His work offers insight into important cognitive abilities that are not measured by IQ tests. 11/29/2009 5:12:56 AM
Brains 'listen' to speech through skin Our brains can be fooled into perceiving one speech sound as a completely different one if the sound is accompanied by an inaudible puff of air, Canadian researchers have found. The research published this week in Nature suggests that our perception of language isn't made up of only sound and visual data. 11/29/2009 4:35:17 AM
Avatar game designed along with movie James Cameron was thinking beyond the big screen when he created the alien world of Pandora. The Titanic director worked in tandem with video game developer Ubisoft Montreal on the game based on his upcoming sci-fi epic Avatar. 11/29/2009 4:33:03 AM
Staring at computer screens may be causing chronic eye ailments After a day at the office, Charlene Simchuk’s red eyes well up with tears. The Winnipeg financial analyst often has to explain to her co-workers that she has not been crying — something they assume, especially after she uses her eye drops. "By the end of the day, my eyes are so fried." 11/29/2009 4:26:04 AM
What's killing the electric car Electric cars may be coming, but they will come much more slowly than you might expect from all the publicity. The price is one problem. It's the batteries. To get an e-car with more range, you need more batteries. The battery companies don't hand out the price list to me, and the carmakers keep it a secret, too. 11/27/2009 5:53:15 PM
Respected scientist says aliens are among us A leading astrophysicist who has worked on space missions claims that he and his colleagues are in contact with extraterrestrials who are "living among us." And they don't like what they see. Latchezar Filipov is head of the Space Research Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. 11/27/2009 5:47:53 PM
Teachers begin using cell phones for class lessons Ariana Leonard's high school students shuffled in their seats, eagerly awaiting a cue from their Spanish teacher that the assignment would begin. "Take out your cell phones," she said in Spanish. The teens pulled out an array of colorful flip phones, iPhones and SideKicks. 11/27/2009 5:12:06 PM
‘Smart’ armour learns more with every bullet Smart armor being developed by scientists and engineers at U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center in Michigan can not only predict its own failure, but also identify the size of bullets shot at it and even generate electrical power upon impact. 11/27/2009 7:40:34 AM
Atlantis lands in Florida The space shuttle Atlantis glided to a picture-perfect landing Friday morning under bright, sunny skies at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The seven-person crew returned after an 11-day mission to deliver key spare parts to prolong the life of the international space station. 11/27/2009 7:21:07 AM
Nortel approves more exec raises Management at Nortel Networks, already under fire, approved a plan to give another round of raises to its top managers. But they come at a time when many laid-off and retired Nortel employees are having to fight the company in court for their severance packages, pensions and disability payments. 11/27/2009 4:35:24 AM
Hammerhead shark mystery solved Why do hammerhead sharks have such a famously strange-shaped head? One hypothesis is that having eyes on either side of such a wide 'hammer' allows the sharks to see better. But even this idea divides scientific opinion. 11/27/2009 4:26:26 AM
Embracing the future of fitness Today, people run with a phone that not only plays music and takes calls, it maps your run while tracking speed, mileage, pace and calories burned. And runners aren't the only exercisers being courted by technology: There are smartphone apps for cyclists, gym junkies, triathletes and swimmers. 11/26/2009 6:03:25 AM
Russian official says no space for tourists at International Space Station Since the space station's crew doubled to six people earlier this year, there is no longer room for tourists who pay tens of millions of dollars for a trip on a Russian spacecraft from Earth, said Sergei Krikalyov, the chief of the Cosmonaut Training Center. 11/26/2009 5:54:58 AM
Two investigations launched into wild B.C. ferry ride The Transportation Safety Board and BC Ferries have launched separate investigations into a ferry that got thrashed around in violent seas. The marine forecast had called for 40 to 60 knots winds and waves at least five metres. "Peak waves probably reached 12 to 14 metres (40 to 45 ft)." 11/26/2009 5:20:29 AM
Italian prosecutors seek jail for Google execs Italian prosecutors sought six-month to a year sentences for four Google executives Wednesday over an Internet video showing the bullying of a teenager with Down's Syndrome, the company said. It remained for nearly two months. 11/25/2009 11:21:00 AM
Facebook creates new share structure Facebook, the world's largest social networking site, has created a dual-class share structure to give its owners full control over the company. A number of privately-owned firms, including Google, have introduced a similar structure before becoming publicly listed companies. 11/25/2009 5:20:54 AM
Google sorry for offensive Michelle Obama pic, won't remove it Google Inc. is apologizing for a racially offensive image of the first lady that appears at the top of the list when users search for pictures of Michelle Obama on its site. (Ed: We called attention to this a couple of days ago. We just checked, it's still there. Shame on Google.) 11/25/2009 5:13:21 AM
Canadian astronaut Thirsk misses family and nature Bob Thirsk, the Canadian astronaut with the longest time in space, is eagerly anticipating seeing his family again and another of his favourite women - Mother Nature. "I miss my family most of all of course, so that's No. 1 on the list," the father of three said. 11/24/2009 5:30:28 PM
B.C. judge orders Rogers to end 'misleading' ads A court in British Columbia has ruled that Rogers Communications cannot continue to claim it has "Canada's Most Reliable" wireless network without qualification, a move that comes as competition becomes even fiercer with the advent of the holiday shopping season. 11/24/2009 2:16:47 PM
CTV British Columbia goes high definition It's a major milestone for Canadian television news. CTV British Columbia on Monday became the first television station in western Canada to broadcast news in full high definition. The station joins CTV National News and a full complement of CTV programming airing in full HD. 11/24/2009 6:58:19 AM
Iceberg alert as ice chunks float toward New Zealand Ships in the south Pacific Ocean have been alerted that hundreds of icebergs believed to have split off Antarctic ice shelves are drifting north toward New Zealand, officials said Tuesday. New Zealand maritime officials have issued navigation warnings for the area south of the country. 11/24/2009 6:29:57 AM
PC: Now it stands for price cuts The numbers The world's biggest computer maker posted strong third-quarter earnings yesterday, topping some analyst expectations. The company's sales numbers are still down compared to the same period last year, but mark a turnaround from the earlier part of this year. 11/24/2009 6:16:53 AM
MS group calls for research into 'potentially paradigm shifting' theory A new theory that multiple sclerosis is a vascular disease that could be treated with simple surgery is so “exciting” and “potentially paradigm shifting” that the MS Society of Canada is calling on scientists to research it thoroughly and promising to back their work with significant research dollars. 11/23/2009 8:56:08 PM
Shame on Google: No excuse for Michelle Obama caricature as lead photo Confronted with the return of an offensive image of First Lady Michelle Obama to the top of its image search engine, Google is now using some of its own ad space to offer an explanation on how its results are determined. 11/23/2009 7:26:39 PM
New olive planting method prompts Calif. oil boom An oil boom is underway in the state's agricultural heartland, as evolving tastes and a trend toward healthy fare have transformed a profession as old as civilization: olive production for the extra virgin market. This year California's olive oil production will top 1 million gallons for the first time. 11/23/2009 7:21:54 PM
Britain: Arrests are being made 'to expand DNA files' Police are routinely arresting people simply to record their DNA profiles on the national database. It also states that three quarters of young black men are on the database. The revelations will fuel the debate about the DNA database, the world’s largest. 11/23/2009 6:42:26 PM
UK: Design fixed for 1,000mph car (Video) The UK team aiming to smash its own land speed record by driving a car beyond 1,000mph (1,610km/h) has settled on a final design for the vehicle. It calls for a major re-configuration, with a Eurofighter jet engine now being positioned above a hybrid rocket. 11/23/2009 5:47:12 PM
eBay apologizes for weekend glitch Online auction giant eBay apologized Sunday for a daylong glitch that inactivated the search function on its Web site, and said it will compensate sellers for their losses. When shoppers searched for an item Saturday, the site returned limited or no results. 11/23/2009 5:34:16 PM
Safe Kids Canada asks public to support ski helmets Safe Kids Canada is asking the public for their virtual votes in favour of the use of helmets on the slopes. An online petition launched on the group's website Friday is aimed at showing support for the "Vancouver Charter on Skiing Safety." 11/23/2009 3:56:47 PM
Telecoms' speed, reliability claims could be all hot air Cellphone users are routinely hit with the buzz words "fastest" and "most reliable" when it comes to wireless networks. So who has Canada's fastest wireless service? Is it Rogers, Bell or Telus? Technology watchers say consumers will have a hard time telling the difference. 11/23/2009 3:55:30 PM
Thousands of editors leaving Wikipedia A sharp drop in Wikipedians, the volunteers who write and edit the online encyclopaedia, is a disturbing and inevitable trend, the Toronto man who was once their top contributor said Monday. 11/23/2009 3:53:15 PM
Will Murdoch pull sites from Google in favour of Bing? Rupert Murdoch seems to have something against Google. The chairman of the News Corp media empire has made no secret of his long term plans to remove the stories produced by his newspapers from Google's search engine. 11/23/2009 7:58:17 AM
Thousands of new species found in deep sea The creatures living in the depths of the ocean are as weird and outlandish as the creations in a Dr. Seuss book: tentacled transparent sea cucumbers, primitive "dumbos" that flap ear-like fins, and tubeworms that feed on oil deposits. 11/23/2009 7:39:08 AM
Ottawa aims to strengthen Internet child porn laws The federal government plans to introduce new legislation Tuesday forcing Internet providers to alert police if they encounter any host sites linked to child pornography. At present, Internet providers are not obligated by law to pass on information to law enforcement agencies, though many do so voluntarily 11/23/2009 6:00:34 AM
New iPhone worm is 'more serious' A second worm to hit the iPhone has been unearthed by security company F-Secure. It is specifically targeting people in the Netherlands who are using their iPhones for internet banking with Dutch online bank ING. 11/23/2009 5:30:01 AM
Modern Warfare 2 drips with bloody realism Video games have grown up. Gaming is a mainstream form of entertainment now. We know the average age of a gamer in Canada is in their late 30s. So, it's time for grown-up gaming. Enter Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. 11/23/2009 4:52:12 AM
Houston, we have a baby Shuttle Atlantis astronaut Randy Bresnik awoke early on Sunday to a much-anticipated call that his new daughter had been born. Bresnik's wife, Rebecca, gave birth to Abigail Mae Bresnik just after midnight. At the time, Bresnik was in orbit aboard the International Space Station. 11/22/2009 5:34:45 AM
Google says PC will start in seven seconds or less New Google software will start up a computer as fast as a television can be turned on, the search company said as it showed off its Chrome operating system designed for PCs that do their work on the Web. Chrome OS resembles a Web browser more than it does a traditional computer operating system like Microsoft Windows. 11/22/2009 5:09:54 AM
FBI: Hackers targeting law and PR firms Hackers are increasingly targeting law firms and public relations companies with a sophisticated e-mail scheme that breaks into their computer networks to steal sensitive data, often linked to large corporate clients doing business overseas. 11/21/2009 7:59:06 AM
Demi Moore's W mag cover labelled 'worst photoshop job ever' SHE once made international headlines for her naked and pregnant Vanity Fair cover but actress Demi Moore has been caught up in a controversy of a different kind after appearing on the December cover of the American high-fashion bible W (pictured). 11/21/2009 7:38:24 AM
After data loss, ID theft risk soars A new study shows that consumers who receive a notice from a company that their data has been compromised are four times more likely to be hit with identity theft. The letters have become so familiar that many folks just ignore them. 11/21/2009 7:29:36 AM
Sony eyes online service to build loyalty Sony's new online service connecting the whole range of its gadgets to downloadable content like movies and games should help build brand loyalty, a top executive said Friday. Sony's business empire spans gaming, electronics, movies and music. 11/21/2009 5:13:44 AM
Real hope with new treatment for MS, Multiple Sclerosis Elena Ravalli was a seemingly healthy 37-year-old when she began to experience strange attacks of vertigo, numbness, temporary vision loss and crushing fatigue. They were classic signs of multiple sclerosis, a potentially debilitating neurological disease. 11/21/2009 4:41:55 AM
YouTube introduces automatic captions for deaf viewers YouTube's parent company Google has announced on its blog that automatic captions are to begin to roll out across the site. The machine-generated captions will initially be generated in English. At first they will only be found on 13 channels. The software engineer behind the technology is deaf. 11/20/2009 7:20:29 PM
Hackers target leading climate research unit The e-mail system of one of the world's leading climate research units has been breached by hackers. E-mails reportedly from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unitincluding personal exchanges, appeared on the internet on Thursday. 11/20/2009 7:16:17 PM
Preview: Nissan Leaf electric car Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Nissan and Renault, took the wraps off the production version of Nissan's all-electric Leaf four-door here in California, a state dubbed Ground Zero in the movement to reduce greenhouse gases and create a positive impact on climate change. 11/20/2009 5:42:04 PM
Cern Large Hadron Collider machine restarts The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment has been re-started after a hiatus of 14 months. Engineers have now made two stable proton beams circulate in opposite directions. The LHC, the world's largest machine, is housed in a 27km-long circular tunnel beneath the French-Swiss border. 11/20/2009 4:27:23 PM
B.C. student takes entrepreneur's prize for music lyrics database A British Columbia student who runs MetroLyrics, the Internet's most popular song lyrics website, has won an international young entrepreneurs contest. Milun Tesovic, a 24-year-old, beat out 32 competitors at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards in Kansas City, Missouri. 11/20/2009 3:29:38 PM
Italy collector finds Galileo's lost tooth, fingers An art collector has found a tooth, thumb and finger of the renowned Italian scientist Galileo Galilei who died in the 17th century. The body parts, along with another finger and a vertebrae, were cut from Galileo's corpse by scientists and historians. 11/20/2009 3:18:40 PM
Crocodile ancestors found in Sahara A six-metre croc with three sets of fangs is among the five ancient relatives of modern-day crocodiles found in the Sahara Desert, scientists said Thursday. The new crocodile fossils are featured in a TV special to be broadcast Saturday on the National Geographic Channel. 11/20/2009 7:31:45 AM
Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook photos A Quebec woman on long-term sick leave is fighting to have her benefits reinstated after her employer's insurance company cut them because of Facebook. Pictures showing her at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a sun holiday — are evidence that she is no longer depressed, Manulife said. 11/20/2009 7:28:47 AM
Google to launch Chrome netbooks next year Google plans to offer its Chrome operating system, which will let computers work without Windows and connect directly to the internet, on netbooks by Christmas next year. The company touted Chrome as a revolutionary approach that will speed users' access to the internet. 11/20/2009 7:24:26 AM
China ramping up espionage against U.S.: Report A U.S. government report warned Thursday that China is sharply stepping up espionage against the United States as they invest in cyber warfare and it grows more sophisticated in recruiting spies. "China is changing the way that espionage is being done," said Carolyn Bartholomew. 11/20/2009 5:26:39 AM
Avoid online pharmacies, cops warn Canadians who buy prescription drugs and health supplements from online pharmacies may think they’re saving money, but they’re probably not getting what they paid for. They may even be risking their health. 11/20/2009 5:23:16 AM
What happened to Second Life? Once upon a time Second Life had a Twitter level of hype. Even those without a cartoon version of themselves couldn't plead ignorance due to blanket coverage in newspapers and magazines. Second Life is virtual world started by the US firm Linden Lab in 2003. 11/20/2009 5:20:49 AM
IBM computer simulates cat’s cerebral cortex Scientists say they've made a breakthrough in their pursuit of computers that "think" like a living thing's brain — an effort that tests the limits of technology. Even the world's most powerful supercomputers can't replicate basic aspects of the human mind. 11/19/2009 5:07:41 PM
Obama answers questions from Cuban blogger President Barack Obama has answered questions submitted by a celebrated Cuban blogger, saying he isn't interested in "talking for the sake of talking" with Raul Castro and indicating he won't visit the island until the communist government changes its ways. 11/19/2009 5:01:30 PM
Microsoft says sales of Windows 7 are strong Windows 7, launched a month ago, has "already sold twice as many units" than any previous version in a comparable time, said Ballmer at the software company's annual meeting in Bellevue, Washington, which was broadcast on the Internet. 11/19/2009 4:52:30 PM
Woolly Mammoth dung unravels extinction The study sheds light on the ecological consequences of the extinction and the role that humans may have played. Many very large mammals including mammoths, mastodons, ground sloths and giant kangaroos inhabited forests in this area of North America about 20,000 years ago. 11/19/2009 12:24:59 PM
Telus to sue Rogers over 'misleading' ads Telus Corp. (TSX:T) is suing Rogers Communications Inc. in an attempt to force its competitor to abandon claims to Canada's fastest and most reliable network before the holiday smartphone rush heats up. "Rogers no longer has a network advantage, so should not be misleading the Canadian public." 11/19/2009 4:21:24 AM
Security company warns of 'cyber arms race' Warning of a "cyber arms race," a leading Web security firm said that China, France, Israel, Russia and the United States were among countries that have developed "cyber weapons." The McAfee report was prepared by cybersecurity expert Paul Kurtz, a former White House adviser. 11/18/2009 6:15:09 PM
Tiny chip developed to diagnose dozens of diseases Researchers have demonstrated a tiny chip based on silicon that could be used to diagnose dozens of diseases. A tiny drop of blood is drawn through the chip, where disease markers are caught and show up under light. 11/18/2009 4:26:40 PM
MySpace in talks to buy imeem Online social hub MySpace is in talks to acquire struggling free music streaming site imeem. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because talks are confidential. MySpace is trying to revamp itself and its MySpace Music joint venture with the major recording companies. 11/18/2009 4:19:23 PM
Facebook, Twitter crooks just a click away If you're on Facebook, Twitter or any other social networking site, you could be the next victim. Experts say cybercrooks are lurking just a mouse click away on popular social networking sites. That's because more cyberthieves see that sites provide a gold mine of personal information. 11/18/2009 11:09:39 AM
Major B.C. quake could be worse than thought The moderate earthquakes off the Queen Charlotte Islands Tuesday have many people once again wondering when the "big one" will hit the West Coast. New research shows that a major quake — expected anytime in the next 200 years — could be much more devastating than previously thought. 11/18/2009 8:56:03 AM
We are India's nuclear 'friend,' Harper says On a crisp Monday morning in May 1974, Canadians woke up to startling front-page news: India had secretly used Canadian technology to develop a nuclear weapon, a bomb nicknamed "The Smiling Buddha." Experts at the time figured 100 Indian scientists trained in Canada produced the bomb. 11/18/2009 5:23:50 AM
Earthquake strikes off B.C. coast Andy Wilson was immersed in his morning routine Tuesday, shaving soap freshly slathered on his face, when the biggest earthquake in years shook the Queen Charlotte Islands and set his two-storey house swaying. With the ceiling shaking, he rushed out to find his two oldest children. 11/17/2009 7:32:23 PM
Mac laptops less reliable than ASUS, Sony notebooks After-sale warranty firm says 17% of Apple's laptops fail within three years. Apple's line of laptops ranked fourth in a multi-year reliability survey of nine notebook makers, according to a study of 30,000 portable computers published today. (Ed: Ignore the Apple media campaign, Windows 7 has them terrified.) 11/17/2009 3:12:14 PM
Tiny insect brains can solve big problems Insects may have tiny brains, but they can perform some seriously impressive feats of mental gymnastics. According to a growing number of studies, some insects can count, categorize objects, even recognize human faces — all with brains the size of pinheads. 11/17/2009 2:28:49 PM
6.5 magnitude quake strikes off B.C. coast Some residents of British Columbia's northwest coast got a side of shaking with their breakfast Tuesday morning after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast. The quake hit in the southern Queen Charlotte Islands region off the west coast at around 7:30 a.m. 11/17/2009 8:08:23 AM
Digital book reader, Kindle, now available in Canada Canadian book worms have waited long enough. Kindle, the hand-held wireless device, which Amazon.com boasts is its No. 1 bestselling product, holds up to 1,500 book titles and also lets users download newspapers, blogs and magazines. The device weighs less than the average paperback. 11/17/2009 7:17:02 AM
Attention loss feared as high-tech rewires brain In today's fast-paced, multitasking world, it's easy to get hooked on technology that's always online, delivering a steady stream of texts and tweets. "The more we become used to just sound bites and tweets, the less patient we will be with more complex, more meaningful information. 11/16/2009 4:12:27 PM
Internet rights poster sparks UN fight The United Nations is drawing fire after disrupting a meeting of rights activists at its internet governance convention in Egypt. UN officials asked organizers of a book reception at the Internet Governance Forum to remove a poster for a book, which mentioned censorship and the Great Firewall of China. 11/16/2009 11:28:55 AM
Shuttle Atlantis launches carrying Canadian trees The space shuttle Atlantis launched Monday afternoon for its final flight of the year, carrying 24 Canadian tree saplings. The 11-day mission will see Atlantis take some big spare parts to the orbiting International Space Station. 11/16/2009 11:26:27 AM
NASA preps shuttle for afternoon liftoff NASA is fuelling space shuttle Atlantis for its afternoon liftoff. Atlantis is scheduled to blast off Monday at 11:28 a.m. PT on a mission to stockpile the International Space Station with big spare parts. There's now a 70 per cent chance that the weather will co-operate. 11/16/2009 5:15:26 AM
Toxins in plastic 'feminize boys' Chemicals in plastics alter the brains of baby boys making them "more feminine", say US researchers. Males exposed to high doses in the womb went on to be less likely to play with boys' toys like cars or to join in rough and tumble games, they found. 11/16/2009 4:36:02 AM
Canadian natural disaster sparked 'Big Freeze' in Europe In a study that highlights just how quickly a mini ice age took hold of Europe after the dramatic collapse of a glacial ice dam in ancient Canada, Saskatoon scientist Bill Patterson has gathered evidence suggesting the "Big Freeze" happened within three months of the Canadian cataclysm. 11/15/2009 6:15:20 PM
Website touts itself as an EBay for billionaires In the market for a 51-carat pink diamond? How about a $74 million, 313-room resort in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico? Perhaps you'd like to buy Alex Rodriguez's Miami mansion for $9,999,999? These items, plus a slew of other pricey toys, are available on a new auction site aimed at the mega-rich. 11/15/2009 6:08:33 PM
Internet: Bell accused of privacy invasion The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, a University of Ottawa legal clinic specializing in internet- and other technology-related law, has joined the assault on Bell Canada Inc. and its traffic-shaping practices, urging an investigation by the country's privacy commissioner. 11/15/2009 5:50:23 PM
Are iPhones killing the video game industry? In October, Nintendo, which has enjoyed massive success since the release of its family-friendly Wii console, announced a 52 per cent drop from March to September 2009. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. 11/15/2009 4:58:31 PM
Seven new technologies to help aging drivers Senior drivers get a bad rap. They're thought of as slow, dangerous traffic cloggers who don't look where they're going and back into things in parking lots. In fact, statistics show drivers over the age of 55 are some of the safest on the road. 11/15/2009 4:50:53 PM
Australia: Elite college students proud of 'pro-rape' Facebook page A GROUP of past and present University of Sydney students set up a ''pro-rape'' page in the sports and recreation section on Facebook, describing themselves as ''anti-consent''. The Facebook page ran from August until late last month, and is part of a broader culture at the residential colleges experts say. 11/15/2009 7:44:09 AM
Germans take on Wikipedia for naming punished killers TWO German men who murdered an actor in 1990 are suing Wikipedia, claiming its description of their crimes impinges on their privacy. The case pits the United States's first amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech, against German privacy and criminal laws. 11/15/2009 7:25:23 AM
Cirque founder’s space trip drew big ratings It seems Cirque du soleil founder Guy Laliberte created a media circus when he went into space last month. The Montreal billionaire’s trip to the International Space Station received 23 times more international media attention than Canada’s presence in Afghanistan. 11/15/2009 7:18:16 AM
Mutant genes 'key to long life' There is a clear link between living to 100 and inheriting a hyperactive version of an enzyme that prevents cells from ageing, researchers say. Scientists from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the US say centenarian Ashkenazi Jews have this mutant gene. 11/15/2009 5:20:17 AM
Alberta scientists probe possible human causes of earthquakes Could oil and gas exploration — or the burial of climate-changing carbon dioxide deep underground — trigger earthquakes in the normally calm crust of Alberta? Nobody knows for sure. Most tremors in Alberta are too small to notice but sizable earthquakes do occur. 11/14/2009 11:07:24 AM
Youth face new addictions The ways youth have conversed with one another in any past generation differs significantly from the current crop of young people, generally from ages 12 to 19. Before the late 1990s, teens had only the telephone to communicate with each other while in different rooms. 11/14/2009 6:51:41 AM
US: Get ready for flatscreen TV price wars If you're in the market for a new flatscreen TV this holiday season, you're in luck. As nervous merchants prepare to draw reluctant shoppers with juicy sales, retail experts say some of the sweetest deals in the coming weeks will be on high-definition televisions. 11/13/2009 5:11:26 PM
RIM takes smartphone fight to rivals Jim Balsillie, co-chief executive of Research in Motion, has decided to take the fight to its new rivals in the smart phone market. He brought the Canadian company that makes the highly successful BlackBerry to the San Francisco Bay Area this week, home of rivals Google and Apple. 11/13/2009 4:49:35 PM
Breast 'regrowth' trial planned Researchers in Australia plan to test a medical "scaffold" designed to stimulate natural breast tissue to regrow following surgery. If this is successful, they hope to develop it into a breast reconstruction technique that avoids using silicone. 11/13/2009 4:30:12 PM
Star Trek Online' to beam gamers to the bridge The developers at Cryptic Studios were focusing on recreating the sci-fi franchise's universe for "Star Trek Online," the upcoming massively multiplayer online game that boldly casts players as captains of their own starship. Yet they were leaving out a crucial location: the bridge. 11/13/2009 3:19:37 PM
Water discovery fuels hope to colonize moon Hopes, dreams and practical plans to colonize or otherwise exploit the moon got a boost today with NASA's announcement of significant water ice at the lunar south pole. "It is a big 'wow,'" said Jack Burns of the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy. 11/13/2009 3:13:48 PM
Swiss Privacy watchdog sues Google Street View Switzerland's privacy watchdog is taking legal action to force Google to make changes to its Street View service. The Federal Data Protection Commissioner, Hanspeter Thuer, says the search engine company rejected most of his proposals to ensure personal privacy is protected. 11/13/2009 2:42:00 PM
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