Three RC planes were shaped to look like human beings and they were flown to New York City. If you observe the planes from a close distance they are not very convincing but if you see them from a long distance it gives the illusion that people are flying. Many people witnessed the three planes and most of them with surprise drawn to their faces. Some of them took photos of the planes but I am sure that at that time they thought that they have discovered a secret government project that makes humans fly. I am sorry too, we are stuck with airplanes and helicopters (for now).
Google to pay 500.000 euros for being anti-competitive
A French commercial court ordered Google France to pay 500.000 euros for being anti-competitive by offering Google maps for free. A French company is also offering the same service (maps) but obviously for a fee. For example, if a Verizon customer gets the Xperia PLAY can choose between two services, Google maps for free or Verizon’s VZ Navigator for $10 per month. Now I can see why the company is complaining about free maps. Bottin Cartographes, the French mapping company which filed the complaint, argues that Google is providing Google maps for free to eliminate its competitors. The half million euros was for the damages and interest and Google also fined with 15.000 euros for its practice. Google France will appeal the decision.
Command and Conquer in HTML 5
I was a big fan of Command and Conquer for a long time. I was playing Red Alert for hours in both single player and multiplayer. I was just informed that someone is recreating the game in HTML 5 and JavaScript and I couldn’t resist on trying it. It is a single map with one simple mission but it is a very good start. There are also few very obvious bugs but they are working to improve it. It is very convenient to have a game in HTML 5 since you are not required to install the game on your computer and you can play (and continue) from any computer. The only requirement is that you must have a compatible web browser and internet connection. I played the game with Firefox 9 with no problems and I highly recommend it.
Rage against the machine
If you like funny videos, science, destruction or you are fan of Rage Against The Machine you must watch this video. It shows how a Hotpoint washer can self-destruct after some modifications. It is very funny and interesting, you can see it tearing itself apart and with some help to be destroyed completely. You can see its parts breaking slowly or flying away. You should not try it at home, it is very risky and if you are not careful someone can get hurt.
Rust: A new programming language by Mozilla
Mozilla, the developers of Firefox, the best web browser, have created a new programming language called Rust. If you are familiar with the C-family then you will have no problem learning Rust. Although, there are many differences in both syntactic and semantic details. Rust was designed with the “programming in the large” in mind. The source files of the Rust programming language have a .rs extension. You can find a tutorial and more information about the Rust programming language in its website.
Mushrooms that eat plastic
We have been told that plastic (Polyurethane) can not be broke down and recycled naturally. This was true with the data we had so far until Yale’s students discovered a fungus that eats plastic. That mushroom is discovered in the Amazon, the place in earth with the most species. Pestalotiopsis microspora, the discovered fungi, is the first that can survive eating only plastic. The most amazing thing is that it can do it in an anaerobic environment, an environment without oxygen. Great news for science, this is a step forward to ensure that our garden chairs (and any other plastic garbage) will not be on earth for centuries. If scientists find a way to do this in larger scale, it means we will have a cleaner planet.
Cheap Flights Video
This is the funniest video I have seen this week and it does not include cats, dogs or any other animal. It is a very funny song and I share with you the version with subtitles. Its name is Cheap Flights and it is describing how much the prices differ, the ones you see advertising on the websites and the actual ones. A very good story that is very close to the reality. You must see this one and if you like it let me know in the comments and I will post more like this one in the future.
Universal Music Portugal database hacked
Hackers have targeted media companies and this is another win for them. Hackers hacked into Universal Media Portugal website and gained access to their database. Hackers published 100 tables and 160 records of the beta_users table to a pastebin file. It includes emails/ids and passwords. The website was taken down right after the hack for maintenance. Of course if you ask the media company, they still believe that those hacks are a minor thing when you compare it with MegaUpload and they are right.
Another hack to give message to 0xOmar
Apparently the war between the hackers is not over and both sites continue their actions. The website of Saudi Arabia’s Presidency of Meteorology & Environment Protection was defaced by you-r!-k@n, an Israeli hacker. Yourikan defaced the website to give a message to 0xOmar and this was not the first time, Israeli hackers stroke back few days ago. In my opinion both sides should stop the retaliations and find a common enemy to attack instead of each other.
MegaUpload users will sue FBI
It is not secret that MegaUpload, as all file sharing sites, was used to share pirated material. The same happens in video sites like YouTube and any other technology like BitTorrent. Users tend to share anything in every opportunity but this does not means that every technology and every site is responsible for that. If anything, this way of thinking makes sites more popular. MegaUpload was shut down with no warning and users lost their files without knowing when and if they will ever retrieve their files. There is a huge number of MegaUpload users that were not sharing pirate data and those people want to sue FBI. Among them are scientists that were sharing their results, people that were sharing their work documents and many people storing and sharing their personal data and videos.