Mood: Bored
Reading: Police Investigate New York Subway Terror Threat
Currently listening to: The familiar sounds of The Supremes "Respect" from the cubicle next to me.
Quote of the day: "It's amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper." - Jerry Seinfeld

Yeah, yeah, so i'm bored. Its another GORGEOUS Friday and i'm stuck loafing around the office wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a pair of matching blue tinted sunglasses for effect.

Did i mention that it looks gorgeous outside?

*sigh*

Anyhow, here are some news headlines that caught my attention today (yup, seriously slacking):

Sorry, Sony

Australia's High Court ruled unanimously that modifying Sony PlayStation consoles so that they can play cheaper overseas versions of the company's games does not violate Australian copyright laws.

The decision ends a four-year legal battle between entertainment and Japanese electronics giant Sony (SNE) and Sydney-based business owner Eddy Stevens, who supplied and installed "mod chips" in PlayStation devices.

Sony divides the global gaming market into regions and programs its PlayStation consoles so that games sold in the United States or Asia cannot be played on consoles sold in Australia. The so-called mod chips bypass Sony's regional coding and allow users to run cheaper games made for markets outside Australia on their PlayStation machines.

The High Court ruled that while making a pirated copy of a game is illegal, playing a game using a mod chip is not.

I'm betting that Paul's a VERY happy camper back in Brisbane right about now... ;)

Plane Carrying Viruses Crashes in Canada

A cargo plane carrying small amounts of flu virus crashed on railway tracks near Winnipeg's city center Thursday, killing the pilot but missing buildings and vehicles, authorities said.

The research samples of frozen influenza and herpes viruses were destroyed in the crash and ensuing fire along with other freight, Federal Express spokeswoman Karen Cooper said...

Winnipeg police spokeswoman Carolyn Kwiatek said there was no damage to the surrounding area from the fire. The crash did tie up traffic on nearby streets during the morning rush, but no accidents or injuries resulted.

In its cargo were six vials of virus samples being sent to Thunder Bay for research, Cooper said.

Although the samples were labeled dangerous goods, they weren't considered hazardous at the crash site since all the cargo was destroyed in the blaze, Cooper said.

[Read more]

Well. I feel safe. :p

Still, there's something odd about this article. That, and the plane wasn't carrying a flight recorder. Hopefully it wasn't carrying any of the 1918 influenza which they've reproduced recently...

Need a Job? Al-Qaida's Hiring

Al-Qaida has put job advertisements on the internet asking for supporters to help put together its web statements and video montages, an Arabic newspaper reported.

The London-based Asharq al-Awsat said on its website this week that al-Qaida had "vacant positions" for video production and for editing statements, footage and international media coverage about militants in Iraq, the Palestinian territories, Chechnya and other conflict zones where militants are active.

The paper said the Global Islamic Media Front, an al-Qaida-linked, web-based organization, would "follow up with members interested in joining and contact them via e-mail."

The paper did not say how applicants should contact the Global Islamic Media Front.

Al-Qaida supporters widely use the internet to spread the group's statements through dozens of Islamist sites where anyone can post messages. Al-Qaida-linked groups also set up their own sites, which frequently have to move after being shut by internet service providers.

The advertisements, however, could not be found on mainstream Islamist Web sites where al-Qaeda and other affiliate groups post their statements.

Asharq al-Awsat said the advert did not specify salary amounts, but added: "Every Muslim knows his life is not his, since it belongs to this violated Islamic nation whose blood is being spilled. Nothing should take precedence over this."

[Read More]

LOL!

Are You Ready for Web 2.0?

...Web 2.0, according to conference sponsor Tim O'Reilly, is an "architecture of participation" -- a constellation made up of links between web applications that rival desktop applications, the blog publishing revolution and self-service advertising. This architecture is based on social software where users generate content, rather than simply consume it, and on open programming interfaces that let developers add to a web service or get at data. It is an arena where the web rather than the desktop is the dominant platform, and organization appears spontaneously through the actions of the group, for example, in the creation of folksonomies created through tagging.

The theory has been percolating for some time. But it intensified last week when O'Reilly published an essay on the topic, as well as a graphic outlining the key categories of this new medium.

Ross Mayfield, the CEO of SocialText, a company that sells collaborative wiki software to enterprises and that is hosting the Web 2.0 wiki, had a simpler definition for conference goers.

"Web 1.0 was commerce. Web 2.0 is people," Mayfield said.

[Read more]

Israel bans use of Palestinian human shields

Israel's highest court has banned the army from using Palestinians as human shields during its arrest operations in the West Bank.

A number of Palestinian civilians have been killed and wounded while being used this way.

During mass arrest raids in the West Bank, the Israeli army has often employed the tactic of using Palestinian civilians as human shields, forcing them, often at gunpoint, to approach the homes or hideouts of wanted militants.

In some cases the civilians have been caught in the crossfire and killed.

After petitions by two human rights groups, the Israeli Supreme Court has banned the practice, ruling that the use of human shields violates the Geneva conventions and international law.

Can you believe that this was actually a military doctrine there? Geez. o_O

Ok ok, time to (try and) work...