New Posts to Wired.co.uk - News on Mar 20, 2014:
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1) NSA at TED: 'arrogant' Snowden put lives at risk
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/20/nsa-ted
The US National Security Agency went on the offensive
today after Edward Snowden's surprise Tuesday
appearance at the TED conference in Vancouver.
Flanked by a US flag, NSA deputy director Richard Ledgett used a
live video link from Fort Meade, NSA headquarters in Maryland, to
attack "arrogant" Snowden for putting lives at risk -- while
calling the agency's collection of communications metadata "privacy
enhancing".
"There were some kernels of truth in [Snowden's remote interview
on Tuesday], but a lot of extrapolations and half-truths," Ledgett
said in an interview with TED curator Chris Anderson,
which kept needing to be suspended -- because of poor
communications links. "He absolutely did have alternative ways he
could have gone. Characterising him as a whistleblower hurts
legitimate whistleblowing activities."
By: David Rowan, Continue reading...
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2) This £12 lens turns a smartphone into a diagnostic lab
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/20/smartphones-diagnosing-disease
We've seen health-focused smartphones before that can take all
kinds of measurements, including stress levels and blood pressure,
but researchers at the University of Houston's College of
Engineering claim that mobiles are also capable of diagnosing
disease.
The team are developing a diagnostic system that works simply by
attaching a $20 dollar lens to a smartphone. Diagnosing disease
relies on being able to spot chemical interactions between the
virus or bacteria and a molecule that will bond with only that one
thing, such as an antibody. In order to spot these interactions,
the team have developed a slide on which the reactions can occur
that can be examined using only a smartphone's camera and flash,
with a lens attached to it.
By: Katie Collins, Continue reading...
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3) MPs, stop bundling child abuse in with pornography
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/20/governments-porn-problem
Every time the government rampages about legal online
pornography in the same breath as online child abuse content, it is
damaging. One is a devastating crime that should be dealt with by
our criminal justice system, with the help of internet providers,
the other is a legal and legitimate pastime most adults in this
country will have enjoyed at some point -- some at many points.
Yet the Culture, Media and Sport Committee has, once again,
decided to deal with online harassment, child abuse and legal
pornography in one report -- the online safety report, which has
over time adopted the agenda of scaremongering politicians eager to
"protect our children", at any expense. The result has been a
threat to prosecute/block pornography websites that don't implement
age verification (which, we all know, is fairly useless at
preventing anyone looking at anything).
By: Liat Clark, Continue [...]
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4) Government to found Alan Turing Institute
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/20/alan-turing-institute
Delivering his 2014 Budget to the House of Commons,
the chancellor, George Osborne, said the government will be
founding an Alan Turing Institute, which is part of a broader focus
to increase Britain's science, technology and engineering
output.
The chancellor claimed the institute will ensure
Britain leads the way again in the use of big data and algorithm
research. He praised Turing as a codebreaker who did more than
almost any other single person to win the war after denouncing the
persecution he suffered for being homosexual: "I am delighted that
he has finally received a posthumous Royal Pardon. Now, in his
honour, we will found the Alan Turing Institute... I am determined
that our country is going to out-compete, out-smart and out-do the
rest of the world."
By: Nicholas Tufnell, Continue reading...
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5) 3D knitted onesie doubles as a Wi-Fi hotspot and music library
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/20/byborre-wearable-tech-onesie
Someone has finally improved upon that classic after-work
attire, the onesie.
ByBorre and its
founder Borre Akkersdijk collaborated with Eindhoven
University of Technology (TU/e), 22Tracks, CRISP and Daan
Spangenberg Graphics to create the BB.Suit, a walking Wi-Fi spot
and music library that was showcased at SXSW.
ByBorre, Akkersdijk's company, is at its heart a fashion and
textiles innovation firm. It has shown how old industry can be
reappropriated for new designs -- for instance, using a 3D knitting
machine, which produces round tubes of fabric for mattresses, to
make garments.
By: Liat Clark, Continue reading...
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6) UK networks team up to tackle spam texts
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/20/spam-reporting-service
In order to tackle nuisance spam text messages the UK's largest
mobile operators have announced today that they will be working
alongside the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to
implement the GSMA's spam reporting service.
EE, O2, Three and Vodafone are all on board with the project,
which will enable mobile users to report any unsolicited messages
they might receive free of charge to the number 7726, which is
'SPAM' spelt out on an old-fashioned phone keypad (remember
those?).
By: Katie Collins, Continue reading...
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7) Fly into a visualisation of your brain
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/20/glass-brain
Glass Brain is a tool that maps the electrical activity of
your brain in realtime, creating a 3D visualisation that you can
navigate with a gaming controller.
The anatomically realistic 3D brain will show realtime data from
electroencephalographic (EEG) signals taken from a
specially-designed EEG cap. This data is mapped to the source of
that electrical activity, i.e. the specific part of the brain. The
underlying brain model is generated through MRI scans so that the
EEG data is accurately mapped to an individual's brain model.
Different colours are given to the different signal frequency bands
to create a beautiful interactive artwork that seems to crackle
with energy, showing how information is transferred (or at least
estimated to do so) between different regions of the brain.
Continue reading...
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8) 'Assgoblin', 'pooface' and 'douchewaffle': all banned in Mongolia
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/20/banned-mongolian-words
"Poop", "cocknose" and "dickslap" are just some of the
774 words banned from the Mongolian internet according to a bizarre
list published on Mongolian news site Shuum.
The list contains a mixture of English, Russian and Mongolian rude
words from which the Mongolian censors feel their citizens must be
protected.
The list may seem amusing at first, particularly when
you realise they've not only banned "douche" but gone one step
further and included "female hygene [sic] accessory", but it's
ultimately a tragic indictment of the absurd levels of censorship
currently keeping basic internet freedoms from the people of
Mongolia.
By: Nicholas Tufnell, Continue reading...
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9) Bizarre 'chicken from hell' dinosaur probably ate everything
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/20/chicken-from-hell
A team of US palaeontologists have pieced together fossilised
skeletons to form the most complete picture of a bizarre
crest-headed dinosaur that has been described as a cross between an
emu and a reptile.
The team has published the results in the open access
journal PLOS ONE, describing a 3.5 m-long, 300kg feathered
creature with large claws on its hands, powerful legs and no teeth,
but a powerful mandible that could move back and forth in a slicing
motion, suggesting it could have been an omnivore.
By: Liat Clark, Continue reading...
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10) Brain-eating amoeba looks cute when cross-stitched
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/20/cross-stitch-microbes
Alicia Watkins makes cross-stitched microbes, turning malaria,
flu, gonorrhoea and mad cow disease into crafty keepsakes.
Watkins sells the completed cross-stitch artworks stretched
across embroidery hoops from her Etsy store, alongside others
featuring Patrick Stewart, Charlie the Unicorn and Godzilla. She
was inspired to focus on microbes by another Etsy crafter called
Meghan Schuman, who wanted to give her friend an "awesome
customised gift" in spring 2012 and asked Watkins if she'd cross
stitch some microbes. The first three microbes -- mange, flu and
"the E. coli with the flagella" -- were chosen with Schuman's
friend in mind.
By: Olivia Solon, Continue reading...
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