Scientologists vs. "Pathetic Hackers"

Scientologists have called the hackers who have taken down their websites as a "pathetic" collection of "computer geeks.

The hackers took offense to the removal from YouTube of embarrassing footage of Tom Cruise, in which the actor hailed the religion as "a blast".

Cruise claimed: "We are the authorities on getting people off drugs, we are the authorities on the mind, we are the authorities on improving conditions ... we can rehabilitate criminals ... we can bring peace and unite communities."

This weekend the hackers have stuck back with online sabotage. Guerrilla action has so far included the temporary disabling of its international website and "Google bombing", the church is the first result returned by Google when users type "dangerous cult".

Scientology's UK website has been unavailable and in the US the FBI were investigating what they said was the hoax dispatch of white powder in envelopes to 19 churches in the Los Angeles area.

I am more and more inclined to not like Tom Cruise, not really that bothered about Scientology, I did kinda wonder if I should add to the Google bomb, but I'm not that bothered.

In the UK, half-a-dozen protesters leafleted shoppers and brandished a banner reading "Scientology Sucks" in Manchester.

Microsoft bids for Yahoo!

Microsoft lays down a serious challenge for Google with an audacious $44.6bn bid for rival Yahoo!

The deal would rank as one of the largest dotcom takeovers since AOL and Time Warner merged at the height of the tech stock boom.

Google comprehensively dominates the online search market with a global share estimated at 75%

shizzle my orange

Snoop Dogg stars in a new Orange cinema ad

Rapper Snoop Dogg is asked to rap less about sleeping with women and more about phoning them in an Orange ad, by agency Mother.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2008/jan/31/snoop.orange

4x4 25 quid congestion charge

Hurrah!

Bloody hate 4x4's for cities, so I'm in principle a fan of the proposed Mayor Ken £25 congestion charge.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/gla/story/0,,2249742,00.html

Spoof Parking tickets for 4x4's

Our goals are to make driving a big 4x4 in town as socially unacceptable as drink-driving

http://www.stopurban4x4s.org.uk/

Google lo(e)go

Today's Google doodle - celebrating 50 years of lego.

IE8 passes Acid2 test

IE8 the new web browser from Microsoft, renders the "Acid2 Face" correctly in IE8 standards mode. I'm quite interested in this.. at the moment Firefox 3 apparently will pass the Acid2 test, but Firefox 2 doesn't. Could IE bugs actually become a thing of the past?? Apparently IE8 will banish hasLayout forever.

The Acid2 test - http://webstandards.org/action/acid2/

Microsoft due to release a beta of IE8 in the first half of calendar 2008.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2007/12/19/internet-explorer-8-and-acid2-a-milestone.aspx

Offer fox ache

I liked this article.. particular the last comment.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2244240,00.html

This week Charlie bought a bit of speech-recognition software designed to prevent RSI by letting you talk instead of type, but gave up after he spent more time correcting its mistakes: "It got every sixth word wrong, which meant you'd swear in exasperation, and it would think you had finished each sentence by saying, 'Offer fox ache', and type that in too."

Brown scared of pen grip

Ping-pong diplomacy hit a new low today as Gordon Brown ducked out of a table tennis challenge from the Chinese prime minister.

WHAT!!

I would have had a bash!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2243025,00.html

Wii could help surgeons

Eight trainee surgeons spent an hour playing games on the wii before performing "virtual reality" surgery on a computer system.

Game players scored nearly 50% higher on tool control and overall performance than other trainees.

Marble Mania, in which a ball is guided through a 3D obstacle course - was particularly effective in the study.

Researcher Kanav Kohel explained that the type of game play was crucial.

"You don't gain a lot from swinging an imaginary tennis racket. The whole point about surgery is to execute small finely controlled movements with your hands, and that is exactly what you get with the Wii."

The fine control needed to move a virtual marble around a 3D maze is similar to the skills needed to perform keyhole surgery, for example.

Colleague Mark Marshall said the games consoles were cheap enough to be used to train surgeons in poorer countries where cutting-edge virtual reality systems were not available.

Sun to buy MySQL for $1bn

Sun said it will pay about $800m in cash in exchange for all MySQL stock, and assume approximately $200m in options.

Apple launches ultra-thin laptop

Apple launched the world's thinnest laptop and a new movie download system.

"We tried with Apple TV, but it's not what people wanted. So we're back with Apple TV take two – no computer is required. You can rent movies directly on your widescreen TV and you can rent them at DVD quality or you can rent then at high-definition quality."

Costing $229, the system links into the company's plans to offer films to rent over the internet through its iTunes store, also confirmed today. Rumours of the plans had been widely reported in the past week, and the company said it would join with film studios including 20th Century Fox and Sony to allow iTunes users to stream movies live, direct to their computer or TV, for a one-off payment of between $3 and $5.

A thousand new titles

The system will launch with support from every major Hollywood studio, with a thousand new titles and back-catalogue films available by the end of February. The service will be launched immediately in the US, and is set to arrive around the world latest this year. "We're dying to get this international as well," he added.

http://www.apple.com

Yahoo's Websites of the Year

The winners of Yahoo's Finds of the Year 2007 competition have just been announced - eight of the weirdest and most wonderful websites to come out of the UK in the past 12 months.

Ethical
The Nag: A site that helps people do one thing a month to 'make the world a better place'.

Travel
World Reviewer: Travel site that uses reviews of world tourist locations to inspire your next holiday.

Innovative
Move Me: Online guide to moving house, from removal companies to mail redirection.

Educational
Friends Abroad: Social networking for learning a new language

Social
Doggy Snaps: Social networking for your pooch.

Weird and Wonderful
Faces in Places: Snaps of faces in everyday objects.

Charitable
Free Rice: Test your vocabulary while donating food aid to developing countries.

Shopping
Nigel's Eco Store: Online retailer of environmentally friendly products and gifts.