The Pirate Bay, one of the world's most infamous online piracy and file-sharing sites, is now hosting a type of mock-up file that allows your 3D printer to create physical objects.

ThePirateBay.org yesterday announced via its blog, first reported by GigaOM, that users can now search in a new category called "Physibles".

Physibles, as the blog explains, are mock-up files that allow a 3D printer to create a physical object:

"We believe that the next step in copying will be made from digital form into physical form. It will be physical objects. Or, as we decided to call them: Physibles.

"Data objects that are able (and feasible) to become physical. We believe that things like three-dimensional printers, scanners and such are just the first step. We believe that in the nearby future, you will print your spare parts for your vehicles," The Pirate Bay predicted in its post yesterday.


Read the entire article:

http://www.zdnet.com.au/pirate-bay-to-allow-real-object-downloads-339330303.htm
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Users of tablet computers should place their device on the table and tilt its screen, rather than have it flat on their lap, to avoid potentially painful hunching of the neck, a study suggested Wednesday.

"Tablet users may be at high risk to develop neck discomfort based on current behaviours and tablet designs," it warned.

A team led by environmental health researcher Jack Dennerlein of the Harvard School of Public Health asked seven men and eight women who were experienced tablet users to carry out tasks on an iPad2 and a Motorola Xoom.

Using a motion-analysis system, the team filmed the 15 volunteers as they worked on the tablet in four common configurations.

In the first position the tablet was not placed in its proprietary case but held on the lap in one hand while the other was used to touch the screen.

In the second the tablet was placed on the lap, but stayed in its case. The user worked with both hands on the screen.

In the third, the tablet was set up in its case on a table, with its screen set at a lower angle, and the user worked with both hands.

The last configuration, dubbed "table-movie," entailed placing the tablet on the table in its case, tilted at a higher angle. The user did not work on the screen and instead watched movies or other programming on it.

Read the entire article:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.89b977dd5b786d4355e1a3521c5d20b8.61&show_article=1
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We recently updated all of our Android apps and compiled them with the latest 3.2 API!

Our newer apps can be found here:

https://market.android.com/developer?pub=Tropical+PC+Solutions

This new 3.2 API ads a nifty zoom feature that allows the app to adjust its size to your various screen sizes. If you had the old app compiled under the old 1.5 API and you need to re-install the older version, please contact me and I will make it available for you.

Thanks,
Dave

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Imagine it: a life freed from the drudgery of deleting an inbox full of "unbeatable offers" and the latest missive on paper clips from head office. Email could follow the telex into the dustbin of communication tools we have loved and discarded

Breton is to ban his staff from sending each other emails, complaining that they waste time and are outmoded. Only 10 per cent of the 200 electronic messages his employees receive per day turn out to be useful, Breton claims. "The deluge of information will be one of the most important problems a company will have to face [in the future]. It is time to think differently," he claimed.

Internal email will be phased out inside 18 months at Atos. The 75,000 staff will instead use instant messaging and chat-style collaborative services inspired by social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. Atos staff used to spend between five and 20 hours a day dealing with email, but use of Breton's replacements has cut its use by up to 20 per cent, the firm claims.

His strategy has already been adopted by teenagers, who are shunning the now middle-aged email, which was first developed in 1971. Email use is down 31 per cent among the 12-17 age group this year, with a further 21 per cent slump among those aged 18-24.

Mobile Instant Messaging (IM) services such as Blackberry Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger, designed to facilitate low-cost, real-time communication around each X Factor performance, have supplanted ponderous email for the tech-savvy next generation. Mobile IM users are predicted to exceed 1.3 billion worldwide by 2016.

Read the entire article:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/are-we-facing-the-death-of-email-6273170.html
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The global warehouse for Internet addresses ran empty on Thursday. The non-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) doled out its last five batches of "IP" numbers that identify destinations for digital traffic.

"A pool of more than four billion Internet addresses has been emptied this morning," ICANN chief Rod Beckstrom said at a Miami press conference.

"It is completely depleted. There are no more."

He brushed aside fears of modern life being devastated by an "IPocalypse," saying Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) worldwide will be doling out remaining addresses to support a shift to a bountiful new "IPv6" format.

"It is like running out of license plates," said Internet Architecture Board chairman Olaf Kolkman. "Driving on the road the next day would not change."

The touted solution to the problem is a switch to an "IPv6" format which allows trillions of Internet addresses, while the current IPv4 standard provides a meager four billion or so.

The effort and expense of changing to IPv6 would fall mostly on Internet service providers, websites and network operators that have to make sure systems can handle the new online addresses and properly route traffic.

"If an ISP (internet service provider) gets its act together, it shouldn't be a massive problem," Trefor Davies, chief operating officer of British ISP Timico, told AFP.

"We really should see this as an historic event," he continued. "The very nature of the Internet has changed with the transition."

Read the entire article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110203/ts_alt_afp/usitinternetsoftwareicann

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A Chinese scientific research center has built the fastest supercomputer ever made, replacing the United States as maker of the swiftest machine, and giving China bragging rights as a technology superpower..

The computer, known as Tianhe-1A, has 1.4 times the horsepower of the current top computer, which is at a national laboratory in Tennessee, as measured by the standard test used to gauge how well the systems handle mathematical calculations, said Jack Dongarra, a University of Tennessee computer scientist who maintains the official supercomputer rankings.

Although the official list of the top 500 fastest machines, which comes out every six months, is not due to be completed by Mr.

Dongarra until next week, he said the Chinese computer “blows away the existing No. 1 machine.”

He added, “We don’t close the books until Nov.1, but I would say it is unlikely we will see a system that is faster.”

Read the entire article:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/39886462


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