Can a Brain Scan Predict a Broken Promise?

Last time you told someone “I’ll call you,” did you mean it?
We all make promises in our daily interactions with others. On the one hand, promises such as “I’ll return your book next week” or “I won’t tell anyone” are not heavily binding, except maybe in a moral sense.
Can a Brain Scan Predict a Broken Promise?

ABC Rolls Out Local News Sites

If you live in regional Australia, your local news options are somewhat constrained (and often shrinking). The ABC has gone some way to addressing that problem with its new local sites, which provide news, weather and broadcasting information for a range of regional areas.
ABC Rolls Out Local News Sites

Cross-check and Change Facebook Privacy Settings Right Now!

Internet Privacy has started sound like an oxymoron! Be it the Web-Browser privacy or privacy to your personal data online or even cell phone privacy, it has always seemed like getting worse by the day. Latest addition to the bandwagon is Facebook!
Cross-check and Change Facebook Privacy Settings Right Now!

Startpage/Ixquick Offers Anonymous Browsing Web Proxy

Startpage.com, which you might know better under the name Ixquick (it changed its name last summer), last week launched a proxy service that allows you to browse pages in search results in privacy.
Startpage/Ixquick Offers Anonymous Browsing Web Proxy

The Truth About Browser Cookies

Browser cookies are one of those technical bits of web browsing that almost everyone has some awareness of. They're also probably one of the most misunderstood aspects of browsing.
The Truth About Browser Cookies

Keep your dishwasher in good working order

You can get cleaner dishes and extend the life of your dishwasher by maintaining the appliance's spray arm(s), filter, and gasket.
Keep your dishwasher in good working order

Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 3/2010 - January 30, 2010

The latest issue of new Family Friendly sites listed on The Black Stump.
Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 3/2010 - January 30, 2010

What To Do When Your Washing Machine Floods

By the time you realise your washing machine has sprung a leak, it’s probably already pumped out enough water to cause major damage. What should you do next?
What To Do When Your Washing Machine Floods

Australia's Environment: Issues and Trends, Jan 2010

Presents a broad selection of environmental statistics and information which illustrate topical environmental issues. The subject matter will vary in each issue, as new environmental issues emerge or more current data sources become available. While ABS data forms a core component of the statistical information, data from other government agencies, international organisations, industry, and individual researchers is also included. Value is added to these widely sourced datasets by bringing them together and analysing their import for selected environmental issues.
Australia's Environment: Issues and Trends, Jan 2010

Recover Corrupt Word Documents

The remaining option is a file recovery software to recover the text. Damaged docx2txt is one of those programs. The recovery application can be downloaded from the developer’s website. The website is offering an online recovery option as well but most users will probably prefer the offline recovery solution especially when privacy is an issue.
Recover Corrupt Word Documents

Better weather forecasting for Australia's east coast lows

Better weather forecasting computer programs are needed to improve on the specifics of each violent storm system occurring in the eastern coast region of Australia, especially as the world’s climate increases in temperature.
Better weather forecasting for Australia's east coast lows

Browser Speed Tests: Firefox 3.6, Chrome 4, Opera 10.5

Firefox 3.6 is out, Chrome’s stable version got a big upgrade, and Opera 10.5 is inching toward release. It’s a great time for us to break out the timer, process manager and code tracker for some up-to-date browser speed tests.
Browser Speed Tests: Firefox 3.6, Chrome 4, Opera 10.5

How to Permanently Erase Data Off a Hard Drive

So you want to make sure that someone can't get their hands on your private files on a hard drive. Here's a trick that will destroy the hard drive! You will need a set of Torx wrenches. the T-9 sized Torx wrench is the one that fits most hard drive screws.
How to Permanently Erase Data Off a Hard Drive

Human-powered ferris wheel in Nepal

At the Hindu Swasthani Mela festival held in Kathmandu earlier this month, there was a small ferris wheel that appeared to be non-functional. It consisted of four octagonal open-air cages and a simple metal frame. When two kids climbed into one of the octagons, though, a man got up on the other side and started jumping up and down, eventually getting the thing to turn like any other ferris wheel.
Human-powered ferris wheel in Nepal

Science Question from a Toddler: The color of light

Why does a glow-in-the-dark Frisbee glow green? Why does a spark from a light socket look blue? Two different questions, but one intertwined answer.
Science Question from a Toddler: The color of light

Google Reader Lets You Monitor Page Changes Without RSS

It’s not as nifty as a cell phone, or as amazing as street views of businesses all over the world, but to me it is big news — really big news. Google announced yesterday
that Google Reader can now be used to monitor pages for Web changes — whether they have RSS feeds or not.
Google Reader Lets You Monitor Page Changes Without RSS

50 Banned Books That Everyone Should Read

As long as there have been books, there have been people opposed to what is said in some of those books. Authors who challenge the accepted norms in their literature are often the target of angry people who do not understand or appreciate their literature. The following books are excellent examples of great literature that has become banned or challenged in an attempt to shield the public from what some see as inappropriate.
50 Banned Books That Everyone Should Read

Numbers Galore: The Internet 2009, A Collection of Stats You’ll Likely Keep All Year

Pingdom, a company that offers services to measure server uptime and performance monitoring along with letting the webmaster (in many cases that the server is down, has done one impressive job compiling a large amount of stats from a variety of sources (they’re provided at the bottom of the post) about the Internet in 2009.
Numbers Galore: The Internet 2009, A Collection of Stats You’ll Likely Keep All Year

Naked airport scanner catches cellphone, misses bomb components

Check out this German TV clip highlighting the failure of the new, privacy-violating full-nude scanners going in at an airport near you. As Bruce Schneier notes, "The scanner caught a subject's cell phone and Swiss Army knife -- and the microphone he was wearing -- but missed all the components to make a bomb that he hid on his body... Full-body scanners: they're not just a dumb idea, they don't actually work."
Naked airport scanner catches cellphone, misses bomb components

What is the most popular password?

Following the announcement of an attack at RockYou.com whereby a hacker managed to obtain all the account details of 32M users, the security companies have had fun analyzing the data. It appears that the hacker only shared the actual passwords, not the accompanying account information, but that was probably just to keep the useful stuff to themselves. There was a website featuring all the passwords, but this has now been taken off-line.
What is the most popular password?