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Sunday, December 14, 2008

Coldplay vs. Satriani

After apparently being ignored following previous requests for an explanation, Joe Satriani has taken Coldplay court to sue for damages resulting from the likeness of his tune If I Could Fly and Coldplay´s Viva La Vida. There is certainly more than just a passing resemblance, with the chord structure, tempo and part of the melody being practically identical.

Problem is, Creaking Boards had exactly the same complaint about the same song six months ago and there are videos going around YouTube containing mashups of other songs that run along similar lines. I think it was stupid of Coldplay to ignore previous requests, especially since they have used a Kraftwerk riff for the main melody line of Talk, but will Joe´s argument stand up in court?

Dogs Feel Injustice

As anyone with a dog will know, they are certainly capable of showing jealousy. Now it´s been scientifically proven that dogs feel a sense of injustice if they are not treated fairly. They are now testing if this is also present in wolves, to prove that this trait is required when dogs need to work together as a pack and as such predates domestication.

Counter-Struck

Watch out for those fizzy drinks if you´re into FPS games...

No F-in Swearing in Preston!


Preston City Council have been putting up signs asking people to refrain from anti-social behaviour like swearing and urinating in public, to improve the image of the city. People caught will be fined. Don´t say you weren´t f-cking warned...

Tungsten´s out, Mercury´s in?

The EU are aiming to ban the sale of traditional tungsten lightbulbs by 2010 and aim for a replacement in the form of LED lighting. Current energy saving bulbs are long lasting and durable but less environmentally friendly when it come to recycling as a result of the mercury vapour they contain. Ventilating the room after a breakage is sufficient though, and there seems to be an alarmist attitude at the moment towards them.
The biggest downside is that they are not suitable for dimmer switches, and LEDs are also difficult to regulate because of the small response range between off and on. So I´ll have to stock up on the tungsten variety for the time being.

Flexible, Unbreakable Displays

Arizona State University and partnership with HP have issued a press release presenting flexible, unbreakable displays. As well as providing the capability to produce cheap laptop displays, future applications could include wall and surface mounted displays and advertising boards.

Happy 40th Birthday computer mouse!

Doug Engelbart demonstrated the first computer mouse 40 years ago this week. Part of project designed to demonstrate improved productivity with computers, Engelbart was ahead of his time. Some member of the project later moved to Xerox Parc, which famously inspired the Apple Mac interface and led to the modern dekstop metaphor we use today.

Cold sore Alzheimer´s link

The Herpes virus responsible for cold sores could also be responsible for creating the brain deposits that lead to Alzheimer´s. Scientists hope that treating the disease using similar drugs against cold sores may show benefits.

Mario Kart for real!

Armed with a pizza

Pizza is good for you, in more ways than one. A Florida pizza delivery man defended himself from an armed robber by throwing a hot pizza at him before fleeing.