Corvus Crow
The Fireraven
Tuesday, 07. September 2010, 7:33
Monday, 06 September 2010
Miscellaneous A 70cm (27-inch) tall Colombian has been named the world's shortest living man by Guinness World Records.

Edward Nino Hernandez, 24, weighs only 10kg (22lbs). His mother said he had not grown since he was two years old.

"It bothers me that people are always touching me and picking me up."
I guess it's fine as long as they don't stick him into their pockets trying to smuggle him out of the country as a souvenir.
Sunday, 05 September 2010
Technology Researchers have demonstrated tiny solar cells just billionths of a metre across that can repair themselves, extending their useful lifetime.

The cells simply assemble themselves from a mixture of the proteins, minute tubes of carbon and other materials.
That's pretty amazing, but it would be even better to see a widespread use of traditional solar cells. The technology does not only need to advance, but it needs to get way cheaper.
Saturday, 04 September 2010
Censorship The section has now been replaced with a black and white bar that reads "censored". An "erotic" service is still active outside the US.

The listings came under renewed scrutiny after the suicide in prison last month of a former medical student who was awaiting trial in the killing of a masseuse he met through Craigslist.

And last week in a joint letter to Craigslist, 17 attorneys general said women and children would "continue to be victimised in the market and trafficking provided by Craigslist".
What a ridiculous article. I wonder if the author really thinks that because of that censorship there suddenly will be no more prostitution and abuse. It will just move somewhere else. You could as well blame your local newspaper, online dating services or simply just search engines. So let's just block all communication between humans and there will be no more prostitution. As a nice side effect there also won't be articles like this anymore either.
Friday, 03 September 2010
Miscellaneous The biometric ID cards store a scan of a user's fingerprints along with a six-digit PIN that can be used to digitally sign official forms. Hackers from the Chaos Computer Club, however, were able to use home scanners that work with the cards to extract personal information including a fingerprint scan and the six-digit PIN from RFID the chip embedded in the cards.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, interviewed on the show, said there was no reason to alter the technology or postpone a roll-out of the cards.
The "if I don't see it, it's not there" excuse works fine for politicians all over the world, but the problem still won't go away. Welcome identity theft 2.0.
Thursday, 02 September 2010
Internet eBay will be moving to a single, consolidated checkout process, and effective June 30, 2011, eBay Checkout will be the only checkout process on eBay.com.

A single, familiar checkout experience is key to reducing confusion and improving how people shop on eBay. We've been working with sellers and providers for some time and will continue to do so for a seamless transition next year.
Reducing confusion? That is a nice sounding way to say that eBay thinks users are too stupid to make a payment without their help. eBay's job is to offer a platform for sales, nothing more. How people pay and get paid is up to them. If eBay decides to force everybody to use their services and Paypal only, then there's nothing more to do than stop using their service. Not to mention that in several countries, this decision will be legally challenged and most likely deemed illegal.
Random quote from Anonymous: The only thing more dangerous than a hardware guy with a code patch is a programmer with a soldering iron.