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Skype founders launch Joost online tv

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Chinatown- Roman Polanski’s classic available for free onlineHaving sold VoIP stalwart Skype to Google Ebay (and being paid more than they should have for it), founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis have been quietly working away on Joost, an online television program. This week the program went free to all interested downloaders (previously you had to be invited to the beta). The content available depends on the region but the UK gets a great selection of films from Paramount including Star Trek Insurrection and the absolute classic Chinatown, which I think has one of the best screenplays of all time. There’s also content from Aardman Animation, Happy Tree Friends, CSI and scifi show Lexx, among others.

[via BBC technology, image from Wikipedia, story updated to correct buyer]

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PRSCRPTN 4U kthxbai – consulting your doctor by SMS

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Tattooed guy using a cellphone I think the most surprising thing about this is that it’s taken so long for someone to do it. Brooklyn medical practitioner Dr. Jay Parkinson offers a unique service to his young hipster-freelance clientele – for a yearly fee, they can get two home visits and unlimited consultations by text message or email. Not only does this make it far easier for his patients to get the advice they need at the time they really need it, it keeps Dr. Parkinson’s practice overheads nice and low, and leaves him time to indulge in his own creative pursuits as a photographer. The first practice in my town to offer this service will be getting my subscription fee in cash, with a smile. [Image by ElvertBarnes]

[tags]health, medicine, doctor, consultation, technology, business[/tags]
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In space, no one can hear you hiss

Astronaut on board the International Space Station It’s a staple of SF: something punctures the hull of a spacecraft and crew members, alerted by the hiss of escaping air, scramble to plug up the leak.

Just one problem: in real space, no one can hear the hiss of escaping air, because it’s venting out into vacuum. And real spacecraft, unlike their fictional counterparts, seldom have nice smooth unblemished hulls where holes can be easily located: instead, every square inch is jammed with equipment. Which is why a research team from Iowa has developed a square sensor just an inch across that provides a computer with enough information to locate a leak in about a minute–as opposed to weeks with NASA’s current handheld devices. (Via ScienceDaily.)

Just the thing for long trips to Mars–and space junk-filled near-Earth orbits, too. (Photo from NASA via Science Daily.)

[tags]space travel, NASA, space junk, technology[/tags]

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The surveillance society marches on

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In Vernor Vinge’s novel A Deepness Upon the Sky, a sure sign that a civilization is going to end is the emergence of ubiquitous surveillance and law enforcement.  If that postulation  is correct, then the recent surveillance technology deployments in Chicago are not a good sign:

A car circles a high-rise three times. Someone leaves a backpack in a park. Such things go unnoticed in big cities every day. But that could change in Chicago with a new video surveillance system that would recognize such anomalies and alert authorities to take a closer look. On Thursday, the city and IBM Corp. are announcing the initial phase of what officials say could be the most advanced video security network in any U.S. city. The City of Broad Shoulders is getting eyes in the back of its head.

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Playing Halo 3 in four player co-op mode

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Having stayed up way too late for the past week playing Halo 3, I am in total agreement with the author of this article when he states:

You haven’t lived until you’ve attacked an enemy’s fortified position with a Scorpion tank providing covering fire while three of your teammates assault the base on foot. The co-op play makes the campaign feel alive, and you can do things working together that you wouldn’t dream of alone. While playing the campaign by yourself can feel clunky and artificial, playing with other skilled players is like living the best buddy-action movie you’ve ever seen.  

Playing through the first two Halos on co-op was fun, but nothing matches playing four-player co-op on Xbox Live, with each player having a full screen, voice chat, and no lag. This is the best possible way to play the game, and it is incredibly addicting.

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