MP3 Brian Lennon has the last word from the Live Futures Festival, talking to Ian Woolf about solar power you can print, and the consequences of cheap, abundant energy around the world. This is part 3 of a 3 part interview from the Live Futures Festival in Newtown.

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MP3 Brian Lennon speaks about his vegetable oil powered car and how he plans to make it solar powered, at the Live Futures Festival in Newtown. This is part 2 of a 3 part interview.

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MP3 At the Live Futures Festival, I spoke with Brian Lennon about the Fab@home 3D printer/fabricator/rapid prototyper, the Fab Lab that can build anything, and solar power you can print at home. This is part 1 of a three part interview recorded live from the Live Futures Festival in Newtown.

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At 5:30pm AEST, the Large Hadron Collider will be switched on and there will be a giant party in Bicentennial Park at the end of Glebe Point Road, to celebrate that we're still alive. However if you check out the source, the time-table for destruction doesn't match what's in the news. Protons have already been injected into the LHC. Today is the first time protons will have made a complete circuit. In October they will switch on the GRID, a super-fast network replacement for the internet. Some-time un-named, but expected to be before 2009, the LHC will have enough oomph to finally start circulating proton beams in opposite directions to make a collision. Its the collisions that have people worried that micro black holes will be created that will gang up and eat us. This explains why Dr Karl won't be giving his talk at the Footbridge theatre at Sydney Uni until 7pm. Here's a video of the black hole from CERN: Here is an online test of whether the LHC has destroyed the world: http://www.hasthelhcdestroyedtheearth.com/

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MP3 Dr Stephen Graves, Director of Hunter Area Pathology and the Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory spoke with me about the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Conference held in Cambridge in July 2008. What is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? What are the causes, and what is it like to be struck down by the illness? Why is it still the invisible illness so many years after its discovery in the 1980s? The interview was broadcast on Diffusion Science Radio on 2SER on the 4th of August 2008 You can download the whole show here.

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MP3 Chris Watkins spoke to me about the Appropedia project to make information about sustainable technology freely available where-ever its needed.

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MP3 After 35 years of neglect, there a new race to the moon. A look at who is going, and why.

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MP3 I spoke with Professor Barry Vercoe of MIT Media Labs about the One Laptop Per Child Foundation at the Sydney Mechanic's School of the Arts. In the background you hear the delighted cries of people playing with the XO laptops.

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MP3 Are you chocolate desiring or chocolate indifferent? The reason lies in your guts.

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MP3 In Australia, the Federal government plans to set companies policing employees email, and in NSW the State government encourages schools to scan children's fingerprints for roll-call every day.

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MP3 Goat experiments by the British Navy and the US Army, and the link to Uri Geller through Jon Ronson's wonderful book

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MP3 Desktop-sized factories that can print any 3D design out of plastic, including the parts to make another 3D printer. Welcome to the world of the replicating rapid prototyping machine or RepRap. Anyone can have a factory! Disruptive technology, coming your way.

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Get a DVD beamed into your phone in seconds! MP3 NICTA have invented a 5 gigabit per second wireless meshing network chip that will sell for only $10. Soon every gadget will talk with all its friends.

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MP3 A game controller reads your mind, Make a circuit to entrain your brain and help you become a lucid dreamer, Use Memory Goggles to record, index and search what you've seen.

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This was powered by the carbon dioxide from a fire extinguisher. It was the biggest and slowest car on the day! Rocket Car Day X was held in Sydney Steele Rd Marrickville, NSW, Australia. http://www.rocketcarday.com

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Ian Woolf interviews Lachlan Hardy about freeing the net in Australia with Meraki wireless meshing routers. Sharing is caring! MP3 Read more on Lachlan's blog http://lachstock.com.au

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Pssst, wanna share some internet? If you like your internet cheap, fast, and out of control; then wireless meshing networks might be for you. MP3 Ian Woolf finds that if we all bring a pump and a pipe to the party, then the data can flow like beer. Plug in and turn on. You can find out more about the free Sydney Meraki wireless meshing network at Free Sydney Wireless

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MP3 I interview Dr Will Uther about his robots that drive cars in traffic. His team from the National ICT Australia, the Australian Centre for Field Robotics at the University of Sydney, the University of Technology, Sydney, and the University of California, Berkeley are competing in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. This is a competition run by the American military for cars driving themselves in traffic.

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MP3 The US military are testing systems that bypass the soldier's judgement and act before he realizes that his subconscious has spotted a potential target. Cognitive Threat Warning Systems, will scan the soldier's brain as if he were just a zombie computer targeting system.

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MP3 Clean electricity and clean water, made from beer. A pilot power plant has opened where microbes feeding on waste water from a brewery are making electricity as they clean the water. Waste not, want not!

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MP3 The Santa Claus Conspiracy puzzled me, it was so blatant...

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MP3 Smart Dust made of robots 1 millimeter long with a cluster of sensors and radio networking are the ultimate surveillance tool. Now they have legs!

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MP3 Viral Confections are Hepatitus C viruses accurately moulded in chocolate.

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MP3 Brain implants to help your memory. Ted Berger has a device that takes analogue signals from the brain, converts them to digital, processes the signals, and then outputs in the brains own language to neurons on the other side.

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Play now Coal is too valuable to burn, because it is the feedstock of the chemical industry. Solar power is now as cheap as dirty coal, so why burn any? There are three pilot solar power stations in Australia, each using different technology, but all as cheap as dirty coal, and MUCH cheaper than any hypothetical "clean coal" could ever be. Solar power can save the coal industry if they act rationally. For video about the solar power stations have a look at the ABC Four Corners energy special, and they have good documentation about renewable energy in Australia

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Play now The US military have trained bees to save lives on the Iraq battlefield.

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Play now Imagine if semen contained mind-altering and addicting chemical signals that made you feel good! Suggestive research that the neurotransmitters are absorbed quickly and act on the brain for hours. My information came from email discussions with Gordon Gallup who wrote the chapter "The Psychobiology of Semen" in the book "Female Infidelity and Paternal Uncertainty". Unstoppable Confidence - Seduction Auto-pilot - program your own brain - direct digital download

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Play now The stuff we can't see is revealing itself by bending light from what we can see. Maybe there really is Dark matter?

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Play now Can winning a Nobel Prize help you live longer?

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Play now Termites do your head in! They emit poisonous naphthalene gas to keep other insects away from them. The termite toxin can cause headaches and nausea in small doses. The neurotoxin leads to organ failure in extreme cases.

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Play Now Liquid electricity may be the car fuel of the future. You can charge the liquid up with power, and then transport it by tanker to a filling station. Cars can empty their discharged liquid and refill with charged up liquid and drive using pollution-free electrical power. Pollution-producing petrol is replaced by elegant electricity.

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Play now The Smart Semen-Triggered Vaginal Microbicidal Vehicle works a little like Vaginal Contraceptive Film, except that it also prevents AIDS.

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Solar cells that are 8 times more efficient for half the cost, and lithium batteries to store 4 times more of the power they generate.

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If some of your brain works in binary, is it more like a digital computer than we thought?

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Diffusion ID Card special podcast - http://www.diffusionradio.com/2007/03/id_card_is_big_brother_stalkin.html Updates International and General Campaigns and Issues Need for Identity? - Need for Privacy? Blogs and Commentary Australian Government Websites Technology Sites Business Issues Updates and developments: [Senate]:  Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee report is critical of many aspects of the Legislation (15th March 2007) [SMH]:  Government moves quickly to defer legislation for AU$1.1Bn card "Sydney Morning Herald: Backlash fear sparks ID card rethink" [ZDNet]:  Minister, Senator Campbell, resigns (on unrelated matter). [Silicon.com]:  ID card support collapses [ZDNet]:  Tendering for the card continues! International and General [Privacy International]:  Leading surveillance countries around the world [ABC Radio National]:  Background Briefing. "Getting Smart: the Access card" [IndyMedia]:  Difference between rejected 1986 ID-card and present proposal [Spychips]:  Issues about RFID cards [Privacy.Org]:  Privacy International - National ID Cards [CNet]:  The Real ID rebellion (a similar proposed card in the US is called Real ID) Privacy legislation applied to businesses is substantially different from privacy legislation for government organisations. [Privacy.gov]:  Australian State and Territory privacy legislation [Privacy.gov]:  Australian privacy legislation for the Private Sector Campaigns and Issues [ACLU]:  Flash animation of ordering pizza in an Identity card world [ACLU]:  Flash animation of ID card interaction at airport. "Privacy, Its about Power." [Privacy.Org]:  Australian Privacy Foundation ID-card Campaign [Privacy.Org]:  Greenleaf, Graham "Australia's Proposed ID Card: Still Quacking Like a Duck." UNSW Law Research Paper No. 2007-1 Available at SSRN: [SSRN]:  G Greenleaf "Access All Areas': Function Creep Guaranteed in Australia's ID Card Bill (No. 1)", Computer Law and Security Report Vol 23, 2007 (accepted) [CyberLaw]:  "The Australian Government's Submission is seriously misleading to the Senate - Supplementary submission to the Inquiry Into the Human Services (Enhanced Service Delivery) Bill 2007" 2 March 2007 [CyberLaw]:  "Submission to the Inquiry Into the Human Services (Enhanced Service Delivery) Bill 2007' 25 February 2007" [EFA]:  Electronic Frontiers Australia [CyberLaw]:  Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre [SMH]:  Warning over medical details on national card [ABC]:  Govt concedes age limit on access card Need for Identity? - Need for Privacy? [TheRegister]:  Centrelink database abuse 2006 [AccessCard.gov]:  Access Card and Privacy Taskforce Report [AccessCard.gov]:  Government response to Taskforce Report [Wikipedia]:  The Vivian Solon case. Blogs [Here's Why]:  Radio ID Skim Scam [Here's Why]:  The Card that Accesses You! [FOI-Privacy.Blogspot]:  Peter Timmins Open and Shut (blog) Australian Government Websites [Accesscard.Gov]:  Office of the Access Card [Accesscard.Gov]:  The Access Card Bill [Accesscard.Gov]:  Public submissions on the Access Card Bill [Privacy.Gov]:  Proof of ID required? [AG.Gov]:  Attorney General: Protecting identity security [AG.Gov]:  Identity Security strengthened [AG.Gov]:  Identity Theft Kit [Senate]:  Access Card questions with notice in Parliament (Australia) Technology Sites [Wikipedia]:  Radio Frequency Identification techology (Wikipedia) [The-Gold-Blog]:  Are your credit cards safe? [RFIDProductNews]:  Applications of RFID cards [Bruce Shneier]:  Skimming RFID Credit cards [TechNewsWorld]:  Hacking RFID passports [RPI-Polymath]:  How to make your wallet safe from RFID attack with Duct Tape [Wikipedia]:  Model 204 database [ACEvents]:  Australian RFID Summit [SMH]:  E-tags are another example of surveillance by stealth Business Issues The Australian government's push for an "access" card is supported by a business model which is claimed to justify the billion-dollar expenditure. Unfortunately, the relevant sections in government publications are inaccessible "for commercial reasons" or are labelled "government in confidence". At the same time businesses appear to be directly resisting attempts for more open access by shareholders, or - more indirectly - via a shift to "private equity" funding. [SMH]:  "Business needs to keep its secrets" [AccessCard.Gov]:  KPMG Access card Business Case to Australian Government 2006 [McCombs.Utexas.]:  1998 KPMG White Paper on Smart cards [RFIDNews]:  KPMG sell biometric radio computer cards to the Department of Defense [KPMG]:  KPMG report on the benefits of Radio Frequency computer chipped cards

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ID Card - is Big Brother stalking you? subscribe to Diffusion Diffusion identity card special edition Synthetic interview with Anna Johnston about privacy concerns by Anonymous Voice, Aras Vaichas speaks with Ian Woolf about RFID technologies, Interview with Professor Graham Greenleaf about Access and Cyberlaw by Anonymous Voice Who is Anonymous Voice? Can you catch the hidden messages masked in the music? Will the Access Card bill be passed into Identity Card legislation without any debate at all?

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BeepCard are selling a radio microphone bug on a credit card, with a computer, memory, and rechargeable battery. Their RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) card allows anyone with the remote card reader to listen in on your conversations. The battery will be recharged whenever it's in range of a reader. References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Frequency_Identification http://www.beepcard.com/docs/ComTalk.pdf mirror http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/471386/rss/2463 http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=JBENDY000127000006001030000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes

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The Access Card Bill proposes to allow the computer on a card to act as a cash card for emergency relief as well as an ID card storing all your personal information. By an amazing coincidence, the "Pay Pass" digital cash card is being trialled in Australia this month by Mastercard. Its RFID. Radio Frequency IDentification allows people with card readers to access your information or cash remotely, without you having to remove the card from your wallet. Hackers have built devices that passively "listen" to the radio traffic between the card and a reader to get your personal information or steal your digital cash Its called "skimming". The Australian Department of Immigration bought into RFID cards which is a shame because Security experts have already hacked your RFID Passport Will the Australian Access Card with its biometric face recognition, its huge store of personal information and its digital cash use RFID? This question was asked in Parliament in 2006 by the West Australian Senator Christopher Evans. Minister Joe Hockey refused to rule it out: Question 8. Can DHS rule out the employment of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology within the Smartcard? Answer 8. Whether or not the access card uses RFID technology is a matter for decision by government. You can stop the Government tracking you, the fraudsters stealing your identity and the thieves stealing your digital cash by building an RFID-proof wallet with foil and duct-tape. Could KPMG who won the tender for the card indicate whether the models they sell come with RFID normally? 1998 KPMG White Paper on Smart cards. It sounds exactly like the Access Card, including the digital cash. Then in 2003 they sold biometric RFID access cards for the US Department of Defense In 2005 they explained the many benefits for RFID cards I wonder if they'll just sell us the same model? Why won't Joe Hockey play ball and rule out RFID? References: http://www.the-gold-blog.com/?p=186 http://www.rfidproductnews.com/issues/2006.07/18.php http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/52270.html http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/fapa_ctte/estimates/bud_0607/human_services/hs35.pdf http://www.rpi-polymath.com/ducttape/RFIDWallet.php http://crec.mccombs.utexas.edu/works/articles/smartcardswp.html http://www.rfidnews.org/news/2003/01/30/department-of-defense-selects-bearingpoint-for-third-phase-of-biometric-demonstrations/ http://www.kpmg.com.au/newsletters/LOBS/ice_com_ment-September2005.htm

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Stephen Colbert tips his hat AND wags his finger at John Howard Colbert Report 12th February 2007

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Play now Antechinus is a small Australian marsupial that has lots of sex, and then dies. The more sex they have, the healthier their babies.

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Here's some of the excellent video podcasts I've subscribed to on my GeeXbox: Feed Me Bubbe Sleight TokyoDV Video Log RocketBoom 2.0

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Play now Food and electricity, together at last! How to make grapes sparkle, light emitting vegetable diodes, and testing cream cakes for sentience.

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I just downloaded the Juice podcatcher and loaded it up with feeds from tvRSS. Now I can catch TV shows over the internet that don't get broadcast here - automatically! Juice even downloads torrents, and works on linux, windows and OSX. I've also been looking at streaming with my GeeXbox, instead of waiting for downloads. I can stream anything from www.archive.org as if it were another TV station, without any drop-outs or delays. I watched The Power of Nightmares without having to wait for a download. In the same way, the Beyond Belief seminars can be streamed straight from the website. I used the "DownloadThemAll" plugin to find the actual mp4 video links, and then pasted them to this m3U playlist file to play on GeeXbox

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Is Vegemite illegal in America? Personally, I never touch the stuff.

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Importing the Indian all-electric Reva car from Britain to sell in Australia isn't easy because you have to crash the first 20.

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The 2006 Ig Nobel for mathematics goes to Australia for photography and blinking.

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