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Engadget

TrueCall Fights Telemarketers and Unknown Callers

by Engadget Staff, posted Oct 25th 2008 at 3:50PM

Telemarketers-turned-inventors from the United Kingdom have started shipping TrueCall (£99.99), a device that acts as an automated secretary on your land line, either forwarding trusted numbers to your phone or answering untrusted numbers with an automated message and shooing them away. When an unrecognized number dials in, TrueCall asks them who they are and then rings you asking whether or not you want to take it. Sure, it's not the most fun way to automatically ditch unscrupulous callers, but we'd like to listen in on the conversation when a robocall reaches this baby -- it'd be like one wall talking to another wall.

[Via Slashdot]
Engadget

MI6 Agent Forgets to Delete Work Records from Camera Before Selling on eBay

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 1st 2008 at 3:26PM

We'd swear this had to be some sort of spoof on the impeccable James Bond, but sadly enough, the whole thing is true. A secondhand Nikon Coolpix camera which sold on eBay for a mere £17 ($30) turned out to be a real bargain once its new 28-year old owner completed his first image dump. Along with decidedly decent snaps from his US vacation, he also found a number of "top secret" images, diagrams and sketches that have since been confirmed as MI6 material. We're talking photos of rocket launchers, hand-drawn graphics of terrorist links and all sorts of other information not at all intended for civilian eyes. 'Course, the whole thing could just be the act of one talented Photoshopper, but we highly doubt the agency would be so fortunate.

[Via Digg, image courtesy of WWII Airplane Model]

Nintendo Holocaust-Era Game Draws Criticism

by Will Safer, posted Mar 10th 2008 at 4:02PM

Nintendo DS logo.Putting players in first-person situations is one of the most popular narrative devices in video games, and a French video game developer, working for a British distributor, has done just that with his latest digital adventure. Typically, this would not draw much fanfare but his game topic is startling to some: a first-person experience of a first-person experience of a young child in France during the Holocaust.

The game, 'Imagination Is the Only Escape, 'puts players in the role of a young boy in Nazi-occupied France during the war, and follows his attempts to escape the horror of the times by pursuing a fantasy world of his own devising.

Unlike most games developed for the Nintendo DS, which typically caters to kids titles, this game portrays often brutal scenes, with startling imagery and events.

Early outcry on online message boards indicates that the game distributor, Alten8, may not export the game to stores in the United States (although that's not a certainty) but it will be available in Europe.

The 21-year-old game developer says he does not consider the topic of war to be a game, and doesn't intend to demean the concept. Another game he's developed, also distributed by Alten8, puts players into a fantasy realm where the world has been destroyed by global warming.

Tackling serious issues head on, and with a first-person experience, seems to be catching on as a popular device in France. French president Nicholas Sarkozy recently introduced a new education initiative that "pairs" all his country's fifth-graders with the story of one of the 11,000 French children who were killed by the Nazis during World War II.

Sarkozy has come under significant fire since announcing the education plan, with critics saying the learning experience will be traumatizing to the students.

The video game will not depict violence, according to the developer, and is intended to be educational, and not exploitative of the events.

From The New York Times.


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Travelodge Hotel Chain Debuts Futuristic PJs to Help Guests Sleep

by Will Safer, posted Feb 6th 2008 at 1:37PM

Travelodge's sleep suit


The Travelodge hotel chain in the United Kingdom is rolling out a new test program aimed at helping people get a good night's sleep. The method for giving guests a better snooze experience? A futuristic set of pajamas made from a material called Dermasilk, which is supposed to feel like a second skin.

According to a statement by Travelodge, the Dermasilk sleep suit "allows the skin to breathe, regulates body temperature (in hot and cold conditions) and maintains the skin's moisture balance." The Dermasilk is made from natural knitted silk, which the hotel chain claims controls body odor and is good for people who may suffer from skin disorders such as eczema and dermatitis, since it reduces the symptoms of itching and scratching.

The chain conducted a survey of 3000 British adults and found that:

  • 23 percent of Brits said they suffer from itchy night clothes which stops them from getting a good night's sleep
  • Being too hot / cold is a common complaint for Brits with 66 percent confirming their body temperature changes constantly throughout the night which affects their sleep pattern
  • More people feel too hot (54 percent) in comparison to feeling cold (35 percent) while sleeping

Travelodge UK's sleep suitThe sleepwear, which looks like something out of a sci-fi movie (maybe 1971's 'THX-1138' starring Robert Duvall), is made up of leggings, a long sleeved tee-shirt, gloves, socks and a facial mask and comes in small, medium, large and extra large sizes. Guests can choose to have the sleepwear provided when they make their hotel reservation, and they get to keep their new jammies if they like the new slumber experience.

What are some other interesting tidbits revealed by Travelodge's survey? Well, women are willing to look less desirable in bed in order to keep warm. Plus, wearing "passion killer" socks are more favored by women at 23 percent, which is more than double in contrast to men wearing socks to bed at just 11 percent. Men are simply more interested in keeping warm.

Travelodge seems quite interested in helping its guests get a good night's sleep, and has a separate program to provide MP3s that you can listen to just before going to bed called "Nodcasts." Titles include:

  • Assertiveness Nodcast – how to say what you want and get it
  • Confidence Nodcast – how to get a "can do" attitude
  • Communication Nodcast - how to make more friends and influence more people
  • Stress Nodcast – how to combat anxiety and relax
  • Motivation Nodcast – how to overcome inertia and seize the day

Give them a listen -- you can download the Nodcasts here.

From The Daily Mail and Travelodge UK.


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British Government Loses Data On 25 Million Citizens

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Nov 26th 2007 at 11:02AM

British Government Loses Data On Up To 25 Million Citizens
Data loss happens. But all the past instances of carelessness have been dwarfed by the sheer magnitude of the loss suffered by the British government. Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) office lost discs containing highly sensitive data, including names, dates of birth, bank account numbers, and home addresses of up to 25 million of its citizens.

These discs, which could represent up to 40 percent of the British population, are not encrypted. Rather, they are merely password protected, meaning that if they fell into the wrong hands, the information on them could be fairly easily extracted. Lets just hope it isn't one of the passwords on this list.

The HMRC has no reason to believe that the information is in the hands of criminals. This catastrophic loss of data comes only two months after the HMRC lost information on 15,000 customers of the Standard Life insurance company. This has led the already normally combative parliament to get even more feisty with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who opposition leaders say is trying to shirk responsibility in this issue. To his credit, though, Brown has ordered an investigation, and has granted his Information Commissioner new powers to spot-check agencies to ensure the security of data.

From BetaNews

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