Submission + - Phillips invent dynamic pants
Matthew Sparkes writes: "Philips has come up with a way to change the size and shape of clothes by weaving "muscle wires" into the fabric. The wires are made of shape-memory alloys that change length according to the small current passed through them. The idea is that you can try on a pair of trousers and change the length of the wires in the fabric until the trousers have the correct waist size, inside leg and width — then simply try the real trousers in exactly that size. Dynamic pants could also be useful for those Slashdotters with dynamic waist measurements..."
Submission + - Sweden a haven for digital identity theft
paulraps writes: Some 15 percent of the world's criminal servers are hosted in Sweden. When taken on a per capita basis, the figures — from Symantec's latest security report — mean that Sweden has the highest concentration of online criminal activity in the world. The reason given is not that Swedes are particularly criminally-inclined but that they have such a well-developed IT infrastructure. Nevertheless, Symantec says Sweden is a 'haven for digital identity theft'. The US still hosts the most 'underground economy' servers, though — 51 percent.
Submission + - Google Confirms Adscape Acquisition
Caustic-Kaz writes: "This weekend, Google confirmed its acquisition of in-game advertising company Adscape Media, which will add a whole new playing field for the Internet giant.
http://www.adotas.com/2007/03/google-confirms-adsc ape-acquisition/"
Submission + - YouTube Video Awards, a legal defence?
An anonymous reader writes: ZDNet reports that later today YouTube will launch its 'YouTube Video Awards' for 2006. Nominees (which include big hitters such as Lonelygirl15 and Ask a Ninja) will be invited to upload new content over the next five days to promote themselves and canvas for votes. After which, we can expect a round of acceptance speeches. However, Don Dodge (an ex-VP of Product Development at Napster, during its good old P2P days) says the awards are a tactic by YouTube designed to deflect from their legal woes. The idea, he says, is to show the courts that there is "substantial non-infringing use" of the service.
Submission + - Mathematicians finally map 57-dimensional shape
Matthew Sparkes writes: "A team has mapped a 57-dimensional structure called E8 and the results take up 60 gigabytes of data. The shape, called E8 (pronounced E-eight), is a Lie group. A Norwegian mathematician invented Lie groups in the 19th century to study symmetry. A Lie group underlies objects like balls, cylinders or cones that are symmetrical when rotated by small amounts. The team solved the problem in a four-year project using a supercomputer at the University of Washington in Seattle."
Submission + - U.S. leading the world in malware creation?
PetManimal writes: "China, Russia, and the other developing countries usually blamed for the increasing amount of malware are not the biggest culprits, according to Symantec. The security software company just released a report which claims that the U.S. leads the world in a number of malware categories, ranging from the "amount of malicious activity originating from their networks" to "underground economy servers". Preston Gralla says the U.S. lead should come as no surprise, considering the capitalist way of life and the high level of technical knowledge. He also suggests that the some of the "criminals" may actually be Internet entrepreneurs who crossed over to the dark side:
"It's an inevitable result of a thriving free market and tech expertise. An underground economy often mirrors the legal, above-ground one. Scratch a criminal, and sometimes you find a misguided entrepreneur, looking to get rich a little too quick.
