Sydney small business owner Eddy Stevens has won a four-year legal battle against Sony, with the High Court ruling that modding of PlayStation consoles is legal. The decision has far-reaching implications for consumers and the manufacturers of computer games. Mod chips allow gamers to ignore manufacturers' regional coding systems and run cheaper games - made for markets outside Australia - on their consoles. http://theage.com.au/news/breaking/playstation-mods-ruled-legal/2005/10/06/1128562920

It sounds like science fiction: a brain nurtured in a Petri dish learns to pilot a fighter plane as scientists develop a new breed of "living" computer. But in groundbreaking experiments in a Florida laboratory that is exactly what is happening. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/12/06/1102182227308.html