ZURICH, Switzerland--I've never had this nightmare, but I can easily imagine how it goes: My deadline is fast approaching, and I haven't uploaded my story yet. The only way to do so is to get online, but I have no Internet. All the Wi-Fi is slow, or doesn't work, and the clock is ticking away. I wake up screaming.
This could easily have been my real-life nightmare anytime this summer as I traveled throughout Europe on Road Trip 2011, filing stories and photo galleries nearly every day on the wide range of places I visited--tunnel projects, air … Read more
Europe's biodiesel industry could be wiped out by EU plans to tackle the unwanted side effects of biofuel production, after studies showed few climate benefits, four papers obtained by Reuters show.
Europe's world-leading $13 billion biodiesel industry, which has boomed in the wake of a decision by Brussels policymakers in 2003 to promote it, is now on the verge of being legislated out of existence after the studies revealed biodiesel's indirect impact cancels out most of its benefits.
"This study would pave the way for the demise of the European biodiesel sector," Philippe Tillous-Borde, chief of French oilseed giant Sofiproteol, which owns Europe's largest biodiesel producer, told Reuters.
The EU has been arguing for two years over the extent of indirect damage to the environment caused by it setting a target of increasing biofuel use to 10 percent of all road fuels by 2020, from less than three percent today.
Its own analysis shows the target may lead to an indirect one-off release of around 1,000 megatonnes of carbon dioxide--more than twice the annual emissions of Germany.
The emerging picture that the EU has got its policy wrong has proved unpalatable, and the European Commission has refused a Reuters freedom of information request for the latest studies, arguing the public interest of disclosure is insufficient.
However, those documents have now been leaked.… Read more
Ticket to Ride is another solid iPad adaptation of a classic board game, which has the same name, in which you race other players to build railroad routes across a map of the U.S. and southern Canada.
Fans of the board game (and its online version) will find this a satisfying reproduction of the original--but, of course, with the added bonus of not having to fumble with all the little pieces, cards, and bookkeeping. You can play a solo game in about 15 minutes, with no cleanup. If you don't know the game already, it's pretty easy … Read more
Small World for iPad is the two-player iOS adaptation of the popular European-style board game Small World, a whimsically designed, fast-playing game with a little bit of luck and a lot of strategy.
Small World for iPad looks and plays great, with the same board, artwork, and rules as the tabletop version. This exceptions-based game is relatively complex to learn: players compete to dominate the Small World map with randomly assigned combinations of races (for example, Trolls, Skeletons, or Amazons) and special powers (for example, Flying, Wealthy, or Alchemist). Each combination starts with a set number of tokens, which you … Read more
European countries have agreed to tougher penalties for cybercrimes, including new punishments for botnet creators, in an effort to clamp down on massive attacks.
The new rules are part of a European Commission proposal, adopted by the Council of Europe on Friday, which now goes to the European Parliament for approval. It aims to update existing EU rules on cybercrime, introduced in 2005, which cover interference with data and systems, and illegal access.
One new measure is the introduction of penalties for people who develop and supply malware or other tools for creating botnets or stealing passwords. Additionally, the illegal … Read more
FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany--It's one of the most famous photographs ever--the Hindenburg exploding on its mast, lives instantly lost, the romance of a modern way of travel forever tainted.
That is probably true nowhere more than this modest city on the northern shore of Lake Constance, a place where zeppelins were invented and the Hindenburg called home.
Of course, that disaster took place in 1937, but here in Friedrichshafen, the memory of that famous airship, and its many German cousins, lives on every day at the Zeppelin Museum, an homage to an age long before jumbo jets, when flying across the Atlantic meant three days, but three luxurious days for sure.
The Zeppelin Museum is part history lesson, part cheerleader. Visitors--about 250,000 a year these days--are treated both to an education in the origins of the zeppelin as an aircraft, and to a bit of a love affair with the Hindenburg and its famous predecessor, the Graf Zeppelin.… Read more
Hackers went on a rampage late today, targeting Sony Europe, Nintendo, and the FBI-affiliate InfraGard Atlanta in a series of intrusions and security compromises that appears to have exposed passwords of some Sony and federal government employees.
The moves follow reports of hacks hours earlier that involved Acer Europe, Iran, NATO, and the United Arab Emirates.
Sony, whose business units globally have suffered what amounts to about a dozen different computer intrusions already over the past two months, was again targeted. Someone identified as Lebanese hacker Idahc, who targeted Sony Ericsson last week, appeared to have compromised the e-commerce site … Read more
Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET News for Friday, June 3.
Five questions heading into Apple's WWDC Apple may have already declared what it's going to demo at next week's Worldwide Developers Conference, but what else does it have up its sleeve? More
Targeted attacks hit Web-based e-mail Attacks aimed at Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail point to weak spots in e-mail services that can let attackers into corporate networks, reports say. More
"Welcome to McDonald's. My name is HAL 9000. May I take your order?"
McDonalds recently went on a hiring binge in the U.S., adding 62,000 employees to its roster. The hiring picture doesn't look quite so rosy for Europe, where the fast food chain is drafting 7,000 touch-screen kiosks to handle cashiering duties.
The move is designed to boost efficiency and make ordering more convenient for customers. In an interview with the Financial Times, McDonald's Europe President Steve Easterbrook notes that the new system will also open up a goldmine of data. McDonald's could potentially track every Big Mac, McNugget, and large shake you order. A calorie account tally at the end of the year could be a real shocker.
The touch screens will only accept debit or credit cards, adding to the slow death knell of cash and coins. This all goes along with an overall revamp of McDonald's restaurants worldwide aimed at projecting a modern image as opposed to the old-fashioned golden arches with a slightly creepy (to my taste anyway) clown guy hanging around the french fries.
This puts McDonald's one step closer to opening up its first Alphaville location. At least our new computer overlords will be nice enough to serve us a Filet-o-Fish. Maybe they'll even throw in an iPad with the Happy Meal one of these days.… Read more
Medici is the iOS adaptation of Reiner Knizia's classic bidding game, a board-game simulation of a dockside auction over the course of three days, in which three to six merchants bid to fill the cargo holds of their ships.
As with adaptations of similarly complex, European-style board games, existing fans of this popular game will have a much easier time with this app--but thankfully, comprehensive rules (perhaps overly so) along with nine different AI choices (each with varying skill levels and tendencies) help to make the learning curve a little less steep. Gameplay is actually very simple once you'… Read more
What's the #1 music streaming-app for iOS? Who wins in an iPhone v. S4 faceoff? We've got it covered with iPhone news, rumors, app recommendations, and more.
Manage updates with the Download App
