sweden

It's official. The Government is now reading your email

This week, Denmark was named the happiest country in the world.

Its capital was renamed Copinghaven.

However, just next door in Sweden, Google was one of the leaders in protesting a new law that was passed on June 18.

Unlike some laws, this one is simple:

"We, the Government, can read any email that comes into or out of our borders. We can listen in to phone calls too. Don't bother to tell us you don't like this law. As we've already read your dirgy emails and listened to your moaning phone calls. Just the ones … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 682: The murder of CableCard

EPISODE 682

Web creator rejects net tracking http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7299875.stm

BT confesses lies over secret Phorm experiments http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/17/bt_phorm_lies/

Yahoo Buzz is a game-changer for social media http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ yahoo_buzz_is_a_game_changer.php

Google says Microsoft’s Yahoo buy might hurt Internet http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/ idUSPEK15292020080317

Flickr Video beta due in April http://www.news.com/8301-13953_3-9895044-80.html

Firefox 3 goes on a diet, eats less memory than IE and Opera http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080317-firefox-3-goes-on-a-diet-eats-less-memory-than-ie-and-opera.html

LimeWire digital music … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 681: Pi Not Pie

EPISODE 681

Happy Pi day! http://www.piday.org/

Trend Micro’s Web site hacked in massive attack http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9894181-7.html

Verizon embraces P4P, a more efficient peer-to-peer tech http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080314-verizon-embraces-p4p-a-more-efficient-peer-to-peer-tech.html http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-P2P-Verizon.html

Sweden pursues illegal file-sharers http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080314/ ap_on_hi_te/sweden_file_sharing

Music industry proposes a piracy surcharge on ISPs http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/ 2008/03/music_levy

Google exec: Android will outsell iPhone http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20080314/tc_cmp/206903637

What if Apple really opened up … Read more

'World's toughest phone' asks to be tortured

The "world's toughest phone" will take on Europe, starting with Stockholm.

The new military-spec, Bluetooth, and push-to-talk GSM Sonim XP1 is engineered for outdoor sports enthusiasts and those who work in harsh environments, certified to withstand shock, water, wind, dust, dirt, and extreme temperatures, the U.S.-based mobile Sonim Technologies announced. And not that you'll need it, but there's also a three-year, unconditional warranty (PDF).

Yeah, we've heard all this before--how tough could it be? Well, the company is so confident that it's invited bloggers and journalists across Europe to "torture-test&… Read more

Pirate Bay creators launch new photo-hosting service

Admist some of last week's hullaballoo regarding Flickr's censorship on some of the photos of its German language users, it's timely that the creators of The Pirate Bay, the popular BitTorrent tracking site, have recently launched their own censorship-free image-sharing service called BAYIMG. It's similar to other image-hosting services like ImageShack, TinyPic, and DivShare, with one exception--the only person who's able to remove uploaded photos is you. That is, assuming you don't forget the secret removal access code you picked when uploading.

Despite this well-advertised stance on free speech, the service claims that if … Read more

Trig: Good-looking social networking, or is it?

Trig is a new social-networking site based out of Sweden that's aiming to steal you away from MySpace with its devastatingly good looks and indie branding. Trig has a gorgeous welcome page. It first caught my eye when I saw it featured on The Museum of Modern Betas. It seemed to have everything MySpace did (and more), but with a unmistakable visual appeal. I was hoping the actual site would have a similar luster, but Web sites (like books) can't be judged on outside appearances alone, and Trig is unfortunately proof of this.

Trig is a work in … Read more

Because you know you want a wall of plants

Eco-chic blog Inhabitat has introduced us to the Plantwall, the latest offering from Swedish "urban cultivation" company Green Fortune. (Something like this just had to come out of Scandinavia.) It is indeed a wall of plants. But before you say, "Hey, I could make that myself with some ivy and chicken wire," get this: The Plantwall is not only watered by drip irrigation, but a four-layer textile system provides fertilizer and keeps moisture from straying away from the wall. Try asking for that at Home Depot.

Currently, the Plantwall is only installed in one location, the … Read more