IT Business Elsewhere: Steal this iPod

Fetch fido’s record electronically
Psunrise.com

Electronic health records may be only in the initial stages for humans, at least in Canada, but they’re apparently well-developed for our four-legged friends. A company

called Programming Sunrise Ltd. recently let us know it has released Smart Pet Health Professional Edition, a Windows application designed to save time and money for pet breeders and animal shelter managers by automating health records. According to the press release, the program eliminates the burden of medical care paperwork, and ensures that you always know your pet’s schedule for medical appointments and vaccinations.

It only makes scents
New Scientist

No one knows like the nose. That’s why Japanese researchers have developed a gadget they dub “”the air cannon,”” which can track a person, shoot an aroma directly at their nose and, craftily enough, leave the person next to them completely oblivious to the whole thing.The technology was developed as a technique for directing evocative smells to people exploring virtual reality environment

You’ve got a Porsche
Wired

America Online has found a good way to reward participants in one of its sweepstakes while probably breaking the heart of a spammer.

According to the story, AOL is giving away a 2002 Porsche Boxter S in a sweepstakes. The car was part of a settlement in a case the giant service provider won against the spammer.

Power to the supercomputer people
New Scientist

Flashmobbing might be deemed passé by those who live on the bleeding edge of all things cool, but it still has currency in computer geek circles. According to the New Scientist, on April 3, more than 1,000 laptop owners will gather at the University of San Francisco to try to build an ad hoc supercomputer, connecting them all using software written at the university. The project’s organizers say they hope that FlashMob, as the project is called, will be fast enough to beat supercomputers listed in the world’s top 500.

Muggers tuned into value of iPods
The Register

You might think you look pretty phat in those white iPod headphones, and maybe you do. Muggers, at least those that work in the West Midlands, U.K. region, apparently think so. The Register recently reported that the police are advising iPod junkies to use less distinctive headphones, “”something which is apparently akin to asking Victoria Beckham to shop at Oxfam,”” the story says.

Download 4 U
New York Times

Prince, the same guy who likes to refer to himself as the artist formerly known as, for short, and the same dude who reportedly compared the music industry to slavery, reports the NYTimes, recently opened an online music store.

Cops take close-ups of criminals
BBC

The U.K. police are testing a scanner on criminals that shows everything. That’s right, everything.

“”The X-rays in effect strip you naked — little is left to the imagination, says Superintendent Malcolm Baker, who was involved in the use of the scanner,”” says the story. “”It’s very graphic.””

That doesn’t go there, right?
Yahoo!

There’s a moral in here somewhere. According to Reuters, the Berlin police were summoned recently to rescue a fat hamster who fell and got stuck in a computer printer.

Making the music industry change its tune
Wired

It’s official. The recording industry can’t blame falling CD sales on rampant file-sharing. That’s the finding of researchers at two leading U.S. universities. Needless to say, the recording industry begs to differ.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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