del.icio.us links for May 18, 2007

Week 20 del.icio.us links for May 18, 2007

1. Andy Warhol Painting Sells for $71 Million – FOXNews.com

   Warhol’s painting “Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I),” went for $71.7 million to an anonymous buyer. The previous auction record for a Warhol work was $17.4 million, set when “Mao” sold at Christie’s in November, the auction house said.

2. ‘One Laptop Per Child’ Project Now Reality In South American Classroom – KSDK NewsChannel 5

   The machines are the first in South America from the much-publicized “One Laptop Per Child” project, which hopes to put low-cost portable PCs in the hands of children in developing countries. Still in a pilot phase, the group has also placed machines at one school in Nigeria and another in Thailand.

   At the only public elementary school in this community of 1,300 people, children who never used computers are now being exposed to the digital age. Earlier this week, they eagerly pecked at the machines’ keyboards in their white smocks.

3. Second JFK assassin ‘likely’ – Herald Sun

   “The new analyses show that the bullet fragments involved in the assassination are not nearly as rare as previously reported,” Mr Tobin said, pointing to results that showed one in 10 test bullets matched the fragments. The findings “mean that the bullet fragments from the assassination that match could have come from three or more separate bullets.”

4. Skype to Launch Casual Gaming Portal

   The move was announced today by Paul Amery, director of the Skype Developer Program, during his keynote address at TMC’s Communications Developer Conference.

   “People are increasingly using Skype to interact with one another, with many choosing to play simple games like checkers or backgammon.

11 more articles after the Jump

1. Internet censorship grows worldwide

   The survey carried out by experts at four leading universities found that people in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa were often denied access to information about politics, sexuality, culture or religion. 26 out of 40 countries blocking.

2. Chinese Hackers Grow in Number, Skills – PC World

   China’s hacking scene appears poised for growth, as the number of Internet users rise with a commensurate interest in criminal hacking and government spying, according to a new Symantec Corp. study.

3. The brand new £150,000 yacht that mysteriously sank hours after its launch – the Daily Mail

   Mystery still surrounds why the vessel sank – even after a huge crane pulled it out of the water. When marina staff looked back over CCTV footage to see what had happened they realised the yacht had gradually sunk and was completely underwater by 3am on Wednesday.

4. Whatever Happened To The Segway? – Independent Online Edition

   Armed officers on Segways in Central Park is true. Last week, they officially became part of the New York Police Department’s motorised fleet. We are taken aback because a cop on a Segway indeed seems slightly comical.

5. $124,000 Lexus hybrid rolled out for sale in Japan – San Jose Mercury News

   Toyota’s commitment to hybrid automobiles was on full display Thursday when it unveiled its most expensive gasoline-electric vehicle yet – the $124,000 luxury sedan Lexus LS 600h L. Toyota expects to sell 7,000 Lexus LS hybrid cars in 2007.

6. 1 in 10 online ad clicks are fraudulent, study says – San Jose Mercury News

   Google, which runs the Internet’s largest ad network, says its engineers and filters identify all but 0.02 percent of the click fraud on its network. The Mountain View company says it doesn’t bill advertisers for any of the flagged fraud.

7. Florida Residents Get Tickets For Brown Lawn, Even In Drought – KSDK NewsChannel 5

   Residents of “Lone Pine Estates” in Riviera Beach say they’ve received citations from code enforcement, but instead of being charged with breaking water restrictions, they’re being cited for having brown grass. Code Enforcement has asked residents to re-sod or fertilize to get green again. Residents of “Lone Pine Estates” say the city has gone too far.

8. Sprint Nextel to settle age discrimination suit for $36;57 million – San Jose Mercury News

   Wireless company Sprint Nextel will pay $57 million to settle a class-action lawsuit claiming it targeted older workers during layoffs. The settlement, would cover 1,697 former employees laid off between Oct. 1, 2001, and March 31, 2003.

9. Olsen twins and 007 Bond? – News24

   The two sisters are in talks to appear in the next 007 adventure, tentatively titled Bond 22, starring Daniel Craig as the suave British spy. In a bid to secure the 20-year-old sibling stars, producers are offering Mary-Kate and Ashley a clause in their contracts stating they will not have to strip off or shoot any sex scenes,

10. Hong Kong man loses Internet piracy appeal

    The first person in the world to be convicted of distributing movies over the popular online BitTorrent network on Friday lost an appeal against a jail sentence in Hong Kong. The unemployed 38-year-old, was sentenced in 2005 of infringing copyright.

11. UN in Sri Lanka $10m food appeal – BBC NEWS – South Asia

    The United Nations World Food Programme has launched an appeal for $10m to help up to 400,000 people in Sri Lanka it says are in urgent need of food aid.