Researchers discover effect of caffeine

All that may be needed to reverse the effects of Alzheimer's disease is a couple of strong cups of coffee a day.

Scientists have uncovered powerful evidence that caffeine not only helps to stave off the disease but can treat it.

They hope to follow up the initial results from animal experiments with human patient trials.

Neuroscientist Gary Arendash, who led the research, said: "Caffeine could be a viable treatment for established Alzheimer's disease, and not simply a protective strategy. That's important because caffeine is a safe drug for most people."

Dr Arendash added that people with high blood pressure or women who are pregnant should avoid too much caffeine.

A key aspect of the disease is sticky clumps of abnormal protein in the brain called beta amyloid plaques.

Mice with the rodent equivalent of the disease showed a 50% reduction in levels of this protein after their drinking water was spiked with caffeine.

The change was reflected in their behaviour as the mice developed better memories and quicker thinking.

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Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is set to announce a mobile device which will be running on Google's Android software environment, a decision that may affect the mobile market landscape significantly.

The Guardian reported this morning that the mobile internet device - complete with touchscreen - could be unveiled as early as September at Nokia World Conference and marks Nokia's boldest attempt yet to regain the "innovation" leadership from smaller but more nimble players like Apple's iPhone or the Palm Pre.

It could well be the tipping point in the battle between normal traditional mobile phones and so-called smartphones which allow users to access the internet or perform similar functions as a mobile computer.

If the latest Apple rumours turn out to be true, most of the company's iPod range – including iPod touch, iPod nano and iPod classic – could well be getting a video camera upgrade when Apple announces the new ranges later this year.

The speculation has emerged from an unnamed Apple source over on TechCrunch, which state that Apple is preparing to upgrade nearly every iPod (iPod shuffle excepted!) with its affordable video cameras.

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The oldest bible in the world was displayed in its entirety for the first time in 150 years today after researchers digitised its four sections kept in cities thousands of miles apart and placed the reunited text in cyberspace.

The Codex Sinaiticus, which was written some 1,600 years ago on more than 800 pages of animal skin parchment, is available on a free website following a collaboration between four institutions in Germany, Russia, Egypt and Britain, which have held different parts of the ancient book after it was bought on behalf of the Russian Tsar in the mid-19th century.

The British Library, which has led the project, has held the largest chunk the bible- some 600 pages - since it bought most of the book from the Soviet Union in 1933 for £100,000 raised by public subscription amid fears that the Communist regime would discard it.

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The Pirate Bay looks set to have new owners in August

File-sharing site The Pirate Bay has been sold to a Swedish gaming company.

Global Gaming Factory (GGF) has paid 60m kronor (£4.7m) to take over the site from its founders.

Once it has taken control, GGF said it would start paying copyright fees for the movies, music and games linked to via the site.

In April, The Pirate Bay owners were found guilty of promoting copyright infringement, fined 30m kronor and were sentenced to one year in jail.

Opera Unite reinvents the Web

Opera today unveiled Opera Unite, a new technology that shakes up the old client-server computing model of the Web. Opera Unite turns any computer into both a client and a server, allowing it to interact with and serve content to other computers directly across the Web, without the need for third-party servers.

Opera Unite makes serving data as simple and easy as browsing the Web. For consumers, Opera Unite services give greater control of private data and make it easy to share data with any device equipped with a modern Web browser.

For Web developers, Opera Unite services are based on the same open Web standards as Web sites today. This dramatically simplifies the complexity of authoring cutting-edge Web services. With Opera Unite, creating a full Web service is now as easy as coding a Web page.

Opera Unite is available in a special version of the Opera 10 desktop browser from Opera Labs. Opera Unite services run directly in the browser.

Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia written by volunteers, has been turned into book which is 5,000 pages long and 1ft 7ins thick.

Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia written by volunteers, has been turned into book which is 5,000 pages long and 1ft 7ins thick by Rob Matthews 

Made by Rob Matthews, the book contains 437 featured articles from the popular internet resource and comes up to his knee when stood on the floor.

Wikipedia, which carries articles which can generally be edited by anyone who can access the website, was launched in 2001 and is currently the most popular general reference work on the Internet.  Rob, a graphic design student from Brighton, Sussex, took two weeks to make the book as a statement about how people are now dependent on the internet for information. 

He said: "I'm comparing the internet Wikipedia to a traditional encyclopedia by putting it in the same format.

"I wanted to make a comment on how everyone goes to the internet these days for information, yet it is very unreliable compared to what it has replaced."

Rob carefully selected 'featured' Wikipedia articles to fill his book, which can just about be carried, because these are thought to be the best the website has to offer.