Hasta La Gadget!

Well, it’s certainly been an interesting month for those interested in all things technology-related in the Netherlands. Just last week, the Royal Dutch Mint showed off some new coins emblazoned with QR Codes promising untold “surprises,” and this week the Dutch parliament made a bit of history by passing the first net neutrality legislation in the EU. Now it’s taken aim at another target: internet cookies. Despite warnings that it could cause websites to flee en masse to less-restrictive countries in Europe, the parliament has also passed an amendment to the net neutrality law that drastically changes how cookies are handled on the web. Specifically, websites will have to prove that visitors explicitly agreed to allow cookies, which likely means an extra click or a pop-up window before anyone’s able to actually visit a site. Of course, there’s also the possibility that it could lead to a drop in a cookie use in the country, although that seems about as likely as a drop in actual cookie consumption.

[Thanks, Lucian; image: The Bygone Bureau]

Dutch parliament passes strict new law regulating cookies — the non-edible variety originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Recharging tired EVs and plug-in hybrids in Japan just got a little more exciting thanks to Toyota‘s upcoming G-Station charger, which relies on contact-less smart-cards to identify vehicles and owners. Toyota’s Windows Azure-powered Smart Center drives the machines, which allows users to connect to the internet and use smartphone apps to find chargers, receive notifications, and check usage history. The G-Station will be coming this July in two flavors, creatively named Type A for the standard and Type B for the more advanced model. Pricing for the aforementioned units will be 280,000 yen ($3,469 USD) and 448,000 yen ($5,549 USD) respectively. Toyota is expecting to sell around 3,000 units by the end of 2012, making these stations available to its retail car dealers, shopping malls and restaurants. Soon the outside of pachinko parlors will be just as electric as the inside.

Toyota premiers smart charging G-Stations in Japan, world instantly jealous originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jun 2011 09:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why it seems like only yesterday that our little Firefox had its last major upgrade. As expected, the browser turned 5.0 today, and you can celebrate by downloading it now from Mozilla’s site. We’d like to know how your test drive of the update is going so far. Let us know in the poll and the comments below.

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Firefox 5 is officially released, how are you liking it? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The US government is serious about online security, just ask any one of its cyber commandos. Adding to its arsenal for battling the big bad hackers, Reuters reports that DARPA is working on a National Cyber Range, which would act a standalone internet simulation engine where digital warriors can be trained and experimental ideas tested out. Lockheed Martin and Johns Hopkins University are competing to provide the final system, with one of them expected to soon get the go-ahead for a one-year trial, which, if all goes well, will be followed by DARPA unleashing its techies upon the virtual firing range in earnest next year. The cost of the project is said to run somewhere near $130 million, which might have sounded a bit expensive before the recent spate of successful hacking attacks on high profile private companies, but now seems like a rational expenditure to ensure the nuclear missile codes and the people crazy enough to use them are kept at a safe distance from one another. DARPA has a pair of other cleverly titled cybersecurity schemes up its sleeve, called CRASH and CINDER, but you’ll have to hit the source link to learn more about them.

DARPA setting up a $130 million ‘virtual firing range’ to help battle cyber attacks originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 03:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It may be Sunday where you are, but it’s bright-and-early on Monday in Singapore. That’s where a monumental vote is about to go down, with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (or ICANN, for short) set to vote on expansion plans for domain names. If you’ll recall, the organization approved seven additional domains in 2004, with another round from 2004 leading to a separate seven joining the herd. It’s expected to approve something far more substantial this week, however, with a new system enabling just about anything to trail the crux of the domain. In other words, .com may soon be replaced by .Canon (for cameras), .eco (for green sites) or even .programming (for, you know, programming sites).

As you can likely imagine, the options here are pretty well endless, but it’ll cost a wee bit more than $6.95 per year to register one. The application fee alone is clocked in at $185,000, and winners will have to pony up $25,000 annually after that. It’s entirely likely that a new wave of legal spats will crop up with regard to trademarks — we’re guessing lawyers in Mountain View won’t be too fond of Google.phones falling into non-corporate hands — but hey, that’s half the fun from the sidelines. We’ll be keeping an eye out for a final decision, and we’ll be sure to let you know if ICANN fesses up to what it’ll be doing with those stratospheric new fees.

Update: It sailed through, as expected. The first of the new wave are expected to go online within a year, and yeah, we’re curious as well to find out which one becomes first out of the gate.

ICANN passes domain name expansion, ele.vation and wolf.pack ready to assault your browser originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Jun 2011 19:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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