Underwater generator kite

This new design from a Swedish firm allows the generators to go with the flow rather than being fixed in one position:

The kite, which at full size will have a wingspan of 8-14 metres, carries a turbine below it. The kite is tethered by a cable to the sea floor and then “flies” in the tidal stream. It swoops round in a figure-of-eight shape to increase the speed of the water flowing through the turbine tenfold, just as sailing boat cuts across the wind to go faster.

The taste of music: There’s a rare neurological condition known as musical synaesthesia in which a person can taste music. Look for the video here.

The Microsoft Windows Support center: I had a couple of e-mails relating to this recently, but I was surprised to learn it’s such a big deal, rather than just the regular junk mail that arrives. I received the e-mail, not the call:

Until now, it has been a relatively harmless process: the call centre workers didn’t leave anything (such as malware) on your computer, because that could involve the police internationally, and even in Kolkata (Calcutta as was), where the criminal gang that’s behind this is based, the police might take notice. Nor have I seen any evidence that they steal details such as bank information. You got scammed for a couple of hundred pounds, but if you realised what had happened, you could get the payment reversed.

But something has changed: they seem to have started trying to install software. That takes the scam into new territory altogether, because it means that the scammers are now changing the setup of the computer, and while it’s still fraud, it also now strays into fields such as the Computer Misuse Act.