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Submission + - Fox news parent NewsCorp may face corruption investigation (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by rtfa-troll
rtfa-troll writes: The Guardian reports that News Corporation may face FCPA investigations after an "official of the British ministry of defence" was charged "for allegedly receiving £100,000 from Murdoch's tabloid newspapers". News corporation, headed by Rupert Murdock, is loved by most of the readers of Slashdot as the owner of Fox News and as the company which put the overly complicated paywall on the Wall Street Journal. The article states that the charges "would be hard for the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission to ignore and would warrant investigation under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act which could lead to risks for "27 TV licences within the Fox network" .

Submission + - Saudi Arabia implements electronic tracking system for women (rawstory.com)

Submitted by dsinc
dsinc writes: Denied the right to travel without consent from their male guardians and banned from driving, women in Saudi Arabia are now monitored by an electronic system that tracks any cross-border movements.

Since last week, Saudi women’s male guardians began receiving text messages on their phones informing them when women under their custody leave the country, even if they are travelling together.

“The authorities are using technology to monitor women,” said columnist Badriya al-Bishr, who criticised the “state of slavery under which women are held” in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

Women are not allowed to leave the kingdom without permission from their male guardian, who must give his consent by signing what is known as the “yellow sheet” at the airport or border.
Businesses

Submission + - Insurance industry could screen-out Psychopaths from Senior Management

Submitted by Freshly Exhumed
Freshly Exhumed writes: Dr. Clive Boddy believes that increasingly fluid corporate career paths have helped psychopaths conceal their disruptive workplace behavior and ascend to previously unattainable levels of authority. Boddy points out psychopaths are primarily attracted to money, status and power, currently found in unparalleled abundance in the global banking sector. As if to prove the point, many of the world's money traders self identify as the "masters of the universe." Solution? Screening with psychological tests. Who would pay for it? The insurance industry, since such bosses-from-hell leave behind vast wakes of psychological wreckage, with payouts to victims usually the result.
Technology

Submission + - Electric Car Designed with Smartphone in Mind (intelfreepress.com)

Submitted by
kenekaplan
kenekaplan writes: "The electric car concept blends smartphone-like sensors and computing with Space Station and motorcycle technology. Danny Kim, CTO of startup Lit Motors, claims the two-wheeled, self-balancing C1 brings the benefits of a motorcycle with the safety and comfort of a car. In tests, the gyroscopically balanced, wheel-hub motored vehicle goes from 0 to 60 mph in under 6 seconds, reaching top speeds of over 100 mph, and gets 200 miles per battery charge that, according to Kim, costs $1."
Software

Submission + - No, Mozilla did not just kill Firefox x64 for Windows (geek.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Over at TheNextWeb, it’s been reported that Mozilla has “quietly killed” the 64-bit build of Firefox for Windows. TNW’s Emil Protalinski noted in his post that Firefox engineering manager Benjamin Smedberg ”had declared that the 64-bit version of Firefox for Windows would never see the light of day,” but that’s not actually the case. Indeed, the title of the related Bugzilla item tells a different story: “Disable windows 64 builds for now.”

Firefox x64 isn’t dead, it’s just going to disappear from the nightlies at some point in the near future. It will be back some time later in 2013.

Submission + - Google Maps Offering Indoor Floor Plans On Desktop

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google has been making modifications to its mobile-based Google Maps feature with regular updates, offering a host of options for users. Nonetheless, the company hasn’t forgotten about the desktop version of the feature and now, per reports, Google has announced the introduction of indoor maps support for the desktop version of the Maps.
Facebook

Submission + - Facebook to Eliminate Voting on Privacy Changes (net-security.org)

Submitted by
Orome1
Orome1 writes: "Facebook has announced some proposed updates to their Data Use Policy (how user data is collected and used) and their Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (explains the terms governing use of their services). These updates include new tools for managing Facebook Messages, changes to how they refer to certain products, tips on managing one's timelines, and reminders about what's visible to other people on Facebook. Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s vice president of communications, public policy, and marketing, said: "We found that the voting mechanism, which is triggered by a specific number of comments, actually resulted in a system that incentivized the quantity of comments over their quality," he explained. "Therefore, we’re proposing to end the voting component of the process in favor of a system that leads to more meaningful feedback and engagement.""

Submission + - Fetuses Caught Yawning in 4D (reuters.com)

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: Reuters reports 4D scans have conclusively shown that fetuses do yawn. Understandable, eh? After all, all they get is cable.
Piracy

Submission + - Police raid home of 9-year-old Pirate Bay user, seize 'Winnie the Pooh' laptop (bgr.com) 1

Submitted by zacharye
zacharye writes: Copyright enforcement might be getting out of hand in Scandinavia. As anti-piracy groups and copyright owners continue to work with authorities to curtail piracy in the region, police this week raided the home of a 9-year-old suspect and confiscated her “Winnie the Pooh” laptop. TorrentFreak reports that the girl’s home was raided after local anti-piracy group CIAPC determined copyrighted files had been downloaded illegally at her residence. Her father, the Internet service account holder, was contacted by CIAPC, which demanded that he pay a 600 euro fine and sign a non-disclosure agreement to settle the matter. When the man did not comply, authorities raided his home and collected evidence, including his 9-year-old daughter’s notebook computer...
Media

Submission + - Best console for the kids this holiday?

Submitted by
undulato
undulato writes: "I've got an aging, fat PS3 with only a couple of games that I still play on it but three kids under 9 who love Skylanders, iPet, Lego whatever etc. We all watch movies on it and it has been pretty much the centre of our entertainment world for a few years now.

I've already got a spare HDMI monitor we could use for a screen so my question is — should we go for a new console this Christmas? Just buy another controller or two and a new game or two for PS3 and be done? Or get the still pretty viable Xbox 360, or even plump for a cheap Wii or even a Wii U if we're feeling flush. What does Slashdot think?"
Government

Submission + - World Governments Object to New gTLDs like .wtf, .sucks, .baby, .amazon (paritynews.com) 3

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: ICANN is receiving more and more requests for new top level domains (gTLDs) and Governments around the world are busy registering their complaints and objections with the proposed names it has been noticed. Till date more than 200 objections have been raised against proposed gTLDs with Australia leading the pack with over 120 objections. Some of the other countries which are at the forefront of registering their objections include France, Germany and India. US and UK are near the bottom of the list with their fewer objections. ICANN’s “early warnings” about national objections to gTLDs serves as formal objections but it doesn’t mean that these domains will never be signed off. There is always room for discussions and mediation that would allow prospect registrants to keep on pursuing their claims. Australia has objected to names such as ‘.baby’, ‘.app’, ‘.beauty’ among other. It has also objected to names such as ‘.sucks’ and ‘.wtf’ stating that these names have “an overtly negative or critical connotation.”
Games

Submission + - Unity 3D now targets Linux (unity3d.com)

Submitted by xonen
xonen writes: It is now official — with the release of Unity3D version 4, Linux is an official target platform.

"Unity 4 Pro delivers the efficient and flexible workflow, graphical polish and power, smooth performance, fine tuned animations and creative control you need to make, ship and sell professional games."

The little catch here, is that Linux is not yet supported as host platform — you will still need a Windows or OSX computer to develop your games. However, we can expect a great deal of existing and new games to be released as Linux version too soon, especially since both the indie ('free') and pro versions of Unity3D support building for Linux target.
Apple

Submission + - U.S. judge orders Apple to immeditately tell Samsung details of HTC deal (blogspot.pt)

Submitted by
quantr
quantr writes: "A U.S. judge has ordered Apple Inc to disclose to rival Samsung Electronics details of a legal settlement the iPhone maker reached with Taiwan's HTC Corp, including terms of a 10-year patents licensing agreement.
The Korean electronics giant had earlier filed a motion to compel its U.S. rival — with whom it is waging a bitter legal battle over mobile patents across several countries — t o reveal details of the settlement that was reached on Nov. 10 with HTC but which have been kept under wraps.
In August, the iPhone maker won a $1.05 billion verdict against Samsung after a U.S. jury found that certain Samsung gadgets violated Apple's software and design patents.
Now, legal experts say the question of which patents are covered by the Apple-HTC settlement, and licensing details, could be instrumental in Samsung's efforts to thwart Apple's subsequent quest for a permanent sales ban on its products."
Patents

Submission + - Apple ordered to share HTC deal details with Samsung (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: A US judge has ordered Apple to disclose details of its patent-sharing deal with HTC to its rival, Samsung. Apple and HTC signed a 10-year licence agreement earlier this month, but did not make the details public.

Samsung, which is also involved in various patent disputes with Apple, asked the courts to tell Apple to furnish the information. It said it was "almost certain" the deal covered some of the patents at the centre of its dispute with Apple.

The court ordered Apple to produce a full copy of the settlement agreement "without delay", subject to an "attorneys' eyes only" designation, meaning it will not be made public.
Technology

Submission + - Cloaking technology could protect offshore rigs from destructive waves (gizmag.com)

Submitted by cylonlover
cylonlover writes: Recent years have seen much progress in the development of invisibility cloaks which bend light around an object so it can't be seen, but can the same principles be applied to ocean waves that are strong enough to smash steel and concrete? That's the aim of Reza Alam's underwater “invisibility cloak.” The assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, recently outlined how to use variations of density in ocean water to cloak floating objects from dangerous surface waves.

Submission + - GNOME 3 to support a "classic" mode

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: LWN.net is reporting that GNOME developer Matthias Clasen has announced that, with the upcoming demise of "fallback mode," the project will support a set of official GNOME Shell extensions to provide a more "classic" experience. "And while we certainly hope that many users will find the new ways comfortable and refreshing after a short learning phase, we should not fault people who prefer the old way. After all, these features were a selling point of GNOME 2 for ten years!"

Submission + - Electric Cars DOA without Supercharged Batteries 1

Submitted by
greenjobsguru
greenjobsguru writes: "This is the typical chicken and egg problem. No charging stations, no electric cars; no electric cars, no charging stations. Unless scientists deliver some serious breakthroughs in battery capacity and charge time in the next few years, we're going to need charging stations everywhere. Home, office, retail parking lots, shopping malls, airports, and yes, gas stations. The US has currently about 160,000 gas stations, but research outfit Frost and Sullivan estimate we'll have 4.1 million charging stations to keep our electric cars juiced up --yes, that's 25 times the number of gas stations! And preferably powered by renewable energy (bummer! we'll also need a smart grid for that...).
Then, we'll have a real clean transportation industry, with plenty of good paying green jobs. So, let's try and stay optimistic."

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