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Earth

Submission + - WSJ Misrepresents Climate Science (wsj.com)

mdsolar writes: "As noted on slashdot, the WSJ wrote an opinion piece for which it found 16 scientist to sign on.

http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/01/28/2234257/dont-worry-about-global-warming-say-16-scientists-in-the-wsj

The contents of that opinion piece badly misrepresented climate science as pointed out in a letter that starts out: "Do you consult your dentist about your heart condition? In science, as in any area, reputations are based on knowledge and expertise in a field and on published, peer-reviewed work. If you need surgery, you want a highly experienced expert in the field who has done a large number of the proposed operations.

You published "No Need to Panic About Global Warming" (op-ed, Jan. 27) on climate change by the climate-science equivalent of dentists practicing cardiology."

The WSJ also seems to have misrepresented the economics of climate change as well. http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/scientists-challenging-climate-science-appear-to-flunk-climate-economics/"

Android

Submission + - ITC throws out B&N antitrust claims against MS (blogspot.com)

N!NJA writes: Barnes & Noble's primary line of defense against Microsoft's allegations of patent infringement by the bookseller's Android-based devices has collapsed in its entirety. An Administrative Law Judge at the ITC today granted a Microsoft motion to dismiss, even ahead of the evidentiary trial that will start next Monday (February 6), Barnes & Noble's "patent misuse" defense against Microsoft. [...]

Prior to the ALJ, the ITC staff — or more precisely, the Office of Unfair Import Investigations (OUII), which participates in many investigations as a third party representing the public interest — already supported Microsoft's motion all the way. The OUII basically concluded that even if all of what Barnes & Noble said about Microsoft's use of patents against Android was accurate, it would fall far short of the legal requirements for a patent misuse defense.

Piracy

Submission + - Pirate Bay appeal refused by Swedish Supreme Court (computerworlduk.com)

concertina226 writes: The Swedish Supreme Court will not hear an appeal from the founders of The Pirate Bay against prison sentences and fines imposed by the Swedish Court of Appeals, the court said on Wednesday.

Over a year ago, the Court of Appeals sentenced Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Carl Lundström to 10 months, eight months and four months of jail time, respectively. The court also said they must collectively pay a 46 million kronor (£4.3 million) fine.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Submission + - Data of 'Innocent' MegaUpload Users Will Not be De (ibtimes.co.uk)

AlistairCharlton writes: A website has been setup to offer legal advice for any MegaUpload customers who are worried about losing their data, which is due to be deleted in two weeks' time.

Created by data storage company Carpathia and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the site — called MegaRetrieval.com — hopes to return data to innocent customers of the recently shut down MegaUpload file sharing site.

Hardware

Submission + - Old Tech Is The Best Place To Mine Rare Metals (techweekeurope.co.uk)

judgecorp writes: "More on recycling: the tech industry could face increasing shortages of rare metals, unless it reclaims them from the waste stream . the Royal Society in London was told this week that production of "hitchhiker" metals such as gallium, indium and selenium can't be easily ramped up, as they are only available as a by-product of major industrial metals such as aluminium, copper and zinc. If we want more, we have to make better use of them, and claim them back from e-waste."

Comment How about NVU? (Score 1) 300

It will never be Dreamweaver (I don't think anything free ever will be) but it tries. I will echo above opinion that as great as Dreamweaver is, the html/css that it generates is horrible inefficient, the only worse one i know is Microsoft's WYSIWYG. Once you have done it enough, you can be quite fast as HTML/css from scratch in a text editor. Let us know what you pick and why. http://net2.com/nvu/

Comment Re:Use your imagination (Score 1) 111

I'm sorry, that's not going to happen. You could make something identify 10 or more symptoms, but no way will you get a five pound something diagnose any ten diseases with 100% accurtacy -- the diseases would have to be completely diagnosable from the surface of the patient, and even then, i bet you are going to need the software that i talked about in original post that can parse pictures to identify ailments. I don't get what you guys are saying: This contest is about producing a better medical swiss army knife -- if that's what's keeping those poor refugees from getting treated, then ok, go for it. but i think a lot more people could be helped by focusing on artificial diagnostic intelligence, using something like watson.

Comment Re:Complete waste of effort.... (Score 2) 111

Sure, the patient is biased, but the information they have is still valuable. I have never been to the dr where they didn't ask me questions. A Dr. is good at weeding out red herrings, knowing where to get clarification, which statements to get clarification on. Sure, patients lie, but technology is not a great solution for that problem. Will your tricorder really be bale to see that they really do use drugs or really are an alcoholic? Be realistic guys. I was just trying to say that as far as the basic indicators -- weight, height, blood pressure, temperature -- we have good enough tech already. Unless this contest is going to produce a box that does the magical thing that a tricorder can do, ie MRI in a box, then I think we could advance the medical profession much further by focusing on things like Watson.

Comment Complete waste of effort.... (Score 0, Troll) 111

I'm sorry but this is a stupid idea. You are going to go to great lengths to detect things the patient could just tell you. You certainly aren't going to ask a three-hundred pound person to stand on your tricorder to take their weight. You'll just ask them. medical diagnosis is an algorithm -- it's a software problem. how you get the data is not that important, nor does it require that much technology. A thermometer, a scale, a stethoscope, a blood-pressure cup are all well-established inexpensive tools that work. What matters is what you do with that data. There are two things we need to work on, in my not so humble opinion: 1. An algorithm for diagnosing visual data -- pictures of ears, nose, throat, skin and 2. An algorithm for parsing patient narrative about their ailment against their medical history, family medical history, recent dietary/athletic/sleep/sex/environmental/social triggers. Rather than a Swiss army knife of instruments, we need an i-phone with Siri hooked up to something like IBM's Watson, configured for medical diagnosis. Unless you know how to fit an MRI, XRAY Machine, centrifuge, and dna lab into a five pound box.

Comment You can't go back (Score 1) 517

You've crossed a line that can't be uncrossed. Now that you have notified them, you will be the first suspect when they do get hacked. And you will then have to prove that you didn't hack them. Soooo, short of just hacking them, you HAVE to get them to take action. Contacting a local journalist is a good idea. You might also trying to reach out to one the app developers directly. Until then, you are on guard duty.You were really stupid man. Sorry.

Comment Re:American hypocrisy (Score 2) 56

Good sir, That is not what makes it 1984. it's when there's an effing camera on every effing street corner all controlled by the state that we scream 1984.But that will change. No one over here reads anymore, so soon no will even know what 1984 is if someone screams it.And yes, being able to film officers in uniform performing duties of their office is a vital check and balance for warding off corrupt or inept uses of power, especially when it's illegal to resist arrest. If you don't think that's important, you deserve what you get.

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