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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 46 declined, 12 accepted (58 total, 20.69% accepted)

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Businesses

Submission + - Publishers Seek Change in Search Result Content (washingtonpost.com) 1

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "The Washington Post is running a story on the fight between publishers and search engines over just what exactly is allowed to be shown by the search results. Personally, I'm much more likely to go to a web site based on a concise, clear, and informative search result. However, this is making publishers uneasy. From the article:

The desire for greater control over how search engines index and display Web sites is driving an effort launched yesterday by leading news organizations and other publishers to revise a 13-year-old technology for restricting access. Currently, Google, Yahoo and other top search companies voluntarily respect a Web site's wishes as declared in a text file known as robots.txt, which a search engine's indexing software, called a crawler, knows to look for on a site.

But as search engines expanded to offer services for displaying news and scanning printed books, news organizations and book publishers began to complain. News publishers said that Google was posting their news summaries, headlines and photos without permission. Google claimed that "fair use" provisions of copyright laws applied, though it eventually settled a lawsuit with Agence France-Presse and agreed to pay the Associated Press without a lawsuit filed. Financial terms haven't been disclosed. The proposed extensions, known as Automated Content Access Protocol, partly grew out of those disputes. Leading the ACAP effort were groups representing publishers of newspapers, magazines, online databases, books and journals. The AP is one of dozens of organizations that have joined ACAP."
Networking

Submission + - Are Mobile Torrents on the Rise? (zdnet.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "ZDNet is running an article on the "mobile implementation of the bittorent protocol." From the Article:

The first big open source trend of 2008 is already on the horizon. Mobile Torrents. Mobile implementations of the BitTorrent protocol are nearly certain to be part of whatever Google Android comes up with, and if not someone will have one for the open platform straightaway.

Already a Windows Torrent product is on Version 2.0, and given the video capability of the iPhone it's clear Apple is not going to let this opportunity pass by. A Symbian Torrent program is on Version 1.3. Torrent Reactor is listing a bunch of mobile Torrent files, not just the usual suspects of audio and video but games as well. MoveDigital has been offering metered Torrents since last year."
Government

Submission + - Supreme Court Rules on Maine's Tobacco Law (nytimes.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "The latest battleground in the federalism wars at the Supreme Court is an unlikely one: the state of Maine, which is trying to prevent under-age consumers from buying cigarettes over the Internet. Maine maintains that it is doing nothing more than protecting public health and carrying out the desire of Congress to curb smoking among young people. Its 2003 law requires those who sell tobacco products directly to consumers to use only those delivery services that verify the age of the recipient."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Who Will Microsoft Buy Next? (news.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "CNet is running an insightful essay on what Microsoft looks for in start-up companies to buy. (see Ballmer's start-up snatching campaign) From the essay:

Sparkly eyes and a nice smile don't hurt, but Microsoft is really looking for two other qualities in its acquisition targets: key intellectual property and smart technical leaders who plan to stay with Microsoft. "At end of day we are buying a company for (its) people and IP," said Mark Wolfram, a managing director in the Microsoft unit that handles acquisitions. Wolfram was part of a breakfast panel Tuesday sponsored by the VC Taskforce. Asked what is the smallest acquisition he'd consider, Wolfram insisted that there is no minimum revenue, provided its two prior conditions are met. "
Cellphones

Submission + - Samsung Developing RFID for Cell Phone Usage (pcworld.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "Samsung Electronics has developed an RFID chip it hopes will turn mobile phones into more useful tools to tell people about the products and services they want.

Samsung's principal innovation in this area has been to design an RFID reader chip that can read different types of RFID tags. Normally, it takes more than one chip to read different kinds of RFID tags. The new chip will one day find its way into handheld devices, such as mobile phones, although the company did not say when that would happen."
Government

Submission + - Politics Hindering OLPC (bbc.co.uk) 1

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "Walter Bender of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) said politicians were unwilling to commit because "change equals risk" But, he said, there needed to be a "dramatic change" because education in many countries was "failing" children.

In an interview with the BBC, Nigeria's education minister questioned the need for laptops in poorly equipped schools. Dr Igwe Aja-Nwachuku said: "What is the essence of introducing One Laptop per Child when they don't have seats to sit down and learn; when they don't have uniforms to go to school in, where they don't have facilities?""
Government

Submission + - France Attempts to Ban Pirates from Web Access (pcmag.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "Internet users in France who frequently download music or films illegally risk losing Web access under a new anti-piracy system unveiled on Friday. The three-way pact between Internet service providers, the government and owners of film and music rights is a boon to the music industry, which has been calling for such measures to stop illicit downloads eating into its sales. Under the agreement — drawn up by a commission headed by the chief executive of FNAC, one of France's biggest music and film retailers — service providers will issue warning messages to customers downloading files illegally. If users ignore those messages, their accounts could be suspended or closed altogether."
Oracle

Submission + - VMware and Oracle Licensing (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "Companies can continue to expect support from Oracle Corp. if they run its software on top of VMware Inc.'s virtualization technology, despite Oracle statements to the contrary.

The problem, VMware says, isn't Oracle's apparent pulling of support for its applications on virtualization platforms other than the vendor's own Oracle VM, which it announced on Monday at its OpenWorld 2007 conference, but its unwillingness to reform its software licensing policies. That could force Oracle customers who adopt virtualization software from other vendors to pay many times more than they would if they bought Oracle VM, VMware contends."
The Courts

Submission + - Apple Shareholder Lawsuit Dismissed (news.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "New Apple General Counsel Daniel Cooperman won his first battle on behalf of his new company yesterday, successfully convincing a judge to dismiss a shareholder lawsuit over Apple's stock-options backdating mess.

The New York City Employees Retirement System had sued Apple claiming that the company's practice of backdating stock options diluted the value of the stock. Apple has admitted that it improperly backdated stock options on several occasions, including two awards to CEO Steve Jobs, and last December it took a $84 million charge to account for the options.

But the suit had to show that Apple shareholders lost money in order to recover damages..."
Role Playing (Games)

Submission + - Virtual Crime Doesn't Pay (pcworld.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "Online gamers are finding out the hard way the rules of the virtual world are no different from those of the real world: In-game crime leads to real-life ramifications.

This week a Dutch teenager was arrested for allegedly stealing virtual furniture from other users in the online community Habbo Hotel. The 17-year-old is said to have looted over $5800 (4,000 euros) worth of virtual furniture, the BBC reports. Five 15-year-olds are being questioned by police."
Communications

Submission + - Diplomats Near Deal on Earmarking Radio Waves (reuters.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "An agreement on how to divide the world's radio-frequencies among satellite operators, mobile phone companies and broadcasters is close, industry and diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.

Insiders said participants in the month-long World Radiocommunication Conference, due to wrap up on Friday, were wrapping up a deal sharing out the spectrum used in wireless and satellite signals, a finite resource worth billions of dollars."
Bug

Submission + - The Causes of ADHD Examined (time.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "Scientists have found that the brain development of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is delayed but otherwise typical, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Comparing brain scans of children aged 6 to 16 who had the common psychiatric disorder with scans of those who did not, researchers found that some areas in the ADHD brain — particularly those involved in thinking, attention and planning — matured an average of three years later than "healthy" brains, but otherwise followed normal patterns of development."
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Possible Development in Primate Cloning (wired.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "Researchers from Oregon allege that they have successfully derived embryonic stem cells (ESCs) from a blastocyst created through somatic cell nuclear transfer. If confirmed, this would be a world first and could potentially lead to the creation of human ESCs through cloning.

While details of the new research — led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov and performed at the Oregon National Primate Research Center — will be unavailable until the work is published in the journal Nature, his past work may provide some indication of what to expect. (Given the fraud of Hwang Woo-Suk, who came out of nowhere, one can't be too careful.)

If this bears any fruit this will be sure to stir a frenzied debate over the ethics of cloning all over again."
Communications

Submission + - FCC Moves to Regulate Cable TV Competition (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "The Federal Communications Commission is likely to impose a new regulation on the largely unregulated cable television industry, the first of what may be more to come. Under a proposed rule circulating at the FCC, cable companies such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable would have to slash the price they charge smaller television programmers to lease access on spare cable channels, a move the FCC says would open up cable viewers to a wider diversity of shows. In addition, the FCC is contemplating a national ownership cap that would prevent one company from having more than 30 percent of all cable subscribers."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Energy Drinks Linked To Heart Risk (medicalnewstoday.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "Before any slashdotters here get another urge to "ride the bull" you might want to check this out. A study presented to the American Heart Association has linked popular energy drinks to heart disease and high blood pressure. Once again high levels of caffeine and taurine are being touted as major health risks. This could be a potential blow to the ever health-minded /. community. However, no word yet on what the ill effects of hot pockets, though."

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