Comment Not too subtle! (Score 2) 174
And the fools days is upon us again. Well done slashdot, and happy Birthday to the Royal Canadian Air Force
Submission + - NASA Tightens Security in Response to Insider Threat (informationweek.com) 1
CowboyRobot writes: "NASA has closed down its technical reports database and imposed tighter restrictions on remote access to its computer systems following the arrest of a Chinese contractor on suspicion of intellectual property theft. NASA administrator Charles Bolden outlined those and other security measures in March 20 testimony before a congressional subcommittee. Bolden said he had ordered a review of the access that foreign nationals from designated countries — including China, Iran and North Korea — are given to NASA facilities and a moratorium on providing new access to citizens of those countries. The agency's actions follow the March 16 arrest of Bo Jiang, a Chinese citizen, at Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C., as he prepared to leave the United States. The FBI, in its application for an arrest warrant, said it was investigating violations of the Arms Export Control Act."
Submission + - Indian Supreme Court rejects Novatris patent on cancer drug 1
damitr writes: In a landmark judgement, India’s Supreme Court today rejected a patent plea by Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG for cancer drug Glivec, boosting the case for cheaper drugs for life-threatening diseases. http://www.firstpost.com/business/sc-rejects-novartis-patent-plea-on-blockbuster-cancer-drug-glivec-680460.html A patent on the new form could have give Novartis a 20-year monopoly on the drug.During the hearing, the apex court had questioned the pharma company on the high price of the cancer drug. A month's dose is around $ 2200 much higher than $150 which is the price of the generic drug. The firm had tried to dispel the impression that its drug would be beyond the reach of poor cancer patients, which sounds like familiar Newspeak . "The purpose is not to make money from the poor. This is not the purpose, but am I not entitled for patent for our drug? We are fighting the case on principle," senior advocate for the company. www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/novartis-plea-for-cancer-drug-patent-sc-verdict-tomorrow_844565.html If remains to be seen what the implications of this judgement are, and meanwhile Novartis had threatened that a refusal by India’s Supreme Court to grant patent protection for the medicine would have repercussions for multinational drug companies’ activities in the country, meaning they will be no longer giving new medicines in India. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c377e20a-99eb-11e2-83ca-00144feabdc0.html
Submission + - India dismisses plea of Novartis for patent of cancer drug (indiatimes.com) 4
An anonymous reader writes: The Indian Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the plea of Swiss pharma giant Novartis AG for getting its blood cancer drug Glivec patented in India.The court rejected the claims of Swiss pharma giant and said the patents would be granted only for genuine inventions. This paves the way for Indian companies to manufacture generic drugs for cancer and make it available for rest of the developing world as well.
Comment Re:Nonsense. (Score 1) 191
I hear you.
I see it as an evolutionary process, the hydrogen powered ICE (Internal Combustable Engine) while not that efficient, may well prove to be better than a gasoline powered unit. If we can keep costs down, and then when the next generation of technology is ready to do it cheaply, then slide it in. You will always have early adopters ready to spend big money right away in order to be more green, or perhaps burn less gas. But like the chevy volt, who can affort to pay the full cost of new technology?
If we are using excess energy to produce Hydrogen gas, why not burn it initially in an ICE even if it is not the most efficient use possible? Compared to what we have now, it's found power. We can start using it right away, and then get extra capacity later on by increasing efficiency, either by better production techniques or more efficient engine systems, or both. If we start producing Hydrogen with our spare power, I think there would be room to try several things to see what we can come up with.
Comment Re:Nonsense. (Score 1) 191
"Would you really want to drive a minivan that seats two people just to have a cheap fuel cell?"
I drive such a minivan, it's called a bike.
Why bother with a fuel cell? use an Internal Combustion Engine
powered by hydrogen?
Comment Re:If you want updates, buy Nexus (Score 2) 505
Updates for Nexus phones are independent of the carriers.
Submission + - First Google Glass Ban arrives (theregister.co.uk)
dakohli writes:
A Seattle bar has issued a preemptive ban of Google Glass to preserve the privacy of its tipplers. The 5 Point Cafe in Seattle announced plans to suppress the futuristic devices on its Facebook page this week, and didn't mince words. "The 5 Point is the first Seattle business to ban in advance Google Glasses," the bar wrote. "And ass kickings will be encouraged for violators."
Apparently, It is a self described Dive Bar and they already do ban recording and pictures. I'm pretty sure this will come as no surprise, even Steve Mann has had issues with acceptance by the general public.
Do you think this technology will become so mainstream that people will give up trying to protect their privacy?
Submission + - Canadian Newspaper charging $150 license fee to publish excerpts (huffingtonpost.ca)
dakohli writes: Michael Geist, Canada's tireless Digital Rights Crusader has pointed out an interesting development at a major Canadian Newspaper Website:
If you try to highlight the text to cut and paste it, you are presented with a pop-up request to purchase a licence if you plan to post the article to a website, intranet or a blog. The fee would be $150.
He points out that even if you are highlighting a 3rd party quote inside an article a pop-up asking if you want a license will appear. I have tried highlighting Associated Press, or Canadian Press articles and this does not appear. But try it on any of the Post's articles or commentary it will. Even if it happens to be a 3rd party quote.
The Copyright service provider is iCopyright. This appears to be a US company, and as Mr Geist points out it might be contrary to Canadian Copyright Law's fair use provisions.
Many Canadian Newspaper sites are moving to pay to view models, The Globe and Mail and Sun Papers included. Since it is harder to make money publishing the news, is this the way of the future? I hope not.
Submission + - Russians find "new bacteria" in Lake Vostok (phys.org)
tverbeek writes: Russian scientists believe they have found a wholly new type of bacteria in the mysterious subglacial Lake Vostok in Antarctica, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. "After putting aside all possible elements of contamination, DNA was found that did not coincide with any of the well-known types in the global database," he said. "We are calling this life form unclassified and unidentified."
Submission + - Twitter OAuth API Keys Leaked (threatpost.com)
Trailrunner7 writes: The OAuth keys and secrets that official Twitter applications use to access users’ Twitter accounts have been leaked in a post to Github this morning.
The consumer keys and secrets, which function similarly to a username and password, were posted for Twitter for iPhone, Android, iPad, Mac, Windows Phone and TweetDeck. Unapproved third-party applications can now use these secrets to impersonate legitimate third-party apps and circumvent any access control measures Twitter has in place for unofficial apps.
The consumer keys and secrets, which function similarly to a username and password, were posted for Twitter for iPhone, Android, iPad, Mac, Windows Phone and TweetDeck. Unapproved third-party applications can now use these secrets to impersonate legitimate third-party apps and circumvent any access control measures Twitter has in place for unofficial apps.
Submission + - Spaceport Development Picks Up Steam in Texas
RocketAcademy writes: "The Lone Star State is moving to become a leader in spaceport development.
The Houston Airport System is officially moving ahead with plans to turn Ellington Airport, near NASA’s Johnson Space Center, into an FAA-licensed commercial spaceport. The airport system has completed a feasibility study for turning the field into a spaceport for suborbital spacecraft such as Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two and XCOR's Lynx. In the longer term, spacecraft could link Houston to Singapore in as little as three hours, according to airport system director Mario Diaz.
Meanwhile, state Representative Rene Oliveira (D-Brownsville) introduced a bill that would allow county commissioners to close a local beach for launches from the proposed SpaceX launch site in Cameron County. The bill is part of a flood of spaceport-related legislation that has been introduced recently in the Texas legislature."
The Houston Airport System is officially moving ahead with plans to turn Ellington Airport, near NASA’s Johnson Space Center, into an FAA-licensed commercial spaceport. The airport system has completed a feasibility study for turning the field into a spaceport for suborbital spacecraft such as Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two and XCOR's Lynx. In the longer term, spacecraft could link Houston to Singapore in as little as three hours, according to airport system director Mario Diaz.
Meanwhile, state Representative Rene Oliveira (D-Brownsville) introduced a bill that would allow county commissioners to close a local beach for launches from the proposed SpaceX launch site in Cameron County. The bill is part of a flood of spaceport-related legislation that has been introduced recently in the Texas legislature."
Submission + - Clues of Life's Origins Found in Galactic Cloud (discovery.com)
astroengine writes: "Finding things like amino acids in space directly is a difficult business. So, instead of finding them directly, a team using West Virginia’s Green Bank Telescope, led by Anthony Remijan, discovered two other molecules – cyanomethanimine and ethanamine — both of which are precursor molecules. In other words, these molecules are the early steps in the chain of chemical reactions that go on to make the stuff of life. The researchers found these molecules near the center of the Milky Way inside a hulking interstellar cloud known as Sagittarius B2 (Sgr B2), spanning 150 light-years in size, up to 40 times as dense as any other cloud the Milky Way has to offer."
Comment Re:Why isn't it Richardson Press? (Score 2) 126
Wow.
According to the timeline, Africa went bankrupt in 1985!
Fact checking at its best
Comment Re:Break out the anti-SLAPP -- and Striesand! (Score 4, Informative) 126
The proper course of action would have been for them to line up equally (apparently) qualified academicians on their side of the argument and let the book-buying institutions decide for themselves. It would seem that both sides of the argument were already being hashed out on the blog, and now arrives The Streisand Effect in spades!
It would appear that this company's reputation is already well pretty. well established
The nicest thing I have seen so far are the comments that say it is just one step above a vanity press.
