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Hardware

Submission + - Who wants nanoscale MEMS inside their CMOS wafer? (daniweb.com)

Submitted by billandad
billandad writes: The answer is Baolab Microsystems which has today announced its NanoEMS technology to do just that, construct nanoscale Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) within the structure of a CMOS wafer rather than building on the surface like current techniques.
Censorship

Submission + - Thanks readers for not expressing yourself (newenglishreview.org) 1

Submitted by
santosh maharshi
santosh maharshi writes: "Richard Dawkins has recently learned that he should thank his readers for not expressing themselves.

He ran a website for people of like mind, but noticed that many of the comments that appeared on it were beside the point, either mere gossip or insult. So he announced that he was going to exercise a little control over what appeared on it — as was his right since it was, after all, his site. Censorship is not failing to publish something, it is forbidding something to be published, which is not at all the same thing, though the difference is sometimes ill-appreciated.

The torrent of vile abuse that he received after his announcement took him aback. Its vehemence was shocking; someone called him ‘a suppurating rat’s rectum.’ He replied to this abuse with admirable restraint:

"Surely there has to be something wrong with people who can resort to such over-the-top language, overreacting so spectacularly to something so trivial".

"
Music

Submission + - The sinister side of Spotify (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by Barence
Barence writes: Spotify has come from nowhere to be a huge, largely accepted part of the music industry furniture, but the economics of it all remain vague. One of the biggest questions is just how it can ever be profitable for the musicians themselves — one Norwegian artist claims it takes 1,793 plays of a track to make a single dollar, and Lady Gaga's entire Poker Face campaign allegedly resulted in her receiving $167 from months of continuous play on Spotify. Worse is that several smaller labels are claiming Spotify uploaded entire catalogues, not only without permission but after being expressly forbidden to do so. The Sinister Side of Spotify looks into it all to see just how the service is fast becoming the acceptable face of music piracy.

Submission + - Web Copyright Crackdown on the Way

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Journalist Alan D. Mutter reports on his blog "Relections of a Newsosaur" that a coalition of traditional and digital publishers is launching the first-ever concerted crackdown on copyright pirates on the web. Initially targeting violators who use large numbers of intact articles, the first offending sites to be targeted will be those using 80% or more of copyrighted stories more than 10 times per month. In the first stage of a multi-step process, online publishers identified by Attributor will be sent a letter informing them of the violations and urging them to enter into license agreements with the publishers whose content appears on their sites. In the second stage Attributor will ask hosting services to take down pirate sites. “We are not going after past damages” from sites running unauthorized content says Jim Pitkow, the chief executive of Attributor. The emphasis, Pitkow says is “to engage with publishers to bring them into compliance” by getting them to agree to pay license fees to copyright holders in the future. Offshore sites will not be immune from the crackdown because almost all of them depend on banner ads served by US-based services and because the DMCA requires the ad service to act against any violator, Attributor says it can interdict the revenue lifeline at any offending site in the world."
The Internet

Submission + - U.K. bill would outlaw open Wi-Fi (zdnet.co.uk)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: The government will not exempt universities, libraries and small businesses providing open Wi-Fi services from its Digital Economy Bill copyright crackdown, according to official advice released earlier this week.

This would leave many organizations open to the same penalties for copyright infringement as individual subscribers, potentially including disconnection from the internet, leading legal experts to say it will become impossible for small businesses and the like to offer Wi-Fi access.

"This is going to be a very unfortunate measure for small businesses, particularly in a recession, many of whom are using open free Wi-Fi very effectively as a way to get the punters in.

Even if they password protect, they then have two options — to pay someone like The Cloud to manage it for them, or take responsibility themselves for becoming an ISP effectively, and keep records for everyone they assign connections to, which is an impossible burden for a small cafe" Lilian Edwards, professor of internet law at Sheffield University told ZDNet UK.

ZDNet : http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,40057470,00.htm

Submission + - Hungarian electric car splits into 2 smaller cars (wired.co.uk)

Submitted by Lanxon
Lanxon writes: Hungary's Antro, which is developing a car that splits into two smaller cars, and plans to take it/them to market by 2012, assuming the Mayan phophecies fall through, reports Wired. Futuristic looking in itself, the grander plan for the car is much more audacious: Antro intends to allow users to be able to connect two Antro Solos to form a six-passenger Antro Duo. Or perhaps more interesting still, owners of a Duo could split the car into two smaller Solos should Mom have different weekend plans to Dad. Or if they divorce.
Image

NHS Should Stop Funding Homeopathy, Says Parliamentary Committee 507

Posted by samzenpus from the how-am-I-going-to-align-my-chakras-now dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Homeopathic remedies work no better than placebos, and so should no longer be paid for by the UK National Health Service, a committee of British members of parliament has concluded. In preparing its report, the committee, which scrutinizes the evidence behind government policies, took evidence from scientists and homeopaths, and reviewed numerous reports and scientific investigations into homeopathy. It found no evidence that such treatments work beyond providing a placebo effect." Updated 201025 19:40 GMT by timothy: This recommendation has some people up in arms.

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