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Censorship

Submission + - Facebook is censoring Ron Paul

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It appears that Facebook is censoring searches for "Ron Paul". Searches for presidential candidate "Ron Paul" in Facebook Groups yield zero results. The reason isn't because there aren't any Ron Paul groups — a search for "Paul" shows hundreds. For some reason, the search is blocked. Other candidate show up just fine. More than 500 groups show up for each of John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and others. TechCrunch has the story.
Windows

Submission + - London Stock Exchange Down Due to Glitch

Submitted by mormop
mormop writes: If like me you feel slightly ill when you see the Microsoft get the FUD adverts you may smile a little after reading that the London Stock Exchange that has achieved unprecedented reliability by switching to server 2003 was today shut down for an unprecedented period of time by computer failure. To quote TFA, a stockbroker who did not wish to be named said: "We are paralysed. Nothing like this has happened before. I am extremely annoyed."

How much does several hours lost trading cost? I know you shouldn't mock the afflicted but somehow I just can't stop myself.

Click here for TFA
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - $60 Dev board for gOS

Submitted by BradWarden
BradWarden writes: For $60, developers and Linux hackers can now buy the guts of the recently unveiled $200 Everex TC2502 Linux PC. The compact, ultra-efficient, x86-compatible "gOS Dev Board" comes with "gOS," a lightweight Linux-based OS meant for use with Google Apps. http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS5305482907.html http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A4842001#
Businesses

Submission + - Gold record $850 And Oil $100 & Dollar Down (bd-blogger.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Gold eyes record $850 And Oil prices' climb toward $100 , Dollar hitting fresh lows against the euro. Oil was on the cusp of the landmark $100 a barrel level on Wednesday, helping push gold towards a record $850 an ounce as an embattled dollar hit new lows. Oil prices stalled in their climb toward $100 a barrel after a government report said oil inventories fell less than expected last week while refinery utilization remained flat.A larger than expected drop would most certainly have propelled oil past $100 a barrel for the first time. Gold surged above $845, approaching a record set in 1980. Silver has followed gold, hitting a 27-year high above $16 an ounce.
Television

Submission + - TiVo Series 3 Finally Adds Missing Features (tivo.com)

Submitted by
Selikoff
Selikoff writes: "When the TiVo Series 3 launched, new owners were shocked to learn that many of the features of the box were locked or disabled. Well, it should come as a welcome change that a year later, these features have finally been activated. In the latest service update, TiVo Series 3 boxes now support external storage devices using the eSata port as well as TiVoToGo software that allows downloading of programs to a Windows computer (mac version is still limited). TivoToGo had been available in Series 2 boxes but was immediately disabled in Series 3 do to licensing issues with HD content.

It's nice to see previously available features finally unlocked in Series 3 boxes, it's too bad it took a full year for the update. It's also worth noting TiVo sells a proprietary version of TivoToGo which allows you to convert the downloaded content into a more usable format (rather than a Tivo DRM-locked file) for transfer to a variety of devices such as Sony PSP, Palm Treo, Creative Zen, and Apple iPod."
Supercomputing

Submission + - Grid computing saves cancer researchers 162 years (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: Canadian researchers have promised to squeeze "decades" of cancer research into just two years by harnessing the power of a global PC grid. The scientists are the first from Canada to use IBM's World Community Grid network of PCs and laptops with the power equivalent to one of the globe's top five fastest supercomputers. The team will use the grid to analyse the results of experiments on proteins using data collected by scientists at the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute in Buffalo, New York. The researchers estimate that this analysis would take conventional computer systems 162 years to complete.
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Bill to require Open Access to Scientific Papers 2

Submitted by
Ponca City, We Love You
Ponca City, We Love You writes: "Congress is expected to vote this week on a bill requiring investigators funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to publish research papers only in journals that are made freely available within one year of publication. Until now, repeated efforts to legislate such a mandate have failed under pressure from the well-heeled journal publishing industry and some nonprofit scientific societies whose educational activities are supported by the profits from journals that they publish. Scientists assert that open access will speed innovation by making it easier for them to share and build on each other's findings. The measure is contained in a spending bill that boosts the biomedical agency's effective budget by 3.1%, to $29.8 billion in 2008. The open-access requirement in the bill would apply only during fiscal year 2008; it would need to be renewed in yearly spending bills in the future."
Security

Submission + - FBI director targets the Internet's top dangers (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "The Internet's dark side and the growing threat of nefarious attack via the 'Net were the central themes of a pointed cyber security speech by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Director Robert Mueller yesterday at The Pennsylvania State University. "If we lose the Internet, we do not simply lose the ability to e-mail or to surf the web. We lose access to our data. We lose our connectivity. We lose our intellectual property. We lose our security. What happens when the so-called 'Invisible Man' locks us out of our own homes, our offices, and our information?" Mueller said. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/21646"
Security

Submission + - Dislike a Relative? Turn Them in as a Terrorist! 9

Submitted by Stanislav_J
Stanislav_J writes: A Swedish man who had less than fond feelings for his daughter's hubby, took advantage of the son-in-law's trip to America by reporting him to the FBI as a terrorist. The e-mail, which the father-in-law admits to sending, earned him a libel charge after his poor son-in-law was arrested on his arrival in Florida, handcuffed, interrogated, and placed in a cell for 11 hours before being released.

It's a brief article, but dovetails nicely with the recent Slashdot story about "The War on the Unexpected." That article touched on many examples of well-meaning, but misguided and paranoid citizens reporting innocent activities to the authorities. In the current climate, the potential also exists for maliciously false and far from well-meaning reports made to the Feds about people one simply doesn't care for, or those made merely as a sick prank.

While the man admitted to sending the e-mail to the FBI, he claims he thought no harm would come from it because "he did not think the US authorities would be stupid enough to believe him." To quote the great philosopher Bugs Bunny, 'Nyahh....he don't know us very well, do he?'
Censorship

Submission + - Manhunt 2 to remain rated M (wtop.com)

Submitted by
Pojut
Pojut writes: "In light of the recent unlocking of uncensored portions of Manhunt 2 on modified PSP's, the ESRB stated that they plan to remain behind the original "M" rating. From the article:

"The board that assigns age ratings to video games will keep the "Mature" label on "Manhunt 2," resisting calls to raise it after hackers defeated measures that blur some of the game's violence. Patricia Vance, president of the Entertainment Software Rating Board...said "the 'Manhunt 2' case differs from the 'San Andreas' case because it's much harder to restore the hidden content. Also, the publisher followed the ESRB's procedures and submitted all the content, even the parts that were obscured, for the ratings review""
Software

Submission + - Transferring More Than Data, Why So Hard?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A friend of mine asked me how to transfer his data from his old laptop to his new laptop. In particular, he was interested in the big three types of files on most personal computers these days: documents, music, and photos. "I know where I keep all my files, so I just copy them over to where I want them on the new computer, right?" Well, he's right for one of three categories of files: documents. But when I asked him if he was interested in preserving his iTunes playlists, song ratings, and album art or his Picasa photo albums (basically, any of his "metadata"), he gave me the "of course" look. Little did he know the headache that awaited him, none of that information moves when you simply copy or backup files. http://www.techconsumer.com/2007/11/02/transferring-more-than-data-why-so-hard/

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