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Music

Submission + - RIAA Files for Bankruptcy; CEO Commits Suicide

Submitted by
mrs clear plastic
mrs clear plastic writes: "Late Friday afternoon, the Recording Industry Association of America filed for bankrupcy protection at the U.S. Bankruptcy court in Manhattan. The numerous pending lawsuits by some defendants of the RIAA's previous campaign to bring litigation against file sharers were just one factor behind Friday's filing, RIAA's attorney, Mitch Wickenden, told reporters outside the bankruptcy courtroom. He did say, however, that a major contribution was the significent decline in sales of music CDROMs.

Sales have been declining for the past several years. The RIAA had claimed that it was due to the unauthorized copying of music on line. Arthur Rosenburg, president of the Independant Music File Sharing Collective, said that the RIAA was not keeping up with the times and had not adapted to the changing, peer based market for music.

On a personal note, during church services today, we were all asked to pray for the family of Mitch Bainwol, RIAA's prsident. His son, Jaims Bainwol, is a member of the choir in my church. Mitch was found dead Saturday morning, apparently of carbon monoxide poisoning. He was discovered by his son in his car, with the engine running, in the garage with the door closed.

Former president Hilary Rosen, quickly appointed by the board to be interim president, expressed condolences to Bainwol's family on Saturday afternoon."
Slashdot.org

Submission + - News.com Story on Slashdot Story on BSD Demon

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "News.com is reporting[right hand column] that Slashdot is reporting on Pat Robertson leading a Berkeley rally against 'demonic' BSD mascot. Also in News.com's headlines is the story of the brave Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales who was recently diagnosed with cataracts and "invited the first 100 people who show up at his home to perform surgery. "There may be some trial and error, but I'm confident the community will make the right decisions," Wales said." News.com also has some very insightful stories on the possibility of MySpace being the internet's 'next big thing' and also the possibility of phishing being a problem for eBay."
Data Storage

Submission + - Data-storing bacteria could last millenia

Submitted by
PetManimal
PetManimal writes: "Computerworld has a story about a new technology developed by Keio University researchers that creates artificial bacterial DNA that can carry more than 100 bits of data within the genome sequence. The researchers claimed that they encoded "e= mc2 1905!" on the common soil bacteria, Bacillius subtilis. The bacteria-based data storage method has backup and long-term archival functionality:

While the technology would most likely first be used to track medication, it could also be used to store text and images for many millennia, thwarting the longevity issues associated with today's disk and tape storage systems ... The artificial DNA that carries the data to be preserved makes multiple copies of the DNA and inserts the original as well as identical copies into the bacterial genome sequence. The multiple copies work as backup files to counteract natural degradation of the preserved data, according to the newswire. Bacteria have particularly compact DNA, which is passed down from generation to generation. The information stored in that DNA can also be passed on for long-term preservation of large data files, the scientists said.
"
Graphics

Submission + - Open Graphics Round Table

Submitted by
cranos
cranos writes: "In this fortnights episode of Open Source On The Air, I sit down with three Graphic Artists who have based their entire work flow on Free and Open Source Software.

We talk about the state of the current FOSS graphics toolset, how this has affected things like barriers to entry, as well as discussing the growing interaction between the audience and the graphic artists.

You can find the full show here: http://localfoss.org/OSOTA/Episode_16"
Robotics

Submission + - Robots for the Aging Population

Submitted by
QuantumCrypto
QuantumCrypto writes: "University of Tokyo is exploring the possibility of making robots to be better servants. The researchers there are hoping to use these robots in the care of the fast aging population, as well as the sick and the bedridden. As a demonstration of their latest advancement, they showed off a robot that can serve tea. Interestingly, tea-serving robots have been around for 400 years."

Feed Lawmakers Tout DMCA Killer (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed
The Fair Use Act would free honest consumers to pick the electronic locks on their digital media, under certain circumstances. A congressman says it's a good first step. Luke O'Brien reports from Washington.


Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft not gaining ground in search

Submitted by klblastone
klblastone writes: Despite Microsoft's massive investment in promoting and improving web-based search, the company still has less than ten percent of search engine marketshare. By comparison, Google is hitting about 50 percent, and still growing. Obviously, gimmicks like the interactive Ms. Dewey aren't helping Microsoft compete with Google in the search arena. Microsoft's deep pockets don't seem to be of much use in the highly competitive and dynamic web services market. As the web 2.0 revolution pushes more and more software online where open standards dominate and Microsoft can't leverage its desktop software monopoly, will the company start lose relevance?
Music

Submission + - RIAA slams FAIR USE Act

Submitted by Tyler Too
Tyler Too writes: The RIAA has weighed in on the just-introduced FAIR USE Act, and to no one's surprise, they're not at all happy with it. 'The FAIR USE Act "would repeal the DMCA and legalize hacking," says the RIAA. "It would reverse the Supreme Court's decision in Grokster and allow electronics companies to induce others to break the law for their own profit."' Looks like the CEA's lobbyists and the RIAA's lobbyists will be battling it out on Capitol Hill.
Databases

Submission + - Free global virtual scientific library

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: More than 20,000 signatures, including several Nobel prize winners and 750 education, research, and cultural organisations from around the world came together to support free access to government funded research, "to create a freely available virtual scientific library available to the entire globe. The European Commission responded by committing more than $100m (£51m) towards facilitating greater open access through support for open access journals and for the building of the infrastructure needed to house institutional repositories that can store the millions of academic articles written each year. From the BBC article: "Last month five leading European research institutions launched a petition that called on the European Commission to establish a new policy that would require all government-funded research to be made available to the public shortly after publication. That requirement — called an open access principle — would leverage widespread internet connectivity with low-cost electronic publication to create a freely available virtual scientific library available to the entire globe." Isn't this the way its suppose to be?
Quickies

Submission + - Big 'Ocean' Discovered Beneath Asia

Submitted by anthemaniac
anthemaniac writes: Seismic observations reveal a huge reservoir of water in Earth's mantle beneath Asia. It's actually rock saturated with water, but it's an ocean's worth of water ... as much as is in the whole Arctic Ocean. How did it get there? A slab of water-laden crust sank, and the water evaporated out when it was heated, and then it was trapped, the thinking goes. The discovery fits neatly with the region's heavy seismic activity and fits neatly with the idea that the planet's moving crustal plates are lubricated with water.
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Slashdot in a sci-fi book

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: I was reading 'Century Rain' by Alastair Reynolds and was very surprised to see Slashdot mentioned there. Apparently a powerful, technologically advanced human society in the future will be founded by Slashdotters. From the book: "It's all right," Niagara said. "I won't be the least bit offended if you call me a Slasher. You probably regard the term as an insult." "Isn't it?" Auger asked, surprised. "Only if you want it to be." Niagara made a careful gesture, like some religious benediction: a diagonal slice across his chest and a stab to the heart. "A slash and a dot," he said. "I doubt it means anything to you, but this was once the mark of an alliance of progressive thinkers linked together by one of the very first computer networks. The Federation of Polities can trace its existence right back to that fragile collective, in the early decades of the Void Century. It's less a stigma than a mark of community."

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