Submission + - Skype is down
szo writes: The whole skype network is down, according to the announcement it will take 12-24 hours to come back online.
Submission + - DirecTV to offer Internet over power lines. (hollywoodreporter.com)
dss902 writes: "DirecTV Group, in a move designed to further cater to customers who want their video service bundled with other products, struck a deal with Current Group for offering high-speed Internet services over power lines."
Submission + - Electronic Arts abandons OS X release schedule (vnunet.com)
pete314 writes: "Electronic Arts promised at June's WWDC that it would launch OS X games on the same day as its Windows versions, but the gaming developer has now come back from promise. Instead the company will be looking to launch OS X versions "as close as possible". Games released for Windows in July will have their OS X versions on store shelves "soon". August launches including Madden 2008 won't be available for OS X until October."
Submission + - Linus Torvalds Writes "Good Code" (kerneltrap.org)
PupScup writes: KernelTrap is reviewing the Linux process scheduler code over the years. The original code was written by none other than Linus Torvalds who described it in a 1993 email, 'the linux scheduling algorithm is one of the simplest ones possible'. An entertaining (and historically prescient) comment in the code proclaimed, 'this is GOOD CODE! There probably won't be any reason to change this, as it should work well in all circumstances (ie gives IO-bound processes good response etc).' The simple algorithm was evidently good code as advertised, judged by the fact that it took over a decode for another developer to come along with something better.
Submission + - Travelocity Fined $182K for Allowing Trips to Cuba
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "For the first time, an online travel agency has been fined for booking trips between the U.S. and Cuba, in violation of a United States embargo. Travelocity paid federal regulators $182,750 this month to settle a complaint brought by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which said the company violated the prohibition nearly 1,500 times between January 1998 and April 2004. The complaint alleged that Travelocity "provided travel-related services in which Cuba or Cuban nationals had an interest by arranging air travel and hotel reservations to, from, with or within Cuba without an OFAC license.""
Submission + - allofmp3.com Owner Acquitted
csw writes: CNN reports that the owner of allofmp3.com has been acquitted or copyright charges. http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/biztech/08/15/russia. site.reut/index.html
Feed Techdirt: US Patent Office Making Some Changes To The Rules (techdirt.com)
With Congress debating patent reform and the Supreme Court correcting the mistakes of lower courts when it comes to patent laws, it seems that the US Patent and Trademark Office is finally starting to realize that there's widespread dissatisfaction with how it's going about things. Perhaps it's starting to realize that the purpose of the USPTO isn't to grant patents, but to promote innovation. To that end, it's making some minor, but still important, changes to the rules for patent examiners, hoping to improve the quality of patents being approved. The latest change is to try to cut down on overly broad patents and patents where the actual invention isn't entirely clear, by forcing applicants to only include a single invention in a claim. This way the examiners know what the invention is that they're actually supposed to be examining. The fact that this wasn't in place before (along with the suggestion that patent examiners weren't entirely sure what they were examining) should say something about the state of our patent system.
Submission + - Kernel devs say VMware violates Linux copyrights (venturecake.com)
Nailer writes: Bloomberg believe VMware's IPO today may the largest technology offering since Google. But doubts have been cast over the company's supposedly proprietary ESX product, as top 10 Linux contributor Christopher Hellwig claims the software violates Linux kernel copyrights.
Submission + - Facebook Source Code Leaked (foxnews.com)
Hypercoyote writes: Facebook users on Monday were left contemplating the security of private details stored on the social-networking site after part of its source code was leaked onto the Internet.
The site on Monday acknowledged that a section of its code had been copied and published on a blog, but stressed that none of the personal details of its 52 million users had been compromised.
Over the weekend, a blog called Facebook Secrets published details of part of Facebook's source code, the set of commands which determine the way the site appears when it is viewed by users.
Submission + - Study Shows IQ Doesn't Equal Wealth: Is I.Q Valid? (typepad.com)
MeMyOwnBoss writes: "According to Jay Zagorsky's study published in the journal Intelligence, it's not likely.
Not only was there a little-to-insignificant correlation between higher earning and a higher I.Q, but there appears to be an increase in debt and bankruptcy among those with above average intelligence quotients. The finding comes as an interesting surprise in a culture where bespectacled Bill Gates is the supreme beacon of cash, and college = success.
The study is by no means conclusive, and my main beef with the outcome is the fact that all statistics were formed based on the use of Intelligence Quotient numbers (I.Q). More and more people are realizing that standardized tests fail to capture the true intelligence of many people who harbor smarts other than the bookish variety. Even the founder of the test, frenchman Alfred Binet , protests that the quiz does not adequately and permanently determine a person's intelligence:
"The scale, properly speaking, does not permit the measure of intelligence, because intellectual qualities are not superposable, and therefore cannot be measured as linear surfaces are measured"
While the I.Q test attempts to fix a number to a thing that we have not yet been able to concretely measure, and may be perhaps the best resource for a study of this kind, it's my suspicion that the I.Q test is outdated and in many cases unfair, as well as a poor reflection of actual intelligence in all people.
Maybe the measure of intelligence is the reason for the lack of correlation, not the actual smarts themselves? I wouldn't doubt it."
Submission + - Java Barcode API 1
oddtoad writes: I'm working on a Java project and we need to print bar code labels from our application. I'd like to use an existing API but after quite a bit of googling I've been unable to locate a quality product. Can anybody suggest a good bar code label printing product that can be called from a Java app?
Submission + - Video - How To Ask A Woman On A Date (tploy.com)
trsarg writes: "Video how to tip. How To Ask A Woman On A Date. Great stuff.
http://tploy.com/20070813335/video-how-to-ask-a-wo man-on-a-date.html"
Submission + - Star Wars Light Saber Game (vgserve.com) 1
joeblstrn writes: Use the mouse to aim the incoming droids. Shoot them before they shot you.
Submission + - AMD 690 Chipset Updated, Performance Boost (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes: "Earlier this year, AMD launched its 690 series motherboard chipset and it was
relatively well accepted for its affordability, power efficiency, and
performance versus competitive chipsets. AMD has since
taken the 690 series chipset and optimized it further through BIOS and
software level enhancements that result in marked performance gains in a number
of situations and also introduces new features.
This article showcases a motherboard from Gigabyte that features the latest
updates and compares its performance to the unaltered board from when the
chipset was first introduced, to see just how much the platform's performance
has matured. The majority of the performance enhancements were
targeted toward better HD DVD and Blu-ray playback at 1080p."
Submission + - How James Bond Attracts Women? (blogmackin.com) 1
Bachelor writes: Ok, I know all of you have watched James Bond movies... I have always wondered to myself why he is so successful with women.
1. Body Language- notice bond never smiles when he shows expression he grins. His eye contact is always direct with women as well.
2. Unpredictable — you never know what Bond is gonna do... Girls love a guy they cant figure out...
