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Programming

Submission + - What kind of thinking is apt for Computer Science

Submitted by gorrepati
gorrepati writes: As a Grad student at the university I found critical thinking to be very popular, atleast with the Professors. After school, at work, it is mostly process-oriented thinking — where by I just think about what to do and do it. It is difficult to think critically all the while being imaginative. The emphasis on not making a mistake hurts the imagination(pardon my limited capacity). The question really is, what kind of thinking gives results — say I want to be a good programmer, working on the next cool thing.
Music

Submission + - iTunes Plus DRM-free tracks expanding, dropping to (jawtheshark.com)

Submitted by
jawtheshark
jawtheshark writes: "According to ars technica, Apple is going to revise the pricing of Plus songs on the iTunes Music store:

The bigger news on the iTunes Plus horizon, however, is that Apple plans to drop the price of all iTunes Plus tracks. Currently, each track is $1.29 while "normal" DRMed tracks are 99 apiece. That discrepancy will be no longer, as Apple will begin pricing all of its iTunes Plus songs at 99 apiece (DRMed tracks will also remain at 99).


I guess, I won't get any refunds for my purchased Plus songs, eh? ;-)"
Media

Submission + - The truth about image stabilization

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Image stabilization is the biggest feature in digital cameras right now, but is it the cure all that camera manufacturers would like us to believe? This feature looks at the different types of image stabilization, how they work and what side effects they can cause. http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2007/10/15/Image-Stabilisation-The-Good-The-Bad-And-The-Noisy/p1
Google

Submission + - What if Google Had to Design For Google? (meangene.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Web developers increasingly grow weary of having to put so much effort into designing their sites according to the whims of the Google search engine. When the most important thing is "getting indexed" its increasingly difficult for web site designers to offer the simple, uncluttered user experience they'd like to. Reminiscent of the famed what if msft designed the ipod box here is a humorous look at what would happen to that famed, clean, uncluttered look if Google had to design for the Google Search Engine.
Censorship

Submission + - Over 500 Scientists Question Global Warming (earthtimes.org) 3

Submitted by
Forrest Kyle
Forrest Kyle writes: "According to research conducted by the Hudson Institute, a right-leaning (according to Wikipedia) political think tank, over 500 scientists have published peer reviewed evidence that contradicts the current scientific "consensus" on anthropogenic global warming. According to the article, "the names were compiled by [Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Dennis] Avery and climate physicist S. Fred Singer [Professor emeritus of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia], the co-authors of the new book Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years, mainly from the peer-reviewed studies cited in their book." For an issue about which Al Gore claims there is no scientific debate, there seems to be a lot of scientific debate.

Author's Note of Disclosure: It is not my intention to stake a claim in the global warming debate. My position is to not immediately take a position without enough scientific facts, which I do not personally possess. As an environmentalist, I take the global warming issue very seriously, but as a thinking person, I am opposed to sensationalism, or claiming a debate is over during a debate. So in other words, don't flame me to death because this article is slanted against Gore's position. =)"
United States

Submission + - Wikileaks releases full US military arms list (wikileaks.org)

Submitted by James Hardine
James Hardine writes: The New York Sun and others are reporting that government transparency Web site wikileaks.org has released secret military documents detailing the complete equipment register for all units managed by the American Army in Afghanistan together with a 300 page analysis made with a lot of computer assisted reporting tricks. The confidential records list most of the equipment held in Afghanistan by American and coalition forces, and possibly even the CIA. As well as the expected arms, the list includes hundreds of robots, iris scanners, a huge rage of National Security Agency internet equipment and even a two types of chemical weapon. According to the site's staff, the authenticity of the material has been confirmed by military sources.
Mars

Submission + - EU abandons plans to convert UK to metric

Submitted by SeeSchloss
SeeSchloss writes: After years of trying to get Britain to switch to the metric system the EU has finally decided to give up the fight. Conversion was initially a precondition for UK's membership of the European Union, in 1973, and the deadline had been regularly extended since then. Should we add back the UK to the list of the three countries in the world which do not use the metric system (Myanmar, Liberia and the United States)? It looks like the more a country waits before switching to the metric system, the more difficult it is, most countries did it while their litteracy rate was low and avoided most of the problems the UK or the US would be facing now. Do you think it is realistic to expect the UK or the US to switch to the metric system now? Do you think such a conversion is even useful outside of technical fields (I hope we all agree that it is needed in space research, for example)?
XBox (Games)

Submission + - BBC to offer content via XBox 360

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Not content with shunning Linux and Mac users (for the time being at least) it now seems the BBC will add insult to injury by rolling out the iPlayer to the Xbox 360. Nice one BBC, you are really moving in the right direction!
The Courts

Submission + - eBay Seller Files Federal Lawsuit Against Autodesk (aecnews.com)

Submitted by
New10k
New10k writes: "Tim Vernor is an eBay seller (happyhourcollectables) with over 10,000 positive reviews. He specializes in comic books but sells most everything. He got thrown off eBay after Autodesk filed complaints against him for reselling Autodesk software. He has responded by filing a federal lawsuit alleging fraudulent use of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. He has already passed the federal court's "is this guy a wacko?" test and the suit is official — Autodesk has 30 days to respond. Details at AECnews (http://aecnews.com/news/2007/09/10/2377.aspx)."
Security

Submission + - A stolen nuclear weapon?

Submitted by TheSkepticGuy
TheSkepticGuy writes: Chuck Simpson at AboveTopSecret.com has an analysis of the Barksdale nuke incident in which he speculates that, "Someone, operating under a special chain of command within the United States Air Force, just stole a nuclear weapon." Full story here: Barksdale Missile Number Six. It's a long read, but he systematically outlines what amounts to an impossible mistake.
Power

Submission + - Burning Salt Water - Your next source of Hydrogen (yahoo.com)

Submitted by EskimoJoe
EskimoJoe writes: An Erie cancer researcher has found a way to burn salt water, a novel invention that is being touted by one chemist as the "most remarkable" water science discovery in a century. John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn. AP article at Yahoo.
The Internet

Submission + - Wikipedia blocks Overstock.com from editing 1

Submitted by thefickler
thefickler writes: Known for having a media director that obsessively stalks critics, Overstock.com's IP address range has now been banned from editing on Wikipedia. Longtime Wikipedia staffer, David Gerard, posted this on the Administrators' Noticeboard Tuesday afternoon: "I've just blocked 65.116.112.0/21, which is an IP range (a) owned by Overstock.com (b) widely used by them for spamming, COI editing and attempted intimidation of administrators dealing with them. I strongly suggest against unblocking this range under any circumstances"
Security

Submission + - Storm Worm botnet - most powerful supercomputer (zdnet.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Nearly nine months after it was first discovered, the Storm Worm Trojan continues to surge, building what experts believe could be the world's most powerful supercomputer. By New Zealand computer scientist Peter Gutman's calculations, the Storm Worm botnet "may be the first time that a top 10 supercomputer has been controlled not by a government or mega-corporation but by criminals." Now, according to Finjan security researcher Aviv Raff, the group has started to target tech-savvy computer users. The page displays a legitimate looking download page for the Tor (The Onion Router) network anonymity proxy and a "download now" image that points to a malicious "tor.exe" file.

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