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Space

Submission + - Indian moon mission to launch next month (rediff.com)

Submitted by
Anil Kandangath
Anil Kandangath writes: "The Indian moon mission plans have been covered earlier by Slashdot here. While the spacecraft itself will not land on the Moonit will act as an orbiter and land a rover on the surface. The spacecraft is being launched next month sometime between October 22 and October 26. The spacecraft payload includes 11 payloads (including one from NASA) and will perform remote sensing and studies of the lunar surface. The mission is estimated to cost Rs 386 crore (~ 7.7 million USD)"
Space

Messenger Flies by Mercury 170

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the fun-in-the-sun dept.
Riding with Robots writes "Today, more than three decades after the last spacecraft visited Mercury, Messenger buzzed just 200 kilometers above the planet's surface. During the encounter, the robotic spacecraft conducted a range of scientific observations, including imaging swaths of Mercury's surface that have never been seen up close before. A few of the first pictures are now available, with many more to come in the next few days."
Privacy

US Policy Would Allow Government Access to Any Email 516

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the what's-the-date-again dept.
An anonymous reader writes "National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell is currently helping to draft a new Cyber-Security Policy that could make the debate over warrantless wiretaps seem like a petty squabble. The new policy would allow the government to access to the content of any email, file transfer, or web search."
iMac

Submission + - Apple Announces New iPods (cnn.com)

Submitted by bmin
bmin writes: Apple announced Wednesday the first major overhaul of its popular iPod music digital players in nearly two years. On top of iPods with more storage and bigger screens, Apple (down $2.62 to $141.54, Charts, Fortune 500) rolled out the iPod Touch, a slim, WiFi-enabled device that's similar to the company's new touchscreen mobile phone, the iPhone.
Portables

Submission + - India overtakes U.S. as Nokia's No.2 Market

Submitted by alphakappa
alphakappa writes: Nokia today announced that India has overtaken the U.S. to become its second largest market by sales, coming up behind China. In the past 18 months, Nokia has shipped 60 million cellphones from its Chennai factory, and they expected it to become the second largest (volume) by 2010.
Quoting from the story, "India has quickly become one of the largest markets," he told reporters in New Delhi, adding he expects demand will not be limited to cheaper phones. "India is not a low-end market. It is a very versatile market in all price points, in all segments," he said. The story also reports that "India had 185 million mobile customers at the end of July, with more than 6 million new customers signing every month, lured by call rates as low as 1 U.S. cent a minute" Nokia has a design studio and a factory in India.
Privacy

Submission + - US Government Confirms Illegal wiretapping Program (msn.com)

Submitted by uctechdude
uctechdude writes: National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell pulled the curtain back on previously classified details of government surveillance and of a secretive court whose recent rulings created new hurdles for the Bush administration as it tries to prevent terrorism.

Among the disclosures:
McConnell confirmed for the first time that the private sector assisted with President Bush's warrantless surveillance program. AT&T, Verizon and other telecommunications companies are being sued for their cooperation. "Now if you play out the suits at the value they're claimed, it would bankrupt these companies," McConnell said, arguing that they deserve immunity for their help.
Space

Submission + - What makes mars magnetic? (spaceflightnow.com)

Submitted by
lecithin
lecithin writes: "Spaceflightnow has a story regarding a puzzle to astronomers and geologists. What makes mars magnetic? If you could pick up a rock from the surface of Mars, then the chances are it would be magnetic. And yet, Mars doesn't have a magnetic field coming from its core. These rocks are clinging to the signal of an ancient magnetic field, dating back billions of years, to the times when Mars had a magnetic field like Earth's."
Programming

Submission + - GSP Development -- Recommended platforms?

Submitted by
WillMcIver
WillMcIver writes: "I am interested in recommendations for USB GPS receivers for use in developing custom applications. Java and Mac OS X support would be ideal, but not necessary. I have a Garmin GPS 18 USB. There is a public SDK for it, but in my opinion, there is insufficient support or code examples for it. Locating a device compatible with GPSBabel or similar tools may be one way to go."
The Courts

Diebold Sues Massachusetts for "Wrongful Purchase" 422

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the better-lawyers-instead-of-better-products dept.
elBart0 writes "Diebold has decided to sue the commonwealth of Massachusetts for choosing a competitor to provide voting machines for the disabled. Diebold wants to force the state to stop using the machines immediately, despite the upcoming municipal elections in many towns. The commonwealth chose the competitor based on an open process that included disabled groups. Diebold executives appeared confused when encountering election officials who made an intelligent choice."
Math

Ramanujian's Deathbed Problem Cracked 205

Posted by kdawson from the mock-theta-soup dept.
Jake's Mom sends word of the serendipitous solution to a decades-old mathematical mystery. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin have unraveled a major number theory puzzle left at the death of one of the twentieth century's greatest mathematicians, Srinivasa Ramanujan. From the press release: "Mathematicians have finally laid to rest the legendary mystery surrounding an elusive group of numerical expressions known as the 'mock theta functions.' Number theorists have struggled to understand the functions ever since... Ramanujan first alluded to them in a letter written [to G. H. Hardy] on his deathbed, in 1920. Now, using mathematical techniques that emerged well after Ramanujan's death, two number theorists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have pieced together an explanatory framework that for the first time illustrates what mock theta functions are, and exactly how to derive them."
Microsoft

Microsoft Testing "Pay-As-You-Go" Software 202

Posted by Zonk from the not-unless-i-can-hit-level-70-in-office-newb dept.
seriouslywtf writes "Microsoft has quietly rolled out a pay-as-you-go software system in a few countries (South Africa, Mexico, and Romania) to test out how the public reacts to software rentals. Part of the current service includes a ~$15 fee per month to use Office 2003. If the service goes over well, Microsoft is considering extending the program to include other software or other countries. From the article: 'Are we moving towards a rental model for software? Despite the success of programs like Software Assurance, and the FlexGo program, it doesn't seem as if the traditional model of software sales is ever going to go away. Consumers still like the option of buying complete software packages. However, for places where the price of software keeps obtaining legitimate versions out of most people's reach, a rental program may be a useful alternative.'"
The Internet

Netscape Restores RSS DTD, Until July 134

Posted by CmdrTaco from the that's-kinda-lame dept.
Randall Bennett writes "RSS 0.91's DTD has been restored to it's rightful location on my.netscape.com, but it'll only stay there till July 1st, 2007. Then, Netscape will remove the DTD, which is loaded four million times each day. Devs, start your caching engines."
Music

Mandatory DRM for Podcasts Proposed 432

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the good-idea-bad-idea dept.
Knytefall writes "Joe Biden, Dianne Feinstein, and two GOP senators are sponsoring a bill called the PERFORM Act that would require podcasts with music and satellite radio to be locked-up with music industry-approved DRM software. From the article: 'All audio services — Webcasters included — would be obligated to implement "reasonably available and economically reasonable" copy-protection technology aimed at preventing "music theft" and restricting automatic recording.'"

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