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Government

Submission + - Canada set to unveil DMCA-style legislation (theglobeandmail.com)

Submitted by plen246
plen246 writes: Following the American example — the underwhelming success that it has been — the current Canadian government is set to unveil sweeping new copyright legislation aimed at pleasing the media conglomerates and appeasing the outspoken US Ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins. The government has seemingly developed the legislation out of sight of the public, and will likely try to pass it with little or no discussion in the next two to three weeks. Given the short timeline, the only hope for clear-minded, education- and culture-loving Canadians may be that opposition parties stand up to the minority government and force them to rework the more contentious parts of it. The upcoming legislation is reported to rely heavily on Digital Rights Management (DRM) — a standard which is rapidly being abandoned by the music industry itself. This all comes despite a government-commissioned study that found that file-sharing helps the music industry and another suggesting DRM violates Canadian privacy laws.
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Adobe allows dynamic ads into pdf files

Submitted by Starker_Kull
Starker_Kull writes: Adobe is now allowing dynamic ads to be placed in downloaded pdfs by Yahoo for an undisclosed amount of money. This capability seems ripe for abuse, and personally makes me even more interested in an alternative page layout format. Despite being open, the pdf standard is still subject to the arbitrary whims of a company bent on squeezing every last cent out of its dominant standard.
Music

Submission + - EMI threatens to cut RIAA funding by half (ft.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: The Financial Times writes that EMI and Warner are having difficulties issuing debt, attributing this problem to the general turmoil in debt markets at the moment. I wonder whether this is not also related to their dire financial situation. Interestingly, their financial problems might have an effect on RIAA funding. Quoth the article: "In a sign of the sector's desperation, EMI this month threatened to cut funding by half for trade bodies such as the Recording Industry Association of America that lead the industry's fight against piracy and direct its lobbying efforts."
Communications

Submission + - How Google Opened The Wireless Industry (cooltechzone.com)

Submitted by
tapped
tapped writes: "CoolTechZone.com's Gundeep Hora credits Google for opening up the otherwise closed wireless industry. He writes, "Naturally, Verizon, and I presume others will follow shortly, are gradually opening on their terms to prevent Google from taking over the mobile advertising market without taking their share. It's understandable. However, they need to admit the impact that Google has had on them. It was only four weeks ago when Google announced Android. The timing is not a mere coincidence. It's evident that Google is winning hands down, or at least is fearful enough to shake the wireless industry singlehandedly. Now that's a company."
Communications

Submission + - Ekiga: Skype's Competitor Reviewed (madpenguin.org)

Submitted by
tobs
tobs writes: "Although Skype is the mainstream VoIP client for mainstream, there's another option for Linux users with Ekiga. MadPenguin.org reviews this Skype competitor and comes away with impressed. QUOTE: "I really want to make a concerted effort to convert people over to SIP, and of course, using Ekiga as their client. Skype users are tempted to use what is safe for them, and I can certainly understand the hassle of running "yet another client" just to talk with friends online. But if we could demonstrate exactly why using Ekiga makes more sense, maybe seeing a video tutorial on it with a friend, this would go a long way to getting people to take it more seriously. Ekiga is a solid Voice Over IP client, and we all need to be using it or other open source clients like it to encourage the open source movement and further grow an otherwise robust application."
Music

Submission + - What's the best music codec?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: MP3 may be the de facto standard but most of us know that it's not the best codec when it comes to sound quality and file size. Here's a feature that looks at all the major codecs, and a few more obscure ones and compares them. It also touches on lossless encoding for those that rate sound quality over file size. http://www.trustedreviews.com/mp3/review/2007/11/15/An-A-Z-of-Audio-Codecs/p1
Censorship

Submission + - The Artist formerly known as and his copyright fre

Submitted by titzandkunt
titzandkunt writes: The Artist formerly known as Prince has started getting mediaeval with websites which he feels infringe his coprighted images of himself. His legal team been threatening sites with closure unless they remove images of him. Anonymous webmasters responded that many images, such as those of him in concert are ok , as the copyright resides with the photographer who took the pictures.

Popular messageboard and hangout for playful photoshoppers B3TA has entered the fray with gusto: The B3TA webmasters posed an image challenge to see how the board members could best parody, mock and otherwise illustrate the foolishness fo Prince's actions, via composite and photoshopped imagery.

Unfortunately for B3TA, the whole mess has now become a little bit "meta", as their competition brought them into the diminutive purple one's sights:

"Under threat of legal action from Princes legal team of "potential closure of your web site" — We have removed the Prince image challenge and B3ta apologises unreservedly to AEG / NPG and Prince for any offence caused. We also ask our members to avoid photoshopping Prince and posting them on our boards.
Classic Games (Games)

Submission + - The first 3D game on the PC (before Carmack)? (google.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Who wrote the first 3D game for the PC? id Software takes credit for it, but this guy apparently published a more modern-looking 3D game one year before Carmack. The google video of Alpha Waves shows a game that was surprisingly advanced compared to other early 3D games like Elite or id's Hovertank 3D. Is this another case of the winner writing the history books?
Music

Submission + - Gene Simmons: college kids killed music biz (yahoo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: An interview on Yahoo with KISS band member Gene Simmons. He says "The record industry is in such a mess. I called for what it was when college kids first started download music for free — that they were crooks. I told every record label I spoke with that they just lit the fuse to their own bomb that was going to explode from under them and put them on the street." ... "Every little college kid, every freshly-scrubbed little kid's face should have been sued off the face of the earth. They should have taken their houses and cars and nipped it right there in the beginning. Those kids are putting 100,000 to a million people out of work. How can you pick on them? They've got freckles. That's a crook. He may as well be wearing a bandit's mask."
Cellphones

Submission + - 1GHz Mobile Phone Integrated Chip (qualcomm.com)

Submitted by
kihbord
kihbord writes: "It won't be long that we'll see Dual and Quad core mobile phones. Then we'll never have to carry our laptops around. Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies and data solutions, today announced that it is delivering the first groundbreaking chipset products from the Snapdragon(TM) platform to numerous device manufacturers. The QSD8250(TM) and QSD8650(TM) are now shipping to customers worldwide, offering an unprecedented combination of mobile data processing, multimedia performance, 3G wireless connectivity and the lowest levels of power consumption for all-day battery life. The Company will be demonstrating the Snapdragon platform running both Windows Mobile and Linux to deliver productivity applications, entertainment applications and advanced user experiences at Qualcomm's New York Analyst Meeting."
Software

Submission + - What Windows apps on Linux?

Submitted by
tumb_sc
tumb_sc writes: "I'm a long time Aussie reader of Slashdot, but a first time poster. (Be gentle!)

One of the key issues for the majority of (Windows) users considering Linux, is that they wonder if the current apps they need to use on Windows, will work on Linux.

Experienced Linux users will typically recommend one of three options to these folks:
(1) Compatiblity Layer (Wine/CrossOver/Cedega)
(2) Set up dual-boot system (Windows/Linux)
(3) Virtualisation (KVM, Xen, Qemu, VMware, Virtualbox, etc)

Deep down, I don't think any of the above really addresses the problem. The real solution to this issue is to develop multi-platform applications. (Like: Firefox, OpenOffice, VLC, etc).

What I'm asking from Slashdot regulars and visitors is this:

=> What business or professional application do you need to run on Linux?
eg: Photoshop? Quicken? SolidWorks? AutoCAD? etc.

(Now bare in mind, I know people will start suggesting "equivalent apps" like Gimp, etc. I don't think these are good enough for the Jane/Joe desktop user that use something like Photoshop at a professional level. It isn't the same, and that's the harsh reality to it.)

What's the point of this? I want to get a feel of what people are using that are "Windows only"."
Sony

Submission + - SonyTells Gamer PS3Warranty Voidedby ExcessiveDust (techluver.com)

Submitted by
Tech.Luver
Tech.Luver writes: "Sony refusing to do a warranty repair on one of its PlayStation 3s because the console is "too dusty," citing the console owner. The Los Angeles-based gamer said Sony Computer (SNE) would not honor its 1-year warranty on his $500 console because the game system arrived at its technical support center with "excessive dust in it." "When I learned that Sony wouldn't replace my Playstation because it was too dusty, I paused for a minute because it seemed so ridiculous," said Reid Godshaw, the owner of the dusty Playstation. The dirty Playstation story has flown around the blogosphere — especially on The Consumerist, a consumer-affairs blog where the story originated. The posts regarding the PS3 have gotten more than 150,000 views and have received more than 600 comments from readers. ( http://techluver.com/2007/11/14/sony-tells-gamer-ps3-warranty-voided-by-excessive-dust/ )"
Democrats

Submission + - Obama at Google (yahoo.com)

Submitted by infinitysv5
infinitysv5 writes: Obama made a campaign stop at Google. He pledged to post government data on the Internet in universally accessible formats, and likened his quick rise in politics to Google's rapid emergence as the giant it is. He also fielded questions, like this one:

"Obama was prepared when Google CEO Eric Schmidt, the event moderator, asked him the most efficient way to sort a million 32-bit integers.

Obama said he did not favor the bubble sort method, impressing engineers by his reference to a method of sorting out numerical algorithms.

"You answered the question correctly," Schmidt said."

Only a politician would even mention bubble sort.

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