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Submission + - Oregon vs. Oracle: The Battle of Blame Heats Up

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: The ongoing efforts to assign responsibility for the disastrous attempts to create the Cover Oregon health exchange, the primary contractor for which was Oracle Corporation, have entered a new round, with Governor John Kitzhaber calling on State Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to initiate legal action against the firm. Kitzhaber has also sought the help of Washington D.C. in sanctioning Oracle, though Oregon's own management of the project and the terms of their contract with Oracle muddy the waters, considerably. Although the AG's office hasn't committed to filing suit, yet, AG Rosenblum has said, 'I share your determination to recover every dollar to which Oregon is entitled.' Although the outcome of this is uncertain, it is likely heads, both corporate and political, will roll.

Submission + - Google discriminates in favour of Asian employees - or what? 2

Submitted by Bruce66423
Bruce66423 writes: http://www.theguardian.com/tec...
The Guardian — a left wing newspaper — has a headline to this article that focuses on the absence of women and especially blacks. But given the 30% Asian headcount, it's dubious this is a function of discrimination against blacks, but that's how the left likes to portray it.

It's easy when you know how to spot the biases...

Submission + - President Said to Be Planning to Use Executive Authority on Carbon Rule (nytimes.com) 1

Submitted by Lasrick
Lasrick writes: This is pretty significant: President Obama will use his executive authority to cut carbon emissions from the nation’s coal-fired power plants by up to 20 percent, according to people familiar with his plans, and will force industry to pay for the pollution it creates through cap-and-trade programs across the country.

Submission + - What games can you no longer complete? (redbull.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Games are longer than ever — after all, storage and memory are no longer real issues — and that's perhaps why we've seen such a change in game difficulty over the years. Now games like Dark Souls are the exceptions that prove the rule — and as a group of games journalists reveal in a new confessional article, they\'re no longer able to complete the games they once had the patience and dexterity to power through when they were younger. From Donkey Kong Country to Revenge Of The Shinobi, this list is a brutal reminder of just how challenging, and sometimes repetitive, early games were.

Submission + - EIA Trillion Dollar Monterey Shale Estimate Cut By 96%, US Shale Oil Cut By 2/3

Submitted by steam_cannon
steam_cannon writes: The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA.gov) is planning to release a major 96% reserve downgrade to the amount of oil and gas recoverable from the Monterey Shale formation, one of the largest oil/gas reserves in the United States. After several years of intensified exploration the Monterey oil shale play seems to have much less recoverable oil and gas then previously hoped. This is due to multiple factors such as the more complex rippled geology of the shale and over-hyped recovery estimates by investors. By official estimates the Monterey Shale formation makes up 2/3 of the shale reserves in the US and by some estimates 1/3 of all crude reserves in the US. Not a drop in the bucket. Next Month the EIA.gov will be announcing cutting it's estimates for Monterey by 96%. That's a huge blow to the US energy portfolio, trillions of dollars, oil and gas the US might have used for itself or exported. Presently the White House is evaluating making changes to US oil export restrictions so this downgrade may result in changes to US energy policy. As well as have a significant impact on US economy and the economy of California.

News Sources:
http://www.latimes.com/busines...
http://www.businessinsider.com...

Discussions:
http://peakoil.com/forums/mont...

Additional References:
"Monterey Shale...Comprising two-thirds of the United States’s total estimated shale oil reserves" (2013)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02...

Submission + - Blizzard sues Starcraft II cheat authors in US Court (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by qubezz
qubezz writes: The torrent news site TorrentFreak was first to report that Monday this week Blizzard filed a lawsuit in US District court in California against the programmers behind the popular Starcraft II cheat “ValiantChaos MapHack.”

The complaint seeks relief from "direct copyright infringement", "contributory copyright infringement", "vicarious copyright infringement", "trafficking in circumvention devices", etc. The suit seeks the identity of individuals, as it fishes for names of John Does 1-10, in addition to seeking an injunction against the software (which remains on sale) and punitive damages. Blizzard claims losses from diminished user experiences, and also that "when users of the Hacks download, install, and use the Hacks, they directly infringe Blizzard’s copyright in StarCraft II, including by creating unauthorized derivative works".

Submission + - Baltimore's Solar-Powered Water Wheel Devours 50,000 Pounds of Harbor Trash (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by gogreenbaltimore
gogreenbaltimore writes: Baltimore city just launched the amazing Water Wheel, a solar-powered trash collector that can devour up to 50,000 pounds of trash a day! Topped by a sail fabric canopy, the Water Wheel operates entirely off grid, is powered by 30 solar panels and the water current, and looks really cool to boot. All collected trash is sent to a waste-to-energy plant. By cleaning up debris swept into the Inner Harbor by stormwater runoff, the Water Wheel could help make Baltimore's Inner Harbor swimmable by 2020.

Submission + - Ancient Roman Military Camp Unearthed in Eastern Germany (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Archaeologists have confirmed the presence of a long-lost Roman military camp deep in eastern Germany. The 18-hectare site, found near the town of Hachelbich in Thuringia, would have sheltered a Roman legion of up to 5000 troops. Its location in a broad valley with few impediments suggests it was a stopover on the way to invade territory further east. “People have been searching for evidence of the Romans in this part of Germany for 200 years,” says team leader Mario Kuessner, an archaeologist working for the state of Thuringia. “It took a long time before we realized what we had, and we wanted to be sure.”

Submission + - Smart Tire Sensors Are Coming To Vehicles Soon

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: Remember back in the day when you had to check your tires, oil, and lights? We've come a long way in the last 10 years, and so has technology. Today, most of that stuff is taken care of by sensors, but the current tire pressure monitoring systems on the market are finicky, and limited at best. Continental is looking to make your tires even easier to check with new sensors that don't just read pressure, but load and tread depth too. Engineers developed the tread depth sensors based on the knowledge that a tire's rolling characteristics change over time. By conducting intensive tests, tire and electronics developers developed a data set that can determine when a tire's tread gets to a pre-determined low value--then signaling to the driver that a tire change is soon required. The technology could be taken even further, should the drive require it, by informing their local dealership or service center that a tire change is due. This isn't just a convenience thing, it's a safety thing. Not only is technology making our lives easier, it's making it safer too.

Submission + - "Patent Owner/Troll" Intelectual Ventures defeated in Court by Capital One (reuters.com)

Submitted by williamyf
williamyf writes: According to Reuters, Intellectual Ventures, a Patent Owning company (some may say, a patent troll), was defeated in court when two of their patents were found invalid by the judge, as being too abstract to be patentable.

I.V. had "[...]filed separate patent lawsuits against several financial institutions last year, including Capital One, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America Corp. However, the Capital One case had been further along procedurally."

To stroke the flames of Slashdot, I.V. is largely owned by Space tourist and former Microsoft bigwig Nathan Myhrvold

Submission + - Let Spouses of H-1B Visa Holders Work in US says White House

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Carolyn Lochhead reports in the SF Chronicle that the White House has announced a plan allowing spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the United States, a coup for Silicon Valley companies that have been calling for more lenient rules for immigrants who come to the United States to work in technology. "The proposals announced today will encourage highly skilled, specially trained individuals to remain in the United States and continue to support U.S. businesses and the growth of the U.S. economy," says Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. "A concurrent goal is for the United States to maintain competitiveness with other countries that attract skilled foreign workers and offer employment authorization for spouses of skilled workers. American businesses continue to need skilled nonimmigrant and immigrant workers."

Currently, spouses of H-1B visa holders are not allowed to work unless they obtain their own visa but tech companies have been calling for more H-1B visas, and supporters of the rule change argue that it will bring in more talented workers. Critics say they believe expanding the H-1B visa program will allow lower-paid foreign workers to take American jobs. The plan immediately drew fire from Republicans. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, accused the administration of acting unilaterally to change immigration law and bring in tens of thousands of potential competitors with Americans for jobs. "Fifty million working-age Americans aren't working," Sessions said in a statement, adding that as many as "half of new technology jobs may be going to guest workers. This will help corporations by further flooding a slack labor market, pulling down wages."

Submission + - Earthquake warning issued for central Oklahoma (livescience.com)

Submitted by bobbied
bobbied writes: A rare warning has been issued by the US Geological survey today, warning of an increased risk of a damaging earthquake (magnitude 5.0 or greater) in central Oklahoma. There have been more earthquakes in Oklahoma (per mile) than California this year, prompting the USGS to issue their warning today (May 5, 2014).

This warning is the FIRST such warning to be issued for a state east of the Rockies.

Submission + - Why Asian-American Students Outperform Their White Peers (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: When it comes to academic achievement, Asian-Americans outclass every other ethnic group, with more than half over age 25 holding a bachelor’s degree—well above the national average of 28%. To find what gives Asian-Americans a leg up, a team of sociologists scoured two long-term surveys covering more than 5000 U.S. Asian and white students. After crunching test scores, GPAs, teacher evaluations, and social factors such as immigration status, the team reports a simple explanation: Asian-American students work harder. The team found that students from all Asian ethnic groups put greater importance on effort than on natural ability. This outlook, the team argues, causes students to respond to challenges by trying harder and has a greater impact on Asian-Americans' academic achievement than does cognitive ability or socioeconomic status.

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