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Data Storage

Coming Soon: Ubiquitous Long-Term Surveillance From Big Brother 191

Posted by Soulskill from the tinfoil-sales-skyrocket dept.
alphadogg writes "As the price of digital storage drops and the technology to tap electronic communication improves, authoritarian governments will soon be able to perform retroactive surveillance on anyone within their borders, according to a Brookings Institute report. These regimes will store every phone call, instant message, email, social media interaction, text message, movements of people and vehicles and public surveillance video and mine it at their leisure, according to 'Recording Everything: Digital Storage as an Enabler of Authoritarian Government,' written by John Villaseno, a senior fellow at Brookings and a professor of electrical engineering at UCLA."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Tag gives in and adds QR and NCF (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk
mikejuk writes: Microsoft has added support for QR codes to Tag, its mobile barcoding service. It has also added the ability to read Near Field Communication (NCF) signals. The addition can be regarded as as tacit admission by Microsoft that its fancy new colour coded Tag barcodes aren’t as widely used as the traditional QR (Quick Response) codes, and may never catch up with this market leader. On the other hand it is nice when Microsoft starts to support non-Microsoft technology for what ever reason.
Blackberry

Submission + - RIM is rotting from within, say employees (itworld.com)

Submitted by bdking
bdking writes: Research in Motion's problems go far deeper than the incompetence of the BlackBerry maker's co-CEOs, according to employees who paint a picture of an insular culture infused with complacency, smugness and an inability to recognize the strengths of its competitors' products.
Google

Google Deal Allegedly Lets UMG Wipe YouTube Videos It Doesn't Own 392

Posted by Soulskill from the sounds-about-right dept.
Sockatume writes "Ars Technica is reporting that Google has given music conglomerate UMG the right to arbitrarily eliminate YouTube videos. When UMG had Megaupload's 'Mega Song' removed from the site, it was assumed that they had made a DMCA claim, and that YouTube was responding under its 'safe harbor' obligations. Megaupload's legal response argues that UMG has no grounds to request a DMCA takedown. However in court filings (PDF), UMG claims that its licensing agreement with Google gives it the power and authority to unilaterally wipe videos from the site, bypassing the DMCA entirely. If true, that means that your activities on YouTube are not just curtailed by the law, but by the terms of their secret agreements with media conglomerates."
Open Source

Submission + - GPL, Copyleft Use Declining Fast (itworld.com)

Submitted by
itwbennett
itwbennett writes: "Use of the GPL, LGPL, and AGPL set of licenses is declining at an accelerating rate, according to new analysis by the 451 Group's Matthew Aslett. In fact, the 451 Group projects that GPL usage will hit 50% by September 2012. Instead, developers are licensing projects under permissive licenses such as the MIT, Apache (ASL), BSD, and Ms-PL. The shift started in 2007 and has been gathering momentum ever since. Blogger Brian Proffitt posits that 'the creation of the GPLv3 and the sometimes contentious discussion that led up to it' may be partly responsible for the move away from the GPL."
Idle

Submission + - Wielder of lightsaber defies police (kgw.com)

Submitted by ageoffri
ageoffri writes: 33 year wannabe Jedi Knight proves that a lightsaber is greater then a taser. In a shocking display of skill the first taser is foiled with pure thought and the second has a wire cut before it can activate. Are midi-chlorians counts in current humans building back up to the levels from a time long ago?
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Report: Spectrum fragmentation will mean pricier L (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: The plethora of spectrum bands used for LTE will result in more expensive devices, and also make the ability to roam globally using the technology less likely, according to industry organization GSM Association's research arm. Wireless Intelligence predicts there will be 38 different spectrum frequency combinations used in LTE deployments by 2015, thanks to ongoing spectrum auctions, license renewals and reallocation initiatives across a wide range of frequency bands. The number of combinations means economies of scale won't be as good and prices won't come down as much as they could if fewer spectrum bands were used as volumes increase, Joss Gillet, a senior analyst for Wireless Intelligence.
Advertising

US Watchdog Bans Photoshop Use In Cosmetics Ads 383

Posted by Soulskill from the or-as-some-people-call-it-lying dept.
MrSeb writes "In an interesting move that should finally bring the United States' fast-and-loose advertising rules and regulations into line with the UK and EU, the National Advertising Division (NAD) — the advertising industry's self-regulating watchdog — has moved to ban the misleading use of photoshopping and enhanced post-production in cosmetics adverts. The ban stems from a Procter & Gamble (P&G) CoverGirl ad that photoshopped a model's eyelashes to exaggerate the effects of a mascara. There was a footnote in the ad's spiel about the photo being manipulated, but according to the director of the NAD, that simply isn't enough: 'You can't use a photograph to demonstrate how a cosmetic will look after it is applied to a woman's face and then — in the mice type — have a disclosure that says "okay, not really."' The NAD ruled that the ad was unacceptable, and P&G has since discontinued it. The ruling goes one step further, though, and points out that 'professional styling, make-up, photography and the product's inherent covering and smoothing nature' should be enough, without adding Photoshop to the mix. The cosmetics industry is obviously a good starting point — but what if the ban leaks over to product photography (I'm looking at you, Burger King), video gameplay demos, or a photographer's own works?"
Blackberry

Submission + - BlackBerry 10 could be 'too little, too late' (bgr.com)

Submitted by zacharye
zacharye writes: Research In Motion confirmed part of an exclusive BGR report Thursday night when its co-CEOs announced during an earnings call that its first BlackBerry 10 smartphone would not launch until the “latter part of 2012.” Despite RIM’s earlier statement that a QNX-powered smartphone would launch in the first half next year, we reported in November that RIM’s first next-generation smartphone would not launch until the third quarter. RIM co-Chief Mike Lazaridis blamed the delay on new dual-core processors that were not yet ready to be manufactured in bulk, but the fact remains that by the time RIM’s first QNX-based smartphone launches it will be competing against Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone, a horde of new Android phones with next-generation features and specs, a variety of Windows Phones from Nokia, and more...
Japan

Fukushima Finally Reaches Cold Shutdown 201

Posted by Soulskill from the super-powers-no-longer-for-sale dept.
mvdwege writes "The BBC reports that the reactors at Fukushima have reached cold shutdown, meaning they no longer need active cooling to stay at safe temperatures. Plans can now be made to start the cleanup of the site. Unfortunately, TEPCO has also admitted not all problems were out in the open until now; an estimated 45 cubic meters of contaminated water have leaked out of cracks in the foundation of a treatment plant."
Android

Submission + - Microsoft Moves Into iOS Ecosystem (But Not Androi (itworld.com)

Submitted by
jfruhlinger
jfruhlinger writes: "With the release of the SkyDrive app for iOS, Microsoft is showing that it isn't going to just focus its service offerings on Windows — particularly in the mobile realm, where Windows has almost zero market share. Getting its cloud services onto iPhones and iPads is a no-brainer — but the real question is, why no Android app yet?"

Submission + - First laser measurements of Europe's Galileo satel (esa.int)

Submitted by
japan_dan
japan_dan writes: "The TIGO (Transportable Integrated Geodetic Observatory), in Concepcion, Chile, performed the world's first laser ranging to the first Galileo satellite on 27 November, and to the second satellite two days later, using a near-infrared laser beam at 847nm. Note this took place some days before the first location signals were transmitted from the satellites (Saturday 10 December). The laser ranging enables the location of the satellites to be known to within a few centimetres."

Comment Re:GPU drivers (Score 1) 89

by avatar139 (#38372454) Attached to: NVIDIA Releases Source To CUDA Compiler

Without patents, there would be far more trade secrets. Patents make inventions public, not private. That's the whole purpose of patents: to promote the spread of ideas by making them public.

Really? Wow, and here I thought they're solely a means for companies that don't actually produce anything except lawsuits to make money via protectionist licensing schemes! :P

Comment Re:Need (Score 1) 631

by avatar139 (#38231700) Attached to: Why America Doesn't Need More Tech Giants Like Apple

Make it so a patent is as easy and inexpensive as registering a copyright ($30 iinm), and don't allow trivial or obvious patents.

Yeah, but how do you define what's "trivial or obvious" and who defines it?

As to lawsuits, perhaps they could replace that with some sort of board, like many union-management contracts use rather than suing.

Yeah, but there's two problems with that idea:

1. Board Officials: State your case and know that we're not going corporate shills! Freedomworks Rep: "We'll give you $250k each and pay your union election fees if you agree to deny any patent cases that help develop and maintain net neutrality." Board Officials: "On the other hand, net neutrality doesn't pay the bills, so we're fine with that as long as you don't take it personally when we insult on our campaign trail!" Freedomworks Rep: "We have a deal then, you corporate shills!"

2. Big Corporation Patent Lawyers: "We're against this patent because if it goes through, we'll have to lay off thousands of our workers." Union Officials: Who will then blame us for being fired by failing to capitulate to your demands. "Your request for patenting this technology is designed." Tech Innovator: "Can't I appeal your decision?" Union Officials: "No."

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