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Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft hosing down speculation about Vienna

Submitted by thefickler
thefickler writes: Last week Microsoft executive, Ben Fathi, blabbed that we should expect a new Windows operating system, code-named Vienna, in 2009 and that Vista was a compromise because XP Service Pack 2 soaked up precious resources that should have gone into making Vista better.

Now Microsoft's corporate PR machine is trying to hose down speculation about Vienna, with the company issuing a curt statement effectively telling the world to forget about Vienna, and to focus on Windows Vista.
Mozilla

Submission + - flaw in way firefox updates extensions

Submitted by
Rishabh Singla
Rishabh Singla writes: "mozilla firefox has a flaw in the way it tries to update extensions when there is no active internet connection. instead of simply telling the user that there is no internet connection available, firefox throws up an incorrect error message as well as removes all the available updates from the list. this could be irksome and maybe harmful to some.
check out the details here
http://rishabhsingla.blogspot.com/2007/02/mozilla- firefoxs-way-of-updating.html"
Security

Bitlocker No Real Threat To Decryption? 319

Posted by Zonk from the keep-this-under-your-hat dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Register is running a story called 'Vista encryption 'no threat' to computer forensics'. The article explains that despite some initial concerns that lawbreakers would benefit from built-in strong encryption, it's unlikely the Bitlocker technology will slow down most digital forensic analysts. What kind of measures does one need to take to make sure no one but yourself has access to your data? Is Bitlocker just good enough (keeping out your siblings) or does it miss the whole purpose of the encryption entirely?" One would hope an international criminal mastermind could do better than the encryption built into Vista.
Censorship

Submission + - Google censors blog posts for NZ Government

Submitted by ESarge
ESarge writes: Google has removed some posts from a blog at the request of the New Zealand Government. The blog, CYFSWatch, purports to name and shame the actions of social workers working for Child, Youth & Family Service (CYFS), the national child protection agency. The blog has been controversial because it asks people to post addresses and personal details of individual social workers. For editor only: I suggest that the URL not be posted. The blog is at http://cyfswatch.blogspot.com/. Actual post is at http://cyfswatch.blogspot.com/2007/02/google-moves -on-behalf-of-new-zealand.html. This is being reported on Radio New Zealand National — the equivalent of NPR.
Software

Submission + - Inside Symbian: the Platform Nokia Secretly Hates

Submitted by DECS
DECS writes: The Symbian OS runs the majority of todays smartphones, and is generally regarded as a solid platform. All is not well behind the scenes however. Here's why Apple ported its own OS X to the ARM architecture for the iPhone, why Motorola left Symbian for Linux, and why Nokia executives secretly regard Symbian with contempt. An inside look from Symbian developers: Readers Write About Symbian, OS X and the iPhone.
Media

Submission + - Scientific Journals Say Access Equals Censorship

Submitted by
bcrowell
bcrowell writes: "Nature is reporting on e-mails leaked from the Association of American Publishers, which considers itself "under siege" because of NIH and congressional efforts to get all NIH-funded scientific papers posted for free on PubMed Central. The AAP has hired a PR firm, which is advising them to spread the message that "Public access equals government censorship," and that traditional for-profit print publishing is the same thing as peer peer review."
OS X

Submission + - Apple has Daylight Saving wrong in parts of Canada

Submitted by unrulymob
unrulymob writes: Mac OS X 10.4.8 has the start of Daylight Saving wrong in some Canadian timezones — Pacifc and Mountain at least. Linux distros (RedHat anyway), Sun Microsystems and Microsoft have all released patches that correct for the earlier start of Daylight Saving Time in Canada/Pacific and Canada/Mountain — but Apple thinks it got timezones correct last year. "zdump -v Canada/Pacific|grep 2007" shows PDT starting on April 1st — but it starts 3 weeks earlier — on March 11th. I called them under my MacBook 90 days of free support — but got a little bit of condescension from the support guy (and no updated zoneinfo files to date). I could chose to run under America/Los_Angeles and it would work. Maybe if I'd bucked up for AppleCare they would have listened?
Privacy

British Cops Hack Into Government Computers 247

Posted by Zonk from the accountability-from-the-bobbies dept.
CmdrGravy writes "The British Police have hacked into Government computers as part of the on-going 'cash for peerages' investigation. They've uncovered evidence which has, so far, led to one arrest and charge of perverting the course of justice for a leading Labour party figure. This charge carries a potential life sentence. The British police have the power to hack into computer systems as part of an investigation. On previous occasions they have said they did not believe the government was providing them with the information they had been asking for and had warned that they would seek other methods to gather evidence. The police won't say what tools they have used. From the article: 'The investigators did not have to notify No 10 if they were "hacking" into its system. One legal expert said: "In some cases, a senior officer can give permission. In other cases, you might need the authorization of an independent commissioner, who is usually a retired judge appointed by the Home Office."'"
Power

Submission + - EEStor UltraCaps to ship this year

Submitted by
emil10001
emil10001 writes: "As you may recall from earlier slashdot stories, EEStor is developing an ultracapacitor aimed at replacing traditional batteries. According to MIT's "Technology Review" these battery replacements should be shipping this year.

From the article:

A secretive Texas startup developing what some are calling a "game changing" energy-storage technology broke its silence this week. It announced that it has reached two production milestones and is on track to ship systems this year for use in electric vehicles.
EEStor's ambitious goal, according to patent documents, is to "replace the electrochemical battery" in almost every application, from hybrid-electric and pure-electric vehicles to laptop computers to utility-scale electricity storage.
"
Google

Submission + - Google Looking to Join In-Game Ad Arena

Submitted by
njkid1
njkid1 writes: "As part of a plan to expand its advertising efforts to all forms of media, it would appear that Google is actively seeking to get involved in the in-game ad business. A WSJ report states that the company is in talks to acquire Adscape Media. More within...http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature /?id=15010&ncid=AOLGAM000500000000022"
Biotech

Something in Your Food is Moving 378

Posted by timothy from the go-ahead-ingest-a-colony dept.
Dekortage writes "The New York Times has a report on probiotic food: food that has live bacteria in it. From the article: "[for Dannon's] Activia, a line of yogurt with special live bacteria that are marketed as aiding regularity, sales in United States stores have soared well past the $100 million mark.... Probiotics in food are part of a larger trend toward 'functional foods,' which stress their ability to deliver benefits that have traditionally been the realm of medicine or dietary supplements.""
Power

Submission + - British PM's PC hacked...

Submitted by
Xemu
Xemu writes: "British Prime Minister Tony Blair's computers have been "hacked" by London law enforcement to find evidence of party political corruption. The police "hacked" the PCs because they were deeply frustrated by the "very slim" pile of documents that they received after it twice asked the administration for all emails, letters and other material relating to the system of awarding seats in Britain's unelected upper chamber of parliament, the House of Lords, in return for financial support."
Yahoo!

Submission + - Why Y! Answers Got Big but Google Answers flopped

Submitted by blogdig
blogdig writes: http://www.thebizofcoding.com/2007/01/why_yahoo_an swers_is_flourishi.html The simplicity of Yahoo! Answers is at the source of its surging popularity. Anyone can ask questions or provide answers. Yahoo's Rating and Reviews platform gives Reputation points to participants. Highly rated answers build a participants Reputation incentivising good participation. Google Answers on the other hand has been retired. It is no longer accepting new questions. When Google tried to build an online paid "Answers" product it made two mistakes: 1) Google blocked the Mass Participation that is typically required to build vibrant online communities....

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