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Sci-Fi

Submission + - Star Wars cast: where are they now?

solitas writes: A Breitbart news story interviews certain StarWars alumni about what the trilogy has done for them.

They were part of one of the biggest movies in history but almost without exception the cast of "Star Wars" faded from view after lighting up cinemas during the 1970-80s.

While George Lucas' intergalactic fairytale proved to be a launch pad for the career of Harrison Ford, other prominent members of the blockbuster franchise have not come close to enjoying Ford's iconic status.

..."Without naming names, you meet some stars and afterwards you go 'Gee, I wish I hadn't met him,'"... Oh yeah? Do: tell.
Media

New AACS Crack Called "Undefeatable" 554

Tuoqui writes "With all the focus on the infamous hexadecimal number, people may be ignoring a bigger weakness in the AACS armor, which emerged two weeks ago. Some hackers have figured out how to crack AACS in a way that cannot be defeated, even by revoking all the keys in circulation."
Censorship

Censoring a Number 1046

Rudd-O writes "Months after successful discovery of the HD-DVD processing key, an unprecedented campaign of censorship, in the form of DMCA takedown notices by the MPAA, has hit the Net. For example Spooky Action at a Distance was killed. More disturbingly, my story got Dugg twice, with the second wave hitting 15,500 votes, and today I found out it had simply disappeared from Digg. How long until the long arm of the MPAA gets to my own site (run in Ecuador) and the rest of them holding the processing key? How long will we let rampant censorship go on, in the name of economic interest?" How long before the magic 16-hex-pairs number shows up in a comment here?
Announcements

Submission + - Cell Phones aren't killing bees after all

radioweather writes: "A couple of weeks ago, there was a nutty idea discussed in The Independent that claimed the electromagnetic radiation from cell phones was causing bees to become disoriented, which prevented them from returning to the hive, and they died. The flimsy cell phone argument was used to explain Colony Collapse Disorder.

Today the LA Times reports that researchers at UC San Francisco have uncovered what they believe to be the real culprit: a parasitic fungus. Other researchers said Wednesday that they too had found the fungus, a single-celled parasite called Nosema ceranae, in affected hives from around the country."
The Courts

UK Man Convicted For Wi-Fi Piggybacking 659

CatrionaMcM tips us to a BBC story reporting that Gregory Straszkiewicz, a UK resident, was fined £500 and sentenced to a conditional discharge for 12 months after being caught using a laptop from a car parked outside somebody else's house. '[H]e was prosecuted under the Communications Act and found guilty of dishonestly obtaining an electronic communications service.' A separate BBC story notes that two other people in England were arrested and cautioned for sharing Wi-Fi uninvited.
United States

The Real Reasons Phones Are Kept Off Planes 642

jcatcw writes "Mike Elgan argues that the the real reason that cell phones calls are not allowed is fear of crowd control problems if calls are allowed during flight. Also, the airlines like keeping passengers ignorant about ground conditions. The two public reasons, interference with other systems, could easily be tested, but neither the FAA nor the FCC manage to do such testing."
Businesses

To Verizon, "Unlimited" Means 5 GB 743

Jason writes "For years there have been stories about people getting their unlimited Verizon EVDO Wireless accounts terminated because of excessive data usage, but Verizon never explicitly said that there is a limit. Now if you dive into the terms of the Unlimited Data Service plan they have put a section in that specifically states that anything over 5GB of data usage in a one month period is considered prima facie evidence that you must be downloading movies, and you will be cut off."
Music

Submission + - Harmonix, MTV, and EA Announce Rock Band

Anonymous Coward writes: "The rock gods are upon us! A mega collaboration between Harmonix, MTV, EA, and a bevy of huge music groups has produced Rock Band, a four player full-rock experience that'll hit the Xbox 360 and PS3 this holiday. The game will include nothing but master recordings (no more cover bands!), and will ship with a microphone, guitar, bass, and drum kit. What more could you ask for?"
Democrats

Submission + - Al Gore use 20x more electricity per year

An anonymous reader writes: Last night, Al Gore's global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.
The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh — more than 20 times the national average.
  http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/main/article.php?ar ticle_id=367
Announcements

Submission + - Amanda Marcotte resigns from Edwards Campaign

duckintheface writes: Super-blogger Amanda Marcotte (of Pandagon.net fame) resigned today from her position with the John Edwards for President campaign under pressure from right-wing groups who objected to her personal views. http://www.pandagon.net/ Marcotte submitted her resignation because she felt that "every time I coughed, I was risking the Edwards campaign". Marcotte is famous for her biting feminist wit and insight into the way the religious right slams free speech. The line that brought her down? In a discussion of Catholic teachings on birth control, she asked rhetorically, "What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?"
Nintendo

Submission + - Nintendo Sue's For Using "Mario" In Title

Ryan Mzik writes: "A forum post linking to a Nintendo Mario Bros parody video, Robot Chicken: Grand Theft Mario, has been flagged by Nintendo trademark lawyers for using "Mario" in the code of the page. From source, "We are writing to ask you to stop using the Nintendo properties in the hidden text/visible text/meta tags and/or title and/or links of the above-referenced sexually explicit Web site.""
Books

Submission + - Wiki Novel

vldragon writes: A Wiki Novel?! Who would ever try such a thing? Well aperently Students at the UK's De Montfort University in Leicester have joined forces with Penguin to launch a "novel wiki." The project will continue throughout the month of February. While it hasn't been that long the project doesn't seem to be going well. With 3 weeks left to go do you think a project like this will turn into something remarkable or sensless ramblings?
Education

Submission + - MIT professor begins hunger strike

An anonymous reader writes: MIT provost L. Rafael Reif sent a campus-wide email on Jan 29 defending the school's treatment of James L. Sherley, the African-American stem cell scientist who has vowed to go on a hunger strike today (Feb. 5) unless the university says he was denied tenure because of racism. MIT has yet to recover from last summer's controversy over the treatment of a female candidate, who eventually turned down an offer after reporting hostile treatment from tenured faculty member and Nobel laureate Susumu Tonegawa.
Sony

Submission + - Sony UK Announces PS3 Launch Numbers

Dr. Eggman writes: According to MCV, Ray Maguire, Sony Computer Entertainment UK's Managing Director, has announced that UK retailers can expect 220,000 PS3 units for the launch set for March 23rd. Mr. Maguire also noted that the UK consists of roughly 22% of the PAL market and would love to see the RRP drop down below £400, from the current £425, in the future. Ray also blames the exchange rate for the price, rather than import taxes.
Quickies

Submission + - 65%Americans Spend More Time With Their PC Than SO

Ant writes: "PR Newswire reports that 65 percent of consumers are spending more time with a computer than with their significant other (SO), according to new independent research commissioned by support.com. Conducted by independent research firm Kelton Research, the "Cyber Stress" study confirmed consumers' growing relationship with technology in their everyday lives. In fact, more than 8 out of 10 Americans (84%) say they are more dependent on their home computer now than they were just three years ago. Like any relationship, the test comes not when things are going well but when times are tough. And unfortunately in the case of their computers, things aren't going so well for Americans... Seen on Blue's News. Well, SO is my computer. [grin]"

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