Feed news.com: Scientists ponder next 50 years of space exploration (news.com)
NASA holds two-day conference to look at the last--and next--50 years in space exploration.
Daniel Lyons of Forbes Admits Being Snowed by SCO 403
certain death writes "Daniel Lyons of Forbes Magazine has admitted to being snowed by SCO, regarding their lawsuit over Linux and SCO code. He specifically mentions Groklaw's role in the case, and regrets his early articles giving the company the benefit of the doubt. 'I still thought it would be foolish to predict how this lawsuit (or any lawsuit) would play out. I even wrote an article called "Revenge of the Nerds," which poked fun at the pack of amateur sleuths who were following the case on a Web site called Groklaw and who claimed to know for sure that SCO was going to lose. Turns out those amateur sleuths were right. Now some of them are writing to me asking how I'd like my crow cooked, and where I'd like it delivered. Others in that highly partisan crowd have suggested that I wanted SCO to win, and even that I was paid off by SCO or Microsoft. Of course that's not true. I've told these folks it's not true. Hasn't stopped them. The truth, as is often the case, is far less exciting than the conspiracy theorists would like to believe. It is simply this: I got it wrong. The nerds got it right.'"
Submission + - Americans giving up sex, friends, for Internet (arstechnica.com)
Bocanegra writes: A survey conducted by ad agency JWT shows that 20% of the respondents willingly give up sex (with other people, no less) in order to spend more time on the Internet. Another 28 percent spend less time with their friends in favor of surfing the web. In fact, the majority of those in the survey just can't bear to go without the Internet for very long. '15 percent of the group admitted to being weak-willed and said that they would only be able to last a day or less without feeling isolated and disconnected from the world. Another 21 percent didn't do much better, saying they could only go a couple of days, with 19 percent saying they could go "a few days." Only about 18 percent of the group said that they could go a week or more without being connected.'
Submission + - MediaDefender Source Code Leaked (wired.com)
Pride Goes Before a Fall writes: It hasn't been a good week for the anti-P2P company MediaDefender. Fresh after the devastating leaks of their internal emails, their Gnutella tracking database, and their phone call with the New York Attorney General over an anti-child pornography project, now Wired reports that MediaDefender's source code is on the Pirate Bay for anyone to download. Given that MediaDefender joked about their own inability to put a dent in online copyright infringement, one wonders why companies trust these folks to fight copyright infringement when they can't even stop the torrent with their own worst secrets in it?
Submission + - US DoJ : EU antitrust ruling "hurts consumers&
An anonymous reader writes: The Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust (Thomas Barnett) criticized the EU's Court of First Instance's affirmation of the European Commission's finding that Microsoft violated EU antitrust law and stated that the settlement "...rather than helping consumers, may have the unfortunate consequence of harming consumers by chilling innovation and discouraging competition."
I'm sure that Barnett's history as a partner in a law firm representing corporate clients in antitrust litigation didn't factor into this statement.
I'm sure that Barnett's history as a partner in a law firm representing corporate clients in antitrust litigation didn't factor into this statement.
Submission + - Brian May Successfully Defends Thesis (msn.com)
DynaSoar writes: "Brian May http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_May, lead guitarist for Queen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_(band) has successfully defended his astrophysics thesis at London's Imperial College http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20424659/. He still must resubmit his written thesis after making required corrections, but this is pro forma. He is to formally receive his doctorate in May 2008, nearly 40 years after turning from his studies to become a professional musician. The subject of his thesis, entitled "Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud," is based on work he did in Tenerife in the 1960's. He has two prior scientific publications on this topic, in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (166, 429 — 448 (1974)), and in Nature (240, 401 — 402 (15 December 1972))."
Submission + - India deals blow to Microsoft Office 2007 standard
Stony Stevenson writes: Microsoft has suffered a setback in its campaign to have the file format used by its new Office 2007 productivity suite accepted as an international standard under a fast track approval process.
India's Bureau of Indian Standards on Thursday withheld endorsement of Microsoft's Office Open XML format as a standard, indicating its preference for the existing Open Document Format. The decision means that India will not recommend to the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) that OOXML be adopted as an international standard when the issue comes to a vote on September 2nd. More than 120 countries are expected to weigh in on whether the ISO gives OOXML fast track approval.
India's Bureau of Indian Standards on Thursday withheld endorsement of Microsoft's Office Open XML format as a standard, indicating its preference for the existing Open Document Format. The decision means that India will not recommend to the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) that OOXML be adopted as an international standard when the issue comes to a vote on September 2nd. More than 120 countries are expected to weigh in on whether the ISO gives OOXML fast track approval.
Journal Journal: Novel Approach to Uncovering Genetic Components of Aging
People who live to 100 or more are known to have just as many--and sometimes even more--harmful gene variants compared with younger people. Now, scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered the secret behind this paradox: favorable "longevity" genes that protect very old people from the bad genes' harmful effects. The novel method used by the researchers could lead to ne
Submission + - New York taxi drivers to strike over GPS
Stony Stevenson writes: New York City taxi drivers are split on whether they should strike in opposition to a new GPS requirement. One taxi group plans to strike from 5 a.m., Sept. 5, through 5 a.m., Sept. 7, in opposition to New York City's requirement that all cabs be equipped with GPS technology beginning Oct. 1. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which claims more than 8,400 members, announced the strike dates this week, saying GPS infringes on drivers' privacy.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission passed a rule stating that all New York City cabs must have touch-screen display panels, credit card readers, and GPS beginning this year. Many taxis already are equipped with the technologies, which allow passengers to get news, route data, and other information. The TLC claims that the technology will not be used to invade drivers' privacy but will provide real-time maps and help passengers recover lost property.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission passed a rule stating that all New York City cabs must have touch-screen display panels, credit card readers, and GPS beginning this year. Many taxis already are equipped with the technologies, which allow passengers to get news, route data, and other information. The TLC claims that the technology will not be used to invade drivers' privacy but will provide real-time maps and help passengers recover lost property.
Journal Journal: Google phone in a fortnight?
Indian sources claim Google is two weeks away from announcing a new Google-branded mobile phone. An official release would come within a "fortnight" and would initially release the phone simultaneously in Europe and the US. http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/08/24/google.phone.in.fortnight/
HTC is rumoured to be producing the phones, which will not be carrier-locked.
MacCNN reports;
Submission + - 2 moons 1
tazsl writes: "Two Moons !!!
Remembering Carl Sagan and his . . . .
"billion and billion of stars in our Universe"
On August 27, 2007 two Moons will rise in the
midnight sky, and the whole World will be waiting
for this once in many a lifetime spectacular event.
Starting in August, the planet Mars will be the
brightest object in the night sky. It will look as
large as a full Moon to the naked eye. This will culminate on August 27th, when Mars comes
within 34.65 million miles of Earth.
So, be sure to watch the sky on August 27th from midnight to 12:30AM. It will look like the
Earth has two Moons.
The next time Mars comes this much close will
be in the year 2287.
Share this with everyone you know as no one living now will ever see it again."
Feed New York Times: Monster.com Delayed Disclosure of Data Theft (nytimes.com)
The online recruitment site waited five days to tell its users about a security breach that resulted in the theft of confidential information from some 1.3 million job seekers.
Submission + - Microsoft Drops the Bomb: DirectX 10 Hardware Won' (softpedia.com) 1
ela_gervaise writes: SIGGRAPH 2007 is the stage where Microsoft dropped the bomb informing that the currently available DirectX 10 hardware will not support the upcoming DirectX 10.1 in Vista SP1.
Submission + - Sabayon Linux 3.4 official release (sabayonlinux.org)
pajamabama writes: http://www.sabayonlinux.org/tag/altro/news/00019/s abayon-linux-34-officially-released.html
SabayonLinux, a Gentoo-based distro has announced the official 3.4 release. This release claims to be "Gaming oriented, featuring: Savage 2, FlightGear, DangerDeep, Warsow, Nexuiz, Torcs, Battle of Wesnoth, Second Life,and the latest NVIDIA (100.14.11) and AMD (8.38.6) GPU drivers." For some time now Sabayon has been the official Beryl distro and as such, the new version also has the new Compiz-Fusion (the first step in the remerge of Beryl and Compiz) preinstalled. Also noteworthy about this release are X.Org 7.3, KDE 3.5.7, and a trimmed down, less bloated set of packages. Although it's derived from the latest Gentoo releases, unlike Gentoo, it is delivered in binary form on a live DVD. Being a true 'Gentoo' system, there is full access to the whole Gentoo portage tree, as well as a Sabayon overlay.
Submission + - Man called 'nerd' torched web taunter's trailer (msn.com)
mytrip writes: "Petty Officer Russell Tavares traveled 1,300 miles to torch rival's trailer
Russell Tavares, 27, was sentenced to seven years for the 2005 arson of John Anderson's mobile home after a squabble on the Internet.
ELM MOTT, Texas — A Navy man who got mad when someone mocked him as a "nerd" over the Internet climbed into his car and drove 1,300 miles from Virginia to Texas to teach the other guy a lesson.
As he made his way toward Texas, Fire Controlman 2nd Class Petty Officer Russell Tavares posted photos online showing the welcome signs at several states' borders, as if to prove to his Internet friends that he meant business.
When he finally arrived, Tavares burned the guy's trailer down.
I always considered 'nerd' to be a compliment."
Russell Tavares, 27, was sentenced to seven years for the 2005 arson of John Anderson's mobile home after a squabble on the Internet.
ELM MOTT, Texas — A Navy man who got mad when someone mocked him as a "nerd" over the Internet climbed into his car and drove 1,300 miles from Virginia to Texas to teach the other guy a lesson.
As he made his way toward Texas, Fire Controlman 2nd Class Petty Officer Russell Tavares posted photos online showing the welcome signs at several states' borders, as if to prove to his Internet friends that he meant business.
When he finally arrived, Tavares burned the guy's trailer down.
I always considered 'nerd' to be a compliment."
