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Google

Submission + - Google Ordered To Reveal Blogger's Identity (aviransplace.com)

Submitted by
Aviran
Aviran writes: "Israeli court ordered Google to reveal the identity of a blogger that uses Google's own blogging platform, Blogger.
The blogger accused a Shaarei Tikva comity member of illegal acts all through his blog posts. Google objected to the request claiming freedom of speech, however the court sided with the plaintiff and said that since the plaintiff is a public figure running for reelection, he is allowed to confront his accuser and clear his name."
OS X

Submission + - Java 6 available on OSX thanks to port of OpenJDK (bikemonkey.org)

Submitted by LarsWestergren
LarsWestergren writes: Many Mac users have been upset that Apple has not made Java 6 available on the platform. Landon Fuller posts that there is a developer preview release available of Java JDK6 on Mac OSX, Tiger and Leopard. It is based on the BSD port of Sun's Java 6 and is made available under the Java Research License. Charles Nutter posts about impressive JRuby performance gains using Java 6 on his Mac.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft, Autodesk lose patent appeal (nwsource.com)

Submitted by harsha_c
harsha_c writes: Z4 Technologies Inc. sued Microsoft and Autodesk Inc., maker of drafting software, in 2004, claiming the technology they used to activate newly installed software and deter piracy infringed on patents created and owned by David Colvin, the owner of privately held z4. Commerce Township, Mich.-based z4 argued that Microsoft's Windows XP and Office 2003 suite of productivity software used its patented method of asking computer users to supply two passwords, or authorization codes, before they could fully use new software.In April 2006, a federal jury in East Texas ordered Microsoft to pay $115 million to z4, plus attorney fees and $25 million for willful patent infringement.The jury also ordered Autodesk to pay $18 million to z4.
Classic Games (Games)

Submission + - The first 3D game on the PC (before Carmack)? (google.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Who wrote the first 3D game for the PC? id Software takes credit for it, but this guy apparently published a more modern-looking 3D game one year before Carmack. The google video of Alpha Waves shows a game that was surprisingly advanced compared to other early 3D games like Elite or id's Hovertank 3D. Is this another case of the winner writing the history books?
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - SCO found guilty of lying about Unix code in Linux (linux-watch.com)

Submitted by
mlauzon
mlauzon writes: "In the United States, SCO's Linux/Unix litigation has been stalled out while the company's bankruptcy trial is being dealt with. In Germany, however, several court cases have found SCO Group GmbH, SCO's Germany branch, guilty of lying about Linux containing stolen Unix code.

In the first case, reported on by Heise Online, the pro-Linux German companies, Tarent GmbH and Univention found that SCO was once more making claims that Linux contained Unix IP (intellectual property). Specifically, SCO GmbH made the familiar claims that "As we have progressed in our discovery related to this action, SCO has found compelling evidence that the Linux operating system contains unauthorized SCO UNIX intellectual property (IP)." This was followed by the usual threat "If a customer refuses to compensate SCO for its UNIX intellectual property found in Linux by purchasing a license, then SCO may consider litigation."

The German Linux companies had already successfully protested against these statements in 2003. Then they were granted an injunction against SCO from making its claims that Linux contains illegally obtained SCO IP, a.k.a. Unix source code. If SCO violated this injunction, SCO would have to pay a fine of 250,000 Euros.

Since Tarent and Univention brought the matter to the attention of the courts, SCO has taken down the offending page with its claims.

Of course, in the U.S. court system, it has already been ruled that SCO has no Unix IP. Novell, not SCO, owns Unix.

Tarent's managing director told Heise Online that he found "It disconcerting, though not surprising, to see SCO trying to do towards the end what it is really being paid for by its supporters: spreading falsities as disparaging as possible about Linux." Unlike 2003, where Linux companies had to nip things in the bud, exercising vigilance is due now where things are coming to an end: "Even though SCO has reached the end of the line in our opinion, one should not let them get away with this."

In a similar case, Andreas Kuckartz, a German Linux advocate, had been publicly stating since 2003 that "SCO IP Licenses for Linux" amounted to little more than "protection money pricelists" and that SCO is "spreading rumors about copyright violations in Linux." Further, Kuckartz claimed that "The SCO Group Inc. is probably is involved in crimes such as stock manipulation and filing a fraudulent complaint against IBM."

SCO took him to court over these claims and SCO has lost (German PDF document). The Higher Regional Court in Munich ruled, Kuckartz said in e-mails to Linux-Watch, "that my statements are allowed because none of the factual statements I made to support those accusations are false. I can now even go to a business partner of The SCO Group GmbH and tell him or her that SCO is probably involved in the named crimes."

Kuckartz claim that he believes is the most important one is that in the four years the case has dragged out, SCO never objected "to my statement that SCO has not presented any proof of copyright violations in the lawsuit SCO vs. IBM."

In the United States, however, SCO, even now, continues to drag out its unsubstantiated claims that IBM has stolen SCO's Unix IP. In the SCO bankruptcy hearing, SCO attorney Arthur Spector once more claims, "Our litigation is a tremendous asset" and "Our litigation with IBM could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars.""
Music

Submission + - Radiohead Saying "Pay What You Want" for N

Submitted by pazu13
pazu13 writes: It seems that a plethora of new music options are showing up these days. Not only does the iTMS now have competition from Amazon, but major labels are looking to free music schemes like Spiral Frog and QTrax. Into the midst of all this comes Radiohead, who have just announced a new album. Not only is the announcement of the release date unprecendentedly short notice (October 10), but the band is also letting people pre-order the album for whatever price they deem fair, be it ten pounds or ten pence. (British currency, naturally.) You can, of course, choose to buy a "Discbox" copy of the album for 40 pounds, and that comes with supplemental material such as a bonus disc, vinyl copy, etc. Hopefully the watershed nature of this pricing scheme is clear — besides Prince's recent album giveaway, I can't think of an established, platinum-selling artist who has adopted such a radical approach to selling a new album.
Music

Submission + - Radiohead with "name your own price" LP7

Submitted by
JP
JP writes: "Radiohead have announced a new record http://www.inrainbows.com/ via their blog http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace. The album is to be released ten days from now. What is particularly novel is that you can choose whatever price you wish to pay for the digital download only version of the record or you can purchase an LP/CD combo box. It's already sorta "slashdotted" via pitchfork and a million other news sites. Merge records also has seemed to follow this pattern of giving fans inexpensive downloads (with merge it's via emusic.com) or premium physical goods with high grade vinyl and artwork etc. I'm sure we are seeing the intermediate future of popular music distribution, although Radiohead have an obvious unique existing "marketshare" to be able to pull this off more easily."
Google

Submission + - New version of Gmail being tested (zdnet.com) 2

Submitted by Keith
Keith writes: Gmail was launched on April 1, 2004, and has revolutionized the way many of us use email. The interface has remained largely untouched since it launched, but get ready, it's soon to undergo a change in what they describe as a "New Version". Only a select few people have access to use the new interface — mainly employees and trusted people outside the company called "Trusted Testers".
Education

Submission + - 500 Scientists Challenge Climate Dogma (earthtimes.org)

Submitted by
E++99
E++99 writes: "A new analysis of peer-reviewed literature reveals that more than 500 scientists have published evidence refuting at least one element of current man-made global warming scares. More than 300 of the scientists found evidence that 1) a natural moderate 1,500-year climate cycle has produced more than a dozen global warmings similar to ours since the last Ice Age and/or that 2) our Modern Warming is linked strongly to variations in the sun's irradiance. ...3) sea levels are failing to rise importantly; 4) that our storms and droughts are becoming fewer and milder with this warming as they did during previous global warmings; 5) that human deaths will be reduced with warming because cold kills twice as many people as heat; and 6) that corals, trees, birds, mammals, and butterflies are adapting well to the routine reality of changing climate."
Power

Submission + - Piss-Powered Batteries Unveiled at IFA

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: According to CNET.co.uk, NoPoPo (non-pollution power) Aqua Batteries work simply by inserting liquid, including urine, into the base with a teat pipette. "They come in a range of battery sizes, and according to the manufacturer, a single AAA version can run a small handheld torch light for up to 20 hours. Incredibly, these batteries also work with other types of liquid: we saw them tested with beer and apple juice, but the makers say they can run off cola, saliva or even urine." Put the term 'running out of juice' in a new light.
Role Playing (Games)

Submission + - Author: How cheaters are winning at online games

Submitted by BobB
BobB writes: An interview with security expert Gary McGraw, co-author of the new book "Exploiting Online Games," which explains how cheaters are winning at online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft where millions of players compete in the virtual world to win battles or treasure that is sometimes later sold to avid game players for real money. McGraw says cheaters use specialized "bots" that manipulate online gaming activity to their advantage. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/072707-onlin e-games-dirty-secrets.html
Software

Submission + - Typesetting documents containing source code? 1

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: I'm looking for advice on software to typeset technical documents containing lots of program listings and related material. I have an opportunity involving publishing various technical articles and possibly a book or two, and would need to produce suitably professional-looking documents output as bureau-ready PDFs. The content of the documents is not a problem, and I have enough budget to buy any of the major DTP or typesetting packages if necessary, but I've never found a good solution to typesetting program listings. Are there any Slashdotters with prior experience of this, who could recommend suitable software?

LaTeX has some useful packages available, but isn't my first choice because of other limitations, particularly the lack of support for professional-grade OpenType fonts and the general unreliability of mixing several complex packages together. The big name DTP packages don't raise these concerns, but I've never found a good way to automate the typesetting of the source code with formatting such as syntax highlighting and line numbering, and the ability to import the code directly from a file on disk so I can use the real, tested code. Perhaps there's some variant in the TeX family I haven't found that is better at this, or a plug-in for one of the major DTP packages? Any advice would be very welcome. Someone must have done this before!
Security

Submission + - The Technology Behind Greek Phone Scandal Revealed

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes:
On 9 March 2005, a 38-year-old Greek electrical engineer named Costas Tsalikidis was found hanged in his Athens loft apartment, an apparent suicide. It would prove to be merely the first public news of a scandal that would roil Greece for months.


In an article recently published in IEEE Spectrum, Diomidis Spinellis and Vassilis Prevelakis reveal the technology and techniques behind the wiretapped cellphones of many senior Greek political figure including Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

More than 2 years later, are cellphones and their networks any more secure?
Music

Submission + - German court: No P2P IP lookup for music industry (heise.de)

Submitted by RichiH
RichiH writes: German news site heise.de reports (Babelfish) that a court in Offenburg rejected the state attorney's request to get the private data of a file sharer because it was 'obviously unreasonable'. 'Based on logic', the study speaking of 5 billion traded files per year in 2001 and 2002 which the music industry in Germany often cites can not apply as the user in question uploaded only a single song that the music industry knows of. The court also said that many p2p users are not aware that the programs automatically starts hidden and mandatory upload of files it has access to, so that, unless proven otherwise, the person in question did not upload anything on purpose. Furthermore, the court said that the claim of high damages does not hold water as a song typically costs less than a Euro and 'at a price of 0, someone who will not even spend a single cent will still want to get a product', citing a study that shows no negative impact of p2p on revenues. Finally, the court said that the music simply wants the data of the person in question so it can sue them in civil court and that it did not have any right to the data trying 'via several tens of thousands of criminal charges' to 'get at information the law is explicitly keeping from them'. Several state attorneys said, under strict promise of anonymity, that they would now try to get similar rules so that they 'dedicate their time to more severe crimes'. Go ahead, tag this one 'haha' :)
Biotech

Submission + - Nursing Home Cat Can Sense Death (yahoo.com) 1

Submitted by
Raver32
Raver32 writes: "When Oscar the Cat visits residents of the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, the staff jump into action — Oscar can sense within hours when someone is about to die. In his two years living in Steere's end-stage dementia unit, Oscar has been at the bedside of more than 25 residents shortly before they died, according to Dr. David Dosa of Brown University in Providence. He wrote about Oscar in the New England Journal of Medicine. "It's not that the cat is consistently there first," Dr. Joan Teno, a professor of community health at Brown University, who sees patients in the unit. "But the cat always does manage to make an appearance, and it always seems to be in the last two hours.""

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