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Patents

NZ Draft Bill Rules Out Software Patents 194

Posted by timothy from the plus-it's-beautiful-there dept.
Korgan writes "In what must be a first in the face of ACTA and US trade negotiations pressure, a Parliamentary select committee has released a draft bill that explicitly declares that software will no longer be patentable in New Zealand. FTA: 'Open source software champions have been influential in excluding software from the scope of patents in the new Patents Bill. Clause 15 of the draft Bill, as reported back from the Commerce Select Committee, lists a number of classes of invention which should not be patentable and includes the sub-clause "a computer program is not a patentable invention."'"
Games

Life Imagined As One Big RPG 176

Posted by timothy from the congratulations-you're-employed dept.
Scoop Snookems writes "Will there be a day where we earn achievement points simply by brushing our teeth or high-fiving a friend? There could be, according to Carnegie Mellon professor Jesse Schell. In this video from the annual DICE summit, Schell comments on recent evolutions in gaming before fixating on a concept where our futures evolve into one big RPG. Fascinating stuff, and I hope writing this post nets me 10 points."
GNU is Not Unix

Denmark Chooses OpenDocument Format 198

Posted by kdawson from the vote-to-empower dept.
Seahawk was one of several readers to write in with news of Denmark's decision to embrace ODF. "On Friday morning Denmark decided to choose ODF over Microsoft's OOXML. For now the decision is only effective for governmental institutions, but regions and municipalities will most likely follow some time in the future. The decision has unfolded over a period of four years, and many open source advocates were fearing the worst, but it looks like the minister finally caved in and listened to what a lot of people were saying." While in transition away from Microsoft Office formats, the Danes may find use for this new OpenOffice integration guide (sent in by reader AdeleWard).
Security

Chinese Human Rights Orgs Hit By DDoS 156

Posted by CmdrTaco from the stuff-that-matters dept.
Oxford_Comma_Lover writes "IDG News Service is reporting that several human rights organizations focusing on China have been hit by DDoS attacks this weekend, including Chinese Human Rights Defenders and Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch. The latter works on issues of mental persecution (dissidents being thrown into mental hospitals where they were forced onto medication or beaten with electric batons) and eminent-domain type problems (seizure of farmland or urban land without compensation when the government is working on a project)."
Censorship

Florida Congressman Wants Blogging Critic Fined, Jailed 549

Posted by timothy from the gov't-we-deserve-is-a-canard dept.
vvaduva writes "Florida Rep. Alan Grayson wants to see one of his critics go directly to jail, all over her use of the word 'my' on her blog. In a four-page letter sent to [US Attorney General Eric] Holder, Grayson accuses blogger Angie Langley of lying to federal elections officials and requests that she be fined and imprisoned for five years. Her lie, according to Grayson, is that she claims to be one of his constituents. Langley, Grayson says, is misrepresenting herself by using the term 'my' in the Web site's name."
Movies

Hollywood Sets $10 Billion Box Office Record 276

Posted by kdawson from the crying-to-the-bank dept.
kamikazearun sends in a TorrentFreak analysis that begins "Claims by the MPAA that illegal downloads are killing the industry and causing billions in losses are once again being shredded. In 2009, the leading Hollywood studios made more films and generated more revenue than ever before, and for the first time in history the domestic box office grosses will surpass $10 billion. ... [N]either the ever-increasing piracy rates nor the global recession could prevent Hollywood having its best year ever in 2009. With an estimated $10.6 billion in consumer spending at the US and Canadian box office, the movie industry will break the 2008 record by nearly a billion dollars."
Google

Building the Dream Google Smartbook 53

Posted by kdawson from the call-it-the-ijoojoo dept.
snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Mel Beckman conjectures on the functionality necessary to make the Google 'smartbook dream' a reality, prioritizing the features any smartphone/netbook hybrid would require to succeed. From multitouch, to SSDs, to dual-boot capabilities, the list goes beyond what early Android-based entrants have to offer but remains within the realm of possibility, especially if Google CEO Eric Schmidt's hints at a future Chrome/Android OS convergence come to pass."
Communications

New Virginia IT Systems Lack Network Backup 211

Posted by timothy from the private-did-not-make-perfect dept.
1sockchuck writes "Virginia's new state IT system is experiencing downtime in key services because of a mind-boggling oversight: the state apparently neglected to require network backup in a 10-year, $2.3 billion outsourcing deal with Northrop Grumman. The issue is causing serious downtime for state services. This fall the Virginia DMV has suffered 12 system outages spanning a total of more than 100 hours, and downtime hampered the state transportation department when a state of emergency was declared during the Nov. 11 Northeaster."
The Media

Murdoch-Microsoft Deal In the Works 468

Posted by timothy from the exploding-cuban-cigar dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "The Financial Times reports that Microsoft is in discussions to pay Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, owner of newspapers ranging from the Wall Street Journal of the US to The Sun of the UK, to 'de-index' its news websites from Google, setting the scene for a search engine battle that could offer a ray of light to the newspaper industry. Microsoft is desperate to catch Google in search, and, after five years and hundreds of millions of dollars of losses, Bing, launched in June, marks its most ambitious attempt yet. Microsoft's interest is being interpreted as a direct assault on Google because it puts pressure on the search engine to start paying for content. 'This is all about Microsoft hurting Google's margins,' said the web publisher who is familiar with the plan. 'It's easy to believe that [Microsoft] may spew senseless riches into publishers' pockets, radically distorting the news market, just to spite Google,' writes Rob Beschizza at BoingBoing. 'Murdoch could be wringing cash out of a market he knows is doomed to implosion or assimilation. And he doesn't even have to be an evil genius, either; he just has to be smarter than Steve Ballmer.'"

Comment Re:Bubby? Is that you? (Score 1) 859

by sirlatrom (#30142012) Attached to: German Killers Sue Wikipedia To Remove Their Names

I think every single member of society has a right to know the past criminal history of someone they're in any kind of relationship with. This is completely different from saying someone shouldn't be allowed to re-enter society, but the fact that may people have a hard time getting better than a minimum wage job after committing murder isn't something I feel bad about.

I think such a requirement is quite outrageous. But it does make me think of yet another application of the "project a tag cloud onto the person in front of you" feature seen in Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry demo SixthSense (at around 7:00).

Comment Re:Get your lawyers ready /. (Score 1) 859

by sirlatrom (#30141958) Attached to: German Killers Sue Wikipedia To Remove Their Names

Say, a convicted imbezzler working with large amounts of cash?

Say, a convicted embezzler, having served his time, applying for a job with no amounts of cash whatsoever, but in spite of his otherwise fine qualifications not getting the job because he's cried out as a criminal in some public source?

hiding what someone has done in the past doesn't necessarily help the people they are around or to reform them

In a case like the above, and even in a case like the in the original post, I think getting over it and moving on -- after actually having served the penalty decided by the judicial system based on the laws passed by the parliament elected by the people -- is actually quite alright.

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