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Data Storage

Submission + - Nanotech to replace disk drives in 10 years? (computerworld.com)

Ian Lamont writes: "An Arizona State University researcher named Michael Kozicki claims that nanotechnology will replace disk drives in ten years. The article mentions three approaches: Nanowires (which replace electrons/capacitors), multiple memory layers on silicon (instead of a single layer), and a method that stores multiple pieces of information in the same space: "Traditionally, each cell holds one bit of information. However, instead of storing simply a 0 or a 1, that cell could hold a 00 or a 01. Kozicki said the ability to double capacity that way — without increasing the number of cells — has already been proven. Now researchers are working to see how many pieces of data can be held by a single cell.""
Google

Submission + - Google pulls a Microsoft with new Google OS (pcmag.com)

Technical Writing Geek writes: "Google runs into a team of coders who have developed some sort of hybrid Linux-Windows-VM-BSD mashup OS. The results are interesting, and kind of work. A lot of people do not know that at any given time, numerous workable operating systems are being developed, many with great potential. None of them can get traction, though. If they rise above the common-noise level, they get crushed by Microsoft rather quickly. But none have worked freely under the umbrella of a troublemaker corporate entity such as Google, either. What we are witnessing is the potential for a unique switcheroo.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2204615,00.asp"

Programming

Submission + - ECMAScript 4 Overview Released (ecmascript.org)

mad.frog writes: "The ECMA Committee that has been working on the next revision of ECMAScript (aka JavaScript, aka JScript) has released an overview paper describing ECMAScript 4 as the language currently stands. They're expecting the standard to be finished in October 2008. The paper is available at http://www.ecmascript.org/es4/spec/overview.pdf. This paper is not a spec, it is *just* a detailed overview. Some features may be cut, others may be changed, and numerous details remain to be worked out, but by and large this is what TG1 expects the language to look like."
Utilities (Apple)

Submission + - iPhone Fight Is Precursor of Bigger Problem

ntd.0507 writes: Kevin Mitnick, security maven, writes a column about how the fight over Apple's firmware update that permanently shuts down units not running its apps is a symptom of bigger problems to come. He predicts Apple, and other mobile phone manufacturers like Motorola and Nokia, will begin using Over-The-Air (OTA) updates to automatically update services and applications, removing the customer's option to choose whether to receive them, and completely changing how mobile services and software are delivered. Ironically, another of Mitnick's predictions in his column, which appears today on the recently launched Internet Evolution Website, came to pass a few hours before his column was published on the site, when Apple announced that it would open up iPhone programming to third parties.
Music

Submission + - Slashdot Reverses Facts about Radiohead 1

Apro+im writes: The popular news aggregation website, Slashdot today reported that the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows was pirated more than it was procured via legitimate means, setting off a flurry of speculation on their online discussion board as to the implications of this "fact". Strangely overlooked in much of the discussion, however, was the fact that the article they linked contained the exact opposite information, stating:

"The file was downloaded about 100,000 more times each day — adding up to more than 500,000 total illegal downloads. That's less than the 1.2 million legitimate online sales of the album reported by the British Web site Gigwise.com"
Questions about what this implies about Slashdot's editorial practices and readership remain unanswered.
Censorship

Submission + - Law firm claims copyright on viewing HTML source 2

An anonymous reader writes: A law firm with all sorts of interesting views on copyrights has decided to go the extra mile. As reported on Tech Dirt, they've decided that viewing the HTML source of their site is a violation of copyright. Poorly timed April Fools joke, or just some fancy lawyering?
Quickies

Submission + - 'World's Smallest Radio' Unveiled (techluver.com)

Tech.Luver writes: "The world's tiniest radio is a step closer to reality. US scientists have unveiled a detector thousands of times smaller than the diameter of a human hair that can translate radio waves into sound. According to a University of California team, the study marks the first time that a nano-sized detector has been demonstrated in a working radio system. Made of carbon nanotubes a few atoms across, it is almost 1,000 times smaller than current radio technology. Peter Burke and Chris Rutherglen incorporated the microscopic detector into a complete radio system. They used it to transmit classical music wirelessly from an iPod to a speaker several metres away from the music player. Full details of their findings will be published next month in the American Chemical Society's Nano Letters."
Space

Submission + - Martian Volcanoes May Not Be Extinct (space.com)

ceoyoyo writes: "The Tharsis volcanoes on Mars show evidence they may have erupted within the last two million years and may still be dormant, not extinct. The three volcanoes also show evidence of erupting in a chain, much like the Hawaiian islands, with the southernmost showing the oldest lava flows and the northernmost the youngest. On Earth chains of volcanoes are produced when the crust moves over a magma plume in the mantle. On Mars, since there is no tectonic activity, the researchers theorized that the magma plumes themselves move under the fixed crust."
Television

Submission + - Why Can't I buy a cablecard ready set top box? (arstechnica.com) 1

Al E Usse writes: "Ars Technica does a write up of the problems that haven't been solved by the July 1, 2007 integration ban on integrated security in your cable box. Three months after the ban went into effect, digging up a third-party, CableCARD-ready set-top box can be an exercise in hair-pulling frustration. The companies who make the boxes don't seem interested in selling to consumers, cable companies still push their own branded devices, and Best Buy employees... well, the less said the better. We've heard the pain of our readers on this issue. One of them described his own epic (and fruitless) quest to secure such a device. His conclusion? "Although I should be able to buy a set-top box of my own, nobody will sell me one. I am standing on the doorstep, wad of cash in hand, yelling, 'Please take my money! I want to buy!' but am turned away."
Privacy

Submission + - Verizon to Share Customer Information

ExE122 writes: New York Times and Washington Post have reported that Verizon plans to share it's customers' information with "affiliates, agents and parent companies" (The Washington Post article can be found here). From the NYT article, "Verizon plans to share what is known in the industry as consumer proprietary network information, or C.P.N.I, which includes how many calls a customer makes, the geographical destination of the calls and what services the customer has purchased". Customers were recently sent a letter explaining that they had 30 days to "opt out" of C.P.N.I. To opt out, customers can call 800-333-9956 and enter their telephone number when prompted.
Enlightenment

Submission + - Can Transhumanism Survive W/o Libertarianism? (functionalisminaction.com)

IConrad01 writes: "From Functionalism In Action: Can A Transhuman Future Survive Without Libertarian Ideals?:

As a transhumanist, I am all too keenly aware of the good and the ill that can come of technology. One technology, however, that seems to have only ills springing from it these days is that of surveillance technology. Consider, for example the perhaps not so infamous as it ought to be 'dragonfly spy':
[...]

This becomes all the more troublesome when we consider that — regardless of Ray Kurzweils's 'law' of accelarating returns — technological development is outstripping society's ability to regulate our machines. There's nothing really new about that idea — but still; it is strongly worth paying attention to when we consider the advocates of regulation for new, 'existentially risky' technologies — such as molecular manufacturing, or synthetic biology, or viral engineering, or... well, by now the point is clear.
Click the link to read the article in full."

User Journal

Journal Journal: Doctorow Accused of Infringing on Ursula K. Le Guin's Work

Cory Doctorow, last noticed here bemoaning the Science Fiction Writers of America accidental inclusion of his work in a copyright infringement takedown order, has drawn the ire of Ursula K. Le Guin (Left Hand of Darkness, the Earthsea Trilogy) by publishing a copyrighted work of hers without permission and slapping a Creative Commons license on it.

Privacy

Submission + - Calling out sick? Most workers lie, wink wink (networkworld.com)

coondoggie writes: "Two-thirds of U.S. workers who call in sick at the last minute do so for reasons other than physical illness, but rather for reasons more personal and what some would call unreasonable or selfish. Some of the nation's largest employers estimate that unscheduled absenteeism costs their businesses more than $760,000 per year in direct payroll costs, and even more when lower productivity, lost revenue and the effects of poor morale are considered. Specifically, the 17th annual CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey found that personal illness accounts for 34% of unscheduled absences, but 66% of absences are due to other reasons, including family issues (22%), personal needs (11%), and stress/burnout (13%), and Layer 8's personal favorite, entitlement mentality (13%). http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/20504"

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