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Submission + - Top 10 Most Influential AI Games (aigamedev.com)

Submitted by
Ant
Ant writes: "AiGameDev lists ten of the most influential artificial intelligent (AI) games of all time. They are video and computer games that have used artificial intelligence in innovative ways to critical acclaim, and some of them that have managed to integrate cutting-edge AI technology too... Seen on Blue's News."

Feed Engadget: DirecTV anti-piracy case thrown out, smart card programmers breath easier (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

It's no secret that DirecTV has been on the hunt for content thieves for what seems like ages, but it faced a serious setback recently when "the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out a default judgment against a pair of alleged DirecTV television pirates, saying an unauthorized decryption device law the company invoked against them does not apply." Apparently, the duo of defendants were brought to trial after they allegedly purchased a smart card programmer and used it for less than legal purposes (like "repairing pirate access cards disabled by DirecTV countermeasures"). But reportedly, the satellite provider has been going after folks who purchase these things, assuming that their intentions must be ill. Still, the pair in question may face lesser chargers if they did indeed break other laws, but at least individuals who like to tinker with smart card programmers can (hopefully) go about their day without worrying over the carrier breathing down their neck. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Image courtesy of CBP]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
The Internet

Submission + - Whirlpool Forum Owner Sued Over Forum Comments (idm.net.au)

Submitted by
Glutinous
Glutinous writes: "(From the article) Simon Wright, the owner of popular Australian Broadband forum, Whirlpool has been sued by accounting software provider, 2Clix for lost sales resulting from negative feedback in two online forum threads... A guilty verdict would result in a tremendous blow for online forum communities as it would force owners to moderate content more so then they do now."
Power

Submission + - Radio frequencies help burn salt water (yahoo.com)

Submitted by
namayake
namayake writes: ""ERIE, Pa. — An Erie cancer researcher has found a way to burn salt water, a novel invention that is being touted by one chemist as the "most remarkable" water science discovery in a century." — Yahoo! News & AP Associated Press, courtesy of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

If radio waves can be used to burn sea water, the most abundant resource on earth, could this replace our dependency on oil and coal?"
GNU is Not Unix

Submission + - Does GNU/Linux violate the Linux trademark? (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
Greg Jordan
Greg Jordan writes: "Recently Richard Stallman had a go at Linus. In part of that interview he promoted the use of GNU/Linux instead of just Linux. One of the technical writers at o3 magazine, a FREE Enterprise/FOSS magazine, asked in his blog if GNU/Linux is actually a trademark violation. He makes a case that GNU/Linux actually creates a new mark. As that new mark contains Linux, Stallman may actually need a sub-license to use the term GNU/Linux. The GNU website and Debian GNU/Linux websites both use but do not properly note the fact that Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. The writer points out that GNU deserves credit (GNU-based and Linux-based to describe both) but asks does Stallman really have the right to modify someones trademark?"
Privacy

Submission + - Cop gets busted by guy with video camera in car (ksdk.com)

Submitted by markviii
markviii writes: A St. George, Mo police officer threatens a man sitting in his car in a commuter parking lot. Little does he know that the man has video camera rigged to his car and records the whole incident. "A motorist who refused to discuss his personal business with a St. George, Missouri police officer was threatened with arrest last Friday. Brett Darrow, 20, no stranger to unconventional encounters with police, caught a St. George Police Sergeant James Kuehnlein stating that he had the power to invent charges that would put Darrow behind bars."
Censorship

Submission + - Dell says physicist not to hand computer to Cuba (digitaljournal.com)

Submitted by
Helmet_BR
Helmet_BR writes: "Two weeks ago, a brazilian physicist purchased two computers from Dell, and as they knew it was destinated to a Physics Institute, they asked him to sign a document vowing not to transfer, export or re-export the acquired products to the "Evil Axe", or to any foreigner with two nationalities, natural or living at those countries. The attitude has angered brazilian academic community, who may prepare a boycott.

http://tinyurl.com/yvf4wb
http://tinyurl.com/2ecbqt (in Portuguese)

The physicist, Paulo Gomes, said he wouldn't sign because of principals and for technical reasons, as he already conducted research with Cuban cientists. He says that earlier this year he purchased other products from Dell and nothing was required. Dell says they're only following US laws, and that they may even be prohibited to export."
Music

Submission + - The late Hughie Thomasson on the RIAA

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Hughie Thomasson passed last Sunday. This is from an interview posted on the Outlaws web site. With all the music industry talk here, I thought Hughie's recent comments would be of interest. The recording industries days are gone, they've taken enough... too much!

http://outlawsmusic.com/boards/index.php?s=87b74afffe062ab0417c38f6c06f36be&showtopic=1584

ragmag
post Sep 10 2007, 7:29 PM

I've had the pleasure of interviewing Hughie through the years...most recently was about a month and a half ago for the North Coast Voice

HT — The cd is called ONCE AN OUTLAW and it is a collection of 13 songs of what you would expect to hear from the Outlaws. If you're familiar with any of the old Outlaws songs, you will be happy with these songs. We are going to be putting it out ourselves because in this day and age you really don't need the big labels behind like you did in the past. Unfortunately, you needed the big labels back in the day because that's how the music industry was ran back then. The downside to that is that there were alot of great musicians who put out great music back then, but they never made any money — the labels made the money. So, with that in mind, we're free to do what we want, when we want, how we want to do it, and we don't have to answer to any record label holding their hand out to recoup their money. I did the production work on the cd and that's something I also really enjoy doing. I like being on the other side of the glass when we are in the studio. I also try to help out other bands by producing their projects as well. I really enjoy the process of taking a band and making them sound really good. If I can help a band out in that capacity, that really makes me happy.
The Courts

Submission + - Court victory gives clarity to domain disputes. (seopro.com.au)

Submitted by James
James writes: WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION Administrative Panel Rejects Carbonfootprint.org Complaint Disputes over domain names have received some clarity after a recent decision handed down by WIPO in regards to the name carbonfootprint.org. Under paragraph 4(b) of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, circumstances that can constitute bad faith include a party having registered or acquired a domain name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to a complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to competitor of that complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of the party's documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name. In a recent Administrative Panel decision handed down by the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Centre, Arnotts Law Firm of Sydney Australia, found at http://www.arnotts.net.au/ assisted the registrant of carbonfootprint.org in defeating a complaint filed by a party from the United Kingdom who claimed that the registrant had registered the domain name in bad faith. Finding in favour of the registrant, the Administrative Panel determined that the registration was not carried out with actual or constructive knowledge of the complainant and was therefore not in bad faith. The full text decision is available online at http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2007/d2007-0642.html. Lawyers assisted the registrant in drawing a response which asserted, amongst other things, that the Complainant has no enforceable trademark rights in the phrase "Carbon Footprint", that the registrant has rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name, that the Complainant failed to establish registration or use of the domain name by the registrant in bad faith and further, that the Complainant had engaged in reverse domain name hijacking. The case, determined by the panel on 26 July 2007, is important insofar as it provides a precedent to be followed in respect of domain names comprising generic words and provides some guidance for prospective registrants who are seeking to engage in bidding at auctions for prized domain names or who otherwise register domain names comprising generic terms. It is generally accepted that a registrant who had no knowledge of a relevant mark owner, its business, or its marks prior to the registration of the disputed domain name could not have registered that domain name "primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the Complainant." Even an offer to sell upon learning of the mark owner and its interest in the disputed domain name does not necessarily require a finding of registration in bad faith. Generally, registration of a domain name will not be in bad faith so long as the registrant has taken reasonable steps to establish that the intellectual property of another party is not being infringed by registering the particular domain name. Conversely, the knowledge of third party rights in a generic domain name could constitute or be used against a registrant to establish that the registrant has registered the domain name in flagrant breach of those rights, and thus, in breach of the UDRP. It is also generally accepted that it is not in itself evidence of bad faith to make use of software or services that identify, reserve, and register domain names that have been available by reason of non-renewal, transfer, or legitimate sale by their owners. The utilisation of proceedings under the Policy is a cheap and efficient way of presenting a party's position in relation to a disputed domain name. Despite this, only with the proper advice from an experienced technology lawyer is a party likely to succeed in bringing or defending a claim.
Security

Submission + - Site Teaches Joe User Security -- Through Cartoons

Submitted by ancientribe
ancientribe writes: Educating end users with tap-dancing Elvis impersonators as an analogy for Web-site spoofing? A new Website launched with the help of cryptography and phishing expert Markus Jakobsson is trying a new tack, using cartoons to interpret the perils of the Internet for the everyday end user, according to this article in Dark Reading. At least two major financial institutions are likely to adopt the new SecurityCartoon site content for their own online customers' training on phishing, pharming, malware, and other online scams.

http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=133750&WT.svl=news1_1
Education

Submission + - Open Source K-12 Student Information System

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: A few months back there was an article about an outfit called Open Solutions for Education ( http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/06/2139207 ) They apparently have just released a new version of their SIS and have a demo site. They have a presentation with screen shots that looks fairly good. You can find all of that at their main web site: http://os4ed.com/ There is an interesting announcement on their front page about a communication module called EasyCom. This module does emails and SMS text messages to any device that can receive these types of messages. It seems like this could have a variety of uses and could be part of a emergency preparedness plan. It seems like schools or districts could get funding from government sources to pay for something like this. Homeland Security has some grants that are earmarked for school safety and emergency preparedness (http://www.dhs.gov/xprevprot/programs/gc_1183486267373.shtm#1) The earlier article seemed to be more hype than real, but it appears these guys are actually developing some stuff that might be useful in K-12. Educators interested in open source alternatives might want to check it out.
Media

Submission + - History of infamous political ad unearthed (conelrad.com)

Submitted by
Michael Ravnitzky
Michael Ravnitzky writes: "CONELRAD has published a complete history of the infamous and iconic Daisy Ad — Girl picking a daisy and counting leads to nuclear explosion — used by LBJ to beat Barry Goldwater in the 1964 Presidential Campaign. Bill Geerhart spent the last year researching the story and documenting its disputed authorship.

In addition to the collected video, audio, and historical documents, Bill interviewed the 'Daisy Girl' Birgitte Olsen, now all grown up and now able to count.
http://www.conelrad.com/daisy"
Music

Submission + - Zeppelin Reunion has Slashdot Effect

Submitted by cayenne8
cayenne8 writes: Apparently the long rumored Led Zeppelin reunion is going to happen. It will be a one off show with original members Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jason Bohnam (John's son) in tribute to Ahmet Ertegun, a co-founder of Atlantic Records who died recently.

The website where you can register for a lottery for tickets has crashed due to demand for the tickets. Apparently, Led Zeppelin, a group long defunct, can still have the power to 'slashdot' a website. Why not? They did recently set records for their DVD released a couple of years ago. Is there any group today that will have that kind of staying power?

To add insult to injury to the crashed site, it is at Ahmettribute.com

A Look At Halo 3's $10 Million Ad Campaign 62

Posted by Zonk from the you've-already-seen-it dept.
Via Next Generation, a post on the Brand Week website that goes into some detail on the massive advertising campaign for Halo 3 orchestrated by Microsoft and the McCann-Erickson group. "The goal of the campaign is to bring Halo fans and nonfans up-to-speed as to where we are in Master Chief's epic battle to defeat the evil Covenant. While most major game titles begin their ad campaigns weeks before launch to build buzz, Halo 3 differs greatly. This mass-market push is actually the end of the of Halo 3 campaign. The TV push is the grand finale of a five-pronged attack Microsoft quietly launched last December. The carefully orchestrated onslaught was designed to make casual fans interested and core fans rabid as Microsoft aims to eclipse Halo 2's record-breaking $125 million in sales on day one. To date, Halo 3 is already on the books for one million preorders and counting. "

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If Machiavelli were a hacker, he'd have worked for the CSSG. -- Phil Lapsley

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