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Sony

Submission + - French court slaps down Sony DRM

Submitted by john-da-luthrun
john-da-luthrun writes: A French court has ruled that Sony's CONNECT Store infringes French consumer law, reports the TechnoLlama IP blog. Under French law, it is illegal to tie the purchase of a service (such as downloading a music file) to the purchase of a another product, so Sony were held to be breaking the law by selling music files that required a Sony player in order to access them. The court also found that Sony had failed to inform customers that its ATRAC 3 files can only be played on Sony digital players. A similar case in France involving Apple's iTunes/iPod tie-in is ongoing.
Editorial

Submission + - What do politicians know about videogames?

Submitted by
steven williamson
steven williamson writes: "Bumbling Conservative MP Boris Johnson has used his personal website to attack the state of education in the UK, citing videogames as being the reason why many children will grow up to be illiterate. HEXUS.gaming have detailed the story.

Bumbling Boris concludes his rant by calling for parents to "Summon up all your strength, all your courage. Steel yourself for the screams and yank out that plug. And if they still kick up a fuss, then get out the sledgehammer and strike a blow for literacy."
"
Biotech

Researchers Find Potential Cure for Cancer 324

Posted by Zonk from the proverbial-cure-for-cancer dept.
MECC writes "Researchers at Johns Hopkins University may have found a way to kill cancer cells without radiation or toxic chemicals. The group is taking the step of patenting the idea, as this new approach using sugars may hold real potential for the fight against cancer. This is not the first approach to use sugars, the article states, but is (by the researchers' estimation) the most successful. From the article: 'Sampathkumar and his colleagues built upon 20-year-old findings that a short-chain fatty acid called butyrate can slow the spread of cancer cells. In the 1980s, researchers discovered that butyrate, which is formed naturally at high levels in the digestive system by symbiotic bacteria that feed on fibre, can restore healthy cell functioning ... The researchers focused on a sugar called N-acetyl-D-mannosamine, or ManNAc, for short, and created a hybrid molecule by linking ManNAc with butyrate. The hybrid easily penetrates a cell's surface, then is split apart by enzymes inside the cell. Once inside the cell, ManNAc is processed into another sugar known as sialic acid that plays key roles in cancer biology, while butyrate orchestrates the expression of genes responsible for halting the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells.'"
Software

Submission + - Pegasus Mail development ends after 17 years

Submitted by daveewart
daveewart writes: According to the Pegasus Mail web site, David Harris has ceased development and distribution of Pegasus Mail, citing funding difficulties. He says "Effective January 2007, development and distribution of Pegasus Mail and Mercury has ceased. We regret this decision, but ongoing difficulties with funding have forced it upon us." Pegasus Mail used to be one of the primary free email clients for Windows and, although it has clearly had its day, will be missed. It has had a long history: the first version of Pegasus Mail was released for DOS in 1990.
Upgrades

Submission + - 1TB hard drives are here

Submitted by
SparkyTWP
SparkyTWP writes: "After much anticipation, Hitachi has announced a new hard drive with 1 terrabyte capacity. They are SATA/PATA 7200RPM, should retail for about $400 and will be available this quarter."
Data Storage

Submission + - Hitachi, Seagate announce terabyte drive plans

Submitted by
EconolineCrush
EconolineCrush writes: "Because 750GB drives just aren't big enough, Seagate and Hitachi have both announced plans to bring terabyte drives to market in 2007. Hitachi's Deskstar 7K1000 will come in the first quarter of the year riding five 200GB platters. The drive will also boast a beefy 32MB cache, and will sell for $399. Seagate's stab at the terabyte space will come sometime in the first half of this year, and although details are scarce, the drive will be a four-platter design that packs 250GB per platter. Both drives will use perpendicular recording technology, giving you one more excuse to Get Perpendicular."
Toys

Submission + - The Star Wars Toy of the "Millennium"

Submitted by Kal
Kal writes: Saw this breakdown of the new METAL dioramas coming out of Star Wars central and immediately was in awe of its majesty. The sense of scale is incredible, the attention detail unbeatable and it makes me want to ask the wife and kids to move into another home so I can make room for it. Now if only I could accurately recreate Cloud City in the garage...
Biotech

North Korea's Secret Biochemical Arsenal 321

Posted by Zonk from the i'd-keep-an-eye-on-that dept.
mattnyc99 writes "Popular Mechanics has an in-depth report on North Korea's biological and chemical weapons stock, which has been developed in secret and has gone largely unnoticed amidst the country's nuke threat. From the article: 'North Korea's Chemical and Bioweapons (CBW) program appears to be modeled on that of the former Soviet Union, which covertly constructed a massive biological weapons infrastructure within the shell of a civilian research organization called Biopreparat. Inside Biopreparat, the Soviets developed deadly agents that included weaponized forms of anthrax and pneumonic plague. Intelligence reports from the United States and South Korea list anthrax, smallpox, pneumonic plague, cholera and botulism toxins as leading components of North Korea's bioweapons projects.' "

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