Feed A Misfired Memo Shows Close Tabs on Reporter (nytimes.com)
A Wired magazine reporter was accidentally sent a memorandum written by the company’s public relations firm to coach Microsoft executives on how to handle his questions.
Feed Link by Link: M.I.T. Education in China, Minus the Degree (nytimes.com)
A Taiwanese man is devoting himself to distributing free Chinese translations of material from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Web site.
Feed E-Commerce Report: Hoping to Move Guitar Notations Into the Legal Sunshine (nytimes.com)
A popular system for teaching and learning guitar online will enter the legitimate business realm for the first time.
Feed Warner’s Digital Watchdog Widens War on Pirates (nytimes.com)
Warner’s growing antipiracy efforts are at the forefront of the movie industry as they try to protect the studio’s control over its content.
Submission + - US Gov't Secret Fiber Needs - "Mind-Blowing
An anonymous reader writes: In an article about the Joseph Nacchio, former Qwest CEO, stock fraud case, an interesting bit of information came out: Nacchio's defense is that, as a member of a "government telecommunications panel" he had access to classified information on the government's telecommunication capacity needs: "A defense lawyer, Herbert J. Stern, described the government's capacity need as 'mind-blowing, mind-boggling'", which is "why Qwest was buying assets abroad." Sure, that's is his defense attorney talking and not a neutral analyst, but let's say it's true: What would the U.S. government transmit over this "mind-blowing" fiber capacity? And what would they need to send (or receive from) other countries?
Feed April Fool's Pranks For Nerds (wired.com)
Feed Fusion Experiments Show Nuclear Power's Softer Side (wired.com)
Feed Obsessive Geniuses Strive to Create Almost Human Robots (wired.com)
Submission + - Sharepoint: Microsoft's new operating system
AlexGr writes: "InfoWorld
Matt Asay has an interesting observation:
"I've been beating on the Sharepoint drum for nearly two years now, but this is the first time I've seen anyone outside the ECM industry think along the same lines. Sharepoint is very clearly the future of Microsoft. And, not coincidentally, it is the future of how Microsoft locks customers into its software (benevolently or malevolently — you choose)."
http://weblog.infoworld.com/openresource/archives/ 2007/03/sharepoint_micr.html"
Submission + - The Air Car - Zero pollution and incredibly cheap
torok writes: According to this article on Gizmag, Tata, India's largest automotive manufacturer, has developed a car that runs on compressed air. It costs less than $3 USD to fill a tank on which it can run for 200 to 300km. The car will cost about USD $7,300 and has a top speed of 68mph. About once every 50,000 km you have to change the oil (1 litre of vegetable oil). Initial plans are to produce 3,000 cars per year. I think the world needs about 100x that.
Submission + - Nature Versus Nurture, Part MCMXVII
orangepeel writes: The Washington Post is featuring an interesting article about human behavior. From the article: "When Emory University primatologist Frans de Waal read a news story that said Microsoft's chief executive, Steve Ballmer, had hurled a chair across the room on hearing an employee was going to work for rival Google, the scientist immediately made a connection with his own research: 'When I see such behavior, I think of a chimpanzee.'"
Submission + - 1000 to 10000 e-books with help from /.
seeit writes: On November 8, 2002 slashdot mentioned Distributed Proofreaders. A few months later, DP completed its 1000th e-book.
Today, with the help of many volunteers who work on books and software, DP completed its 10,000th title.
Distributed Proofreaders, a wholly volunteer organization, was established for the purpose of producing quality transcriptions of machine-readable texts from public domain sources. Once a unique title has been completed the result is made freely available in widely used text and graphic formats via the Internet. The complete library of "DP texts" accessible from file servers throughout the world under the governance of Project Gutenberg, the founding ancestor of online archives.
True to its international nature, Distributed Proofreaders, while respecting U.S. copyright laws, does not limit itself to preserving solely English language content. Nearly 15% of completed titles, to date, represent over 20 languages beyond English. A look to DPs 10,000th title set reveals the diversity of world cultural content in the public domain. Among this commemorative collection are a French translation of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice; the chronicle of Portuguese explorer Serpa Pinto's African expeditions; a pair of illustrated children stories from Germany; the first part of 'Species Plantarum', a 17th century Latin botanical reference work and a translation of a 17th century Guatemalan Maya manuscript.
The fifteen titles released today are not a cheer towards the past accomplishments of Distributed Proofreaders, nor are they pat on the back for deeds fulfilled on this day. What these titles so clearly represent, of their own merits, is the future and what awaits within the world's public domain yet to be rescued from obscurity and re-presented to an audience hungry to rediscover the cultural treasures of previous ages.
Today, with the help of many volunteers who work on books and software, DP completed its 10,000th title.
Distributed Proofreaders, a wholly volunteer organization, was established for the purpose of producing quality transcriptions of machine-readable texts from public domain sources. Once a unique title has been completed the result is made freely available in widely used text and graphic formats via the Internet. The complete library of "DP texts" accessible from file servers throughout the world under the governance of Project Gutenberg, the founding ancestor of online archives.
True to its international nature, Distributed Proofreaders, while respecting U.S. copyright laws, does not limit itself to preserving solely English language content. Nearly 15% of completed titles, to date, represent over 20 languages beyond English. A look to DPs 10,000th title set reveals the diversity of world cultural content in the public domain. Among this commemorative collection are a French translation of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice; the chronicle of Portuguese explorer Serpa Pinto's African expeditions; a pair of illustrated children stories from Germany; the first part of 'Species Plantarum', a 17th century Latin botanical reference work and a translation of a 17th century Guatemalan Maya manuscript.
The fifteen titles released today are not a cheer towards the past accomplishments of Distributed Proofreaders, nor are they pat on the back for deeds fulfilled on this day. What these titles so clearly represent, of their own merits, is the future and what awaits within the world's public domain yet to be rescued from obscurity and re-presented to an audience hungry to rediscover the cultural treasures of previous ages.
Submission + - SCO says IBM hurt profits
AlanS2002 writes: "In its ongoing litigation against International Business Machines Corp., the SCO Group Inc. on Monday said IBM hurt SCO's relationship with several high-tech powerhouses, causing SCO's market share and revenues to plummet.
In a hearing before U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball, an attorney for Lindon-based SCO said IBM "pressured" companies to cut off their relationships with SCO. And "the effect on SCO was devastating and it was immediate," Mark James said.
IBM on Monday argued for summary judgment on the matters of unfair competition and business interference, but SCO contends that a jury trial is needed."
Feed Your Money: Getting Out of a 2-Year Cellphone Contract Alive (nytimes.com)
It’s not easy to escape a two-year cellphone contract. But it can be done by turning to the innovators on the Internet.
Feed After Mastering Web Traffic, Google Runs Bus Line (nytimes.com)
The sheer scale of Google’s new shuttle program for its employees befits the company’s oversize ambitions.
