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Announcements

Submission + - Speed of Light "Exceeded"

Submitted by konohitowa
konohitowa writes: Two German scientists claim to have performed an experiment in which microwave photons exceeded the speed of light. From the story: "The pair say they have conducted an experiment in which microwave photons — energetic packets of light — travelled "instantaneously" between a pair of prisms that had been moved up to 3ft apart." Having seen claims such as these in the past, it will be interesting to see what mistake this particular pair made. And yes, I'm definitely assuming they're misinterpreting their results.
Announcements

Submission + - Watermarking to replace DRM? 3

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: News.com has an article on the announcement of Microsoft and Universal to introduce watermarking technology into audio files. The technology could serve several purposes including tracking file sharing statistics and insertion of advertisements into audio tracks. The article goes on to suggest that watermarking could possibly replace DRM in the near future.
The Courts

Submission + - Foster Demands RIAA Post $210k Security for Fees

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "A few days ago it was reported that, in view of the RIAA's one-month delay in paying the $68,685.00 attorneys fee award in Capitol v. Foster, and its lawyers' failure to respond to Ms. Foster's lawyer's email, Ms. Foster filed a motion for entry of judgment so that she could go ahead with judgment enforcement proceedings. In response to that motion the RIAA submitted a statement that it had no objection to entry of judgment, and intimated that it thought there would be an automatic stay on enforcement of the judgment, and that it would ultimately file an appeal. After seeing that, Ms. Foster's lawyer has filed a motion for the Court to require the RIAA to post $210,000 in security to cover the past and future attorneys fees and costs which are expected to be incurred."
Biotech

Submission + - Physicists Discover Interstellar Dust 'Alive' (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by reezle
reezle writes: An international team has discovered that under the right conditions, particles of inorganic dust can become organised into helical structures. These structures can then interact with each other in ways that are usually associated with organic compounds and life itself.
Quite bizarrely, not only do these helical strands interact in a counterintuitive way in which like can attract like, but they also undergo changes that are normally associated with biological molecules, such as DNA and proteins, say the researchers. They can, for instance, divide, or bifurcate, to form two copies of the original structure. These new structures can also interact to induce changes in their neighbours and they can even evolve into yet more structures as less stable ones break down, leaving behind only the fittest structures in the plasma.
"These complex, self-organized plasma structures exhibit all the necessary properties to qualify them as candidates for inorganic living matter," says Tsytovich, "they are autonomous, they reproduce and they evolve."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Ref admits in court NBA is fixed (cnn.com) 1

Submitted by LoveMe2Times
LoveMe2Times writes: Former NBA referee Tim Donoughy pleaded guilty to charges related to his gambling on NBA games, including those he officiated. While many suspected him of fixing games or altering the outcome of games he officiated, the real story — that the mainstream media only mentions in passing — is that he didn't need to fix games. As a ref, he had access to "non-public" information about the games, including the real nature of injuries, who would ref the game, and the extent to which those refs favored the players. This inside information was enough for him — and presumably any NBA insider — to pick winners with enough accuracy to get paid $5000 for correct picks. In other words, referee bias is statistically significant enough for those in the know to make lots of money betting on it. In essence, the referees decide the game more than the players in a known, predictable way; hence, the game is fixed by choice of refs for a game.
Toys

Submission + - 20 USB Gizmos That Have No Place in the Enterprise

Submitted by
Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: "Sometimes, you can imagine why the IT department wants to put epoxy in the USB drive. CIO.com compiled 20 USB-powered gadgets with very little business value—but that are sure to make you say, at least once, "I want one!" Need a USB-powered rocket launcher? A USB-powered toothbrush? (Why?!) A fridge big enough to hold a single can of soda? They're all here."
United States

Submission + - Geekanomics: US car loans default 50% over foreign (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Researchers today said customers that take auto loans on "American cars should have significantly higher interest rates to compensate for higher default risk," than customers who buy Japanese or European cars. Loans secured for European cars and Japanese cars are 50% and 56%, respectively, less likely to default than loans on American cars. In a forthcoming book, Brent Ambrose, professor of real estate at The Pennsylvania State University's Smeal College of Business, and his co-authors find that the probability that borrowers will default on their auto loans is affected by the type of car that is financed. The authors looked at the performance of 6,996 auto loans from January 1998 to March 2003. Some other interesting findings in the research include: Loans for GM Saturns had default hazards 22 times higher than the default hazard of Toyotas. Loans for Mazdas were six times more likely to default than loans for Toyotas. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/18416"
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Highly reliable voting machines. NOT!!

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Wired (http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/dan-rath er-inve.html) is reporting that a Dan Rather report to be aired tonight will say that ES&S voting machines are manufactured in a sweatshop in the Phillipines with little attention to quality control.

"According to the program, ES&S contracts the production of its voting machines to two companies. The touch-screens themselves are made in the U.S. by Minnesota-based Bergquist before they're sent to Manila to be assembled with other parts made in Taiwan and Mainland China at Teletech (above and below right), a sweatshop factory that is connected to Pivot International. The latter is a contract engineering firm based in Kansas that is controlled by the Ching family, a Filipino family with "strong connections in top political circles" that has been investigated for suspect business practices and possible tax evasion, Rather reports."

"Filipino workers in the Teletech sweatshop told Rather's producers that they rushed production of the ES&S machines to meet quotas and that the only testing they conducted on machines was a "vibration" test — which involved shaking the machines by hand (presumably to determine if there were any loose parts inside). Even then, only a fraction of the machines underwent this crude test."

Any wonder that situations like Sarasota happen?
Technology (Apple)

Submission + - Woz Details His Plans for Energy-Efficient House (ecnmag.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: ECN magazine posted a long interview with the Woz. "Apple Inc. co-founder and legendary hacker Steve Wozniak recently found a new passion in energy-efficienct housing. Last month he told PC World magazine, 'I have a long dream to build my own house in a very energy-efficient approach,' and here at ECN we thought you'd like to know more. So we interviewed Woz by email. Here is a transcript of our questions and his answers." Good insight into the mind of a living genius!
Privacy

Submission + - Manhattan, 1984

Submitted by
Etherwalk
Etherwalk writes: "The New York Times (and the usual suspects) are reporting on developments in the quest to charge driving fees for all vehicles headed below 86th Street in Manhattan. Notably absent from any part of the discussion? A record is made of every car or truck that enters, together with the vehicle ownership information and the date and time of travel — either as part of EZ-Pass or in license-plate photos taken for subsequent billing."
The Media

Submission + - Fox News smears rivals on Wikipedia (geeksaresexy.net)

Submitted by
boyko.at.netqos
boyko.at.netqos writes: "Changes made to Wikipedia from an IP Address that resolves to Fox News, show a pattern of smearing Fox's rivals, including Al Franken, Keith Olbermann, and CNN, while removing damaging or embarrassing information to it's own reporters. GeeksAreSexy.net pores through the changes to produce a comprehensive list of what Fox News allegedly changed.

An example of the changes:

From: "Many groups and commentators, including [[Media Matters for America]], and liberal broadcasters [[Al Franken]], and [[Keith Olbermann]], have claimed that Hume distorted Roosevelt's views."

To: "Many groups and commentators, including [[Media Matters for America]], and liberal broadcasters [[Al Franken]], and [[Keith Olbermann]], have claimed that Hume distorted Roosevelt's views in an attempt to ride Mr. Hume's coat tails in the ratings race as Mr. Hume hosts the highest rated political program on cable television.""
Music

Submission + - TMBG Techy Interview (gearlog.com)

Submitted by
Brian Heater
Brian Heater writes: "Hey Slashdot, I did a two-part interview with They Might Be Giant's John Flansburgh. Might be of interest to you folks, as we discussed the role of technology both in terms of their recording and distribution, from Dial-a-Song, to podcasts, to Myspace. Also, Flansburg tearfully admits that he does indeed own an iPhone."
Security

Submission + - Facebook Source Code Leaked (foxnews.com)

Submitted by Hypercoyote
Hypercoyote writes: Facebook users on Monday were left contemplating the security of private details stored on the social-networking site after part of its source code was leaked onto the Internet. The site on Monday acknowledged that a section of its code had been copied and published on a blog, but stressed that none of the personal details of its 52 million users had been compromised. Over the weekend, a blog called Facebook Secrets published details of part of Facebook's source code, the set of commands which determine the way the site appears when it is viewed by users.

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