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Music

Submission + - New twist in Santangelo case

Submitted by
newtley
newtley writes: "US district judge Colleen McMahon, who's hearing the Big Music file sharing charges levelled at Patti Santangelo, says she can move for an order of dismissal with prejudice and, "The Court has the power to entertain such a motion, and to grant it on whatever terms and conditions the Court deems appropriate." The last thing the RIAA wants is for the case to be heard. If that happens, they'll have not only to defend their position, but prove it, and so far, they've managed to avoid that, instead using the media to judge close to 20,000 men, women and children, finding them guilty of the non-existent crime of file sharing without having to go anywhere near a court, a jury or a magistrate. Now Santangelo, who's on record as saying she wants her case to go to trial so she can clear her name and get on with her life, and her lawyer, Jordan Glass will have to think deeply about their next step."
Music

Submission + - Copyright Royalty Board threats internet radio

Submitted by Mike89
Mike89 writes: On March 2, 2007, The CRB approved royalty rates that will bury any small webcaster, and create a heavy burden even for big broadcasters like Yahoo, AOL Music and Pandora. How high will these rates be? Around 100% of a small webcasters revenue, give or take a few points, in most cases. How did this happen? The RIAA told the CRB thats what they wanted, and the CRB just gave it to them. Save Net Radio has information on ways you can help stop this.
Music

Submission + - Open Dialogue With the RIAA

Submitted by Gates82
Gates82 writes: The University I attend holds an annual Security Awareness Week and this year the RIAA is going to be there for an "open dialogue". Is it worth the time to sit through an event like this to hear the slander from the horse's mouth? Given the opportunity what questions would you ask to the beloved association.
The Internet

Submission + - Milwaukee says NO to RIAA

Submitted by
neuron2neuron
neuron2neuron writes: "Recently, the University of Wisconsin (based in Madison, WI) announced that it would not forward on threatening letters from the RIAA to its students. Now, some of the other schools in the system are going along with it in what can only be seen as a setback to the recording industrys thuggish policies. More at http://torrentfreak.com/milwaukee-says-no-to-riaa/ "
Space

Submission + - Sole Survivor of Heaven's Gate Cult Speaks

Submitted by whatevski
whatevski writes: Today is the 10th anniversary of Hale-Bopp's closest pass by Earth, when the members of the Heaven's Gate cult killed themselves wearing matching black jumpsuits and Nikes. Remember them? Seems like so long ago. Turns out there was one survivor of the cult, and he broke a long silence to give the LA Weekly an interview. He's still a true believer, and is even trying to sell a screenplay that he and his fellow cult members started writing 10 years ago. The article also has embedded video excerpts of DO and his follower's "exit statements" that they recorded before they "exited their vehicles" to move on to "the Next Level." Spooky, but fascinating.
Robotics

Journal Journal: Mini-Grand Challenge Organized by UK University

Journal by jtogel
At Essex, we have for some time been working on automatically learning how to race cars in simulation. It turns out that a combination of evolutionary algorithms and neural networks can learn how to beat all humans in racing games, and also come up with some quite interesting, novel behaviours, which might one day make their way into commercial racing games. While this is simulation, the race is now on for the
User Journal

Journal Journal: IDIOTS: Outing the Idiots of the World 10

Journal by eno2001

So. Yesterday morning I'm walking to work. I get to the intersection of two major roads. The lights change and I get my "WALK" sign. As I start crossing the crosswalk, this stupid woman in a white SUV begins to make a left turn from the adjacent street onto the street I'm crossing. If she didn't stop, she would have hit me. But as it is, she's blocking traffic on the street she's turning from by being halfway in the crosswalk and directly in the path of oncoming traffic. I've seen this happen
Windows

Submission + - Surprise, Microsoft Listed as Most Secure OS

Submitted by david_g17
david_g17 writes: According to a Symantec study reported by Information Week, Microsoft has the most secure operating system amongst its commercial competitors. The report only covered the last 6 months of vulnerabilities and patch releases, but the results place Microsoft operating systems above Mac OS X and Red Hat. According to the article,

The report found that Microsoft Windows had the fewest number of patches and the shortest average patch development time of the five operating systems it monitored in the last six months of 2006.
The article continues to mention the metrics used in the study (quantity and severity of vulnerabilities as well as the amount of time one must wait for the patch to be released).
Space

Submission + - France opens secret UFO files spanning 50 years

Submitted by Radon360
Radon360 writes: PARIS (AFP) — France became the first country to open its files on UFOs Thursday when the national space agency unveiled a website documenting more than 1,600 sightings spanning five decades. The online archives, which will be updated as new cases are reported, catalogues in minute detail cases ranging from the easily dismissed to a handful that continue to perplex even hard-nosed scientists. Known as OVNIs in French, UFOs have always generated intense interest along with countless conspiracy theories about secretive government cover-ups of findings deemed too sensitive or alarming for public consumption.
Math

Submission + - Orson Scott Card reveals truth behind IPCC numbers

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The numbers behind the now famous IPCC report on global warming, apparently, are faked, and on purpose. The numbers have been cooked from the word go. From the article:

All in a Good Cause

Here's a story you haven't heard, and you should have.
An intelligence source, working for a government agency. He's not a spy, he's an analyst. He uses computers to crunch numbers and at the end of his work, out pops the truth that was hiding in the original data. Let's call him "Mann."
The trouble with Mann is, he has an ideology. He knows what he wants his results to be. And the original numbers aren't giving him that data. So the agency he works for won't be able to persuade people to fight the war he wants to fight.
Well, that's not acceptable.
Space

Submission + - Space X Falcon 1 launch failure speculation

Submitted by jafac
jafac writes: As discussed in this SpaceDaily article, the video footage from the launch, earlier this week (available at www.spacex.com), of the Falcon 1 vehicle, seems to show a problem with the stage separation. I noticed this when I watched the video last night — it appears that the top of the first stage bumps the engine nozzle.

The upper stage guidance does a good job of setting the craft straight after this bump, but some odd things happen after that, including some kind of ring flying off the engine, and a wobble that gets progressively worse until the vehicle goes completely out of control. I've been fascinated by the availability of these kinds of videos more and more; but this is the first one I've seen that documents a failed launch — (Elon Musk's denials notwithstanding), and because of that, it's probably the coolest video I've seen all year.
Microsoft

Submission + - Who invented the GUI?

Submitted by
athloi
athloi writes: "To amuse co-workers, I found some screenshots of early versions of Windows, but they came with a surprise. I didn't remember that Windows began development in 1981, inspired by the Xerox Star project. That's before Lisa, Mac, Atari, Amiga, et al but not before the early graphical interfaces Apple II and Commodore programmers added to their war-dialers, compression algorithms and copy protection obliterators. I find myself reaching the frightening conclusion that M$ has been in this game since day one. Is anyone else unsettled by this?"
Movies

Submission + - News Corp. and NBC create YouTube competitor

Submitted by Chinzilla
Chinzilla writes: Rumors of NBC and News Corp creating a YouTube-killer took off this morning just hours before the two officially announced their partnership. They'll be creating an ad-supported distribution channel for TV shows and possibly even movies that will be syndicated on sites like MySpace and Yahoo!

The service will launch this summer with a number of TV shows — such as "Heroes," "24" and "My Name Is Earl." The service will also feature movies, including the ever-popular "Boat" at launch.
...
It's believed that users be allowed to embed videos from the service on their own sites and upload their own user-generated videos, mirroring YouTube's popular sharing format, but such a feature is currently unconfirmed.
Quickies

Submission + - Mechanical control of chemical reactions

Submitted by
nanotrends
nanotrends writes: "Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have found a novel way to manipulate matter and drive chemical reactions along a desired direction. The new technique utilizes mechanical force to alter the course of chemical reactions and yield products not obtainable through conventional conditions.
This provides more clear evidence that the concept of site specific chemistry using mechanical placement of molecules is viable. This concept is the basis of molecular nanotechnology. This may become part of a bootstrapping pathway. It disproves those who have said mechanical force could not be used to control chemistry."

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