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Music

Submission + - Install copyright filters on PCs, says RIAA boss (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Don't squeeze the Sherman
Don't squeeze the Sherman writes: At a conference last week, RIAA president Cary Sherman said he didn't support mandatory filtering by ISPs, but in a video clip posted by Public Knowledge, Sherman offers a far more troubling 'solution': installing filters on users' PCs. From Ars Technica's coverage: 'The issue of encryption "would have to be faced," Sherman admitted after talking about the wonders of filtering. "One could have a filter on the end user's computer that would actually eliminate any benefit from encryption because if you want to hear [the music], you would need to decrypt it, and at that point the filter would work."'
Mozilla

Submission + - Comments sought on proposed mobile Firefox UIs (windowsfordevices.com)

Submitted by
jangel
jangel writes: "The Mozilla Foundation has released prototype user interfaces (UIs) for its upcoming mobile version of Firefox, and is seeking comments. While not final, these UIs could easily be incorporated in the final product, according to a blog post by Mozilla developer and project lead Doug Turner."
KDE

Submission + - KDE's Aaron Seigo takes swipe at Apple (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by Da Massive
Da Massive writes: In this interview KDE's lead developer Aaron Seigo talks about the KDE desktop and the greatness of Plasma: "With Plasma you will be able to whip up things in JavaScript and take that same thing and put it on a TV, a phone, and put applets embedded in a Web page. If I was crazy I'd say we have something that can challenge Flash in the long term" He also has some parting shots at Apple and its commitment to open source: "Apple doesn't get the open source development model and has a very control oriented corporate culture." http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;885892575;pp;1
Operating Systems

Startup Offers Instant-Boot Windows Alternative 286

Posted by Zonk from the o-hai-dere dept.
Lucas123 writes "A Silicon Valley startup named Device VM has a product that circumvents the boot-up process, according to a story in MIT's Technology Review. Device VM recently released a tiny piece of software that gives users the option to boot either Windows or a faster, less-complex operating system called Splashtop. The company is partnering with PC OEMs and consumer electronics companies to integrate its core technology into desktops, notebooks, ultra-mobile PCs, and other devices."
Space

Submission + - Probe returns first image of Mercury's unseen side

Submitted by
sm62704 (mcgrew)
sm62704 (mcgrew) writes: "New Scientist reports that

NASA's Messenger spacecraft has taken its first look at the unseen side of Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun. It has revealed the full extent of Mercury's gigantic Caloris Basin, one of the largest impact craters in the solar system and discovered its first Mercury mystery: unusual dark-rimmed craters.

Messenger flew past Mercury on Monday, making its closest approach at 1904 GMT. About 80 minutes afterwards, the spacecraft captured this image. Showing about half of the unseen side, the spacecraft was 27,000 kilometres away when it took the picture. Nevertheless, the image reveals surface details as small as 10 km across.
There is a 600x600 pixel black and white photo."
Music

Submission + - Sony BMG Plans to Drop DRM

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In a move that would mark the end of a digital music era, Sony BMG Music Entertainment is finalizing plans to sell songs without the copyright protection software that has long restricted the use of music downloaded from the Internet, BusinessWeek.com has learned. Sony BMG, a joint venture of Sony (SNE) and Bertelsmann, will make at least part of its collection available without so-called digital rights management, or DRM, software some time in the first quarter, according to people familiar with the matter.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2008/tc2008013_398775.htm
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA witness "misspoke" at Thomas trial (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "According to Cary Sherman, President of the RIAA, speaking in an NPR interview available online, Jennifer Pariser — the head of litigation for SONY BMG — "misspoke" when she testified in the jury trial in Capitol v. Thomas, as follows: "Gabriel asked Pariser if it was okay if a consumer makes just one copy of a track they've legally purchased. She said no — that's "a nice way of saying, 'steals just one copy.'"(Wired.com). P2pnet quotes Mr. Sherman's "retraction" of Ms. Pariser's testimony as follows: "The Sony person who [Marc Fisher of the Washington Post] relies on actually misspoke in that trial. I know because I asked her after stories started appearing. It turns out that she had misheard the question. She thought that this was a question about illegal downloading when it was actually a question about ripping CDs. That is not the position of Sony BMG. That is not the position of that spokesperson. That is not the position of the industry." Seems that (a) Ms. Pariser was under oath, and speaking to the jury, when she misspoke, and (b) her testimony might have had an impact on the outcome of the trial. Wonder if the RIAA's lawyers have notified the judge."
The Courts

Submission + - LANCOR v. OLPC Update (groklaw.net)

Submitted by drewmoney
drewmoney writes: According to an article on Groklaw: It's begun in a Nigerian court. LANCOR has actually done it. Guess what the Nigerian keyboard makers want from the One Laptop Per Child charitable organization trying to make the world a better place?

$20 million dollars in "damages", and an injunction blocking OLPC from distribution in Nigeria.
The Courts

Submission + - Xterasys GPL Violation Lawsuit Settled (groklaw.net)

Submitted by
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes: "Xterasys has settled the GPL breech lawsuit brought by the BusyBox developers. In short, they've agreed to comply with the GPL, notify all previous customers as to where they can get source code, appoint an "Open Source Compliance Officer," and to pay undisclosed damages to the plaintiffs. Once the SFLC verifies their compliance with these terms, their right to distribute BusyBox under the GPL's terms will be reinstated."
Music

Journal Journal: Bushite Congress Kills RIAA's Anti-piracy Efforts 2

Journal by doggod
The Law of Unexpected Consequences is expected to soon take an ironic twist. As reported in The Guardian, the WTO will issue its long-awaited ruling next week on Antigua's complaint against the US for its law that prohibited banks from allowing money to flow to and from offshore Internet gambling sites.
KDE

Submission + - Original KDE3 vs. KDE4 Memory Comparison Debunked (jarzebski.pl)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: The author of the original KDE 3.5 vs KDE 4.0 memory comparison, which indicated that KDE 4.0 used less memory than the KDE 3.5 series, has come out with a more accurate benchmark. In reality, KDE 4.0 uses 110 MB more memory than KDE 3.5.8. This was no surprise to many KDE developers, who saw many mistakes in the way the original results were obtained. However, given the new composite window manager, Plasma/Oxygen bling, and numerous new features, the extra memory consumption is probably well worth it!
Microsoft

Submission + - Dell: You cannot use MS Vol Lic. on Open Source PC (dell.com) 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Dell says you can't use your existing Microsoft Volume Licensing on its line of Open Source notebook computers. They go on to say, "Customers interested in a Microsoft® Windows® solution should purchase a Dell notebook pre-loaded with Windows XP Professional."

What good is volume licensing if you have to buy a computer that already has a license?
Cellphones

Submission + - T-Mobile Blocking Twitter? (alternageek.com)

Submitted by
bblboy54
bblboy54 writes: "While there isn't any (published) official word from T-Mobile or from Twitter, it appears that T-Mobile has begun blocking users from sending SMS messages to the Twitter service. There are a few blog posts popping up regarding this including one over at Alternageek. I personally called T-Mobile last night and spoke with 3 different representatives before finally being told that "T-Mobile does not support third party message providers and while you were able to use the Twitter service previously, this was the result of a bug in their system which has now been corrected." When I specifically asked if I could expect to ever be able to use Twitter with T-Mobile again I was told that it wouldn't occur until Twitter made a contract with T-Mobile (the same mentality that ISPs are using to destroy net neutrality). This can be confirmed by asking anyone on T-Mobile to send an SMS to the Twitter short code (40404) and they will most likely receive a service is unavailable message which has been the result for the last 3 days."

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