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Republicans

Bush Commutes Libby's Sentence 1574

Posted by kdawson from the next-stop-paris dept.
An anonymous reader notes that President Bush has decided to commute Scooter Libby's sentence after numerous appeals failed. Libby was convicted in March of obstruction of justice in connection with the Valerie Plame affair. The President's action spares Libby from 30 months behind bars."
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - iPhone turns into iRock (noahgift.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: The iPhone won't activate for thousands and it has turned into a debacle for Apple according to this post there are threads on the Apple Support center that have up to 23,000 views and will actually hang your browser they are so big.

The Perfect Phone Storm? 567

Posted by Zonk from the perfect-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder dept.
peter deacon writes "Is the iPhone the next Segway, the next Zune, or the next iPod? The Perfect Storm offers some iPhone details that aren't secrets, but tend to be lost upon the analysts and journalists cranking out hit pieces on the iPhone. Why is everyone from Gartner to Gizmodo calling for a boycott of the iPhone? An interesting take on how Apple's new mobile phone will push to open up the web as a mobile platform for every mobile device on the market with a standards-based browser, and how Apple 'hacked the hackers' by releasing Safari for Windows in advance of its new phone."
Microsoft

Microsoft "SiteFinder" Quietly Raking It In 176

Posted by kdawson from the all-your-typos-are-belong-to-us dept.
An anonymous reader writes in with the news, which isn't particularly new, that Microsoft's Internet Explorer sends typo domain names to a page of pay-per-click ads. In this endeavor Microsoft joins Charter and Earthlink in profiting from the dubious practice that Verisign pioneered but failed to make stick. The article is on a site whose audience is, among others, those who attempt to profit by typo-squatting, and its tone is just a bit petulant because individuals cannot hope to profit in this game on the scale Microsoft effortlessly achieves.
Communications

Newton's Ghost Haunts Apple's iPhone 381

Posted by kdawson from the hubris-and-the-handheld dept.
PetManimal writes "David Haskin has looked back at why the Newton failed in the early PDA market, and warns that Apple may be setting itself up for a similar failure with the iPhone. The iPhone shares with the Newton a hefty starting price, and Joe Public may not be so keen on the cost, as recent survey data suggests. Moreover, the iPhone will have to deal with two additional factors that were not issues for the Newton: Competition, and wireless service providers: 'Besides overcharging for iPhone, Apple faces significant competition, something it didn't face in 1993 when it launched Newton. And you can bet that competition from the likes of Samsung and LG will both be good (although probably not as good as iPhone) and most assuredly cheaper... I'm more convinced than ever that, after an initial frenzy of publicity and sales to early adopters, iPhone sales will be unspectacular. If Apple doesn't respond quickly by lowering the price and making nice to AT&T..., iPhone may well become Apple's next Newton.'"
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft hosing down speculation about Vienna

Submitted by thefickler
thefickler writes: Last week Microsoft executive, Ben Fathi, blabbed that we should expect a new Windows operating system, code-named Vienna, in 2009 and that Vista was a compromise because XP Service Pack 2 soaked up precious resources that should have gone into making Vista better.

Now Microsoft's corporate PR machine is trying to hose down speculation about Vienna, with the company issuing a curt statement effectively telling the world to forget about Vienna, and to focus on Windows Vista.
Mozilla

Submission + - flaw in way firefox updates extensions

Submitted by
Rishabh Singla
Rishabh Singla writes: "mozilla firefox has a flaw in the way it tries to update extensions when there is no active internet connection. instead of simply telling the user that there is no internet connection available, firefox throws up an incorrect error message as well as removes all the available updates from the list. this could be irksome and maybe harmful to some.
check out the details here
http://rishabhsingla.blogspot.com/2007/02/mozilla- firefoxs-way-of-updating.html"
Security

Bitlocker No Real Threat To Decryption? 319

Posted by Zonk from the keep-this-under-your-hat dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Register is running a story called 'Vista encryption 'no threat' to computer forensics'. The article explains that despite some initial concerns that lawbreakers would benefit from built-in strong encryption, it's unlikely the Bitlocker technology will slow down most digital forensic analysts. What kind of measures does one need to take to make sure no one but yourself has access to your data? Is Bitlocker just good enough (keeping out your siblings) or does it miss the whole purpose of the encryption entirely?" One would hope an international criminal mastermind could do better than the encryption built into Vista.
Censorship

Submission + - Google censors blog posts for NZ Government

Submitted by ESarge
ESarge writes: Google has removed some posts from a blog at the request of the New Zealand Government. The blog, CYFSWatch, purports to name and shame the actions of social workers working for Child, Youth & Family Service (CYFS), the national child protection agency. The blog has been controversial because it asks people to post addresses and personal details of individual social workers. For editor only: I suggest that the URL not be posted. The blog is at http://cyfswatch.blogspot.com/. Actual post is at http://cyfswatch.blogspot.com/2007/02/google-moves -on-behalf-of-new-zealand.html. This is being reported on Radio New Zealand National — the equivalent of NPR.
Software

Submission + - Inside Symbian: the Platform Nokia Secretly Hates

Submitted by DECS
DECS writes: The Symbian OS runs the majority of todays smartphones, and is generally regarded as a solid platform. All is not well behind the scenes however. Here's why Apple ported its own OS X to the ARM architecture for the iPhone, why Motorola left Symbian for Linux, and why Nokia executives secretly regard Symbian with contempt. An inside look from Symbian developers: Readers Write About Symbian, OS X and the iPhone.
Media

Submission + - Scientific Journals Say Access Equals Censorship

Submitted by
bcrowell
bcrowell writes: "Nature is reporting on e-mails leaked from the Association of American Publishers, which considers itself "under siege" because of NIH and congressional efforts to get all NIH-funded scientific papers posted for free on PubMed Central. The AAP has hired a PR firm, which is advising them to spread the message that "Public access equals government censorship," and that traditional for-profit print publishing is the same thing as peer peer review."
OS X

Submission + - Apple has Daylight Saving wrong in parts of Canada

Submitted by unrulymob
unrulymob writes: Mac OS X 10.4.8 has the start of Daylight Saving wrong in some Canadian timezones — Pacifc and Mountain at least. Linux distros (RedHat anyway), Sun Microsystems and Microsoft have all released patches that correct for the earlier start of Daylight Saving Time in Canada/Pacific and Canada/Mountain — but Apple thinks it got timezones correct last year. "zdump -v Canada/Pacific|grep 2007" shows PDT starting on April 1st — but it starts 3 weeks earlier — on March 11th. I called them under my MacBook 90 days of free support — but got a little bit of condescension from the support guy (and no updated zoneinfo files to date). I could chose to run under America/Los_Angeles and it would work. Maybe if I'd bucked up for AppleCare they would have listened?
Privacy

British Cops Hack Into Government Computers 247

Posted by Zonk from the accountability-from-the-bobbies dept.
CmdrGravy writes "The British Police have hacked into Government computers as part of the on-going 'cash for peerages' investigation. They've uncovered evidence which has, so far, led to one arrest and charge of perverting the course of justice for a leading Labour party figure. This charge carries a potential life sentence. The British police have the power to hack into computer systems as part of an investigation. On previous occasions they have said they did not believe the government was providing them with the information they had been asking for and had warned that they would seek other methods to gather evidence. The police won't say what tools they have used. From the article: 'The investigators did not have to notify No 10 if they were "hacking" into its system. One legal expert said: "In some cases, a senior officer can give permission. In other cases, you might need the authorization of an independent commissioner, who is usually a retired judge appointed by the Home Office."'"
Power

Submission + - EEStor UltraCaps to ship this year

Submitted by
emil10001
emil10001 writes: "As you may recall from earlier slashdot stories, EEStor is developing an ultracapacitor aimed at replacing traditional batteries. According to MIT's "Technology Review" these battery replacements should be shipping this year.

From the article:

A secretive Texas startup developing what some are calling a "game changing" energy-storage technology broke its silence this week. It announced that it has reached two production milestones and is on track to ship systems this year for use in electric vehicles.
EEStor's ambitious goal, according to patent documents, is to "replace the electrochemical battery" in almost every application, from hybrid-electric and pure-electric vehicles to laptop computers to utility-scale electricity storage.
"

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What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite. -- Bertrand Russell, "Skeptical Essays", 1928

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