Groghunter - Slashdot User

Submission + - Is Wikipedia Becoming a Totalitarian State?

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Thursday February 08, 2007 @03:19PM

Anonymous Coward writes: "The Wikipedia admins are deleting Esperanza. Esperanza is a massive Wikipedia subculture that invested years promoting quality, community and mentorship on Wikipedia. Powers that be at Wikipedia have decided Esperanza is non-Encyclopedic. Now disenfranchised Wikipedians are leaving Wikipedia in frustration. What is going on?"

Submission + - Novartis is Challenging Indian Patent Law

Submitted by Jim_Maryland on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @07:03PM

Jim_Maryland writes: As pharmaceutical company Novartis proceeds with its legal challenge against the Indian government in a court hearing in Chennai today, nearly a quarter of a million people from over 150 countries have expressed their concern about the negative impact the company's actions could have on access to medicines in developing countries. The Indian Network for People with HIV/AIDS (INP+), the People's Health Movement, the Centre for Trade and Development (Centad), together with the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), called on the company again today to immediately cease its legal action in India

Many developing countries rely on affordable medicines produced in India, and such medicines constitute over half the AIDS drugs used in the developing world. India has been able to produce affordable versions of medicines patented elsewhere because until 2005 the country did not grant pharmaceutical patents.

Read on at doctorswithoutborders.org

This is an ongoing practice for Novartis...

Novartis was one of the 39 companies that took the South African government to court five years ago, in an effort to overturn the country's medicines act that was designed to bring drug prices down. Now Novartis is up to it again and is targeting India.

Is this just another case of greed or should companies be able to lock out competition to make up for drug development?

The international petition urging Novartis to drop the case is ongoing. To sign the petition and for more information, visit: Petition India

Submission + - A correction to recent story: "Hubble cam. los

Submitted by

Involved astronomer

on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @06:49PM

Involved astronomer writes: "Hello! I'm sorry if this is not the proper forum in which to offer a correction (or at least an addendum) to one of your stories! I'm a grant-funded astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute (www.stsci.edu) in Baltimore. I read the story you just posted about the loss of ACS (the Advanced Camera for Surveys) on Hubble. I am very concerned that the article conveys the wrong idea about HST. While HST's science capacity is diminished with the loss of ACS, HST lives on and will continue to produce world-class science, even before its servicing mission in Sept. 2008, which will upgrade the instrument suite with the most sophisticated imagers in history. So, I'd like to point out these facts: 1. A fuse blew on ACS side two electronics — This will LIKELY (we're not 100% sure yet) render the Wide-field channel and the High-resolution channel (e.g. 2/3rds of the camera) inoperable. The solar blind channel will likely be returned to operation. 2. While we have lost (2/3rds) of ACS, NICMOS and WFPC2, two fantastic imagers, are still operational. WFPC2 is responsible for many of the gorgeous images that grace many of your desktop wallpapers. 3. ACS had an expected lifetime of 5 years. It met that lifetime. The loss of ACS, while of course disappointing, is not necessarily a shock. 4. Servicing mission 4 is currently scheduled for Sept. 2008. It will upgrade HST to never-before-seen scientific capability and productivity. The Wide-Field Camera 3, which will be installed then, will essentially be an even more sophisticated successor to ACS. In short, the reports of Hubble's demise are GREATLY exaggerated. She will continue to produce world-class science and incredible images. While we are disappointed with the (apparent) loss of ACS, HST will live on well into the next decade. It would be really nice if your article could be updated to include at least a few of these encouraging facts! You can view one of our press releases on this here: http://hubblesite.org/acs/ You may confirm my involvement with HST science operations by emailing me at grant@stsci.edu if you wish! thanks! -Grant"

Submission + - Koreans advised to "avoid Vista" for now

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @01:27PM

An anonymous reader writes: The Chosonilbo reports that several government ministries in South Korea are advising users not to install Windows Vista, at least until popular online services can be made compatible. The problem is that ActiveX is pervasive in the Korean webspace, employed by everyone from web games to online banking. Upgrading to Vista is expected to render many of these services unusable. Portions of the popular "Hangul" word processor, a major competitor to Office in that country, are also not functioning under Vista. The Ministry of Information is planning to publish compatibility information for popular websites, and urging users to carefully research the implications of upgrading.

Submission + - Vonage Mass Outage

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 23, 2007 @11:32AM

An anonymous reader writes: It appears that Vonage is currently having a major service outage since early this morning. For my area code and exchange in Texas, I am not able to send or receive calls. This includes both within vonage (which MAY work) and outside of the vonage network.

Their website currently states:

Some customers are presently experiencing an intermittent issue affecting their ability to make and receive calls.

Our engineers are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it as soon as possible.

Please check your web account for updates. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience in this matter.

If anyone knows more details, please post.

Submission + - Streamburst Talks to BBC

Submitted by

Gareth Mitchell

on Tuesday January 23, 2007 @11:23AM

Gareth Mitchell writes: "Download and keep your favourite TV programme. Unique watermarking technology means that wherever the clip ends up, it's traced to you. That's the message from Streamburst's CEO David Parsons and CTO Robert Bjarnason in their first media interview on subject, given exclusively to Gareth Mitchell on the BBC's Digital Planet today (Tuesday). At last — an approach to DRM that treats users like us, like grown ups. It might be a while before Hollywood knocks on Streamburst's door but Parsons and Bjarnason say that the technology is ideal for independent film makers who want their work to be seen by a wider audience, whilst maintaining control of their intellectual property. Download the full interview on the Digital Planet podcast at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4849402.stm"

Submission + - Top 5 Sexiest Geek Girls Alive

Submitted by

themurph2099

on Thursday January 18, 2007 @10:54AM

themurph2099 writes: "From the site: You know, there is very little in this world better than Hot Girls....especially Hot Geek Girls. In 2006 several Hot Geek Gals were in the spotlight on websites, on podcasts, and on TV — and we here at Forever Geek would like to showcase some of these lovely ladies by selecting our Top 5 Sexiest Geek Girls Alive."

Submission + - ISOHunt Shutdown

Submitted by tgignac on Wednesday January 17, 2007 @11:41AM

tgignac writes: isoHunt Shut Down January 16, 2007 Thomas Mennecke isoHunt has been one of the long time staples of the BitTorrent/IRC/Usenet search engine genre. It's longevity has been exceptional among this crowd, lasting upwards of three years without hindrance. This is no small feat considering the site's administrator, Gary Fung, is the recipient of an MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) lawsuit which was filed in February of 2006. The eventual legal complaint was preceded by several email exchanges between Fung and the MPAA. isoHunt and the MPAA engaged in what could be considered an amicable debate on the merits of copyright laws in the digital age, however the movie industry's patience wore out once it was clear Fung's position was solidified. On February 23rd, 2006, the MPAA filed seven lawsuits that included nine sites; including ed2k-it.com, BinNewz.com, and of course isoHunt.com "Website operators who abuse technology to facilitate infringements of copyrighted works by millions of people are not anonymous — they can and will be stopped," said John G. Malcolm, Executive Vice President and Director of Worldwide Anti-Piracy Operations for the MPAA. "Disabling these powerful networks of illegal file distribution is a significant step in stemming the tide of piracy on the Internet." While most of these indexing sites capitulated, isoHunt.com decided to hold the line. The status quo remained intact for isoHunt.com, at least until today. File-sharing fans were not greeted by the typical search engine that resides on isoHunt.com — instead a stark message was left by Fung: "Lawyers from our primary ISP decided to pull our plug without any advance notice, as of 14:45 PST. No doubt about our lawsuit brought by the MPAA. We will be back in operation once we sort out this mess with our ISP, or we get new hardware ready from another ISP (already working on that)." Gary Fung told Slyck.com a temporary site is already up, however the traffic load is placing an exceptional burden on the server. This should be a temporary setback however, as Fung is working diligently to restore the site. With some patience and luck, isoHunt.com could be restored by morning. The amount of time will depend whether isoHunt.com's current ISP restores the site, or whether Fung will have to shop elsewhere for hosting.

Submission + - Preventing a Brute Force Attack

Submitted by

nywanna

on Wednesday January 17, 2007 @11:39AM

nywanna writes: "Brute force attacks (or dictionary attacks) are extremely common. Brian Sullivan looks at several things we can do to protect our websites from brute force attacks as well as several things that you should never do."

Submission + - Breaking: Guitar Hero Development Goes to Neversof

Submitted by

njkid1

on Wednesday January 17, 2007 @11:34AM

njkid1 writes: "The rhythm-action specialists who brought us Frequency, Amplitude, Karaoke Revolution and, of course, the Guitar Hero games won't be developing the next Guitar Hero, GameDaily BIZ has learned. Instead of Harmonix, it would appear that Tony Hawk developer Neversoft now has that honor... http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=1497 1&ncid=AOLGAM000500000000017"

Submission + - Apple Inc versus Securipod Trademark Dispute

Submitted by

Marion Barling

on Wednesday January 17, 2007 @11:21AM

Marion Barling writes: "iOwn? An Apple a day brings the Trademark Lawyers your way! The past few months has seen Apple issue Cease & Desist letters to business applying for Trade Mark registration with names that contain the letters pod and ipod. Securipod Ltd a new innovations company based in Watford are due to release their first product this summer under the brand name 'biouno' the world's first biometric wallet to help combat Id theft and credit card fraud. At the eleventh hour Apple opposed the trademark application for 'Securipod' (pronounced secur'e'pod) on the grounds that consumers could be confused, because 'securipod' includes the letters 'pod' and 'ipod' and a legal battle is now in progress. Last week Securipod were amused to see the tables turned when Apples' elaborate iPhone launch was marred by a trademark wrangle with Cisco who stakes a claim to the iPhone mark. Apple seemed to contradict themselves when referring to the iPhone trademark by claiming that the word iPhone should be considered generic and therefore should be able to be used by both Apple and Cisco without confusion. This battle of the giants was referred to as 'a silly tiff' by spokesman for Apple, Steve Downing. Meanwhile Securipod directors are bemused as to how a biometric wallet could be confused with an iPod mp3 player, but an Apple iPhone could not be confused with Cisco iPhone. Securipod design and marketing manager Mark Watson described Apples behaviour as an attempt by Apple to write its own rules for trademarks. He also added the 'silly tiff' as referred to by Apple can cost businesses tens of thousands of pounds in legal fees to fight for the right to protect their names."

Submission + - German govt plans to bug and online search PCs

Submitted by

gd23ka

on Wednesday January 17, 2007 @10:48AM

gd23ka writes: "Heise Online News is carrying an article the German Government plans to create
trojan software to penetrate privately owned computers and search them online. Infecting computers
with government malware is not new, the only question is how will American spyware and antivirus detection
kits deal with it. Oh and of course the entire concept of secretly searching computers opens a can of
worms for itself, the infection mechanism could for example be installed at one of the few big national internet
providers like T-Online and be triggered by whatever you choose to do with your internet connection.
As always the babelfish is your friend but I'm also providing a translation of the article:

In its answer to a minor inquiry of the Die Linke ("The Left") party on the lawfulness of searching the contents of
computers online the government of Germany has published details to the "Bundestrojaner" (Federal Trojan) it has
planned. The inofficial Federal Trojan designation refers to parts of a program that will infect a PC with spyware
code in order to allow police authorities and secret services to search computers online. ...
As far as the lawfulness of such an online search is concerned, the German government points towards a lawsuit that is
held in German Federal Court. Early december one of the investigating judges had ruled online searches of computers
illegal however the General Federal Attorney Harms immediately filed an objection to this ruling. ...
All told, the answer of the government to the inquiry leaves no doubt that the online search of computers will be an
indispensable instrument of criminal investigators and in-land security agencies. One advantage in contrast to
the physical search of a computer is that the accused does not know of the investigations conducted against them
and can't interfere with the investigation. ...
According to the German government there has not been an online search of a computer since due to the fact that
the only known incident that was authorized by an investigating judge in Bonn was stopped through a motion
filed at the German Federal Court. ..."

Submission + - Why the AT&T Deal is a Milestone for Net Freed

Submitted by

Mediacitizen

on Friday December 29, 2006 @01:25PM

Mediacitizen writes: "Columbia Law Professor Tim Wu has written a throrough analysis of AT&T's Net Neutrality concession. The deal, struck as a condition of the $85 billion merger between AT&T and BellSouth, may be remembered as "an important moment in Internet history," Wu writes. Public interest advocates negotiated the agreement with a purpose: to prevent the Internet from moving from being "lively" and "decentralized" toward "much more centralized control.""

Submission + - Second Life has gone down due to hardware failure

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Friday December 29, 2006 @12:53PM

Anonymous Coward writes: "The MMORPG Second Life has gone down due to hardware failure. Go here for the latest details: http://blog.secondlife.com/"

Submission + - New Renewable Electrical Power Generation Concept

Submitted by

rohar

on Friday December 29, 2006 @12:25PM

rohar writes: "I have been working on a system for clean, location independent and renewable electrical power generation that uses common materials and combines concepts from several existing low-gradient heat electrical generation systems.
The idea is to use a solar powered ammonia absorption heat pump system combined with a bi-directional chimney structure and underground thermal storage to "roll-your-own" geothermal source, independant of location. Power would be generated from both classic vapor turbines (as in low-temp geothermal) and from wind turbines in the chimney structure. The system would exploit the differences in temperature between the air and earth through day-heating/night-cooling and seasonal temperature changes to generate electrical power."

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