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Math

Submission + - The faithiness of science (nytimes.com)

Submitted by mlimber
mlimber writes: The New York Times is running a provocative piece on the faith-based nature of science: "The problem with this neat separation into 'non-overlapping magisteria,' as Stephen Jay Gould described science and religion, is that science has its own faith-based belief system. All science proceeds on the assumption that nature is ordered in a rational and intelligible way.... [B]oth religion and science are founded on faith — namely, on belief in the existence of something outside the universe, like an unexplained God or an unexplained set of physical laws, maybe even a huge ensemble of unseen universes, too. For that reason, both monotheistic religion and orthodox science fail to provide a complete account of physical existence.... [U]ntil science comes up with a testable theory of the laws of the universe, its claim to be free of faith is manifestly bogus."
Privacy

Submission + - AnimalRights Activists Hit by DecryptionLaw in UK (techluver.com)

Submitted by
Tech.Luver
Tech.Luver writes: "Animal rights activists are thought to being the first Britons to be asked to hand over keys to data encrypted on their computers to the Police. Excerpts from the article: "The request for the keys is being made under the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). Police analysing machines seized during raids on activist's homes carried out in May have asked for the keys. The activists could face jail if they do not comply and snub a further formal request to hand over the keys. Case law In early November about 30 animal rights activists are understood to have received letters from the Crown Prosecution Service in Hampshire inviting them to provide passwords that will decrypt material held on seized computers. The letter is the first stage of a process set out under RIPA which governs how the authorities handle requests to examine encrypted material. Once a request has been issued the authorities can then issue what is known as a Section 49 notice demanding that a person turn the data into an "intelligible" form or, under Section 51 hand over keys. ( http://techluver.com/2007/11/20/animal-rights-activists-hit-by-decryption-law-ripa-in-uk/ )"

Feed Techdirt: News Flash: Consumers Prefer DRM-Free Music (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
The evidence that consumers like DRM-free music just keeps pouring in. The latest is a story from 7 Digital, a small online music store in the UK, which is reporting that DRM-free formats are outselling DRM-encumbered formats by a 4-to-1 margin. This isn't too surprising, given that DRM-encumbered music sold by anyone other than Apple won't play on the iPod, the world's most popular portable music player. Obviously, when given a side-by-side choice, the vast majority of consumers are going to choose the format that works everywhere. I suspect that name recognition is also a factor in MP3's favor: almost everyone has heard of MP3s, so someone who doesn't know anything else about digital formats or DRM is going to go with MP3 as a trusted "brand." One other interesting point in the article is that 7 Digital now has 60 percent of its music available in DRM-free formats, and expects to get that figure close to 100 percent by next summer. They appear to carry a wide variety of music from both major and independent labels. Until this year, iTunes was the only legal way to get your major-label music on your iPod. That was great for Apple, but not so good for the major labels. Now that the labels have come to their senses and started allowing DRM-free music sales, we're going to see, for the first time, a genuinely competitive market for online music with a lot of different music stores, all carrying both major-label and independent fare, and all selling music that will work with any device. Apple's music store will finally have to compete on its merits, rather than being propped up by its DRM monopoly. It's an exciting time to be a music fan.

Tim Lee is an expert at the Techdirt Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Tim Lee and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.



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Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft blanks out Android (live.com)

Submitted by Shyam J
Shyam J writes: There is No mention of Android on Live Search. Even searching for "Android Technology" shows nothing. Compare this with the Google or the Yahoo search pages. This tells me that Yahoo is way more reliable than MS Live!
Power

Submission + - Beeb falls for dubious perpetual motion device

Submitted by
Sockatume
Sockatume writes: "Ben Goldacre reports on the Ecowatts Thermal Energy Cell and the Beeb's less-than-insightful coverage thereof:

Using the apparatus provided, it's true, this scientist could get incredible results: the meters would read zero, and yet water would boil in around five minutes. Because the meters provided weren't working.
Dan's Data covered the same gadget a couple of months ago, when it appeared in the (ever so credulous) Daily Mail. Prepetual motion seems to be going through something of a renaissence in these energy-conscious times. Or maybe everyone's just jumping on the Steorn bandwagon."
Businesses

Submission + - Obese Air Passengers Could Face Higher Prices (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
s31523
s31523 writes: "It has happened to all of us. You walk down the narrow airplane to your seat only to find someone sitting next to you that is extremely overweight. An Australian nutritionist is urging airlines to charge obese people more for their tickets. Even here in the states, Southwest Airlines already has a similar policy, which states "Many Americans are "overweight" or "clinically obese." . . . If a Customer cannot lower the armrest (and is unable to comfortably travel with it in the down position), he/she is required to pay for the additional seat occupied""
Christmas Cheer

Submission + - Monster Cable Strongarms Clothing Company 1

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Monster Cable is using strong arm legal tactics against a vintage clothing company called Monster Vintage for using the word "Monster" in its company name. The cable company wants the clothing firm to sign a license agreement which has bits such as Monster Cable will grant Monster Vintage a license to use "Monster Vintage" and "Monstervintage.com" for the sale of new and used clothing on the Internet. and The term of the license will be for 10 years, with 5 renewable options at Monster Vintage's request. (full terms of the agreement can be seen here

What threat could a vintage clothing firm be to a company selling copper wire?

Feed Engadget: PlayStation 2 modchip on a memory card now on sale (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Gaming

It's not like folks haven't been tinkering with something like this, but it's quite refreshing to see an actual product emerge that promises to deliver on the claims we've been hearing about. Apparently, the Memor 32 memory card enables PlayStation 2 owners across the globe to effectively chip their console without requiring a single power tool. The unit promises to allow gamers to load / unload save games (not to mention backups, homebrews, etc.) to and from their PC, and there's even a built-in USB connector to make things even simpler for you. 'Course, we'd still like to see one of these in action before lauding it too enthusiastically, but if you're willing to take a chance, MrModChips will gladly take your £33.49 ($70).

[Via PS2News]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Firefly Serenity sequel a possibility? (sffmedia.com)

Submitted by
bowman9991
bowman9991 writes: "Sequel to Serenity finally happening? Fantastic if true. Reports suggest there is a chance of a direct to DVD sequel to Serenity, the film that followed on from where the television show Firefly left off. Alan Tudyk, the actor who played the the ship's pilot, Hoban Washburne, said that the newly released "Serenity: Special Edition" DVD has been selling so well Universal is talking about doing another movie. Hopefully this time for real!"
Games

50 Landmark Game Design Innovations 156

Posted by Zonk from the on-your-left-we-have-mods dept.
Next Generation has put together a lengthy list of landmark game design innovations that many of your favorite games probably wouldn't exist without. They break them out into self-contained units, though it's sometimes ambiguous how they're demarcating game design elements. Just the same, it's an interesting look at where game industry trends have led us: "23. Gestural interfaces. Many cultures imbue gestures with supernatural or symbolic power, from Catholics crossing themselves to the mudras of Hindu and Buddhist iconography. Magic is often invoked with gestures, too--that's part of what magic wands are for. The problem with a lot of videogame magic is that clicking icons and pushing buttons feels more technical than magical. The gestural interface is a comparatively recent invention that gives us a non-verbal, non-technical way to express ourselves. Best-known example: Wii controller. Probable first use: Black & White, 2001."
Google

Submission + - France to Google: help us promote our culture (french-law.net)

Submitted by
njondet
njondet writes: "It now seems long gone are the days when France saw Google as an instrument of American cultural imperialism which needed to be challenged by European governments. Earlier this month, the French Culture Minister officially asked Google for recommendations on how to promote the online presence of French culture . This constitutes a remarkable change of heart for France which, under the Chirac presidency, had planned the launch of European projects, such as the Quaero search engine, in order to challenge Google's technological dominance and protect France's cultural independence in the digital world. France now appears to consider that its culture and Google can thrive together. This u-turn can be explained by the pragmatic realization that anti-Google projects would fail as they have done in the past. A realization that France was all the more willing to make under its new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, a self-proclaimed pro-American eager to break with the policies of Chirac, his predecessor, former mentor and bitter rival. The reconciliation with the Californian company was also assisted by the reassurances given by Google to the Culture minister that its new filtering technology for YouTube would help secure the copyrights, and thus the revenues and future, of the French cultural industry."
Networking

Submission + - Aussie Claims Copper Broadband now 200x Faster (beskerming.com)

Submitted by
SkiifGeek
SkiifGeek writes: "Winner of Melbourne University's Chancellor's Prize for Excellence, Dr John Papandriopoulos could soon find himself the focus of a number of networking companies and government agencies interested in wringing more performance from existing network infrastructure.

Dr John developed a set of algorithms (US and Aussie patents pending) that reduce the impact of cross talk on data streams sharing the same physical copper line, taking less than a year to achieve the breakthrough. It is claimed that the algorithms can produce up to 200x improvement over existing copper broadband performance (quoted as being between one and 25 mbit/sec), with up to 200 mbit/sec apparently being deliverable. If the mathematical theories are within even an order of magnitude of the actual gains achieved, Dr John's work is likely to have widespread implications for future bandwidth availability across the globe."

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