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Movies

Submission + - Blockbuster Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy 1

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: It's official — the Internet Killed The Video Star. The Guardian reports that Blockbuster has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US, after being hammered by online rental film services such as Netflix and DVD mail order companies. But the company, which Viacom purchased in 1994 for $8.4 billion, is expected to swiftly re-emerge after a restructuring deal was agreed with creditors who include billionaire Carl Icahn. Remember to always sell high, kids!
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Submission + - Netflix Hires Actors to Pose as Canadian Fans (google.com)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: Netflix is coming under fire for hiring actors to talk to the media at a launch of their Canadian service. A handout sheet instructed the actors to portray stereotypes of "mothers, film buffs, tech geeks, and couch potatoes." The Netflix representative in charge apologized and claimed that it was never meant to go that far — that in order to get a permit they pretended like they were filming a documentary and so they hired a few actors who were just supposed to attract a crowd and not talk to the media. The handout script provided to the actors from Netflix does a good job of contradicting that explanation however, 'Extras are to behave as members of the public, out and about enjoying their day-to-day life, who happen upon a street event for Netflix and stop by to check it out. Extras are to look really excited, particularly if asked by media to do any interviews about the prospect of Netflix in Canada.' Perhaps they were having a hard time finding anything but Zip.ca fans?
Shark

Scientists Using Lasers To Cool Molecules 169

Posted by CmdrTaco from the my-fridge-is-powered-by-fire dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Ever since audiences heard Goldfinger utter the famous line, 'No, Mr. Bond; I expect you to die,' as a laser beam inched its way toward James Bond and threatened to cut him in half, lasers have been thought of as white-hot beams of intensely focused energy capable of burning through anything in their path. Now a team of Yale physicists has used lasers for a completely different purpose, employing them to cool molecules down to temperatures near absolute zero, about -460 degrees Fahrenheit. Their new method for laser cooling, described in the online edition of the journal Nature, is a significant step toward the ultimate goal of using individual molecules as information bits in quantum computing."

Comment Re:sigh (Score 1) 197

by the3stars (#31110480) Attached to: Google Rejects Australian Censorship Proposal
troll? I'm glad someone got my point, this is all about trolling. The GOP is a massive troll organization, as evidenced by their recent 'census' money grab. The party is all about con'troll'ing free thought and replacing it with empty values while profiting off of the whole deal.
Australia

Google Rejects Australian Censorship Proposal 197

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i-blame-hormes dept.
Xiroth writes "Google has rejected overtures from the Australian government to censor YouTube clips that had been given an RC rating by Australian classification authority, the OFLC. According to a Google spokesperson: 'YouTube has clear policies about what content is not allowed, for example hate speech and pornography, and we enforce these, but we can't give any assurances that we would voluntarily remove all Refused Classification content from YouTube. The scope of RC is simply too broad and can raise genuine questions about restrictions on access to information. RC includes the grey realms of material instructing in any crime from [painting] graffiti to politically controversial crimes such as euthanasia, and exposing these topics to public debate is vital for democracy.'"

Submission + - EU parliament rejects SWIFT data sharing (businessweek.com)

Submitted by Menchi
Menchi writes: The EU parliament just rejected an earlier decision by the EU council to grant the US unlimited access to all banking data (http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/11/27/150234/EU-About-To-Grant-US-Unlimited-Access-To-Banking-Data). This earlier decision was made on the last day before the treaty of Rome, which would have granted the parliament a vote in this matter, came into effect. After the rejection of the treaty by a parliamentary group last week (http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/02/06/1836221/EU-Committee-Says-No-To-Bank-Data-Sharing), the whole parliament rejected it with 378 to 196 votes.

Submission + - Brain surgery linked to spirituality (scientificamerican.com)

Submitted by the3stars
the3stars writes: "Removing part of the brain can induce inner peace, according to researchers from Italy. Their study provides the strongest evidence to date that spiritual thinking arises in, or is limited by, specific brain areas."

This raises a number of interesting issues about spirituality, among them whether or not people can be born with a strong propensity towards spirituality and also whether it can be acquired through head trauma. Maybe Jesus died of a brain tumor.
Networking

Submission + - Sweden Unseats US as Top Technology Using Country (reuters.com)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: Reuters brings word of professor Leonard Waverman's annual Connectivity Scorecard study that looks at nationwide usage of telecommunications technologies (networks, cellphones and computers). For the first time the United States is not number one, they are number two. It's a tight race for number one, closely following the US is Norway, Denmark, Netherlands and Finland (in that order). The report doesn't look just at technological aspects of telecommunications but also concentrates on the economic gain and usefulness of that technology. This causes countries like Korea to finish eleventh (not as connected as they could be) but still rank near the top on the Digital Opportunity Index. The full 2009 report [PDF] can be found at connectivityscorecard.org.
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Star Wars TV show tainted by memories of Jar Jar (sffmedia.com)

Submitted by bowman9991
bowman9991 writes: Can George Lucas' new Star Wars TV series, the first Star Wars spin off with real actors, atone for the flawed follow-ups to his original classics? Producer Rick McCallum calls the new series "much darker," a "much more character-based series" and "more adult," while George Lucas himself calls it more like the first Star Wars film. The new TV show takes place in the "dark times" between the last prequel Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, when most of the Jedi and anti-emperor politicians were hunted down and killed.The characters of Boba Fett, C-3PO, and the Emperor Palpatine will return, and casting has now begun. Mark Hamill, the actor who played Luke Skywalker from the original movies, believes George Lucas lost his way, "making it bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger until you're just exploding with special effects all over the screen like some fireworks display," but thinks the new show is a "positive" step forward. Hopefully George Lucas can wipe the memory of Jar Jar Binks, Anakin and Padme's romance, his shameless merchandising, and some lame attempts at humour from everyone's minds once and for all.
Censorship

Submission + - Now Kookey Conroy wants to censor Youtube. (smh.com.au)

Submitted by ratzmilk
ratzmilk writes: Google says it will not "voluntarily" comply with the government's request that it censor YouTube videos in accordance with broad "refused classification" (RC) content rules.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy referred to Google's censorship on behalf of the Chinese and Thai governments in making his case for the company to impose censorship locally.

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