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VA

Submission + - The Pirate Bay sails to trial in january (www.sr.se) 3

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After a year and a half after the raid on The Pirate Bay, an action that doubled the number of visitiors, the preliminary work is done and come january the five men behind the site will go to trial for "aiding copyright infringement".
According to the anti-piracy agency it is a relief for everyone involved, them and TPB, to finaly be able to have the case tried in court.
One of the guys behind TBP says that he think the charge is strange considering that they never had any illigeal copies on the site, only links to other peoples machines.

Story in swedish only this far.
Linux Business

Submission + - An end to businesses fake consumer blogging ? (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by backwardvisionary
backwardvisionary writes: EU will forbid what they call "unfair business practices" including fake blogging, or "flogging". We all know who the most active company is as far as writing undercover on blogs, posting its easily identifiable corporate rethorics, vainly attempting to promote or defend their s/w products under attack from angry unsatisfied consumers. Or competitors frustrated by its anti-competition practices. As a result or this regulation, all floggers now will have to identify themselves. So ho will it affect all the Linux enthousiasts who blog ? Will they also have to claim who they are when praising their beloved O.S. ? How should it look like in their signature ? How about this : "Yes, I'm a happy Linux user, but in no way receiving any benefits from any Linux related business except the one of enjoying daily a reliable, convenient, secure, cool, fun, open, feature-unlimited O.S. and s/w platform. For free."
Robotics

Submission + - Robot goats save planet Earth from distruction (techtarget.com)

Submitted by
HRHsoleil
HRHsoleil writes: "Each year New Yorkers throw out over 180 million of those blue, Greek "We are happy to serve you paper coffee cups. Now where would you rather throw yours out? In a big boxy trash compactor that looks suspiciously like a mailbox, or by feeding a robot goat? I think the folks in Tokyo are on to something. Screw those big plastic cows. Make them robotic and let them do something useful like clean up the planet."
Google

Google As The Next Microsoft? 235

Posted by Zonk from the yeah,-he-went-there dept.
theodp writes "In this week's missive, Robert X. Cringely argues that Google is starting to look a bit like Microsoft. The search giant is learning too well from the master, says Cringely, noting that Google's launch of Goog-411 after taking a long look at investing in or acquiring Free411.com under an NDA is straight out of an old Microsoft playbook. Cringely goes on to note that Google has a problem with algorithmic optimization gone mad (seconded by Newsweek), which is wreaking havoc on some AdWords customers who may find themselves out of business before they can get Google to do the right thing. Cringely concedes that Google's inability to follow through because of IT failings may not have been learned from Microsoft — it may just be an inevitable part of having an IT monopoly."
The Military

Submission + - Military, defensive technology, cloaking (ninemsn.com.au)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Science fiction is getting closer to science fact according to an article posted at NineMSN.

British researchers have unveiled new technology that renders army tanks invisible to observers in the battle field, a British newspaper reports.

At top secret trials last week the Ministry of Defence demonstrated how the clever use of cameras and projectors can beam images of the surrounding landscape onto a tank.
Software

Submission + - Vista 64-Bit Review - x86 vs x64, Worth It? (exoid.com)

Submitted by
Cameron Butterfield
Cameron Butterfield writes: "Some of the rumors and myths going around about 64-bit are scary and are slowing the migration of many users to the 64-bit playground. Why do we all have 64-bit processors these days that aren't being put to use? In this review we will analyse Vista Ultimate 64-bit edition in terms of practicality and performance. We pitt 32-bit Vista against 64-bit Vista. See the surprising Conclusion."
Privacy

Submission + - UK to imprison for inability to decrypt data

Submitted by mrbluze
mrbluze writes: Ars technica has an article describing new laws which come into effect on 1st November in the UK. Up to 2 and 5 years imprisonment can be inflicted on any person who refuses or cannot provide keys or decrypt data as requested by police or military for criminal or anti-terror purposes, respectively. From the article:

The Home Office has steadfastly proclaimed that the law is aimed at catching terrorists, pedophiles, and hardened criminals — all parties which the UK government contends are rather adept at using encryption to cover up their activities.
It refers to a potential problem faced by international bankers who would be wary to bring their encryption keys into the UK. Some how I doubt that is the real problem with the law.
The Internet

Submission + - Social Networks Are More Popular Than Porn (time.com)

Submitted by
biohack
biohack writes: "An analysis of site-visit statistics offered by a TIME columnist points to a surprising reshaping of online landscape. The 18- to 24-year-olds today are apparently too busy chatting with friends to look at online skin.

Currently, for web users over the age of 25, Adult Entertainment still ranks high in popularity, coming in second, after search engines. Not so for 18- to 24-year-olds, for whom social networks rank first, followed by search engines, then web-based e-mail — with porn sites lagging behind in fourth. If you chart the rate of visits to social-networking sites against those to adult sites over the last two years, there appears to be a strong negative correlation (i.e., visits to social networks go up as visits to adult sites go down).
"
Movies

Submission + - Walmart gives HD-DVD a boost with a $99 player 1

Submitted by
smoondog
smoondog writes: "HD-DVD, the next generation format in a tight battle with rival Blu-Ray, got a huge boost this week with Walmart and K-Mart unveiling new pricing and exclusive advertising campaigns. Walmart is featuring the Toshiba HD-A2 player on Friday (11/2) as a 'secret' sale at $98.97. Additionally, a black Friday ad has the third generation HD-A3 at $169 at Sears, and K-Mart is now HD-DVD exclusive. Dreamworks is rolling out an exclusive Shrek based advertising campaign, and Walmart ads have been showing in primetime all week. Deflating even more from the Blu-Ray camp, Walmart is unveiling new pricing of $14.97 on a library of titles. Although Blu-Ray still maintains the sales lead, it is getting harder to argue with the $300 price difference between the lowest priced players."
Communications

Submission + - RIP, Washoe the signing chimp (google.com.au)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Washoe the first chimp to be taught American Sign Language has passed away aged 42. She taught us much about communications at a fundamental level and led to endless debate among linguists.
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Low budget open source VGA compatible video card (mveas.com) 1

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Seeing how the Open Graphics Project is only making slow progress, a new card is being developed by a few students to get a fast, simple and above all cheap video card out the door. Started just two months ago, they're already nearing completion of the circuit board. It sports a reasonably sized reprogrammable FPGA which should kickstart development of a full-fledged open source video card in the future, and the design currently only costs about a hundred euro.
The Courts

Submission + - U.of Oregon Says No to RIAA; ID no good

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The University of Oregon has filed a motion to quash the RIAA's subpoena for information on student identities, in what is believed to be the first such motion made by the university itself, rather than by the students, and the first instance of a State Attorney General bringing a motion to quash an RIAA subpoena. The motion (pdf) explains that it is impossible to identify the alleged infringers from the information the RIAA has presented: "Five of the seventeen John Does accessed the content in question from double occupancy dorm rooms at the University. With regard to these Does, the University is able to identify only the room where the content was accessed and whether or not the computer used was a Macintosh or a PC.... The University cannot determine whether the content in question accessed by one occupant as opposed to another, or whether it was accessed instead by a visitor. Two of the seventeen John Does accessed the content in question from single occupancy dorm rooms....No login or personally identifiable information, i.e. authentication, was used by the Does to access the university's network because none is required. The University cannot determine whether the content was accessed by the room occupant or visitor. Nine of the seventeen John Does accessed the content in question from the University's wireless network or a similar system called the "HDSL Circuit." These systems do record a user name associated with the access. For these John Does, the University can determine the identity of the individual who bas been assigned the user name, however, it is unable to determine whether the content was accessed by the individual assigned that user name or by someone else using the computer associated with the user name. In the case of sixteen of the seventeen John Does, .... it is not possible for the University to identify the alleged infringers without conducting interviews and a forensic investigation of the computers likely involved." The AG's motion further argues (pdf) that "Plaintiffs' subpoena is unduly burdensome and overbroad. It seeks information that the University does not readily possess. In order to attempt to comply with the subpoena, the University would be forced to undertake an investigation to create discovery for Plaintiffs — an obligation not imposed by Rule 45. As the University is unable to identify the alleged infringers with any accuracy, it cannot comply with its federal obligation to notify students potentially affected by the subpoena." One commentator has likened the AG's argument to saying, in effect, that the RIAA's evidence is "rubbish"."
United States

Submission + - Bill proposes to ban touch screen voting (capitolenews.com)

Submitted by
El Cubano
El Cubano writes: "Senator Bill Nelson (R-FL) has proposed a bill which would ban the use of touch-screen voting machines in federal elections. From the announcement:

The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007 would require all voting machines to produce a voter-verified paper trail by next year's presidential election and provides up to $1 billion for states to use for new voting equipment. But most importantly, the bill would phase out the use of touch-screen voting machines in federal elections by 2012, a measure Browning said he supports.
This seems like exactly the sort of thing that the Slashdot crowd has been clamoring for. Time to write your congress people and tell then to throw their support behind this bill."
Supercomputing

Submission + - Super-magnet sheds light on semiconductors

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: US researchers have demonstrated a revolutionary magnet design that could literally shed new light on nanoscience and semiconductor research. Developed by engineers at Florida State University's National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, the Split Florida Helix magnet can direct and scatter laser light at a sample down the centre of the magnet and from four ports on the sides. Due to become fully operational in 2010, the device can generate fields above 25 tesla. The highest-field split magnet in the world currently attains 18 tesla.

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