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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 46 declined, 12 accepted (58 total, 20.69% accepted)

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Businesses

Submission + - Should IT Support the iPhone for Business?

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "Should IT departments support the iPhone for business use? A new report by Forrester Research suggests not. The report cites security issues and pricing as cons that outweigh the pros of usability and popularity. From the article: "Enterprises often make mobile device purchasing decisions based on the experience of their peers or industry analysts' recommendations, but with such information lacking about the iPhone, Forrester said it won't likely be making its way into many businesses anytime soon.""
Businesses

Submission + - Survey Finds People Skills Valued Over Technical (news.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "From the Article: Interpersonal skills are more important in the workplace than IT skills, according to the results of a survey commissioned by Microsoft. In the survey of approximately 500 board-level executives, 61 percent said interpersonal and teamworking skills were more important than IT skills. However, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said that while communication skills are important, IT skills now permeated every level and type of job. But Gates also acknowledged the value of people skills. "Software innovation, like almost every other kind of innovation, requires the ability to collaborate and share ideas with other people, and to sit down and talk with customers and get their feedback and understand their needs.""
Security

Submission + - Exploit Found in Microsoft Access and HP Software

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "US-CERT has issued two warnings this week about relating to Microsoft Access's handling of .MDB database files. The files are susceptible to stack buffer overflow vulnerabilities and allow the attacker to activate code on the infected machine remotely. US-CERT has not made a statement to the severity of the exploit other than the fact that is being actively used in attacks. A proof of the vulnerability has been out for almost a month. Warnings have also been issued by US-CERT for software found on HP laptops. A proof also exists for this exploit."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - UK to Pull Back Funding for Science Projects

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "The government of the United Kingdom is pulling funding for a number of high profile science endeavors. Most notable among the list of projects cut are Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes and the International Linear Collider. The announcement was made by the Science and Technology Facilities Council who cited budget overruns as the reasoning for the cuts. The cuts have many in the community worried as some estimates have reported that a 25% cut to grant money issued could come into play."
United States

Submission + - Investigation Alleges Climate Science Manipulation

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "The Washington post is running a story about a 16-month House Oversight and Government Reform Committee investigation that alleges the White House tampered with climatology reports. The investigation's report finds that the White House has tried to downplay the significance of climate change through a consistent pattern of conduct by controlling public access to government climate scientists and suppressing views counter to the White House view. The 294 edits of the 2003 White House plan to address climate change by the The White House Council on Environmental Quality were especially controversial. The White House has consistently maintained contrary to their accusers that these edits and any other actions they have taken are only trying to highlight the fact that there is uncertainty about the causes of climate change and what should be done to combat it. They insist that they have not tampered with the science."
Space

Submission + - Mystery About Earth's Mantle May Be Solved

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "Recent observations made by the University of British Columbia may give insight to an old question about the composition of Earth's mantle, precisely why Earth's mantle doesn't resemble chondrite more. The article discusses the findings of John Hernlund about how the dynamics of magma account for the discrepancies in the theoretical composition of Earth and the actual composition of the mantle."
The Courts

Submission + - Texas AG Brings Tests of Children's Privacy Law

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "The Attorney-General of Texas, Greg Abbott, has brought suit against two websites for violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act(or COPPA). The two sites, TheDollPalace.com and Gamesradar.com, are the first sites to be tried under the 1998 act. The sites are under prosecution for "[failing] to include necessary disclosures and obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children.""
United States

Submission + - Comprehensive Energy Bill Stalls in Senate

Submitted by explosivejared
explosivejared writes: Senate Republicans on Friday blocked efforts to advance a wide-ranging energy bill, aiming to strip it of provisions that would roll back tax breaks for big oil companies and require utilities to generate a large chunk of electricity from sources such as solar and wind energy. The action comes a day after the House passed the energy bill, which would require the first increase in automobile fuel-economy standards in decades, boost taxes on big oil companies by $13 billion over the next 10 years and require a major increase in the use of ethanol and other biofuels.
The Internet

Submission + - NY Gov. Spitzer Pushes for Statewide Broadband

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer yesterday announced his plan to provide broadband Internet access to everywhere in the state of New York. Spitzer compared a ubiquitous Internet infrastructure to the Eerie Canal in the benefit it would bring the state. Spitzer said, "It is how information flows and we are living in an economy where information is the commodity that matters and it is necessary that everyone is wired.""
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Why Google Doesn't Need to "Win" in Jan. (thestreet.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "TheStreet.com discusses how Google is "shrewdly playing" their bid for the 700 mhz spectrum. The article points at that through getting the government to put an open access stipulation on the spectrum, Google has almost assured itself of meeting its goal without actually having to win the bid. From the article:

Indeed, as long as this goal is met, it's hard to see why Google would want to take on the costly task of building and running its own network. But given how much is at stake when it comes to the mobile market, Google's vigilance is shrewd, even if it never planned to own the spectrum."
Space

Submission + - Private Company First to Take on Lunar X Challenge

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "A private company by the name of Odyssey Moon (pdf warning on the official press release) has become the first team to complete registration for Google's Lunar X Challenge. They will likely be competing with several heavyweights in the field, as Carnegie Mellon University, along with many others, has already expressed an interest in the competition."
Social Networks

Submission + - NASA Seeks a Younger Crowd with Retooled Site

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "In a move that Cnet calls "[seeking] to draw the Myspace crowd", NASA has overhauled their website. The new look site is an attempt to appeal to a younger generation enamored with all the goodies that "web 2.0" sites like MySpace have to offer. The new site features new blogs and a top video playlist of shuttle footage and the like.

The questions I pose to the /. community are these: is this really a good idea? Do social-networking inspired tactics have a place in NASA's plan for the future? Does NASA even have a choice? Is this a matter of adapt or die?"
IBM

Submission + - IBM Embraces Solaris for the Mainframe (informationweek.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "In an example of the computer industry's higher level of abstraction — in this case, known as horse trading — IBM has called attention to a demonstration of Solaris running on the mainframe. It's also endorsed Sun Microsystems' xVM product, its entry into virtualization for x86 servers. The endorsement is notable at a time when Sun is seeking credibility for yet another hypervisor entrant into the virtualization market. IBM's xVM endorsement is practically the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, since it invented virtualization more than 40 years ago. Sun in turn has assisted a third party, the research and development firm Sine Nomine Associates in Ashburn, Va., in getting Sun's OpenSolaris operating system to run on the IBM mainframe, something that many observers said would never happen.

"We're thrilled to be able to reach new customers and market opportunities alongside IBM," said Rich Green, executive VP for software at Sun, in a statement released during Gartner's Data Center Conference in Las Vegas on Friday."
Cellphones

Submission + - Talks Stall Over Bringing the iPhone to China

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "Is Apple's strategy of exclusive carrier deals for the iPhone unraveling? Events in China and Germany this week suggest that CEO Steve Jobs might have to rethink the strategy, at least in parts of the world. A Chinese newspaper reported Thursday that talks between Apple and China Mobile, China's largest wireless carrier, have stalled over the issue of revenue-sharing.

..."China is an important market for cell phones and overall has to be figured into Apple's worldwide strategy for the iPhone," Tim Bajarin, principal analyst for Creative Strategies, said in an e-mail. "But it is a difficult market to penetrate and Apple would need China Mobile if they want to gain any serious traction in this emerging market." China Mobile president Wang Jianzhou revealed several weeks ago that the company was negotiating with Apple for the iPhone. But Wang signaled he wasn't particularly interested in sharing subscriber revenues. "We still think we can maintain the operator-centric model because we have the customers," Wang said at an Asian wireless conference."
Communications

Submission + - FCC May Move to Cap Cable Companies Size (reuters.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is moving toward resurrecting a proposal that would limit the size cable operators could reach on a nationwide basis, sources said on Friday. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has enough support on the five-member commission to pass a measure that would bar cable companies from owning systems that have more than a 30-percent share of U.S. multichannel video subscribers, according to one FCC source. Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus said in a research note that Martin is aiming for a vote on the cable ownership cap no later than the commission's next meeting on Dec. 18."

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