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DRM

German Court: Open Source Project Liable For 3rd Party DRM-Busting Coding 178

Posted by samzenpus from the damned-by-association dept.
Diamonddavej writes "TorrentFreak reports a potentially troubling court decision in Germany. The company Appwork has been threatened with a 250,000 Euro fine for functionality committed to its open-source downloader (JDownloader2) repository by a volunteer coder without Appwork's knowledge. The infringing code enables downloading of RTMPE video streams (an encrypted streaming video format developed by Adobe). Since the code decrypted the video streams, the Hamburg Regional Court decided it represented circumvention of an 'effective technological measure' under Section 95a of Germany's Copyright Act and it threatened Appwork with a fine for 'production, distribution and possession' of an 'illegal' piece of software."
Transportation

EU Proposes To Fit Cars With Speed Limiters 732

Posted by samzenpus from the slow-down dept.
schwit1 points out a new EU road safety measure to fit cars with devices that would stop them going over 70mph. "Under the proposals new cars would be fitted with cameras that could read road speed limit signs and automatically apply the brakes when this is exceeded. Patrick McLoughlin, the Transport Secretary, is said to be opposed to the plans, which could also mean existing cars are sent to garages to be fitted with the speed limiters, preventing them from going over 70mph. The new measures have been announced by the European Commission's Mobility and Transport Department as a measure to reduce the 30,000 people who die on the roads in Europe every year. A Government source told the Mail on Sunday Mr McLoughlin had instructed officials to block the move because they 'violated' motorists' freedom. They said: 'This has Big Brother written all over it and is exactly the sort of thing that gets people's backs up about Brussels.'"

Comment Re:U.S., cough, international pressure much? (Score 2) 166

The subtle point of the Initiative that seems to be lost on you is that there exists a whole spectrum of possible implementations of copyright law in between the quasi-Hitlerian approach taken by Hollywood and the rest of the high-volume industry and the free-for-all approach envisioned by fourteen year olds in the comment section on TPB. Making sure artists are compensated for their work is one thing. Very few people seriously argue against that. But allowing the monopolisation of culture for the lifetime of several generations? Bankrupting or imprisoning people for sharing a few songs or films? We treat arsonists, drunk drivers and drug dealers less harshly than the punishments some of the high-profile filesharing cases resulted in.
Transportation

Container Ship Breaks In Two, Sinks 361

Posted by Soulskill from the how-not-to-ocean dept.
Cliff Stoll writes "Along with 7000 containers, ship MOL Comfort broke in half in high seas in the Indian Ocean. The aft section floated for a week, then sank on June 27th. The forward section was towed most of the way to port, but burned and sank on July 10th. This post-panamax ship was 316 meters long and only 5 years old. With a typical value of $40,000 per container (PDF), this amounts to a quarter billion dollar loss. The cause is unknown, but may be structural or perhaps due to overfilled containers that are declared as underweight. Of course, the software used to calculate ship stability relies upon these incorrect physical parameters."

Comment Re:Yeah, geez, ya figure? (Score 1) 185

by silanea (#44182583) Attached to: Breaking Up With MakerBot
Good catch. I added the quoted parenthesis as an afterthought after writing the sentence and apparently did not pay as much attention during proof-reading as I should have. I probably should lay off posting after the third beer. :-)

Comment Re:Yeah, geez, ya figure? (Score 2) 185

by silanea (#44174475) Attached to: Breaking Up With MakerBot

The whole notion is dumb. It's hit the peak now, it's downhill from here. [...] Then you get people comparing home 3D printing to word processing, as if they still don't get that you can't compare information processing to handling matter. It's not the same, and never will be.

I kindly disagree. Today's machines indeed are only really useful for a limited audience, but once the complexity of use - both in software and hardware - decreases sufficiently their usefulness will expand to fields not even thought of today. I am looking forward to using the 3D equivalent of facsimiles of historical material in history classes. Just consider the possibilities: Instead of showing a picture of a Stone Age arrowhead or a Pope's seal - or, looking at other subjects, molecules, DNA, bacteria, organs... - I could pass around a life-size replica. Not just one taken from the limited collection my school has seen fit to purchase, but one chosen specifically to fit into my topic.

Similarly we are currently evaluating different 3D printing options for the volunteer emergency service I am a member of for producing scaled models of damaged buildings, vehicle wrecks etc. for strategic training. It would open up scenarios currently infeasable to simulate with our hand-built models.

It still is a long way off. But so were ubiquous cheap colour print-outs just 20 years ago.
The Military

Fear of Thinking War Machines May Push U.S. To Exascale 192

Posted by Soulskill from the fear-begets-a-stronger-military dept.
dcblogs writes "Unlike China and Europe, the U.S. has yet to adopt and fund an exascale development program, and concerns about what that means to U.S. security are growing darker and more dire. If the U.S. falls behind in HPC, the consequences will be 'in a word, devastating,' Selmer Bringsford, chair of the Department. of Cognitive Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, said at a U.S. House forum this week. 'If we were to lose our capacity to build preeminently smart machines, that would be a very dark situation, because machines can serve as weapons.' The House is about to get a bill requiring the Dept. of Energy to establish an exascale program. But the expected funding level, about $200 million annually, 'is better than nothing, but compared to China and Europe it's at least 10 times too low,' said Earl Joseph, an HPC analyst at IDC. David McQueeney, vice president of IBM research, told lawmakers that HPC systems now have the ability to not only deal with large data sets but 'to draw insights out of them.' The new generation of machines are being programmed to understand what the data sources are telling them, he said."
Earth

Stephen Hawking Warns Against Confining Ourselves To Earth 414

Posted by Soulskill from the universe-won't-mourn-a-mote-of-dust dept.
alancronin writes with this excerpt from CNet: "Stephen Hawking, one of the world's greatest physicists and cosmologists, is once again warning his fellow humans that our extinction is on the horizon unless we figure out a way to live in space. Not known for conspiracy theories, Hawking's rationale is that the Earth is far too delicate a planet to continue to withstand the barrage of human battering. 'We must continue to go into space for humanity,' Hawking said today, according to the Los Angeles Times. 'We won't survive another 1,000 years without escaping our fragile planet.'"
Linux

Linux Fatware: Distros That Need To Slim Down 299

Posted by samzenpus from the getting-in-shape dept.
snydeq writes "We need bare-bones Linux distros tailored for virtual machines or at least the option for installs, writes Deep End's Paul Venezia. 'As I prepped a new virtual server template the other day, it occurred to me that we need more virtualization-specific Linux distributions or at least specific VM-only options when performing an install. A few distros take steps in this direction, such as Ubuntu and OEL jeOS (just enough OS), but they're not necessarily tuned for virtual servers. For large installations, the distributions in use are typically highly customized on one side or the other — either built as templates and deployed to VMs, or deployed through the use of silent installers or scripts that install only the bits and pieces required for the job. However, these are all handled as one-offs. They're generally not available or suitable for general use.'"

Submission + - 1/3 of Free Android Apps Accesses and Uploads Your Private and Sensitive Data (huffingtonpost.com)

Submitted by amvlad
amvlad writes: If a stranger asked to see your phone so he could search through your inbox, photos, calendar entries and contact list? You'd likely be offended at the idea. But what if the stranger offered you a free video game? Millions of smartphone owners worldwide have said yes.

About one in three smartphone apps accesses and uploads the private data you store on your phone. Your privacy is as stake, and the risk of being profiled rises with every app you download.

Submission + - Extradition doesn't apply to Assange: judge (thelocal.se)

Submitted by Orre
Orre writes: A Swedish supreme court judge discussing his country's legal system and the case if WikiLeaks' founder Juilian Assange with Australian students has said that Swedish law prohibits extradition for military or political crimes.

Submission + - This pinhead-sized implant could replace hearing aids (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Depending on the level of hearing impairment, conventional aids may not be good enough and a hearing implant is the only option. But until now the required surgery to fit them has taken several hours. However, that is about to change.

A new, simple implant that can be fitted as outpatient surgery has been developed consisting of a 1.2mm electro-acoustic transducer, which is positioned at the so-called “round window,” which is where the middle and inner ear connect. It then produces amplified mechanical vibrations that stimulate the auditory nerve. Even though the transducer is tiny, it can reach volumes of up to 120 decibels.

Comment Re:Three letters.. (Score 1) 1121

Or maybe god is not evil, but he's doing whatever he's doing to prevent even greater suffering. Maybe man's believe in god (tenuous as it is) is the only thing keeping unspeakable evil from reining down on earth and whatever cruel acts we see in god are actually part of his efforts to save us from the greater evil.

Looking at the atrocities committed in the name of religion, I for one would rather take my chances with that other evil.

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