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Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft's new validation policy

Submitted by
fishyfool
fishyfool writes: "Microsoft has started a new policy of authenticating the Windows operating system. Previously when a user has installed Windows they had to activate the OS with Microsoft online or by phone. One could understand why Microsoft put the activation process into place, with all the pirating that was taking place with early verisons of Windows. Now Microsoft has taken authentication of the Microsoft Validation to a whole new level. Starting now, they will be checking your operating system every month. mypcpros.com"
Communications

Submission + - Russian government DDoS'ed Estonian government

Submitted by Anonymous Estonian
Anonymous Estonian writes: The attacks started last week after the tiny ex-soviet republic of Estonia, now a member of the European Union and NATO, decided to relocate a controversial statue of the so called "Bronze Soldier" from town centre to a nearby war cemetery. The statue has significant symbolic value to Estonia's small community of mostly ethnic Russian post-World War II immigrants; not only symbolising Soviet victory over Nazism in the Great Patriotic War, but also their claimed rights in Estonia. As such, for many Estonians the Bronze Soldier is a symbol of Soviet occupation and repression. The Russian government called the relocation of the statue "blasphemous", "inhuman" and "extremely nationalist", even going as far as to call Estonia a "fascist country". Russia has demanded the resignation of the government, started a nationwide boycott of Estonian goods, blocked the work of Estonia's embassy in Moscow and finally launched a massive DDoS attack against Estonia's governmental institutions. "It has been established that cyber terrorist attacks against Estonian governmental institution websites and that of the President's Office's have been made from IP addresses of concrete computers and by concrete individuals from Russian government organs including the administration of the President of the Russian Federation," said Estonia's Foreign Minister Urmas Paet to the press yesterday.
Encryption

Submission + - Wikipedia Bans HD-DVD Encryption Key

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Much like Digg, Wikipedia is deleting edits to pages that include the key. They've even locked down the HD-DVD so that users can't edit it. How many more web sites will be brainwashed into believing that a number can be copyrighted?
Music

Submission + - Album giveaway could ignite music revolution

Submitted by Denyer
Denyer writes: A couple of years ago, Seattle group Harvey Danger released their album Little By Little online, free, forever. Now press elsewhere are increasingly giving coverage to the idea that music serves better as the advertising for live shows and merchandise, and UK band The Crimea have thrown themselves into the ring with their second album, Secrets of the Witching Hour. What do Slashdot readers think: is there value in recordings themselves any more, or are they mostly something to be shared and attract attention to a band's other endeavours?
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - e-gold response to false criminal charges

Submitted by
e-gold
e-gold writes: "I'm Jim Ray. I do not speak for e-gold despite my nick here. My boss is Dr. Jackson, the "accused". I would like to direct your readers to his response www.e-gold.com/letter3.html , in particular the hyperlinks. We're especially interested in independent legal views of the transcript from the emergency hearing before Magistrate Judge Facciola on 12/29/05 and the emails between myself and the USSS circa 11/04 — 1/05, which are linked to the document. Journalists who care about these issues should contact me if they wish to contact Dr. Jackson. I do not submit many stories to Slashdot, but this is truly an injustice. I'll point out that not one G&SR employee has left. We're all here, despite the lurid allegations financed by our taxes, because we all know we're 100% innocent, not just "not guilty." Thanks for considering this, and as usual, if any readers dare to create an account, I'll click them a bit to try if they send me an account#. JMR"
The Courts

Submission + - IPRED2 Slips Through in Europe :-(

Submitted by
egnop
egnop writes: "April 25, 2007

The European Parliament has just voted to pass the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED2) without substantive amendment, despite growing public opposition from across the European Union. The final vote of 374 to 278 with 17 abstentions points to a margin of Parliamentary support that has been narrowing ever since the Directive left subcommittee. While we are disappointed that IPRED2 was not defeated at this stage, we can see clearly the impact of the efforts of the over 8,000 Europeans who've taken action against the Directive. We were told by the two largest political parties that they felt that the Directive had not been given enough time to be properly discussed, and that our campaign had definitely contributed to the discussion.

The fight now moves to the Council of the European Union, where it will be considered by representatives of the national governments of all EU Member States. Several states have started to mount resistance to IPRED2 in recent weeks, with the UK and Holland leading the charge. Europeans worried about their right to innovate, and their ability to live under clear, fair criminal laws must now turn to their own national governments to ensure that IPRED2 doesn't set a terrible precedent for copyright law, and the EU legal process. If the Council disagrees with EuroParl's action — which we believe is in reach — IPRED2 would be returned for a second reading. We will be tracking these developments and providing opportunities to act at CopyCrime.eu.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005219.php"
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Wikipedia nofollow benefits it's founder

Submitted by
joeszilagyi
joeszilagyi writes: "TechCrunch has an interesting story here, which exposes possible financial and ethical conflicts of interest for Wikipedia. Wikipedia put 'nofollow' tags on all outbound links previously. It turns out, however, that certain approved domains on a map page are excluded from nofollow. Coincidentally, all pages at Wikia.com, the private for-profit company that Jimmy Wales founded, are exempt from nofollow restrictions. Wikia is also a financial benefactor of Wikipeda. Wikipedia's power to benefit SEO page ranking is what led people to link spam them. By allowing some financial backers to benefit, is Wikipedia putting committing ethical breaches?"
Enlightenment

Submission + - Tropical trees will not offset emissions as hoped

Submitted by Damien1972
Damien1972 writes: A new study, published in Ecology Letters, finds that growth rates of tropical trees are slowing due to global warming and may not offset rising carbon dioixde emissions as hoped. Lead author Kenneth Feeley of Harvard University says that the results contradict the hypothesis that higher levels of carbon dioxide would boost growth rates of trees in the tropics. Overall, the researchers measured a significant drop in growth rate for 24 — 71% of species in Panama, and 58 — 95% of species in Malaysia. Since higher temperatures may lead trees to absorb carbon at lower rates, the research suggests that sequestration initiatives would need to conserve and plant larger areas of tropical forest than previously expected to offset rising emissions.

Feed WSJ Notices That The NAB Has An Agenda (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
It's been pretty clear for some time that the National Association of Broadcasters' opposition to the merger of XM and Sirius isn't based on any concern for the public, as it would like you to believe, but rather is an attempt to get the government to bolster its struggling business because it doesn't want to compete in the marketplace. We've pointed out before that it's that behavior that rankles us in this case, rather than any real desire to see a merged XM-Sirius. What the NAB is doing -- the astroturfing, the paid shills, the conflicts of interest, the not-so-independent research, and most of all, the utter hypocrisy -- is representative of so many other entrenched industries that will do anything and everything they can to avoid having to actually compete in the marketplace. With all that in mind, it's nice to see people starting to catch on that the NAB's self-serving agenda means it really shouldn't have any part in the debate about the XM-Sirius merger, as The Wall Street Journal did over the weekend. As an editorial in the paper put it:

"No one knows whether the public will ever really take to the pay model, but it's not the role of the government to help the NAB smother a fledgling competitor in the crib... Telecom policy should not be about picking winners and losers but about encouraging investment and innovation. For that to happen, what's most important is competition among technological platforms: cable, telephone, wireless and satellite (for now). Policy makers and regulators would do better to focus less on static models of market share within one platform and more on making sure rival platforms continue to exist. Consumers will happily take care of the rest."
That cuts to the heart of the issue: the NAB wants the government to give it, in essence, a subsidy to protect its business -- just as it's tried to do so many times before, with so many other technologies. Blocking this merger won't block anticompetitive behavior from XM and Sirius, it will empower anticompetitive behavior from the NAB's terrestrial radio membership.

Feed Drug Company Sales Visits Influenced Doctors, Study Finds (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
Almost half of sales visits by pharmaceutical company representatives advocating the use of the drug gabapentin led to doctors stating that they intended to increase their prescription of the drug or recommend it to colleagues, according to an analysis of a survey completed by the doctors shortly after the visits.
Education

Submission + - Coffee has more soluble fiber than orange juice

Submitted by
drmirkin
drmirkin writes: "Coffee contains more soluble fiber than orange juice, according to a study from the Instituto del Frío in Spain (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, February 2007). Many people start the day with a glass of orange juice because they believe it is a health food, but it contains the same amount of sugar as a glass of Coca Cola.

Soluble fiber is beneficial because it is not absorbed in the upper intestinal tract. It goes to your colon where bacteria ferment it to form short chain fatty acids that are absorbed through your colon into your bloodstream. The short chain fatty acids travel to the liver to block the formation of cholesterol, and also lower high blood pressure by widening arteries. Better dietary sources of soluble fiber include oatmeal, barley, beans, and many whole fruits and vegetables. More on soluble fiber at http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/N233.html

Since fruit juices contain as much sugar and calories as soft drinks, it makes no sense to substitute juices for soft drinks. It's far better to learn to drink water to quench thirst, and get calories, vitamins and other nutrients from solid foods. Researchers at the University of Houston reviewed scientific studies to explain why sugared drinks make people fat (Nutrition Review, April 2006). They concluded that sugared drinks do not fill people up as much as solid food does, so calories in drinks do not suppress appetite as effectively as calories in food."

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