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Announcements

Ubuntu Hardy Heron Announced 511

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the limping-llama-still-to-come dept.
Jono Bacon, Community Manager for Ubuntu, has announced development on the next version of the popular Linux distribution name "Hardy Heron". "Not only will the Ubuntu community continue to do what it does best, produce an easy-to-use, reliable, free software platform, but this release will proudly wear the badge of Long Term Support (LTS) and be supported with security updates for five years on the server and three years on the desktop. We look forward to releasing the Hardy Heron in April 2008."
Nintendo

Submission + - Wii Lightsabre - First Wii remote hack?

Submitted by Hillie
Hillie writes: Apparently someone has hacked the Wii remote and paired it with their Mac; They've developed a Mac OS X application that essentially allows you to use the Wii remote as a virtual lightsaber. Slashfilm has the scoop. You simply run the application, and then press 1+2 on your Wii remote to connect it to your Mac, and then presto! Swing that baby around. It even vibrates when the virtual saber strikes something (simulated) and the saber can be retracted using the B button. It's only sound, but still it's pretty fun to play around with. The whole Star Wars light saber thing has become a desperate want for all Star Wars fans everywhere since the Wii has been announced. There is also a video of it in action as well.
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Search Engines Illegal In Australia

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A court ruling has given the recording industry the green light to go after individuals who link to material from their websites, blogs or MySpace pages that is protected by copyright.

A full bench of the Federal Court yesterday upheld an earlier ruling that Stephen Cooper, the operator of mp3s4free.net, as well as the internet service provider that hosted the website, were guilty of authorising copyright infringement because they provided a search engine through which a user could illegally download MP3 files.

The website did not directly host any copyright-protected music, but the court held that simply providing links to the material effectively authorised copyright infringement.
AMD/OSTG

Journal Journal: AMD Updates Opteron, Turion Road Maps

Journal by OSTG Marketing
AMD has updated its Opteron rollout roadmap with an announcement of a quad-core processor for one-socket servers and workstations, and giving us a release date on the follow-up to its initial quad-core release, as well as its new mobile processor core. "That initial quad-core release will be followed in the first half of 2008 by the launch of Shanghai, its quad-core successor, according to Seyer.
Programming

Submission + - Easier Ajax with Ruby on Rails

Submitted by IndioMan
IndioMan writes: One great thing about the Rails approach, is that it uses run-time code generation and custom tags, which insulates you from the complexities of JavaScript. This article walks through a couple of simple Ruby on Rails — Ajax examples and, along the way, shows you what makes the Ruby/Ajax combination so successful.
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Zprexa side effects played down for sales

Submitted by
MrCrassic
MrCrassic writes: "From the article:

The drug maker Eli Lilly has engaged in a decade-long effort to play down the health risks of Zyprexa, its best-selling medication for schizophrenia, according to hundreds of internal Lilly documents and e-mail messages among top company managers...Lilly's own published data, which it told its sales representatives to play down in conversations with doctors, has shown that 30 percent of patients taking Zyprexa gain 22 pounds or more after a year on the drug, and some patients have reported gaining 100 pounds or more. But Lilly was concerned that Zyprexa's sales would be hurt if the company was more forthright about the fact that the drug might cause unmanageable weight gain or diabetes, according to the documents, which cover the period 1995 to 2004.
"
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Readerless RFID: Berkeley's Mesh Network

Submitted by
donzo
donzo writes: "eWEEK has an article about advances in RFID: "UC/Berkeley researchers have created tiny wireless 'motes' (aka network sensors) that use radio signals to communicate where they are located in physical space. The end goal: an RFID network that could revolutionize the industry with its ability to locate tagged items without the aid of readers... 'What we showed in the university was that you could network together a lot of sensors,' said Kristofer Pister, a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC/Berkeley who made a name for himself with his 1997 development of technology called Smart Dust — a self-organizing network of tiny wireless 'motes.'... Intended to be about the size of a grain of sand or a piece of dust — the motes from Dust Networks are currently about the size of a quarter — the motes contain sensors, computing circuits, bi-directional wireless technology, and an antenna and very low-battery power supply that are external to the chip. The motes can detect light, temperature or vibrations."
Patents

Submission + - "Softwarepatents are Evil" says the BSA

Submitted by
Paul Cobbaut
Paul Cobbaut writes: ""Patent trolling activities essentially hold inventors and tech companies hostage and clog up the patent system with injunctions and excessive litigation." This sounds like a Slashdot comment, but it is written by the BSA on their webpage. Who ever thought the BSA would become so insightful ?"
Games

Submission + - Child's Play begins for this year

Submitted by DJLuc1d
DJLuc1d writes: Penny-Arcade's succesful charity, Child's Play is begining its drive for this year. For those who are unfamiliar with Child's Play, its goal is to help hospitals around the world by providing sick kids with not only video games, but consoles, books, movies, and other entertainment while they are in the hospital.
Privacy

Submission + - Internet Webcams installed on Texas/Mexico Border

Submitted by Anonymous Immigrant
Anonymous Immigrant writes: Texas recently installed Internet viewable surveillance cameras on the Mexican border as a part of their Border Watch program. They have provided this "to stress the system by providing public access to numerous surveillance cameras. Thank you for helping test this important capability." So I figured Slashdot might be able to help out. Login is required — try borderwatch@gmail.com/X9kn2M4c — and they require Internet Exploder, plus a plug-in from E-Watch.

After all that, you get a screen with thumbnails from nine webcams that you can then click on to get live footage — update rate appears to be a couple of frames/second. They go on to say "If you should notice any suspicious activity while viewing the camera images please notify the State by selecting the "Report Suspicious Activity" button under the camera view."

I watched for a while, but it was about as exciting as watching grass grow. Will this be an effective tool in "securing the border for the people of Texas?"

$9 Billion Loophole for Synthetic Fuel 328

Posted by Zonk from the that's-a-dirty-pool dept.
Rondrin writes "CNN has an article detailing a $9 billion loophole in the tax code to spur synthetic fuel development. Unfortunately, spraying coal with pine tar qualifies. From the article: 'The wording is so bland and buried so deep within a 324-page budget document that almost no one would notice that a multibillion-dollar scam is going on. Not the members of Congress voting for it and certainly not the taxpayers who will get fleeced by it. And that is exactly the idea.'"

Digital Signals Spark Static From AM Radio 176

Posted by Zonk from the what's-that-I-can't-hear-you dept.
Carl Bialik writes "Digital radio is touted as broadcast radio's golden ticket, but the transition to digital broadcasts is creating static and interference for many smaller AM stations that are still analog-only, the Wall Street Journal reports: 'The AM stations most affected are those whose neighboring stations -- nearby on the dial -- add a digital signal.' The WSJ adds, 'For some small AM operators, it adds insult to injury that the only company licensing the digital broadcast technology is one backed by the small stations' deep-pocketed competitors.' Critics question why the FCC only approved the technology from that big radio-backed company, Ibiquity."

Google Moving PRC Records Out of China 267

Posted by Zonk from the covering-their-bases dept.
Lam1969 writes "Google says it is moving search records out of China and back to the U.S. to prevent the Chinese government from accessing them, reports Computerworld. Additionally, the company will let Chinese users know when search results are being censored. According to Peter Norvig, Google's director of research, 'Some of the people want to query about democracy, but most of them just want to know about their pop stars.'"

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