436970
submission
Google85 writes:
Chuck Norris sued publisher Penguin on Friday over a book he claims unfairly exploits his famous name, based on a satirical Internet list of "mythical facts" about him.
The book capitalizes on "mythical facts" that have been circulating on the Internet since 2005 that poke fun at Norris' tough-guy image and super-human abilities, the suit said.
304249
submission
Barraketh writes:
Judge Aiken struck down two provisions of the PATRIOT act which allowed for search warrants without probable cause. In 1978, the FISA court was established, which could issue a search warrant as long as the primary purpose of the search was gathering of foreign intelligence information. The PATRIOT act relaxed this requirement to a significant purpose. This allowed the FBI to search anyone they claim to be 'an agent of a foreign power'. The FISA warrants also allowed the FBI to bypass the requirement to 'describe with particularity' the things to be seized and place to be searched in order to obtain the warrant. These provisions were deemed to violate the Fourth Amendment. Read full opinion here.
289543
submission
ajb44 writes:
What do you do if you discover a crime, and the criminals haven't seen you yet? Call 911 on your mobile. Problem is, some recent mobiles now squawk loudly when you do this, potentially alerting the criminals to your presence. A FOAF had this happen to her. Fortunately the criminals had already left, but she's now worried about using 911 when checking her woods for criminal activity. Verizon and Casio techs claimed that this is an FCC mandate, but it's not really clear yet. Please help tell the FCC, Verizon and Casio that this is a dumb idea.
273157
submission
kandresen writes:
Standards Norway has rejected the OOXML, citing too many weaknesses in the current specifications, however states the vote may be changed to "unconditional yes" if the comments (PDF) are addressed.
Summary:
- The Scope clause in Part 1 is inappropriate for an ISO standard
- Rework into an ISO-style multi-part standard
- Rework into a much more concise standard
- The information model in unnecessarily complex
- All examples should confirm to the XML specification
- DrawingML should be a separate standard
- OPC should be a separate standard
- The specification should not include binary notations
- The specification should not include unspecified features
- Option sets should be extensible and should avoid cultural bias
- OOXML should reference, use, and confirm to existing standards where applicable
- Lack of consistency in notation of values and dimensions
264637
submission
__aajbyc7391 writes:
Taiwanese chip and board vendor Via Technologies has introduced a new ultra-low voltage (ULV) processor aimed at industrial, commercial, and ultra-mobile applications. Touted as the world's most power-efficient x86-compatible CPU, the 500MHz 'Eden ULV 500' processor debuted at an Embedded Systems Conference in Taipei this week. Via says its chip draws a minimum of 0.1 Watts, when idle, and a maximum of 1 Watt, making it a great candidate for consumer electronics devices such as UMPCs, PVRs, and such.
264613
submission
pjhenley writes:
Sony has announced that they will add digital TV and DVR capabilities to the PS3 in Europe. TV can also be watched on a PSP using "remote play" over WiFi or via downloaded recordings. You can read the press release on the semi-official Sony UK blog. Engadget has some details as well.
264611
submission
Stony Stevenson writes:
The seven-year-old battle over access to WHOIS data — the names, street addresses, e-mail addresses and phone numbers of those who have registered Internet domains — remains a stalemate this week, leaving reforms undone.
The conflict pits individuals and groups that favor privacy protections against organizations and law enforcement agencies that favor data access to police intellectual property and to curtail cybercrime. Caught in the middle are Internet domain registrars that have to balance customer data protection with data access requirements mandated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names' (ICANN) Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA).
264577
submission
smilodon writes:
A forum for a blog on fusion via Eureka: Science Journal Watch (wiki) via Not Even Wrong (blog), not that site link paths are relevant these days, has documented journal publishers in the act of presenting text to Google Scholar that does not exist for other website visitors. The forum poster wrote, "IEEE appeared to have stopped Web spamming, if ever so briefly, in the days after my previous post targeting them."
264535
submission
He who cares writes:
The Department of Homeland Security "virtual fence" project, being built by Boeing, is in big, big trouble. The virtual fence is a high-tech network of cameras, lighting, sensors, and technology designed to intercept illegal border crossings.
From the Wall Street Journal:
The government's plans for monitoring as much as 6,000 miles of the Canadian and Mexican borders hinge on towers such as these working properly. If they prove ineffective, officials could be forced to spend billions of dollars for more traditional security measures, such as fences and more officers. The Homeland Security Department currently estimates that the virtual fence will cost about $8 billion through 2013, although the agency's inspector general wrote last November that the cost could balloon to $30 billion.
From Nation Institute:
At Congressional hearings, Boeing vice president and SBInet program manager, Jerry McElwee, took heat from Congressman William Lacy Clay who demanded information about the ballooning costs and the extension of the contract period. "You bid on these contracts and then you come back and say, 'Oh we need more time. It costs more than twice as much.' Are you gaming the taxpayers here? Or gaming DHS?" the Missouri Democrat asked.
This failure has the potential to eventually rival the UK National Health Service disaster, known affectionately as the "greatest IT disaster in history." It also brings back memories of the Airbus failure, in which multiple project segments failed to work when brought together as a finished unit.
The level of planning and coordination required to complete a project like this on time and budget almost defies human capability. Why don't they break it down into smaller, simpler components, increasing the likelihood the thing can actually be built?
264307
submission
alphakappa writes:
Nokia today announced that India has overtaken the U.S. to become its second largest market by sales, coming up behind China. In the past 18 months, Nokia has shipped 60 million cellphones from its Chennai factory, and they expected it to become the second largest (volume) by 2010.
Quoting from the story, "India has quickly become one of the largest markets," he told reporters in New Delhi, adding he expects demand will not be limited to cheaper phones. "India is not a low-end market. It is a very versatile market in all price points, in all segments," he said. The story also reports that "India had 185 million mobile customers at the end of July, with more than 6 million new customers signing every month, lured by call rates as low as 1 U.S. cent a minute"
Nokia has a design studio and a factory in India.
