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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 44 declined, 19 accepted (63 total, 30.16% accepted)

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Television

Submission + - Pioneer Ending TV Production, Leaving Vacuum (tweaktv.com)

Submitted by
truthsearch
truthsearch writes: "Japan's Nikkei is reporting that Pioneer, facing a consolidated loss of 100 billion yen ($1.08 billion U.S.), will end TV development and production entirely. With the loss of the industry leader in plasma technology, it's an open question of who will fill the void. They could sell their latest Kuro technology, giving a competitor new leverage, or spin off a new company. Or is this the end of plasma entirely?"
Security

Submission + - UK Court Rejects Encryption Key Disclosure Defense (linuxworld.com.au) 2

Submitted by
truthsearch
truthsearch writes: "Defendants can't deny police an encryption key because of fears the data it unlocks will incriminate them, a British appeals court has ruled. The case marked an interesting challenge to the UK's Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), which in part compels someone served under the act to divulge an encryption key used to scramble data on a PC's hard drive. The appeals court heard a case in which two suspects refused to give up encryption keys, arguing that disclosure was incompatible with the privilege against self incrimination. In its ruling, the appeals court said an encryption key is no different than a physical key and exists separately from a person's will."
Google

Submission + - Google Plans for Renewables to Power America (sfgate.com)

Submitted by
truthsearch
truthsearch writes: "Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke Wednesday night of his company's vision for the U.S. to significantly lower it's reliance on fossil fuels. Wind power should grow to 29 percent of U.S. electricity production, geothermal should grow to 15 percent, and solar should increase to 12 percent. Natural gas, hydroelectric power and nuclear energy would account for the rest. Increasing sales of electric and hybrid cars to 22 million by 2030 is also key to the plan. If the transformation takes place, and electricity consumption remains flat, fossil fuel use would be cut by 88 percent and carbon emissions would be reduced by 95 percent by 2030, Google projects. The cost for the plan would be $4.4 trillion today, minus a savings of $1 trillion as renewables become cheaper."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Cancels Seinfeld Ads (cnbc.com)

Submitted by
truthsearch
truthsearch writes: "After much fanfare and criticism, Microsoft is canceling their new commercials featuring Jerry Seinfeld. The general consensus is the ads were ineffectual, getting people to talk about how strange they were instead of improving Microsoft's image or promoting any product. This misstep may be yet another black eye for ad firm Crispin, Porter & Bogusky. New commercials will feature celebrities such as actress Eva Longoria and rapper Pharrell Williams."
Television

Submission + - Robot Chicken: Star Wars Sequel in the Works (wired.com)

Submitted by
truthsearch
truthsearch writes: "After getting an Emmy nomination for its Star Wars parody, Adult Swim has announced that Robot Chicken will be making a sequel scheduled to premiere Nov 16. Voice actors for Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II will include Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Conan O'Brien, and Andy Richter. As Wired asks, how long until Family Guy announces their own sequel to Blue Harvest?"
The Military

Submission + - Battlefield Rayguns to Demo This Year (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
truthsearch
truthsearch writes: "Northrop Grumman says it has achieved the "first major building block" necessary for manufacture of a 100 kilowatt solid-state laser — that is, a viable battlefield raygun. This was the trial of a "laser chain" with 15 kilowatt power. Northrop intends to combine eight such units to produce a single laser beam of more than 100 kilowatts — which is generally considered the level at which energy beams would become useful combat weapons. Electrically powered solid state lasers are not currently able to develop combat-worthy power levels, and the main US raygun programmes which might see service soon — the ICBM-nobbling Airborne Laser (ABL) and the shorter-range, less powerful Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) — use chemical beam-generation technology instead and require large amounts of dangerous chemical fuel and result in toxic exhaust products."
Mozilla

Submission + - 85% of Mozilla Revenue Provided by Google (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
truthsearch
truthsearch writes: "The Mozilla Foundation's recently released 2006 financial statement (PDF) indicates 85% of their revenue comes from Google. In 2006, Mozilla pulled in revenues of $66,840,850. That's up 26 per cent from 2005. Some fear Google's substantial financial interest may one day be used as leverage to influence policy. Google's contract with Mozilla runs out in November next year."
Robotics

Submission + - Robots May Become Essential on US Farms (newsvine.com)

Submitted by
truthsearch
truthsearch writes: "With authorities promising tighter borders, some farmers who rely on immigrant labor are eying an emerging generation of fruit-picking robots and high-tech tractors to do everything from pluck premium wine grapes to clean and core lettuce. The new pickers rely on advances in computing power and hydraulics that can make robotic limbs and digits operate with near-human sensitivity. Modern imaging technology also enables the machines to recognize and sort fruits and vegetables of varying qualities."
The Media

Submission + - Bloggers Consider Forming Labor Union (newsvine.com)

Submitted by
truthsearch
truthsearch writes: "In a move that might make some people scratch their heads, a loosely formed coalition of left-leaning bloggers are trying to band together to form a labor union they hope will help them receive health insurance, conduct collective bargaining or even set professional standards. The effort is an extension of the blogosphere's growing power and presence, especially within the political realm, and for many, evokes memories of the early labor organization of freelance writers in the early 1980s. There's decidedly less support for a union movement among conservative bloggers."
Businesses

Submission + - Eight Financial Reasons Why You Should Use Mac OS (cio.com) 1

Submitted by
truthsearch
truthsearch writes: "For many years companies have been analyzing and debating the total cost of ownership for various operating systems. Once an investment is made it can be very expensive to switch. With Vista potentially raising the cost of Windows TCO, CIO magazine lists eight financial reasons why businesses should consider Mac OS. Among the reasons: overall value proposition, cheaper licensing fees, less help desk calls, less manual patching, and increased worker productivity."
Privacy

Submission + - FBI Finds It Overstepped in Collecting Data (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by
truthsearch
truthsearch writes: "An internal FBI audit has found that the bureau potentially violated the law or agency rules more than 1,000 times while collecting data about domestic phone calls, e-mails and financial transactions in recent years, far more than was documented in a Justice Department report in March. The new audit covers just 10 percent of the bureau's national security investigations since 2002. The vast majority of the new violations were instances in which telephone companies and Internet providers gave agents phone and e-mail records the agents did not request and were not authorized to collect. But two dozen of the newly-discovered violations involved agents' requests for information that U.S. law did not allow them to have."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft's "Immortal Computing" Project

Submitted by
SeenOnSlash
SeenOnSlash writes: "Microsoft is working on a project they call "immortal computing" which would let people store digital information in durable physical artifacts and other forms to be preserved and revealed to future generations, and maybe even to future civilizations. The artifacts would be designed to make the process of accessing the information clear with instructions in multiple languages or hieroglyphics. In one possible use, messages for descendants or interactive holograms might be stored on tombstones. The project was revealed when their patent application recently became public."
Censorship

Submission + - YouTube Video Sparks Censorship Debate in Italy

Submitted by
SeenOnSlash
SeenOnSlash writes: "In one of several recently reported cases in Italy, a bunch of teenagers brutally attacked a disabled person. They made a video of their performance and placed it on YouTube. This incident has become a new pretext for censorship and repression as people blame the Internet for the violence. There's now talk of increasing liability of internet providers for content. Some want to make them automatically accountable for the actions of whoever uses their services. Politicians are demanding or suggesting new laws and regulations, apparently including an obligation to obtain written approval by parents for minors to use the internet. Criminal proceedings have been opened against the Italian representatives of Google Inc., including a police raid of their office in Milan."
Desktops (Apple)

Submission + - Mac Sales Up 30%

Submitted by
SeenOnSlash
SeenOnSlash writes: "Apple sold 1.6 million Macs in the fourth quarter, a 30% increase over last year. The company said that more than 50% of people who bought Macs in Apple stores were first-time customers. This is further evidence that the success of the iPod is helping it to win converts in the personal computer market. With Mac sales growing far faster than the rest of the PC market, it's a great year for Apple."
Education

Submission + - Libyan Schoolchildren To Get $100 Laptops

Submitted by
SeenOnSlash
SeenOnSlash writes: "The government of Libya has reached an agreement with the One Laptop per Child organization to provide inexpensive laptop computers to all of its 1.2 million schoolchildren. The $250 million deal will provide the nation with 1.2 million computers, a server in each school, a team of technical advisers, satellite internet service and other infrastructure. The project, scheduled to be completed by June 2008, could make Libya the first nation to enable all school-age children to connect to the Internet through educational computers."

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