Deprecating the Datacenter? 367

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 11, 2006 @02:00PM from the only-a-matter-of-time dept.

m0smithslash writes "The blogging CEO asserts that that datacenters are doomed. Computers are showing up in everything from drill bits, to cargo ships to tracking devices in stuffed animals at Disneyland. With computers becoming so small and easy to distribute over a wireless network, do we really need data centers to house computers or are the computers going to be placed where they are really needed?"

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The Drawbacks of Anonymous Surfing 233

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday September 13, 2006 @01:11PM from the staying-under-the-radar dept.

BlueCup writes to tell us that one reporter decided to give anonymous web surfing a shot, and found it to be much more trouble than it was worth. Many users take advantage of Tor and other anonymous web browsing tools, but is the amount of hassle worth the effort it takes to remain anonymous?

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Games Seized Following Murder 354

Posted by Zonk on Monday June 05, 2006 @11:38AM from the dangerous-materials dept.

GamePolitics reports that M-rated games have been taken as evidence a case involving the death of a 55-year old man in Louisiana. The connection? Jack Thompson says: "Nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hitman or a videogamer." GP goes on to point out the lunacy of this claim. From the site: "Funny, that. A quick Google search on 'shot in the face' turns up 921,000 entries."

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MPAA Being Sued For Allegedly Hacking Torrentspy 448

Posted by Zonk on Thursday May 25, 2006 @01:18PM from the shoe-is-on-the-other-camel's-foot dept.

goldaryn writes "Valence Media, the parent company of Torrentspy.com, one of the web's largest torrent search engines, has filed a lawsuit against the MPAA for allegedly hiring a hacker to steal e-mail correspondence and trade secrets. From the suit: 'The Motion Picture Association of America willfully and intentionally obtained without authority, conspired to obtain without authority, purchased, procured, used and disclosed private information that it knew was unlawfully obtained through unauthorized access to Plaintiffs' computer servers and private email accounts, in violation of United States and California privacy and computer security laws.'"

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Senate Bill May Ban Streaming MP3s 503

Posted by Zonk on Thursday April 27, 2006 @03:58PM from the i-like-the-streaming dept.

Silverhammer writes "According to the EFF, a new Senate bill (S. 2644) sponsored by Senators Feinstein (D-CA) and Graham (R-SC) would effectively ban streaming MP3 for licensed music by requireing 'casters to use the most restrictive streaming format available (e.g., Windows Media or Real) rather than simply the most restrictive features of a chosen streaming format (e.g., Shoutcast or streaming MP3)." From the article: "The PERFORM Act would ... requir[e] webcasters to use DRM that restricts the recording of webcasts. That means no more MP3 streams if you rely on the statutory license. Under the bill, the statutory license would only be available to a webcaster if: [114(d)(2)(C)(vi)] the transmitting entity takes no affirmative steps to authorize, enable, cause or induce the making of a copy or phonorecord by or for the transmission recipient and uses technology that is reasonably available, technologically feasible, and economically reasonable to prevent the making of copies or phonorecords embodying the transmission in whole or in part, except for reasonable recording as defined in this subsection."

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New Congressional Bill Makes DMCA Look Tame 895

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday April 24, 2006 @04:25AM from the things-that-make-you-go-hmmm dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Representative Lamar Smith is sponsoring the Intellectual Property Protection Act. The new bill is designed to give the Justice Department 'tools to combat IP crime' which which are used to 'quite frankly, fund terrorism activities,' according to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Among the provisions is lowering the standards for 'willful copyright violation' and increasing the corresponding prison term to 10 years." More information is also available at publicknowledge.org.

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Blizzard Sued By Game Guide Creator 285

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday March 28, 2006 @02:08PM from the don't-have-a-monopoly-on-info dept.

Gamespot reports on a suit brought by a game guide creator against Warcraft-maker Blizzard Entertainment. The two parties will be going to court because of an attempt by Blizzard to quash a guide the plaintiff created for the World of Warcraft MMORPG. Offered electronically through eBay, the company claims that the guide creator is infringing on their IP. From the article: "Kopp's complaint argues that his book does not infringe on any of the companies' copyrights for several reasons: The book presents a disclaimer on its first page about its 'unauthorized' nature, contains no copyrighted text or storylines from the game, and makes "fair use" of selected screenshots under copyright law, the complaint said."

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Miyamoto Talks Revolution and Zelda 51

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday March 15, 2006 @04:24PM from the wave-that-sword-boy dept.

1up reports that Shigeru Miyamoto has, almost offhandedly, confirmed that the upcoming Zelda title will utilize the Revolution's wand functionality. From the article: "When asked about Twilight Princess' progress, Miyamoto said everything coming along well, and that 'because Revolution can run GameCube software, when you play Twilight Princess on Revolution you can take advantage of the Revolution controller.' Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop the train. We already knew Twilight Princess would be playable on GameCube, but it's mighty odd for Miyamoto to simply announce such a feature on a whim - but apparently he has. Not only that, but Miyamoto made sure to underscore that 'almost everything' about Revolution will be revealed at E3 in May."

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Open-Source Router to Take on Cisco? 393

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 06, 2006 @07:11PM from the combatting-security-by-obscurity dept.

ickypick writes to tell us that CNN is running an article about the emergence of an OpenSource Router product, currently in Beta, that targets mid-size enterprise customers for about one-fifth the cost of current enterprise networking giants' hardware. From the article: "The machine runs on two Intel chips, but far more noteworthy is its software, known as XORP, or extensible open router platform. The versatile open-source application can direct data traffic for a giant corporation as easily as it can manage a home Wi-Fi network." The current release is available for download from Vyatta's web site."

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Caller ID Spoofing Becomes Easy 168

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday March 02, 2006 @08:12PM from the clue-phone-ringing dept.

objekt writes "According to an article in USA Today, Caller ID spoofing has become much easier in the last few years. Millions of people have Internet telephone equipment that can be set to make any number appear on a Caller ID system. And several websites have sprung up to provide Caller ID spoofing services, eliminating the need for any special hardware. For instance, Spoofcard.com sells a virtual 'calling card' for $10 that provides 60 minutes of talk time. The user dials a toll-free number, then keys in the destination number and the Caller ID number to display. The service also provides optional voice scrambling, to make the caller sound like someone of the opposite sex."

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New Asteroid Becomes Earth's Biggest Threat 232

Posted by Zonk on Thursday March 02, 2006 @12:49PM from the doooooommm dept.

inexion wrote to mention a story on PhysOrg stating that we're all doomed. "A space rock capable of sub-continent scale devastation has about a one in 1,000 risk of colliding with Earth early next century, the highest of any known asteroid, watchers said on Thursday. The rock, 2004 VD17, is about 500 metres (yards) long and has a mass of nearly a billion tonnes, which -- if it were to impact -- would deliver 10,000 megatonnes of energy, equivalent to all the world's nuclear weapons. Spotted on November 27 2004, VD 17 was swiftly identified as rock that potentially crossed Earth's orbit, with a 1 in 3,000 risk of collision on May 4 2102."