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Google

Submission + - CBS blocking Linux Chrome (google.com)

Submitted by Tsarnon
Tsarnon writes: It looks like CBS doesn't want Linux Chrome users to watch videos on their site. Recently if you try and watch a TV show on CBS.com some people get the message, "The video you have requested is not available on this device." People in the forums are speculating that it might have to do Google TV.
Microsoft

Submission + - Nissan Leaf Info Hub Runs a Windows Embedded OS (electricvehicleinsider.com)

Submitted by __aajbyc7391
__aajbyc7391 writes: This just in: the Nissan Leaf's easy-to-use touch-screen Information Hub runs Microsofts Windows Embedded Automotive operating system. But not to worry: it won't actually be driving or controlling the car, so fear not the dreaded BSOD. In fact, today's highly complex vehicles contain hundreds of distributed embedded computers running hardened real-time kernels, which are responsible for specific control and monitoring functions. They communicate via specialized vehicle buses, such as CAN, VAN, and others. Although it's unknown whether this feature will be used on the Leaf, Microsoft says its Windows automotive OS provides support for SMS reply-by-voice, which allows text message replies to be constructed by speech (in 8 languages). OMG!
Electronic Frontier Foundation

Submission + - The EFF's 2010 Pioneer Awards (eff.org)

Submitted by ChipMonk
ChipMonk writes: The EFF have announced their 2010 Pioneer Awards: transparency activist Stephen Aftergood; public domain scholar James Boyle; legal blogger Pamela Jones and the website Groklaw; and e-voting researcher Hari Krishna Prasad Vemuru, who was recently released on bail after being imprisoned for his security work in India. "These winners have all worked tirelessly to give critical insight and context to the tough questions that arise in our evolving digital world," said EFF Executive Director Shari Steele. "We need strong advocates, educators, and researchers like these to protect our digital rights, and we're proud to honor these four Pioneer Award winners for their important contributions." The award ceremony will be hosted by Cory Doctorow.

Submission + - Poll: The temperature where I am right now 1

Submitted by Meshach
Meshach writes: The temperature where I am right now is:

controller by a computerized HVAC system

controlled by a conventional thermostat

controlled by whether I open or close a window

not controlled at all

controlled by my mom

Security

Submission + - Hacker takes over Kaspersky website (goodgearguide.com.au)

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "On Sunday hackers hit the website of Kaspersky Lab. Someone took advantage of a bug in a Web program used by the Kasperskyusa.com website and reprogrammed it to try to trick visitors into downloading a fake antivirus product. Kaspersky said it was in a "third-party application" used by the website. The website was redirecting users to the rogue antivirus site for about three-and-a-half hours."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft eOpen site down for nearly a week so far (microsoft.com)

Submitted by
mauriceh
mauriceh writes: "Since last Monday, Dec. 7th, the Microsoft eOpen license website has been mostly "Down for Maintenance".
When we do not see this message, we still do not see most of the normal functionality.
As this is Microsoft's main channel for managing and installing licenses for products such as Server, and fo open License products for business,
this makes the company effectively "closed for business" !
Attempts to connect to:
  https://eopen.microsoft.com/
Are redirected to:
https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/servicecenter/sitemaintenance.html
For those who wish to activate Microsoft Business Solutions software need to obtain Software Registration keys,
and these also can not be obtained, as the site:
http://www.microsoft.com/BusinessSolutions/MBSRegistration
does not resolve, instead one gets a Microsoft Search page when we attempt to go to the Registration Keys site!
Telephone calls to their support numbers for the licensing program yield either busy signals, or a message saying one should "call back later!!"
Operating Systems

Submission + - FreeBSD 7.1 released 1

Submitted by ByOhTek
ByOhTek writes: FreeBSD 7.1 has been released today. You can get it here, with the standard release notes and hardware notes. Amusingly, RC2 was released on Christmas — given the multi-week/month steps between the beta/rc releases, this was a rather quick transition.

I'm looking forward to upgrading my notebook and desktop, though my server will stick with 6.2, since I like to keep the uptime.

Some interesting features:

* The ULE scheduler is now the default in GENERIC kernels for amd64 and i386 architectures. The ULE scheduler significantly improves performance on multicore systems for many workloads.
* A new and much-improved NFS Lock Manager (NLM) client.
* Boot loader changes allow, among other things, booting from USB devices and booting from GPT-labeled devices.
* The cpuset(2) system call and cpuset(1) command have been added, providing an API for thread to CPU binding and CPU resource grouping and assignment.
* KDE updated to 3.5.10, GNOME updated to 2.22.3.
* DVD-sized media for the amd64 and i386 architectures

and there are the usual security/multimedia/hardware updates.

Data Storage

Submission + - A Brief Discussion on RAID Configs

Submitted by TomSlick
TomSlick writes: Michael Chu, the guy behind Cooking For Engineers and lead architect at Fanpop, writes a lot of pointless stuff on his blog, but, today, he posted an interesting summary of popular RAID configurations. His post is easy to read and fairly well written, plus, as a bonus, he explains how to remap a drive letter in Windows Vista to a specific folder (on his RAID). Hint, it's the same as Windows XP, Windows 9x, and DOS.
Security

Submission + - Your cell phone number is no longer unlisted (wisebread.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: According to the Seattle Times, a locally-owned company named Intelius is putting together a cell phone directory that is supposed to be accurate. It costs $15 to search for an individual's cell phone number. That's right — for $15, your cell number can be given out to anyone. You might not have heard of Intelius before, but they are one of those companies that touts their services in background checks. You may have seen ads or received spam emails warning you to do a background check on your date? That's Intelius. They also purchased a small company that does a lot of background check work for employers.
The Internet

Submission + - Pirate Bay earns 20,000 Euros a day (rixstep.com) 2

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: controverisal pro-piracy website the piratebay likes to portray itself as an innocent hobby site that provides a free index without censorship, but recent facts show that the site is earning up to 20,000 Euros per day from its advertising. Taking in money on this scale puts a different slant on the motives behind the Swedish filesharing site, and could open up the runners of the site to prosecution for profiting from copyright infringement.
Operating Systems

Submission + - Microsoft Admits Vista Failure

Submitted by
mnath77
mnath77 writes: ""With two overlapping events, Microsoft admitted what we have been saying all along, Vista, aka Windows MeII, is a joke that no one wants. It did two unprecedented things this week that frankly stunned us... "What happened is the OEMs revolted in the background and forced Microsoft's hand. This is a big neon sign above MeII saying 'FAILURE'. Blink blink blink. OK, MeII won't fail, they have OEMs whipped and threatened into a corner, it will sell, but you can almost hear the defectors marching toward Linux. This is a watershed..." http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39 087"
Censorship

Submission + - News must be at least 50% Doubleplusgood

Submitted by Nymz
Nymz writes: Russian journalists today learned of new rules regarding free speech (the acceptable type). Namely that 50% of reports about Russia must be positive (the government perspective type), and that criticism of Putin is considered extremism (the land you in jail type), and that America must be portrayed as an enemy (the elimination of free speech type). Expect these new rules to be applied liberally (the coming soon to online speech type). New York Times article.

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