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Privacy

Submission + - Mozilla Breaks Ranks With Tech Industry To Denounce CISPA (forbes.com)

Submitted by Sparrowvsrevolution
Sparrowvsrevolution writes: Mozilla has taken a public stand against the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, saying that it has a "broad and alarming reach" that "infringes on our privacy." That makes it the first major tech firm to speak out against CISPA. Facebook, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Oracle and Symantec are all included among the companies that support the bill, which passed the House late last month and is now being considered in the Senate. Google has so far declined to take a stand supporting or opposing the bill.
Businesses

Submission + - Facebook To Go Public On Friday, May 18 (ibtimes.com) 1

Submitted by
redletterdave
redletterdave writes: "The IPO on everyone's minds for the past few years — and possibly the biggest one in history — is upon us: Facebook will finally make its Wall Street debut on Friday, May 18, 2012. Sources also say Facebook will begin its IPO roadshow on Monday, May 7, and will eventually list its shares on the Nasdaq (not NYSE) with the ticker symbol "FB." Facebook looks to raise anywhere from $5 billion to $10 billion during its roadshow to achieve a $100 billion valuation, which would make it one of the biggest IPOs of all-time."
Science

Submission + - Study finds why people are being nice (berkeley.edu)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A study by the University of Berkeley (paper) suggests that "highly religious" people are less motivated by compassion when being compassionate than atheists, agnostics, and less religious. Note: the study did not investigate how compassionate a group is, only the motivations when being compassionate — when atheists care, they appear to have the moral high ground, but strict religious people might be caring a lot more often.
Shark

Submission + - Finally, a Shark With a Laser Attached To Its Head (wired.com)

Submitted by Freshly Exhumed
Freshly Exhumed writes: Marine biologist-cum-TV personality Luke Tipple attached a 50-milliwatt green laser to a lemon shark off the coast of the Bahamas in late April. The escapade was sponsored by Wicked Lasers, a consumer-focused laser manufacturer based in Hong Kong that produces some of the most brilliant — and potentially dangerous — handheld lasers in the world.

“This was definitely a world first,” Tipple told Wired. “Initially, I told them no. I thought it was a frivolous stunt. But then I considered that it would give us an opportunity to test our clips and attachments, and whatever is attached to that clip, I really don’t care. It was a low-powered laser that couldn’t be dangerous to anyone, and there’s actually useful applications in having a laser attached to the animal.”
Government

Submission + - How Apple Sidesteps Billions In Global Taxes (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: An article at the NY Times explains the how the most profitable tech company in the world becomes even more profitable by finding ways to avoid or minimize taxes. Quoting: 'Apple’s headquarters are in Cupertino, Calif. By putting an office in Reno, just 200 miles away, to collect and invest the company’s profits, Apple sidesteps state income taxes on some of those gains. California’s corporate tax rate is 8.84 percent. Nevada’s? Zero. ... As it has in Nevada, Apple has created subsidiaries in low-tax places like Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands — some little more than a letterbox or an anonymous office — that help cut the taxes it pays around the world. ... Without such tactics, Apple’s federal tax bill in the United States most likely would have been $2.4 billion higher last year, according to a recent study (PDF) by a former Treasury Department economist, Martin A. Sullivan. As it stands, the company paid cash taxes of $3.3 billion around the world on its reported profits of $34.2 billion last year, a tax rate of 9.8 percent.
Australia

Submission + - Aussie parliamentary enquiry into software pricing announced (theage.com.au)

Submitted by elphie007
elphie007 writes: Australian consumers may finally see the end of being overcharged for software, simply because they live outside the US. Minister for Communications Senator Stephen Conroy (champion of Australia's National Broadband Network), is reported to be finalising the terms of reference for a parliamentary inquiry into software pricing in Australia. Users Down Under have been paying more for software from companies like Microsoft, Apple and Adobe for years. Last week, Adobe announced Australians would be charges up to $1600 more for Adobe CS6. With the ongoing strength of the Aussie dollar against the US dollar, Australians should really be paying less, not more for software & music purchased online.
Transportation

Submission + - Fly-By-Wire Contributed to Air France 447 Disaster

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The Telegraph reports that although fly-by-wire technology has huge advantages, Airbus’s 'brilliant’ aircraft design may have contributed to one of the world’s worst aviation disasters and the deaths of all 228 passengers onboard Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. While there is no doubt that at least one of AF447’s pilots made a fatal and sustained mistake, the errors committed by the pilot doing the flying were not corrected by his more experienced colleagues because they did not know he was behaving in a manner bound to induce a stall and the reason for that fatal lack of awareness lies partly in the design of the control stick – the “side stick” – used in all Airbus cockpits. “Most Airbus pilots I know love it because of the reliable automation that allows you to manage situations and not be so fatigued by the mechanics of flying," says Stephen King of the British Airline Pilots’ Association. But the fact that the second pilot’s stick stays in neutral whatever the input to the other is not a good thing. “It’s not immediately apparent to one pilot what the other may be doing with the control stick, unless he makes a big effort to look across to the other side of the flight deck, which is not easy. In any case, the side stick is held back for only a few seconds, so you have to see the action being taken.”"
Facebook

Submission + - Mark Zuckerberg Spotted In Beijing! (gadgetsrepublic.com)

Submitted by GadgetsRepublic
GadgetsRepublic writes: Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s Founder/CEO and Time Magazine’s newly crowned Person of the Year has just been spotted at the head offices of Baidu in Beijing, China. Robin Li (founder of Baidu) gave Mark and his girlfriend Priscilla Chan a tour of the building, where these photos were snapped. The social networking pioneer has spoken a few times this year about formulating plans to bring the world’s most popular social networking site to the the country with the world’s largest population of online users. This meeting was so highly confidential that even Baidu’s Head of PR didn’t know about the visit ahead of time.
Australia

Submission + - Aus Government releases a linux version of its AUS (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by zort
zort writes: "The Federal Government has released a new version of its AUSkey authentication software that promises to support Linux software packages for the first time."

"The ATO previously deemed Linux too "cost-prohibitive" to support, with deputy commissioner Bettina Konti estimating Linux users to comprise only one percent of Australian business users."

"But it has now announced that the AUSkey registration, download and installation process had been successfully tested with Ubuntu 10.04 and Firefox 3.6, and may also work with other versions of the software."

This is a great step forward, for linux users and businesses in interacting with the governments online servers. The Australian Tax Office being probably the most important.
Science

Submission + - Cryosat-2 Returns First Map of Arctic Circle (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by H3xx
H3xx writes: The European Space Agency (Esa) satellite Cryosat-2 was launched in April, carrying one of the highest resolution synthetic aperture radars ever put in orbit. Cryosat's primary mission is to measure sea-ice thickness, which has been in sharp decline in recent decades. Its ability also to map the shape of the sea surface will tell scientists if Arctic currents are changing as a result of winds being allowed to blow more easily on ice-free waters.

Today, radar data from the European satellite has been used to make a map of ocean circulation across the Arctic basin.
Microsoft

Submission + - No Sex Please, We're Microsoft 2

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Microsoft's Kinect has been out for less than two months and already there's an adult company looking to produce a 3-D sex game for the Xbox 360 console (PG-13ish YouTube demo). But Microsoft immediately shot down any speculation that the game will pass the certification process. 'This isn't the first example of a technology being used in ways not intended by its manufacturer, and it won't be the last," a Microsoft spokesman said in a statement. 'Microsoft did not authorize or license its technology for this use. Xbox is a family friendly games and entertainment console and does not allow Adults Only (AO) content to be certified for use on its platform, and would not condone this type of game for Kinect.'

Submission + - Apple installs Safari by default again

Submitted by Thundersnatch
Thundersnatch writes: It appears that Apple is once again making its Safari 5 web browser and MobileMe software install by default via Apple Software Update on Windows, even if users had previously deselected these options in their preferences. They've been down this road before and faced significant backlash. If Microsoft did something like this people would be calling for a DOJ investigation.
Facebook

The Queen Joins Facebook 155

Posted by samzenpus from the royal-farmville dept.
H3xx writes "The Queen is set to have an official presence on Facebook when a British Monarchy page launches on the internet-based social networking site. Buckingham Palace says it is not a personal profile page, but users can 'like' the service and receive updates on their news feed. The Queen has reportedly embraced the web and sends e-mails. A British Monarchy Twitter feed is also available. The Facebook page is due to go live from Monday morning. The page will also feature the Court Circular, recording the previous day's official engagements."

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