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Google

Submission + - The Need for Search Neutrality (nytimes.com) 1

wilsone8 writes: The New York Times includes an op-ed today arguing for 'Search Neutrality': "Today, search engines like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft's new Bing have become the Internet's gatekeepers, and the crucial role they play in directing users to Web sites means they are now as essential a component of its infrastructure as the physical network itself. The F.C.C. needs to look beyond network neutrality and include 'search neutrality': the principle that search engines should have no editorial policies other than that their results be comprehensive, impartial and based solely on relevance.
Censorship

City Sues To Prevent Linking To Its Website 429

Mike writes "In what appears to be a first-of-its-kind case, the Sheboygan city attorney ordered Jennifer Reisinger to remove a link to the city's police department from her Web site. The city went further, she claims, launching a criminal investigation of her for linking to the department on one of her sites, and in response she's suing the mayor and the city. 'The mayor decided to use his office to get back at Jennifer for her efforts in the recall and picked this to do it,' said her attorney, Paul Bucher. It appears this will go to court, and the question will be can a city (or any business or Web property) stop people from posting a link to its site?"
Databases

Submission + - Amazon Launches SimpleDB Database Service (informationweek.com)

Dotnaught writes: "Amazon Web Services is getting a on-demand database called SimpleDB, upping the company's ante on its bet that it can sell on-demand computing. Adam Selipsky, VP of Product Management and Developer Relations describes it as a lightweight relational database that's ideal for storing metadata about objects or files such as those stored with Amazon's S3 service. Amazon's Alexa uses the service already. Sign-ups for the beta are being accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis."
Google

Submission + - Google sings AIM's praises, still won't Talk to MS (blogspot.com)

Venotar writes: There's been much talk of IM interoperability over the years. The IM Federation's long been a self-proclaimed promoter of XMPP, many prognosticators have promised that google's jabber service would spell the end of non-interoperability, Yahoo IM's long had an interoperability deal with Microsoft that's actually no longer vaporware, and now Google's announced that their long discussed deal with AOL has (finally) bridged the gap between AIM and GTalk (without the use of cheesy client side plugins or buggy third party XMPP agents). Now that Google can Talk to Oscar, is ICQ far behind? And does it really matter: is this really a sign that the walls are breaking down between IM services, or is this just one more front in the not-so-cold war between Google and Microsoft?
Intel

Submission + - Intel talks Penryn, Nehalem

CafreeDC writes: Intel's Pat Gelsinger revealed all sorts of information about the upcoming Penryn today. The 45nm processor family will support SSE4 and offer better virtualization performance:

Right now, a lot of folks who're testing out VT have been disappointed that its performance isn't much better than existing, non-VT-based virtualization solutions like VMware. Specifically, VMware products use a binary translation engine that ingests regular x86 OS code and produces a "safe" subset; VMware claims that this binary translation approach is as fast as, or faster, than VT-based approaches because the OS doesn't have to do costly VM transitions in order to execute privileged instructions. (These claims are debated; I'm merely reporting the fact that they are made.)

A major decrease in VM transition times will help the performance of VT-based solutions like Xen, and it would make the "which virtualization package to use?" debate even more about managment and less about relative performance than it already is.
At the same conference, Gelsinger also talked about the 45nm Nehalem core, Penryn's successor. Among the disclosures came the fact that Nehalem will sport an on-die memory controller, as well as integrated graphics processor.

Reading between the lines on this comment and others, I can say with a pretty high degree of certainty Intel will almost certainly be using its packaging skills to put a GPU in the same package as a Nehalem CPU. Furthermore, this is going to help out with mobile products, small-form-factor devices (*cough* Apple), and anywhere else that power and cooling are more critical than raw performance. I'd expect that such CPU/GPU devices will cut down on the number of on-die cores that you can put on the CPU die (for power dissipation reasons).
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Star Wars stamps coming soon

davidwr writes: Want to cancel Darth Vader? Or put Han Solo under your thumb? Well now you can.
The post office will release 15 commemorative Star Wars stamps in May. To celebrate, they've decked out their web site with a Star Wars theme.
Now if only they'd use a space-aged transport to send my mail faster.
Utilities (Apple)

Submission + - Bootcamp v. 1.2 released with full Vista support

Victor Lee writes: "Bootcamp v1.2 is now available directly from apple's website.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

Quoted from Apple's website:

Changes in Boot Camp 1.2 beta

Boot Camp 1.2 beta contains several updates and is intended for all new and previous Boot Camp beta users.

Boot Camp 1.2 beta includes:

        * Support for Windows Vista (32-bit)
        * Updated drivers, including but not limited to trackpad, AppleTime (synch), audio, graphics, modem, iSight camera
        * Support the Apple Remote (works with iTunes and Windows Media Player)
        * A Windows system tray icon for easy access to Boot Camp information and actions
        * Improved keyboard support for Korean, Chinese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, and French Canadian
        * Improved Windows driver installation experience
        * Updated documentation and Boot Camp on-line help in Windows
        * Apple Software Update (for Windows XP and Vista)

Updating to Boot Camp 1.2 beta

If you previously installed Boot Camp beta, you can easily update to Boot Camp 1.2 beta. You don't need to partition your hard drive again (unless you want to change its size) or reinstall your Macintosh and Windows software or documents, but it's very important to update the Boot Camp Assistant software, create a new Mac Drivers CD and install the updated software it contains onto Windows. Complete instructions are provided in the Installation and Setup Guide included with the Boot Camp 1.2 beta software."
United States

Submission + - It's Time for Patent Reform

jobowoo writes: If you follow the headlines, you may already know that the U.S. Supreme Court will rule shortly in a case that's likely to have big implications for everyone affected by patents. At issue in the case is whether an idea is too obvious to be patented. This may seem esoteric, but intellectual-property issues are striking closer to home for many people and point to the need for patent reform. Full Story
Announcements

Submission + - Dell's Driver plan

Shadow_mil writes: "Direct2dell finally posted more information about their Linux support, entitled Linux: Driver Support is Key" this post includes talks about dells plans to improve their drivers, and use GPL drivers when ever possible. But they will also provide closed-source drivers to those you wish to use them (which you need for some 3D effects on certain video cards)."
Security

Submission + - Internet Assigned Numbers Authority

Ikyaat writes: "Everytime I backtrace a port scan with seagate I get the exact same response.

OrgName: Internet Assigned Numbers Authority OrgID: IANA Address: 4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330 City: Marina del Rey

So look up IANA and find their webpage http://www.iana.org/ and this document: http://www.iana.org/assignments/enterprise-numbers

My questions are:

1. Who is the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority?

2. Why do they port scan me? (or why do I backtrace to them?)

3. Is it common practice to store contact lists like that online? 28,305 seems like a lot to me."

Games

Mario and Sonic Make History in New Olympic Game 93

YokimaSun writes "SEGA. and Nintendo today made a historical announcement that two of the biggest icons in the entertainment industry, Mario and Sonic, are joining forces to star in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. 'In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, players will compete in events that take place in environments based on the official venues of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Using a supporting cast of characters from the amazing worlds of both Mario and Sonic, gamers will be able to compete as or against a range of lovable personalities including Mario, Sonic, Luigi, Knuckles, Yoshi, Tails and more. Innovative usage of the Wii and DS control systems to maneuver a favourite character will allow players to race the likes of Mario and Sonic down the 100m track, engage in exhilarating rallies in table tennis and churn water in a swimming heat, all while competing for the much sought after gold medal.'" Has to be better than the usual Olympic Game titles, which have been categorically awful.
Patents

Submission + - USPTO New Accelerated Review Process

Intron writes: Perhaps you have been lying awake worrying that your software patent on bubble sort might spend too much time being "examined" or "peer reviewed". You will be pleased to know that the US Patent and Trademark Office has launched their accelerated review process. "Applicants' submissions enjoy a presumption of patentability" says the patent office. Applicants are also responsible for disclosing any prior art.

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