Comment Travelling is tiring enough... (Score 1) 98
How much more tiring will it be to walk on a squishy floor rather than on a rigid or resilient one?
Comment Stirling Engine (Score 3, Funny) 324
The Stirling engine is pretty neat. It'll run on hot air.
If we install a bunch of them in Washington DC, the energy problem of the US will be solved for good.
Economic Crisis Will Eliminate Open Source 753
An anonymous reader writes "The economic crisis will ultimately eliminate open source projects and the 'Web 2.0 free economy,' says Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur. Along with the economic downturn and record job loss, he says, we will see the elimination of projects including Wikipedia, CNN's iReport, and much of the blogosphere. Instead of users offering their services 'for free,' he says, we're about to see a 'sharp cultural shift in our attitude toward the economic value of our labor' and a rise of online media businesses that reward their contributors with cash. Companies that will survive, he says, include Hulu, iTunes, and Mahalo. 'The hungry and cold unemployed masses aren't going to continue giving away their intellectual labor on the Internet in the speculative hope that they might get some "back end" revenue,' says Keen."
SpaceX Flight 4 Launch Postponed 59
Matt_dk noted that yesterday's launch plans for SpaceX have hit some turbulence. He says "SpaceX Flight 4 Launch has been postponed. The static fire took place on Saturday [20 Sep 2008, CA time], as expected, and no major issues came up. However, after a detailed analysis of data, we decided to replace a component in the 2nd stage engine LOX supply line. There is a good chance we would be ok flying as is, but we are being extremely cautious.
This adds a few extra days to the schedule, so the updated launch window estimate is now Sept 28th through Oct 1st [CA time]."
Submission + - New Global Intellectual Property Treaty (ACTA) (ipjustice.org)
Robin Gross of IP Justice writes: "A new international treaty, the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), will focus on ratcheting up the enforcement of copyrights and trademarks on the Internet and with digital technology. ACTA is being negotiated in secret between insider lobbyists of the IPR industry and trade officials from the US and Europe. ACTA threatens freedom of expression, innovation, privacy rights, legal due process rights, and shifts the cost of protecting Hollywood's private interest onto the public.
IP Justice published a White Paper on ACTA: http://ipjustice.org/wp/2008/03/25/ipj-white-paper-acta-2008/
and submitted comments to the Office of the US Trade Representative on ACTA's threat to democracy and the public interest: http://ipjustice.org/wp/2008/03/21/acta-ipj-comments-ustr-2008march/"
IP Justice published a White Paper on ACTA: http://ipjustice.org/wp/2008/03/25/ipj-white-paper-acta-2008/
and submitted comments to the Office of the US Trade Representative on ACTA's threat to democracy and the public interest: http://ipjustice.org/wp/2008/03/21/acta-ipj-comments-ustr-2008march/"
Submission + - Internet-Records Section of Patriot Act Overturned (foxnews.com)
pkcuff writes: ""Judges Overturns Internet-Records Section of Patriot Act"
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295957,00.html
I can't believe you guys haven't got this one yet. This is a big victory for freedom of speech on the Internet! I would write it up all nice & purty for you, but I never took journalism."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295957,00.htm
I can't believe you guys haven't got this one yet. This is a big victory for freedom of speech on the Internet! I would write it up all nice & purty for you, but I never took journalism."
Submission + - Evil Software - Whoa! (hatrack.com)
cwsulliv writes: "Can software be evil? Noted author Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game, Speaker For The Dead) apparently thinks so, and has choice words for Microsoft Vista. Here are a couple of quotes from the last few paragraphs of his (long) weekly column at http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/2007 -07-29.shtml
Vista itself is so evil that I find myself infuriated continuously.
So I'm fed up. I'm getting Linux. Microsoft's arrogant incompetence has finally brought me to the point of no return. "
Vista itself is so evil that I find myself infuriated continuously.
So I'm fed up. I'm getting Linux. Microsoft's arrogant incompetence has finally brought me to the point of no return. "
Submission + - CA Sec of State Decertifies Voting Machines (ca.gov)
An anonymous reader writes: Check it — the California Secretary of State has withdrawn certification of four types of voting machines in the state. http://sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vsr.htm
Submission + - Microsoft can evade GPL 3 ..
rs232 writes: ""Microsoft should be able to extricate itself from the implications of the new GPL 3, according to a leading Australian intellectual property lawyer"
"Unless there is something more specific in the certificate or the collaboration agreement between Novell and Microsoft, I would be very surprised to see this upheld. It was a nice try on the part of (the FSF), but at this stage, I'd say it's not going to be an effective strategy. It will be tough to hold up in court."
'In this case, she said, Microsoft never acted — never 'entered' into the agreement, and the terms and conditions can only apply to new actions by Microsoft, not older ones. She said: "Their actions so far are not enough to say that they are bound."'
http://software.silicon.com/os/0,39024651,39167957 ,00.htm"
"Unless there is something more specific in the certificate or the collaboration agreement between Novell and Microsoft, I would be very surprised to see this upheld. It was a nice try on the part of (the FSF), but at this stage, I'd say it's not going to be an effective strategy. It will be tough to hold up in court."
'In this case, she said, Microsoft never acted — never 'entered' into the agreement, and the terms and conditions can only apply to new actions by Microsoft, not older ones. She said: "Their actions so far are not enough to say that they are bound."'
http://software.silicon.com/os/0,39024651,3916795
Submission + - Judge Lets RIAA Subpoena Defendant's Employer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "A judge has ruled that the RIAA can subpoena the defendant's employer in a case pending in Manhattan federal court, Atlantic v. Shutovsky. The judge's order (pdf) contained eight (8) separate rulings deciding 19 pages of discovery disputes (pdf), resolving virtually all of them in favor of the RIAA."
Submission + - California Limits DREs, Adds Security Restrictions (ca.gov)
zestyping writes: "At 11:45 pm last night, Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced her decisions on the use of electronic voting systems in California, following the review that found vulnerabilities in all three systems tested.
For Diebold and Sequoia (but not Hart), only one DRE is allowed per polling place, and there must be a 100% manual count of all votes cast on it. The ES&S InkaVote, which wasn't submitted in time for the review, is decertified.
Several new restrictions apply to both DREs and optical scan systems by Diebold, Sequoia, and Hart. All software and firmware must be reinstalled on all devices prior to the February primary election. Security seals must be serialized. If a machine error requires the machine to be rebooted, it must be removed from service and the vendor must explain the cause of failure. Vote tallies must be posted outside each polling place. There will also be increased post-election manual auditing of the results.
See the official documents for all the details: Diebold, Hart, Sequoia, ES&S."
For Diebold and Sequoia (but not Hart), only one DRE is allowed per polling place, and there must be a 100% manual count of all votes cast on it. The ES&S InkaVote, which wasn't submitted in time for the review, is decertified.
Several new restrictions apply to both DREs and optical scan systems by Diebold, Sequoia, and Hart. All software and firmware must be reinstalled on all devices prior to the February primary election. Security seals must be serialized. If a machine error requires the machine to be rebooted, it must be removed from service and the vendor must explain the cause of failure. Vote tallies must be posted outside each polling place. There will also be increased post-election manual auditing of the results.
See the official documents for all the details: Diebold, Hart, Sequoia, ES&S."
Submission + - Record Industry Woes Aggravated by Years of Bad PR
An anonymous reader writes: Richard Menta makes a strong case on MP3 Newswire that bad public relations stirred by the open conflict between the record industry and the consumer is a heavy contributor to the crumbling fortunes of the major labels. In his analysis he contrasts how the NFL and Major League baseball tread gingerly with the Michael Vick and steroids scandals respectively to avoid further raising the ire of sports fans, while the major labels and the RIAA openly antagonize music fans who dare embrace new technologies they don't have full control of. From the article" Today the major record labels don't have a positive brand image and the very public actions they have taken to control the rise of digital media and the Internet over the last several years is at the very heart of their fall from grace. To some the big labels are an anachronism. To others they are anti-consumer. The erosion of their image is dramatic..." Menta then lays out 17 public events that have chipped away at the image of the recording industry including those that show them as bullies (RIAA sues little girls), as incompetent (RIAA sues the dead), as oppressors of the artist (Courtney Love, Janis Ian, and Grey Tuesday), as greedy (that's what Steve Jobs called them), and as practitioners of unauthorized access (Sony rootkit scandal). Consumer perception can be a bitch and the end result here is that many consumers probably don't feel as good about buying a CD anymore.
Submission + - FTC wants to hear your comments on SSN use (commentworks.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The FTC is allowing people to voice their concerns and opinions on the private sector's use of SSNs (Social Security Numbers). The page to voice your comments can be found here:
https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-SSNPrivateSect or/
Note that the only required fields are: Last name, state, and country.
Feed Science Daily: Technology To Monitor Bridge Safety Is Available (sciencedaily.com)
North Carolina A&T State University has developed a technology that could have possibly prevented the bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minn. The technology involves using commercially available sensors deployed in a unique configuration to acoustically monitor structural integrity to remotely detect and address standard flaws via acoustic emission signals.
Submission + - WPA bug in Vista, is that a security problem? (microsoft.com) 1
Anonymous Coward writes: "Many people, such as me-said-the-idiot, or maybe all, cannot connect to a WPA protected WiFi network with Vista.
So many will have to use an unsecured network configuration in order to go online.
Practically all new PC laptops sold now are bundled with Vista, so this could well become the biggest and easiest to exploit security leak..
Many posts on MS forum http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx? PostID=481371&SiteID=17 but apparently it still isn't considered a problem by MS.."
