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Submission + - IBM nanotechnology might improve cell phones (goodgearguide.com.au)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 18, 2008 @07:43PM

An anonymous reader writes: Nanotechnology may someday expand your cell phone's range while improving its battery life if a prototype transistor from IBM gets to market. IBM researchers are using nanotechnology to build a future generation of wireless transceivers that are much more sensitive than the ones found in phones today. The catch is that the new chips probably won't make it into consumers' hands for another five or ten years. The scientists, sponsored by DARPA (the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), have built prototype transistors with the new material, called graphene. It is a form of graphite that consists of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern. The project is part of DARPA's CERA (Carbon Electronics for radio-frequency applications) program.

Submission + - Cisco Shareholders Vote Against Human Rights (internetnews.com)

Submitted by darthcamaro on Thursday November 13, 2008 @06:56PM

darthcamaro writes: The world's biggest networking vendor — Cisco — does alot of business in China. Some have argued that Cisco's technology is actually helping China to restrict human rights and free speech in that country. So at Cisco's annual general meeting two seperate shareholder groups put forward motions for more oversight and transparency into Cisco's dealings in China. Shareholders however overwhelmingly voted the motions down. Cisco management argued that they are already helping out the chinese people
"We're in central China and western China changing education, encouraging job creation, and we're putting $45 million of our own money into corporate social responsibility because we can make a difference to the people there in a way that no one else can," Cisco CEO John Chambers said.

Submission + - SPAM: Don't Mess With Scientists 1

Submitted by

bloggerp

on Monday October 13, 2008 @06:40AM

bloggerp writes: "If there's one rule in election-year politics, it's this: Don't mess with the science crowd. OK, labor unions and the NRA matter too, but John McCain may want to brush up on his stars and planets after Tuesday night's debate."
Link to Original Source

Firefox Users Stay Ahead On the Update Curve 328

Posted by timothy on Monday July 07, 2008 @01:18AM from the not-altogether-surprising dept.

Reader Alex links to news of a study comparing the currency and patch level of various Web browsers, excerpting: "Firefox users were far and away the most likely to use the latest version, with an overwhelming 83.3 percent running an updated browser on any given day. However, despite Firefox's single click integrate auto-update functionality, 16.7 percent of Firefox users still continue to access the Web with an outdated version of the browser, researchers said. The study also revealed that the majority of Safari users (65.3) percent were likely to use the latest version of the browser between December 2007 and June 2008, after Safari version 3 became available. Meanwhile, Microsoft's Internet Explorer users ranked last in terms of safe browsing. Between January 2007 and June 2008, less than half of IE users — 47.6 percent — were running the most secure browser version during the same time period."

Submission + - NYT Journalist Becomes an Unintentional Activist

Submitted by

MojoKid

on Friday July 04, 2008 @09:51PM

MojoKid writes: "It's fascinating to see how a journalist can inadvertently become an agent of change. There has always been a blurred line between reporting the news and impacting it. Such is the case with New York Time reporter Saul Hansell. Back in May, Hansell reported on a spat between Google and the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) trade group over Google's refusal to add a link to its privacy policy on the Google homepage. To seek clarification on the issue, he reached out to Joanne McNabb, Chief of the California Office of Privacy Protection. Not only did Hansell get at least some of the clarification he was looking for, he inadvertently ratted Google out to a government agency in the process. Does this mean then, that Google had to eat crow and add another word to its homepage? Au contraire! The word "Privacy" now replaces the word "Google" in the copyright notice at the bottom of the page."

eBay'er Arrested For Attempting To Sell His Vote 501

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday July 04, 2008 @03:21PM from the probably-should-have-thought-this-one-through dept.

The Associated Press reports that Max P. Sanders, 19, is charged with a felony for attempting to auction off his vote on eBay for the upcoming presidential election. From the article: '"Fundamentally, we believe it is wrong to sell your vote," said John Aiken, a spokesman for the office. "There are people that have died for this country for our right to vote, and to take something that lightly, to say, 'I can be bought... It's a real shame"' Yes, that is a terrible shame, isn't it. Perhaps we should arrest, prosecute, and imprison everyone who sells their vote. The boy says it was all a joke, but prosecutors aren't laughing. Max faces up to 5 years in prison and $10,000 in fines if he is convicted.

Submission + - Number 10 responds to Software Patents Petition

Submitted by jdh41 on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @05:05AM

jdh41 writes: The Prime Minister's Office has responded to the 2,215 signature petition to make software patents clearly unenforceable. It seems to be a positive response, hiding a do nothing action plan.

Submission + - Pirate Bay abandons bid for own nation

Submitted by tomp76 on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @03:21AM

tomp76 writes: Perhaps it was all just a joke. Or perhaps The Pirate Bay, despite being one of the largest bit torrent trackers in the world, isn't really as powerful as its supporters would like to believe. That, at least, is the impression given by one of the founders in this interview. The plans for a copyright-free nation have been scaled down considerably: "We have $20,000 and we are looking at some alternatives. Really we just want somewhere we can name The Pirate Bay, so we can look on Google Maps and find ourselves there."

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