Comment Excellent... (Score 1) 249
I've been waiting for some access provider to have the balls to stand up and RUN their network, instead of letting it run them...
Should be interesting to see how long they last.
Comment What in the hell? (Score 1) 177
After reading the article, it is quite clear that these folks are getting caught up in their own metaphors.
The only reason you need more power is if you need to defend your self from more powerful forces.
On the internet, power, while not equally distributed, is far less disparate than in the 'real world'.
Why do I need an Army? In case another tribe decides they want to secure a resource I want, or decides to infringe on my territory.
What is the equivalent online? Who is this 'defense' supposed to be against?
This reminds me of the 'the poor don't have enough on ramps to the internet' argument. Politicians hear that are start crying how we need 'more money for on ramps to the internet for the poor! we need to build more on ramps!'
[facepalm]
The Internet community does not need an organization to take responsibility for access security. Where would you draw 'the border'? are we gong to build Great Firewall 2.0 for the US? Maybe we are going to start including commercial data as 'in the national interest' and start sending out fighter planes and smart bombs when someone steals a few million credit cards from a data base in the states?
The net result of such policies would mean a lot of money for a few people, less flexibility for the day to day users, and less freedom to do as one sees fit online.
Submission + - ARRL VS FCC over BPL! (arrl.org)
Brew Bird writes: "From the 'Power Lines are not for Data' department —
This has been going on for years, but it's finally made it to the courts! The ARRL (Ham radio guys for the unknowing) has managed to drag the FCC into court over their 'waiver' that allows noisy BPL operators to pollute the radio spectrum with impunity. Some Broad Band Power Line systems create annoying radio frequency noise that interferes with existing radio gear. The FCC is SUPPOSED to have these systems shut down until they can be repaired, but has been loath to do so. So, After all the proper 'legal' avenues have been exhausted, the FCC has been hauled in front of a judge to explain just why it's 'ok' for the power company to jam radio systems, but no one else can."
This has been going on for years, but it's finally made it to the courts! The ARRL (Ham radio guys for the unknowing) has managed to drag the FCC into court over their 'waiver' that allows noisy BPL operators to pollute the radio spectrum with impunity. Some Broad Band Power Line systems create annoying radio frequency noise that interferes with existing radio gear. The FCC is SUPPOSED to have these systems shut down until they can be repaired, but has been loath to do so. So, After all the proper 'legal' avenues have been exhausted, the FCC has been hauled in front of a judge to explain just why it's 'ok' for the power company to jam radio systems, but no one else can."
Submission + - DVD Player Application for Wii Released (nintendo-scene.com)
twistedsymphony writes: "Nintendo-Scene has a report up of a Homebrew DVD player application released for the Nintendo Wii. The Application requires the use of a modchip with Dual Layer Disc support. It's basically a stripped down version of GameCube Linux with a DVD player application so you'll also need a Gamecube controller to control the DVD playback.
While this might not be the DVD playback feature everyone was waiting for Nintendo to deliver it certainly proves that it's technically possible to do with the Wii."
While this might not be the DVD playback feature everyone was waiting for Nintendo to deliver it certainly proves that it's technically possible to do with the Wii."
Submission + - Dell releases Ubuntu PCs worldwide.
watzinaneihm writes: Dell has announced that it will be selling Ubuntu systems worldwide . The Dell blog also says that it is considering opening up sales to Small/Medium businesses. We have discussed Dell's sales policy to sell only home users before
Submission + - MPAA sues Peekvid, YouTVPC
BingCherriesYum writes: The MPAA has decided that Peekvid and YouTVPC are its next legal targets, accusing the sites of attempting to prosper from illegal material. The problem is that both sites only link to where you can find "free" streaming TV and movies; they don't host it themselves. But the MPAA doesn't care, since they are both still making money from the mere existence of illegal videos. The main focus of the lawsuit could come down to how they are financed, according to Ars Technica:
If the MPAA wins, then sites like Google and Yahoo might have to more carefully scrutinize each and every site that uses their advertising engines.It's no secret in the industry that ads provided by reputable companies like Google and Yahoo commonly earn revenue for sites like Peekvid, and in fact the two sites targeted in the lawsuit both rely on advertising to pay the bills. In a statement, the MPAA noted that the web sites "profit handsomely from a seemingly endless stream of third-party advertising pitches."
Submission + - So how long before eating is a patented process?
dwarfking writes: The subject line is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but the article about a lawsuite of the IP of a salad recipe is either funny or scary, depending on the outcome.
From the article:
From the article:
But the legal action, one of the first in which a restaurant owner has gone to court over intellectual property, has opened up a veritable can of lobster tails over when culinary influences stray into imitation.
What seems to have upset Ms Charles in particular is Ed's Caesar, a $7 (£3.50) salad that she alleges in the legal action was taken from her own recipe. But Ms Charles acquired the recipe from her mother, who, in turn, wheedled it out of a chef in Los Angeles.
Submission + - Dell selling hardware for Google (arstechnica.com)
lone writer writes: "Google is going to sell its Search Appliance through Dell and other large retailers, taking that next big step toward antitrust court!
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070628-goog le-partners-with-dell-ingram-micro-to-boost-search -appliance-sales.html"
Submission + - AMD/ATI Radeon HD 2600 and 2400 Cards Launched (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes: "When the
Radeon HD 2900 XT debuted, AMD disclosed a some details regarding other lower-end
GPUs derived from the R600 architecture. Cards based on the Radeon HD 2600
and HD 2400 series GPUs, as they became known, weren't ready in time to launch
alongside the high-end Radeon 2900 XT, however. They're ready now though and
HotHardware has a trio of AMD's new mainstream graphics cards shown here in a
thorough hands-on evaluation. Looks like these cards aren't going to break
any benchmark records."
Submission + - Supercomputer On-chip Prototype Unveiled (umd.edu)
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers at University of Maryland have developed a prototype of what may be the next generation of personal computers. The new technology is based on parallel processing on a single chip and is "capable of computing speeds up to 100 times faster than current desktops." The prototype "uses rich algorithmic theory to address the practical problem of building an easy-to-program multicore computer." Readers can win 500$ in cash and write their names in the history of computer science by naming the new technology.
Submission + - Real Tech Journalists Can't Afford to be Fanboys
An anonymous reader writes: ExtremeTech's Joel Durham takes on fanboys and his own critics in his latest opinion column
Submission + - Nano-hitchhikers to deliver drugs
Roland Piquepaille writes: "Another research team has found a way to use nanotechnology to deliver drugs. As you may know, polymeric nanoparticles are excellent carriers for delivering drugs. But as they are quickly removed from the blood, they are somewhat ineffective for the task. Now, researchers from the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) have found that 'nanoparticles can be forced to remain in the circulation when attached to red blood cells.' In other words, these nanoparticles hitchhike on red blood cells. Apparently, these nanoparticles could stay with their hosts for their life time — about 120 days. So this could lead to new treatments for cancer or heart disease. Read more for additional details and references."
Submission + - What's using your memory?
gosand writes: "I have a pretty old system (Duron 1.33 with 768 MB of PC-133 RAM). One of these days I'll upgrade my system and I suspect I'll get more memory. But is there a need? I have Gkrellm running, so I see my memory usage. In the past, with an uptime of 150+ days, I've had several applications running at once (Ktorrent, GIMP, OpenOffice.org, K3b, Firefox) and still the memory usage has never gotten much over the halfway mark. I did recently upgrade from Kubuntu Edgy to Feisty, and it seems to use a little more memory. So what am I missing? Why do people have multiple gigs of memory on their systems? What is your memory usage, and what uses it? Do we all have lots of memory that is just not utilized?"
Submission + - For the 20 million surfers TIME Magazine forgot... (ixpats.com)
JJ writes: "The most popular websites in the Middle East: In response to the recent TIME magazine article, which as usual, with many of its selections focuses on the US and ignores the rest of the world, here is a custom Top 20 sites list for the Dubai, the UAE and the Middle East...that's about 20 million people using the net...and traffic speaks for itself."
Concerns Over Microsoft's Internet User Profiling 144
jcatcw writes "Microsoft research on Internet user profiling could lead to tools that help repressive regimes identify anonymous dissidents, the Reporters Without Borders advocacy group warned last Friday. Microsoft's new algorithms correctly guessed the gender of a Web surfer 80% of the time, and his or her age 60% of the time. "In China, it is conceivable that this type of technology would be used to spot Internet users who regularly access such 'subversive' content as news and information websites critical of the regime," the group said."
