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Microsoft

Submission + - MSFT's SUSE coupons have no expire date

Submitted by mw13068
mw13068 writes: In a recent article in the Seattle Post Intelligencer FSF General Council Eben Moglen points out: "The [Microsoft SUSE] coupons have no expiration date, and Microsoft can be sure that some coupons will be turned into Novell in return for software after the effective date of GPL 3. Once that has happened, patent defenses will, under the license, have moved out into the broad community and be available to anybody who Microsoft should ever sue for infringement."

Groklaw is also covering the story in it's inimitable way.
Microsoft

Submission + - Two-Step Windows Vista UAC Hack Published

Submitted by
FutureDomain
FutureDomain writes: "PC World has an article about how security researchers have developed a way to bypass Vista's UAC. The attack involves installing malicious code with a lower-level program and adding an "executable stub" that is started instead of another higher-level program. When the higher program is run, the malicious code gets to run with the higher program's integrity level. This works because all installers are run with administrator privileges."
Patents

Netflix Sued Over Fradulently Obtained Patents 193

Posted by Zonk from the dirty-pool dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Techdirt has a story about a new class action lawsuit against Netflix, claiming that the patents the company is using to sue Blockbuster were obtained fraudulently. Specifically, the lawsuit claims that Netflix was well aware of prior art, but did not include it in its patent filing, as required by law. The lawsuit also claims that Netflix then used these fraudulently obtained patents to scare others out of the market, in violation of antitrust law. 'Certainly, it makes for an interesting argument. Patents grant a government-backed monopoly -- which should get you around any antitrust violations. However, if that patent is obtained fraudulently, then I can see a pretty compelling claim that you've abused antitrust law. It would be interesting if other such cases start popping up (and, indeed, the lawyer who sent it to us said his firm is looking for additional patents to go after in this manner).'"
HP

Submission + - HP Garage on National Register of Historic Places

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: According to the San Jose Mercury News, Bill Hewlett's famous garage is now on the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places. It's not clear what exactly this will do for the structure, since it's already owned by HP and it already very well restored to its original glory. Anyway, for history fans and HP fans alike, this is exciting news, akin to saving the original Edison or Marconi labs.
Programming

Submission + - A Conversation with Cory Doctorow and Hal Stern

Submitted by ChelleChelle
ChelleChelle writes: In this rare meeting, popular sci-fi writer and co-editor of the blog Boing Boing Cory Doctorow and Sun VP Hal Stern consider the open source approach. A very interesting interview that deals with the pros and cons of going open source as well as the issues of security and privacy. From the interview, "I worry about how we convey that individual responsibility about what you do and do not do online...Conveying the moral sense of right and wrong, the sense of individual responsibility, is a lot harder than saying, 'Don't steal candy from the 7-11.'"
United States

Submission + - Jail Time for Attempted Copyright Infringement

Submitted by yuna49
yuna49 writes: Declan McCullagh reports that US Attorney General Gonzales announced this week that the Bush Administration will support the proposed "Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007." Among other draconian features, the Act would make "attempting to infringe copyright" a act punishable by up to ten years in prison. Jail time features predominantly in this act including life imprisonment for "anyone using counterfeit products who 'recklessly causes or attempts to cause death....' Justice Department officials gave the example of a hospital using pirated software instead of paying for it." Even more bizarre is a provision that would require the Department of Homeland Security to alert the Recording Industry Association of America if they discover an attempt to import CDs with "unauthorized fixations of the sounds, or sounds and images, of a live musical performance." Only the RIAA enjoys this privileged status; even the Motion Picture Association of America wouldn't qualify.
Mars

Sun May Be Warming Both Earth and Mars 1050

Posted by Zonk from the dang-mars-suvs dept.
MCraigW writes "Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes might have a natural — and not a human-induced — cause. Mars, it appears, has also been experiencing milder temperatures in recent years. In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide 'ice caps' near Mars's south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row. Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of the St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun."
Power

Burning Ice Drilled from Alaska's Slope 233

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the snowballs-that-pack-a-punch dept.
bagboy writes to tell us that as sources of renewable energy are being sought, BP has announced a new method of extracting natural gas from ice underneath Alaska's North Slope drilling fields. "Scientists with the federal Energy Department paid $4.6 million to drill for the hot ice just below the surface of the Milne Point well, which is situated northwest of Prudhoe Bay. [...] Now, scientists from around the world are waiting for pieces of this strange ice to conduct their own tests and determine whether Alaska's frozen grounds contain untapped, clean-burning energy."
The Internet

Bird Flu Pandemic Could Choke the Net 364

Posted by kdawson from the edge-cannot-hold dept.
PetManimal writes "If a pandemic were to occur, many companies and organizations would ask their staffs to work from home. The impact of millions of additional people using the Internet from home might require individuals and companies to voluntarily restrain themselves from surfing to high-bandwidth sites, such as YouTube. If people didn't comply, the government might step in and limit Net usage. The scenario is not far-fetched: last year at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, a group of telecom and government officials conducted a pandemic exercise based on a hypothetical breakout of bird flu in central Europe. The results weren't pretty." From the latter article: "'We assumed total absentees of 30% to 60% trying to work from home, which would have overwhelmed the Internet,' said [one] participant. 'We did not assume that the backbone would be gone, but that the edge of the network... would be overwhelmed... The conclusion [of imminent collapse] was not absolute, and the situation was not digitally simulated, but the idea of everyone working from home appears untenable,' [he] said."

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