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The Courts

Facebook Says It Owns 'Book' 483

Posted by samzenpus from the first-book dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Facebook has sued a tiny start-up called Teachbook.com over the use of 'book' in its name. The start-up, which has two employees, aims to provide tools for teachers to manage their classrooms and share lesson plans and other resources. 'Effectively they're bombing a mosquito here, and we're not sure why they want to do that,' Teachbook.com co-director Greg Shrader told the Tribune. Facebook said its use of 'book' in its name is 'highly distinctive in the context of online communities and networking websites.' Facebook apparently is alleging that no other online 'network of people' can use the word 'book' in its name without violating its trademark."
Space

Bacteria From Beer Lasts 553 Days In Space 138

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i'll-drink-to-that dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Some specific bacteria colonies from Beer (the place, not the beverage) left for several days outside the ISS actually survived extreme temperatures, UV and other radiations, lack of water and all the like. They were later brought back to Earth for examination: such resistant bacteria may be the base of life support systems or bio-mining on colonies off Earth, and of course for terraforming, eventually. No clue in the article about how dangerous those bacteria might have become after the exposure or when they'll start eating their examiners."
Science

Submission + - Danish suborbital rocket launch planned for Aug 30 (universetoday.com)

Submitted by egil
egil writes: The most amazing hobby project ever: Build a suborbital manned rocket — and while you're at it, a sea lauch platform and a submarine. It seems unbelieveable, but the posts documents this amazing project, started by Peter Madsen and Kristian von Bengtson. The project home page has more information. Although covered in the Danish press, the guys have obviously been more busy with rocket science than PR.
Government

Submission + - Philly requiring bloggers to pay $300 (washingtonexaminer.com) 1

Submitted by Kurofuneparry
Kurofuneparry writes: Pennsylvania generally and Philadelphia specifically have had a number of budget issues and some bloggers are seeing the results. From the article: "yes, cash-strapped cities can’t very well ignore potential sources of income. But at the same time, there must be some room for discretion and common sense."
Social Networks

Submission + - Gaming Foursquare check-in with 9 lines of Perl (thebuzzmedia.com)

Submitted by rsk
rsk writes: Mayank Lahiri has hacked together a 9-statement Perl script that mocks a Foursquare check-in (HTTP POST) allowing you to claim a check-in to any location. Running the script only requires you know the Venue ID (from the website) and lat/long GPS coordinates for the location (available from the "link" link on Google Maps when location is centered). I'm fairly certain this violates the ToS of Foresquare, so becoming the Mayor of Google HQ could be harder than you thought.
News

Submission + - 9th Circuit Rules Copyright Preempts Right of Publ (blogspot.com) 1

Submitted by David Weiskopf
David Weiskopf writes: This past week, in Jules Jordan Video vs. 144942 Canada (August 16, 2010), in which Plaintiff (an adult film star) sued Defendant for its pirating and redistributing of plaintiff's films, the Ninth Circuit held, in what I consider to be a very troubling ruling, that the Plaintiff's (California-based) right of publicity claim was preempted by his available claims for copyright infringement under federal copyright law. Specifically, in reversing the lower District Court and vacating the judgment in favor of plaintiff, the Court's three judge panel (which included Judge Kozinski, who, you might remember, famously dissented from the Ninth Circuit's Order rejecting the suggestion of an en banc hearing in Wendt vs. Host International, Inc., based in part on his argument that the Ninth Circuit should have found that that the right of publicity claim at issue was preempted by the the actors' federal copyright claims) held that "[Plaintiff's] right of publicity claim falls within the subject matter of copyright, and that the rights he asserts are equivalent to the rights within the scope of Section 106 of the Copyright Act. The essence of [Plaintiff's] claim is that [Defendants] reproduced and distributed the DVDs without authorization. [Plaintiff's] claim is under the Copyright Act." The Court's primary reasoning appears based on the facts of the case, where the Court makes clear that Defendant's infringing acts were comprised solely of reproducing and distributing pirated DVDs; Defendant did not otherwise use Plaintiff's name or likeness in promoting the fake DVDs, but simply redistributed the illicitly made copies containing the original and otherwise properly authorized performance (likeness) of Plaintiff.
Patents

Submission + - Apple patents tech to record iPhone thieves (goodgearguide.com.au)

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "A new Apple patent proposes a mechanism to catch iPhone thieves: it would record the voice of the current user of the phone, take photographs of the user, geotag the photograph and activate the accelerometer to "determine a current mode of transportation of the electronic device." (View the patent itself here. [PDF])"
Hardware

Submission + - Small Plug-in solar panels coming out in 2011

Submitted by KindMind
KindMind writes: Clarian Power, a Seattle startup, is promising "plug-in" solar panels at $600 to $800 installed per panel for homeowners and small businesses. A typical installation is three panels, at around $2400 installed. These generate about 200 watts a panel, so a three panel systems would be 800 watts A single panel would save 30 to 40 kilowatt hours per month, translating to around $50 a year in energy cost savings. The estimated payback for a setup like this is estimated at four years, with tax credits and rebates taken into account. This is a supplemental power system, for replacing outside utility power, not for selling back to the utility company. The target date to have these for sale is sometime in 2011.

Submission + - Better Way to Grow Stem Cells Developed

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Human pluripotent stem cells, which can become any other kind of body cell, hold great potential to treat a wide range of ailments, including Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries. However, scientists who work with such cells have had trouble growing large enough quantities to perform experiments — in particular, to be used in human studies.Furthermore, most materials now used to grow human stem cells include cells or proteins that come from mice embryos, which help stimulate stem-cell growth but would likely cause an immune reaction if injected into a human patient. To overcome those issues, MIT chemical engineers, materials scientists and biologists have devised a synthetic surface that includes no foreign animal material and allows stem cells to stay alive and continue reproducing themselves for at least three months.
Space

Submission + - Non-profit manned space rocket launching in a week (copenhagensuborbitals.com) 2

Submitted by Plammox
Plammox writes: Well not really manned in the first go, as this is the first test of the boosters and space craft in combination with the sea launch platform they built. The catch? All of this is a non-profit project based on voluntary labour and sponsors. How will they get the launch platform out in the middle of the Baltic sea to perform the test? With the founder's home built submarine pushing it, of course. Enjoy the pictures.
Government

Submission + - Germany to grant privacy at the workplace (googleusercontent.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: The German government is proposing a bill deciding employees do have an expectation of privacy at the workplace. Among other provisions, the bill would ban employers from surveilling their employees by cameras or logging and reading their emails.Also, potential employers would not be allowed to view an applicant's profile at facebook or any other social network that hasn't actually been made for this purpose.
Cellphones

Submission + - National Park Service Says Tech Enabling Stupidity 2

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: The National Park Service is finding technology to be a double-edged sword. While new technologies can and do save lives, the NPS is also finding that unseasoned hikers and campers are now boldly going where they never would have gone before, counting on cellphones, GPS, and SPOT devices to bail them out if they get into trouble. Last fall, a group of hikers in the Grand Canyon called in rescue helicopters three times by pressing the emergency button on their satellite location device. When rangers arrived the second time, the hikers complained that their water supply tasted salty. 'Because of having that electronic device, people have an expectation that they can do something stupid and be rescued,' said a spokeswoman for Grand Teton National Park. 'Every once in a while we get a call from someone who has gone to the top of a peak, the weather has turned and they are confused about how to get down and they want someone to personally escort them. The answer is that you are up there for the night.'
Security

Submission + - Faulty Alarms Blamed for van Gogh Theft (google.com)

Submitted by pickens
pickens writes: AP reports that none of the alarms and only seven out of 43 surveillance cameras were working at a museum where a Vincent van Gogh painting was stolen, as thieves made off with the canvas, known by the titles of "Poppy Flowers" and "Vase with Flowers," on Saturday from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum in the Egyptian capital of Cairo. This is the second time this painting by the Dutch-born postimpressionist has been stolen from the Khalil museum. Thieves first made off with the canvas in 1978, before authorities recovered it two years later at an undisclosed location in Kuwait. Officials have never fully revealed the details of that theft.

Submission + - Critical e-voting researcher arrested in India (freedom-to-tinker.com)

Submitted by mpawlo
mpawlo writes: Hari Prasad, a researcher working with J. Alex Halderman, Ed Felten and Rop Gonggrijp on a (highly) critical study of flaws in Indias e-voting system was arrested by ten police officers in Hyderabad, India yesterday. It appears this is a political arrest to unveil the groups anonymous source whom provided a voting machine to the group's study.
Education

Submission + - Ancient Nalanda University to be resurrected

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Nalanda University [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalanda] — "one of the first great universities in recorded history" — an ancient Indian center of advanced learning (427-1193CE) that attracted pan-Asian scholars is planned to be resurrected by Indian Government through passage of a parliamentary bill. Nalanda Mentor Group has been constituted to which is headed by Nobel laureate Professor Amartya Sen. It will act as its Interim Governing Board.

The University was visited by Buddha Himself in His lifetime, and served as major center of Budhdhist teachings throughout its existence. It was finally sacked and its library burned down by Moghuls. The library is recorded to have burned for three months, with precious materials lost forever.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/recreating-nalanda-an-indian-renaissance-46197?cp

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