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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 26 declined, 5 accepted (31 total, 16.13% accepted)

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Google

Submission + - Jury finds no Patent Infringement in Google vs. Oracle (groklaw.net)

Submitted by
vivin
vivin writes: "The Jury in Google vs. Oracle has found no patent infringement. The API question remains unanswered until the judge reaches a decision on that matter. This is a big win for Google because if Oracle had won on this issue, they would have gone for an injunction on Android in the US."
Microsoft

Submission + - ReFS: The "next generation" file system for Windows (msdn.com)

Submitted by
vivin
vivin writes: "This blog post from MSDN, authored by Surendra Verma (development manager on Storage and File System team) describes ReFS (Resilient File System), which will be a new filesystem for Windows that will be rolled out with Windows Server 8. This means that it will not be available in regular version of Windows Server 8. However, ReFS data is supposed to be accessible from clients just as NTFS data would be."
Security

Submission + - Sony admits major security breach in PSN (arstechnica.com) 1

Submitted by
vivin
" rel="nofollow">vivin writes: "ARS Technica reports that Sony has provided more information about its "external intrusion". It appears that personal information has been compromised. According to Sony, if you are on PSN, the following pieces of information have been compromised for sure: your name, your address (city, state, and zip), country, e-mail address, birthday, PSN password and login name.

Sony also stated that it was possible that your profile data (including purchase history and billing address), and security answers have been obtained. If you have a dependent on your account, their data may also be compromised."
Programming

Submission + - CherryBlossom (vivin.net)

Submitted by
vivin
vivin writes: "What happens when haiku meets programming? CherryBlossom is a programming language based on haikus. That is, you use haikus to write program code! CherryBlossom combines the poet and programmer into a single entity that results in balance in the universe. With CherryBlossom you can write code that is not only functional, but aesthetically pleasing."

Submission + - Best filesystem for an SSD

Submitted by
vivin
vivin writes: "I just got a new development machine at work that sports a 160Gb SSD. I'm running Ubuntu 9.10 on it with ext4fs. I'm curious as to whether the choice of a filesystem (on an SSD) has any bearing on performance. I know that certain file systems perform better with smaller file-sizes and certain others with larger file-sizes, but I haven't seen anything that compares performance of SSD's that under different filesystems. Perhaps this may be a moot point, but I'm just curious."
The Internet

Submission + - Internet "overhaul" wins approval (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
vivin
vivin writes: "This story was previously covered on Slashdot. BBC says that ICANN has voted unanimously to "relax" the rules on TLD's, and the "overhaul" has been given the go-ahead in Paris. Individuals can register domains in their own name as long as they show a "business plan and technical capacity". One of the members of ICANN, Peter Dengate Thrush, said the decision to relax the rules was of "historic importance". The article also notes that "While companies will be able to secure domain names easily based on their intellectual property, some domain names could become subject to contention and a bidding war." O RLY? Welcome to a new age of domain squatters and phishing sites. Oh, and then there's rewriting all those URL validation scripts. Why do I get the feeling that this is the dumbest idea ever? At the very least I hope they have some strict rules regarding the obtaining and registering of these new TLD's."
Media

Submission + - Jon Johansen launches iTunes copying software (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
vivin
vivin writes: "BBC reports "The release of software from a firm run by a notorious Norwegian hacker is likely to cause waves in the music and film download world. Jon Lech Johansen became the 'enfant terrible' of the DRM industry when he released software which cracked the encryption codes on DVDs, aged just 15.His firm, DoubleTwist, has now released software allowing users to share digital media files across devices. It would allow songs bought on Apple's iTunes to be shared on other devices."

Johansen previously released software in 2003 that circumvented Apple's "Fairplay" system. The article is a bit sparse on details, but basically the software aims to share media of different formats between any kind of media playback device. It would be interesting to see Apple's response to this. The company says it's "confident there will not be any legal challenges from Apple". Other supported devices include Sony's PSP games console, Nokia's N-series mobile, Sony Ericsson's Walkman and Cybershot handsets and Microsoft's Windows Mobile smartphones. The software is available as a free download from the company's website."
Transportation

Submission + - India's TATA backs air-powered car. (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
vivin
vivin writes: "BBC reports "An engineer has promised that within a year he will start selling a car in India that runs on compressed air, producing no emissions at all in towns. The OneCAT will be a five-seater with a glass fibre body, weighing just 350kg and could cost just over £2,500. The project is being backed by the Indian conglomerate, Tata for an undisclosed sum. It says the technology may also be used for power generation." TATA is the maker of the Nano (Slashdot covered the unveiling of the car, last month). According to the article, TATA is just putting the finishing touches on the engine, and also thinks that the engine could be used for power generation. The makers say that on long journeys, the car will do the equivalent of 120mpg."
Biotech

Submission + - First order for pet dog cloning (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
vivin
vivin writes: "BBC reports "A South Korean company says it has taken its first order for the cloning of a pet dog. A woman from the United States wants her dead pitbull terrier — called Booger — re-created. RNL Bio is charging the woman, from California, $150,000 (£76,000) to clone the pitbull using tissue extracted from its ear before it died. The work will be carried out by a team from Seoul National University, where the first dog was cloned in 2005." The university's team is led by Professor Lee Byeong-chun, who was previously in a team headed by the disgraced stem cell scientist, Hwang Woo-suk."
Biotech

Submission + - HIV vaccine research hits impasse (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
vivin
vivin writes: "BBC reports "Scientists are no further forward in developing a vaccine against HIV after more than 20 years of research, a Nobel Prize-winning biologist has said. Professor David Baltimore, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), said there was little hope among scientists." He said that "HIV has evolved a way to protect itself from the immune system". Current methods involve the use of antibodies or boosting the body's immune system. Scientists are trying to use novel methods through gene and stem-cell therapy. I wonder if nanotechnology can be eventually used to kill the AIDS virus or any pathogen. Hunter-killer nanorobots?"
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft extends shelf-life of XP by five months (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
vivin
vivin writes: "The BBC is reporting that customer demand has forced Microsoft to extend XP's shelf-life by five months. Microsoft initially planned to stop selling the six-year old operating system on January 30th, 2008. But customer demand has forced Microsoft to push that date forward to June 30th, 2008. Mike Nash, Microsoft Window's Product Manager said, "...maybe we were a little ambitious to think that we would need to make Windows XP available for only a year after the release of Windows Vista.". Microsoft denied that the policy change was due to slow demand for Vista. Mr Nash said that up to the summer of 2007 Microsoft had sold more than 60 million licenses for Vista and that this put it on track to be the fastest selling operating system in Microsoft's history."
Intel

Submission + - Intel joins OLPC (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
vivin
vivin writes: "BBC news is reporting that Intel has joined the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) initiative. "The agreement marks a huge turnaround for both the not-for profit One laptop per Child (OLPC) foundation and Intel.", the article says. Earlier, Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of OLPC said Intel "should be ashamed of itself" for efforts to undermine the $100 laptop initiative. The agreement means that Intel will be working alongside Google, Redhat and rival chip-maker AMD. There are no plans to replace the processor (AMD's) powering the laptop to one made by Intel. But apparently, the server used to backup the laptops will have Intel technology at their core."
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Beyond the Red line (game-warden.com)

Submitted by
vivin
vivin writes: "Remember the award-winning Freespace 2? It was a game released by Violition and Interplay for the PC back in 1998. Beyond the Red line is a standalone total conversion for the game, based on the popular Battlestar Galactica (the new one) series. A demo is available here, and an animation test video is available here. Since it is a standalone total conversion, Freespace 2 is not required to play the game, and as a result it is free. The game also supports multiplayer modes like Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, King of the Hill, Gauntlet missions and possibly some coop missions."
Nintendo

Submission + - Triumph of the Wii: How Fun Won Out (wired.com)

Submitted by
vivin
vivin writes: "Wired is running an article on how the Wii has triumphed over the PS3 and Xbox 360. When Nintendo President Satoru Iwata's said that what consumers really wanted out of video games was simpler, more accessible entertainment (in 2003), Time Magazine called it "Thumb candy for dummies". But four years later, the results are out for all to see.

The article says: "In the United States, Nintendo's $250 Wii sold 360,000 units in April, while Sony's $600, graphically intense, Blu-ray-powered PlayStation 3 props up the bottom of the sales chart like a doorstop, with 82,000 units sold."

The main point of the article is that Nintendo managed to triumph because it made its platform a) more fun and b) targeted the casual gamers. The Wii's success is evident from the fact that game developers have been scrambling to release titles for the console. Against all expectations and derisions, the Wii won out."

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