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Google

The Need For Search Neutrality 203

Posted by samzenpus from the fair-and-balanced dept.
wilsone8 writes "The New York Times includes an op-ed today arguing for Search Neutrality: 'Today, search engines like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft's new Bing have become the Internet's gatekeepers, and the crucial role they play in directing users to Web sites means they are now as essential a component of its infrastructure as the physical network itself. The F.C.C. needs to look beyond network neutrality and include search neutrality: the principle that search engines should have no editorial policies other than that their results be comprehensive, impartial and based solely on relevance.'"
Businesses

Best Open Source Business Tools? 164

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the getting-the-details-right dept.
An anonymous reader writes "My wife and I started an S Corp in 2009 mainly to provide small scale consulting services for friends with small businesses of their own (we build them websites and do odd technical jobs). Now that the year is closing I'm giving thought to our corporate tax filings which will be due March 15th. I've scoured the web for free/open source legal templates for hiring contractors, issuing W-2s, keeping shareholder minute meetings, etc, but haven't been able to find any decent sources. It seems like this should be a priority of the open source community since reducing the cost of entry into small business could drive open source development. What are the best sources of open source legal templates, tax filing software, corporate compliance templates, etc?" What experiences have others had with open sources businesses and the best way to consolidate the necessary corporate mojo into a workable model?

Submission + - Make use of a provider locked VoIP ATA (atmurray.net)

Submitted by atmurray
atmurray writes: I've done a bit of a write up on how to use Asterisk to make use of a provider locked Netgear TA612V ATA. It doesn't involve hacking the firmware or altering the ATA in any way and the concept is probably applicable to other devices. I don't believe (but I'm no lawyer!) there should be any legal concerns governing the method I suggest.
Privacy

Submission + - New Fb privacy issues: act now, photoStalk your ex

Submitted by jackDuhRipper
jackDuhRipper writes: From Kash Hill: "Two new Facebook privacy issues have made their way onto my radar. I took advantage of one glitch to stalk peruse off-limits photo albums. Though most Facebook users have been made aware of the fact that the new privacy settings default to be quite open, many have not realized that this applies to their photo albums too."

Submission + - SPAM: Homemade solar panel

Submitted by lkhwealth
lkhwealth writes: The present economic scenario and the ever-shrinking state of the global oil reserves is not good news for everyone. But on a positive note it makes us investigate for alternative energy sources that is become the solution of cutting down present and the future energy consumption, particularly in terms of fossil fuel usage like oil.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - SPAM: 10 Ways to Save Energy and Water in Your Home

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Here are 10 ways that you can start to lessen your utility bills by using less energy and water. You have probably heard some of these before but they are still worth repeating:
Link to Original Source
Television

"Loud Commercial" Legislation Proposed In US Congress 636

Posted by Soulskill from the you-have-my-grandmother's-vote dept.
Hackajar writes "Have you ever caught yourself running for the volume control when a TV commercial comes on? Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA) has, and is submitting legislation that would require TV commercials in the US to stay at volume levels similar to the programming they are associated with. From the article: 'Right now, the government doesn't have much say in the volume of TV ads. It's been getting complaints ever since televisions began proliferating in the 1950s. But the FCC concluded in 1984 there was no fair way to write regulations controlling the "apparent loudness" of commercials.'"
Education

Submission + - Linux to be installed in every Russian school (cnews.ru) 2

Submitted by J_Omega
J_Omega writes: According to the Russian IT site CNews, Linux is slated to be installed in every Russian school by 2009. The article makes it appear that it will be going by the (unimaginative and nationalist) name "Russian OS." As stated in the article: "The main aim of the given work is to reduce dependence on foreign commercial software and provide education institutions with the possibility to choose whether to pay for commercial items or to use the software, provided by the government." Initial testing installations are supposed to begin next year in select districts. Is 2008/09 the year of Linux on the (Russian) desktop?
Communications

Submission + - Google Panorama Viewer Released by UCL

Submitted by
Dr Andrew Hudson-Smith
Dr Andrew Hudson-Smith writes: "University College London has released a simple methodology for viewing 360x180 degree panoramas direct in Google Earth. Using backface culling it is possible to project a image onto a sphere and then navigate inside of it within Google Earth. A step by step tutorial is provided as well as a series of files, the examples could be the first of many panoramas to spring up in Google Earth."
Sun Microsystems

Submission + - Sun releases

Submitted by
htd2
htd2 writes: "Sun has released the source for Fortress a new highly portable language designed among other things for modern HPC applications. Fortress is designed to make exploiting parallelism as simple as possible while supporting a range of syntax designed to support modern HPC applications. The initial release is of a Fortress interpreter and a subset of the Fortress Language is available from http://fortress.sunsource.net/

Fortress is released under a BSD license"
The Courts

Submission + - Fighting child porn vs. ruining innocent lives

Submitted by
netbuzz
netbuzz writes: "ABC News has the story of a horrifying example of how legitimate societal concerns about child pornography are leading to overzealous prosecutions that can upturn if not ruin the lives of innocents. In this case, the innocents are a teenage boy and his parents, who have been so traumatized by the injustice that they've taken the drastic though understandable step of disconnecting their PC from the Internet. What can other parents do to lessen the chances of this nightmare happening to their families? And what can technologists contribute to the cause of sorting true child porn traffickers from those who are merely unwitting hosts? http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1046 0"

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