i)ave - Slashdot User

Submission + - AT&T Announces Alliances with MPAA and RIAA

Submitted by i)ave on Thursday June 14, 2007 @07:13PM

i)ave writes: More documents in the AT&T/NSA warrantless wiretapping campaign were unsealed today. Meanwhile, AT&T announced a new policy to spy on customers for signs of copyright violations. They credited their new television service as moving them into the same camp as the RIAA and MPAA. How long before they change names from AT&T to 00&7?

Journal Journal: Blue-Ray Copy Protection also cracked? 1

Journal by What the Frag on Saturday January 20, 2007 @11:37AM

It looks like the guy who did BackupHDDVD also found a way to copy Blue-Ray disks.

Ohio Recount Rigging Case Goes to Court 224

Posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday January 20, 2007 @11:15AM from the counting-down-the-hits dept.

The Akron Beacon Journal is reporting that the trial of the three election workers accused of rigging the 2004 presidential election recount in Cuyahoga County is finally underway. As you may recall, this was the case where poll workers 'randomly' selected the precincts to recount by first eliminating from consideration precincts where the number of ballots handed out on Election Day failed to match the number of ballots cast and, then opening the ballot boxes in private and pre-counting until they found cases which would match up. What is interesting here is that they have already admitted doing this and that it was clearly counter to the letter and the spirit of the law, but still insist it wasn't really 'wrong,' presumably since they only did it to avoid having to go to the bother of a full recount as required by law.

Submission + - Provision to Regulate Political Blogging Defeated

Submitted by udderly on Saturday January 20, 2007 @10:17AM

udderly writes: CNet News is reporting that the Senate approved an amendment to the S1 bill removing a controversial section (Slashdot, 1/17/07) that required certain paid bloggers to register as lobbyists or face fines and/or jail time. The vote broke down mostly along party lines, with all 48 Republicans and 7 Democrats approving the amendment.

While the vote was mostly partisan, opposition to the provision cut across the political spectrum, including the bill's sponsor. FTA: "...a politically diverse set of advocacy groups, ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to Gun Owners of America, argued that the proposal could actually sweep up a potentially broad swath of bloggers and nonprofit groups. Requiring them to register as lobbyists would violate core freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, they said."

Labels Not Tags, Says Google 284

Posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday January 20, 2007 @10:13AM from the a-tag-by-any-other-name dept.

Ashraf Al Shafaki writes "The word 'tags' is the one in common use on the Web today and is one of the distinctive features of Web 2.0. Ever since Gmail came out, Google has decided to use the term 'label' instead of the term 'tag' despite they are basically the exact same thing and have the exact same function. Why is Google using inconsistent terminology in its products for such an important term? Is there a real difference between a tag and a label?"

Submission + - Electric Solar Sail to Propel Spacecraft Cheaper

Submitted by

mairas

on Saturday January 20, 2007 @05:56AM

mairas writes: "The electric solar wind sail, or a large set of long, thin conducting wires set up radially like the spokes of the wheel, may yet provide a relatively simple way to set up extremely large solar wind sails: a solar-powered electron gun is used to create a high positive voltage in the wires. Positively charged solar wind particles see the electric fields of the charged wires as opaque obstructions, thus accelerating the spacecraft. The article states that small payloads could be sent to Pluto in less than five years using electric solar wind sails."

Microsoft, Google Agree to NGO Code of Conduct 59

Posted by Zonk on Saturday January 20, 2007 @05:33AM from the we've-all-been-waiting dept.

Aditi.Tuteja writes "Technology companies have come under fire for providing equipment or software that permits governments to censor information or monitor the online or offline activities of their citizens. For example, last year, Google's approach to the China market was criticized over its creation of a censored, local version of its search engine. Microsoft, Google, and two other technology companies will develop a code of conduct with a coalition of nongovernmental organizations (NGO) to promote freedom of expression and privacy rights, they announced Friday. The two companies along with Yahoo, and Vodafone Group said the new guidelines are the result of talks with Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School."

Submission + - Your web browser, now a graphing calculator

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20, 2007 @05:27AM

An anonymous reader writes: Taking advantage of the vector graphics features offered by the latest browsers, a recently created website called FooPlot turns your web browser into a function plotter (in 2-D and 3-D), offering a few basic graphing calculator features with a promise for further developments and integration with popular online spreadsheet applications. Gaining popularity in an educational context both in high schools and universities, this is another great example of the potential of the Internet to become the application platform of the future.

As an added extra, FooPlot also permits functions to be tacked onto the URL: http://fooplot.com/x^2+2x+1.

Submission + - Advice to Upcoming College Students

Submitted by

sandrorafael

on Saturday January 20, 2007 @05:25AM

sandrorafael writes: "I was invited as one of the resource speakers for convocation on career guidance program in order for senior graduating students to be guided and assisted in choosing the courses or profession they prefer upon entering a chosen college or university after high school graduation. I'm asking fellow slashdotter to help me in giving advice to the graduating students. Thank you."

Submission + - Thai government accuses mobile operator of bugging

Submitted by

patiwat

on Saturday January 20, 2007 @05:23AM

patiwat writes: "Many Slashdot readers are aware of the controversy surrounding a government's right to tap telephone calls. But the Thai government has a different dilemma: it has accused a Singapore-owned mobile operator of tapping the calls of senior junta officials, and relaying them to Singapore. The operator has denied all accusations. The IT Minister (the subject of a previous Slashdot article) has thrown his hands into the air and said that mobile phone bugging can't be prevented. The junta's solution: using walkie-talkies. If a government can't even prevent tapping, how safe are your mobile phone conversations?"

Submission + - The electric solar wind sail

Submitted by niekko on Saturday January 20, 2007 @03:50AM

niekko writes: 'The electric sail is a new space propulsion concept which uses the solar wind momentum for producing thrust. The electric sail is somewhat similar to the more well-known solar radiation pressure sail which is often called simply the solar sail. A full-scale electric sail consists of a number (50-100) of long (e.g., 20 km), thin (e.g., 20 microns) conducting tethers (wires). The spacecraft contains a solar-powered electron gun (typical power a few hundred watts) which is used to keep the spacecraft and the wires in a high (up to 20 kV) positive potential. The electric field of the wires extends a few tens of metres into the surrounding solar wind plasma. Therefore the solar wind ions "see" the wires as rather thick, about 50 m wide obstacles. A technical concept exists for deploying (opening) the wires in a relatively simple way and guiding or "flying" the resulting spacecraft electrically. The implementation details are presently under study.'

GPS Devices Lead Authorities to Thieves' Home 124

Posted by Zonk on Saturday January 20, 2007 @03:36AM from the please-put-the-stolen-locatermabob-down dept.

Radon360 writes "A trio of not-so-bright thieves in Lindenhurst, NY stole 14 GPS position reporting devices used on public works equipment from a nearby township garage. Authorities didn't have to look too far to locate him or the devices, as one of them was still active and indicated the location of his home when it was queried. From the article: 'Town officials said the thieves didn't even know what they had: they thought the GPS devices were cell phones, which they planned to sell.'"

What Tax Software Do You Use? 202

Posted by Cliff on Saturday January 20, 2007 @01:05AM from the it's-about-that-time-again dept.

r_jensen11 asks: "I know this topic has been asked at least once before, but seeing as how 6 years have passed, I figured the question is due again. It's about that time of the year again when we find out how much we owe Uncle Sam (or as in my case, how much Uncle Sam owes me). Software has changed drastically in the past 6 years, since the previous query I found on Slashdot, as well as many tax rules. Does anyone here use tax software other than TurboTax and TaxCut? I know that there are also online forms I can fill out, but which ones are accessible to people that use OSes other than Windows and Mac OS X? I'd preferably use a program that I can use off-line and store my information locally instead of using eforms, but if I have to resort to eforms, which ones should I investigate and which ones should I stay far away from?"

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