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Republicans

Submission + - Ted "A Series of Tubes" Stevens found guil

Submitted by techmuse
techmuse writes: According to series of tubes sites CNN and The New York Times, Senator Ted "a series of tubes" Stevens has been found guilty of lying about free home renovations that he received from an oil contractor. He faces up to 5 years in jail, and the outcome of his current reelection bid is now in doubt.
Cellphones

Submission + - Unlimited is no longer Unlimited with Telus

Submitted by Fr05t
Fr05t writes: Telus Mobility started selling an "Unlimited" wireless internet (EVDO) plan in 2007, and signed up customers with the promise of unlimited high speed. Many were assured if they signed a 3 year contract this would not change. Apparently they took a page from Verizon Wireless and have begun imposing arbitrary bandwidth caps, and enforcing a very vague TOS clause to start canceling service. Here is a forum post with the letter being sent out, and a blog covering the issue. I guess Telus must not have heard how this turned out for Verizon.
Handhelds

Submission + - Did iPhone Hackers Go Too Far? (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
snydeq
snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Tom Yager draws attention to the unfortunate side effect of Apple's crackdown on iPhone unlocking with firmware update 2.0.1 — the possible end of open source iPhone development. 'Apple has quietly allowed open source iPhone development since the original iPhone was introduced,' Yager writes. 'Up until a couple of days ago, it was possible to develop software for iPhone 2.0 devices ... without the encumbrances of Apple's onerous developer contracts and code-signing requirements,' thanks in large part to Cydia, an App Store equivalent for open source developers and those interested in sampling their wares. But that look-the-other-way strategy on Apple's part changed once Pwnagetool enabled nonsavvy users to carrier-unlock first-gen iPhones running 2.0 firmware. 'Apple's 2.0.1 firmware update accomplishes what hackers had claimed Apple couldn't do: It relocks an iPhone to AT&T,' Yager writes. And by breaking unlocking, the firmware update also breaks iPhone open source development. 'My iPod Touch, which never made any trouble for AT&T or Apple, and never cost any App Store vendor a dime in lost sales, won't run Unix apps any more.'"
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Ask the Makers of 3DMark (futuremark.com)

Submitted by
demishade
demishade writes: "Futuremark has just announced 3DMark Vantage, the latest in the long line of 3DMark benchmarks. The coming of 3DMark is always met with great enthusiasms — usually both from those who love it death, and those who find it totally irrelevant. This latest offering stands to be perhaps even a bit more than usual, as 3DMark Vantage is runs only on DirectX 10 and Vista, making it the first game(ish) product that is fully on the path Microsoft desperately hopes all game developers will eventually follow. Now is your chance to ask directly from the people who have been pushing the graphics envelope for years for their take on the highly debated issue of whether DirectX 10 and Vista are (or ever will be) all that, and whether the world still needs yet-another 3DMark."
Idle

India Wants Your Legs

Posted by samzenpus from the an-arm-and-a dept.
Things are tough economically everywhere but no place is tougher than the city of Tirupati, India where they are stealing legs. 'Holy legs' to be precise. The thieves got the original owner drunk and cut his leg off just below the knee after he passed out.
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Garage Inventor May Cure Cancer

Submitted by clintonogamy
clintonogamy writes: A retired cancer survivor in Florida has invented a machine in his garage that uses RF to kill cancer cells. In brief, nanoparticles of gold or carbon that are coated to stick to cancer cells are injected into the patient, then the RF from his machine heats them, killing only the coated cells. It is now being investigated by a research team at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
From TFA...

"I noticed young kids losing their smiles, losing their hair. And I said to myself, 'Today's chemotherapy is cruel. There's gotta be a better way to cure cancer,'" Kanzius told ABC News. ... Using pie pans, spare parts from ham radios and know-how from his days as a radio engineer, he invented the first generation of what would become a machine that uses radio waves — not radioactivity — to fight cancer.
I wonder if it can run Linux...
The Internet

Submission + - FCC: 200,000 Cell Towers Need Backup Power (datacenterknowledge.com)

Submitted by
1sockchuck
1sockchuck writes: "The FCC is ordering telecom and wireless companies to provide backup power for cell sites and remote telecom facilities, hoping to keep communications networks running during natural disasters. The new rule was prompted by wireless outages during Hurricane Katrina. There are more than 210,000 cell towers in the US, as well as 20,000 telecom central offices that will also need generators or batteries. Municipalities are bracing for disputes as carriers try to add generators or batteries to cell sites on rooftops or water towers. The rules will further boost demand in the market for generators, where there are already lengthy delivery backlogs for some models."
Space

Submission + - First Evidence of Another Universe? 2

Submitted by blamanj
blamanj writes: Three months ago, astronomers announced the discovery of a large hole at the edge of our universe. Now, Dr. Laura Mersini-Houghton thinks she knows what that means. (Subscription req'd at New Scientist site, there's also an overview here.) According to string theory, there are many universes besides our own. Her team says that smaller universes are positioned at the edge of our universe, and because of gravitational interactions, they can be observed, and they're willing to make a prediction. The recently discovered void is in the northern hemisphere. They contend another one will be found in the southern hemisphere.
The Internet

Submission + - Captchas Thwarted By Striptease (msn.com)

Submitted by
BinarySkies
BinarySkies writes: "A new virus seems to have popped up which may push Internet scammers to the folds of what most would consider 'questionable tactics'. The virus spawns a "buxom, beautiful blonde" who creatively promises a progressive striptease for every word typed correctly. The catch? Each word is actually a captcha box, presumably from another website. Is this a new way for scammers to stay ahead of security? Seems more like a socially engineered human SETI@Home project."
Spam

Submission + - Verizon sends & profits from text message spam

Submitted by Anonymous Consumer Complaint
Anonymous Consumer Complaint writes: Verizon Wireless charges consumers for every text message they recieve, even if it is spam. Verizon customer support refuses to give refunds for text message spam. And the only options customer service discussed to address this issue are: 1) Cancelling all text messages 2) Changing the customer's phone number These are draconian options. However, what may not be known to many customers, is that there is a Verizon website that allows anonymous users to freely send text messages to Verizon Wireless phone numbers. http://vtext.com/ Thus, Verizon Wireless is enabling the sending of spam with its own website, charging customers for this easily abused service, refusing to give customers refunds, and when they complain, not making them aware that the spam could be coming from their own webservers.
Graphics

Submission + - HiRes Scan of 'Mona Lisa' Reveals Its History

Submitted by daevux
daevux writes: CNN reports that French engineer Pascal Cotte has discovered interesting details of the history of Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" from a 240 megapixel scan of the artwork. Among the findings are the disappearance of eyebrows and eyelashes probably due to poor cleaning, and differences in skin tones.
Portables

Submission + - ATA Detains Passenger Over "Flight Mode" i

Submitted by
URSpider
URSpider writes: "C|Net, among others, is reporting that an ATA passenger was detained by police after arriving in Hawaii after repeatedly refusing to stop using his iPhone during the flight. The passenger claims that his phone was in "airline mode", which disables WiFi and cellular transmissions and renders the iPhone no different than an iPod. This comes hot on the heels of the recent announcement that Japanese airlines are banning the use of PSP's and headphones on all flights. With the proliferation of wireless-enabled devices, can flight attendants be expected to know which ones can be disabled? Can passengers be trusted to turn off WiFi and Bluetooth on their smartphones and gaming consoles?"
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Tron to be remade by Disney

Submitted by unassimilatible
unassimilatible writes: The Hollywood Reporter writes that Disney will remake the cult classic Tron, and has hired original Tron co-writer and director Steven Lisberger as producer and Joseph Kosinski as director.

The original, about a computer programmer thrust into a computer and forced to fight in games he helped create, is remembered for its sci-fi gladiator-style battles and groundbreaking special effects. It was the first movie to use computer-generated images instead of models and other optical effects in conjunction with live action. The arcade game based on the movie was so popular that it earned more than the movie.

The article also mentions that Kosinski will be remaking Logan's Run for Warner Brothers as well.

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