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Comment Piracy is mayhem at sea. (Score 3, Informative) 114

by ColonelZen (#40216211) Attached to: Aussie Government Brings Back Piracy Talks

Can we *stop* calling unautorized use of information "piracy".

It rather by definition cedes criminal conduct when in many casesm however draconian laws are worded, proving criminality is way beyond plausible.

Most "piracy" is at a civil matter and usually of dubious merit, not murder, and theft on the high seas.

Call it what it usually is. Retrieving information without a license. Enjoying a film or song without having paid a corporation for the privilege.

-- TWZ
Robotics

Submission + - Harvard Licenses Technology for Tiny Swarming Kilo (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: Do you think that you'll never be able to afford a robot of your own that isn't a toy? Well, if you can get Swiss robot-maker K-Team Corporation to sell you one, chances are you can easily afford a Kilobot — perhaps even a whole bunch of them. Designed and first built by Harvard University's Self-Organizing Systems Research Group, the three-legged robots aren't much larger than the 3.4-volt button cell batteries that power them, and move by vibrating across smooth, flat surfaces. They were created to study robotic swarming behavior, with the intention that tens, hundreds or even thousands of them could be used simultaneously in one experiment. Harvard has just announced that it has licensed the Kilobot technology to K-Team, which will commercially manufacture the robots so that other groups and institutions can purchase them for their own research.
Power

Submission + - Worldwide support for nuclear power drops (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by ProbablyJoe
ProbablyJoe writes: A poll for the BBC shows that worldwide support for nuclear power has dropped significantly in the past 6 years.

However, while support has dropped in most countries, the UK has defied the trend, where 37% of the public support building new reactors. Unsurprisingly, support in Japan has dropped significantly, with only 6% supporting new reactors. The USA remains the country with the highest public opinion of nuclear power, though support has dropped slightly.

Much of the decline in opinion has been attributed to the events in Fukushima earlier in the year, although a recent Slashdot poll indicated that many readers opinions had not been affected by the events, and an even split between those who found the technology more or less safe since the events.

With reports on the long lasting effects in Fukushima still conflicted, is nuclear power still a viable solution to the world's energy problems?
NASA

Submission + - NASA's Next Mission: Deep Space (informationweek.com)

Submitted by
gManZboy
gManZboy writes: "NASA's Mars Science Lab and Curiosity rover are the next steps in a long-term plan to travel farther and faster into space. Check out the future spacecrafts and tools that will get them there--including NASA's big bet, a spacecraft that combines the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle with the Space Launch System, designed to take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit for the first time since the Apollo 17 Moon mission in 1972. NASA will need 10 years to prepare astronauts to take Orion and SLS for a test flight."
Security

Submission + - Apache Flaw Allows Access To Internal Network (itworld.com)

Submitted by
itwbennett
itwbennett writes: "A yet-to-be-patched flaw in the Apache HTTP server allows attackers to access protected resources on the internal network. The vulnerability affects Apache installations that operate in reverse proxy mode. The problem isn't new and a vulnerability that allowed similar attacks was addressed back in October. However, while reviewing the patch for it, Qualys researcher Prutha Parikh realized that it can be bypassed due to a bug in the procedure for URI scheme stripping."
Mars

Submission + - NASA (MSL) Rover 'Curiosity' set for Saturday Laun (nasa.gov)

Submitted by
arcite
arcite writes: "The latest and greatest Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Rover ”Curiosity”, an SUV sized rover packed to the gills with the latest scientific instruments and innovative landing system is set to launch sometime today. As the heaviest and largest Mars Rover yet, if it is successful in touching down on the red planet, will be the best bet yet for NASA to find signs of life. Stuffed with turkey and burned out on holiday shopping, Geeks everywhere will be watching the skies above (or the livestream here) and wishing NASA’s Curiosity GODSPEED!"

Submission + - Comcast Email goes dark

Submitted by ColonelZen
ColonelZen writes: Just a heads up. I'm getting a "No such blob" error when I click an email in Comcast's SmartZone panel. Eariler I got an error message when I tried to enter the email page. This has been going on a couple hours at least, now. EOM

Comment Where to get components (Score 1) 301

by ColonelZen (#31830172) Attached to: Where To Start In DIY Electronics?
The real question these days is where to get components! Mail order is fine, but you may wind up spending more in shipping charges than fro what you need! Then there's the idea that wandering around aisles looking at stuff is fun and may now and then inspire you to pick up something you hadn't thought of before. Where, say around Philadelphia. Even in NY, where would you go? -- TWZ
Linux Business

Submission + - Very Bad News for SCO's Darl and Ralph (ip-wars.net)

Submitted by
ColonelZen
ColonelZen writes: "The patent lawsuit against Linux is Very Bad News for SCO's Darl McBride and Ralph Yarro.

For Darl and Ralph the news is very bad
A patent troll will make Big Blue mad.

Blue Gene will calculate that the world must see
What happens to those who claim Linux IP

In Debtor's Court SCOX is already broken
Their executives hides will make a perfect token.

A pennant of pain to illuminate the the wrath
To those who would choose to cross the Nazgul's path."
Programming

Submission + - Learning C# (zensden.net)

Submitted by
ColonelZen
ColonelZen writes: "My employer has made the decision to move our major business system to a .NET platform. Despite my tendency to resist Microsoft centered projects they seem to want me to stay on. Of course I needed to reach an accomodation. In particular as the senior programmer it meant I had to Learn to program C#. This is what I've found along that path so far."
Novell

Submission + - Judge in SCO vs. Novell clears the decks

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The judge in the SCO vs. Novell case has issued a series of rulings in preparation for the beginning of the trial on the eleventh. He smacks down SCO pretty good. In particular, he denied their request for a jury trial. That means the trial will be completely carried out by the judge. It could be quite a short efficient trial followed by a loud clap of thunder. One issue is apportionment. That means the judge has to decide how much of the Microsoft/Sun licenses belongs to Novell. Any reasonable amount will immediately thrust SCO into bankruptcy. They won't get a choice of what kind of bankruptcy because there will be no hope that the company can be returned to profitibility. The trustee will walk in the door, take the keys from Darl and wind up the rest of this sorry mess as quickly as possible.

Link to ColonelZen's site

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