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Television

Submission + - NBC Universal gone from iTunes Store (setteb.it)

Submitted by
setteB.IT
setteB.IT writes: "On December 1st, as announced three months ago, NBC Universal TV channels (Bravo, mun2, NBC, NBC News & CNBC, NBC Sports, Sci Fi, Sleuth, Telemundo and USA) disappeared from the networks available on US iTunes Store's TV shows. As noted before from setteB.IT some shows broadcasted in US from these channels are still available on US iTunes Store because they are produced from other Hollywood studios, like 20th Century Fox, ABC/Disney, Viacom... NBC Universal has recently opened NBC Direct and Hulu (with Fox) to distribute the shows over the web. Here is the article on setteB.IT in Italian and here the automatic translation from Google."
Privacy

Submission + - EFF Releases Software to Spot Net NonNeutrality (eff.org)

Submitted by DanielBoz
DanielBoz writes: In the wake of the detection and reporting of Comcast Corporation's controversial interference with Internet traffic, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has published a comprehensive account of Comcast's packet-forging activities and has released software and documentation instructing Internet users on how to test for packet forgery or other forms of interference by their own ISPs.
Cellphones

Submission + - Verizon's "Open Network" is Not Really tha (techcrunch.com)

Submitted by
saccade.com
saccade.com writes: "TechCrunch is reporting that Verizon's "Open Network" is not really so open. Reporter Erick Schonfeld "...asked Verizon whether any of the new apps developed for the bring-your-own devices would also be available to its existing customers who bought their phones through Verizon. The answer for now is, 'No.' Although a spokesperson tells me that they are looking into it. Unless it figures that out, Verizon is not really building an open network. It is building a two-tiered network: One for its preferred customers who play by its rules (i.e., its current 64 million subscribers), and one for the rabble not satisfied with its choice of phones and apps.

...If there is no crossover capability on the apps, then the "open" part of Verizon's network will be barren. The appeal of developing an open app for Verizon would be to gain access to those 64 million subscribers. Nobody is going to go through the trouble of creating apps just for the handful of people who want a CDMA phone that Verizon does not already sell. Making the whole open network even less appealing will be the fact that these phones are not likely to be subsidized by Verizon, and thus far more expensive.""
Music

Submission + - EMI may cut funding to IFPI, RIAA (arstechnica.com) 1

Submitted by Teen Bainwolf
Teen Bainwolf writes: Big Four record label EMI is reportedly considering a big cut in its funding for the IFPI and RIAA. Each of the labels reportedly contributed over $130 million per year to fund industry trade groups, and EMI apparently believes that money could be better spent elsewhere. 'One of the chief activities of the RIAA is coordinating the Big Four labels' legal campaign, and those thousands of lawsuits have done nothing but generate ill will from record fans, while costing the labels millions of dollars and doing little (if anything) to actually reduce the amount of file-sharing going on. In fact, the RIAA freely admits that the legal campaign is a real money pit, and EMI's new ownership may be very leery of continuing to pour money down that particular rat hole.
Nintendo

Submission + - Greenpeace Gives Nintendo Zero Score (gamasutra.com)

Submitted by Memroid
Memroid writes: According to Gamasutra, "Environmental watchdog group Greenpeace has released its latest Guide to Greener Electronics, detailing the environmental responsibility of global consumer electronics companies, and given Nintendo the first zero grade in the history of the report.

Of the video game hardware-related companies ranked in the report, Sony scored second highest, at 7.3, while Microsoft received 2.7 points. The scale ranges from 0.0 to 10.0."

An overview of the report is available on the Greenpeace website.
The Courts

Submission + - Public buildings don't get intellectual protection (nytimes.com)

Submitted by TuringTest
TuringTest writes: Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, of international fame, recently sued the city of Bilbao (Spain) for violation of intellectual property after his Zubizuri bridge was modified by the city council to add a new footbridge on its side. Now a judge has sentenced against Calatrava saying that public right prevails over intellectual property. Altough the ruling acknowledges that the building design has intellectual property, it also concludes that a bridge is to walk on it. (Beware, some links are in Spanish. Translate at your own risk.)
Mandriva

Submission + - Mandriva Regains Nigeria Deal From Microsoft

Submitted by techavenger
techavenger writes: A decision to wipe 11,000 machines of their shipped Mandriva Linux operating system and replace it with Windows XP for Nigerian schools received a reversal that should please Mandriva's CEO.
  Someone break out the champagne for Francois Bancilhon, CEO of Mandriva. He had blogged his anger with Microsoft counterpart Steve Ballmer over what Bancilhon suggested were dirty tactics in gaining business with Nigeria.
Software

Submission + - OpenDocument Foundation closes down

Submitted by
Munchkinguy
Munchkinguy writes: "First, they dropped support for their namesake OpenDocument Format and switching to W3C "Compund Document Format". Then, W3C's Chris Lilley says that CDF is "was not created to be, and isn't suitable for use as, an office format". Now, the Foundation has mysteriously shut down, leaving the following message:

The OpenDocument Foundation, Inc. is closed. We sincerely wish our friends and associates in the OpenDocument Community all the best and much success going forward. Good-bye and good luck.
"
Quickies

Submission + - Is Human Cloning Inevitable : A UN Report (techluver.com)

Submitted by
Tech.Luver
Tech.Luver writes: "The international community faces a stark choice: outlaw human cloning or prepare for the creation of cloned humans, U.N. researchers said Saturday. A report by the United Nations University's Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) says a ban on human cloning, coupled with freedom for nations to permit controlled therapeutic research, is the global community's best option. Despite widespread consensus amongst nations regarding the desirability of banning reproductive cloning, efforts to negotiate an international convention ground to a halt due to fundamental divisions regarding so-called research or therapeutic cloning. Research cloning, viewed by some as a possible source of new therapeutic remedies for degenerative diseases, see by others as unethical where it involves the production of embryos as a source of stem cells upon which such therapies are based. ( http://techluver.com/2007/11/10/is-human-reproductive-cloning-inevitable-a-un-report/ )"
Democrats

Submission + - Democrats: Colleges must police copyright, or else (news.com) 1

Submitted by
Brian Knotts
Brian Knotts writes: "News.com reports that congressional Democrats have introduced a bill creating a new corporate welfare program, which would force colleges into subscribing to music services, or else lose $100 billion of federal financial aid programs.

Unsurprisingly, the MPAA is on board with the bill.



"We very much support the language in the bill, which requires universities to provide evidence that they have a plan for implementing a technology to address illegal file sharing," said Angela Martinez, a spokeswoman for the MPAA.
"

Comment Re:Why.. (Score 5, Informative) 335

by compm375 (#20362607) Attached to: Skype Linux Reads Password and Firefox Profile
Well, I just searched the source of Pidgin (because it is open source) and found it does indeed access /etc/passwd through getpwuid(getuid()) for use in Bonjour, Silc, and Zephyr protocols. There is no direct access to /etc/passwd and no use of getpwuid without using the current users uid through getuid. Skype may be doing the same thing, but there is really no way to know, is there?
Software

Submission + - Does Comcast hate Firefox? (blorge.com)

Submitted by
destinyland
destinyland writes: "Comcast is the largest ISP in America. And they're requiring Internet Explorer for installations — even if you're using a Mac. The Comcast homepage even species that the page is optimized for IE 5.5 (which was released in 2000), and "is not optimized for Firefox browsers and Macs." With 13 million subscribers, you'd think they could spring for a web developer who could handle multiple browsers. (From the last line of the article: "I'm afraid to ask how Comcast handles Linux...""
Education

Submission + - The Demise of Physics Education (wellingtongrey.net)

Submitted by TomSun
TomSun writes: Wellington Grey is a physics teacher who has been pushed to the edge by the dumbing down of his curriculum. After changes made by the government this year which introduced what he calls 'the vague, the stupid, the political and the non-science' into standardized exams, he wrote an open letter to the government begging for his subject back and asking for your help.

Some of the examples of test questions he gives will make the mathematically minded among us ill at ease with the future of education.
Biotech

Submission + - Pentagon Confirms It Sought To Build A 'Gay Bomb'

Submitted by El Lobo
El Lobo writes: A Berkeley watchdog organization that tracks military spending said it uncovered a strange U.S. military proposal to create a hormone bomb that could purportedly turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting.

"The notion was that a chemical that would probably be pleasant in the human body in low quantities could be identified, and by virtue of either breathing or having their skin exposed to this chemical, the notion was that soliders would become gay," explained Edward Hammond, of Berkeley's Sunshine Project.

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