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Education

Submission + - Linux Distribution To Appear On 180,000 desktops (ubuntu.com) 1

Submitted by mojo
mojo writes: The Republic of Macedonia Ministry of Education and Science will deploy more than 180,000 workstations running Canonical's Edubuntu 7.04 as part of its "Computer for Every Child" project. The Republic of Macedonia "Computer for Every Child" project is one of the largest known thin client and desktop Linux eployments ever undertaken.
The Internet

Submission + - Porn Industry to Take on BitTorrent Sites

Submitted by Brave Anonymous
Brave Anonymous writes: Porn industry representatives gathered at an anti-piracy conference last week to discuss solutions to the ever growing amount of pirated porn that's traded on BitTorrent sites and other P2P-networks. "Piracy is becoming a serious problem for the adult industry. It is estimated that 5% of all files being shared on public BitTorrent trackers are adult content, and most of these files are copyrighted. The adult industry representatives that took part in the three hour anti-piracy session estimated that they lose approximately $2 billion a year thanks to piracy, about 4% of their total income worldwide. Several countermeasures were discussed during the meeting. One of the suggestions was to create an MPAA/RIAA equivalent for the adult industry that helps to track down pirates and pursue legal action. http://torrentfreak.com/porn-industry-to-take-on-bittorrent-sites-070910/
Government

Submission + - Norway mandates government use of ODF and PDF

Submitted by siDDis
siDDis writes: Earlier this year Slashdot mentioned that Norway moves towards mandatory use of ODF and PDF. Now it's confirmed that the Norwegian government has mandated the use of open document formats from January 1st, 2009.

There are three formats that have been mandated for all documentation between authorities, users and partners. HTML for all public information on the Web, PDF for all documents where layout needs to be preserved and ODF for all documents that the recipient is supposed to be able to edit. Documents may also be published in other formats, but they must always be available in either ODF or PDF.
Music

Submission + - RIAA Puts Out 'Fake News' (fakenewser.com)

Submitted by
Fake Newser
Fake Newser writes: "The Recording Industry Association of America wants to communicate with TV News audiences. The company I work for just distributed this video package nationwide to TV News Stations. It already aired in Dallas and one network and one major news gathering service have requested tapes. This thing could be all over the news this week. The video you see was preceded by graphics which told stations who paid for the content and offered the name and title of the spokesperson. This is how the RIAA and other organizations get their news out and influence consumers like you. Here's the actual VNR, missing only the informational slates that preceded it on the satellite feeds.... http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f09_1198188234"
Programming

Submission + - Perl 5.10 Released

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Today the Perl Foundation announces the release of Perl 5.10, the first major upgrade to the wildly popular dynamic programming language in over five years. This latest version builds on the successful 5.8.x series by adding powerful new language features and improving the Perl interpreter itself. The Perl development team, called the the Perl Porters, have taken features and inspiration from the ambitious Perl 6 project, as well as from chiefly academic languages and blended them with Perl's pragmatic view to practicality and usefulness.
First Person Shooters (Games)

Submission + - DNF Teaser Video to be released 19/12 (3drealms.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: DNF Teaser Video coming tomorrow

Last Saturday we had our annual company Christmas party. It was a lot of fun as usual but it featured one special surprise. It turns out that several people had been secretly working late nights and into the wee hours of the morning preparing a special video for those at the party. They created a short teaser for Duke Nukem Forever.

After seeing the teaser we thought it was something we should share with all of you and while it's just a teaser, rest assured more is coming.

Tomorrow, Wednesday the 19th, around noon CST, we will release the first teaser trailer from Duke Nukem Forever. To tide you over until then, there has been a screen shot taken from the teaser and posted in our forums. Check it out here (http://forums.3drealms.com/vb/showthread.php?t=29639).

Thank you for being fans of the game and for your continued patience.

We'd like to thank the people on the team that worked so hard to create this teaser and the friends of 3DR that helped create it (Jeremy Soule and Julian Soule, Frank Bry, Jason Evigan and of course, Jon St. John).
Linux Business

Submission + - Dell release Ubuntu 7.10-powered PCs (desktoplinux.com) 1

Submitted by
sjvn
sjvn writes: "The official word will be out any minute now, but in the meantime DesktopLinux has learned that Dell will be releasing Ubuntu 7.10 (http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS7924076658.html) on a laptop and desktop with immediate availability. And, as an extra added bonus, they're tossing in legal DVD-playback capability. In a word: "Neat!""
Christmas Cheer

Submission + - DNF Trailer to released 12/19/07 at 12 PM CST (3drealms.com)

Submitted by Masterwinks
Masterwinks writes: The long awaited sequel to Duke Nukem 3D (1996) is finally being revealed for the first time in almost 7 years. Duke Nukem Forever will be formally revealed in a teaser trailer Wednesday December 19, 2007 at approximately 12 Noon US Central Time.
From 3D Realms Home Site:
Tomorrow, Wednesday the 19th, around noon CST, we will release the first teaser trailer from Duke Nukem Forever. To tide you over until then, there has been a screen shot taken from the teaser and posted in our forums. Check it out here.
Security

Submission + - Senate advances Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (typepad.com)

Submitted by
xocmot
xocmot writes: "By a margin of 76-10, the Senate today advanced a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act bill that grants telecom companies immunity for allegedly giving government intelligence officials illegal access to their customer's private records.

In an effort to get off the hook for allegedly giving the National Security Agency illegal access to its customers' records, the companies pushed hard earlier this year and the Justice Department helped, lobbying Congress independently.

The game's not over yet, though: Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has introduced a rival FISA bill that doesn't include immunity. And whatever emerges from the Senate will have to be reconciled with an already-passed House bill that withholds immunity."
KDE

Submission + - Original KDE3 vs. KDE4 Memory Comparison Debunked (jarzebski.pl)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: The author of the original KDE 3.5 vs KDE 4.0 memory comparison, which indicated that KDE 4.0 used less memory than the KDE 3.5 series, has come out with a more accurate benchmark. In reality, KDE 4.0 uses 110 MB more memory than KDE 3.5.8. This was no surprise to many KDE developers, who saw many mistakes in the way the original results were obtained. However, given the new composite window manager, Plasma/Oxygen bling, and numerous new features, the extra memory consumption is probably well worth it!
United States

Submission + - Hayward fault ready to produce killer quake

Submitted by scienceguy111
scienceguy111 writes: The central California Hayward fault is a "ticking time bomb" with the ability to cause massive devastation when it produces another monstrous earthquake. Working off a 140-year average cycle of creating killer earthquakes, next October is when scientists predict the next one will occur. The number of people moving to the East Bay is increasing at record rates, making possible injuries and deaths an even higher number.
Microsoft

Submission + - Windows Vista SP1 Includes More Than 300 Hot Fixes (informationweek.com)

Submitted by
mytrip
mytrip writes: "Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has released a detailed roster of the contents of its forthcoming service pack for Windows Vista, and the list includes more than 300 hot fixes covering everything from data protection to video performance.

Microsoft marketing VP Michael Sievert told InformationWeek in Marchthat Vista was "high quality right out of the gate" and that the company would likely dribble out small updates as required via its Windows Update service.

Since then, however, users have apparently reported enough problems with Vista to force a change in Microsoft's thinking."
Security

Submission + - Icelandic teen prank calls White House (msn.com)

Submitted by
mytrip
mytrip writes: "Teen says he pretended to be Iceland's president, scheduled call with Bush.

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — A teenager says he convinced the White House he was Iceland's president and managed to schedule a call with George W. Bush but was found out before he got to talk to the president.

"My call was transferred around a few times until I got hold of Bush's secretary and managed to book a call meeting with Bush the following Monday evening," Vifill Atlason, 16, told Reuters.

Local police confirmed the National Security Unit at the national police headquarters had asked them to bring Atlason in.

Jon Bjartmarz, chief superintendent at Iceland's national police headquarters, said Icelandic police had not spoken to their U.S. counterparts about the matter. He declined to say how police were tipped off about Atlason's call.

"As far as we're concerned, there will not be any further investigation, and I don't know if the American government is taking any action because of this," he said."
Media

Journal Journal: Eee gets buried by foxnews.com

Journal by tandre75
In a strangely short article titled "What not to buy", Fox News lists the Asus Eee PC as something to avoid: <URL:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316355,00.html>

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