376569
submission
haibijon writes:
A federal judge on Monday issued a temporary restraining order blocking the White House from destroying back-up copies of deleted e-mails.
The order by U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy came in a lawsuit by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a private watchdog group, which claims the White House has failed to preserve millions of deleted e-mails it was supposed to keep.
374069
submission
Vaystrem writes:
On November 2nd 2007 Canada's Intellectual Policy Directorate released a report entitled "The Impact of Music Downloads and P2P File-Sharing on the Purchase of Music: A Study for Industry Canada" From the abstract:
Our review of existing econometric studies suggests that P2P file-sharing tends to decrease music purchasing. However, we find the opposite, namely that P2P file-sharing tends to increase rather than decrease music purchasing. Among Canadians who engage in P2P file-sharing, our results suggest that for every 12 P2P downloaded songs, music purchases increase by 0.44 CDs. That is, downloading the equivalent of approximately one CD increases purchasing by about half of a CD.
The study was paid for by Public Works and Government Services Canada. Details of the contract, methodology and the original data files from the study may be found here.
343171
submission
haibijon writes:
The executive declined to talk in detail about the technology, citing spammers or other miscreants who might exploit that knowledge. But he insisted the company was not stopping file transfers from happening, only postponing them in certain cases. He compared it to making a phone call and getting a busy signal, then trying again and getting through.
191487
submission
SoyChemist writes:
Wired reports that two major tests for the rave and date rape drug Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate are flawed. The field test by police can be set off by Dr. Bonner's all natural soap, and the more rigorous GC-MS test can be misleading because GHB is slowly produced in urine while it sits in a refrigerator. In an overburdened forensic lab, a urine sample may wait in a refrigerator for several months before testing. This might result in a false positive test result.
Scientists at the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, have discovered that urine samples, kept in a refrigerator for six months, spontaneously produce significant amounts of the drug GHB or other chemicals that can result in a false positive result from the most stringent test used by forensic labs. This could cause all sorts of innocent people to test positive for exposure to the illicit substance. Several months ago, the owner of a natural soap company showed that a common field test kit used by police to identify GHB can be set off by his products.The FBI report appears in the July issue of Forensic Science International.
191473
story
Teksty Piosenek writes
"Artists and record bosses believe that the best album is the loudest one. Sound levels are being artificially enhanced so that the music punches through when it competes against background noise in pubs or cars. 'Geoff Emerick, engineer on the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album, said: "A lot of what is released today is basically a scrunched-up mess. Whole layers of sound are missing. It is because record companies don't trust the listener to decide themselves if they want to turn the volume up." Downloading has exacerbated the effect. Songs are compressed once again into digital files before being sold on iTunes and similar sites. The reduction in quality is so marked that EMI has introduced higher-quality digital tracks, albeit at a premium price, in response to consumer demand.'"
191433
submission
anonymous zero writes:
A team of Canadian surgeons got a shock when the patient they were operating on began shedding dark greenish-black blood. The man had needed urgent surgery because he had developed a dangerous condition in his legs after falling asleep in a sitting position. In this case, the unusual colour of the 42-year-old's blood was down to the migraine medication he was taking.
191397
submission
cybiao writes:
Learn how to create an amazing entry level cover letter in less than five minutes.
186207
submission
NotNormal writes:
A company called SpaceTime has developed a 3D web browser which works similar to the new ALT-TAB feature in Windows Vista. The report is in MIT Technology Review.
