Comment Introducing Emily O'Brien the real actress (Score 3, Informative) 421
The person in the video is Emily O'Brien a professional actress.
You can find a much better video of Image Metric's work on this page of her website
Microsoft and Apache - What's the Angle? 433
A week ago, we discussed Microsoft's contribution to the Apache Foundation. Now, Bruce Perens has written an analysis "exploring the new relationship of Microsoft and the Apache project, how it works as an anti-Linux move on Microsoft's part, and what some of the Open Sourcers are going to do about having Microsoft as a rather untrustworthy partner." In particular, he notes:
"...Microsoft can still influence how things go from here on. If they have to live with open source, the Apache project is Microsoft's preferred direction. Apache doesn't use the dreaded GPL and its enforced sharing of source-code. Instead, the Apache license is practically a no-strings gift, with a weak provision against patent lawsuits as its most relevant term. Microsoft can take Apache software and embrace and enhance, providing their own versions of the project's software with engineered incompatibility and no available source, just as they forced incompatibility into the Web by installing IE with every Windows upgrade."
Submission + - Digg.com users launch new revolt over comments sys (computerworld.com) 1
Hot Diggity Dog writes: Digg users wish they could be more like Slashdot!
"The complaints starting rolling in within a few hours after the comment system was launched Thursday evening. By Friday morning, the volatile Digg.com users — they had staged one of the first online revolts against a social networking site last month — had "Dugg" almost 5,000 comments that they wouldn't be "force-fed" the new system."
Submission + - BBC's use of Windows DRM criticized (arstechnica.com)
Commander YaYa writes: The BBC's soon-to-launch iPlayer will initially make use of Microsoft DRM, but an open-source group is challenging the plan.
More here
Submission + - Gov't workers putting U.S. data at risk
MsManhattan writes: Federal employees who work unofficially from home at night and on weekends are putting U.S. government data — including information about private citizens — at risk, a new study by the Telework Exchange suggests. They often take home government files and work on unsecured PCs, the study found. Among the findings: 58% of government employees work from home without authorization; of those, 54% take files home from the office; only 75% have anti-virus software installed and only 60% use encryption. Even more alarming, the study found that despite the publicity surrounding last year's loss of a Veterans Administration laptop that contained the personal information of 26.5 million military veterans and family members (the laptop was later recovered), 13% of government agencies still do not put encryption software on new laptops issued to employees and fewer than half the agencies have provided security training to employees in the aftermath.
Submission + - Substitute Teacher Granted New Trial in Porn Case
wiredog writes: The substitute teacher who was convicted of endangering students by exposing them to pornographic material displayed on a classroom compute, after being hit with trojan generated popups, has been granted a new trial by the judge. The teacher, Julie Amero, was facing 40 years.
Submission + - National Hockey League Embraces TV Placeshifting (slingcommunity.com)
Egadfly writes: "The increasingly popular placeshifting of TV programming naturally roils corporate controversy, among other things because it enables sports fans to view locally blacked-out games over the Internet.
Now, in a blow for info-freedom, the National Hockey League (NHL) has actively supported placeshifting by signing an agreement with SlingBox-maker Sling Media which allows the company's "Clip+Sling" technology to share both live and recorded NHL programming over the Internet.
Significantly, this happen only days after Major League Baseball (MLB) launched a public denunciation of placeshifting: accusing SlingBox owners of violating the law by sending television content over the Internet and accusing Sling Media itself of violating contracts with cable and satellite TV companies."
Submission + - Szulik: Software Patents Retard Innovation
An anonymous reader writes: Red Hat CEO Matt Szulik believes that software patents absolutely retard the pace of innovation. He's calling for a reform of the patent process instead of a total abolition of patents. Last week, Red Hat became one of several open-source Microsoft rivals targeted as infringing 235 of Redmond's patents. "In the last 30 years, we've continued to see patents really being a challenge to innovation. The industry moves much faster than a remedy process," Szulik told hundreds of attendees at the Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco. "There is very little empirical evidence that builds a correlation between patents and innovation." Also this week, Microsoft said it has no immediate plans to sue open-source vendors after alleging they infringed the company's patents.
Submission + - Oxford University says homework rules
An anonymous reader writes: http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry1469.html Oxford University produces report to tell us to work from home because it is better for the planet.
Submission + - The Uncomfortable Reality of Sex in Space
Smaran writes: "WIRED is running an interesting story about how sex in space will have to be inevitably discussed by space agencies and astronauts around the world, who currently refuse to even address the issue. They are only beginning to talk about the realities of illness and death in space. Sex is still a topic for another day. WIRED's Regina Lynn writes: "... as humans begin to spend more time in space and to travel further from Earth, space agencies will need to factor sex into their equations. We cannot expect astronauts to spend three years in a spacecraft and not have sex — of some kind. Probably with each other, and likely in more than one combination.""
Submission + - A Little E-Mail Prank, $2.8 Billion Dollar Panic
VariableGHz writes: "
"Just before 10 a.m. Wednesday, a spoof e-mail posing as an internal Apple news alert was sent to Apple employees, informing them that the release of the iPhone, a touchscreen hybrid phone-and-music player, was being delayed from June to October. It added that Leopard, the next version of the Mac operating system, would move back its launch from October to January.... 11:56 a.m., a trading frenzy of Apple stock hit Wall Street, and the company's market value plunged $2.8 billion, or 3 percent, in six minutes. Its stock plummeted from $107.89 to $104.61 by 12:02 p.m.
Submission + - The source code for day-to-day life
An anonymous reader writes: http://www.pseudocoded.com is a blog by web developer Ade Olonoh, who's capturing his thoughts and decisions from day-to-day life through source code. Pretty funny so far.
Submission + - Colleges, libraries not covered by CALEA after all
Hot Librarian writes: CALEA went into effect earlier this week, but it turns out that universities and libraries are not covered by CALEA: 'Networks are exempt from the electronic surveillance rules if they meet two tests: they must be private, and the institution that runs them must not "support" the Internet connection. A "private" network is not actually defined, but legal analysis by educational groups has concluded that universities are private networks so long as they do not offer Internet access to other groups in turn, like municipal organizations or local communities.' Same goes for libraries.
Submission + - Should the US Go Into the Drug Trade?
billtowson writes: http://www.thefuturewatch.com/AfghanistanandthePop pySeed.html
The Taliban is making money off of the opium trade, and using opium smuggling routes to smuggle weapons into Afghanistan. Perhaps the best way to prevent this would be for the U.S. to begin buying opium directly from the farmers at a premium price — and thus cutting the Taliban out of the trade.
The Taliban is making money off of the opium trade, and using opium smuggling routes to smuggle weapons into Afghanistan. Perhaps the best way to prevent this would be for the U.S. to begin buying opium directly from the farmers at a premium price — and thus cutting the Taliban out of the trade.
Submission + - UK MPs exempt from Freedom of Information Act?
MadMidnightBomber writes: British Members of Parliament have just passed the third reading of a bill which will exempt them from Freedom of Information legislation. "If passed, the FOI bill would effectively remove both the Commons and House of Lords from the list of public authorities obliged to release information under the 2000 act, which came into force in 2005." claims the BBC.
Tory MP Richard Shepherd was quoted as saying: " This has got nothing to do with MPs' correspondence but is aimed to prevent further detailed disclosure of MPs' expenses."
A list of MPs who voted to give the bill its third reading can be found here. Gordon Brown, the next Prime Minister will not block the bill.
A list of MPs who voted to give the bill its third reading can be found here. Gordon Brown, the next Prime Minister will not block the bill.
