Unkemptwolf - Slashdot User

Submission + - Canadian Song Writers push for legal P2P (songwriters.ca) 1

Submitted by spiri on Thursday December 20, 2007 @03:37PM

spiri writes: The songwriters association of Canada is proposing a new law that will compensate artists when their songs are downloaded on p2p networks.

"The plan we propose would not change or interfere with the way Canadians receive their music. No one would be sued for the online sharing of songs. On the contrary, the sharing of music on Peer-to-Peer networks and similar technologies would become perfectly legal. In addition, Music Publishers and Record Labels would be fairly compensated for the crucial role they play in supporting Canadian music creators."

Will Canada be one of the first to think of its citizens before the recording industry? You can view the proposal here.

Submission + - IBM virtual world defies laws of physics (networkworld.com)

Submitted by

jbrodkin

on Thursday December 20, 2007 @03:26PM

jbrodkin writes: "IBM has a unique take on virtual worlds for business use. Rather than strictly adhering to the laws of physics, IBM is letting its employees hold virtual meetings up in the air and under water, and giving them wacky chores such as kicking a giant boulder 1,400 feet. "Why do we need walls and ceilings to do a meeting?" asks Michael Ackerbauer of IBM, who is building the company's virtual world, called the Metaverse. "We've had meetings under water and up in the air. Meetings are where you want them to be." There have been some mixed reactions to the unconventional model, Ackerbauer admits. "Some are saying 'wow, this is great, I'm ready to go.' Others are scratching their heads," he says."

Submission + - No Right to Privacy When Your Computer Is Repaired (zdnet.com) 3

Submitted by

Billosaur

on Thursday December 20, 2007 @02:56PM

Billosaur writes: "ZDNet's Police Blotter bring us the interesting story of a Pennsylvania man who brought his computer into Circuit City to have a DVD burner installed on his computer and wound up being arrested for having child pornography on his hard drive. Circuit City employees discovered the child pornography while perusing Kenneth Sodomsky's hard drive for files to test the burner, then proceeded to call the police, who arrested Sodomsky and confiscated the computer. Sodomsky's lawyer argued in court that the Circuit City techs had no right to go rifling through the hard drive, and the trial court agreed, but prosecutors appealed and the appeals court overturned the lower court's decision, based on the fact that Sodomsky had consented to the installation of the DVD drive and the techs "weren't randomly perusing the drive for contraband, but instead were testing its functioning in a 'commercially accepted manner.'""

Submission + - Diebold Source Code Reviewed, Found Vunerable (pcworld.com)

Submitted by Shteven on Friday August 03, 2007 @12:12PM

Shteven writes: The state of California has managed to independently review Diebold's source code for vulnerabilities. From the article:

"The software contains serious design flaws that have led directly to specific vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit to affect election outcomes," read the University of California at Berkeley report, commissioned by the California Secretary of State as part of a two-month "top-to-bottom" review of electronic voting systems certified for use in California. The assessment of Diebold's source code revealed an attacker needs only limited access to compromise an election.

Submission + - Google license plates (fosfor.se)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 03, 2007 @12:01PM

An anonymous reader writes: The Swede Joakim Jardenberg applied for new license plates for his car with a pretty unsual text: 'GOOGLE' — and strangely enough he got them approved. (he has no connection to Google whatsoever). He said he did it just to see if it was possible to get them and it sure was. He bought them for 10 years and paid $850 — I wonder for how long he can keep them?

http://gadgets.fosfor.se/google-license-plates/

Submission + - World's Highest Resolution HDTV Surgial Camera (docinthemachine.com)

Submitted by

docinthemachine

on Friday August 03, 2007 @11:58AM

docinthemachine writes: "The world's highest resolution HDTV surgical video camera system has been developed and used for laparoscopic surgery. This system is unique in having a native chip resolution of 1920 x 1080p and the first ever (for surgery) 16:9 aspect ratio. The enhanced resolution allows the surgeron to see finer details and pathology. Surgical skills are aided by the resolution and wider field of view as well. The enhanced shadows and tonal range also provides enhanced visual clues for depth perception while working in a 2D environment. This system will be featured in the world's first ever broadcast of surgery in high definition in an upcoming national Geographic HD special. Details of the system are at http://docinthemachine.com/2007/07/31/hdsurgery/ with details of a new medical HD XDCAm blu-ray disk based recording system used to capture the footage at http://docinthemachine.com/2007/08/02/recordhd/"

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