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donniebaseball23 writes
"Oral arguments for the California games law are set to begin on November 2. It's a hugely important court case for the industry, and if the Supreme Court sides with the legislators it could lead to an exodus of talent from the games business, says one attorney. 'Certainly less games would be produced and there would be a corresponding job loss,' said Patrick Sweeney, who leads the Video Game practice at Reed Smith LLP. 'But I expect the impact will likely be significantly deeper. I believe the independent development community would be severely impacted. Innovation, both from a creative and technological aspect, would also be stifled. The companies, brands and individuals that we should be embracing as the visionaries of this creative and collaborative industry will migrate their talents to a more expressive medium.' Meanwhile, Dr. Cheryl K. Olson, author of Grand Theft Childhood, notes that even if California gets its way, it could backfire."
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SocResp writes
"A chemical called n-hexane has been poisoning the nervous systems of Chinese workers who assemble touchscreen devices for Apple and other companies, an investigative journalist from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports. It's scary to think that people are being damaged to pursue high production rates. For companies with soaring profits and share prices, and elaborate product development and marketing, it seems they should be all the more culpable if they fail to take care of the production workers."
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ByOhTek writes
"CNN reports that in July, rocker Ozzy Osbourne became one of few to submit his blood to have his full genome sequenced and analyzed. The results are in, and it turns out his genome reveals some Neanderthal lineage. What does Ozzie have to say about it? 'I was curious, given the swimming pools of booze I've guzzled over the years - not to mention all of the cocaine, morphine, sleeping pills, cough syrup, LSD, Rohypnol... there's really no plausible medical reason why I should still be alive. Maybe my DNA could say why,' he wrote."
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theodp writes:
Universities really should tell engineering students what to expect in the long term and how to manage their technical careers. But since they're not, Vivek Wadwha uses his TechCrunch bully pulpit to give students a heads-up about the road ahead. Citing ex-Microsoft CTO David Vaskevitch's belief that younger workers have more energy and are sometimes more creative, Wadwha warns that reports of ageism's death have been greatly exaggerated. While encouraging managers to consider the value of the experience older techies bring, Wadwha also offers some get-real advice to those whose hair is beginning to grey: 1) Move up the ladder into management, architecture, or design; switch to sales or product management; jump ship and become an entrepreneur. 2) If you're going to stay in programming, realize that the deck is stacked against you, so be prepared to earn less as you gain experience. 3) Keep your skills current — to be coding for a living when you're 50, you'll need to be able to out-code the new kids on the block. Wadwha's piece strikes a chord with 50-something Dave Winer, who calls the rampant ageism 'really f***ed up,' adding that, 'It's probably the reason why we keep going around in the same loops over and over, because we chuck our experience, wholesale, every ten years or so.' Well, Microsoft did struggle with problems that IBM solved in the '60s.
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mijkal writes:
From the article: "A website operator is accusing the Las Vegas Review-Journal of entrapment for inviting readers to share its stories online — and then participating in lawsuits against readers who post that material online. ... (He) said the portion of the six-paragraph column that was displayed on his website — four paragraphs with credit to and a link to the R-J — was provided automatically through a syndication arrangement through Real Simple Syndication (RSS). ... As in most of the Righthaven lawsuits, the lawsuit demanded $75,000 in damages and forfeiture of Burrage's website domain name, www.jerryryburg.com."
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Paul-Threatpost writes:
Malware may be difficult to define but, as former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously quipped about pornography, "you know it when you see it." At least that's the position being taken by Google and anti malware firms about two applications designed for mobile phones running Google's Android operating system. Now the developer is crying foul.
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kkleiner writes:
Here’s a disconcerting thought: for the past thirty years, genes have been patentable. And we’re not just talking genetically modified corn – your genes, pretty much as they exist in your body, can and have been patented. The US government reports over three million gene patent applications have been filed so far; over 40,000 patents are held on sections of the human genome, covering roughly 20% of our genes. Upset? You’re not alone.
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Plammox writes:
Well not really manned in the first go, as this is the first test of the boosters and space craft in combination with the sea launch platform they built. The catch? All of this is a non-profit project based on voluntary labour and sponsors. How will they get the launch platform out in the middle of the Baltic sea to perform the test? With the founder's home built submarine pushing it, of course. Enjoy the pictures.
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astroengine writes
"Yesterday morning, at 08:55 UT, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory detected a C3-class flare erupt inside a sunspot cluster. 100,000 kilometers away, deep within the solar atmosphere (the corona), an extended magnetic field filled with cool plasma forming a dark ribbon across the face of the sun (a feature known as a 'filament') erupted at the exact same time. It seems very likely that both eruptions were connected after a powerful shock wave produced by the flare destabilized the filament, causing the eruption. A second solar observatory, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, then spotted a huge coronal mass ejection blast into space, straight in the direction of Earth. Solar physicists have calculated that this magnetic bubble filled with energetic particles should hit Earth on August 3, so look out for some intense aurorae — a solar storm is coming."
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GovTechGuy writes:
State Dept spokesman PJ Crowley said Monday that the Department is "disappointed" by the United Arab Emirates' decision to ban Blackberry messaging services due to security concerns. Saudi Arabia is reportedly planning similar measures, while India, Kuwait and Bahrain have also complained of their inability to monitor messages sent using the device's encrypted messaging services. Crowley called the free flow of information vital to innovative economies.
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oxide7 writes:
Embattled British energy giant BP Plc (LON.BP), which is preparing to permanently seal the leaking offshore Macondo well, has come under heavy criticism from a US congressional subcommittee for using excessive chemical dispersants to control the oil spill. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass), chairman of the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee and BP's leading critic, has accused the company of not obeying a federal directive that restricted the use of the chemical dispersants.
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coondoggie writes:
Scientists at NASA and the European Space Agency have picked the all-important instruments for their joint Mars mission set to blast off in 2016. The mission instruments onboard ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter will focus on nailing down components in the Martian atmosphere — in particular looking for methane because mapping methane will let scientists investigate whether or not Mars is a living planet, researchers stated.
