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Music

Submission + - Radiohead to offer free downloads of new album (telegraph.co.uk)

Submitted by Adam9
Adam9 writes: Radiohead, the internationally renowned band, has taken the unusual step of telling fans that they can pay as much or as little as they like for the band's new album In Rainbows. In a break from industry tradition the UK band famous for hits including Creep, Paranoid Android and Karma Police, has told fans "it's up to you" what they pay to digitally download the album. Radiohead is free to sell its album directly from its official website because it is no longer tied to a record label. So far the album is only available to pre-order from the website, where it can be downloaded on release on October 10.
NASA

Submission + - Frozen smoke protects homes and insulates coats (timesonline.co.uk)

Submitted by Adam9
Adam9 writes: A miracle material for the 21st century could protect your home against bomb blasts, mop up oil spillages and even help man to fly to Mars. Aerogel, one of the world's lightest solids, can withstand a direct blast of 1kg of dynamite and protect against heat from a blowtorch at more than 1,300C. Scientists are working to discover new applications for the substance, ranging from the next generation of tennis rackets to super-insulated space suits for a manned mission to Mars.
Security

E-Voting Reform Bill Gaining Adherants 161

Posted by kdawson from the paper-trail-and-source-inspection dept.
JeremyDuffy sends us to Ars Technica for a look at an e-voting bill making its way through Congress that is gaining the support of the likes of Ed Felten and the EFF. Quoting: "HR 811 features several requirements that will warm the hearts of geek activists. It bans the use of computerized voting machines that lack a voter-verified paper trail. It mandates that the paper records be the authoritative source in any recounts, and requires prominent notices reminding voters to double-check the paper record before leaving the polling place. It mandates automatic audits of at least three percent of all votes cast to detect discrepancies between the paper and electronic records. It bans voting machines that contain wireless networking hardware and prohibits connecting voting machines to the Internet. Finally, it requires that the source code for e-voting machines be made publicly available."
Media (Apple)

Submission + - EU Launches iTunes Probe

Submitted by
Adam9
Adam9 writes: "European Union regulators are investigating Apple Inc.'s iTunes online music store for possible violation of competition rules, a British newspaper reported Monday. The Financial Times said Apple and several major music companies had been sent a 'statement of objections' alleging that the deals underpinning the sale of music through iTunes in Europe might violate competition rules. The newspaper said the European Commission had sent a letter outlining the accusations to Apple and 'major record companies' including Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music and EMI Group PLC. The newspaper said the charges centered on the fact that, in Europe, iTunes prohibits users in one country from downloading music from a Web site intended to serve another. It quoted a spokesman for EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes as saying that Apple's agreements restricted music sales 'in the sense that consumers can only buy music from the iTunes store in their country of residence' — a possible violation of the EU's rules against restrictive business practices. Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said the company wanted to operate a single store for all of Europe, but music labels and publishers said there were limits to the rights that could they could grant to Apple. 'We don't believe Apple did anything to violate EU law,' he said. 'We will continue to work with the EU to resolve this matter.'"
Google

Submission + - Google Unveils TiSP

Submitted by
martinelli
martinelli writes: "Google has finally unveiled TiSP, a "a fully functional, end-to-end system that provides in-home wireless access by connecting your commode-based TiSP wireless router to one of thousands of TiSP Access Nodes via fiber-optic cable strung through your local municipal sewage lines." Hopefully, this is not another Google Labs project that gets flushed down the drain. http://www.google.com/tisp/install.html"
Music

Submission + - New Royalty Rates Could Kill Internet Radio

Submitted by FlatCatInASlatVat
FlatCatInASlatVat writes: Kurt Hanson's Radio Internet Newsletter has an analysis of the new royalty rates for Internet Radio announced by the US Copyright Office. The decision is likely to put most internet radio stations out of business by making the cost of broadcasting much higher than revenues. From the article: "The Copyright Royalty Board is rejecting all of the arguments made by Webcasters and instead adopting the "per play" rate proposal put forth by SoundExchange (a digital music fee collection body created by the RIAA)...[The] math suggests that the royalty rate decision — for the performance alone, not even including composers' royalties! — is in the in the ballpark of 100% or more of total revenues." Clear Channel, in the meantime, pays nothing. So long Radio Paradise, and all the other wonderful internet stations.
Wireless Networking

CSIRO Demonstrates Fastest Wireless Link Yet 94

Posted by CowboyNeal from the sky-is-the-limit dept.
rob101 writes "The CSIRO yesterday demonstrated the world's 'fastest' wireless radio link by transmitting sixteen full quality DVD streams over a 250m link and only using a quarter of the available bandwidth. 'The CSIRO ICT Centre today announced that it has achieved over six gigabits per second over a point to point wireless connection with the highest efficiency (2.4bits/s/Hz) ever achieved for such a system.'" CSIRO hopes to double the speed of this connection in the future, pushing twelve gigabits a second.

SPECIAL BIRTHDAY REPORT!!! HEMOS IS 30 :) :) :) 156

Posted by CmdrTaco from the older-than-you've-ever-been-and-now-you're-even-older dept.
Jeff "Hemos" Bates, who you all know and love here on Slashdot, celebrated his 30th Birthday last Monday. The only way to properly celebrate would be to send him belated e-congratulations to hemos at slashdot.org. Show the love. He'd do it for you. No I'm not kidding.

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