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Submission + - Julian Assange Video DMCA'ed Offline During Aussie Election

Submitted by Pav
Pav writes: On the verge of going viral (600,000 views in a week) this video was taken offline during the Australian election. It's a humourous spoof of the various contenders, plus a guest appearance by the real Julian Assange, who breaks into a few bars of "The Voice" by John Farnham, jarringly and an octave too low — apparently this was the cause of the DMCA concern.

Submission + - Building Snow Dens for the Saimaa Seals

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: A project to construct man-made dens for the endangered Saimaa seal will continue after recently receiving EU funding for the next five years. The Saimaa ringed seal is among the most endangered seals in the world, having a current total population of only about 310 in the Saimaa area of Finland. The population is descended from ringed seals that were separated from the rest of their species after the last ice age. This seal, along with the Ladoga seal and the Baikal seal, is one of the few living freshwater seals in the world and Finland is working hard to preserve its tiny population. The University of Eastern Finland and Finland’s Forest Government Organization are leading a group of volunteers to build the right size snow drifts near the water. Finding volunteers has not been a problem as dozens of volunteers participate in den counts each spring, covering the entire Saimaa area. Last winter, a full one-half of the man-made dens were housed by the seals, so the project is considered to be successful.

Submission + - Chromebooks' Success in 2013 is a Gut Punch to Microsoft 3

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Gregg Keizer reports at Computerworld that Chromebooks accounted for 21% of all US commercial notebook sales in 2013 through November, and 10% of all computers and tablets. Both shares were up massively from 2012 when Chromebooks accounted for an almost-invisible two-tenths of one percent of all computer and tablet sales. That’s really rough news news for Microsoft, which is the principal loser of market share against the Chromebooks. Part of the attraction of Chromebooks is their low prices: The systems forgo high-resolution displays, rely on inexpensive graphics chipsets, include paltry amounts of RAM — often just 2GB — and get by with little local storage. And their operating system, Chrome OS, doesn't cost computer makers a dime. "A few years ago, Chromebooks were a bit of a laughing stock. They were underperforming single-purpose laptops that weren’t even good at the only thing they could do that is, surf the web," says Frederic Lardinois. "Over the last year, ChromeOS also went from a one-trick pony to something that’s more like a “real” operating system." Today’s Chromebooks are nothing like the old Cr-48 prototype Google once sent out to bloggers in late 2010. The fact that Microsoft has now started making fun of them just shows that it’s concerned about losing market share in the business world. "Google is doing with its Chrome OS for PCs what it did with Android for smartphones," says Matt Marshall. "No wonder Google is starting to eating Microsoft’s lunch."

Submission + - The universe may be finite and bounded afterall. (johnhartnett.org) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The question is discussed whether the universe is finite or infinite, bounded or unbounded. In modern science it is presumed to unbounded and since the discovery of the accelerating universe, for which the Nobel Prize was awarded in 2011, that it is also infinite. However Hartnett has found that using the cosmology of Moshe Carmeli that the same equations that successfully fit the observational evidence in the cosmos can also be derived from a finite bounded universe. This means our location is space may indeed be special after all. The work was published in the International Journal of Theoretical Physics titled “A valid finite bounded expanding Carmelian universe without dark matter” (Int J Theor Phys (2013) 52:4360–4366).

Submission + - The Archaeology of Beer (theatlantic.com)

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: The Atlantic reports, "Dr. Pat McGovern, a biomolecular archeologist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology ... explains his process to me. “We always start with infrared spectrometry,” he says. “That gives us an idea of what organic materials are preserved.” From there, it’s on to tandem liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, sometimes coupled with ion cyclotron resonance, and solid-phase micro-extraction gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The end result? A beer recipe. Starting with a few porous clay shards or tiny bits of resin-like residue from a bronze cup, McGovern is able to determine what some ancient Norseman or Etruscan or Shang dynast was drinking ... Details will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Danish Journal of Archaeology. But if your curiosity is more immediate ... head to a nearby wine-and-beer store and request a bottle of the most recent Ancient Ale from Dogfish Head. The Delaware-based brewery ... collaborated with McGovern to make ... a brew that was inspired by the residue found on pottery fragments in a 2,700-year-old tomb in Turkey. Dogfish Head has since re-created six other defunct potables ... based on archeological finds in China, Honduras, Peru, Egypt, Italy, and now Scandinavia. Its re-creation of Nordic grog, Kvasir ..."

Submission + - Surge in Online Orders Overwhelms UPS Christmas Deliveries

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Reuters reports that the high volume of online orders of holiday packages overwhelmed shipping and logistics company UPS delaying the arrival of Christmas presents around the globe and sending angry consumers to social media to vent. The company projected 132 million deliveries last week "and obviously we exceeded that," said UPS spokeswoman Natalie Black without disclosing how many packages had been sent. "For now, UPS is really focused on delivering the remaining packages. You might not see trucks, but people are working." Asked why the company underestimated the volume of air packages it would receive, Black noted that previous severe weather in the Dallas area had already created a backlog. Then came "excess holiday volume" during a compressed time frame, since the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas was shorter than usual this year. Amazon.com responded with an email to affected customers offering shipping refunds and $20 gift cards to compensate. Packages shipped via UPS for Amazon.com by Prime customers, who pay $79 a year for two-day shipping, may be eligible for additional refunds. Amazon's stated policy for missed deliveries is to offer a free one-month extension of Prime. Frustrated consumers took to social media, with some complaining that gifts purchased for their children would not arrive in time to make it under the tree by Christmas morning. "A lot of these employees keep saying 'It's the weather' or 'It's some kind of a backlog,'" said Barry Tesh. "Well then why, all the way up until the 23rd, were they offering next-day delivery? That guaranteed delivery was 80% of my decision to buy the gift." However others on social media urged shoppers to be more appreciative of the delivery company's work during the holiday season. "While others take vacation and time off in December, remember we aren't allowed ever to be off in December. Ever," said a 20 year veteran UPS driver on the UPS Facebook page. "So when you see your family and complain that your package is held up, everyone who moves your package is working and doesn't get the Xmas experience you get, Be thankful for that."

Comment Re:No it doesn't. (Score 3, Insightful) 246

by enrevanche (#45099923) Attached to: EU Court Holds News Website Liable For Readers' Comments
It's almost always about those with power silencing those without. It really has very little to do with culture. In the U.S. this is usually done with volume because the powerful are stuck with the Constitution. They would have changed things via regulare legislation along time ago if they could have. One thing important to consider is that the preferred way to get people to shut up is via self censorship, either fear of legal prosecution or exasperation because of a sense of powerlessness.

Submission + - PureVPN shuts down due to "legal issues" (sendgrid.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It looks like PureVPN has shut down due to an as yet undisclosed incident. To quote "We had to handover all customer’s information to the authorities unfortunately. They might contact you if they need any details about the case they are working on. The following information was handed over: your name, billing address and phone number provided during purchase and any documents we had on file..."

Submission + - Over 100 Missing Episodes of Doctor Who Located (mirror.co.uk)

Submitted by MajikJon
MajikJon writes: The BBC junking policies of the 60's and 70's resulted in the loss of hundreds of episodes of the classic series in its earliest years. Through the work of ardent fans over the succeeding decades, dozens of these lost episodes have been painstaking recovered and added back into the BBC archives. Now, it seems, the searchers have struck the mother lode. According to the Wikipedia, there are currently 106 missing episodes of the serial. If reports are correct, we may finally get to see all the episodes.

Submission + - Microsoft investors call for Bill Gates to resign (tucknews.com)

Submitted by Tuck News
Tuck News writes: Major stakeholders in Microsoft are pushing for Bill Gates to resign as chairman, claimed Reuters on Tuesday. Three investors, who collectively hold more than 5% of the software company’s stock, are allegedly lobbying on the basis that Gates — who founded the company 38 years ago — holds too much sway over the strategic direction of the business. The billionaire, consistently the richest man in the U.S., still owns about 4.5% of the $227 billion company and is its largest individual shareholder.

Submission + - AMD Posts a Horde of New 3D GPU Documentation

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: Things are starting to look even better for the status of open specifications for AMD Radeon HD hardware. AMD's Alex Deucher announced via his personal blog that programming guides and register specifications on the 3D engines for the Evergreen, Northern Islands, Southern Islands, and Sea Islands GPUs are now in the NDA-free public domain. These parts represent the 3D engines on the Radeon HD 5000 through Radeon HD 8000 series graphics processors.

Submission + - PICTURES: Any animal that touches this lethal lake turns to stone... (tucknews.com)

Submitted by Tuck News
Tuck News writes: The still water of this lake seems to draw creatures to it. The reflective surface confuses them and acts like a mirror making them think they can fly straight throw, but instead they end up in its murky depths and are killed and perfectly preserved within a matter of seconds, reports Gizmodo. These haunting photographs were captured by Nick Brandt for his new book 'Across The Ravaged Land". According to Brandt, petrified creatures pepper the area around the lake due to its constant pH of 9 to 10.5, and extremely basic alkalinity that preserves the creatures for eternity. "I unexpectedly found the creatures — all manner of birds and bats — washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron in Northern Tanzania.

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