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Comment Re:Constitutional basis for the pork? (Score 1) 414

by Sizzlebeast (#26228983) Attached to: Universal Broadband Plan Calls For $44 Billion
If you going to blame anyone, blame John Marshall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Marshall). He created that interpretation in McCulloch v. Maryland, which created the broad interpretation of the necessary and proper clause. In addition, Gibbons v. Ogden allowed for a broader interpretation of interstate commerce. Marshall worked to extend the powers of the federal government and these judgments extended those powers significantly.
Television

Submission + - US DTV Converter Box Coupon Program

Submitted by
willbry
willbry writes: "For those in the US, today is the day (1/1/2008) to request up to two $40 coupons towards the purchase of a digital-to-analog converter box at www.dtv2009.gov. These converter boxes will be needed by February 2009 in order to receive free, over-the-air digital television broadcasts. Without a digital converter box, your existing analog television will not be able to receive any over-the-air television broadcasts. There is a limited number of coupons available, so act fast if you want to take advantage. You can also check my blog for more details at williambryson.blogspot.com.

Good luck!"
Google

Submission + - 1.7 Million Public Domain Books in Print

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Free service that can take any public domain book from Internet Archive or Google Book Search, and make it available in print via Lulu. Over 1.7 million books available. Take a look at PublicDomainReprints.org.
Movies

Submission + - Archos 605 wifi hacked (google.com)

Submitted by
Nathan Ramella
Nathan Ramella writes: "The ARCwelder project has released a technique dubbed "Go Fighting Tabby!" which exploits an unquoted system() call through the Archos UI, providing the ability to execute arbitrary code with root access on the Archos 605 wifi. In doing so, opening the platform up for further hacking. The Archos 605 wifi runs embedded Linux on an ARM processor, but employes a variety of anti-hack techniques to keep users from modifying its firmware and operating system. Included is a cross-compiled sshd with configuration files to allow for passwordless ssh access to the Archos when it is connected to a wifi connection. Bricks ahoy!"
Linux Business

Submission + - Microsoft Paid Novell $356 Million in '07

Submitted by Anonymous
Anonymous writes: At the end of this piece at Channelweb.com, it's reported that Microsoft paid Novell $355.6 million last year as part of their "interoperability" deal. It's no small wonder, then, that Novell executives are saying the deal has been a huge success so far.
Music

Submission + - RIAA Insanity-Suing People For Ripping CD's They P (fastsilicon.com) 2

Submitted by
mrneutron2003
mrneutron2003 writes: "With this past weeks announcement by Warner to release its entire catalog to Amazon in MP3 format with no Digital Rights Management, you would think that the organization that represents them, The Recording Industry Association of America , would begin changing its tune. However in an inane display of hubris and futility, the RIAA presses on in it's tirade against the very consumers its partners rely on buy (we're not making this up) suing individuals who merely rip CD's they've purchased legally.

The Washington Post reports on the case being fought by a Scottsdale Arizona man, Jeffrey Howell, who is being taken to task for ripping his own store bought CD's to his PC as a violation of copyright.

Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.
If the RIAA is successful here, it is safe to say that the overwhelming majority of American music consumers will soon be classified as criminals under the law for attempting to use media they've legally purchased in a manner they desire.
http://www.fastsilicon.com/off-the-wall/riaa-insanity-suing-people-for-ripping-cds-they-purchased.html"
Security

Submission + - Inside a Modern Malware Distribution System 1

Submitted by
Scrabblous
Scrabblous writes: "This eweek.com article provides a peek at the backend code and control server associated with Pushdo, a complex Trojan downloader that meticulously tracks its victims. From the article: For starters, the Pushdo controller uses the GeoIP geolocation database in conjunction with whitelists and blacklists of country codes to allow the malware distributor to limit one of the malware loads from infecting users located in a particular country. It also goes a step further, logging the victim's primary hard drive serial number, tracking whether the file system is NTFS, the number of times the victim system has launched a Pushdo variant, and the Windows OS version that executed the malware."
Google

Submission + - Google tries to give wikipedia some competition (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google has kicked off a project to create an authoritative store of information about any and every topic. The search giant has already started inviting people to write about the subject on which they are known to be an expert.
Transportation

Submission + - No Sleeping for laptops? 1

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Hey Guys, Recently I was on a Northwest flight from Detroit to Phoenix. The flight attendant made the usual announcement of turning off electronics "everything with an on/off switch". Then she went on to announce that "all laptops need to be turned off. They cannot be in sleep or hibernate mode." I was pretty surprised by this, as I usually close my laptop before take off and just open it afterwards. What is your take on this? Thanks"
United States

Submission + - Pro-Kremlin Parties Win Russian Election (bloomberg.com)

Submitted by
reporter
reporter writes: "The Russian election concluded on December 2, and according to a report by Bloomberg, the pro-Kremlin parties appear to have won the election. "The Central Election Commission announced that with 19.5 percent of the vote counted, United Russia had 63.5 percent, the Communists 11.3 percent, the Liberal Democrats 10 percent and Fair Russia 7 percent." If these percentages are maintained until the final tally, then 69.2% of the legislators in the Duma will hail from United Russia; that percentage gives them the power to arbitarily change the constitution in accordance with the wishes of the Kremlin. Only the Communists oppose (in a very loose sense of the word) the policies of the Kremlin and, ironically, will now be the only opposition party in the Duma. In 2004, Gennady Zyuganov, head of the Communist Party, had warned, "This is not an election, it's a special [Kremlin] operation with a predetermined result." ("The Washinton Post", 2004 March 14)

On Saturday (December 1), the "Wall Street Journal" published a front-page story about Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize for releasing the Eastern Europeans from the yoke of Soviet oppression. He has criticized the steadily eroding freedoms that he initiated in Russia in the late 1980s, but he has refrained from directly criticizing Czar Vladimir Putin."
Patents

Submission + - OLPC lawsuit-bringer has past fraud conviction? (boston.com)

Submitted by d0ida
d0ida writes: The Boston Globe posted an article online about LANCOR's lawsuit over the keyboard design: see http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/12/01/one_laptop_per_child_orders_surge/ "Negroponte said the lawsuit is without merit, because OLPC uses a keyboard programming technique developed in 1996, long before the Nigerian patent was filed. The founder of Lagos Analysis Corp., Ade Oyegbola, was convicted of bank fraud in Boston in 1990 and served a year in prison. Oyegbola insists his Nigerian patent is legitimate and said he plans to file a copyright-infringement lawsuit against OLPC in an American court."
Music

Submission + - UMG CEO tells us all what we've known for years

Submitted by
ewalk
ewalk writes: "Doug Morris, chair and CEO of Universal Music Group, is fairly blunt and surprisingly open in this interview. The article describes how the music industry and labels in particular, were slow to embrace MP3s as the new distribution medium, only to be caught in Jobs' "golden handcuffs" when the iTunes music store took off. The article also describes the upcoming Total Music system that appears to be squarly aimed at providing an alternative to the iTunes Music Store. Morris believes that consumers are more likely to utilize a subscription-based system if it is bundled with a third-party device from Sony or Microsoft. However, the article notes that DRM will still be needed, leading to a lack of interoperability between systems, music players, and software. Alas, Morris "doesn't care." Simply put, he belives that it is his job to "protect the music.""

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