Forgot your password?

Close
typodupeerror
Republicans

Intelligence deputy to America: Rethink privacy->

Submitted by Brian Lewis
Brian Lewis writes "Looks like the fight for privacy is getting brutal

As Congress debates new rules for government eavesdropping, a top intelligence official says it is time that people in the United States change their definition of privacy.

Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communications and financial information.
It's so 1984 :)

Read more http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/11/terrorist.surveillance.ap/index.html"
Link to Original Source
Government

IRS catches cold from Ron Paul's gold fever->

Submitted by John Poindexter
John Poindexter writes "The Gold Bullion Act of 1985, which Ron Paul sponsored, is being put to some interesting street uses. Concluding a trial four years in the making, a Las Vegas jury acquitted nine people of 116 counts stemming from their use of American Gold Eagle coins minted under this Act. (Our search failed to uncover any major newspaper worldwide that covered the trial or its verdict.) Despite a complicit judge that prevented relevant legal arguments from being presented in open court, the prosecution failed to convince a jury that these people had sought to evade taxes by recognizing only the legal tender value of the gold coins. (See American Gold Eagle and Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985) If the IRS is unable to convince juries that such legal tender recognition is illegal it could open the flood gates to the circulating use of these coins and a flight from Federal Reserve Notes in our wallets as people realize their advantages, including an ability directly offset the effects of inflation on their savings and depreciation of the currency."
Link to Original Source
Upgrades

Ultracapacitors soon to replace many batteries?->

Submitted by
einhverfr
einhverfr writes "According to an article in the IEEE Spectrun, the synergy between batteries and capacitors — two of the sturdiest and oldest components of electrical engineering — has been growing, to the point where ultracapacitors may soon be almost as indispensable to portable electricity as batteries are now.

Some researches expect to soon create capacitors capable of storing 50% as much energy as a lithium ion battery of the same size. Such capacitors could revolutionize many areas possibly from mobile computing (no worries about battery memory), electricity-powered vehicles, and more."
Link to Original Source
Wireless Networking

U.N. telco commission approves WiMAX->

Submitted by
Srinivas Pinisetti
Srinivas Pinisetti writes "WiMAX got a thumbs up last week from the International Telecommunications Union, the United Nations telecommunications agency in Geneva, in what is being described as a 'victory" for Intel and a "defeat" for Qualcomm and Ericsson. According to a report in the International Herald Tribune, the International Telecommunication Union's radio assembly will include WiMax in its 3G mobile standards. According to the Tribune's report, the approval "gives WiMax a leg up on Ultra Mobile Broadband, an alternative technology from Qualcomm, and Long-Term Evolution, an equivalent from Ericsson." Intel has made a great investment in WiMAX and is one of the technology's greatest proponents in the world-wide market."
Link to Original Source
Hardware Hacking

Hondata sues open-source project over DMCA claims->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Hondata, a company that provides engine management software that runs on OEM Honda engine computers, is suing the ex-owner and moderator of PGMFI.org. A user posted a program to download the ECU code from more recent Honda ECUs using Hondata's hardware, which is useful for downloading the OEM code as well as the modified Hondata code. The man being sued has long since sold the site on to someone else.
PGMFI.org is dedicated to the grass-roots development of Honda tuning software. Hondata's demands included becoming a secret moderator of the site with full powers to edit and delete posts. This is a worrying proposition because their commercial product has incorporated the work of PGMFI users into their product without permission in the past. PGMFI has always had a policy against reverse-engineering commercial tuning products such as Hondata, and this program's most likely use was as an inexpensive way to gain access to unmodified Honda ECU code. Hondata is also suing "Does 1-50", who allegedly downloaded the program. The link provided goes to a full timeline so far.

One thing very interesting about all of this is that neither Hondata or any of the grassroots projects ever completely replace Honda's OEM software, they merely add new subroutines and change parameters. Nobody has a license to do this from Honda; So why does Hondata think that they can litigate over what is essentially someone else's IP?"
Link to Original Source
Space

X Prize Cup 2007

Submitted by Cally
Cally writes "Space.com reports that the X Prize Cup 2007 is now in progress, with several teams competing for the Lunar Lander Challenge — a vehicle must take-off, hover for three minutes (six for the second-level challenge), and then make a controlled vertical landing at a site several hundred meters from the launch pad. John Carmack's Armadillo Aerospace, now down to only two vehicles after a last minute accident in testing, are in the running to take the prize."
Technology (Apple)

No Plastic No iPhone - Apple limits iPhone Sales 1

Submitted by
SierraPete
SierraPete writes ""This note is legal tender..." no longer applies when you want to purchase an iPhone. The LA Times (via the AP) reports that consumers may no longer purchase an iPhone with cash. Additionally, consumers may only purchase 2 iPhones at a time. Previously you could buy up to 5 at a time and using cash was not an issue. The reason for this move: stem the tide of folks buying phones for the express purpose of unlocking and reselling the units. Guess their firmware updates are not as successful in making iBricks as they had hoped."
Republicans

Rumsfeld Charged With Torture->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Donald Rumsfeld has been charged with torture on his visit to France. Rumsfeld's presence on French territory gives French courts jurisdiction to prosecute him for having ordered and authorized torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. In addition, having resigned from his position of U.S. Secretary of Defense a year ago, Rumsfeld can no longer try to claim immunity as a head of state or government official. Nor can he claim immunity as former state official, as international law does not recognize such immunity in the case of international crimes including the crime of torture. Former U.S. Army Brigadier General submitted written testimony to the Paris Prosecutor for the plaintiffs' case on Rumsfeld's responsibility for the abuse of detainees."
Link to Original Source
Google

Google feature takes a closer look at Chicago-> 1

Submitted by
squirrel
squirrel writes "A Google-induced privacy debate that began on the coasts earlier this year lands in Chicago on Tuesday, when anyone with a computer will now be able to see what's growing in your front yard if you live in the city.

A Google Maps feature called "Street View" allows users to hone in on a picture of a building, an intersection, street signs and just about anything, including people, that was in the camera's viewfinder when a picture was snapped."
Link to Original Source

I B M U B M We all B M For I B M!!!! -- H.A.R.L.I.E.