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+ - Net neutrality is still a US hang-up->

Submitted by superapecommando
superapecommando (1667063) writes "

A new ‘study’ claims that the communciations companies in the US will lose 340,000 jobs in the next decade if the federal Communications Commission (FCC) carries on with its current policy of net neutrality.
And, the study reckons, that could rise to 1.5 million by 2020, the point at which US consumers are supposed to have universal access to fast broadband.
I have not read the whole paper, but this assertion is at worst unsubstantiated propaganda.

Good analysis of the position the telecoms companies are taking, basically attempting to use throttling and 'priority' access to bandwidth to compete with content providers, who could now be partly considered their competitors.
Should be read alongside Net neutrality: Do the numbers add up? for a look at the problems with the original study."
Link to Original Source

+ - Dutch ISP calls on government to mandate fair onli-> 3

Submitted by Chi-RAV
Chi-RAV (541181) writes "Dutch ISP XS4ALL has started a civil initiative, in which the call upon the Dutch government to create a law, concerning digital distribution of movies and music.
https://www.xs4all.nl/overxs4all/maatschappelijk/burgerinitiatief_meer.php
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.xs4all.nl%2Foverxs4all%2Fmaatschappelijk%2Fburgerinitiatief_meer.php
FTA:

We therefore ask

The House to prepare a bill regarding the use of film and music over the Internet.Under the bill rightholders of film and musical works (the movie and music industry) are to be required to make all their film and music works available on the Internet in a way that enables Internet users to see and listen to such works whenever and wherever they wish. The timing of the making available of a film or musical work shall coincide with the timing of its distribution on physical media. Convenience and quality are at least equal to the usability and quality of other forms of publication. Rightholders shall receive fair compensation for such use."
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+ - New AMD 6-core CPUs Finally Compete with Intel->

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile (99919) writes "AMD has been having a difficult time in the last year or so keeping up with Intel on the consumer CPU front. While the Phenom processors have been decent, since the introduction of Intel's Core i5 and Core i7 lineup of parts AMD has never really had a chance in the performance segment. They are hoping to change that with the release of the Phenom II X6 1090T processor, a 6-core CPU that will sell for about $285. Compare that to the 6-core offering from Intel: the Core i7-980X that retails for $999 or above. No, the 1090T won't run as fast in the benchmarks as the i7-980X but it does do well in media encoding tests and is one of the best available CPUs for performance/watt and performance/dollar. Add to that mixture the new Turbo Core Technology that automatically takes the 3.2 GHz part up to 3.6 GHz when three or fewer cores are loaded, and the AMD 1090T is the best competition Intel has seen in some time."
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+ - 18 Reasons Buyers are Returning iPads->

Submitted by JeffreyHenning
JeffreyHenning (65047) writes "An analysis of 40 users who returned their iPads and 10 who are thinking of doing so, with a list of their reasons and the impact on Apple. The top three primary reasons: to upgrade from a WiFi iPad to a 3G iPad, because the iPad is a poor value or because of incompatibilities experienced."
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Security

+ - FAA: Limit texting, cell calls in airline cockpits-> 1

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie (973519) writes "Dangerous distractions such as texting or cell phone use aren't just a driving menace — pilots of commercial aircraft succumb to such high-tech diversions — with possibly worse results. That's why the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today put airlines on call: create and enforce policies that will limit distractions in the cockpit and keep pilots focused on transporting passengers safely. The FAA's Sterile Cockpit Rule prohibits pilots from engaging in any type of distracting behavior during critical phases of flight, including take-off and landing and the warning today reminds crewmembers and air carriers that any cockpit distraction that diverts attention from required duties can "constitute a safety risk." This includes the use of personal electronic devices for activities unrelated to flight, the FAA stated."
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+ - Planck satellite reveals Star Formation processes->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "New images from the Planck space observatory reveal the gas and dust between the stars and isolate the physical processes at work in our Galaxy. The new images are an eye-catching by-product of a spacecraft designed to look back at the earliest light in the Universe.

Our Galaxy, the Milky Way, is home to billions of stars, laced through with clouds of gas and dust known as the interstellar medium. In visible light most of the newly born stars are hidden by clouds of tiny dust particles dispersed between the stars. When observed at much longer wavelengths, where the Cosmic Microwave Background can be seen, the picture is very different as clearly demonstrated in new images from ESA's Planck mission. The dust is no longer a dark shroud, but shines out in its own right, and new aspects of our Galaxy are revealed."
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Government

+ - Industry survey knocks Net Neutrality->

Submitted by superapecommando
superapecommando (1667063) writes "

Network neutrality rules adopted by the US Federal Communications Commission could lead to the loss of more than 340,000 jobs in the broadband industry over the next 10 years, with few offsetting web content jobs, according to a new study funded by a group opposed to the proposed rules.

The main point seems to be the flawed assumption that given net neutrality rules, the big cable companies will be losing profits, therefore contracting investment and losing jobs. However, as these profits exist only in potentia, how does this hold true?
Also, the last quoted person seems to make a good point. If the networks are charging for better speeds for certain services, it is in their interests to make the service as congested as possible for non-payers. Therefore to maximise profits (as they are legally obliged to do as public companies), they would be bound to degrade their investment in overall capacity and bandwidth."
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Comment: Re:Security through obscurity? (Score 0) 1015

by Defakto (#31982768) Attached to: Don't Talk To Aliens, Warns Stephen Hawking

Decimate us, huh? Thank goodness! You see, Decimate literally means "to reduce by ten percent", or "to kill one of every ten". If an alien asteroid attack on Earth is only going to kill one in ten, I'll take my chances. Had you said we'd be annihilated, which means "to destroy completely", then I'd be scared.

Dictionary Definition Main Entry: decimate Pronunciation: \de-s-mt\ Function: transitive verb Inflected Form(s): decimated; decimating Etymology: Latin decimatus, past participle of decimare, from decimus tenth, from decem ten Date: 1660 1 : to select by lot and kill every tenth man of 2 : to exact a tax of 10 percent from 3 a : to reduce drastically especially in number b : to cause great destruction or harm to You are correct and pedantic. The use of decimate that he chose was correct.

NASA

+ - Japan's Autonomous Resupply Spacecraft Rendevous w->

Submitted by BJ_Covert_Action
BJ_Covert_Action (1499847) writes "Spaceflightnow.com posted a story on September 16th previewing the current docking sequence of Japan's new autonomous cargo vehicle for supplying the ISS. Thrusday, September 17th, the cargo vehicle will be moving into position to be grappled with the ISS's robotic arm for berthing with the ISS. The mission status can be followed real-time at Spaceflightnow's Mission Status Center. At the time of this submission, it appears that the unmanned cargo vehicle has been successfully grappled by the ISS and will slowly be maneuvered into its final docking position by about 6:00 PM EDT.

The vehicle not only brings with it the proof that it can perform as designed, but also two environmental science experiments (HREP and SMILES designed by NASA and JAXA respectively) which will monitor and study certain aspects of Earth oceans and weather. Also on board the HTV is a healthy amount of food, water, and technical equipment for use by the residing ISS crew.

The HTV is scheduled to be docked with the ISS for about 30 to 45 days at which point it will be loaded with trash from the ISS and break it's dock with the space station. The HTV will then be deorbited into the atmosphere where it will burn up somewhere over the remote south Pacific ocean.

If nothing else, the fact that space agencies will now have one more autonomous cargo vehicle with which to resupply the ISS is quite exciting and progressive for the space industry."
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Patents

+ - Sony, Activision Blizzard, many others sued for in->

Submitted by sixteenbitsamurai
sixteenbitsamurai (1070810) writes "from the article,

'Sony Corp., maker of the PlayStation video-game systems, and games manufacturer Activision Blizzard Inc. were sued by a company that claims âoeWorld of Warcraftâ and other online games use its inventions.

Also named in the complaint filed today by PalTalk Holdings Inc. were NCsoft Corp., South Koreaâ(TM)s biggest online-game maker and developer of the âoeGuild Warsâ series; U.K. developer Jagex Ltd., maker of the âoeRunescapeâ online game; and closely held Turbine Inc., which has a âoeLord of the Ringsâ online game.

Closely held PalTalk claims the companies are infringing two patents for ways to control interactive applications over multiple computers that were developed by MPath Interactive Inc. MPath was an early pioneer of online gaming that provided technology for Sony and the companies that merged to form Activision Blizzard, according to the complaint. PalTalk said it bought the patents in 2002.

'Certain game play on the PS3 or PSP and through the PlayStation Network online gaming service infringes the PalTalk patents,â PalTalk said in the complaint filed in federal court in Marshall, Texas. It is seeking damages âoein at least the tens of millions of dollarsâ from each of the companies."'"
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Security

+ - Health care exemption on data breeches->

Submitted by
Combat Wombat
Combat Wombat writes "New data breach rules for US healthcare providers have come under criticism from a security firm that specialises in encryption. As part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which comes into effect from 23 September, health organisations in the US that use encryption will no longer be obliged to notify clients of breaches."
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Censorship

+ - Amazon bans public domain from Kindle-> 6

Submitted by
John B. Hare
John B. Hare writes "John B. Hare writes "Many publishers of public domain content on the Kindle are being turned away for reasons which Amazon declines to clarify. In the past two weeks any publisher posting a public domain book (or a book which appears to be a public domain book) have received the message "Your book is currently under review by the Kindle Operations team as we are trying to improve the Kindle customer experience. Please check back in 5 business days to see if your book was published to the store."

Amazon claims that this is a quality control issue, that readers can't figure out on their own that a five page Kindle book for $9.99 is a rip-off or yet another Kindle edition of 'Pride and Prejudice' is pointless. This was supposed to be the point of user feedback and the Kindle return policy: the user can quickly decide what the best choice is, and if they don't like it, back out without any harm done.

I own and run one of the primary contributors of new public domain etexts on the web: sacred-texts.com. When the ban went into effect, I was just back from an intense round of chemo. I was disappointed to get this message. I am (was?) in the process of converting all of the 2000+ ebooks at sacred-texts into Kindle editions. I use a homebrew preflight Kindle filter to construct the Kindle binary from my master files, which we have invested nearly a million dollars into creating. We spend thousands a month in-house doing legal clearance, scanning, OCRing, and proofing, often by domain experts. So we are hardly a fly-by-night operation. In fact, many of the PD texts floating around on the Internet and on the Kindle were originally done at sacred-texts at great investment of labor and time. Our Kindle return rate is close to zero.

This morning I received an email stating:

Dear Publisher,

We're working on a policy and procedure change to fix a customer experience problem caused by multiple copies of public domain titles being uploaded by a multitude of publishers. For an example of this problem, do a search on "Pride and Prejudice" in the Kindle Store. The current situation is very confusing for customers as it makes it difficult to decide which 'Pride and Prejudice' to choose. As a result, at this time we are not accepting additional public domain titles through DTP, including the following: The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ
The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ
Traces of a Hidden Tradition in Masonry and Medieval Mysticism
The History of the Knights Templar by Nicolas Notovitch...


If you believe that we have wrongly identified this title as a public domain title, and you are the copyright holder or are authorized to sell it by the copyright holder, then please reply to title-submission@amazon.com with appropriate documentation of your e-book rights.

Thank you, Amazon.com

As can be seen, this brings an entirely new issue into play: apparently, if I owned the rights to a public domain book and can prove it, they will reconsider. However, nobody can own a public domain book. Amazon is telling us that in order to post our books we need to prove a contradiction!

One key point is that Amazon has applied this ban completely non-selectively. Established publishers such as myself and others who have never had any quality control issues whatsoever, and give good value for the price, have all been tarred with the broad brush of 'Public Domain Publisher--do not post'.

By banning new public domain books from the Kindle, they are making an implicit decision as to which books people should read. You can argue that 'you can get these texts anywhere' but by excluding high quality Kindle books of them from the nascent Kindle marketplace, Amazon is implicitly trying to decide what is a valid part of our culture and what isn't. This trend does not bode well for the future of ebooks.

"
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+ - Student design cardboard computer case aimed at su->

Submitted by SpaceGhost
SpaceGhost (23971) writes "The Houston Chronicle has a story on a Grad student at the University of Houston who has designed a cardboard case for a computer. This is not a new concept, but this one is meant to be used in manufacture. The idea is that it will be faster and easier to produce (no fasteners for example) and dramatically easier to recycle. With computers having such short lifespans nowadays, could this be a good direction to move towards? Or will overclockers burn their house down?
"This isn't built to last",HoustonChronicle,20090917"
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