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Entropy_ah (19070)

Entropy_ah
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http://roboadam.com/

Entropy_ah (19070)

  Science: Single Photons Bounced Off Orbiting Satellite 2008-03-17 11:00

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday March 17, @11:00AM
from the pling-pling-pling dept.
KentuckyFC writes "If we're ever going to benefit from the perfect security of quantum communication, we're going to need ways of transmitting entangled photons around the globe and certainly further than the current record of 144km through the atmosphere. Anton Zeilinger at the University of Vienna and colleagues have taken an important step towards this by bouncing individual photons off the Ajisai geodetic satellite (essentially a space-based disco ball) which is orbiting at 1400km. The group says the experiment is an important proof of principle for satellite-based quantum communications."
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 [+] story, science, communications, spacebaseddiscoball, orbitingdisco, stayinalive

  Your Rights Online: Apple, Burst Reach Settlement 2007-11-22 23:20

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday November 22 2007, @11:20PM
from the money-to-grease-the-wheels dept.
An anonymous reader writes "In 2005, Microsoft settled Burst's lawsuit for infringements on media player patents for $60 million. Many thought that Apple would be a ripe target next. However, Apple successfully voided 14 out of 36 Burst.com's patent claims in their iPod lawsuit. Apple would have gone after the remaining 22 claims. Today, Market Wire announced that the case was settled out of court: "Apple agreed to pay Burst a one-time payment of $10 million cash in exchange for a non-exclusive license to Burst's patent portfolio, not including one issued U.S. patent and 3 pending U.S. patent applications related to new DVR technology. Burst agreed not to sue Apple for any future infringement of the DVR patent and any patents that might issue from the pending DVR-related applications." The big winner would be the lawyers who reduced the settlement to approximately $4.6 million."
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 [+] story, yro, patents, goodcupertinolawyers, apple, media, money,

  IT: WWII Colossus Codecracker Outdone by a German 2007-11-16 13:03

Posted by Zonk on Friday November 16 2007, @01:03PM
from the oh-irony-you-are-so-sweet dept.
superglaze writes "The Colossus codecracker contest was a short-lived ordeal. Not only has it been outdone in a cipher-breaking challenge, but — irony of ironies — it was beaten by a German! From the story: 'The winner was Joachim Schüth, from Bonn, who completed the task using software he wrote himself. "[Schüth] cracked the most difficult code yesterday," said the museum's spokesperson on Friday. "We're absolutely delighted. He used specially written software for the challenge. Colossus is still chugging away, as we got the signals late. Yesterday the atmospheric conditions were such that we couldn't get good signals.'"
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 [+] story, it, encryption, !irony, !racism, technology, communications,

  Science: Russian Rocket Hits Wyoming 2007-01-04 22:05

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday January 04 2007, @10:05PM
from the slightly-off-course dept.
Harmonious Botch wrote in with a CNN story that opens: "A spent Russian booster rocket re-entered the atmosphere Thursday over Colorado and Wyoming, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said. NORAD spokesman Sean Kelly said the agency was trying to confirm a report that a piece of the rocket may have hit the ground near Riverton, Wyoming, at about 6 a.m. Kelly said military personnel had not yet reached the scene. No damage was reported and the debris was not believed to be hazardous, NORAD said. Eyewitnesses reported seeing flaming objects in the sky at the time the rocket was re-entering, Kelly said."
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 [+] story, science, space, coldwar, reddawn, therussiansarecoming, ufo, rocket

  Your Rights Online: Illinois Ban On Explicit Video Games Is Unconstitutional 2006-11-27 18:16

Posted by kdawson on Monday November 27 2006, @06:16PM
from the let-slip-the-gods-of-war dept.
An anonymous reader writes, "A federal court has struck down an Illinois law that criminalized the sale of 'sexually explicit' video games to minors. In reaching this decision, the court held that the Illinois law was too broad, because it could be read to encompass any game which displayed a female breast, even for a brief second. Interestingly, the court chose the game God of War as the model of gaming art which must be protected. As the court explained, 'Because the SEVGL potentially criminalize the sale of any game that features exposed breasts, without concern for the game considered in its entirety or for the game's social value for minors, distribution of God of War is potentially illegal, in spite of the fact that the game tracks the Homeric epics in content and theme. As we have suggested in the past, there is serious reason to believe that a statute sweeps too broadly when it prohibits a game that is essentially an interactive, digital version of the Odyssey.'"
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 [+] story, yro, court, boobies, censorship, games, obvious

  Developers: Firebird 2.0 Final Released 2006-11-13 00:14

Posted by Zonk on Monday November 13 2006, @12:14AM
from the reborn dept.
Samyem Tuladhar writes "After 2 years in development, the Firebird Project today officially releases the much-anticipated version 2.0 of its open source Firebird relational database software during the opening session of the fourth international Firebird Conference in Prague, Czech Republic."
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 [+] story, developers, database, firebird, notfirefox, notthunderbird, it

  Linux: Novell Gets $348 Million From Microsoft 2006-11-08 02:45

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday November 08 2006, @02:45AM
from the money-is-the-root-of-all dept.
An anonymous reader writes, "Novell has published additional details about its agreements with Microsoft concerning Windows and Linux interoperability and patents. It seems the company is receiving an up-front payment of $348 million from Microsoft, for SLES subscription certificates and for patent cross-licensing. Microsoft will make an upfront payment to Novell of $240 million for SLES subscription 'certificates' that Microsoft can use, resell, or distribute over the term of the agreement. Regarding the patent cooperation agreement, Microsoft will make an up-front net payment to Novell of $108 million, and Novell will make ongoing payments totaling at least $40 million over five years to Microsoft."
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 [+] story, linux, novell, microsoft, gpl, traitors

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