Submission + - E-mail Not Protected by 4th Amendment (volokh.com) 3

Submitted by DustyShadow on Thursday October 29, 2009 @11:55AM

DustyShadow writes: In the case In re United States, Judge Mosman ruled that there is no constitutional requirement of notice to the account holder because the Fourth Amendment does not apply to e-mails under the third-party doctrine. "When a person uses the Internet, the user’s actions are no longer in his or her physical home; in fact he or she is not truly acting in private space at all. The user is generally accessing the Internet with a network account and computer storage owned by an ISP like Comcast or NetZero. All materials stored online, whether they are e-mails or remotely stored documents, are physically stored on servers owned by an ISP. When we send an e-mail or instant message from the comfort of our own homes to a friend across town the message travels from our computer to computers owned by a third party, the ISP, before being delivered to the intended recipient. Thus, “private” information is actually being held by third-party private companies."

Jack Thompson Sues Facebook For $40M 421

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday October 01, 2009 @07:57AM from the just-when-you-thought-it-was-safe dept.

angry tapir writes "Jack Thompson has sued Facebook for US$40 million, saying that the social networking site harmed him by not removing angry postings made by Facebook gamers. The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Thompson is best known for bringing suit against Grand Theft Auto's Take Two Interactive, Sony Computer Entertainment America, and Wal-Mart, arguing that the game caused violent behavior."

Submission + - The world's first four-screen laptop (pcpro.co.uk) 1

Submitted by

Barence

on Thursday September 24, 2009 @03:19AM

Barence writes: "Intel has stunned visitors at IDF by showing off the world's first four-screen laptop. The oddly-named "Tangent Bay" has three miniature touchscreens set horizontally into the case below the main, full-sized panel. It is a fully functional prototype: delegates were able to scroll photos around the touchscreens by swiping with a finger. The idea smacked a little too much of the ill-fated Vista SideShow."

USB-IF Slaps Palm In iTunes Spat 600

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday September 23, 2009 @08:12AM from the gimme-some-skin dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The USB Implementers Forum has finally responded to Palm's complaints that Apple is violating its USB-IF Membership Agreement by preventing the Pre from syncing with iTunes. It's found in favor of Apple. Worse, it's accused Palm itself of violating the Membership Agreement by using Apple's Vendor ID number to disguise the Pre as an Apple device."

Python Converted To JavaScript, Executed In-Browser 176

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 19, 2009 @10:18AM from the hey-why-not dept.

lkcl writes "Two independent projects, Skulpt and Pyjamas, are working to bring Python to the web browser (and the JavaScript command-line) the hard way: as JavaScript. Skulpt already has a cool Python prompt demo on its homepage; Pyjamas has a gwtcanvas demo port and a GChart 2.6 demo port. Using the 64-bit version of Google v8 and PyV8, Pyjamas has just recently and successfully run its Python regression tests, converted to JavaScript, at the command-line. (Note: don't try any of the above SVG demos with FF2 or IE6; they will suck.)"

Submission + - Google's Leaked Memo on Apple's Rejection of Googl (sfgate.com) 2

Submitted by

ZipK

on Friday September 18, 2009 @06:45PM

ZipK writes: "Yobie Benjamin gives a short explanation of why he's abandoned the iPhone in favor of Android as his mobile development platform. More interestingly, he links to a memo in which Google details for the FCC their view of Apple's rejection of Google Voice."

Burglar Logs Into Facebook On Victim's Computer 337

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday September 18, 2009 @02:41PM from the status-reads-i'm-robbing-a-house-right-now dept.

yet-another-lobbyist writes to mention that Facebook addiction has finally caused real world consequences, at least for one would-be burglar. It seems that 19-year-old Jonathan Parker couldn't stay away from the popular social networking site, even long enough to rob a house. Parker not only stopped mid-robbery to check his Facebook status on the victim's computer, but left it logged in to his account when he left.

Submission + - Secret GPS tracking now legal in Massachusetts

Submitted by dr. fuzz on Thursday September 17, 2009 @01:06PM

dr. fuzz writes: The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts has ruled in favor of John Law tracking you with secret GPS devices in Massachusetts provided a warrant is obtained. You've been warned. To the dissenters' credit Justice Ralph Gants is quoted with "Our constitutional analysis should focus on the privacy interest at risk from contemporaneous GPS monitoring, not simply the property interest"

Submission + - U.S. government sets up online 'app store' (cnn.com)

Submitted by krapper on Wednesday September 16, 2009 @08:48PM

krapper writes: The Obama administration has unveiled a government "app store" designed to push the federal bureaucracy into the era of cloud computing. The Obama administration is pushing for the government to use cloud-computing technologies. The Obama administration is pushing for the government to use cloud-computing technologies. The change means some federal employees will begin using services like YouTube, Gmail and WordPress, which store data on private Internet servers instead of on those paid for with public money. The process will start small but will ramp up quickly, Vivek Kundra, the U.S. chief information officer, said in a blog post on Tuesday. "Our policies lag behind new trends, causing unnecessary restrictions on the use of new technology," Kundra writes in the post on WhiteHouse.gov. "We are dedicated to addressing these barriers and to improving the way government leverages new technology." The app store is designed for federal employees doing official government business and is not intended for use by the public. Also on Tuesday, Google announced the creation of a "government cloud," in which public data will be stored on Google computer servers by 2010. According to a Google blog post, this dedicated space will serve the needs of federal, state and local governments.

Submission + - Google releases the SDK for version 1.6 of Android (android.com)

Submitted by Qwavel on Wednesday September 16, 2009 @03:59PM

Qwavel writes: This release includes improvements to the Android Market, the Search Framework, and Text-to-Speech. It now has support for more screen resolutions and CDMA phones. Android 1.6 is based on v2.6.29 of the Linux kernel and is expected in phones that will be available next month. The mystery of Android 1.6, however, is Google's continued unwilling to commit to a Bluetooth API and any Bluetooth functionality beyond the basic audio functions.

Submission + - Gene Therapy Cures Color-Blind Monkeys (wired.com)

Submitted by SpuriousLogic on Wednesday September 16, 2009 @03:15PM

SpuriousLogic writes: After receiving injections of genes that produce color-detecting proteins, two color-blind monkeys have seen red and green for the first time.

Except in its extreme forms, color blindness isn't a debilitating condition, but it's a convenient stand-in for other types of blindness that might be treated with gene therapy. The monkey success raises the possibility of reversing those diseases, in a manner that most scientists considered impossible.

"We said it was possible to give an adult monkey with a model of human red-green color blindness the retina of a person with normal color vision. Every single person I talked to said, absolutely not," said study co-author Jay Neitz, a University of Washington ophthalmologist. "And almost every unsolved vision defect out there has this component in one way or another, where the ability to translate light into a gene signal is involved."

The full-spectrum supplementation of the squirrel monkeys' sight, described Wednesday in Nature, comes just less than a year after researchers used gene therapy to restore light perception in people afflicted by Leber Congenital Amaurosis, a rare and untreatable form of blindness.

Submission + - Right to Repair bill advances in Massachusetts Leg (patriotledger.com)

Submitted by Wannabe Code Monkey on Tuesday September 15, 2009 @05:48PM

Wannabe Code Monkey writes: The Patriot Ledger has an article about an effort in Massachusetts to pass a "Right to Repair" bill.
Since the advent of congressionally mandated computers in vehicles more than 15 years ago (for emissions), cars have evolved into complex machines that are no longer just mechanical. Computers now monitor and control most systems in the car from brakes to tire pressure and all the electronics and engine fluids... [and] car manufacturers continue to hold back on some of the information that your mechanic needs in order to properly repair your car and reset your codes and warning lights... Massachusetts is now poised to solve this problem and car-driving consumers should pay attention this fall when the Massachusetts Legislature takes up landmark legislation that would force manufacturers to respect the right of consumers to access their own repair information. The legislation, known as Right to Repair, is seen by car manufacturers as a threat to the lucrative service business in their dealerships and they are massing their lobbyists on Beacon Hill in an effort to defeat it.