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Google

Cost of Pre-Screening all youTube content: US$37 Billion->

Submitted by
Fluffeh
Fluffeh writes "The folks that push "Anti-Piracy" and "Copying is Stealing" seem to often request that Google pre-screens content going up on YouTube and of course expect Google to cover the costs. No-one ever really asks the question how much it would cost, but some nicely laid out math by a curious mind points to a pretty hefty figure indeed. Starting with who to employ, their salary expectations and how many people it would take to cover the 72 hours of content uploaded every minute, the numbers start to get pretty large, pretty quickly. US$37 billion a year. Now compare that to Google's revenue for last year."
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Your Rights Online

Julian Assange loses extradition appeal at Supreme Court-> 1

Submitted by sirlark
sirlark writes "Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has lost his Supreme Court fight against extradition to Sweden to face accusations of sex offences. The judgement was reached by a majority of five to two, the court's president, Lord Phillips, told the hearing. Mr Assange's legal team was given 14 days to consider the ruling before a final decision is made, leaving the possibility the case could be reheard."
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Transportation

SPAM: Commercial Driver's Sleep & their CDL'S Suspended

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association (FMCSA) is planning to implement requirements that will require commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders with a body mass index of at least 35 to be tested for sleep apnea. This number is based on a recent recommendation from the Medical Review Board. Drivers with a BMI of 35 or greater will be required to undergo an initial sleep apnea screening."
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Comment: Re:Cool tech, but (Score 5, Insightful) 322

by Fluffeh (#40149975) Attached to: LG Aims To Beat Apple's Retina Display

If the Apple Retina display is already beyond the point a human eye can resolve - what's more resolution going to get you?

The Apple display is "Beyond what the human eye can resolve" while holding it at a certain distance. That means if you hold it closer, you will start to see the pixels. This makes the LG display able to be held closer to the eyes while still not being able to see the pixels. Does it mean much for the average user who always holds their phone at a distance of two feet from their eyes? Nope, but it is still bragging rights.
 
/Rant/
Now if only the folks that make monitors started playing this game, I would finally be able to get a monitor that has a higher resolution than my phone. Seriously, what's with the huge drop in screen resolution on both laptops (unless you buy the $5k model) and run-of-the-mill desktop screens? 1366x768? The nineties called, (Yes, I did warn them about the earthquakes in Haiti and Japan) they want their resolution back!

Privacy

Britians "No Tracking Law" Now In Effect->

Submitted by
Fluffeh
Fluffeh writes "The British Gov might have more cameras up on street corners than just about anywhere else in the world, but it seems that the Gov doesn't want anyone else stepping on the privacy of their folks. In what the media have dubbed the "Cookie Law" all operators of websites in Britain must notify users of the tracking that the website does. This doesn't only cover cookies, but all forms of tracking and analytics performed on visitors. While there are potential fines up up to 500,000 pounds (Over US$750,000) for websites not following these new rules, the BBC announced that very few websites are ready, even most of its own sites aren't up to speed — and amusingly even the governments own websites aren't ready."
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China

China Has Backdoor On US Military Chip-> 11

Submitted by jjp9999
jjp9999 writes "Based on claims that silicon chips could be infected, security researcher Sergei Skorobogatov claims he and his team developed chip scanning software to put this to the test. They got their hands on a US military chip "that is highly secure with sophisticated encryption standards," that also happens to be manufactured in China. What they found was the chip has a backdoor on it that can disable the chip or reopen it at will. "This particular chip is prevalent in many systems from weapons, nuclear power plants to public transport. In other words, this backdoor access could be turned into an advanced Stuxnet weapon to attack potentially millions of systems. The scale and range of possible attacks has huge implications for National Security and public infrastructure," Skorobogatov writes on his blog."
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Games

Space Quest Spiritual Successor Project, SpaceVenture-> 62

Submitted by
Mr. Jaggers
Mr. Jaggers writes "Remember the old-school Sierra On-Line Space Quest series? With the original IP tied up in a giant Activision-Gordian-Knot, Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe ("The Two Guys from Andromeda"), the creators of SQ, have set up their own indie studio to invent a whole new hilarious universe, new characters, and puzzles; all the while respecting the style of art and comedy for which they are remembered. SpaceVenture is set to lambaste sci-fi franchises (as was done in SQ), and the team claims that none are safe, including Doctor Who, Stargate, Avatar, and others. They've lined up an all-star voice-acting cast, including Rob Paulsen (Animaniac Yakko, Pinky, TMNT's Raphael), Ellen McLain (GLaDOS), and radio legend Gary Owens. It's being promoted with a blog, podcasts, videos, live chats, and fan efforts including SQ marathons, comics, and fan videos. Best of all, as funding milestones are reached the team builds and releases prototypes; living, playable concept art demonstrating the character of the final game! The Kickstarter project targets PC/Mac/Linux/iOS/Android for release and includes awesome rewards that can land you in the game itself. It's definitely worth a look for fans of adventure games and sci-fi parody!"
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Comment: Re:CEO has to mark his Territory (Score 4, Insightful) 72

by Fluffeh (#40131499) Attached to: Yahoo Kills Flipboard Competitor Six Months After Debut

I reject the assertion that yahoo is just a bag of bones.

They are losing market share, their name once used to be "God" on the mouth of the internet. Now look at what they are. Ask a 12 year old what Yahoo is, then ask about Google. They ARE a bag of bones.

I know many people at the company, and they are some of the most creative, energetic programmers that I have met. All the new management team needs to do is unlock the potential that exists within their own staff.

You realize that this is paraphrasing exactly what I said yes? A company the size of Yahoo will no doubt have plenty of creative and skilled people, but that doesn't mean a damn if the new CEO is killing off their ideas. I am saying that the company HAS to start implementing these ideas and letting them come to fruition so that if they gamble on 10 out-there ideas right now while they still have the money to do so, it might be enough to find the next new idea that bring Yahoo back to at least some of its former glory. All the brightest, most creative geniuses in a company mean nothing if their ideas aren't followed through.

Comment: CEO has to mark his Territory (Score 4, Insightful) 72

by Fluffeh (#40131255) Attached to: Yahoo Kills Flipboard Competitor Six Months After Debut

This looks just like a "Hey! Imma doing something! Yay Me!" type move from Ross Levinsohn. I often find within the company that I work for, that when a project changes hands, the new Project Manager feels that he/she needs to stamp in some sort of "territory" so that they seem to be doing something. Sadly though, it also seems that many of these decisions are made without a full understanding of impacts and result in poor implementation. Given that these apps seemed to be at least getting Yahoo looking in the right direction, it seems a shame to see them canned. Given that Yahoo is in such a poor position at the moment, I don't think that a conservative approach is a good strategy for them at the moment - they need to be rolling the dice on long odds while they still have the money to be able to afford to do so. Give them a few more years of stagnation and their customers moving onto other products and they simply won't have the capital or time to find that "new big thing" that will ressurect them.

Medicine

Supreme Court Orders Do-Over on Key Software Patents->

Submitted by
Fluffeh
Fluffeh writes "It seems that the US Supreme Court has an itch it just can't scratch. A patent granted to the Ultramercial company covers the concept of allowing users to watch a pre-roll advertisement as an alternative to paying for premium content and the company is demanding fees from the likes of Hulu and YouTube. Another company called WildTangent is however is challenging Ultramercial's "invention" as merely an abstract idea not eligible for patent protection. Add to this a recent ruling by the Supreme Court restricting patents — albeit on medical diagnostic techniques and you get into a bit of a pickle. The Supreme Court is now sending the Ultramercial case back to the lower courts for another round, which doesn't mean that the court disagrees with the original ruling, but rather that it thinks it is a patent case that is relevant to the situation and they want to re-examine it under this new light."
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