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Supreme Court Approves Warrantless Home Searches-> 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "The New York Times reports that the Supreme Court has ruled, by a vote of 8 to 1, that police may enter a home and collect evidence even without a warrant, if after knocking on the door and announcing themselves they "hear evidence being destroyed." Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg , who cast the lone dissenting vote, mused: "How 'secure' do our homes remain if police, armed with no warrant, can pound on doors at will and, on hearing sounds indicative of things moving, forcibly enter and search for evidence of unlawful activity?""
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SCOTUS Adds Exception to 4th Amendment-> 2

Submitted by T Murphy
T Murphy writes "The US supreme court has ruled 8-1 that police may enter a residence without a warrant if, upon knocking, they hear sounds suggesting evidence my be getting destroyed. The ruling was made over a case where police pursuing a drug suspect into an apartment building knocked on the wrong apartment when they smelled marijuana smoke. They heard people moving and assumed evidence was being destroyed, so they entered and arrested the defendant for drug trafficking upon finding cocaine. Justice Ginsburg, alone in dissent, raised a concerning question: “How ‘secure’ do our homes remain if police, armed with no warrant, can pound on doors at will and, on hearing sounds indicative of things moving, forcibly enter and search for evidence of unlawful activity?”."
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The Internet

Bill Clinton Suggests Internet Fact Agency-> 1

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes "Friday on CNBC, Bill Clinton gave an interview that is causing some unrest on popular news sites today. When asked if there is a role for government in terms of ensuring that the information out there is accurate he replied, "Well, I think it would be a legitimate thing to do. But if you wanted to do it--for example, you wanted to set up some sort of agency that would be a--ring the bell, you know, or--on the heavily visited sites, `This allegation has been made and here are the facts.' If the government were involved, I think you'd have to do two things, and--or if you had a multinational group like the UN. I think number one, you'd have to be totally transparent about where the money came from. And number two, you would have to make it independent. It would have to be like an independent--let's say the US did it, it would have to be an independent federal agency that no president could countermand or anything else because people wouldn't think you were just censoring the news and giving a different falsehood out. That is, it would be like, I don't know, National Public Radio or BBC or something like that, except it would have to be really independent and they would not express opinions, and their mandate would be narrowly confined to identifying relevant factual errors. And also, they would also have to have citations so that they could be checked in case they made a mistake. Somebody needs to be doing it, and maybe it's a worthy expenditure of taxpayer money. But if it's a government agency in a traditional sense, it would have no credibility whatever, particularly with a lot of the people who are most active on the Internet." His response has elicited responses ranging from a Ministry of Truth a la 1984 to discussion of genuine concern about internet rumors and falsehoods."
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Television

Samsung Solar Powered TV->

Submitted by Mr_Blank
Mr_Blank writes ""Samsung just unveiled an amazing new solar-powered LCD television that can operate completely free from the power grid. The 46 prototype TV, shown at CeBit in Germany, includes solar panels that produce energy from the ambient light in a room – because it was engineered to use very little energy, no additional power sources are needed. Another major breakthrough behind the concept is that the thin screen can display images and information while allowing objects behind it to be visible – this means that it has applications ranging from car windshield HUDs to storefront displays and digital window blinds.""
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Piracy

US Lawyers Target Swedish Pirate And His Unicorn->

Submitted by Chaonici
Chaonici writes "When a Swedish citizen identified as Ryan heard about US movie studio Liberty Media's plan to get copyright infringers to confess and voluntarily pay up, he couldn't stop himself from sending them a satirical email promising that he will pay 'from the pot of gold I got at the leprechaun at the end of the rainbow', regardless of scathing criticism of the studio from his unicorn. However, despite his location, the jesting nature of the email, and his insistence that he has never downloaded anything for which the studio is suing, Liberty Media's lawyers have taken the 'confession' seriously, and have issued a subpoena to Google for personal information related to Ryan's Gmail account. In a phone call, the legal team affirmed their determination to 'hunt him down, all the way to Sweden if need be.'"
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Crime

Copyright Troll Complains of Defendants Legal Fees

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes "Steve Green writes in the Las Vegas Sun that copyright enforcement company Righthaven, accused of coercing defendants into settling with threats of damages of $150,000 and forfeiture of the defendants’ website domain names, is complaining that one of its litigation foes is needlessly running up legal costs that Righthaven may end up having to pay. In one of its more extensively-litigated cases, Righthaven sued the Democratic Underground last year after a message-board poster re-posted the first four paragraphs of a 34-paragraph Review-Journal story. After suffering a fair-use setback in another case involving a partial story post, Righthaven tried to drop its suit against the Democratic Underground, which would have resulted in a finding of “no infringement.” But the Democratic Underground is pressing for Righthaven to pay its attorneys fees and says new evidence had surfaced that would bolster their case. “Defendants agree that this case should be over — indeed, it should never have started. But it should not end until Righthaven is called to account for the cost of the defense it provoked," say attorneys for the EFF. "To allow Righthaven to avoid compensating those who have no choice but to defend would be unjust and unsupportable." In other news, Righthaven has filed five more lawsuits, bringing their total since March 2010 to 246 lawsuits."
Idle

Apple: You Must be 17+ To Use Opera->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "This week, the Opera web browser became the first non-native browser made available in Apple's Mac App Store. While Apple approved the browser, it still managed to hurt its competitor by putting this ridiculous label on it: "You must be at least 17 years old to download this app.""
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Netflix Wipes DVD, Account Access from Apps

Submitted by
wanderindiana
wanderindiana writes "Between 2 and 3 o'clock CST today, Netflix pushed a new version of its iPad and iPod apps on members that eliminates access to DVDs and user accounts. This is hugely aggravating. I know they see the future of video delivery is streaming but to choke off DVD access without warning is enough to make me want to cancel my account! I was the first call on the subject for one particular Netflix account rep, who did not even have info about the shift to answer my question until he found something 15 minutes into my call."
PlayStation (Games)

Button Remapping for the Disabled Gamer->

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes "Custom button remapping means that a player can choose what buttons on the controller control what ever actions they desire. No longer would they need to choose from a handful of preset when in essence they will be able to choose whatever works best for them. There are times when the presets that you have to choose from are not intuitive or comfortable. With remapping as a standard gamers will always be sure they can use and will be comfortable with any games control scheme.
This is of huge importance to disabled gamers who may find many games unplayable due to an inability to reach certain buttons. However, a change like will also benefit the millions of gamers who find that today's game presets don't meet their needs.

Read more about this topic on MancalaZonk and sign the petition that is linked to in the blog post — http://mancalazonk.blogspot.com/2011/02/button-remapping-for-disabled-gamer.html"
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Facebook

Does Facebook Violate RFC2142?-> 2

Submitted by
nuckfuts
nuckfuts writes "An e-mail sent to abuse@facebook.com resulted in an automated response saying:

Unfortunately, the email address you are using to reach us is no longer available. In order to best assist you, we have provided avenues of support for specific issues that are located in our Help Center. Please follow the link that best suits your problem.

All the provided links require logging in to Facebook. Since I don't have a Facebook account, it appears I cannot report abuse. Is this not a violation of RFC2142 ?"
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Idle

Coca-Cola Secret Recipe Revealed

Submitted by mvar
mvar writes "For 125 years, Coke's secret recipe has remained one of the most heavily guarded trade secrets in the world. Now a group of accidental soda sleuths say they've stumbled across a list of its ingredients. Producers of the radio program This American Life came across an article on the history of Coca-Cola in an old copy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Coca-Cola's hometown newspaper. Published on page 2B on February 18, 1979, the article received little attention at the time. But, producers say, that's because no one realized the photo used to illustrate the story is a hand-written copy of John Pemberton's original recipe, jotted down by a friend in a leather-bound recipe book of ointments and medicines, and passed down by friends and family for generations."
Businesses

IBM Preparing for U.S. Layoffs In Services Unit

Submitted by
Salary
Salary writes "IBM is preparing for layoffs for most employees in its service unit. It is confirmed by Wall Street Journal and CNBC. The numbers could be around 500 and the unit is going to be moved to India. The story is developing but is confirmed by various sources. The debate will be about outsourcing and globalization under this economy. Per salary list, the average salary for IBM employees last year is around $80K based on available public data. Some insiders estimate cost for Indian counterpart is around $20K."
Wii

Nintendo Announces Wii Qube And Wii Relax->

Submitted by
tordavis
tordavis writes "The first product, Wii Qube revolutionizing reinvents the classic Tetris: thanks to an innovative concept from the control, you can manipulate in 3D blocks of the classic Tetris. In a way, you can even enter the game in first person, interacting with the blocks by means of movements of the body. It is not coincidence that PubCompany wanted to choose a classic like Tetris to create, starting from his mechanics, something totally new but familiar. Then comes Wii RelaxTM, which includes two products — Mind Relax and Relax Body — games that blend the control for the mental training to physical and mental relaxation, the movement of the body, providing a range of activities that contribute to physical and mental well being, thanks to 'implementation of techniques such as yoga, Thai Chi, Qi-Gong, progressive relaxation, mental visualization, massage, meditation techniques and breathing."
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The Courts

RIAA Backs Down in Texas Case->

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "After receiving a Rule 11 Sanctions Motion (PDF) in a Houston, Texas, case, UMG Recordings v. Lanzoni, the RIAA lawyers thought better of proceeding with the case, and agreed to voluntarily dismiss the case 'with prejudice', which means it is over and cannot be brought again. The defendant's motion papers detailed some of the RIAA's litigation history against innocent individuals, such as Capitol Records v. Foster and Atlantic Recording v. Andersen, and argued that the awarding of attorneys fees in those cases has not sufficiently deterred repetition of the misconduct, so that a stronger remedy — Rule 11 sanctions — is now called for."
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