Slashdot

Lev13than writes "A U.S. federal appeals court threw out a $550,000 indecency fine against CBS Corp. on Monday for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. The court ruled that the FCC "acted arbitrarily and capriciously" in issuing the fine for the fleeting image of her breast. "Like any agency, the FCC may change its policies without judicial second-guessing," the court said. "But it cannot change a well-established course of action without supplying notice of and a reasoned explanation for its policy departure.""

Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs said the iPhone won't be using Adobe Systems' Inc.'s popular Flash media player any time soon, saying the technology doesn't meet his company's performance standards for video. Jobs said the version of Flash formatted to personal computers is too slow on the iPhone while the mobile version of the media player is "is not capable of being used with the web." The comments come a day before Apple is set to introduce the company's plan for iPhone SDK, the software developers kit which will allow third-party developers to create applications that can work in conjunction with the popular handheld device.

The Associated Press brings us news of a flood in the Grand Canyon. This flood is no ordinary flood, however. This is a man-made flood released from the Glen Canyon Dam. The Dam is releasing four to five times its normal amount of water over the course of a three day artificial flood. Scientists are conducting this massive experiment in order to document and better understand the complex relation of the aquatic habitats, natural floods, and the sediment they bring. Floods no longer bring sediment to these parts of the canyon as the Dam keeps it locked up and released in small, drawn out intervals. The Dam prevents the floods from bringing the sediments into replenish the sandbars and allow the river to maintain its warm, murky habitat rather than a cool, clear one. It is thought that this cool clear environment brought on by the dam is responsible for helping to extinguish 4 species of fish and push 2 more towards the brink. It is hoped that this terra-reformation experiment will positively impact the habitat and fish populations, warranting further artificial floods at an increased rate of every one to two years rather than the time span between the two previous floods and this one of 8 and 4 years.

deckardt writes "News.com has a story on Steve Jobs' pancreatic cancer in 2003 which he hid for 9 months. The article raises the question "If the CEO is sick, do the shareholders have a right to know?""
http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9886077-37.html?tag=nefd.pop

Lev13than writes "Dell has announced the closure of all 140 U.S. kiosks, in favor of expanded efforts to sell PCs in retail stores. "We recognized early on that customers really wanted to touch and see the products before they purchased them. That led us to the kiosk model. Now, customers can touch and feel our products before buying them at one of our retail partners." No word, however, on whether Dell plans to introduce Apple Store-style retail outlets."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080130.wgtdellkiosk0130/BNStory/Technology/home

Lev13than writes "A research note released yesterday provides new details on RIM's plan to battle the iPhone by releasing two new Blackberry models. The "Touchscreen 1.0" model features a touch-sensitive screen and rollaway keypad in the standard keyboard-style QWERTY layout, while the "Pearl 2.0" is similar to the existing Pearl plus a standard numeric keypad that can rotate 90 degrees to offer a QWERTY-esque typing experience. The research note includes relevant patent filings and speculates on a Feb 2008 launch date."

scorilo writes "Other people's information can be easily accessed by creating a passport application online and then altering characters in your browser's address bar and going to that URL. The flaw was discovered by Jamie Laning, an IT worker at Algonquin Automotive, in Huntsville, Ontario. The available data includes SINs, driver's licence numbers, mailing addresses, business and phone numbers, federal ID card numbers and even a firearms licence number. Passport Canada claims the flaw has been fixed, but Globe and Mail found that this is not the case. Canada does not have legislation requiring organizations to disclose security breaches, unlike in the US, where a majority of the states have enacted such legislation."
http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2007/12/canadian-passport-applications-data.html

An anonymous reader writes "Canadian law prof Michael Geist reports that the Canadian government is about to introduce Canadian DMCA-style legislation. Within the next two or three weeks, Canadians will be treated to new anti-circumvention laws that match those found in the U.S., while the government does nothing to address the blank media tax or fair use."

Lev13than writes "In the strongest signal yet that hope has faded for missing millionaire Steve Fossett, his wife has asked the court to declare the adventurer legally dead. "As painful as it is for Mrs. Fossett, other members of the family and his many friends, it is time to initiate this process," said attorney Michael A. LoVallo, who filed the petition in Cook County Circuit Court. Fossett's disappearance has been covered previously on Slashdot."

boxlight writes "The under-construction Dubai skyscraper has passed Toronto's CN Tower to officially become the world's tallest structure by 2 metres."
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/09/13/4493321-cp.html

fdmendez writes "The rumored Xbox 360 price cut is finally official taking effect August 8th, and the Halo 3 themed Xbox 360 is assigned a price with package details.

Microsoft issued a press release today detailing price drops according to each Xbox 360 console. The Premium will drop $50 to $349. The core console will drop $20 to $279, and the Xbox 360 Elite console will drop $30 to $449.

Microsoft implies that the price drop comes as a result..."
http://gamer.blorge.com/2007/08/06/50-xbox-360-price-cut-is-official/

mnovotny writes "According to CNN — Inventors across the country are being asked to find a way to lighten the load U.S. soldiers carry on their backs — largely due to the high-tech gear that uses batteries — and the solution will be decided in a $1 million contest.

The Department of Defense is asking a person or team to come up with a way to lessen the weight of the 20-40 pounds of batteries a solider carries on a typical four-day mission. The batteries power everything from soldiers GPS systems to their night-vision goggles."
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/07/16/wearable.power.prize/index.html

Esther Schindler writes "CSO Magazine has an article about "The Scourge of Image Spam," with an explanation of its effect (a year ago, fewer than five out of 100 e-mails were image spam; today, up to 40 percent are in that category, and image spam is the reason spam traffic overall doubled in 2006). You might already know about that, ho-hum. But what's even cooler is a interactive graphic page which demonstrates the various methods used by image spammers and how it works."

look@thealternative.ch writes "Although many people have asked for pre-installed Linux, and Dell seems to have listened, some still think that buying a naked PC won't be easy. But what about stripping it naked after you buy it? I managed to get Windows Vista (and a bit more) refunded from Dell Germany last week. The process was surprisingly simple: 1) After delivery, ask Dell Support for refund by email. 2) ??? 3) Refund!!! Read the full email conversation in the original German or my English translation. For the impatient reader: The refund is €77.54 for Windows Vista Home Basic plus Works 8.0 (that is 15% of the total amount I paid). The whole process took 2 emails, 2 more to say thank you, and less than 48 hours. The money is already in my account. Kudos to Dell Customer Care (esp. 'Veronika') for being efficient and customer-oriented!"