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We've improved Slashdot's video section; now you can view our video interviews, product close-ups and site visits with all the usual Slashdot options to comment, share, etc. No more walled garden! It's a work in progress -- we hope you'll check it out (Learn more about the recent updates).

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Idle

+ - Dead Birds Fall from the Sky->

Submitted by SkeeZerD
SkeeZerD (972760) writes "Wildlife experts are trying to determine what caused more than 1,000 blackbirds to die and fall from the sky over the town of Beebe in Arkansas.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said it began receiving reports about the dead birds at about 11.30pm on Friday.

The birds fell over a one-mile area, and an aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found outside that area. Ornithologist Karen Rowe said the the birds showed physical trauma, and she speculated that "the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail". The dead birds have been sent for testing. The commission said that New Year's Eve fireworks celebrations could have startled the birds from their roost and caused them to die from stress. The dead birds have been sent for testing."
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Wireless Networking

+ - Solar Storms Could Bring Northern Lights South->

Submitted by RedEaredSlider
RedEaredSlider (1855926) writes "Increased solar activity could give residents of the continental U.S., southern Europe and Japan the chance to see the northern lights for the first time in several years.

The National Weather Service's Space Weather Prediction Center says the sun is entering a period of high activity, marked by more sunspots and a greater chance of a coronal mass ejection, or CME, hitting the Earth. That would result in auroras being visible much further from the poles than they usually are."
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+ - With Drupal and WordPress does free cost to much?->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Does it cost to much in time to setup a Drupal or WordPress website? As a developer I constantly weight the time installing modules and forcing them to do what I want + theming and custom development with just building the darn thing. If all you need is a blog sure it just works. But the instant you need something more with unique features things go downhill. What do you guys and gals decide in the end?"
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Transportation

+ - South Korea Launches First Electric Bus Fleet->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "The Seoul Metropolitan Government just rolled out the world’s first commercial all-electric bus service. The buses were designed to be as efficient as possible — each bus can run up to about 52 miles on a single charge and they have a maximum speed of about 62 miles per hour. The vehicles’ lithium-ion battery packs can be fully charged in less than 30 minutes and they also feature regenerative braking systems that reuse energy from brakes when running downhill."
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+ - The 10 Best Hacks of 2010-> 2

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes "from the article...
iPod-Controlled Car
Possibly the ultimate hack of the year, a DIY hacker figured out how to control a car externally using a lowly iPod Touch. With a bit of wireless network modding and the use of RedEye for the remote system, car hacker Dave Phipps made the iPod capable of controlling the windows, closing the doors, and managing other other little subsystems of the car."
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Image

German Kindergartens Ordered To Pay Copyright For Songs 291

Posted by samzenpus
from the easy-as-taking-music-from-a-baby dept.
BBird writes "Deutsche Welle reports: 'Up until this year, preschools could teach and produce any kind of song they wanted. But now they have to pay for a license if they want children to sing certain songs. A tightening of copyright rules means kindergartens now have to pay fees to Germany's music licensing agency, GEMA, to use songs that they reproduce and perform. The organization has begun notifying creches and other daycare facilities that if they reproduce music to be sung or performed, they must pay for a license.'"
Idle

+ - Tales from the trenches of tech-> 1

Submitted by GMGruman
GMGruman (1254692) writes "Anyone in IT has a story or two involving stupid users, crazy co-workers, kludgy technology, and airhead managers. Lisa Blackwelder has collected top tales of the tech trenches, covering user antics, office politics, and unusual technical challenges that IT pros faced (usually) with aplomb, insight, and savvy."
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The Media

Why WikiLeaks Is Unlike the Pentagon Papers 696

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the not-like-the-other dept.
daveschroeder writes "The recent release of classified State Department cables has often been compared to the Pentagon Papers. Daniel Ellsberg, the US military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers, has said he supports WikiLeaks, and sees the issues as similar. Floyd Abrams is the prominent First Amendment attorney and Constitutional law expert who represented the New York Times in the landmark New York Times Co. v. United States (403 U.S. 713 (1971)) Supreme Court case, which allowed the media to publish the Pentagon Papers without fear of government censure. Today, Abrams explains why WikiLeaks is unlike the Pentagon Papers, and how WikiLeaks is negatively impacting journalism protections: 'Mr. Ellsberg himself has recently denounced the "myth" of the "good" Pentagon Papers as opposed to the "bad" WikiLeaks. But the real myth is that the two disclosures are the same.'"

Byte your tongue.

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