Vskye - Slashdot User

Californian seismologist testifies against scientists in quake manslaughter case-> 0

Submitted by ananyo on Thursday February 16, @01:45PM

ananyo writes "The courthouse in L’Aquila, Italy, yesterday hosted a highly anticipated hearing in the trial of six seismologists and one government official indicted for manslaughter over their reassurances to the public ahead of a deadly earthquake in 2009 (see http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110526/full/news.2011.325.html). During the hearing, the former head of the Italian Department of Civil Protection turned from key witness into defendant, and a seismologist from California criticized Italy’s top earthquake experts. Lalliana Mualchin, former chief seismologist for the Department of Transportation in California, criticized the Italian analysis, which he says was based on a poor model. If the court agrees with Mualchin, the defendants could face up to 12 years in jail."
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Verizon selling "new" iPhones with preloaded data? 0

Submitted by dnahelicase on Thursday February 16, @02:31PM

dnahelicase writes "One of my employees just went to the Verizon store in town to upgrade his Blackberry Storm to a "new" iPhone 4S. I told him to take it there and they would transfer his contacts, pictures, etc — and I'd setup his work email when he returned. When he did, I was surprised to find "preloaded" apps, such as Facebook, Bank of America, and others — as well as purchased music and a hotmail account — all setup for a recent high school grad 50 miles south of here.

Verizon denies selling him a used phone, and denies this has ever happened before. Has anyone else received a "new" phone with someone else's data on it?

I was able to post to this kid's facebook wall to tell him, as well as emailing him on his two email accounts. Verizon has given me a window into his personal life, his contacts, his music. I can call his (new) girlfriend, his sister, his high school friends. Why didn't they just clear the phone and we wouldn't have been the wiser?"

OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is a cougar I'd take home-> 0

Submitted by zacharye on Thursday February 16, @02:31PM

zacharye writes "Apple just did something the company hasn’t done very often in recent years — it completely surprised nearly every single person with the announcement of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, the next OS for the Mac. Inching a step closer to bridging the gap between iOS and OS X, Mountain Lion brings practically all of iOS’s featured apps to desktop and laptop computer. From Messages, which I’ve been waiting for ever since iMessage was announced, to built-in iCloud support, Notification Center, Game Center, Reminders, Notes, a much-improved Safari browser, AirPlay and more, the two OSes are practically the same now in terms of system apps. This is the first developer preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, and the OS will only improve before it is released in the summer. If you’re itching for my thoughts, though, you’ll find them after the break..."
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Felix Baumgartner Is Space Diving in Pursuit of Science-> 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 16, @02:17PM

An anonymous reader writes "This summer, an Austrian named Felix Baumgartner plans to ride a 600-foot tall balloon halfway up the stratosphere. When he reaches 120,000 feet, he will jump.

What happens next is swathed in mystery, but a few things are certain. For a short time inside his pressurized spacesuit, Baumgartner, a professional BASE jumper, will be the fastest man alive. Thirty seconds after leaping, he’ll exceed the speed of sound in the thin upper atmosphere by traveling almost 700 miles per hour. And if he safely parachutes to the ground between 12 and 15 minutes later, he’ll walk away with at least four new records: the highest skydive, the longest free-fall, the first to reach supersonic speeds in free-fall, and the highest manned balloon ride."
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Who needs SOPA? JotForm seized-> 0

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 16, @01:36PM

An anonymous reader writes "A form creation site was apparently seized due to user content and with no prior notice to the owners."
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PlayStation Vita: A Closer Look At Near-> 0

Submitted by

buffdaily247

on Thursday February 16, @01:23PM

buffdaily247 writes "Sony's PlayStation Vita comes with a handful of apps to enjoy, chief among them Near, social networking software that uses GPS technology to display fellow Vita owners within a radius of roughly four to five miles. From there, you can rate games, connect with friends and pick-up/leave gifts for others to find."
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WindowMaker development resumes, has first relase since 2006-> 0

Submitted by

brad-x

on Thursday February 16, @11:28AM

brad-x writes "A new team of developers have recently picked up development of WindowMaker, and they've added many new features including improved support for freedesktop standard menu layout and MacOS X style application and window switching from the keyboard, culminating in a new release, 0.95.2. A basic changelog on the newly redesigned website is available at http://windowmaker.org/news.php."
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European court of justice rules against SABAM (RIAA in Belgium)-> 0

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 16, @11:25AM

An anonymous reader writes "The European court of justice have ruled against the implementation of a filter that blocks copyright content on Netlog. It says the filter is against the law on e-commerce in Europe."
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Apple, you're not the iPad trademark boss of China-> 0

Submitted by bdking on Wednesday December 07, @08:24PM

bdking writes "Apple has found out it will take more than its powerful corporate brand and phalanx of attorneys to assert ownership of the iPad trademark in China. A few hundred million dollars for a legal settlement might be a good start."
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Supreme Court Legitimizing Medical Patents?-> 0

Submitted by RobinEggs on Wednesday December 07, @05:49PM

RobinEggs writes "A case before the US Supreme Court today addresses the legality of medical patents.

From TFA: "The case focuses on a patent that covers the concept of adjusting the dosage of a drug, thiopurine, based on the concentration of a particular chemical (called a metabolite) in the patient's blood. The patent does not cover the drug itself—that patent expired years ago—nor does it cover any specific machine or procedure for measuring the metabolite level. Rather, it covers the idea that particular levels of the chemical "indicate a need" to raise or lower the drug dosage.

The patent holder, Prometheus Labs, offers a thiopurine testing product. It sued the Mayo Clinic when the latter announced it would offer its own, competing thiopurine test. But Prometheus claims much more than its specific testing process. It claims a physician administering thiopurine to a patient can infringe its patent merely by being aware of the scientific correlation disclosed in the patent—even if the doctor doesn't act on the patent's recommendations."

The ACLU, AMA, AARP, multiple libertarian groups, and the ghost of Michael Crichton all filed strongly worded amicus briefs urging the court to decide against Prometheus claims.

It's amazing how friendly the justices seem toward medical patents in general. Newest member Elena Kagan offered an opinion I find particularly stupid, which is easiest read and understood in the context of the linked article."
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