Slashdot

_damnit_ writes "RIM has had another "severe event" which has taken down users across North America. The problem apparently started around 3:30PM EST. RIM has not given an expected resolution time."

scooteristi writes "Full story at: http://db.tidbits.com/article/9180 ...Officer Wright turned his lights on and signaled me to pull over, which I did. "License and registration." Mindful that I had two officers tailing me, I couldn't think of any traffic laws that I had violated: "Officer, why did you pull me over?" "Under Virginia State Law it is illegal to wear headphones," he replied. "I'm wearing the hands-free device that came with my iPhone," I said, and I showed him my iPhone.... ...Now considering that in jurisdictions like Washington, D.C., and New York, it is mandatory that one use a hands-free device with a cell phone, it struck me as very odd that here I am in Virginia being pulled over for using one. Yet...using a hands-free device in the State of Virginia can be legally problematic."
http://db.tidbits.com/article/9180

serutan writes "Using lasers to drive spaceships has been a subject of interest for many years, but making a photonic engine powerful enough for practical use has been elusive. Dr. Young Bae, a California physicist, has built a demonstration photonic laser thruster that produces enough thrust to micro-maneuver a satellite. This would be useful in high-precision formation flying, such as using a fleet of satellites to form a space telescope with a large virtual aperture. Scaled up, a similar engine could speed a spacecraft to Mars in less than a week."

Verizon Wireless has sued the F.C.C., seeking to overturn auction rules requiring the buyers of some airwaves to make their networks compatible with any device.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/14/technology/14verizon.html?ex=1347422400&en=3c2a17cefa5b53ff&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Randy M. Karshner writes "Tmobiles Data Centers from the Mississippi East all seem to have went down around 7pm EST, With millions of customers they have managed to keep this rather quiet so far wouldn't you say? I first noticed about 7 when all text messages stopped, even those sent to my own hand set. A quick call to Tmobile confimed this and that the first ETA they had was hopeful to have it fixed by 10pm EST. Looks like they are two plus hours over and still climbing. Why no coverage on this?"
http://www.hauntedcincinnati.com/

A new turbulence detection system, now being tested, is successfully alerting pilots to patches of rough air as they fly through clouds. The system is designed to better protect passengers from injuries caused by turbulence while reducing flight delays and lowering aviation costs.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070906162019.htm

Plus: Teens turn to online poker for profit. Read these stories and more from around the Web on News.com Extra.
http://news.com.com/2001-9373_3-0.html?part=rss&tag=rsspr.6207798&subj=news

The water-attracting gum that is designed to wash easily off concrete could save city authorities millions in cleanup operations

http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?i=1eadd7d71e9940837a7ff56ee82c0ffd

jd writes "According to the web administrators handling the upcoming Led Zepplin reunion concert in tribute to Ahmet Ertegun, over twenty million people attempted to log onto the site to buy tickets. Those familiar with the Slashdot Effect can guess what happened next. The entire Pipex backbone, which supplied the website with connectivity, disintegrated. Not just one upstream pipe, mind you, the entire backbone frazzled under the impact. At the time of writing this, the site for booking the tickets is reachable. Geeks are warned in advance that there are no usage statistics or bandwidth consumption monitors on the websites."
http://music.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2168465,00.html

LFCNZ writes "http://ultimatebeerquest.com/2007/09/13/beer-chugging-world-record-holder/"
http://ultimatebeerquest.com/2007/09/13/beer-chugging-world-record-holder/

_damnit_ writes "The wounded ship that was once SUNW is now JAVA. CEO Jonathan Schwartz announced on his blog that they will change their NASDAQ stock symbol to try and capitalize on the success (?) of Java. For a long time people have been waiting for Sun to monetize Java. Having JAVA as one of NASDAQ's most active doesn't really address that issue but Jonathan is thinking outside the box I guess. Now if they could just gain revenue they could stop laying off staff."

srizah writes to mention that Toshiba plans to launch a 51 GB HD DVD, with a 1 GB advantage over Sony's Blu-ray disc. From the article: Toshiba has submitted a triple-layer, 51GB HD DVD-ROM disc to the standard's overseer in the hope the technology will be adopted as a standard by the end of the year. If approved, it allow the format to exceed the 50GB storage capacity of rival medium Blu-ray Disc. The HD DVD standard currently defines single- and dual-layer discs capable of holding 15GB and 30GB of data, respectively."

don_combatant writes to note that President Bush claimed new powers to search US mail without a warrant. He made this claim in a "signing statement" at the time he signed a postal overhaul bill into law on December 20. The signing statement directly contradicts part of the bill he signed, which explicitly reinforces protections of first-class mail from searches without a court's approval. According to the article, "A top Senate Intelligence Committee aide promised a review of Bush's move."

An anonymous reader writes, "Karl Bode of Broadband Reports takes aim at supposed telecom experts and think tankers who profess to love the 'free market,' but want to ban the country's un-wired towns and cities from offering broadband to their residents. If you didn't know, incumbent providers frequently determine towns and cities unprofitable to serve (fine), but then turn around and lobby for laws that make it illegal to serve themselves (not so fine). They then pay experts to profess their love for a free market and deregulation — unless that regulation helps their bottom line. A simple point: 'Strange how such rabid fans of a free-market wouldn't be interested in allowing market darwinism to play out.'"

arcon5 writes "After several months of silence it was more or less accepted that Microsoft wasn't going to do anything about the firmware hacks that allow Xbox 360s to play backups. Rather surprising, considering the 'inventor' of the hack confirmed in March already that the mods are easily detectable, and the reports that piracy is running rampant in countries like China. It appears that Microsoft is finally taking action against them though, although they may be hitting the wrong persons." Best part of that article is the firmware chip encased in epoxy.