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Comment: Re:What is the point of this? (Score 1) 215

The polls are obviously crucial market research being conducted by Dice.com in order to formulate their next marketing campaign.

Guess they should read their own disclaimers at the bottom of the survey, like

This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane.

+ - Facebook to introduce video ads->

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes "Facebook is reportedly introducing video advertisements to News Feeds this summer.


Reports in the Financial Times (registration required) say that the clips will last for around 15 seconds, and the first one users see each day will play automatically.


The first video will apparently play without audio, and restart if the account holder chooses to activate sound. Facebook is yet to officially confirm the move, but the report claims that the social network will gradually introduce video advertising to minimise user disruption.


The company's most lucrative marketing partners, including American Express, Coca Cola, Ford, Diageo and Nestle, are expected to be the first brands to make use of the feature. Facebook is said to have implemented the strategy in a bid to take a slice out of TV ad revenue by undercutting the sector."
Link to Original Source

+ - 'Urgent need' to remove space debris->

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes "There is now so much debris in orbit that the space environment is close to a cascade of collisions that would make space extremely hazardous, a major international meeting has concluded.

Its summary position stated there was an "urgent need" to start pulling redundant objects out of the sky.

Scientists estimate there are nearly 30,000 items circling the Earth larger than 10cm in size. Some are whole satellites and rocket bodies, but many are just fragments.

These have resulted from explosions in fuel tanks and batteries, and from the high-velocity impacts between objects."
Link to Original Source

+ - Super-powered battery breakthrough claimed by US team->

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes "A new type of battery has been developed which its creators say could revolutionise the way we power consumer electronics and vehicles.

The University of Illinois team says its use of 3D-electrodes allows it to build "microbatteries" that are many times smaller than commercially available options, or the same size and many times more powerful.

It adds they can be recharged 1,000 times faster than competing tech.

The researchers said their innovation should help address the issue that while smartphones and other gadgets have benefited from miniaturised electronics, battery advances have failed to pace."
Link to Original Source

+ - Film studios send takedown notices about takedown notices->

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes "Two film studios have asked Google to take down links to messages sent by them requesting the removal of links connected to film piracy.

Google receives 20 million "takedown" requests, officially known as DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notices, a month. They are all published online.

Recent submissions by Fox and Universal Studios include requests for the removal of previous takedown notices."
Link to Original Source

+ - Takedown Notices Inadvertantly Guide Users Towards "Pirated" Films->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "The BBC reports that "Two film studios have asked Google to take down links to [DMCA takedown requests] sent by them requesting the removal of links connected to film piracy. [..] The notices are requests for individual web addresses to be removed from Google's search engine results because they contain material uploaded without the permission of the copyright holders.

By making the notices available, Google is unintentionally highlighting the location of allegedly pirated material, say some experts.

"It would only take one skilled coder to index the URLs from the DMCA notices in order to create one of the largest pirate search engines available," wrote Torrent Freak editor Ernesto Van Der Sar on the site.""
Link to Original Source
GUI

+ - TED 2013: SpaceTop 3D see-through desktop-> 1

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes "TED fellow Jinha Lee has been working on the SpaceTop 3D desktop in collaboration with Microsoft.

Allowing people to interact with machines in the same way they do with solid objects could make computing much more intuitive, he told the BBC. He can see the system coming into general use within a decade.

The system consists of a transparent LED display with built-in cameras, which track the user's gestures and eye movements. The design was inspired by what he sees as a human need to interact with things.

"Spatial memory, where the body intuitively remembers where things are, is a very human skill," he said. Translating this to the digital world will enable people to use computers more easily as well as complete more complex tasks."
Link to Original Source

+ - Ticketmaster dumps 'hated' Captcha verification system->

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes "The world's largest online ticket retailer is to stop requiring users to enter hard-to-read words in order to prove they are human.

Captcha — which asks users to type in words to prove they are not robots trying to cheat the system — is used on many sites. But Ticketmaster has moved to ditch it in favour of a simpler system.

Ticketmaster is now using software created by New York start-up Solve Media, a similar service that asks for well-known phrases, or simple multiple choice questions."
Link to Original Source
Piracy

+ - Antigua applies to WTO for permission to run 'pirate' website->

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes "Antigua is seeking permission to run a website that sells music, movies and software — but ignores copyright law. The Caribbean island is due to appear before the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 28 January seeking permission to run the site.

The decision to set up the site is the end point of a long-running dispute with the US over gambling. The US has objected to Antigua's plan saying it amounted to official "piracy" of intellectual property.

Antigua went to the WTO after the US moved to stop American citizens using gambling services, including web-based betting shops and casinos, run from the Caribbean country. Antigua claims that action deprived it of billions of dollars in revenue.

The WTO agreed with Antigua and dismissed a US appeal against its ruling. However, because the US took no action to lift the controls on cross-border gambling Antigua filed an application to recoup its lost cash by other means.

It sought permission to sell movies, music, games and software via a store that would be able to ignore global agreements on copyright and trademark controls, reports filesharing news site TorrentFreak. It wanted to be able to sell up to $3.4bn of those goods before having to make copyright payments.

The WTO rejected that figure, but said Antigua could sell $21m annually via the store before it had to consider paying copyright fees. The US is believed to have offered to pay Antigua $500,000 annually as compensation for the lost revenue."
Link to Original Source
Cellphones

+ - Nokia to release Lumia case design files for 3D printers->

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes "Nokia is releasing design files that will let owners use 3D printers to make their own cases for its Lumia phones.

Files containing mechanical drawings, case measurements and recommended materials have already been released by the phone maker.

Those using the files will be able to create a custom-designed case for the flagship Lumia 820 handset.

The project makes Nokia one of the first big electronics firms to seriously back 3D printing"
Link to Original Source
Patents

+ - Patent surge reveals graphen race->

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes "A surge in research into the novel material graphene reveals an intensifying global contest to lead a potential industrial revolution.

Only identified in 2004, graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms making it the thinnest material ever created and offering huge promise for a host of applications from IT to energy to medicine.

Latest figures show a sharp rise in patents filed to claim copyright over different aspects of graphene since 2007, with a further spike last year.

China leads the field as the country with the most graphene patents (2,204) while the Korean electronics giant Samsung stands out as the company with most to its name."
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DRM

+ - UK law change to allow digital copying->

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes "Making digital copies of music, films and other copyrighted material for personal use is to be made legal for the first time under government plans.

It has previously been illegal in the UK to rip songs from a CD to a digital player or transfer eBooks, music, films and games from one device to another.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said the move was "not only common sense but good business sense".

"Bringing the law into line with ordinary people's reasonable expectations will boost respect for copyright, on which our creative industries rely," he said.

"We feel we have struck the right balance between improving the way consumers benefit from copyright works they have legitimately paid for, boosting business opportunities and protecting the rights of creators.""
Link to Original Source
Technology

+ - New York's taxi authority to vote on use of apps for bookings->

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes "New York's taxi authority is to vote on whether or not the city's iconic yellow cabs should accept bookings via smartphone apps.

Taxi-hailing apps have been widely adopted in other cities around the world. In New York, where taxi operators are highly regulated, several companies have written to the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) calling for plans to allow the use of the apps to be rejected.

Among them are companies who offer pre-booked minicabs, rather than ones hailed from the street. They argue that using a smartphone to hail a cab is in effect a pre-booking, and may take away a large amount of custom.

In the 1980s, New York's yellow cabs could be pre-booked, that many complained meant it was difficult to hail a cab. Some fear that smartphone apps could create a similar problem."
Link to Original Source
Crime

+ - Using mains hum to authenticate audio recordings->

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes "A hum that comes from mains electricity has allowed forensic scientists to establish whether recordings are genuine.

For the last seven years, at the Metropolitan Police forensic lab in south London, audio specialists have been continuously recording the sound of mains electricity.

It is an all pervasive hum that we normally cannot hear. But boost it a little, and a metallic and not very pleasant buzz fills the air.

"The power is sent out over the national grid to factories, shops and of course our homes. Normally this frequency, known as the mains frequency, is about 50Hz," explains Dr Alan Cooper, a senior digital forensic practitioner at the Met Police.

Any digital recording made anywhere near an electrical power source, be it plug socket, light or pylon, will pick up this noise and it will be embedded throughout the audio.

This buzz is an annoyance for sound engineers trying to make the highest quality recordings. But for forensic experts, it has turned out to be an invaluable tool in the fight against crime."
Link to Original Source

+ - Sir Patrick Moore dies aged 89-> 3

Submitted by Tastecicles
Tastecicles writes "Patrick Moore was the monocled surveyor of the sky who awakened in millions of people an interest in galactic goings on.

His love of astronomy began at the age of six and that childhood curiosity developed into a lifelong passion.

It was a passion he shared through his programme, The Sky at Night, which he presented for more than 50 years, only ever missing one episode due to illness.

Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore was born at Pinner, Middlesex on 4 Mar 1923.

Heart problems meant he spent much of his childhood being educated at home and he became an avid reader.

His mother gave him a copy of GF Chambers' book, The Story of the Solar System, and this sparked his lifelong passion for astronomy.

He was soon publishing papers about the moon's surface, based on observations made with his first three-inch telescope. His 1908 vintage typewriter enabled him to publish more than a thousand books on subjects ranging from astronomy, his first love, to cricket, golf, and music."
Link to Original Source

Idaho state law makes it illegal for a man to give his sweetheart a box of candy weighing less than fifty pounds.

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