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Return it and buy from a manufacturer... no need to disassemble the BIOS, your time is worth more than that.

Callamon writes "An Ohio man used a type of "dust" created from pig bladders by a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh to purportedly re-grow his fingertip after it was severed by a model airplane propeller. Supposedly it grew extra fast, and just like new including fingerprints. One wonders if the fingerprints would be different. Talk about a way to change identities!
This is on the heels of an announcement that the Army is putting a large amount of funding into re-growing whole limbs."

TheKnightShift writes "The federal government has announced that it will soon begin swabbing the mouths of EVERYONE it arrests, in order to collect DNA samples. This will be regardless of whether or not a person is actually charged with a crime. The DNA will then be stored in a central database, and it will be extremely unlikely that anyone cleared of a criminal charge will be able to have their sample removed from it. The Department of Homeland Security is apparently eager to begin using this new power."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080416/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/dna_collection

desmondhaynes writes "There were striking similarities between one of Google's App Engine demos, HuddleChat (a real-time chat application) and the Campfire app from 37Signals. Google has taken HuddleChat down from the App Engine app gallery." Google explains: 'The App Engine team was looking for some sample apps to help kick the tires on their new system, so we invited Googlers to build some as side projects. A couple of our colleagues here built HuddleChat in their spare time because they wanted to share work within their team more easily and thought persistent web chat would do the trick. We've heard some complaints from the developer community, though, so rather than divert attention from Google App Engine itself, we thought it better to just take HuddleChat down.'" We noted the launch of Google's App Engine yesterday.

Update: 04/10 14:51 GMT by KD : A reader wrote in to warn that the link in this article is infected. Windows users beware, and have your AV up-to-date.

ThomasDR writes "We have internet with Time Warner's RoadRunner service.
They have a feature they call 'Extreme' supposed to deliver 10mbps to your home. It is advertised, and billed as such. A talk with some of their tech people revealed that the server in my area can deliver only up to 8mbps, so advertising is stretching their capability by 20%.

We have an average of 2.5mbps in practice. TimeWarner has dispatched 12 technicians to rectify the problem; While failing they have delivered the following gems:

• Can you sign up my work sheet? My friend is waiting for me to go to lunch
• to have high speed, you need a fixed IP
• 3mbps is fast enough!
• why don't you sign up for a slower service? That way you will pay for what you have right now
• I removed the old cable, but I dont have the right drill to put the new one so I cannot finish today
• this is a free world, there are other internet providers. If we havent managed to fix it so far, it will continue
• I see the problem, it is the splitter! (a new splitter later) I have no idea why it doesn't work
• Do you know a website to check the speed?
• it's the router causing the problem! (I show the router is not plugged in) I have to call my supervisor to see if he knows
• It doesnt rain anymore, so your internet will be fine!
• Why do you have a router if you dont use wireless?
• the wireless signal is slower, thats why its slow (no its not slower and I dont even use it)

The whole story is available at: sibylleandthomas.info"
http://www.sibylleandthomas.info/drupal-5.2/node/25

narramissic writes "A new study by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), a pro-immigration think tank finds that between 2002 and 2005, for every H-1B position requested, tech companies listed on the S&P 500 stock index increased their employment by five workers. For tech firms with fewer than 5,000 employees, each H-1B request corresponded with an average increase of 7.5 workers, the group said."
http://www.itworld.com/Career/1881/h1b-visas-080310/index.html

An anonymous reader writes "I was recently laid off from my job as a developer / sys admin. The company I worked for was a small family owned company. The computer I was provided (and pretty much all computer systems) was very old and was not really useable as a development machine so on the days I was programming I brought my computer in from home. On the day I was let go they refused to let me take my computer home with me and threatened to call the police if I tried to take it. When the computer was returned to me 6 days later I was told they had made an image of the hard drive and deleted all files related to their business. After getting the PC home I discovered they had deleted many files not related to their business. They had even deleted software that I was developing in my own time for another purpose. My question is do they have the right to do this or would my personal files (or my wife's or my kid's) be protected under the Fourth amendment? The company has no written computer usage policy. I have lost weeks of development time and I can't imagine that this is legal."

Microsoft has experienced some criticism for its handling of its bid to have OOXML accepted as an ISO standard, including the use of financial incentives to affect the Swedish national vote, which resulted in Swedent reversing its pro-Microsoft position; and failing to honor a promise to relinquish control of the OOXML specification if it gained ISO status. Now, Groklaw has published an article that raises questions about Microsoft's influence on the upcoming February vote, citing concerns with the limitation of discussions of patent issues, public accountability of the process, and even irregularities with choosing the size of the room so as to limit the delegates opposed to OOXML ISO status, as had been done in the past.
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071211055139790&mode=nested

Wired offers up 10 of the most awesome snake oil gadgets, from industrial cables sold as $200 ionized pain-relieving bracelets to a plastic chip that cures anything, improves gas mileage and cleans swimming pools. One truly sad development: the infamous $500 wooden volume knob is no longer on sale.
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/11/10-awesome-gadg.html#more

After weeks of gruelling troubleshooting, I've finally had it confirmed by Microsoft Australia and USA — something as small as swapping the video card or updating a device driver can trigger a total Vista deactivation.

Put simply, your copy of Windows will stop working with very little notice (three days) and your PC will go into "reduced functionality" mode, where you can't do anything but use the web browser for half an hour.

How can this ridiculous situation occur, and what is Microsoft's response... read on.
http://apcmag.com/vista_activation

eldavojohn writes "What's the biggest threat to the success of OpenOffice.org? Is it Microsoft Office? Is it the simple fact that Dell doesn't offer it with computers? Not according to some participants in the 'open' source project itself, they say the biggest problem with OO.o is the fact that Sun codes, owns & makes all key decisions for the project when it should be more community oriented. A professor who participates in the project itself said 'enough developers are frustrated by both the technical and the organizational infrastructure at OpenOffice.org' and cites this as 'a real problem that is weighing on the project.' Other members of the community agree like Michael Meeks who asked 'At what fraction of the community will Sun reconsider its demand for ownership of the entirety of OpenOffice.org?' Hopefully with IBM's entrance into OO.o participation we will see the product become more community controlled & accessible. Has anyone else experienced this when developing for OO.o or another 'open' source project? Is it a good idea to criticize a company when they've put so much effort into a project that is technically open source and completely free? Is Sun trying to control OO.o like Java? Do they have good reasons or evil underlying intentions?"

JamesO writes "When contacted by Pro-G a Microsoft rep confirmed rumours that gamers who play Halo 3 early will have their LIVE accounts banned. Simply not connecting to the internet doesn't appear to be a solution either. The rep also confirmed that Microsoft is able to ban accounts based on information collected by the console which shows when the game was played. This news is sure to come as a shock to some gamers who have already started playing the final chapter in the blockbuster Halo trilogy.

This appears to suggest that games who play Halo 3 before the official street date will only avoid a ban if they never access Xbox LIVE. Microsoft is preparing an official statement on the Halo 3 banning scandal. We'll give you more on this breaking news story as we get it."
http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/19-09-2007-6492.html

Praveen Arimbrathodiyil writes "The Free Software movement in Kerala got another boost when Free Software is made compulsory for practical exams in all Schools in the state. The Director of Public Instruction (DPI) has issued orders making free software compulsory. It says Linux Operating System should be used for IT education in eighth, ninth and tenth standards. Schools already have a choice to select Free Software (GNU/Linux) based platform or Microsoft based platform. Full Story"
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEO20070916044016

apodyopsis writes "The Times Online has done some research into uses of carbon, and come up with some startling research.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/a rticle2195538.ece

from TFA:

"The climate could benefit if people avoided exercise, ate less and became couch potatoes. Provided, of course, they remembered to switch off the TV rather than leaving it on standby.""

During the very time Congress was debating codifying the Bush administration's wiretap lawbreaking by revising the FISA law the Gonzales DOJ was raiding the home of a former Justice official to identify the person who first brought the illicit program to light.

As Newsweek details the FBI raided the home of Thomas M. Tamm, former official of the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR) within DOJ.

"The agents seized Tamm's desktop computer, two of his children's laptops and a cache of personal files. ...the raid was related to a Justice criminal probe into who leaked details of the warrantless eavesdropping program to the news media."

The raid also came while the White House and Congress were battling over expanding NSA wiretapping authority in order to plug purported "surveillance gaps."