Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - SPAM: Launching Open Source Trademark Initiative

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Open Source Group Japan have launched Open Source TradeMark Initiative, with the participation of patent attorneys and lawyers, as a project that provides support to open source projects on registering and properly maintaining their trademarks.

On that account, Open Source TradeMark Initiative will undertake the following initiatives.

1. Provide support, including financial support, for raising awareness of and registering trademarks
2. Create standard trademark licensing guidelines for the community
3. Actively intervene in disputes
4. Acquire, maintain, and manage trademarks commissioned and donated by the community
Link to Original Source

Submission + - How Japanese Police Turned Cyber Prank into Arresting Cases (shujisado.com)

Submitted by kazekiri
kazekiri writes: Counter Cyber Crime Unit of the Hyogo Prefectural Police searched the house of a thirteen -year-old, junior-high-school student on a charge of posting on an Internet forum a URL of a page that displays a Java Script alert message in infinite loops. She was then taken into custody by the police.

These three individuals were accused of leaving an infinite loop page URL on an Internet forum, and Hyogo Prefectural Police claims that it infringes the Article 168-2 of the Japan's Penal Code. This article is a new law that was appended to Penal Code in 2011, and in Japan, it is generally known as the "Offense of Creating Virus". Although the law calls it virus, the wider definition of this law was set with an intension to crack down on developing and distributing malware.

It's been a few years since this law had been passed, and now this law has become something that could prosecute anyone without any criminal intent for using a harmless tool at any time. If writing infinite loops or introducing an unknown Java Script tool can be called out as "an unauthorized command" by the police at any time, then you have to be aware of the possibility that the police could barge into your home for simply using the internet.
Bug

Submission + - Software Bug will be considered a crime in Japan (shugiintv.go.jp)

Submitted by kazekiri
kazekiri writes: Very soon, leaving software bug without defect-fixing effort will be considered a crime in Japan.
On May 27 afternoon, Satsuki Eda, Minister of Justice, stated that it will be a crime to leave software bugs without treatment, at the Japanese House of Representatives Committee on Judicial Affairs, like the lower house in US. The video of his reply can be seen online, and the Japanese text version can be checked at Slashdot Japan story.

Now, the Committee is aiming to pass the new bill defining that committing to development or distribution of the computer virus is a crime. The bill specifies that software deliberately not functioning along user's will or deliberately functioning against user's will is a virus. When Mr Eda was addressed by the Committee Member that “for instance, a free software was released and then a user points out a bug. If the software was continue to be opened to the public disregarding the user's notice, will that be a crime according this bill?”, he answered just “Yes”.

If the bill's passage goes well, it will go into effect by this summer, and after that, leaving the bug as it is will lead to an imprisonment maximum of three years .
Biotech

Submission + - Generating a Rat Pancreas in a Body of a Mouse (jst.go.jp)

Submitted by kazekiri
kazekiri writes: According to the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), in a project with Tokyo University, they have succeeded in generating a rat iPSC (induced pluripotent stem cell)-derived pancreas in a body of a mouse(paper). The research team injected rat iPSC into mouse's fertilized egg with gene manipulation hindering the generation of pancreas, and implanted it in a uterus of a mouse, the foster mother. It has been confirmed that the pancreas of a born mouse is entirely made of rat iPSC, and the pancreas functions normally. This is a step towards achieving a goal of regenerative medicine to make human organs in bodies of other animals.

Submission + - 1,500 Mens go to honeymoon with Virtual Girlfriend (wsj.com)

Submitted by kazekiri
kazekiri writes: According to the Wall Street Journal, more than 1,500 male fans of the Japanese dating-simulation game LovePlus+ have flocked to Atami for a romantic date with their videogame character girlfriends. This resort town, once popular with honeymooners, is turning to a new breed of romance seekers — virtual sweethearts.
This story is real. In the Japanese otaku or nerd culture, there's a tradition of calling characters My Wife(Ore no Yome).
Anime

Submission + - Let's learn Japanese from Anime/Manga characters (anime-manga.jp)

Submitted by kazekiri
kazekiri writes: A story about Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, an organization in Japan, launching a website called Japanese in Anime & Manga for Gaijin (non-Japanese) who love Japanese Anime/Manga has been a hot story in Slashdot Japan.
Many words used in lines of characters appearing in Japanese Manga are very different from standard Japanese . You can learn words that SchoolGirls & Samurai use on this site by quizzes. The lines are drawn from actual Manga, and the data is very abundant. By looking at Comments in Slashdot Japan, there are many people out there eagerly hoping for Gaijin who learned words from Anime to visit Japan.
Space

This Is the Way the World Ends 394

Posted by kdawson from the several-bangs-several-whimpers dept.
Dave Knott writes "The CBC's weekly science radio show Quirks and Quarks this week features a countdown of the top ten planetary doomsday scenarios. Nine science professors and one science fiction author are asked to give (mostly) realistic hypotheses of the ways in which the planet Earth and its inhabitants can be destroyed. These possibilities for mankind's extinction include super-volcanoes, massive gamma ray bursts, and everybody's favorite, the killer asteroid. Perhaps the most terrifying prediction is the reversal of the Earth's magnetic field (combined with untimely solar activity), a periodic event which is currently 1/4 million years overdue."
Cellphones

Linux Kernel Booting On the iPhone 115

Posted by Soulskill from the there's-no-iphone-in-team dept.
mhm was one of many readers to note that the Linux 2.6 kernel has been ported to the iPhone. "Planetbeing, one of the iPhone devteam members, has been working on porting Linux to the iPhone (along with a custom bootloader called OpeniBoot). Today they managed to boot the kernel! Video showing the boot process has been posted. Instructions and binaries are available on the project blog."
Businesses

Greenpeace Slams Apple For Environmental Record 271

Posted by Soulskill from the green-apple-get-it dept.
nandemoari writes "According to a recent advertisement airing on American TV, Apple's new Macbooks (well-received by most technology critics) are 'the world's greenest family of notebooks.' It seems an indication that the Cupertino-based company is increasingly aware of a consumer base that demands green electronics. However, Greenpeace is less than enthused with Apple's overall green performance. In their report (PDF), the environmentalists argue that Apple 'needs to commit to phasing out additional substances with timelines, improve its policy on chemicals and its reporting on chemicals management.'" Ars Technica points out that Greenpeace's research isn't quite up-to-snuff, and it's also worth noting that Greenpeace admitted to targeting Apple for the publicity in the past.
Media

BBC Trust to Meet With OSC Over iPlayer 125

Posted by CowboyNeal from the open-to-suggestions dept.
Virgil Tibbs writes "With the Launch of the BBC's iPlayer imminent, the BBC trust has agreed to hear the Open Source Consortium's concerns regarding the BBC iPlayer's tie in with Microsoft's software. The move by the BBC to use Windows Media DRM & their apparent lack of commitment towards other platforms has caused outrage in many circles and prompted several online petitions."

Slashdot Top Deals

<<<<< EVACUATION ROUTE <<<<<

Close