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Power

Submission + - Change Google Background Color To Save Energy?

Submitted by i_like_spam
i_like_spam writes: Recent commentary at Nature Climate Change describes an on-going debate about the energy savings associated with the background colors used by high-traffic websites such as Google and the NYTimes. A back of the envelope calculation has suggested energy savings of 750 Megawatt hours per year if Google switched their background from white to black. In response, a new version of Google called Blackle was created. However, other calculations by the Wall Street Journal suggest minimal energy savings. Who is right in this debate? Should web designers also consider potential energy savings when choosing colors for their sites?
Power

Submission + - Google Changes Background Color To Save Energy 6

Submitted by i_like_spam
i_like_spam writes: Commentary at Nature Climate Change describes an on-going debate about the energy savings associated with the background colors used by high-traffic websites such as Google and the NYTimes. Some back of the envelope calculations have suggested energy savings of 750 Megawatt hours per year if Google switched their background from white to black. Google responded by creating Blackle. Other calculations by the Wall Street Journal, however, suggest minimal energy savings. Who is right in this debate? And, should designers also consider potential energy savings when choosing colors for their websites?
Biotech

Submission + - Americans Clueless About Cancer Risks (cancer.org)

Submitted by
Invisible Pink Unicorn
Invisible Pink Unicorn writes: "A study conducted by the American Cancer Society found that a surprising number of Americans believe scientifically dubious claims concerning cancer, and that the groups with the greatest burden of cancer are the most likely to be misinformed. For example, the majority of survey respondents didn't think smoking was more likely to cause lung cancer than pollution — despite 87% of lung cancer cases being due to smoking. The most interesting finding was that people who described themselves as knowing the most about cancer were more likely to have false beliefs. Participants who labeled themselves as "very informed" about cancer were more likely to believe underwire bras cause breast cancer, or that quitting smoking did nothing to reduce cancer risks. The article abstract is availabe from the journal Cancer."
Privacy

Submission + - FBI Requires a Warrant to Install Spyware

Submitted by mrogers
mrogers writes: The FBI requires a warrant to install spyware on a suspect's computer, according to a new appeals court ruling. An earlier ruling had appeared to grant the FBI permission to install spyware under the weaker provisions applied to pen registers, which record the telephone numbers or IP addresses contacted by a suspect. However, yesterday's amendment made it clear that the pen register provisions only apply to equipment installed at the suspect's ISP.

The FBI recently used spyware to determine the source of a hoax bomb threat, as reported here and here.
Biotech

Submission + - Nursing Home Cat Can Sense Death (yahoo.com) 1

Submitted by
Raver32
Raver32 writes: "When Oscar the Cat visits residents of the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, the staff jump into action — Oscar can sense within hours when someone is about to die. In his two years living in Steere's end-stage dementia unit, Oscar has been at the bedside of more than 25 residents shortly before they died, according to Dr. David Dosa of Brown University in Providence. He wrote about Oscar in the New England Journal of Medicine. "It's not that the cat is consistently there first," Dr. Joan Teno, a professor of community health at Brown University, who sees patients in the unit. "But the cat always does manage to make an appearance, and it always seems to be in the last two hours.""
Privacy

Submission + - MPAA: Plagarism good, Piracy bad? 1

Submitted by BillGatesLoveChild
BillGatesLoveChild writes: The MPAA is fast to complain about their Intellectual Property being violated, but have no qualms about violating the Intellectual Property of others. The SMH reports another case of a Hollywood Studio plagarizing a film as their own. Adam Sandler's I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007) is a tale of two firemen who pretend to be gay to get domestic partner benefits. Curiously Paul Hogan's Strange Bedfellows (2004) made three years earlier, is also a tale of two firemen who pretend to be gay to get domestic partner benefits. Universal Studios issued a statement claiming "the similarities are purely coincidental". The producers of "Strange Bedfellows" are amused but not convinced.

This isn't the first time, with similar accusations being made against Spielberg's Julie Newmar (1995) vs Priscilla (1994) and Eddie Murphy's "Coming to America" which the courts found was stolen from writer Art Buchwald. Add to that "Hollywood Accounting" fleecing artists (The Forest Gump movie didn't pay the author a cent in royalties), the Record Industry doing the same and the MPAA itself caught yet unrepentant for pirating movies. Before The Senate rushes off to do their bidding, shouldn't the MPAA and RIAA be ordered to clean up their own houses?
Books

Submission + - Harry Potter and a Goblin's Take on Copyright (scienceaddiction.com)

Submitted by
DevanJedi
DevanJedi writes: "Here's a passage from page 517 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows : (Ron's brother Bill is warning Harry against trusting a goblin Griphook.) "You don't understand, Harry, nobody could understand unless they have lived with goblins. To a goblin, the rightful and true master of any object is the maker, not the purchaser. All goblin-made objects are, in goblin eyes, rightfully theirs. [...] They have, however, great difficulty with the idea of goblin-made objects passing from wizard to wizard. [...] They consider our habit of keeping goblin-made objects, passing them from wizard to wizard without further payment, little more than theft." These goblins sound like our friendly neighborhood MPAA/RIAA lawyers!"
Intel

Submission + - VIA to compete with AMD and Intel @ 1333Mhz bus (techreport.com)

Submitted by
athloi
athloi writes: "According to a report by DigiTimes, VIA plans to introduce a brand new processor architecture in the first quarter of 2008. The architecture will materialize in a processor core code-named Isaiah, which will feature 64-bit support, 65nm process technology, 1MB of L2 cache, a 1333MHz bus, as well as virtualization and ECC memory support. http://www.techreport.com/onearticle.x/12933"
Mozilla

Submission + - Mozilla and Thunderbird to Split Up? (mozillazine.org)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Mitchell Baker's latest blog entry is an Email Call to Action discussing the future of Thunderbird and its role in Mozilla. Because of Mozilla's extreme focus on Firefox and the web, they feel Thunderbird isn't getting the attention it deserves, and thus that they "should find a new, separate organizational setting for Thunderbird." Three options are briefly explored: a Thunderbird foundation, a new Thunderbird subsidiary of the Mozilla foundation, and releasing Thunderbird as a community project like SeaMonkey. They're hoping to start a public discussion on Thunderbird's future, and are seeking additional ideas for how to handle this.
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Who said Guitar Hero knock-offs couldn't rock? (adgamesonline.com)

Submitted by
The Anonymous Coward
The Anonymous Coward writes: "Flash has always been a humble platform for game development. There have been a couple hits, but they're hard to find in the great ocean of misses. With the advent of Adobe Flash and a new scripting language, can we hope that the masses will finally start to churn out some games worthy of the console?
    Guitar Hero addicts (and zombie-killing fanatics) need to look no further than "We Are Legend", an original and fairly addictive game that combines the furious button-mashing of rhythm-based games with some interesting RPG twists. And a whole lot of blood, chainsaws, and zombie-explosions. Purists can pick up their keyboard and use wield it like a five-string. With everything from an over-the-hill Jill Valentine to a zombie-killing hyena and a backup drummer that shears away zombie faces with a metal grinder, this game has promise."
Announcements

Submission + - EU to change definition of "open standard"

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The EU is considering to change the definition of "open standards". It has a consultation process that is not publicized at all. Please submit opinions in favor of open standards, or else we will suddenly wake up to having lost a very important battle. On the form, ask for the use of open standards, as defined by the European Interoperability Framework for pan-European eGovernment Services (Version 1.0, 2004, page 9) for all information, be it in documents, video, sounds, etc. published on the websites of the European Commission. 34
Music

Submission + - EFF Backs Mother in Suite Against Universal Music (eff.org)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is being sued by the EFF for forcing Stephanie Lenz's 29-second recording that shows her son hopping and bopping to the Prince song "Let's Go Crazy." She reports that she put the video online to share with family & friends and describes this as a legal threat preventing her from sharing precious moments with relatives. The EFF sees this as a blatant disregard of fair use and free speech rights that any citizen holds and is asking a federal court to protect it. Universal, at one point seemed to reach a deal with YouTube, although this apparently was not made with the customer in mind, is Universal's "Take my ball and play elsewhere" attitude permanent? I wonder if the artist himself, Prince, will make a public announcement?"
Privacy

Submission + - Mass Stalking Organized On Facebook

Submitted by
Jack Action
Jack Action writes: "Police in Cambridge, Ontario are investigating a 700-hundred member Facebook group that was dedicated to harassing and posting humiliating photos of a black, apparently homeless woman. Called "Obeeba Sightings" (the name group administers gave to the woman), Facebook members called the woman racist and sexually explict names, and called for her to be run over by a car and put in a trash compactor. In their response to the incident, Cambridge police indicated Facebook cooperated fully with them in their investigation to the point of handing over IP addresses for all those involved in the group; at which point Facebook shut down the group. Police say it is the worst case of online harassment they have ever seen.

Recent research indicates Facebook is homogeneous even by the standards of the internet, and that members of social networks are more likely to "cyber-bully." Is this a sign that cyber-bulling will get worse as social networks make themselves more like-minded and exclusive? Should companies like Facebook be held responsible for the bad behaviour of their members? Or is this just the nature of distance and anonymity on the internet?"

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