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Submission + - at&t's Class Arbitra. Waiver Ruled Unconsciona (consumerist.com)

Submitted by
Tech.Luver
Tech.Luver writes: "Consumerist reports, " Like many many companies, Cingular has a little thing in their contracts saying that if you use their service, you void your right to a class action lawsuit and instead have to go through "mandatory binding arbitration," which is basically an extra-judicial corporate court exempt from many of the basic rules and laws and procedures and rights of real court. Well, today, that clause was ruled "unconscionable" by the 9th Circuit Court Of Appeals. Therefore, lawsuits can proceed against Cingular and go to real court, not monkey court. Hooray! ""
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - The Great Internet Swear Word Project (doyoukissyourmotherwiththatmouth.co.uk)

Submitted by
morner
morner writes: "The great internet swear word project aims to find the best swear word in the world according to you, the internet. Each visitor to this page is offered a choice between two randomly selected user-submitted swear words, their vote is recorded and fed into a Condorcet voting algorithm. Over the course of many thousands of votes, an accurate picture of the group preference emerges and thus, or so the theory goes, the world's best swear word may be identified unambiguously. YMMV."
Power

Submission + - Superefficient Solar Cell from Silicon Nanocrystal 1

Submitted by
chinmay7
chinmay7 writes: "Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), have shown that silicon nanocrystals can produce two or three electrons per photon of high-energy (blue and UV) sunlight. The small size of nanoscale crystals results in the conversion of this energy into electrons instead of heat. Solar cells made of silicon nanocrystals could theoretically reach more than 40% efficiency, compared to 20% efficiency of the best conventional silicon solar cells.
An article in the Tech Review goes into more detail."
Space

Submission + - New Theory Explains Periodic Mass Extinctions

Submitted by i_like_spam
i_like_spam writes: The theory that the dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid impact, the K-T extinction, is well known and supported by fossil and geological evidence. Asteroid impact theory does not apply to the other fluctuations in biodiversity, however, which follow an approximate 62 million-year cycle. As reported in Science news, a new theory seems to explain periodic mass extinctions. The new theory found that oscillations in the Sun relative to the plane of the Milky Way correlate with changes in biodiversity on Earth. The researchers suggest that an increase in the exposure of Earth to extragalatic cosmic rays causes mass extinctions. Here is the original paper describing the finding.
Education

Submission + - Monkeys and humans learn the same way (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by
Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: "A new study from UCLA showed that monkeys, like humans, learn faster by being actively involved in the learning process rather than just having information placed before them, according to a story in ScienceDaily. In the study, two rhesus macaque monkeys learned to put up to 18 photos on an ATM-like touch screen in a row. 'The monkeys did much better on the first three days when they had the help than when they didn't, but on the test day, it completely reversed.'"
Privacy

Submission + - UCLA Probe Finds Taser Incident Out Of Policy (ucla.edu)

Submitted by Bandor Mia
Bandor Mia writes: Last November, it was reported that UCLA cops Tasered a student, who forgot to bring his ID, at the UCLA library. While an internal probe by UCLAPD cleared the officers of any wrongdoing, an outside probe by Police Assessment Resource Center has found that the police actions on Mostafa Tabatabainejad were indeed out of UCLA policy. The probe was conducted at the behest of acting UCLA Chancellor Norman Abrams.

From the report:
"In light of UCLAPD's general use of force policy and its specific policies on pain compliance techniques, Officer 2's three applications of the Taser, taken together, were out of policy. Officer 2 did not take advantage of other options and opportunities reasonably available to de-escalate the situation without the use of the Taser. Reasonable campus police officers, upon assessing the circumstances, likely would have embraced different choices and options that appear likely to have been more consistent both with UCLAPD policy and general best law enforcement practices."
United States

Submission + - IRS Tracking Party Affiliation (thenewstribune.com) 1

Submitted by
cybermage
cybermage writes: "According to the News Tribune, the IRS is tracking the party affiliation of taxpayers in the over twenty states that require identification of party affiliation on voter registration forms. The IRS is using the voter registration data to try to locate tax cheats. Some in Congress are looking to take steps to have the IRS purge such information and put a halt to IRS plans to outsource collections until the issue is resolved."
Software

Submission + - Wall Street funding Spyware?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: This past Wednesday, ComScore raised $82 million in an IPO that jumped 42% in its first day of trading. Some investors clearly like ComScore's business, but I wonder whether they fully understand ComScore's business model, privacy implications, and poor track record of nonconsensual installations.

The privacy policy for ComScore's RelevantKnowledge tracking program purports to grant ComScore the right to track users' name and address, browsing, shopping, and even "online accounts ... includ[ing] personal financial [and] health information." ComScore pays independent distributors to install ComScore software onto users' computers. Predictably, some of these distributors install ComScore software without getting user consent.
Operating Systems

Submission + - Windows Drive from HP laptop boots in Macbook

Submitted by
Sitrucious
Sitrucious writes: "Today I decided to upgrade my Macbook. I had a 160 GB drive lying around so I figured I'd throw it in. What to my surprise but when I hold down the Option key and select the drive it booted right up. The problem was that it was my Gentoo Drive. I never configured the install for the Macbook but it was installed on another Intel Core 2 System. So I started to pic at my brain and decided to try my Windows Vista drive for the same laptop. Sure enough it also booted. Of course there are a few driver issues currently but I have network connection and I am even running Glass. I currently do not have audio but I'm still impressed with the fact that it booted. Has anyone else tried this?"
Businesses

Submission + - Want Your Boss Managing Your Health Too? (foxnews.com)

Submitted by
cybermage
cybermage writes: "Employers across the country are launching wellness programs in an effort to control rising costs related to health care. I think this is good in spirit, but the right thing done for the wrong reasons often leads to problems too. If employers are motivated by cost, how long before a person's health affects job and advancement opportunities?"
Moon

Submission + - Predicting the Future Through Advertisements (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
AlpineR
AlpineR writes: "Two weeks ago Computerworld ran an article about quaint advertisements from years past and the story was discussed on Slashdot. While leafing through a paper magazine today, I realized that if we know which ads from the past have become humorously outdated then maybe we can look at today's ads and imagine which modern technologies will be considered archaic in the future. What advertisement do you think screams 'Way back in 2007...' and what will replaced it in coming decades?"
Sci-Fi

Submission + - See-through LCD screen developed

Submitted by
Gary
Gary writes: "Tokyo-based optical component maker Active Inc. has developed a new composite LCD display that allows a user to clearly see objects through the monitor's viewing surface. The company has been researching the use of liquid crystal optical film as a substitute for traditional LCD backlights with the goal of commercializing a display which allows a user's gaze to pass through to the opposite side when the screen is powered on."

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