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Submission + - FreeSoC, a super-flexible platform for MCU development (kickstarter.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: freeSoC, a microcontroller development kit based around the Cypress Semiconductor PSoC 5 Microcontroller, is now available for pre-order on kickstarter. The features seem really compelling compared to the current crop of Microcontroller Kits: Analog I/O on any pin, Full-Speed USB, built-in Op Amps, PGAs and more, and graphical configuration of your hardware in the PSoC Creator IDE. Project creator Jon Moeller (who also created ZeroTouch), describes it as "an entire hardware design team on a chip".
Power

Submission + - Your Email Is Diesel Powered And You Should Care (itworld.com)

Submitted by
jfruh
jfruh writes: "A recent New York Times article that outlined what it called the wastefulness of the data center industry generated a bit of a backlash, some of it here on Slashdot. Still, there's a middle ground to be found between "get a clue" and "Quick, call a Congressman," and there are steps we can take to mitigate the fact that our email servers are sometimes run by diesel-fired generators."
Software

Submission + - Google disables ads on author's website for torrenting his own book (geek.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Author Cody Jackson has just suffered through an ordeal involving Google's non-exitent customer service. He hosts a website called Start Programming with Python using Google’s Blogger platform and uses AdSense to generate revenue from it. The site is home to his book on Python programming called Learn to Program with Python, which he offers in a range of formats (paperback and e-book) for you to purchase, but he also offers the book for free.

In order to get his book read by more people Cody decided to upload a torrent of it and link to a torrent tracking site on his website. Remember, the book is free, is his work, and there’s no publisher involved so this is in no way piracy. However, Google viewed the link differently and decided to take action.

From posting that one torrent tracker link Cody lost his AdSense revenue as Google decided to cut him off. The reason given is that Google doesn’t allow AdSense publishers to place ads alongside copyrighted files, or next to links that drive traffic to websites carrying copyrighted material. In other words, Google believed Cody is encouraging piracy of copyrighted material as opposed to just sharing his own book that he owns the copyright for.

Submission + - File-Sharing for Personal Use Declared Legal in Portugal (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by M0j0_j0j0
M0j0_j0j0 writes: After receiving 2000 complaints regarding "illegal file sharing" from ACAPOR on P2P network the Portuguese justice refused to take the case into court on the premise that file sharing is not illegal on the territory, if, files are for personal and not commercial use. The court also stated that the complaints had as a sole evidence the IP address of users, and that it is a wrong statement to assume an IP address is directly related to one individual. Torrent freak has a piece in English with more details here and the original source in Portuguese here
Games

Submission + - Valve blog announces dates for Steam Linux external beta (valvesoftware.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In the third post to the new Valve Linux Blog, the linux team have announced that starting next week they will begin their internal beta, with an external beta of 1000 users to begin mid "some time in october".
There will be an external beta sign up page made available "soon".

Comment You have it easy. (Score 1) 351

by rbprbp (#41456915) Attached to: Why American Internet Service Is Slow and Expensive
Pretty much what has been happening in Brazil for the last 10 years. Telcos get the rules written to support themselves, get tax cuts from the government, and find ways to work around the law without actually doing anything illegal. I could expand this to pretty much all businesses here: very large profit margins and a government that turns a blind eye to them, since after all, they are paying taxes to keep our bloated government alive.
Youtube

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: How Do I Deal With Organizations Double Down On The DMCA Process? (youtube.com)

Submitted by
szyzyg
szyzyg writes: "I've created som popular science videos showing how asteroid discoveries have happened over the last few decades. However I've run into a problem with a religious orgnization which borrowed my video and redubbed it to promote their religious message. Ultimately I filed a DMCA takedown request via Youtube's site, it's as easy as filling in a form and the video was removed. But this organization has since submitted a counterclaim claiming 'under penalty of perjury' that they do in fact have the rights to this work, and youtube has reinstated the video. It looks like the only way I can pursue this further is to spend the money to take the organization to court and get an injunction, but even if I did so I'd have to pay court costs up front and since they're based in another country I'd have a difficult time actually collecting any money from the other party. It feels like this other group is simply gambling that I won't spend the time and resources to take further legal action, the DMCA is supposed to provide equal protection but the more lawyer you have the more 'equal' you are. So does anyone have any suggestions for how I should proceed here?"
Apple

Submission + - Apple stole iPad clock design from Swiss Rail company (networkworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Apple received a lot of criticism during the Apple/Samsung litigation this past Summer as folks deemed it absurd that Apple was able to patent things such as icon design and the overall form factor of a smartphone.

Well as it turns out, it appears that Apple has engaged in some copying of its own in the form of the new clock icon design used in iOS 6 on the iPad- a rather ironic turn of events given that Apple railed against Samsung for copying its own iOS icons. Specifically, the clock icon in iOS 6 on the iPad is a blatant copy of a Hans Hilfiker design to which both the trademark and copyright is owned by the Swiss Federal Railways service.
Windows

Submission + - Microsoft Windows 8 Appfest in Bangalore creates world record (pcworld.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Speaking from the Windows Appfest, Jon DeVaan, Corporate Vice President, Windows Development, Microsoft said, "Developers are at the center of Microsoft's success. And India is home to some of the world's most talented developers. We are focused on enabling developers to succeed as they build the next generation of apps. I can't wait to see some of these apps being built at the Windows Appfest."

More than 2500 developers attended, with 800 applications being developed successfully and 300 accepted into the app store

Comment Fastest here? (Score 1) 165

by rbprbp (#41428215) Attached to: Chattanooga's Municipal Network Doubles Down On Fiber Speeds
100Mbps/10Mbps fiber for R$ 500/month (about USD 250/month). Currently I have 10Mbps/1Mbps ADSL, but then I need to pay for a phone line that I do not use. Totals about USD 60/month. And then, I still consider myself lucky: some smaller cities have nothing better than WISPs which cost an arm and a leg and provide very bad service.

Submission + - 1Gbps broadband for Cape Town (mybroadband.co.za)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It seems like plans are in place to provide citizens of the Western Cape in South Africa with converged broadband solutions with speeds between 10Mbps and 1Gbps using open-access principles and an array of last-mile technologies, as reported on MyBroadBand.co.za today by Jan Vermeulen:

"Western Cape Premier Helen Zille announced plans to connect every citizen in the Cape Town metropolitan area to high speed broadband in February. These plans are taking shape with numerous projects on the go.

Alan Winde, the Western Cape’s minister for finance, economic development and tourism, [has] told ... that their Broadband Plan consists of short-term projects and long-term projects."

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