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Submission + - Digital sales surge 50 percent in 2007 as CDs tank

Submitted by Avantare on Friday January 04, 2008 @09:53PM

Avantare writes: From Arstechnica is an article explaining why the music industry is tanking by comparing this years report on the state of the entertainment industry to last years. After reading TFA the results do not surprise me at all. The music industry needs to rebuild their business model or die. And not because of people downloading via p2p. This is a moot point forever more. The fact is the competition from the gaming and movie industries are sucking the life out of them due to the consumers choice of where they spend their money for entertainment. An example would be when movie DVD's first hit the market. They were $80 US and up. I can purchase movie DVD's for $5 for >6 month old releases and $20 for new releases. Why can't the music industry get it right? Or, because of good old fashioned capitalism, they will be put out of the market as a viable business as they function now? Please, do not bash the industries in this article. Just give solid input as to why.

Submission + - Government Mandated Bulbs and Migranes (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by

nick_name35

on Friday January 04, 2008 @06:39PM

nick_name35 writes: "Energy saving light bulbs can trigger migraines, health experts and charities warned last night. They have been inundated with complaints about the fluorescent bulbs, which are due to become compulsory in homes within four years. The warning follows concerns that eco-bulbs can trigger dizziness, loss of focus and discomfort among people with epilepsy. Campaigners are calling for the Government to allow an opt-out for people with health problems so they can continue to use old-style bulbs."

Indiana University Dumps Google for ChaCha 211

Posted by Zonk on Saturday August 04, 2007 @09:40PM from the forbidden-dance dept.

theodp writes "Come Monday, no more Indiana University searches will be powered by computer-driven Google. Only by people-powered ChaCha. The move was announced by new IU President Michael McRobbie, who until recently sat on ChaCha's Board of Directors (5-29 SEC filing, PDF). IU will draft hundreds of librarians and IT employees to be ChaCha Guides for the university's websites, although a FAQ accompanying IU's press release tells librarians not to expect any checks for their efforts from ChaCha, which IU notes is backed by Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Compaq founder Rod Canion."

The United States Space Arsenal 297

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday June 27, 2007 @09:57PM from the Q-36-explosive-space-modulator dept.

ntmokey writes "When China tested a missile on its own satellite in January, the nation's aggressive statement immediately raised eyebrows among the world's other space-faring nations. Popular Mechanics looks at the implications of a conflict in space — including debris that could render space unusable for decades — and examines the United States' own space arsenal."

Adobe To Release Full PDF Specification to ISO 275

Posted by Hemos on Monday January 29, 2007 @09:00AM from the big-changes-in-the-text-world dept.

nickull writes "Adobe announced it will release the entire PDF specification (current version 1.7 ) to the International Standards Organization (ISO) via AIIM. PDF has reached a point in its maturity cycle where maintaining it in an open standards manner is the next logical step in evolution. Not only does this reinforce Adobe's commitment to open standards (see also my earlier blog on the release of flash runtime code to the Tamarin open source project at Sourceforge), but it demonstrates that open standards and open source strategies are really becoming a mainstream concept in the software industry. So what does this really mean? Most people know that PDF is already a standard so why do this now? This event is very subtle yet very significant. PDF will go from being an open standard/specification and de facto standard to a full blown de jure standard. The difference will not affect implementers much given PDF has been a published open standard for years. There are some important distinctions however. First — others will have a clearly documented process for contributing to the future of the PDF specification. That process also clearly documents the path for others to contribute their own Intellectual property for consideration in future versions of the standard. Perhaps Adobe could have set up some open standards process within the company but this would be merely duplicating the open standards process, which we felt was the proper home for PDF. Second, it helps cement the full PDF specification as the umbrella specification for all the other PDF standards under the ISO umbrella such as PDF/A, PDF/X and PDF/E. The move also helps realize the dreams of a fully open web as the web evolves (what some are calling Web 2.0), built upon truly open standards, technologies and protocols."

Ohio Recount Rigging Case Goes to Court 224

Posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday January 20, 2007 @11:15AM from the counting-down-the-hits dept.

The Akron Beacon Journal is reporting that the trial of the three election workers accused of rigging the 2004 presidential election recount in Cuyahoga County is finally underway. As you may recall, this was the case where poll workers 'randomly' selected the precincts to recount by first eliminating from consideration precincts where the number of ballots handed out on Election Day failed to match the number of ballots cast and, then opening the ballot boxes in private and pre-counting until they found cases which would match up. What is interesting here is that they have already admitted doing this and that it was clearly counter to the letter and the spirit of the law, but still insist it wasn't really 'wrong,' presumably since they only did it to avoid having to go to the bother of a full recount as required by law.

Apple To Play Fairer With FairPlay? 153

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 16, 2007 @09:07PM from the all's-fair dept.

NewbieMonster writes "According to tech.co.uk, Apple is about to license its Fairplay DRM to Made for iPod accessory manufacturers. It's reported that Apple will also allow streaming of protected AAC content via USB. Could this signal a move to allowing other music players to access and play ITMS content?" From the article: "The expected announcements could signal a move on Apple's part to take some of the sting out of its Fairplay DRM which has come in for a great deal of criticism over recent months. It may also be a way of keeping Made For iPod makers onside, as the draw of the Microsoft Zune becomes stronger." Anyone noticed the draw of the Microsoft Zune becoming stronger?

Another Small Step Before the Giant Leap 277

Posted by Hemos on Monday December 18, 2006 @10:26AM from the a-brave-new-tomorrow dept.

Armchair Anarchist writes "Over at Futurismic, a new column proposes that NASA's plans to establish a lunar colony are an attempt to run before we can walk properly, and that developing orbital habitats first would be a wiser and more realistically attainable project. From the article: "... it seems to me that the trump card is with the orbitals; orbit is closer, cheaper and easier to get to, and offers more flexibility as a long-term outpost. Sure, let's put men back on the moon, mine it for helium-3, research its history and origins. But it makes more sense to launch missions of that type from an already-established colony in orbit.""

Why Do Computers Take So Long to Boot Up? 975

Posted by Zonk on Sunday December 10, 2006 @09:48PM from the tired-hampsters dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Computers take too long to boot up, and it doesn't make sense to me. Mine takes around 30 seconds; it is double or triple that for some of my friends' computers that I have used. Why can't a computer turn on and off in an instant just like a TV? 99% of boots, my computer is doing the exact same thing. Then I get to Windows XP with maybe 50 to 75 megs of stuff in memory. My computer should be smart enough to just load that junk into memory and go with it. You could put this data right at the very start of the hard drive. Whenever you do something with the computer that actually changes what happens during boot, it could go through the real booting process and save the results. Doing this would also give you instant restarts. You just hit your restart button, the computer reloads the memory image, and you can be working again. Or am I wrong? Why haven't companies made it a priority to have 'instant on' desktops and laptops?"

Wireless Sensors To Monitor Power Grids 72

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday November 08, 2006 @07:37PM from the nano-oversight dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Major power outages like the ones which affected the New York state last month or Western Europe ten days ago are becoming more frequent — even if their causes were different. In some cases, the utility companies have to dispatch electricians all over the place to discover the cause of the power failure or simply to restore power. Engineers at the University of Buffalo think they have a better solution: deploy wireless 'nanotech' sensors to monitor the networks and to find the exact location of a failure. They also say that even if the technology is almost available, several years of research are necessary before such a solution can be used by electrical companies. Read more for additional details about this attractive solution."

New E3 Show Announced - Smaller and Invite-only 40

Posted by timothy on Sunday October 15, 2006 @04:53PM from the club-that-wouldn't-have-you-for-a-member dept.

fiorenza writes "The ESA has announced the date and venue for the new E3 show, which is to be renamed the E3 Media and Business Summit. The show has move moved from May to July, and next year will take place on July 11-13 in Santa Monica, California. Doug Lowenstein, the president of the ESA, said that past attendees wanted a smaller more formal show that would be oriented to the media instead of the consumer, so it will now be invitation-only and many of the 'events' will actually take place in hotel suites. It looks like other gaming shows will need to step in if the glitz and glitter of E3 is to be saved."

Chemical Leak on ISS 134

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday September 18, 2006 @09:30PM from the damn-the-torpedoes-full-speed-ahead dept.

Random Utinni writes "It looks like the Russian Elektron system on the ISS may be causing problems again. Today the crew discovered potassium hydroxide leaking into the space station. This comes right after delivery of new ISS components and right before the arrival of a new crew and first female space tourist."

Allergy-Free Kittens Produced 276

Posted by Zonk on Saturday June 10, 2006 @12:41AM from the nothing-about-these-cats-is-free dept.

An anonymous reader writes "San Diego-based company, Allerca, said that using a technique known as genetic divergence, it has 'bred the world's first hypoallergenic kitten, opening the doors and arms of millions of pet lovers for whom cuddling a cat has, until now, been a curse ... After identifying the genes of kittens with proteins that provide less of a reaction in humans, they selectively bred litters over several generations to end up with an allergy-friendly super cat.' The company says its customers are expected to take delivery of their $4,000 hypoallergenic kittens in early 2007."

Does Philosophy Have a Role in Computer Science? 239

Posted by Cliff on Friday May 26, 2006 @10:59PM from the deep-thoughts dept.

Johannes Climacus asks: "It would seem to me that philosophical works of philosophers such as Aristotle, Leibniz, Frege, Russell, and Tarski could play a central role in a Computer Science curriculum, as they form a mathematical basis of modern CS and Math. Ethicists such as Plato, Kant, Hegel, Mill, and Heidegger might also play a normative role in Computer Ethics and technology in general. However, I haven't seen any philosophical discussion in any of my theoretical computer science courses besides some simple logic. Is it the same elsewhere? How often do philosophical concerns play into Computer Science education as a whole? What role does (or could) philosophy have in Computer Science or Information Technology?"

US Releasing 9/11 Flight 77 Pentagon Crash Tape 1098

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday May 16, 2006 @04:19PM from the need-faster-video-editing-staff dept.

Robotron23 writes "The BBC is reporting that the US government has decided to release the videotape depicting the crash of Flight 77 into the Pentagon building, nearly five years after the 9/11 attacks. The government had previously withheld the tape due to 'ongoing investigations' into al-Qaeda's Zacarias Moussaoui. A government representative commented that they 'hope that this video will put to rest the conspiracy theories.'"

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