Submission + - Ohio University finds key to getting RIAA to stop 7
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio, has found the key to getting the RIAA to stop inundating it and its students with "settlement" letters. According to the university's student online publication, the university paid $60,000, plus $16,000 per year "maintenance", to Audible Magic, the business partner of the RIAA's all-purpose expert witness Dr. Doug Jacobson, for its "CopySense" filtering software. Once it made the payments, the letters stopped. This of course raises a lot of questions as to the 'disinterestedness' of Dr. Jacobson, whose deposition in the UMG v. Lindor case was the subject of interesting Slashdot commentary."
Submission + - Spammers Enlist the Aid of Virtual Strippers
Tha_Big_Guy23 writes: Spammers have a new way around captchas: A virtual stripper who is paid when you fork them over.
The BBC is reporting that a Windows game shows a woman in "a state of undress" when a person correctly types in a Captcha. In the game, a woman named Melissa invites victims to decipher the text. After a bunch of Captchas you get your payoff and the malicious program gets its way around the Captcha system.
Submission + - ODF group drops ODF? (commandprompt.com)
poet writes: "According to this article over at Computer World, the Open Document Foundation has dropped support for Open Document Format, in favor of the Compound Documents Format put out by the W3C?"
Submission + - Poll Suggestion
AmIAnAi writes: How much time did you donate to free software development in the last year?
None
1 — 10 hours
10 — 100 hours
More than 100 hours
I'm Cowboy Neal's code monkey.
None
1 — 10 hours
10 — 100 hours
More than 100 hours
I'm Cowboy Neal's code monkey.
Submission + - Hurricane predictions way off for 2nd year (fsu.edu)
Talen317 writes: For the second year in a row forcasters have failed to predict the hurricane activity for the season.
In fact acording to NOAA's claims, there was only a 5% chance that this year would be a below-normal season.
Florida State University COAP reports that 2007 may be one of the least active hurricane seasons in the last 30 years!
If we can't trust the predictions for the next 5 months how can we be sure about the predictions for the next 50 years?
From NOAA: (http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane.shtml)
"NOAA is predicting a very high likelihood (85% chance) of an above-normal 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, a 10% chance of a near-normal season, and only a 5% chance of a below-normal season, according to a consensus of scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center, National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Research Division, and Hydrometeorological Prediction Center."
From Florida State University, Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/~maue/tropical)
"Unless a dramatic and perhaps historical flurry of activity occurs in the next 9 weeks, 2007 will rank as a historically inactive TC year for the Northern Hemisphere as a whole. During the past 30 years, only 1977, 1981, and 1983 have had less activity to date (January-TODAY, Accumulated Cyclone Energy)."
In fact acording to NOAA's claims, there was only a 5% chance that this year would be a below-normal season.
Florida State University COAP reports that 2007 may be one of the least active hurricane seasons in the last 30 years!
If we can't trust the predictions for the next 5 months how can we be sure about the predictions for the next 50 years?
From NOAA: (http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane.shtml)
"NOAA is predicting a very high likelihood (85% chance) of an above-normal 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, a 10% chance of a near-normal season, and only a 5% chance of a below-normal season, according to a consensus of scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center, National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Research Division, and Hydrometeorological Prediction Center."
From Florida State University, Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/~maue/tropical)
"Unless a dramatic and perhaps historical flurry of activity occurs in the next 9 weeks, 2007 will rank as a historically inactive TC year for the Northern Hemisphere as a whole. During the past 30 years, only 1977, 1981, and 1983 have had less activity to date (January-TODAY, Accumulated Cyclone Energy)."
Submission + - Hackers target IE7 URI flaw (neowin.net)
Technical Writing Geek writes: "Microsoft is warning users to avoid suspicious websites and emails after attacks were reported on an unpatched flaw in Internet Explorer 7. The company would not provide exact figures, but said that a "limited number " of attacks had been reported. The attacks target a vulnerability in IE7's handling of the uniform resource indicator (URI) commands used by browsers to launch third-party applications.
http://www.neowin.net/news/main/07/10/29/attackers-take-aim-at-ie7-flaw"
http://www.neowin.net/news/main/07/10/29/attackers-take-aim-at-ie7-flaw"
Submission + - Controversy Swirls Around HD DVD Sales Claims
An anonymous reader writes: Though Paramount made headlines last week when it announced that its HD DVD release of 'The Transformers' had become the fastest selling movie title on either high-def disc format, two independent sales tracking firms are now contradicting Paramount's numbers, and Blu-ray-supporting studio execs are accusing the newly HD DVD-exclusive studio of cooking its books. For its part, Paramount continues to stand by its original numbers, saying that they checked and double-checked their figures before issuing last week's press release, and that "everything we said is 100% accurate."
Submission + - Linux not covered by Microsoft's EU patent pledge (vnunet.com)
pete314 writes: "Linux users will not profit from the EU-mandated patent licensing program that Microsoft will offer. Microsoft will license its interoperability patents at a discounted rate, but the EU in an FAQ cautions that "some [open source] licenses are incompatible with the patent license offered by Microsoft".
The GPL is one of the licenses that won't work with Microsoft patent pledge, Mark Webbink says on vnunet.com. Webbink is a director with the Software Freedom Law Center and former deputy general counsel for Red Hat. The license is limited to the software vendor and its clients, but doesn't cover downstream users. The GPL explicitly prohibits such discriminatory licenses."
The GPL is one of the licenses that won't work with Microsoft patent pledge, Mark Webbink says on vnunet.com. Webbink is a director with the Software Freedom Law Center and former deputy general counsel for Red Hat. The license is limited to the software vendor and its clients, but doesn't cover downstream users. The GPL explicitly prohibits such discriminatory licenses."
Submission + - Comcast blocks some Internet traffic
QuietLagoon writes: MSNBC is reporting the results of an Associated Press test that show Comcast blocks some Internet traffic. "Comcast Corp. actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally.
"The interference, which The Associated Press confirmed through nationwide tests, is the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a U.S. Internet service provider. It involves company computers masquerading as those of its users.
"If widely applied by other ISPs, the technology Comcast is using would be a crippling blow to the BitTorrent, eDonkey and Gnutella file-sharing networks. While these are mainly known as sources of copyright music, software and movies, BitTorrent in particular is emerging as a legitimate tool for quickly disseminating legal content.
"The principle of equal treatment of traffic, called "Net Neutrality" by proponents, is not enshrined in law but supported by some regulations. Most of the debate around the issue has centered on tentative plans, now postponed, by large Internet carriers to offer preferential treatment of traffic from certain content providers for a fee....
"The interference, which The Associated Press confirmed through nationwide tests, is the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a U.S. Internet service provider. It involves company computers masquerading as those of its users.
"If widely applied by other ISPs, the technology Comcast is using would be a crippling blow to the BitTorrent, eDonkey and Gnutella file-sharing networks. While these are mainly known as sources of copyright music, software and movies, BitTorrent in particular is emerging as a legitimate tool for quickly disseminating legal content.
"The principle of equal treatment of traffic, called "Net Neutrality" by proponents, is not enshrined in law but supported by some regulations. Most of the debate around the issue has centered on tentative plans, now postponed, by large Internet carriers to offer preferential treatment of traffic from certain content providers for a fee....
Submission + - free WiFi on Buses (www.cbc.ca)
An anonymous reader writes: The CBC is reporting that buses in Moncton, NB Canada are getting free WiFi on its 4 express bus routes. What a great way to encourage people to take the bus. Actually making time spent travelling useful.
Submission + - Wii-mote to come with condom.
PhoenixOne writes: Due to "safety concerns", later this month all new Wii-motes will come with Safety Jackets to reduce the risk of unsafe Wii-play.
Submission + - Clear win for paper voting (elsevier.nl)
geschild writes: In what can only be considered a clear victory for 'Wij vertrouwen stemcomputers niet' (We don't trust electronic voting devices), Ank Bijleveld, the Dutch undersecretary for the Interior said that the next big election process in the Netherlands, for the European Parliament, in 2009, will most likely be held using pencil and paper.
This declaration followed the advice of a report titled 'Stemmen met vertrouwen' (voting with trust) that proposes a return to paper voting. The report states that paper voting presents the most assurances for a transparent and verifiable voting process.
The report does not completely preclude the use of computers but suggests that computers should only be used to print the vote on a paper ballot that can be verified by the voter. The vote would not be retained on the computer but the paper ballots could be counted electronically after the polls close.
Common sense seems to have prevailed on electronic vs paper voting, at least in the Netherlands.
This declaration followed the advice of a report titled 'Stemmen met vertrouwen' (voting with trust) that proposes a return to paper voting. The report states that paper voting presents the most assurances for a transparent and verifiable voting process.
The report does not completely preclude the use of computers but suggests that computers should only be used to print the vote on a paper ballot that can be verified by the voter. The vote would not be retained on the computer but the paper ballots could be counted electronically after the polls close.
Common sense seems to have prevailed on electronic vs paper voting, at least in the Netherlands.
Submission + - Navy decides to redesign swastika-shaped barracks (msn.com)
Lucas123 writes: After 40 years, the U.S. Navy is being forced to redesign a 40-year-old barracks complex that resembles a swastika — a project that could cost as much as $600,000. It seems no one had a problem with the building on the Navy's amphibious base at Coronado — where the Navy Seals have their boot camp — until in recent years aerial photos made available on services like Windows Live and Google Earth revealed the building's shape to a wide audience.
Submission + - The iPhone beater: a $24,500 Vertu phone (networkworld.com)
coondoggie writes: "If you thought the iPhone was somehow, cheap, then you may want to look upward. Way up to Nokia's Vertu subsidiary which is selling a $25,400 phone that celebrates Ferrari's 60th year in the business of making beautiful, unbelievably fast cars. Cars and cell phones, what a match. Vertu's Ascent Ferrari 60 a hand assembled using top-of-the-line stainless steel and titanium components — it is manufactured with the same screws used in different parts of the car — as well as authentic Ferrari leather and features the distinctive Ferrari Prancing Horse logo. Specifically the Ascent Ferrari 60 is inspired by the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti and features wallpapers and ringtones of the car.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/20003"
