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Math

Submission + - First version of FooPlot released

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Vector graphics technologies have given rise to a multitude of applications that run entirely within a web browser. The first version of FooPlot has been released, featuring live scrolling of 2-D function graphs, 3-D graphs generated entirely on the client side, and an easy-to-use URL: All one has to do is type:
http://fooplot.com/x^2+2x
for example. More promised features include connectivity to Google Spreadsheets, a multi-lingual interface, and online curve fitting.
Television

Submission + - SanDisk unveils the first digital flash DVD player

Submitted by jcatcw
jcatcw writes: Lucas Mearian, Storage Editor at Computerworld.com, reports on SanDisk's initiative to create a new USB storage device that allows users to move digital content from their PCs to their TVs for viewing on a large screen. USBTV uses a small flash memory-enabled media player that plugs and plays directly onto almost any TV. The first pocket-size players are expected to be available this spring. SanDisk says no wireless setup or networking equipment is required.
Privacy

Submission + - Germany Searches Credit Cards for Child Porn Pay

Submitted by
narramissic
narramissic writes: "According to an article on ITworld, police in the German state of Sachsen-Anhalt have teamed with credit card companies to sift through the transactions of over 22 million customers looking for those who may have purchased child pornography online. To date they have identified 322 suspects. From the article:
German data privacy laws allow police to ask financial institutions to provide data about individuals but only if the investigators meet certain conditions, including a concrete suspicion of illegal behavior and narrowly defined search criteria, according to Johann Bizer, deputy director of the Independent Center for Privacy Protection in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.
In the case under investigation, police were aware of a child pornography Web site outside of Germany that was attracting users inside the country. And they asked the credit-card companies to conduct a database search narrowed to three criteria: a specific amount of money, a specific time period and a specific receiver account.
"
Space

Submission + - Astronaut Hopeful Stephen Hawking

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "As soon as 2009, the well known and celebrated Stephen Hawking may be reaching higher altitudes than our admiration. From the article, "Famed quadriplegic physicist Stephen Hawking confirms that he's planning to take a zero-gravity flight this year — a weightless adventure that's likely to unfold aboard a specially outfitted Boeing 727 operated by Zero Gravity Corp. Hawking made the comment in a 65th-birthday interview published today in The Telegraph, a British newspaper. "This year I'm planning a zero-gravity flight and to go into space in 2009," he said.""
Space

Submission + - NASA Will Go Metric on the Moon

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Space.com is reporting that NASA has decided to use the metric system for its new lunar missions. NASA hopes that metrication will allow easier international participation and safer missions. The loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter was blamed on an error converting between English units and metric units. 'When we made the announcement at the meeting, the reps for the other space agencies all gave a little cheer,' said a NASA official.
Announcements

Submission + - Help choose the best tech writing of 2007

Submitted by handle
handle writes: You can help choose 'The Best of Technology Writing 2007' for an upcoming anthology to be published by The University of Michigan Press and University of Michigan Library. Visit http://www.digitalculture.com/ to nominate your favorite articles, essays and blog posts. The 2006 edition has been published, and you can read it online free (as in beer).
Announcements

Submission + - Dracula's Castle for sale in Romania: price $77m

Submitted by galaad2
galaad2 writes: Want to own the real castle that was the source of all the vampire stories? Want to have your very own vampire castle? Here's your chance!

The Transylvanian castle of Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, is on sale for £40 million [timesonline.co.uk] (around 77 million dollars).

Bran Castle [telegraph.co.uk], near the historic city of Brasov, in central Romania, is one of the country's most popular tourist destinations because of its association with 15th-century Prince Vlad Tepes III, also known as the Impaler for his favoured method of executing opponents.

The local town council has preemption rights, they have 30 days to review the offer, and then the property will be put on the market.

Extra info: wikipedia article about Bran Castle
Programming

Second Life Open Sources Client 208

Posted by Hemos from the i-call-upon-the-community dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Just noticed that Second Life released their client under the GPL today, and that they're up to 2.4 million users. Article says that 15% of users contribute scripted objects."
Microsoft

Submission + - Bill Gates' CES keynote speech

Submitted by
twofish
twofish writes: "Boomtown has a transacript of Bill Gates' CES keynote speech along with the marketing spin here.

Announcements included a streaming IPTV service for Xbox 360, Live play against Xbox 360 owners via PC and the announcement that Xbox 360 has sold 10.4 million units since launch. Some new Vista features were also introduced including Windows DreamScene, available to Windows Ultimate customers through Windows Ultimate Extras, which allows you to change your wallpaper to a full motion video."
The Internet

Submission + - Twilight for Pegasus and Mercury

Submitted by Daemon Duck
Daemon Duck writes: One of the web's oldest and most respected email clients is flickering out of existence. Pegasus mail and it's companion SMTP server, Mercury32, have been discontinued due to lack of funding for the ongoing development. On the website, the author David Harris states that if some funding becomes available he would consider opening the source code or continuing the development. The announcement can be read here.
Security

Submission + - Hacking 2.0: Today's Hackers Target Web, For Money

Submitted by
ReadWriteWeb
ReadWriteWeb writes: "Web Security firm Finjan has just released their Q4 2006 report on web threats, which describes two cases of web 2.0 hacker attacks, on Wikipedia and MySpace. The report says that hacking the Web is very much a commercial activity nowadays: "Motivated by financial gain, hackers are trading vulnerabilities in online auctions, commercializing products such as malicious website creation toolkits, and developing new distribution techniques, including spam, for the propagation of malicious code."

Finjan predicts that in 2007, Web 2.0 platforms and technologies will increasingly be used by hackers as a "legitimate" tool for distributing malicious code. Also they predict that, as Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7.0 begin to achieve critical mass, this will likely trigger a new wave of exploits from professional hackers who have had time to prepare in advance for this scenario."

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