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Businesses

Submission + - Leaked Zynga Memo Justifies Copycat Strategy (forbes.com)

Submitted by bonch
bonch writes: After taking heat over allegations of copying hit indie game Tiny Tower, Zynga founder Mark Pincus wrote an internal memo justifying the company's strategy of cloning competing titles, citing the Google search engine and Apple iPod as successful products which weren't first in their markets. Pincus infamously told employees: 'I don't want f*cking innovation. You're not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers.'

Submission + - DC Comics copyright suit over replicated Batmobile (wired.com)

Submitted by think_nix
think_nix writes: Wired reports of U.S. District Judge Ronald S. W. Lew siding with DC Comics in the federal copyright court case against Gotham Garage owner Mark Towle. DC claims Towle of selling "unlicensed replica vehicle modification kits based on vehicle design copyrights from plaintiff’s Batman property, including various iterations of the fictional automobile, the Batmobile." Lew noted that, "DC Comics pleads sufficient facts to support its allogations. Although , generally copyright law does not apply to “useful articles” such as autos."
Space

Submission + - SpaceX tries out its new SuperDraco rocket engine (gizmag.com)

Submitted by cylonlover
cylonlover writes: SpaceX, the California company that is developing the reusable Dragon spacecraft, recently test-fired its new SuperDraco engine. Presently, the Dragon capsule is equipped with less-advanced Draco engines, which are designed for maneuvering the spacecraft while in orbit and during reentry. The SuperDraco, however, is intended to allow the astronauts to escape if an emergency occurs during the launch.
Games

Submission + - Oklahoma politician wants to tax violent video gam (playerattack.com) 1

Submitted by dotarray
dotarray writes: According to an Oklahoma politician, video games help cause many problems affecting the youth of today, but they can also help solve those same problems.

Representative William Fourkiller, a Democrat, has proposed a 1% tax on every video game sold which has a Teen, Mature or Adults Only rating. He explains that half of the money would go towards helping to get kids playing outside, while the other half would be placed into a bullying prevention fund.

Submission + - First ever audit of the Federal Reserve reveals $1 (senate.gov)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The first ever GAO (Government Accountability Office) audit of the Federal Reserve was carried out in the past few months due to the Ron Paul, Alan Grayson Amendment to the Dodd-Frank bill, which passed last year. (HR 459). The final audit. reveals an astonishing $16 trillion in secret loans made to American and foreign banks during the recent economic crisis. The investigation also revealed that the Fed outsourced most of its emergency lending programs to private contractors, many of which also were recipients of extremely low-interest and then-secret loans. This is no longer an issue of right versus left. The federal reserve is clearly a corrupt entity with no oversight, and no accountability.
Microsoft

Submission + - Google fights back, says Microsoft has same data-s (mindprocessors.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A few hours after Microsoft took out ads playing off fears over Google’s new privacy policies, the Web giant responded with a blog post noting that Microsoft has a similar policy regarding sharing customer data.
Science

Submission + - Berkeley scientists develop quick and inexpensive (patexia.com)

Submitted by
techgeek0279
techgeek0279 writes: "Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a relatively fast, easy and inexpensive technique for inducing nanorods to self-assemble into one-, two- and even three-dimensional macroscopic structures."
Earth

Submission + - Japan:Caesium measured, melt down may have started (nhk.or.jp) 5

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "A japanese media broadcaster (NHK) as well es German tagesschau.de and Reuters report a possible start of a melt down in Fukushima 1/1 as caesium, a by product of melt downs was measured near the reactor: 'The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says nuclear material cesium has been detected near the Number One reactor at the Fukushima Number One nuclear power plant. The agency says the detection indicates that some of the nuclear fuel at the reactor may have started melting, because cesium is produced during a nuclear chain reaction' (NHK, Japan Broadcasting Corporation)."

Submission + - Proton beams sent around the LHC (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by feldhaus
feldhaus writes: The BBC reports that the first beams for over one year have been successfully sent around the complete circumference of the Large Hadron Collider. Engineers do not yet have a stable circulating beam but they hope to by 0600 GMT on Saturday.

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