jaqen - Slashdot User

Submission + - Cost of pollution in China (ft.com)

Submitted by

LotusMan

on Thursday July 05, 2007 @09:32AM

LotusMan writes: "The World Bank have a report named Cost of Pollution in China: Economic Estimates of Physical Damages. It shows the damage on environment cause by being the world manufacture. Here is another article from the Financial Times."

Submission + - Tiny generator runs off vibrations (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Warbothong on Thursday July 05, 2007 @08:49AM

Warbothong writes: Researchers at Southampton University in the UK have developed a tiny (less than 1 cubic centimetre) generator which uses local vibrations to output microwatts of power, making it an alternative to batteries, which need replacing regularly. The devices are currently being used in industry where "there is the potential for embedding sensors in previously inaccessible locations", but its creators imagine it could be used in devices such as pacemakers, where the beating of the heart would produce ample movement for the magnetic mechanism inside to work.

Submission + - Multiple Perspectives on Online Social Networking

Submitted by jg21 on Thursday July 05, 2007 @06:50AM

jg21 writes: Malene Charlotte Larsen, a PhD student at Aalborg University in Denmark, has been doing research on youngsters and online social networking and has in the course of her research gathered thirty-five perspectives on online social networking that reflect how multitudinous the phenomenon is. They range from the idealistic ("The love perspective") to the distinctly disquieting ("The bullying perspective"). Very thought-provoking.

Submission + - Copyright watchdog forces ISP to block P2P-traffic (sabam.be)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 05, 2007 @05:43AM

An anonymous reader writes: After a legal battle since 2004, the Belgian copyright watchdog SABAM has get what it wanted in court (the article is in Dutch since their English site is still under construction, but the pdf has been translated to English). According to the pdf: "The Belgian Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers (SABAM) has just won an important legal battle within the context of the dispute that opposes it to the Internet Service Provider (ISP) TISCALI, which has become SCARLET EXTENDED Ltd. In its sentence of June 29, 2007, the Court of First Instance of Brussels is demanding from the access provider that it adopts one of the technical measures put forward by the expert in order to prevent Internet users from illegally downloading SABAM's musical repertoire via P2P software." There are rumors that Scarlet is forced to use the same software as myspace uses to filter the illegal p2p traffic from the legal p2p traffic (Audible Magic), which should be able to filter 70% of the illegal content. Is this the beginning of forcing more ISP's to block traffic, or is this just the start of more powerfull encryption on p2p-applications?

Submission + - BBC and YouTube in Deal Talks

Submitted by Algis on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @10:46AM

Algis writes: The BBC and YouTube are in the process of striking a deal between themselves, allowing BBC content to be available on Google-owned YouTube, the world's largest and most popular video sharing service. The Beeb has previously demanded takedowns of a large number of its videos that were posted to the site by YouTube users, resulting in the message, "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by The BBC". Quite what the BBC-YouTube deal will entail is anyone's guess. It is highly, highly unlikely to include full-length current BBC shows. What could be possible is the addition to YouTube of much older shows, such as classics like 'The Young Ones' or 'Faulty Towers', in an effort to boost the shows' exposure and increase DVD sales of these shows.

Submission + - New Clues to E-Mail Misbehavior

Submitted by

Ant

on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @10:37AM

Ant writes: "The New York Times (should not require a log in) says there are several psychological factors that lead to online disinhibition: the anonymity of a Web pseudonym; invisibility to others; the time lag between sending an e-mail message and getting feedback; the exaggerated sense of self from being alone; and the lack of any online authority figure. Dr. Suler notes that disinhibition can be either benign — when a shy person feels free to open up online — or toxic, as in flaming. The emerging field of social neuroscience, the study of what goes on in the brains and bodies of two interacting people, offers clues into the neural mechanics behind flaming... Seen on Blue's News."

Submission + - Trends in power generation

Submitted by

mdsolar

on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @10:28AM

mdsolar writes: "With wind power already cheaper than many other forms of power generation http://www.awea.org/pubs/factsheets/Cost2001.PDF, will solar power surpass it as the cheapest? The article http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/m oney/2007/02/19/ccview19.xml suggests it might and soon. Banking interests rather than securites markets may end up having the best shot at profiting from this since the return on investment is on a timescale that fits long-term investment which generally makes up a much smaller portion of other energy companies' portfolios. From the article:

The tipping point in Germany and Japan came once households twigged that they could undercut their unloved utilities. Credit Lyonnais believes the rest of the world will soon join the stampede.

Mike Splinter, chief executive of the US semiconductor group Applied Materials, told me his company is two years away from a solar product that reaches the magic level of $1 a watt.

Cell conversion efficiency and economies of scale are galloping ahead so fast that the cost will be down to 70 US cents by 2010, with a target of 30 or 40 cents in a decade.

So, a question for the veterans of the dotcom boom: Should energy be controlled by the conservative money?"

Submission + - History According to Jesus Taught in NJ

Submitted by

fistfullast33l

on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @10:23AM

fistfullast33l writes: "A fight is brewing in Kearny, New Jersey a 16 year old student and his school district over the teachings of the student's history teacher. According to the NY Times, the student did not think the teacher's lectures in class were relevant to the subject matter, so he started recording the teacher in class. On the tapes, "Mr. Paszkiewicz is heard telling the class that there were dinosaurs aboard Noah's ark and that there is no scientific basis for evolution or the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe." Matthew LaClair, the student, was reprimanded by the school for turning the tapes in (apparently students aren't allowed to secretly record lectures) and has been harassed by students. He has threatened to sue the school district. According to WNBC in NY, the teacher claims "he was merely answering a question posed to him in a question-and-answer session, according to Demetrios Stratis, a Fair Lawn lawyer who said he represented the teacher.""

Submission + - UK Government Ignores Petition To Ban DRM

Submitted by

taskforce

on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @08:17AM

taskforce writes: "A petition to ban DRM on the UK Government's new (and seemingly pointless) petition site which was signed by 1,400 people was blown off today by the British Government. In its typical response to the swell of public opinion, the government said Digital Rights Management, 'helped give users unprecedented choice,' and that it would fully support the continued embedding of the software into digital media. The full text of the dismissal can be found here."

Submission + - YouTube permanently bans Gisburne, changes story

Submitted by

mijkal

on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @08:01AM

mijkal writes: "YouTube has told atheist member Nick Gisburne that he is now permanently banned from the site. This stems from his posting of a video slideshow of quotes from the Quran. Originally YouTube said it was because of 'inappropriate content', but now it has changed its story and is claiming copyright infringement because it has a soundtrack (nevermind that hundreds of lip-synch videos as well as official music videos readily available on YouTube). Had Nick known this was the reason to begin with (YouTube admits it made a mistake), he wouldn't have reposted the video (or encouraged others to do the same). YouTube has decide to evoke the DMCA and its '3 strikes' policy, and is trying to reassure us all that the content has nothing to do with the banning of a certain unnamed account, but rather because of recurring copyright infringement. YouTube is also covering its tracks by changing the reason the videos were removed. All of his videos from all of his accounts have been removed, and anyone who's spent some time on YouTube and seen Nick's videos should clearly see this policy is not routinely executed, so why is Gisburne being unfairly targeted here? Given the context, it seems Gisburne is being treated rather harshly by the YouTube censors. (And just to nip this in the bud, yes, YouTube has the right to censor; and we all have the right to call YouTube on it when we feel its unfair and YouTube can change its policy or we can move on; no one's equating this with government censorship.)"

Submission + - Technology Behind Entertainment

Submitted by Pink Fluffy Dinosaur on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @03:00PM

Pink Fluffy Dinosaur writes: Web 2.0 applications pop up daily in the virtual scenery. www.flickrcombat.com is a mashup that is offering an effective process to involve the community in revealing the best Flickr photos (sourced via the flickr.com API) and at the same time to keep things interesting and entertaining. In the good web 2.0 spirit, the users exercise an influence over the content and the more they get involved, the more value they add to the application. So what is FlickrCombat all about? Two pictures in each combat, seven categories to choose from, and a top 21 that says it all. The rank of a picture is determined by the defeats, wins and number of combats (more details on the algorithm here. )

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