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Space

Submission + - A United Federation of Planet Earth

UltimaGuy writes: "Fourteen space agencies around the world have agreed to coordinate their space exploration efforts, paving the way for truly planet-wide collaboration in space science. The agencies involved are from Italy, Japan, China, Britain, France, America, India, Korea, Ukraine, Russia, Canada, Germany, Australia and ESA, the European Space Agency. Will this be the beginning of a new era in space exploration ?"
Programming

Submission + - 2007 ACM contest winners announced

prostoalex writes: "2007 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest is over with Warsaw University (Poland) winning it this year and solving all 8 problems. The runner-up, Tsinghua University (China), finished with 7 problems solved, while St. Petersburg University of IT, Mechanics and Optics (Russia) and MIT (USA) are tied up for the third place with 6 problems solved."
Communications

Submission + - Once Popular ICQ Instant Messenger Faltering

Steve McMaster writes: "Hundreds of ICQ users have been attempting to connect to their ICQ accounts in the last month only to discover their passwords are being rejected as incorrect. Batches of corrupted passwords appear to be occurring regularly, hinting at a serious fault with the ICQ system. Furthermore, attempts to retrieve passwords from the automatic retrieval site are also being thwarted, with the process faltering at various stages, suggesting user details may have become corrupted. AOL, who currently maintain the ICQ Network, has ceased to provide any technical support, meaning affected users appear to be stranded for options. With older, and therefore shorter, ICQ numbers a popular commodity on eBay auctions, rumours of an ICQ security flaw being discovered are rife amongst community ICQ support groups. However the dramatic increase in incidences of users receiving the password error in recent weeks suggests a more general problem with the ICQ servers which store user information. Once the premier instant messenger client for the Internet, ICQ has fallen behind competitors such as MSN Messenger in recent years due to a poor business structure and difficulty competing with large companies such as Microsoft. The introduction of advertising into the ICQ product was not popular, and ICQ has since struggled to be viable as a profitable product. The author suggests perhaps it is time for those still using ICQ to move to other, more supported clients, to avoid being caught out like he did!"
Censorship

Submission + - Victims fight back against DMCA abuse

Cadence writes: "The DMCA is being used a lot recently to demand takedowns of all sorts of content on the Internet. But how many of those DMCA-fueled demands are abusive? Lately, some victims of takedown demands have begun to fight back with the help of the EFF, including some against Viacom:

Finally, a Viacom executive admitted last month that less than 60 of his company's 100,000 takedown requests to YouTube were invalid. John Palfrey of Harvard's Berkman Center wonders what rights those 60 people have? We may find out. The EFF called for people who had videos pulled inappropriately to contact the group, though the EFF tells The National Law Journal that it cannot comment on its future legal plans.
...
One of the reasons companies misuse the DMCA and cease-and-desist copyright letters is that the tools can quickly accomplish what they want to have happen; stuff they don't like goes bye-bye in a hurry. When the alternative is moving slowly through the court system, letters look like an excellent alternative.
"
HP

Submission + - California Settles HP Board Spy Case

swschrad writes: New York Times (requires free registration) has the AP reporting a plea deal that gets guilty pleas to one count of fraudulent wire communications in the case of the HP board of directors spying on itself, reporters who asked questions, and other HP employees. Meaning that former board chair Patricia Dunn, former ethics chief Kevin Hunsaker, and two private gumshoes, Ronald DeLia and Matthew Depante now face just a $10,000 maximum fine and up to three years in state prison for four felonies. Dunn, who is battling cancer, is probably going to duck the jail time. This doesn't directly affect Federal charges against these folks, loudly derided for half a year in every venue from Congressional hearings to your local tech blog. HP is the supplier of so-called "Integrity" workstations using the Itanium (Itanic?) chip, as well as lately the biggest seller of PCs as well as printers.
It's funny.  Laugh.

Submission + - Happy Pi Day

yummy writes: Today's date, March 14, or 3/14 in standard U.S. notation, corresponds with the first three digits of pi, 3.14. The number represents the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Today also happens to be the birthday of the physicist Albert Einstein 128 years ago. Celebrants will gather at the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco to eat pie, recite pi, sing songs about pi, write ``pi-ku'' (haiku poetry about pi) and celebrate Einstein's birthday, said Ron Hipschman, a physicist at the museum.
Space

Submission + - NASA Optimistic About Fuel Tank Repairs

DarkNemesis618 writes: "NASA is now optimistic Atlantis' fuel tank will be able to be repaired in Florida. Due to a freak hail storm February 26 that had golf-sized hail chunks raining down on the launchpad put several thousand dings in the foam covering the external fuel tank as well as damaging 28 tiles on Atlantis' wing. 20 of the 28 tiles have been repaired and workers have started sanding down the damaged area of the tank itself. After it was decided that Atlantis needed to return to the VAB, NASA was unsure as to whether or not the tank could be repaired. But after bringing it back and doing more extensive inspections, the tank appeared to be in good enough shape that repairs could be done on the spot and a replacement was not necessary. This will allow for Atlantis to be launched late April for its construction mission to the ISS as well as not interfering with the remaining 4 launches planned this year. If the tank needed to be replaced, Atlantis would not have launched until June at the earliest."
Microsoft

Submission + - More woes for M$ - NIST don't want Vista either

RockDoctor writes: Dark Reading is reporting that technical managers at the American National Institute of Standards and Technology (whose title is unusually descriptive for a quango) are going to hold a meeting in mid-April where "According to the formal agenda for the meeting, NIST technology workers will attend a session entitled "Windows Vista Security" to discuss "the current ban of this operating system on NIST networks."
That's right folks — the "standard" operating system for computers these days (if you believe what the adverts say) is already banned by the people who set the standards.

You've almost got to feel sorry for them. Almost.
Businesses

Submission + - Your workforce is getting old! Fix now.

coondoggie writes: "Your company and its employees are getting older and no one is doing anything to prepare for what that means for your future. That's pretty much the conclusion of a national survey released this week that says more than a quarter of U.S. businesses have failed to plan for the effects of the aging American workforce. What's the big deal? Well the U.S. faces a shortage of millions of workers within the coming decade as baby boomers retire — taking with them years of experience, talent and expertise and leaving fewer new workers available to take their place, according to The National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development, conducted by the Boston College Center on Aging and Work. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1245 2"
United States

Submission + - Second Amendment wind in court

Freebore writes: "D.C. Court of Appeals verifies individual gun rights.

http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinion s/200703/04-7041a.pdf From the finding: "To summarize, we conclude that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. That right existed prior to the formation of the new government under the Constitution and was premised on the private use of arms for activities such as hunting and self-defense, the latter being understood as resistance to either private lawlessness or the depredations of a tyrannical government (or a threat from abroad.)""
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Quitting WoW, Cold Turkey

capnbishop writes: "Up until recently, I hadn't tried World of Warcraft, largely because I've yet to be impressed by any MMORPG, but mostly because I just haven't had the time. Well, I took a couple weeks off of school (I attend UoP Online, and can take up to a month off between each 5 week course), and decided to give WoW a shot. Needless to say, I was blown away. My trial period is now up, and I'm jonesing for a fix. However, I don't want to fully activate my account, because I know my grades will plummet if I do. My good ol' casual games don't seem to sustain me like they used to. Even my Wii feels uninteresting after witnessing the glory of Ironforge. And I miss Randall, my trusty pet bear! Quitting WoW is harder than crack! I need a replacement game, but something that won't destroy my personal life. What do you slashdotters use to get by, when WoW isn't an option?"
Microsoft

Submission + - The Deal Steve Jobs Couldn't Refuse

Government Drone writes: "Remember the 1997 deal in which Microsoft bought $150 million in non-voting Apple stock? According to this story in InformationWeek, it wasn't done all out of the goodness of Bill Gates' heart:

Weeks prior to bailing out a struggling Apple Computer by purchasing $150 million of its stock, Microsoft officials threatened to cut development of a key product for the Macintosh in order to coerce its rival to make the deal, according to an e-mail unearthed during a recent court hearing.

The original text of the E-mail is here, which mentions a threat to pull the plug on Office for Mac, but argues against it for a variety of reasons. An interesting backend view of what was happening in Apple's darkest days."
It's funny.  Laugh.

Submission + - chuck norris facts website gone?

binarybum writes: "The beloved ChuckNorrisFacts.com site seems to have disappeared (hopefully temporary). Last week my e-mail submissions of new Chuck Norris Facts were bounced back, and now this! Some webmaster is likely going to receive a serious roundhouse kicking."

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