Comment The lesson to take from this (Score 5, Funny) 334
The lesson to take from this is: don't store valuable information on your thermostat.
Comment Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score 1) 915
Don't drag the neanderthals down, they were nothing to do with this. They probably died out for being more peaceful than humans.
Comment Re:Sorry, you lose (Score 1) 1367
The 37k claimed in that post includes general public. So, that post *is* inaccurate flamebait. The petition actually claims to have around 9k PhD signatories, but the list has been debunked a few times (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Petition#Criticism_of_the_Oregon_Petition).
Comment Re:U.S. law is the new international law (Score 3, Interesting) 1005
If I could mod this up, I would. The indictment claims that the Mega sites (which they call the "Mega Conspiracy") is a group of sites designed to profit from the sharing of content. They they go on to say that each named "conspirator" has knowingly used the network for copyright infringement, and after being told about specific infringing files, failed to remove them. The case they are trying to establish is that the MU staff allowed infringement to continue because it profited them.
Everyone should read the indictment summary before knee-jerking in defence of the site, it does actually look quite bad for them.
Comment Re:Maybe a million monkeys (Score 1) 335
This is the only comment on
Comment Re:Meaning of "limited" (Score 1) 190
I went looking for them...
These guys think indefinite copyright would maximise social welfare:
1. Optimal Copyright Length for Media Content: A Gundam Approach - http://www.jlea.jp/06kougai03.pdf
2. Optimal copyright length and ex post investment: a Mickey Mouse approach - http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/1551/
3. The Economic Structure of Intellectual Copyright Law (Landes & Powney 2003): http://books.google.com/books/about/The_economic_structure_of_intellectual_p.html?id=X-KkvbT6F4UC
The only thing I could find (in Google Scholar) recommending short-lived copyright was this CED report, The Special Problem of Digital Intellectual Property (see conclusion #5) - http://www.ced.org/images/library/reports/digital_economy/report_dcc.pdf
I's like to see links to those '7 year' studies too.
Comment Guess you didn't read their link (Score 4, Informative) 98
If you follow the link in the pop-up, the BBC website explains that the changes will be phased in gradually over the Summer.
"The government's view is that there should be a phased approach to the implementation of these changes. Over the summer, we will be working on developing the best methods for obtaining your consent.
In the meantime, you can control cookies by setting your device to notify you when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. We will ensure that we continue to provide you with clear and comprehensive information about the cookies we use, so that you can make informed decisions."
On top of that, the law only covers tracking cookies, but the BBC is going to include all cookies in it's policy. No story here.
Concentrate Better By Doodling 94
Kelson writes "The next time you see someone doodling during a meeting, don't criticize them for drifting off. It turns out that doodling is the mind's way of keeping itself just busy enough to avoid checking out entirely and slipping off into a daydream, and doodlers actually remember more of that boring talk. (Judging by my college notes, this probably helped me remember a lot of otherwise-boring lectures.)"
Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 Released 273
ink writes "Mozilla has released the third beta for Firefox 3.1 (which may become Firefox 3.5). This beta includes the new location bar, Mozilla's new JavaScript engine Tracemonkey, new HTML5 features and many other enhancements. It looks the same on the surface, but there are many changes under the hood."
So Amazing, So Illegal 492
Jamie gave me a nice writeup of a mashup where the writer shares some random youtube mashup video that you maybe have seen before called the Mother of all Funk Chords. It's a pretty amazing artistic achievement and probably worth at least a quick glance of your time. But the larger point should be taken seriously. He says "If your reaction to this crate of magic is 'Hm. I wonder how we'd go about suing someone who "did this" with our IP?' instead of, 'Holy crap, clearly, this is the freaking future of entertainment,' it's probably time to put some ramen on your Visa and start making stuff up for your LinkedIn page. Because, this is what your new Elvis looks like."
BBC Hijacks 22,000 PCs In Botnet Demonstration 457
An anonymous reader writes "'[The BBC] managed to acquire its own low-value botnet — the name given to a network of hijacked computers — after visiting chatrooms on the internet. The programme did not access any personal information on the infected PCs. If this exercise had been done with criminal intent it would be breaking the law. But our purpose was to demonstrate botnets' collective power when in the hands of criminals.' The BBC performed a controlled DDoS attack, 'then ordered its slave PCs to bombard its target site with requests for access to make it inaccessible.'"
New Electrode Lets Batteries Charge In 10 Seconds 348
Al writes "A new lithium-ion electrode allows batteries to be charged and discharged in 10 seconds flat. Developed by Gerbrand Ceder, a professor of materials science at MIT, it could be particularly useful where rapid power bursts are needed, such as for hybrid cars, but also for portable electronic devices. In testing, batteries incorporating the electrodes discharged in just 10 seconds. In comparison, the best high-power lithium-ion batteries today discharge in a minute and a half, and conventional lithium-ion batteries, such as those found in laptops, can take hours to discharge. The new high rate electrode, the researchers calculate, would allow a one-liter battery based on the material to deliver 25,000 watts, or enough power for about 20 vacuum cleaners."
Kremlin-Backed Nashi Admits Cyberattacking Estonia 181
An anonymous reader writes "Russia's Kremlin-based youth movement Nashi admits being responsible for 2007 cyberattacks against Estonia. An interesting point is that when you DDoS the systems, it's not the fault of some people who want to crash it but instead the systems' for blocking their users due to technical limitations. So if I shot someone to death it's not my fault for shooting them, but theirs instead because of technical limitations of their body."
Gaining System-Level Access To Vista 412
An anonymous reader writes "This video shows a method by which a user can use a Linux distro called BackTrack to gain system access to Windows Vista without logging into Windows or knowing the username or password for any accounts. To accomplish this, the user renames cmd.exe to Utilman.exe — this is the program that brings up the Accessibility options for users without sight or with limited vision. The attack takes advantage of the fact that the Utility Manager can be invoked before the user logs into the system. The user gains System access, which is a level higher than Administrator. The person who discovered this security hole claims that XP, 2000, 2003 and NT are not vulnerable to it; only Windows Vista is."
