Submission + - iPods Required Listening in Some Schools 1
theodp writes: "Long a staple of affluent schools like Duke, iPods are finding their way into the classrooms of one of New Jersey's poorest urban school districts. At José Martí Middle School, iPods are being used to help bilingual students with limited English ability sharpen their vocabulary and grammar by singing along to popular songs. Spanish-speaking students have been able to move out of bilingual classes after just a year of using the digital devices, compared with an average of 4-6 years for most bilingual students. 'It's an innovation,' declared a school board spokesman. 'Most people think of the iPod as just entertainment.' Toys 1, Blackboards 0!"
Submission + - Court Limits Software Patents
An anonymous reader writes: Techdirt has the scoop on how a recent court ruling may severely limit the scope of both software and business model patents. The court found that "The routine addition of modern electronics to an otherwise unpatentable invention" isn't enough to get over the "non-obvious" hurdle that every patent is supposed to clear. This is a huge step in the right direction and one of the first admissions from the court system that perhaps software and business model patents have gone too far.
Journal SPAM: Judge Voids California Election Over E-Voting Flaws 177
A judge in Alameda County, California, has voided some election results after the e-voting tallies from Diebold machines couldn't be audited. The vote was on a controversial ballot measure addressing the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries, and the expected result was a close margin. Activists went to court to demand a recount, but elections officials had
Submission + - Linux on the handle bars (bikeradar.com)
xpqz writes: "Quarq introduces a linux-based bike computer!
BikeRadar.com reports:
One of the most intriguing launches at Interbike was a pairing of power measuring crank spider and power meter/global positioning system (GPS)/heart rate monitor/altimeter computer from new company Quarq Technology. What's especially interesting if you're a hardcore bike instrumentation geek is that the display unit will run open-source software, so developers will be able to modify it and write applications for it.
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/interbike-quarq-power-meter-real-bike-computer-12672"
Submission + - Qwest to notify victims of hacked computers. (startribune.com)
mnslinky writes: "From the article:
"Telephone company Qwest Communications, portraying itself as a "safe" way to access the Internet, has introduced a "Customer Internet Protection Program" that protects both Qwest and its customers.
By monitoring outgoing Internet traffic from subscribers to its DSL broadband service, Denver-based Qwest can identify individual computers that are spreading computer viruses or unwanted spam e-mail, said Melodi Gates, the company's chief information security officer.
[...] So, when malicious activity is traceable to a particular PC, the customer is contacted via a message that appears in a Web browser, urging the customer to download free software tools to cleanse the computer. If the user acknowledges the message, it disappears."
This was pointed out by a co-worker of mine, and he had an interesting point. "The only problem with this is that said users are trained to ignore [popups asking users to update/fix their computers]." Be interesting to see how well this works."
"Telephone company Qwest Communications, portraying itself as a "safe" way to access the Internet, has introduced a "Customer Internet Protection Program" that protects both Qwest and its customers.
By monitoring outgoing Internet traffic from subscribers to its DSL broadband service, Denver-based Qwest can identify individual computers that are spreading computer viruses or unwanted spam e-mail, said Melodi Gates, the company's chief information security officer.
[...] So, when malicious activity is traceable to a particular PC, the customer is contacted via a message that appears in a Web browser, urging the customer to download free software tools to cleanse the computer. If the user acknowledges the message, it disappears."
This was pointed out by a co-worker of mine, and he had an interesting point. "The only problem with this is that said users are trained to ignore [popups asking users to update/fix their computers]." Be interesting to see how well this works."
Submission + - File sharing benefits indie labels and artists (arstechnica.com)
Christopher Blanc writes: "A new study tracks changes in the patterns of music popularity in the age of MP3s and piracy and suggests that the public's attention span is shorter than ever, to the benefit of small labels.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071002-study-finds-new-music-dynamics-post-napster.html"
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071002-study-finds-new-music-dynamics-post-napster.html"
Submission + - UK housing minister Yvette Cooper fakes webchat (custompc.co.uk)
arcticstoat writes: "Stooges from the government's housing task force planted to pose as members of the public online, and covering their tracks very badly. Next time, think of a pseudonym and try not to talk in incomprehensible politician-speak."
Submission + - Nintendo offers free Wii Jackets (nintendo.com)
ApolloX writes: Nintendo, apparently aware of the damage caused by Wii Remotes, has begun proactively offering Wii Jackets now included in new Wii consoles and Wii remote packages. Furthermore, owners of existing Wii systems can sign up for free Wii Jackets on Nintendo's website similar to the way people have been able to order replacement Wii straps in the past.
Its good deal, except for anyone who all ready spent $5-10 per remote for 3rd party covers.
Its good deal, except for anyone who all ready spent $5-10 per remote for 3rd party covers.
Submission + - UMG Considers iTunes Contract Terms 'Indecent'
Bemopolis writes: "Brace yourselves for a shocking revelation: The CEO of Vivendi, parent company of UMG, is not happy with the current deal with the iTunes Store.
I must admit, it is outrageous what Apple is charging them for maintaining an online store that doesn't require the manufacture of physical media; foots the bill for advertising, bandwidth, credit card charges, and software updates; and maintains what must be an incredibly modest server farm (only 6 Msongs in it, after all). In case you've forgotten just how bad Apple has them over a barrel,"The split between Apple and (music) producers is indecent... Our contracts give too good a share to Apple," Vivendi Chief Executive Jean-Bernard Levy told reporters at a gathering on Monday organized by the association of media journalists in France.
From what I could read through my tears, the usual argument about older music priced at the same rate as new music is trotted out. No doubt UMG would prefer to make the former cheaper, while maintaining the current pricing for the latter. At least he had the decency not to claim that they were trying to defend their artists against predatory iTunes pricing. Or maybe he just misplaced the index card with that boilerplate on it."At present, UMG, the world's largest record company, gets 0.70 euro ($0.99) out of the 0.99 euro retail price charged by iTunes, Vivendi said.
Submission + - SCO shill has remorse.
xzvf writes: SCO shill Dan Lyons of Forbes has remorse for backing doomed company. To quote "The truth, as is often the case, is far less exciting than the conspiracy theorists would like to believe. It is simply this: I got it wrong. The nerds got it right."
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/09/19/software-linux-lawsuits-tech-oped-cx_dl_0919lyons.html
Judge for yourself if the retraction is genuine.
Submission + - Parental Controls 10
Orange Crush writes: .
As the resident computer geek in an office full of accountants, my boss recently asked me how she could reasonably keep her teenage son from using the family computer to "access inappropriate sites." I of course responded "Give up now. There's nothing in this world that can keep a determined teenager from acquiring porn." Sadly, she was dissatisfied with this answer. I mentioned that there was in fact software available for this purpose, but that all of it was trivially easy to bypass for a clever young mind. (Beyond: watch him constantly or just deal with it like the adult you intend to raise him to be.)
I really can't think of another answer. She could password protect the BIOS to prevent booting a different OS, but that's easily defeated with a screwdriver at most. The only solutions I can think of involve upstream firewalls/proxies/etc to which I gleefully redirected her to her ISPs tech support number.
As much as I disagree with her reasoning — and ignoring the obvious "go to a friend's house" loophole — is there really any other way (on a home budget) to netnanny a household computer? (she does sign my paychecks...)
As the resident computer geek in an office full of accountants, my boss recently asked me how she could reasonably keep her teenage son from using the family computer to "access inappropriate sites." I of course responded "Give up now. There's nothing in this world that can keep a determined teenager from acquiring porn." Sadly, she was dissatisfied with this answer. I mentioned that there was in fact software available for this purpose, but that all of it was trivially easy to bypass for a clever young mind. (Beyond: watch him constantly or just deal with it like the adult you intend to raise him to be.)
I really can't think of another answer. She could password protect the BIOS to prevent booting a different OS, but that's easily defeated with a screwdriver at most. The only solutions I can think of involve upstream firewalls/proxies/etc to which I gleefully redirected her to her ISPs tech support number.
As much as I disagree with her reasoning — and ignoring the obvious "go to a friend's house" loophole — is there really any other way (on a home budget) to netnanny a household computer? (she does sign my paychecks...)
Submission + - DirecTV takes a hit by EFF
An anonymous reader writes: San Francisco — In an important ruling today, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked satellite television provider DirecTV's heavy-handed legal tactics and protected security and computer science research into satellite and smart card technology after hearing argument from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
The cases, DirecTV v. Huynh and DirecTV v. Oliver, involved a provision of federal law prohibiting the "assembly" or "modification" of equipment designed to intercept satellite signals. DirecTV maintained that the provision should cover anyone who works with equipment designed for interception of their signals, regardless of their motivation or whether any interception occurs. But in a hearing earlier this year, EFF argued that the provision should apply only to entities that facilitate illegal interception by other people and not to those who simply tinker or use the equipment, such as researchers and others working to further scientific knowledge of the devices at issue.
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2007_09.php#005434
The cases, DirecTV v. Huynh and DirecTV v. Oliver, involved a provision of federal law prohibiting the "assembly" or "modification" of equipment designed to intercept satellite signals. DirecTV maintained that the provision should cover anyone who works with equipment designed for interception of their signals, regardless of their motivation or whether any interception occurs. But in a hearing earlier this year, EFF argued that the provision should apply only to entities that facilitate illegal interception by other people and not to those who simply tinker or use the equipment, such as researchers and others working to further scientific knowledge of the devices at issue.
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2007_09.php#005434
Submission + - False DMCA Claims by Creationists Stifle Critics
Bueller_007 writes: Creation Science Evangelism, an creationist organization owned by convicted felon Kent Hovind has been filing false DMCA claims to stifle their rivals on YouTube. Although CSE's videos are not copyrighted (according to their official website and the videos themselves), within the past 72 hours, they have had approximately 20 videos removed at their request, and at least two popular users have had their accounts disabled.
All of the videos that have been removed were critical remixes of Hovind's original videos, interspersed with rebuttals and likely to have fallen under fair use. Exact duplicates of Hovind's videos — seen as supportive — were not removed. Further, CSE has also filed false DMCA claims to have others' completely original content removed, as well as public-domain phone calls Hovind made from prison.
All of the videos that have been removed were critical remixes of Hovind's original videos, interspersed with rebuttals and likely to have fallen under fair use. Exact duplicates of Hovind's videos — seen as supportive — were not removed. Further, CSE has also filed false DMCA claims to have others' completely original content removed, as well as public-domain phone calls Hovind made from prison.
Submission + - Microsoft's 'Clippy' is also a security hole...
david.emery writes: "According to an article in extremetech, there's an (ActiveX, of course) vulnerability in Windows 2k 'Clippy': http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2182388,00.asp
Well, this just confirms what we always thought. Not only is "Clippy" annoying, he's actively evil :-)"
Well, this just confirms what we always thought. Not only is "Clippy" annoying, he's actively evil
