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Space

Submission + - NASA spaceship scouts out prime Mars landing spots (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter this week sent back high-resolution images of about 30 proposed landing sites for the Mars Science Laboratory, a mission launching in 2009 to deploy a long-distance rover carrying sophisticated science instruments on Mars. The orbiter's high-resolution camera has taken more than 3,500 huge, sharp images released in black-and-white since it began science operations in November 2006. The images show features as small as a desk. The orbiter has sent back some 26 terabytes of data, equivalent to about 5,000 CD-ROMs. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/20531"
Power

Submission + - Dr Bussard passes away, polywell fusion continues

Submitted by Vinz
Vinz writes: Dr Bussard, the man behind the Bussard Collector and inventor of the Polywell fusion device, passed away last Sunday in the morning. He leaves behins him a legacy of EM fusion devices, and a team determined to continue his efforts. The news of renewed funding for the construction of his WB-7 fusion devices made it to slashdot months ago (as well as his talk at google). They may be a serious candidate in the run to bring commercial fusion, and may work at lower scales than other projects.

Let's hope the project continues in good shape despite his departure.
Education

Submission + - Grad student suspended after pro-gun-rights e-mail

Submitted by fredklein
fredklein writes: A Minnesota university has suspended one of its graduate students who sent two e-mail messages to school officials supporting gun rights.
"Hamline University also said that master's student Troy Scheffler, who owns a firearm, would be barred from campus and must receive a mandatory "mental health evaluation" after he sent an e-mail message arguing that law-abiding students should be able to carry firearms on campus for self-defense."
When informed that suspending him violated the school's freedom of expression policy, the University changed their tune: Now they claim he's being suspended because of "anonymous allegations" they received, and they can't tell him (or the press) what those allegations are, or who his accusers are. With all the talk of 'Big Brother' throwing people into detention centers without knowing the charges, are we overlooking 'Little Brothers' closer to home?
The Internet

Submission + - Cubans have to dress as tourists to use internet

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: When 32-year-old Yoani Sanchez wants to update her blog about daily life in Cuba, she dresses like a tourist and strides confidently into a Havana hotel, greeting the staff in German. That is because Cubans like Sanchez are not authorised to use hotel Internet connections, which are reserved for foreigners.

She and a handful of other independent bloggers are opening up a crack in the government's tight control over media and information to give the rest of the world a glimpse of life in a one-party, Communist state. But they face many difficulties. Costs are highly prohibitive (US$6 per hour for Internet access or the equivalent of a fortnight's pay for the average Cuban) and less than 2 percent of the population have access to the internet.
Space

Submission + - Missing Potenital Earth-busting Asteroid Found (wired.com)

Submitted by
Billosaur
Billosaur writes: "A potentially disastrous 40-year-old mystery has been solved: Where is asteroid 6344 P-L? Back in 1960, asteroid 6344 P-L was identified and classified as a "Potentially Hazardous Asteroid," meaning that it's orbit brings it perilously close to Earth's orbit (on the cosmic scale). Unfortunately, it then disappeared, or more precisely, was lost from view. Flash forward to 2007 and scientists believe that 6344 P-L has been rediscovered as 2007 RR9. Further, they are not sure it is an actual asteroid, but actually a comet fragment, which won't hit the Earth anytime soon but bears watching."
Patents

Submission + - Court Limits Software Patents

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
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.
The Courts

Submission + - Sony Exec Admits RIAA Lawsuits Are A Money Pit (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
Billosaur
Billosaur writes: "Interesting testimony came out of the first RIAA lawsuit to go to trial in Duluth, Minnesota (Capitol Records v. Jammie Thomas). Under cross-examination yesterday, Jennifer Pariser, the head of litigation for Sony BMG, admitted that the RIAA's lawsuit campaign is a gigantic net loss for the music industry. The admission occurred during questioning regarding the damages Sony BMG was seeking against the defendant; as with all these suits, the RIAA is seeking punitive damages only, but Pariser could not in fact come up with a figure as to how much was actually being lost to downloading in this case or any other. Further, she did not know how many people were alleged to have downloaded music from the defendant. She was rather vague on the number of lawsuits that had actually been filed, but did admit that the record comapnies have spent millions on them and have recouped very little."
Movies

Submission + - Indiana Jones Gets Robbed!!

Submitted by
HotChk101
HotChk101 writes: "Over 2000 production stills, plenty of sensitive paperwork including a complete production budget breakdown, possibly the script from Indiana Jones 4 and multiple computers were stolen from Steven Spielberg's Universal Studio office. The thief started contacting multiple entertainment websites including TMZ.com and offering the stolen goods for a sum of $2000.00. There are a lot more details and you can read the full story by clicking here! Read the full story to find out what happened to the thief!!!"
Security

Submission + - PEBKAC Still Plagues PC Security (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
Billosaur
Billosaur writes: "ARS Technica is reporting on a study release by McAfee and the National Cyber Security Alliance (as part of the beginning of National Cyber Security Awareness Month) that suggests when it comes to PC security, the problem between the keyboard and the chair is even worse. PEBKAC has always been a problem, but the study highlights just how prevalent it has become. 87 percent of the users contacted said they used anti-virus software, while 70 percent use anti-spyware software. Fewer (64 percent) reported having their firewalls turned on, and only 27 percent use software designed to stop phishing attempts. Researchers were allowed to scan the computers of a subset of the users, and while 70 percent claimed to be using anti-spyware software, only 55 percent of the machines of those users scanned showed evidence of the software."
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA's First Trial Starts Today in Duluth

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The RIAA's first trial starts today, in Duluth, Minnesota, in Virgin v. Thomas. The case is being widely covered by, among others, Associated Press, Wired, and Ars Technica. Since a number of people have indicated they will be going to the courthouse and watching the trial, I am hoping for citizen coverage as well. If any of you get to the trial and can report back, drop a comment here as well. The day before the trial the Judge excluded 784 pages of documents the record companies needed to prove they actually own the copyrights to 14 of the recordings in question, because they had failed to turn over the documents when they were supposed to, instead waiting until 2 weeks before the date of trial."
Businesses

Submission + - The Twilight Hours of SCO (groklaw.net)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "Groklaw is pointing out the initial monthly operating report of SCO which, as the article notes, look a lot like death throes. A couple of points to note:
  • A list of accounts including a Zion's Grand Cayman Island account which holds $600,000.00 (I needn't remind you that the Cayman Islands banks are not regulated by any government or agency).
  • A list of scheduled lawyer retainers totaling $660k.
  • Insurance for errors and omissions & also some for the poor executives.
  • And also an order from a judge that they are authorized to continue their "business practices."
On top of that, their stock is at a staggering $0.16. Moving money offshore, buying insurance & no sign of actual business transactions — quite the monthly operating report!"
Communications

Submission + - Disney Mobile Coming To An End (news.com)

Submitted by
Billosaur
Billosaur writes: "Not everything the Mouse touches turns to gold. CNet is reporting that Disney plans to end Disney Mobile phone service on December 31st. Disney got in the mobile market 18 months ago, offering phone service that would deliver services and applications designed around the family. Among those, was the ability of parents to track their children and limit their ability to use the phone. Disney did not own its own network, working with Sprint/Nextel to offer it services. The applications may live on and become available through another provider."
The Internet

Submission + - Facebook Is Used As a Mug Book to Catch Suspect (cnn.com)

Submitted by
Billosaur
Billosaur writes: "CNN is reporting on the case of a Georgetown student, the victim of an attack near the university campus, who used Facebook to id his attacker. The unnamed victim was attacked by a person yelling homophobic epithets, and suffered cuts and bruises to the face and a broken thumb. He went on Facebook to see if he could identify his attacker, and upon finding someone who resembled the attacker, turned the information over to the police. Eventually the police created a photo lineup of possible suspects, and the victim was able to pick his alleged attacker, Phillip Anderton Cooney, from it. Cooney was arrested and has been charged with a bias/hate crime, increasing the potential penalty if convicted."
The Internet

Submission + - The .name Domain: Haven for Cyber-criminals (wired.com)

Submitted by
Billosaur
Billosaur writes: "In the war on cyber-crime, the bad guys have a new ally: the registrar running the .name domain. According to a Wired report, Global Name Registry (GNR), the registrar contracted by ICANN to run the .name domain, is charging money to do Whois lookups, frustrating security researchers who are attempting to trace zombie networks back to their source. ICANN normally requires registrars to make Whois data publicly available, but GNR's contract allows the to create tiered data, so that a public search reveals very little data and to find out who actually owns a .name domain requires a fee. Security researchers are balking at the fees, claiming it hampers their efforts if they have to pay to get at what should be publicly available data."

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