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United States

Dodd's Filibuster Threat Stalls Wiretap Bill 483

Posted by kdawson from the talk-until-blue-in-the-face dept.
otakuj462 sends in an important followup to this morning's story on telecom immunity legislation. "Senator Chris Dodd won a temporary victory today after his threats of a filibuster forced Democratic leadership to push back consideration of a measure that would grant immunity to telecom companies that were complicit in warrantless surveillance... [T]he threat of Dodd's filibuster... persuaded Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, to table the act until January. A compromise on the immunity will ostensibly be worked out in the interim period."
Social Networks

Secret Mailing List Rocks Wikipedia 531

Posted by kdawson from the transparent-in-limited-frequency-bands dept.
privatemusings writes "Wikipedians are up in arms at the revelations that respected administrators have been discussing blocking and banning editors on a secret mailing list. The tensions have spilled over throughout the 'encyclopedia anyone can edit' and news agencies are sniffing around. The Register has this fantastic writeup — read it here first." The article says that some Wikipedians believe Jimbo Wales has lost face by supporting the in-crowd of administrators and rebuking the whistle blower who leaked the existence of the secret mailing list.

Feed Yuri's Night: Burning Man meets NASA (com.com)

From feed by cnetfeed
With artists and science geeks, DJs and dancers on hand, the celebration of Yuri Gagarin and the first manned spaceflight was a perfect mashup of cultures.
Censorship

Gary Kasparov Arrested Over Political Fight 427

Posted by Zonk from the more-active-than-chess dept.
geddes writes "World chess champion turned opposition leader Gary Kasparov was arrested this morning while leading an march through Moscow in opposition to Russian President Vladamir Putin. Kasporov is a leader of the 'Other Russia' coalition which has been banned by the government from appearing on TV, and had been denied a marching permit. From the New York Times: 'Essentially barred from access to television, members of Other Russia have embraced street protests as the only platform to voice their opposition ahead of parliamentary elections in December and presidential elections next March. Early this month, Mr. Kasyanov's and Mr. Kasparov's Web sites were blocked, though it was unclear by whom.' Kasparov was later released from detention, though he was still fined for participating in the event."
Microsoft

MS Requiring More Expensive Vista if Running Mac 545

Posted by Zonk from the they've-got-to-make-money-somehow-right dept.
ktwdallas writes "Mathew Ingram from Canada's Globe and Mail writes that Microsoft will require at least the $299 Business version of Vista or higher if installing on a Mac with virtualization. Running the cheaper Basic or Premium versions would be a violation of their user agreement. According to the article, Microsoft's reasoning is 'because of security issues with virtualization technology'. Sounds suspiciously like a 'Mac penalty' cost that Microsoft is trying to justify."
Sci-Fi

New Laws of Robotics Proposed for US Kill-Bots 373

Posted by Zonk from the maybe-calling-them-kill-bots-is-a-bad-first-step dept.
jakosc writes "The Register has a short commentary about a proposed new set of laws of robotics for war robots by John S Canning of the Naval Surface Warfare Centre. Unlike Asimov's three laws of robotics Canning proposes (pdf) that we should 'Let machines target other machines and let men target men.' Although this sounds OK in principle, 'a robot could decide under Mr Canning's rules, to target a weapon system such as an AK47 for destruction on its own initiative, requiring no permission from a human. If the person holding it was thereby killed, that would be collateral damage and the killer droid would be in the clear.'"
Linux Business

Submission + - Taking LINUX to the races

Submitted by
PrvtBurrito
PrvtBurrito writes: "Chastain Motorsports is running a fundraiser to raise money to brand their Indy 500 entry car with Linux and Tux. Bob Moore, a Indianapolis native and proponent of Linux has gotten support of the racing team, a marketing firm and others in his quest. In order to succeed in this community driven effort, Bob needs to raise $350,000 before May 21st. After four days, they have raised more than $2,000. You can view status of the effort at Tux500.com."
Censorship

Submission + - Chess Grandmaster Kasparov Arrested in Moscow

Submitted by carre4
carre4 writes: Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov was arrested in Moscow during an anti-Kremlin demonstration along with at least 100 other activists. Kasparov now leads the strongest opposition movement in Russia as previously discussed on Slashdot. This march was part of the Dissenters' Marches that have been held in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod in spite of refused permits.

Mozilla and Google — Exchange Killers At Last? 336

Posted by Zonk from the so-happy-together dept.
phase_9 writes "The latest version of Mozilla Thunderbird may still only be in beta but already the user community have started creating an extensive set of viable Exchange killers. One such example is the latest mashup between Thunderbird and Google Calendars, providing bi-directional syncing of calendar information from both the client and internet. How long will it be before open-source software can provide a complete, accessible office suite for a fraction of the cost that Microsoft current imposes?"
Software

Submission + - Get QuickTime Alternative to play All QuickTime fo

Submitted by
jsbi
jsbi writes: "QuickTime Alternative[Freeware] allows you to play QuickTime files without having to install the official QuickTime Player. All QuickTime formats (.mov .qt .3gp etc.) are supported, including streaming content and QuickTime content that is embedded in webpages. Some advantages compared to QuickTime player are the quick and easy install, make an unattended installation, no background processes, use a player of your own choice, low on resources, and smaller size. Some advantages compared to QuickTime player: * Quick and easy install. * It's easy to make an unattended installation. * No background processes. * Use a player of your own choice. * Low on resources. * Smaller size."
Education

Submission + - What is Bio Degredable plastic all about?

Submitted by
jsbi
jsbi writes: "Due to their molecular stability, plastics do not easily break down into simpler components. Plastics are therefore not considered biodegradable .However, researchers are working to develop biodegradable plastics that will disintegrate due to bacterial action or exposure to sunlight. For example, scientists are incorporating starch molecules into some plastic resins during the manufacturing process. When these plastics are discarded, bacteria eat the starch molecules. This causes the polymer molecules to break apart, allowing the plastic to decompose. Researchers are also investigating ways to make plastics more biodegradable from exposure to sunlight. Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun causes many plastics molecules to become brittle and slowly break apart. Researchers are working to create plastics that will degrade faster in sunlight, but not so fast that the plastic begins to degrade while still in use."

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