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The Internet

Submission + - ISPs, IE meddle with their customers' Web traffic (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
Bibek Paudel
Bibek Paudel writes: "According to a paper by researchers at the University of Washington, set to be delivered Wednesday at the Usenix Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation in San Francisco, about one percent of the Web pages being delivered on the Internet are being changed in transit, sometimes in a harmful way. "The Web is a lot more wild than we originally expected," said Charles Reis, a co-author of the paper. To get their data, the team wrote software that would test whether or not someone visiting a test page on the University of Washington's Web site was viewing HTML that had been altered in transit. In 16 instances, ads were injected into the Web page by the visitor's ISP. "We're confirming some rumors that had been in the news last summer, that ISPs had been injecting these ads." Among many small ISPs, the paper also named one of the largest ISPs in the U.S., XO Communications, as an ad injector. The data also shows that pages were sometimes changed by pop-up blockers within products such as CheckPoint's ZoneAlarm or CA's Personal Firewall. Even Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser is part of the problem, the researchers claim. IE injects HTML into pages that it saves to the computer's hard drive, making those pages vulnerable to attacks when the page is then reloaded from the local disk."
The Internet

Submission + - Hip-Hop Artist Refuses To Stand Against Pirate Bay (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by
Bibek Paudel
Bibek Paudel writes: "A Swedish hip-hop artist who the IFPI used as leverage in their legal battle against The Pirate Bay, wants nothing to do with the case. Without consultation, the IFPI were claiming damages on his behalf from The Pirate Bay, even though they don't even own the rights to his music. IFPI claimed in the legal case against The Pirate Bay that money was lost as a result of Max Peezay, a Swedish hip-hop artist's music being available for download via the site. The artist is reportedly pro-file sharing. Some of his lyrics already state that. And he's not willing to feel like a sell-out to please Ifpi — who never actually asked him for his permission to sue in his name.

Brokep of The Pirate Bay says, "What we're waiting for now is all of those other artists to speak up as well. We know many of the artists actually put up their albums on The Pirate Bay themselves — and we're really happy about that! And we know that you don't like to be abused by the record labels in this farce. So we want you to show your support. Not necessarily for TPB but for your fans. It's an important message to send to the community." It'll be interesting to see where the artists really stand on this issue and who they align themselves with, the IFPI — or the public."
Biotech

Submission + - Saliva Can Help Diagnose Heart Attack, Study Shows (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by
bibekpaudel
bibekpaudel writes: "Early diagnosis of a heart attack may now be possible using only a few drops of saliva and a new nano-bio-chip, a multi-institutional team led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin reported at a recent meeting of the American Association for Dental Research. It can also tell a patient that they are at high risk of having a future heart attack.

The device is the size of a credit card and can produce results in as little as 15 minutes. Leveraging microelectronics components and microfabrication developed initially for the electronic industry, they developed a series of compact nano-bio-chip sensor devices that are biochemically-programmed to detect sets of these proteins in saliva.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in developed countries, including the United States. Initial tests promise to dramatically improve the accuracy and speed of cardiac diagnosis."
The Internet

Submission + - Darwin's private papers get Internet launch (newsdaily.com)

Submitted by
bibekpaudel
bibekpaudel writes: "ScienceDaily reports, a wealth of papers belonging to the intensely private man who changed science are being published on the Internet on Thursday for the first time. Comprising some 20,000 items and 90,000 images, the release on http://darwin-online.org.uk/ is the largest in history, according to the organizers from Cambridge University Library which holds all the Darwin papers. "This release makes his private papers, mountains of notes, experiments, and research behind his world-changing publications available to the world for free," said John van Wyhe, director of the project. The collection includes thousands of notes and drafts of his scientific writings, notes from the voyage of the Beagle when he began to formulate his controversial theory of evolution, and his first recorded doubts about the permanence of species. It also contains photographs of Darwin and his family, newspaper clippings, reviews of his books and much more. Giving a more personal insight, there is also his wife Emma's cookbook including recipes for delicacies such as 'Ilkley pudding' and a rudimentary recipe for boiling rice, written by Darwin himself. The release of his papers online marks a revolution in the public's access to — and hopefully appreciation of — one of the most important collections of primary materials in the history of science"
Microsoft

Submission + - Office Open XML out of Microsoft's hands--official (adjb.net)

Submitted by
bibekpaudel
bibekpaudel writes: "A couple of weeks ago, ISO members voted, not without its share of controversy, to make Microsoft's Office Open XML format an official standard. While the EU investigation [0] into Open XML vote is still ongoing, ISO has now taken official control [1] of the format and has put it under the aegis of the same Joint Technical Committee responsible for the OpenDocument Format. Over the next six months, an ad hoc working group will draw up a plan on how to best maintain the OOXML format. A second working group will continue to stay on top of the OpenDocument Format used by OpenOffice.org and a number of other applications, while a third will begin work on OOXML-ODF interoperability.

One of the first tasks of the working group will be to catalog OOXML's current shortcomings. Microsoft is no longer the sole arbiter of how OOXML develops, and the company may well find itself in the position of making ISO-mandated changes to Microsoft Office as a result of the ISO's deliberations. ISO governance of the OOXML format may also serve as something of a litmus test for Microsoft's newfound explicit commitment to interoperability and open standards.

[0] http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9909499-7.html?tag=newsmap
[1] http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080414-office-open-xml-out-of-microsofts-handsofficially.html"
Google

Submission + - Summer of Code Student Application Period Over (google.com)

Submitted by
bibekpaudel
bibekpaudel writes: "The 2008 edition of Google Summer of Code is underway. The students' application period deadline is over by now. The mentoring organizations will review student applications for the next two weeks, and accepted student proposals will be announced here on Monday, April 21, 2008. The students who have applied can still view their application, check its status, and make comments on it using the program web application. People who are interested in participating in the program as mentors can still do so by submitting their request to their organization's administrator."
Digital

Submission + - A Record-Setting Silicon Resonator at 4.5 GHz (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by
bibekpaudel
bibekpaudel writes: "Researchers at Cornell University have created a silicon microresonator that vibrates at 4.51 gigahertz, the highest frequency ever recorded in such a silicon device. Other researchers have demonstrated silicon microresonators that vibrate up to 1.5 gigahertz, say the Cornell researchers.The Cornell device is 8.5 micrometers long and 40 micrometers wide, compared with a width of about a millimeter for a quartz resonator.

For decades, quartz-crystal oscillators have served as clocks in all sorts of electronic gadgets. Placing a voltage across the crystal causes it to resonate at a predictable frequency, allowing all parts of a circuit to operate in synchrony. But these quartz clocks are relatively bulky, their size a significant barrier to shrinking circuits.

The high-frequency resonators could find uses as timekeepers for telecommunications and microprocessing. One of the advantages of silicon microresonators is that they can be integrated directly into microchips using conventional manufacturing techniques, making them cheaper to produce and easier to fabricate small."
Education

Submission + - First OLPC pilot in Nepal (bibekpaudel.com.np)

Submitted by
bibekpaudel
bibekpaudel writes: "Four graders of Jana Jyoti Lower Secondary School, Janagal in a remote village in Kavre district in Nepal got their new laptops on Thursday. Department of Education (Government of Nepal) distributed free laptops to all students of Class 4 in the school as a pilot project with technical assistance from One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Nepal. This is the first pilot project of the OLPC project in the hilly country ridden by over a decade of internal-conflict. In South-Asia, another such pilot run is undergoing in a village near Mumbai in India. This makes OLPC Nepal's pilot test the second such mission in the region. Feedbacks from this pilot test will be useful before full deplyoment in the country. Experience from Nepal will also be helpful for other countries interested in the OLPC project. Pilot tests are also planned for other districts in Nepal in the coming months, (most probably) after Nepal goes to Constituent Assembly polls this April."
Education

Submission + - OLPC hits pilot in Nepal (ankur.com.np)

Submitted by
yowlanku
yowlanku writes: ""Yesterday, 27th of March, 2008 was the BIG day for us. In coordination with Department of Education, Ministry of Education, we distributed Mero Sanu Sathi, the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Laptop, to the students of 4th graders of Janajyoti Ni Ma Vi, Ugratara-8, Janagal, Kavre as a part of first ever pilot distribution of the laptop in Nepal, codenamed "Sunrise"." you can read more atolpcnepal blogThe news has been also covered by Economics times of india. OLPC Nepal is all volunteer based organization working towards implementation of OLPC vision in country. You can read more about them and support them at there wiki."
Education

Submission + - OLPC Nepal starts pilot project (blogspot.com) 4

Submitted by
bibekpaudel
bibekpaudel writes: "Four graders of Jana Jyoti Lower Secondary School, Janagal in Kavre district in Nepal got their new laptops on Thursday. Department of Education distributed free laptops to all students of Class 4 in the school as a pilot project with technical assistance from One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Nepal mission. The mission is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. This is the first pilot project of the OLPC project in the hilly country ridden by over a decade of internal-conflict. In South-Asia, another such pilot run is undergoing in a village near Mumbai in India.

1. http://olpcnepal.blogspot.com/
2. http://wiki.olpcnepal.org/
3. http://ekantipur.com/"
Quickies

Submission + - Sending love with OSS for Valentine's Day

Submitted by
bibekpaudel
bibekpaudel writes: "Linux.com has an interesting story for about what a Linux geek can do for that special someone on Valentine's Day. It's to create a gift using open source software, of course. The article suggests a variety of ways like creating love notes, cards, scrapbook in which you can show your affection to your lady love. The article ends with a disclaimer, "as with anything, your mileage may vary. The author is not responsible for slapped faces, things thrown at you, or any bodily harm that may be inflicted as a result of your efforts.""
Education

Submission + - Richard Stallman on OLPC (blogspot.com) 1

Submitted by
memshankar
memshankar writes: "In an interview while he was in Hyderabad, India RMS praises for the One Laptop Per Child Project. He is even contemplating making a switch to XO, the flagship machine of the project, from his "old thinkpad". Stallman went on to say that the OLPC laptop has given people a way to use the free BIOS. He is, however dissatisfied with the wireless networking system used in the XO."

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