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Programming

Submission + - Lisaac : The first prototype object compiler (u-strasbg.fr)

Submitted by
Ontologia
Ontologia writes: "Lisaac is a new prototype based object language. It stands as a Self and SmallTalk successor and takes some Eiffel ideas like genericity and contract programming. The goal of the project is to provide a high level language as fast as C.
In fact, with some benchmarks on an mpeg2 decoder rigorously translated from C, Lisaac is 17% faster to 44% slower than C, for 40 % less lines of code with lots of gcc optimizations.
Lisaac provides a lot of powerful features thanks to the prototype based object model : Absolutely all is object, contract programming, dynamic inheritance, block type which is a list of instruction giving functional programming facilities, and so on..

The 0.12 version, distributed in GPLv3, is the latest stable version for the 0.2 specification.
Lisaac was convincing enough for writing IsaacOS, a fully object operating system. IsaacOS runs on five different architectures."
Businesses

Submission + - SCO Group Files for Bankruptcy

Submitted by Eisen Guard
Eisen Guard writes: The article says it well: "(AP) — The SCO Group Inc., licenser of the Unix operating system, filed for bankruptcy protection Friday, drained by unsuccessfully filing lawsuits claiming its software code was misappropriated by developers of the open-source Linux operating system."

Full story at:

http://www.physorg.com/news109071678.html

[Sound of champagne corks popping]
Businesses

Submission + - Online Gambling Domain Hijacked, Owner Can't Fight (eog.com)

Submitted by
Sound of Silence
Sound of Silence writes: "From an Eye On Gambling story

What is even more interesting about this is, because of the questionable legality of running an offshore sportsbook that takes in American customers, the company will find it difficult to go to the U.S. to fight the case, as the last sportsbook CEO that came to the US (BetOnSports CEO David Carruthers — a previous EOG story


Online Gambling: Bodog Loses Lawsuit and Domains, Becomes newbodog.com

On Tuesday, August 28, the Bodog website (bodog.com) went down. Many people thought it was just technical issues. A reliable source inside Bodog stated that the site was actually yanked out from under Bodog's hands earlier in the day.

Apparently, a businessman in the US who was awarded a patent for something to do with taking bets online filed a lawsuit against Bodog awhile back. Bodog didn't respond because they are not a US company. So a judge awarded a default judgment to him for the amount of 50 million dollars.

Yesterday, the man with the judgment used it to seize control of Bodog's domain names from Enom. Almost all of their sites are now offline, and now they are going to lose all of their SERPS.

In a news release issued late Tuesday, Bodog founder and part-time Vancouver resident Calvin Ayre, said "the problems result from a dispute over the ownership of the Bodog.com domain name."

"We are fighting this dispute and are confident that we will win," he said in the release.

The Vancouver Sun did not have a lot of positive things to say about this evolving situation:

The release provided no details, but according to Nevada court documents, 1st Technology LLC of Las Vegas obtained a $48.6-million default judgement on June 14 against Bodog Entertainment Group S.A., Bodog.net and Bodog.com.

The Las Vegas company obtained the judgment after the Bodog companies failed to answer allegations, filed in U.S. District Court in Nevada, that downloaded software used by Bodog customers to facilitate its gaming activities infringed upon 1st Technology's patents.

It is not clear why Bodog officials did not respond to the allegations. One possibility is they were scared away by the U.S. Department of Justice, which has declared war on Internet gambling.

Through a series of high profile arrests of online gambling executives, the Justice Department has made it clear that online gambling is illegal and anybody operating or facilitating such activities is subject to prosecution.

Since then, Ayre has avoided stepping on American soil, but he continues to return to Vancouver, where Bodog runs a marketing-support business in Vancouver called Riptown Media and a call centre in Burnaby called Triple Crown Customer Service.

Ayre was in Vancouver as recently as Friday, when he attended a Bodog-sponsored mixed martial arts fight night at the Chief Joe Mathias Centre in North Vancouver. The event is packaged and sold as a pay-per-view television event.

Meanwhile, 1st Technology has been steadily tightening the noose on Bodog, which was previously run out of Costa Rica but is now based in Antigua.

In an affidavit filed in conjunction with the court action, 1st Technology lawyer Kristopher Rath complained that, despite the default judgment, Bodog "continues to act with impunity in the United States."

"The Bodog entities infringing activities are responsible for over $65 billion in cumulative transactions to date, with approximately two-thirds of this revenue currently being derived from infringing United States activities," he said.

The lawyer noted that, according to a Forbes interview with Ayre, "Bodog handled $7.3 billion dollars of revenue which translates to over $4.8 billion in revenue in the United States with revenue growing 300 per cent per year since 2004."

He also noted that, according to the Forbes interview, Ayre "has amassed a current wealth of $1 billion, which was derived in large part through infringement of 1st Technology LLC's patent.

"However, despite reaping the rewards of U.S. commerce, the Bodog entities evade United States law and courts, and Mr. Ayre gloats about his companies' ability to operate above American law."

The lawyer said 1st Technology "continues to suffer massive and irreparable harm because of the Bodog entities' wrongful conduct", and the "only way to stop this harm is to enjoin Bodog's United States activities."

Ayre, 46, is no stranger to controversy. In the early 1990s, he got into trouble with the B.C. Securities Commission over his dealings with Bicer Medical Systems, listed on the former Vancouver Stock Exchange. In 1996, he admitted to serious offences in connection with that company and agreed to a 20-year ban from the B.C. securities market.

It is important to note that gamblers have informed us that considering the circumstances, Bodog has reacted professionally. All customers have continued to be able to place bets and access their accounts in a timely manner."
Software

Submission + - Effective use of technology in the classroom 1

Submitted by
postermmxvicom
postermmxvicom writes: "I remember in college I had one professor who, in addition to being a great teacher, really took advantage of the technology in the classroom to illustrate the concepts for Calculus and Linear Algebra.

Well, now I am the teacher. I teach Algebra, AP Calculus, and Physics at high school. This year, I have gotten a tablet and a wireless projector. I now can write on my tablet instead of the board and use other applications. I want to effectively utilize this tech for teaching. Please share how you have seen technology effectively used for Math and Physics. Specific software or how that software was used (specific or general).

I want to serve my students well. I thought it'd be nice to hear fellow nerds reminisce about their favorite teachers."
Networking

Submission + - Success of bandwith currency compared to Slashdot (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
extradvantage
extradvantage writes: "The EBU (European Broadcasting Union) is considering to use Tribler for a standard internet broadcasting system across the continent. Tribler is a p2p system where uploaders are afforded faster speeds encouraging active uploading from it's users. An interesting quote from the article; "I was doing research back in 1999 looking at an obscure website called Slashdot," he said. "It was a technology-related news website controlled by volunteers and it actually worked. A few people would post bad things but 99% of users were nice." Slashdot as a model for future peer-to-peer technologies. Isn't that cute?"
The Internet

Submission + - Net Neutrality Debate crosses the Atlantic (independent.co.uk)

Submitted by smallfries
smallfries writes: The network neutrality debate has raged on in the States for some time now. Now broadband providers in the UK have banded together to threaten the BBC that plans to provide programming over "their" network could disrupt operations. The BBC is being asked to cough up the readies to pay for bandwidth charges, otherwise traffic shaping will be used to limit access to the iPlayer. Strange really, I thought that the monthly fee we pay already was to cover access ... but maybe it only covers the final mile and they need to be paid twice to cover the rest of the journey.
Censorship

Submission + - Help. American Idol is going after me. (gk2gk.com)

Submitted by
Geek 2 Geek
Geek 2 Geek writes: "Hi, I was referred to slashdot as a place where I might get help for a problem I'm having. A while ago, I devised a contest for my web site — Geek 2 Geek. It is a "talent" show for geeks in which they submit humorous videos. I called it "Geek Idol". We received a letter from a law firm representing American Idol regarding our contest contest. A complete copy of the letter can be seen at www.gk2gk.com/topten/template20.asp . They express the concern that "... your use of GEEK IDOL will most likely cause confusion, mistake, and/or deception among the consuming public regarding the source or sponsorship of your services, and will give the false impression that your services are associated with ... 'American Idol' in violation of our client's rights. They also say that "... since AMERICAN IDOL is a famous mark, ... your use of GEEK IDOL would also constitute dilution of our client's marks and unfair competion. If we do not withdraw our use of "GEEK IDOL", they say they will seek remedies including, "without limitation, immediate and permanent injunctive relief, compensatory and punitive damages, and an award for attorney's fees and costs incurred in obtaining such remedies. I asked our members whether anyone who read about the contest got the impression that it was somehow affiliated with American Idol. Of course, no one would, it was described in a humorous, satirical way, for one thing. The word "IDOL" is hardly a new word. And, having seen the American Idol show a few times, I don't see that anybody who performs as a "geek" will win their contest, although, I guess, Clay Aiken started out that way, but it was bred out of him by the time he was a finalist. Are there any lawyers out there? Any advice from anyone as to how we should respond? Thanks."
Communications

Submission + - cryptography (washington.edu)

Submitted by
mounce
mounce writes: "GCN[1] reports that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)[2] has revised two Federal Information Processing Standards[3] specifying algorithms for cryptographic hashing. Drafts of FIPS 180-3 and FIPS 198-1 have been released for three months of public comment. FIPS 180-3 replaces Publication 180-2 and specifies five secure hash algorithms (SHAs). The algorithms, when combined with a message, produce a message digest that should be unique to the original message. These can be used for digital signatures and message authentication codes. In the new draft, SHA-1, SHA-224 and SHA-256 are used to produce digests of shorter messages, while SHA-384 and SHA-512 can be used for longer messages. They produce digests ranging in length from 160 to 512 bits, depending on the algorithm used. FIPS 198-1 replaces Publication 198 and specifies an algorithm for applications requiring message authentication.

(1) http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/44453-1.html
(2) http://www.nist.gov/
(3) http://csrc.nist.gov/focus_areas.html#csa"
Media (Apple)

Submission + - Apple's Jobs takes (another) swing at Greenpeace

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Apple CEO Steve Job took a big swipe at Greenpeace and two of its representatives attending Apple's shareholder meeting this week saying: "I think your organization particularly depends too much on principle and not enough on fact," Jobs said to the Greenpeace representatives. "You guys rate people based on what people say their plans are in the distant future, not what they are doing today. I think you put way too much weight on these glorified principles and way too little weight on science and engineering. It would be very helpful if your organization hired a few more engineers and actually entered into dialog with companies to find out what they are really doing and not just listen to all the flowery language when in reality most of them aren't doing anything. That's my opinion." http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1507 1"
The Media

Submission + - The Next Frontier in Outsourcing

Submitted by GuyMannDude
GuyMannDude writes: Outsourcing first claimed manufacturing jobs, then hit services such as technical support, airline reservations and tax preparation. Now comes the next frontier: local journalism. A news site has posted a job listing that reads "We seek a newspaper journalist based in India to report on the city government and political scene of Pasadena, California, USA." The editor and publisher of the two-year-old Web site pasadenanow.com acknowledges that the advertisement — which appears in the Indian version of craiglist — is unusual but believes it "could be a significant way to increase the quality of journalism on the local level without the expense that is a major problem for local publications." As one might expect, the plan has plenty of detractors, including journalism professors.
United States

Submission + - Inquiry Into Purdue's Bubble Fusion Claims

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A congressional subcommittee has launched an investigation into allegations that Purdue professor Rusi P. Taleyarkhan engaged in professional misconduct while trying to substantiate his claims of sonofusion, or bubble fusion. DailyTech has the full text of Prof. Taleyarkhan's full denouncing of the inquiry. http://dailytech.com/Murky+Waters+Surround+Purdues +Latest+Bubble+Fusion+Inquiry/article7245.htm
PlayStation (Games)

Submission + - 2nd Week Of UK PS3 Launch A Near Disaster

Submitted by mrneutron2004
mrneutron2004 writes: Wow! ChartTrack indicates PS3 sales fell 82% during week two. Is it any shock with the outrageous price? "Apparently though this was perhaps just a "release valve" on pent up demand, as Chart Track now reports an astonishing 82% decline in PS3 sales during week two. If you ask us, Sony's European market pricing is outrageous. Priced at a massive 425 English Pounds (that's a staggering $834 in U.S. Dollars) I just cant see "average Joe Consumer" buying into the PS3 in the UK with this pricing." http://www.fastsilicon.com/latest-news/2nd-week-of -uk-ps3-launch-a-near-disaster.html?Itemid=60

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