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Medicine

Glaxo Open Sources Malaria Drug Search Data 80

Posted by samzenpus from the free-as-a-mosquito dept.
smellsofbikes writes "GlaxoSmithKline, the world's second-largest pharmaceutical company, is putting thousands of possible malaria-treating drugs into the public domain in a move that the Wall Street Journal calls a 'Linux approach' to pharmaceutical screening. Andrew Witty, who is described as the boss of GSK, says the company thinks it is 'imperative to earn the trust of society, not just by meeting expectations but by exceeding them.' Of course, synthesis or discovery of new chemicals is cheap compared to efficacy and qualification studies, but this is a refreshing change from not handing out any information until after everything is patented."
Microsoft

Microsoft Clears MechWarrior4 Free Launch 131

Posted by Soulskill from the done-and-done dept.
Vamman writes "If you've been following the drama surrounding the free release of MechWarrior4, then you're probably aware that the initial announcement, made last summer, was a bit premature. Now, nearly a year since that announcement was made, MekTek Studios has announced that Microsoft Legal has given clearance for the free release of Mechwarrior4. This move by Microsoft Games couldn't come at a better time for the community, as the owners of MechWarrior are attempting a reboot of the franchise."
NASA

NASA Solar Satellite's First Sun Images 103

Posted by samzenpus from the picture-in-the-sun dept.
coondoggie writes "NASA today showed off the amazing first pictures of the Sun taken from its 6,800lb Solar Dynamics Observatory flying at an orbit 22,300 miles above Earth. The first images show a variety of activity NASA says provide never-before-seen detail of material streaming outward and away from sunspots. Others show extreme close-ups of activity on the sun's surface. The spacecraft also has made the first high-resolution measurements of solar flares in a broad range of extreme ultraviolet wavelengths."
Google

Group Calls For Google Antitrust Probe 372

Posted by samzenpus from the break-it-up-over-there dept.
CWmike writes "Advocacy group Consumer Watchdog called on the DOJ to launch a broad antitrust investigation into Google's search and advertising practices and consider a wide array of penalties, including possibly breaking the company up (PDF). The watchdog, along with a mobile entrepreneur and two lawyers representing Google rivals, called for an investigation focusing on a number of issues, including Google's marriage of search results to advertising and its book search service. '...We think all remedies should be on the table, including, we think, the possible breakup of the Internet giant,' said John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog. Adam Kovacevich, senior manager for global communications and public affairs at Google, discounted the criticisms, saying Consumer Watchdog has been 'relentlessly negative' about Google. The group recently questioned the reasons why Google stopped censoring search results in China, and criticized Google's privacy Dashboard as inadequate, Kovacevich said."
Government

UK University Researchers Must Make Data Available 352

Posted by timothy from the time-to-pay-the-public-piper dept.
Sara Chan writes "In a landmark ruling, the UK's Information Commissioner's Office has decided that researchers at a university must make all their data available to the public. The decision follows from a three-year battle by mathematician Douglas J. Keenan, who wants the data to do his own analysis on it. The university researchers have had the data for many years, and have published several papers using the data, but had refused to make the data available. The data in this case pertains to global warming, but the decision is believed to apply to any field: scientists at universities, which are all public in the UK, can now not claim data from publicly-funded research as their private property." There's more at the BBC, at Nature Climate Feedback, and at Keenan's site.

Comment Re:Sounds promising, but... (Score 1) 363

by Bull_UK (#29058669) Attached to: Why the UK Needs the Pirate Party
Well you'll get my vote, I won't vote Labour after the mess they've made, Conservatives lost my vote with the idea of using Google to store our personal data, Lib Dems have been useless running my council, BNP will never get my vote, I usually end up voting Green, so having another choice is great.

Comment Dr.Howser (Score 1) 860

by Bull_UK (#28386595) Attached to: Who is your favorite fictional doctor?
No Doogie? Come on we all grew up with him, and now he's a chick magnet in how I met your mother, a real geek hero. Yup I voted for the Doctor, and it didn't even cross my mind that it could have meant the EMH, although he was the only good character in Voyager.
The Media

Wikipedia Bans Church of Scientology 665

Posted by timothy from the there's-no-pleasing-some-people dept.
El Reg writes "Showing a new-found resolve to crack down on self-serving edits, Wikipedia has banned contributions from all IP addresses owned or operated by the Church of Scientology. According to Wikipedia administrators, this marks the first time such a high-profile organization has been banished for allegedly pushing its own agenda on the 'free encyclopedia anyone can edit.'"

Comment Sell cheaper ebook versions? (Score 1) 987

by Bull_UK (#27957413) Attached to: What Can I Do About Book Pirates?
This may not be applicable to you but recently I was looking for several e-books and found the price stupidly high, I can buy a paperback for £3.99 but an e-book costs $16.00,to me this makes no sense, producing a paper based book and distributing it is surely more expensive than producing an electronic version, don't the publishers get the book in electronic form from the authors anyway? Where are the costs? Off topic, I also find extremely frustrating that most books I want are not available in electronic form, and some that are are restricted to the U.S. and Canada, I could understand this for new books but not ones published in 2004. I have resorted at times to downloading torrents of books I own already as paperbacks, this probably isn't legal either but it satisfies my moral code

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