46596
submission
Grooves writes:
A new Wikipedia study suggests that when experts and non-experts look to assess Wikipedia for accuracy, the non-experts are harder on the free encyclopedia than the experts. The researcher had 55 graduate students and research assistants examine one Wikipedia article apiece for accuracy, some in fields they were familiar with and some not. Those in the expert group ranked their articles as generally credible, higher than those evaluated by the non-experts. The researcher said "It may be the case that non-experts are more cynical about information outside of their field and the difference comes from a natural reaction to rate unfamiliar articles as being less credible."
41626
submission
Giants2.0 writes:
Ars Technica has a brief article detailing some of the prospects of AMD's attempt to fuse the CPU and GPU, including the fact that AMD's Fusion will modify the x86 ISA. From the article, "To support CPU/GPU integration at either level of complexity (i.e. the modular core level or something deeper), AMD has already stated that they'll need to add a graphics-specific extension to the x86 ISA. Indeed, a future GPU-oriented ISA extension may form part of the reason for the company's recently announced "close to metal" (CTM) initiative."
40522
submission
Grooves writes:
Universal Music is suing MySpace for copyright infringement. Universal threatened to sue YouTube before the
Google acquisition was announced, so now it looks like they have moved on to the next target. Universal is angry about all of the free advertising they receive when users upload
music videos to MySpace. Ars speculates that Universal is really after a piece of the action. "On the morning of the
Google-YouTube deal, Universal — along with Sony BMG and CBS — signed
a licensing agreement with YouTube. If MySpace were to sign a similar agreement with the label, there is little doubt that the lawsuit would disappear."
36822
submission
DaGiants writes:
AMD has killed the Personal Internet Communicator (PIC), one of the first major efforts at designing ultra low-cost PCs for the third world. Ars Technica reports that AMD decided to pull the plug, taking a loss on the project. AMD can't be too dissapointed though, as the OLPC uses AMD's Geode x86 processor, and delivers a lot more for much less. While OLPC gets most of the attention these days, AMD's role in spurring interest in low-cost PCs for developing nations can't be overlooked.
35990
submission
Grooves writes:
According to tests performed by Ars Technica, Windows Vista will need some coddling on old hardware. As a follow-up to their performance review of Vista Beta 2, Ars tested the latest public builds of Vista on hardware spanning from 2001 to a Thinkpad purchased a few months ago. The results show that Vista is extremely RAM hungry, graphical power is less of an issue unless you want eye candy, and hard drive I/O is critical. Also, their experience with "in-place upgrades" was abysmal, and mirrored my own experiences.
22811
submission
Grooves writes:
YouTube has been asked to remove almost 30,000 videos from their site, according to reports. The Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) found 29,549 videos on the site that had materials contained in them that where not authorized by rights holders. From the article, "A spokesperson for that organization said that they were considering petitioning YouTube for a better screening process. Although YouTube is legally obligated to remove infringing material when notified, some copyright holders have expressed irritation at the notion that they need to police YouTube themselves." Now that Google's is attached to the site, will events like this become more commonplace?
7775
submission
Giants2.0 writes:
A survey conducted by the Commerce Committee says that Americans don't know what net neutrality is, and they don't want it.
Ars reports that only 7% of respondents had ever heard of net neutrality, but the report questions the
fairness of the survey, which was crafted by to assess support for the current version of the Telecommunications Act of 2006. The survey suggested to respondents that net
neutrality would prevent ISPs from selling faster service or security products, both of which are not true.
7061
submission
NYGiant writes:
Microsoft IPTV isn't cutting it for Verizon, so they took over parts of the project, according to reports. Verizon is in a rush to perfect its IPTV service, which is based on Microsoft's IPTV software. The problem is that to run well, Microsoft's software needs more memory than Verizon's set top boxes ship with. From the article, "Under the terms of that deal, Verizon would use Microsoft's Foundation Edition middleware stack. Microsoft would also supply a set of customer-facing applications. While Foundation Edition remains in use by Verizon, the development of the other applications was taken over by Verizon engineers."
6329
submission
Grooves writes:
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has announced the first voter registration drive aimed at gamers, called "Play for Real: Gamer Voter Drive." The drive is being managed by the ESA's Video Game Voters Network, an attempt at growing a grassroots community around the issue of games legislation. From the article, "Lowenstein would like to boost these figures by convincing younger voters that their voice will have an influence over issues they care about, particularly efforts to create new laws restricting video games."
5157
submission
Grooves writes:
Microsoft is bringing the Xbox 360 Core System to Japan a week in advance of the PlayStation 3 launch. Previously only available in North America and Europe, the Core System will cost 29,800 Yen ($256), approximately 10,000 yen ($86) cheaper than the premium Xbox 360. They're also throwing in a few games. From the article, "According to a Microsoft spokesperson, buyers of the new base system will also get two free games for a limited time: Project Gotham Racing 3 and Ninety-Nine Nights. Microsoft will additionally announce the release of three other "Platinum" games which will be priced at 2,800 Yen, or $24."
4261
submission
Grooves writes:
A new initiative spearheaded by a University of Georgia professor aims to produce a library of 1,000 wiki textbooks by tapping the collaborative power of wiki. Inspiration for the project came from a computer science course that wrote its own textbook on XML when no suitable commercial offerings were available. From the article, "The Global Text Project will work a bit differently from most wikis. Each chapter of each book will be overseen by an academic with knowledge of that field. Although the site will allow anyone to make changes, these will not become "official" until an editor signs off on them." Textbooks free as in speech, and beer? Sign me up.
97
submission
Grooves writes:
Macrovision's best-known form of copy protection inserts noise into analog video signals to make it difficult to get a good copy of the DVD or VHS recording. A company named Sima has products that eliminate this noise when digitizing such video, as any good digitizer would do. Macrovision argues that this is a violation of the DMCA, and a court sided with them in June. Now the injunction is being reviewed, and several organizations are siding with Sima and Fair Use, including the American Library Association, the Consumer Electronics Association, the Home Recording Rights Coalition, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. If it isn't overturned, this decision could make it illegal to developer products for making copies of commercial analog recordings.
