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Star Wars Prequels

BioWare Targeting Spring 2011 For Star Wars: The Old Republic Launch 82

MTV's Multiplayer blog reports on comments from BioWare employee Sean Dahlberg, which indicate that they are aiming to release the game in spring 2011. He said, "While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars: The Old Republic. We've got a lot of exciting updates and reveals planned throughout 2010, including the first-ever hands-on testing for the game. ... We can't wait to share more about the game with you as we progress through the year, so make sure you stay tuned to the official website for details." Recent posts to the game's developer blog provide details on the Imperial Agent and the Jedi Knight. They also released a video which gives insight into their design process for the Dark Side.
Privacy

Submission + - Palm Pre reports your location, usage, to Palm (kitenet.net) 1

AceJohnny writes: "Joey Hess found that his Palm Pre was ratting on him. It turns out the Pre periodically uploads detailed information about the user, including installed apps, application usage (and crashes), as well as GPS coordinates to Palm. This, of course, without user consent or control. The only way he found to disable this was to modify system files."
Social Networks

Submission + - Analyst, 15, creates storm after trashing Twitter (pcpro.co.uk)

Barence writes: "A 15-year-old schoolboy has become an overnight sensation after writing a report on teenagers' media habits for analysts Morgan Stanley. Intern Matthew Robson was asked to write a report about his friends' use of technology during his work experience stint with the firm's media analysts. The report was so good the firm decided to publish it, and it generated "five or six" times more interest than Morgan Stanley's regular reports. The schoolboy poured scorn on Twitter, claiming that teenagers "realise that no one is viewing their profile, so their tweets are pointless". He also claimed games consoles are replacing mobile phones as the way to chat with friends."
Privacy

Submission + - GPS, Cars, and Big Brother (mcclatchydc.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Apparently, since gas consumption is going down and fuel efficient cars are going up, the government is looking into a new form of taxing us to create revenue for transportation projects. This new system is a "by the mile tax" requiring GPS in cars so it can track the mileage http://www.mcclatchydc.com/nation/story/71078.html. Once a month the data gets uploaded to a billing center and you are conveniently taxed. http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/1299981.html. Not only will they have all your information, and possibly credit card info for all you automatic payees. They now can see, where your car has been as well.
Music

Submission + - RIAA Victory Over Usenet In Copyright Case

ozydingo writes: The RIAA scored a victory in a decision on a copyright case that the RIAA filed on October 12, U.S. District Judge Harold Baer ruled in favor of the music industry on all its main theories: that Usenet.com is guilty of direct, contributory, and vicarious infringement. In addition, and perhaps most important for future cases, Baer said that Usenet.com can't claim protection under the Sony Betamax decision stating that companies can't be held liable of contributory infringement if the device is "capable of significant non-infringing uses." Bear noted that Usenet.com differed from Sony in that the sale of a Betamax recorder was a one-time done deal, while Usenet.com's interaction with its users was ongoing relationship. The RIAA stated in a brief note 'We're pleased that the court recognized not just that Usenet.com directly infringed the record companies' copyrights but also took action against the defendants for their egregious litigation misconduct.'
Security

Submission + - UK launches dedicated cyber agency (zdnet.co.uk)

Jack Spine writes: The UK government is launching an office dedicated to cyber attack and defence. The Office of Cyber Security will focus on protecting Britain's IT infrastructure, and will be similar to the US Cyber Command model. While the Pentagon Cyber Command will be lead by the NSA, the UK Cyber Security Operations Centre, which will coordinate UK cyber efforts, will be based at GCHQ in Cheltenham.
IBM

Submission + - How IBM Plans to Win Jeopardy! (technologyreview.com)

wjousts writes: Technology Review is reporting on IBM's plans to take on Trebek at his own game. The "Watson" computer system uses natural-language processing techniques to break down questions into their structural components and then search it's database for relevant answers. A televised matchup with Trebek is planned for next year.

Damn you Trebek!

Earth

Submission + - Paint the World White to Fight Global Warming 2

Hugh Pickens writes: "Dr. Steven Chu, the Nobel prize-winning physicist appointed by President Obama as Energy Secretary, wants to paint the world white and said at the opening of the St James's Palace Nobel Laureate Symposium that by lightening paved surfaces and roofs to the color of cement, it would be possible to cut carbon emissions by as much as taking all the world's cars off the roads for 11 years. Pale surfaces reflect up to 80 per cent of the sunlight that falls on them, compared with about 20 per cent for dark ones, which is why roofs and walls in hot countries are often whitewashed. An increase in pale surfaces would help to contain climate change both by reflecting more solar radiation into space and by reducing the amount of energy needed to keep buildings cool by air-conditioning. Since 2005 California has required all flat roofs on commercial buildings to be white and Georgia and Florida give incentives to owners who install white or light-colored roofs. Put another way, boosting how much urban rooftops reflect would be a one-time carbon-offset equivalent to preventing 44 billion tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. For the first time, we're equating the value of reflective roof surfaces and CO2 reduction," says Dr. Hashem Akbari. "This does not make the problem of global warming go away. But we can buy ourselves some time.""

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