Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror

Submission + - Should We Welcome Our Weed-Killing Robotic Overlords? (reuters.com)

Submitted by Rick Schumann
Rick Schumann writes: A Swiss company called EcoRobotix is betting the agricultural industry will be willing to welcome their solar-powered weed-killing autonomous robot, in an effort to reduce the use of herbicides by up to a factor of 10 and perhaps even eliminate the need for herbicide-resistant GMO crops entirely. The 'see-and-spray' robot goes from plant to plant, visually differentiating the actual crops and weeds, and squirting the weeds selectively and precisely with weed killer, as opposed to the current technique of using large quantities of weed killer like Monsantos' Roundup to spray entire crops.

Submission + - Australia to Ban Cash Purchases Over $10,000

Submitted by skegg
skegg writes: Last night was federal budget night in Australia, and one of the announcements means Australians will face a crackdown on cash-in-hand payments in an attempt by the government to reduce money laundering and tax evasion. The government has turned its attention to the "black economy" in an attempt to raise billions of extra dollars and intends to limit cash payments for purchase goods and services to $10,000.

Comment For what it's worth... (Score 1) 694

I didn't find the memo sexist at all, but then again, maybe I'm not reading the correct version; people keep saying that he wrote that women are less well-suited for software engineering and I can't seem to find that section. Did Gizmodo edit that part out along with all the links?
Government

Spamhaus Fine Reduced From $11.7M To $27K 378

Posted by Soulskill from the one-month's-beer-budget dept.
eldavojohn writes "In 2006, anti-spam crusader Spamhaus was sued for 'defamation, tortious interference with prospective economic advantage and interference with existing contracts' after blocking 'promotional e-mails' from e360. What with the case being in Illinois and Spamhaus being a British outfit, Spamhaus didn't bloody care. So, e360 was awarded $11.7 million in damages, which was later thrown out in an appeals court with a request for the lower court to come up with actual damage estimates instead of the ridiculous $11.7 million. (e360 had originally stated $135M, then $122M, and then $30M as sums of damages.) As a result, the actual damages were estimated to be just $27,002. While this is a massive reduction in the fine and a little bit more realistic, I think it is important to note that Spamhaus is a service that people proactively utilize. They don't force you to use their anti-spam identification system — it's totally opt-in. And now they're being fined what a foreign judge found to be 'one month of additional work on behalf of the customers' to a company they allegedly incorrectly identified as spam. Sad and scary precedent."

Slashdot Top Deals

It isn't easy being the parent of a six-year-old. However, it's a pretty small price to pay for having somebody around the house who understands computers.

Close