17953122
submission
ZuchinniOne writes:
Neuroscientist David Eagleman has written a new book called "Why the net matters: How the internet will save civilization". However his book is not only relevant for its content, but also for the novel way in which he presents the information and allows readers to take advantage of the e-book format with non-linear reading style, videos, and interactive content.
Hopefully this will just be the beginning of a trend that really allows e-books to become their own medium for telling stories and presenting information.
10227304
submission
ZuchinniOne writes:
With Ubisoft's fantastically awful new DRM you must be online and logged in to their servers to play the games you buy. Not only was this DRM broken the very first day it was released but now their authentication servers have failed so absolutely no-one who legally bought their games can play them ... oops.
"At around 8am GMT, people began to complain in the Assassin's Creed 2 forum that they couldn't access the Ubisoft servers and were unable to play their games."
One can only wonder if this utter failure will help to stem the tide of bad DRM.
7629862
submission
ZuchinniOne writes:
The search giant said it will draw real-time data from over a billion pages on the web. The new feature will also include updates from Twitter and the social networks of MySpace and Facebook. At an event staged at the Computer History Museum in California, the company said this was the first time that any search engine has integrated the real-time web into its results page.
6571595
submission
ZuchinniOne writes:
The FCC has proposed new rules for Net Neutrality and they are currently in the process of getting public feedback for the suggested rules. However there are a disturbingly large number of negative, anti-neutrality submissions from people who seem to think that Net Neutrality is a new thing and equivalent to a government takeover of the internet.
It is unclear if these comments are due to the spin some news organizations are putting on Net Neutrality. Or if they are due to the astroturfing being done by big telecoms such as AT&T who asked their 200,000 employees to come out against Net Neutrality ... but to keep their affiliation with AT&T a secret when posting comments. There are also concerns that "AT&T is subtly threatening employees by describing the FCC as 'poised to regulate the Internet in a manner that would drive up consumer prices, and burden companies like ours while exempting companies like Google.'"
In support of this misinformation, John McCain (R) has introduced a bill to the senate which would block Net Neutrality. This seems a bit out of place for a person who freely admits he doesn't know how to use a computer. McCain's ironically named "Internet Freedom Act" will be competing against the "Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009" submitted by the Democrats in favor of Net Neutrality.
5639819
submission
ZuchinniOne writes:
The Consumerist takes a look at Apple's response to the FCC regarding the rejection of a Google Voice App
They don't seem to buy Apple's response saying:
"Too bad it isn't actually true. Techcrunch's sources claim that most of the responses are lies, half-truths, or at best, misleading.The part of Google's statement that deals with this subject is, tellingly, redacted in the version released to the public."
It's an interesting read and definitely thought provoking.
5630207
submission
ZuchinniOne writes:
"The Wall Street Journal has a very interesting article about the likely reasons that AT&T and Apple killed the Google Voice application."
"With Google Voice, you have one Google phone number that callers use to reach you, and you pick up whichever phone--office, home or cellular--rings. You can screen calls, listen in before answering, record calls, read transcripts of your voicemails, and do free conference calls. Domestic calls and texting are free, and international calls to Europe are two cents a minute. In other words, a unified voice system, something a real phone company should have offered years ago."
They also go on to discuss why it would be a good thing to "Transition away from "owning" airwaves" and "End municipal exclusivity deals for cable companies" and how all of this would likely strengthen Net Neutrality through a competitive marketplace that anyone could enter.
5566197
submission
ZuchinniOne writes:
It looks like NASA is finally taking the idea of a space elevator seriously. They have allocated $4 million to fund research that will hopefully result in the technological breakthroughs necessary to finally make it a reality.
