Comment Re:Liability (Score 1) 750
Toyota Japan knew about this problem a year before Toyota US executives claimed they heard about it, which was well before it got into the news. So it could have been brewing for 15 months.
Examining Virtual Crimes 85
GamePolitics has an article about a research paper issued by the AU government's Institute of Criminology titled "Crime Risks of Three-Dimensional Virtual Environments." The paper discusses the legal questions raised by game worlds and avatars, ranging from regulation of in-game currency to a report of virtual rape.
"A person controlling an avatar that is unexpectedly raped or assaulted might experience the physical reaction of 'freezing,' or the associated shock, distrust and loss of confidence in using [3D virtual environments]. While civil redress for psychological harm is conceivable, the 'disembodied' character of such an incident would invariably bar liability for any crime against the person. However, Australian federal criminal law imposes a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment for using an internet carriage service to 'menace, harass or cause offence' to another user. Further, US and Australian laws ban simulated or actual depictions of child abuse and pornography. Therefore, any representations of child avatars involved in virtual sexual activity, torture or physical abuse are prohibited, regardless of whether the real-world user is an adult or child."
AIDS-Like Virus New Threat To Koala 120
An anonymous reader writes "A virus that may weaken the immune system of koalas, similar to HIV in humans, is a new 'wild card' among threats facing the species and nearly all koalas in the Australian state of Queensland could already be infected."
Comment Re:Step 1. (Score 1) 1197
Yeah, I thought that you were the type that would say that hospitals should toss dying people out in the gutter. I've got news for you: That's NEVER going to happen in this or any other civilized country, because your selfish myopic viewpoint is a tiny minority of the population. You're just going to have to face up to reality.
And "washing cars" and "borrowing from relatives" (nice job trying to shift the burden them, buddy) is not going to cover a multimillion dollar debt.
You'd end up in bankruptcy and you know it, leaving your irresponsible choice to be covered by other healthcare customers. Leech.
Journal SPAM: Who Else Bounces 'Tween Gnome and KDE? - KORE! 8
I haven't found the perfect fit. But. Is nirvana on the horizon?
In my penetration testing days, I was a big fan of xBSD or Debian with KDE 2/3 series. This was after about 5 years of Linux w/ first FVWM and later Gnome/Enlightenment.
Submission + - Solar power-cell breakthrough
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers from the Nanomaterials Research Centre at Massey University in New Zeeland have developed synthetic dyes that can be used to generate electricity at one tenth of the cost of current silicon-based solar panels. These photosynthesis-like compounds work in low-light conditions and can be cheaply incorporated into window-panes and building materials, thereby turning them into generators of electricity.
Hackers Offer Subscription, Support for Malware 105
Stony Stevenson writes "Organised gangs are taking a page out of security vendors' books and setting up their own websites that offer support and subscriptions for malware and spyware. From the article: 'For subscriptions starting as low as $20 per month, enterprises can sell fully managed exploit engines that spyware distributors and spammers can use to infiltrate systems worldwide, said Gunter Ollmann, director of security strategies at IBM's ISS X-Force team. Many exploit providers simply wait for Microsoft's monthly patches, which they then reverse engineer to develop new exploit code against the disclosed vulnerabilities, Ollmann said. "Then all you've got to do is just subscribe to them on a monthly basis.'"
Submission + - Microsoft, Google and Yahoo! Now Support GeoRSS
Lord Satri writes: "This week, Microsoft announced their new Live Maps, in addition to supporting Firefox on Windows for 3D, now supports the GeoRSS standard. They join Google which recently announced the support of GeoRSS and KML mapping in their Google Maps API. In short, GeoRSS is a standard supported by the Open Geospatial Consortium that incorporates geolocation in an interoperable manner to RSS feeds. The applications are numerous. With Yahoo!'s support of GeoRSS, all the major players are in and the future looks bright for this emerging standard. As for KML, Google Earth's file format, this new Google Maps integration is not unrelated to the recent announcement of internet-wide KML search capabilities within Google Earth. From the GeoRSS website: "This site describes a number of ways to encode location in RSS feeds. As RSS becomes more and more prevalent as a way to publish and share information, it becomes increasingly important that location is described in an interoperable manner so that applications can request, aggregate, share and map geographically tagged feeds. To avoid the fragmentation of language that has occurred in RSS and other Web information encoding efforts, we have created this site to promote a relatively small number of encodings that meet the needs of a wide range of communities. By building these encodings on a common information model, we hope to promote interoperability and "upwards-compatibility" across encodings.""
Three University of Wisconsin Stem Cell Patents Rejected 92
eldavojohn writes "A non-profit alumni group from the University of Wisconsin (WARF) has suffered a preliminary ruling against three of their recent patents regarding stem cells. Given that these patents have been upheld in prior rulings, there is a lot of speculation that they will be upheld in a future court case. From the PhysOrg article: 'The patents, which cover virtually all stem cell research in the country, have brought in at least $3.2 million and could net much more money before they expire in 2015, the newspaper said. Companies wanting to study the cells must buy licenses costing $75,000 to $400,000. The newspaper said WARF recently started waiving the fees if the research is conducted at universities or by non-profit groups.' Should universities (or groups within universities) be allowed to hold patents and intellectual property while at the same time gaining donations and grants as an educational institution — or for that matter government funds?"
Submission + - Take Two Interactive under investigation w/ SEC -
MrPinstripeCom writes: "Take Two Interactive under investigation w/ SEC — - Take Two interactive agreed to allow regulators to subpoena and investigate their practices with current and former employees as it relates to stock options purchases and disbursements. More info available here (msnbc.com)"
Feed Virgin Media chucks rocks in 'unlimited' debate (theregister.com)
From atop a fibre optic tower
Cable incumbent Virgin Media has called on ADSL rivals to stop marketing their services as "unlimited", when fair use policies often mean they aren't.
Feed EU tells Microsoft to open its Windows (theregister.com)
Don't expect much compensation though
Microsoft will be forced to hand over sensitive technical information about the Windows operating system to its rivals but can expect next to no compensation, according to a report in the Financial Times.
The Modern Ease of 3D Printing 264
An anonymous reader writes "What will it mean when 3D fabricators become cheap and common? A NY Times article explores the ease of copying objects by scanning them with NextEngine scanner and sending them to 3d 'print shops'. The experiments were done with Legos because most of the things around his office were protected by copyright. What will happen to the economy for engineering when we can just download a pirated description of a machine and 'print' it out? 'The world is just beginning to grapple with the implications of this relatively low-cost duplicating method, often called rapid prototyping. Hearing aid companies, for instance, are producing some custom-fitted ear pieces from scanned molds of patients. Custom car companies produce new parts for classic cars or modified parts for hot rods. Consumer product makers create fully functional designs before committing themselves to big production runs.'"
Submission + - Microsoft Mulling Portable Data Centers
1sockchuck writes: "An architect of the Windows Live team has published a presentation advocating portable container-based data centers as the future of data center infrastructure. James Hamilton, who previously was GM of Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services, contends that a distributed network of unmanned modular units "transforms data centers from static and costly behemoths into inexpensive and portable lightweights. ... Multiple smaller data centers, regionally located, could prove to be a competitive advantage." Both Sun and Rackable have rolled out prototypes of container-based "data center in a box" products, and Hamilton notes that large generators are also available in trailers. It's not yet clear whether Hamilton's presentation (available online in PowerPoint and Word versions) is a trial balloon or being actively pursued by Microsoft."
Submission + - Computer Interaction in Science Fiction Movies
MidVicious writes: "From futuristic 'Punch Cards' to Voice Recognition HoloDeck Interfaces, human/computer interactions have always mirrored the base concepts of our emerging technologies. This article from a Saarland University CS Seminar highlights Hollywood UI ranging from the moderately feasible (Total Recall's television/scenery display wall) to the often ridiculous (Swordfish's 6-flat screen monitor setup complete with 3-D virus-hacking environment). An interesting read, especially considering some of the technology is on its way to becoming a reality."
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