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Networking

Submission + - Fixing the unfairness of TCP congestion control (zdnet.com)

Submitted by duncan99
duncan99 writes: George Ou, Technical Director of ZDNet, has an analysis today of an engineering proposal to address congestion issues on the internet. It's an interesting read, with sections such as "The politicization of an engineering problem" and "Dismantling the dogma of flow rate fairness". Short and long term answers are suggested, along with some examples of what incentives it might take to get this to work. Whichever side of the neutrality debate you're on, this is worth consideration.
Music

Apple Mulls Flat-Rate "Unlimited Music" Option 355

Posted by Zonk from the sounds-delicious dept.
Mike writes "Apple is in discussions with the big music companies about an 'all you can eat' model for buying music that would give customers free access to its entire iTunes music library in exchange for paying a premium for its iPod and iPhone devices. Finally, it looks like the industry (or at least Apple) is 'getting it'. The real question is not whether the big music companies will go for it, but rather, who will be the first one to get smart and agree to offer it?"
Technology

Vaporware - the Tech That Never Was 192

Posted by Zonk from the beautiful-vapour-hanging-in-the-air dept.
An anonymous reader writes "CNet has published an incredibly detailed look at the most critical examples of vaporware ever seen in the tech sector. We're familiar with Wired's yearly round-ups, but this decades-long retrospective look at the most promising of all technologies that never saw the light of day, holds some fascinating technology I've never even heard of, including the wonderfully-named three-dimensional atomic holographic optical data storage nanotechnology. 'Continual delays, setbacks and excuses are the calling cards of a product that becomes vapourware. Windows Vista ran the risk of joining the club, and the terrific multiplayer first-person shooter Team Fortress 2 was in production for almost a decade before it was released in 2007. Devoted TF fans feared it would become a distinguished entrant in the who's who of vapourware. You might say Google Mail is in the running, having been in beta since 2004.'"
It's funny. Laugh.

Inventor to Launch Pop Bottle Rocket into Space 285

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the next-comes-the-lawn-chair-with-balloons dept.
DrButts writes "An inventor in British Columbia wants to be the first to launch a pop bottle rocket into space. 'This could be impossible, but the CEO of AntiGravity Research already holds the altitude record for boosting an elongated plastic pop bottle — propelled by a bicycle pump, water and a bit of soap — into the air. Firing the ubiquitous, two-litre plastic container usually consigned to the recycle bin into space might create a whole new definition for space junk, but the dream keeps Schellenberg going.'"
Idle

Nigerian Spammers Up the Ante 7

Posted by samzenpus
It seems the Nigerian spammers have learned you can't always kill them with kindness. Now they just threaten to kill you. A woman in St. Louis received a mail that said, in part, "Am very sorry for you my friend, is a pity that this is how your life is going to end as soon as you don't comply. ... I don't have any business with you, my duty as I am mailing you now is just to KILL/ASSASINATE you and I have to do it as I have already been paid for that. Get back to me now if you are ready to pay some fees to spare your life, If you are not ready for my help, then I will carry on with my job straight-up."
Mozilla

Submission + - Mozilla quietly resurrects Eudora

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: Developers at the Mozilla Foundation have released the first beta versions of the new Eudora email application. The Eudora 8.0 beta releases for Mac and Windows are the first new versions of since Qualcomm discontinued commercial development of the application in October 2006, turning it over to the open source community.

Since then, a new version of Eudora codenamed Penelope has been built from elements of Mozilla's Thunderbird. "We are committed to preserving the Eudora user experience and maintaining maximum compatibility for developers and users with Thunderbird," said the developers.
User Journal

Journal Journal: Trends in Copyright Violation 13

Journal by heinousjay

There is an interesting sense of entitlement that seems to run through people's desire to be entertained. A surprising amount of mental energy is devoted to creating and maintaining elaborate threads of thought to justify piracy of copyrighted content, be it movies, music, or game software. Most of these justifications rely on the basis that if the company won't make something available in the way a consumer wants, then they have every reason to take the content under their own terms (which
Education

New UK Initiative - Make Science Easier 423

Posted by Zonk from the all-those-equations-just-get-in-the-way-of-the-science dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Examiners in the UK have been told to make science 'easier'. From next year 70% of the paper must consist of 'low demand' questions in the form of multiple choice or similar answers. Currently this type of question makes up some 55% of the test. When the recent A level results were announced, with even more students in the UK getting A grades than ever before, educators were congratulating themselves on improved teaching. 'Jim Sinclair, the Joint Council for Qualifications director, emphatically denied that the changes would lead to a rise in the number achieving grade C - the top grade in the foundation tier. Future results would depend on how the marks were allocated. Dr Sinclair added that the changes would help to stop children being turned off by science.' Even still, it's hard to see the benefit from future science students passing by guessing."
The Internet

Submission + - Rural broadband crisis hurts residents & compa (computerworld.com) 1

Submitted by
Ian Lamont
Ian Lamont writes: "Thanks to profit-oriented telco industry in the U.S., rural residents don't have as much access to broadband services as those who live in urban or suburban areas. According to the federal government, just 17% of rural U.S. households subscribe to broadband service. But the problem is more than a conflict between Wall Street and small-town residents wanting to surf the 'Net or play Warcraft — the lack of broadband access prevents many businesses from growing and diversifying rural economies, as it's expensive or impossible to get broadband:

Soon after moving to Gilsum, N.H. (population 811), [Kim] Rossey learned that he couldn't get broadband to support his Web programming business, TooCoolWebs. DSL wasn't available, and the local cable service provider wasn't interested in extending the cabling for its broadband service the three-tenths of a mile required to reach Rossey's house — even if he paid the full $7,000 cost. Rossey ended up signing a two-year, $450-per-month contract for a T1 line that delivers 1.44Mbit/sec. of bandwidth. He pays 10 times more than the cable provider would have charged and receives one quarter of the bandwidth.
The author also notes that larger businesses are being crimped, from a national call center to a national retailer which claims 17% of its store locations can't get broadband."
The Almighty Buck

Science Blogger Sued for Unfavorable Book Review 588

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the hope-he-countersues-and-buys-a-nice-summer-home dept.
tigerhawkvok writes "Recently, new author Stuart Privar provided Professor PZ Meyers of Pharyngula a copy of his book, Lifecode, for review. Over the course of the review itself and a few follow-ups, it became evident that the content was nonsense (including, among other things, ten-legged spiders and other phenomena strongly at odds with developmental biology). However, the common threat of lawsuits finally became a reality, and now Privar is suing Myers for $15 million. Can calling someone a 'classic crackpot' in the face of such incorrect data have any chance at making it to court, or even winning the suit?"

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