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Feed Science Daily: Clever Plants 'Chat' Over Their Own Network (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
Recent research reveals that plants have their own 'chat' systems that they can use to warn each other. Therefore plants are not boring and passive organisms that just stand there waiting to be cut off or eaten up. Many plants form internal communications networks and are able to exchange information efficiently.
Networking

Submission + - IT pay falls short, finds annual salary survey 1

Submitted by BobB
BobB writes: A storm seems to be brewing in the IT job market. Pay raises have continued to outpace inflation, and bonuses are downright impressive — 11.6% on average. Yet, as the 2007 Network World Salary Survey finds, dissatisfaction over the salary package is rampant. Package includes a salary calculator to compare what you're making to those in your region and across U.S. http://www.networkworld.com/salary/2007/092407-annual-salary-survey.html?ts0hb=&story=ab5_salartsrvy
Communications

Apple May Be Breaking the Law With Policy On iPhone Unlocks 385

Posted by Zonk from the read-the-fine-print dept.
an anonymous reader writes "Apple's recent decision to void warranties for folks that unlocked their iPhones may wind them up in legal hot water. The site Phone News points out that Apple appears to have broken a key warranty law relevant to SIM unlocks. The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, a law decades old, would seem to prevent Apple from voiding warranties in the way it is threatening to do with the iPhone, or so the site argues. 'The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act states that Apple cannot void a warranty for a product with third-party enhancements or modifications to their product. The only exception to this rule is if Apple can determine that the modification or enhancement is responsible [for] damaging the product in question ... The legal [questions are]: Is the SIM Unlock process that has become mainstream doing damage to iPhone? And, also, is Apple designing future software updates to do damage to iPhone when said SIM Unlock code is present?'"

Feed Engadget: Letterman's head writer faces sparking, smoking PowerBook adapter (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Laptops

Granted, we've seen our fair share of Apple products getting a bit hot under the collar, and while the PowerBook AC adapters never were truly regarded as top-notch pieces of equipment, it seems that this particular one chose the wrong guy to get all sparked up on. Justin Stangel, a head writer / producer for the Late Show with David Letterman, was presumably writing up the night's monologue when he was uncomfortably faced with a sparking AC adapter. As any true professional would do, he actually filmed the volatile device getting its spark (and smoke) on rather than evacuating the area, so be sure and click on through to see what the fuss is all about.

Continue reading Letterman's head writer faces sparking, smoking PowerBook adapter

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Java

Dangerous Java Flaw Threatens 'Virtually Everything' 323

Posted by Zonk from the let-it-cool-down-first dept.
Marc Nathoni writes with a ZDet article about a critically dangerous hole in the Java Runtime Environment. Due to the ubiquitousness of Java, this could prove a serious security problem. "Australia's Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT) analyst, Robert Lowe, warned that anyone using the Java Runtime Environment or Java Development Kit is at risk. 'Delivery of exploits in this manner is attractive to attackers because even though the browser may be fully patched, some people neglect to also patch programs invoked by browsers to render specific types of content,' said Lowe."

Feed Edwards' Second Life Horror (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed
The virtual headquarters of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has been defaced by a "feces spewing obscenity" created by Second Life political rivals. Welcome to the internet, John. At Table of Malcontents.


Power

Scotland Building Wave Power Farms 211

Posted by Zonk from the rats-water-and-wind-now-we-need-to-harness-dorks dept.
eldavojohn writes "Scottish engineers are taking advantage of the huge ocean coast that Scotland enjoys by building a 'wave farm' to harvest electricity from the ocean's powerful waves. These big red tubes have been named the Pelamis System after a sea snake. Max Carcas, the business developer for the firm, says it is 'a bit like a ship at anchor or a flag on a flagpole, it self orientates into the waves ... Waves then travel down the length of the machine and in doing so each of the sections, each of these train carriages, moves up and down and side to side.' These snake-like movements push hydraulic fluid through generators to produce electricity."
Music

EMI — Ditching DRM is Going To Cost You 220

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the how-not-to-make-a-buck dept.
33rpm writes "EMI has told online music stores that selling its catalog without DRM is going to cost them a lot of money. 'EMI is the only major record label to seriously consider abandoning the disaster that is DRM, but earlier reports that focused on the company's reformist attitude apparently missed the mark: EMI is willing to lose the DRM, but they demand a considerable advance payment to make it happen. EMI has backed out of talks for now because no one will pay what they're asking.'"
Role Playing (Games)

The History of Computer RPGs 77

Posted by Zonk from the welcome-to-the-dnd-world dept.
Gamasutra is running a series of articles about the history of CRPGs. The first piece covers the early years, from 1980 to 1983, and deals with with games like mainframe dnd, Wizardry, and Ultima. The follow-up, The Golden Years, touches on the gold box Dungeons and Dragons titles, as well as the Bard's Tale games. "The first Gold Box game is Pool of Radiance, a game which marked an important turning point in CRPG history. The game shipped in a distinctive gold-colored box (hence the nickname for the series), which sported artwork by celebrated fantasy illustrator Clyde Caldwell (Caldwell also designed the covers for Curse of the Azure Bonds and several other TSR-licensed games and books). It was initially available only on the Atari ST and Commodore 64 platforms, though soon ports were available for most major platforms, including the NES."
United States

How to Keep America Competitive 652

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the going-where-the-money-is dept.
pkbarbiedoll writes to tell us that in a recent Washington Post article, Bill Gates takes another look at the current state of affairs in computer science and education. According to Gates: "This issue has reached a crisis point. Computer science employment is growing by nearly 100,000 jobs annually. But at the same time studies show that there is a dramatic decline in the number of students graduating with computer science degrees. The United States provides 65,000 temporary H-1B visas each year to make up this shortfall — not nearly enough to fill open technical positions. Permanent residency regulations compound this problem. Temporary employees wait five years or longer for a green card. During that time they can't change jobs, which limits their opportunities to contribute to their employer's success and overall economic growth."
Television

Where Are All of the HDTV Tuners? 208

Posted by Cliff from the in-case-you-forgot-to-buy-one dept.
An anonymous reader asks: "Today I read about rabbit ears making a comeback with OTA HTDV. I want to purchase a standalone ATSC HDTV tuner to go with my projector, but I am having a very hard time finding one. The big-box stores seem to only stock one or two models and are frequently sold out. Searching online yields similar results. It would seem that there would be ever increasing demand for these tuners given that many HDTVs were sold without internal tuners in years past, and these tuners will be necessary for all old NTSC TVs after the February, 2009 shutdown of analog broadcasts. Where should I look to buy one of these devices? Of the currently available models, which are the best? Will the standalone HDTV tuner become a ubiquitous item as the 2009 deadline approaches?"
Music

Yahoo Music Chief Comes Out Against DRM 304

Posted by CmdrTaco from the getting-on-the-bandwagon dept.
waired writes "It seem that a trend has begun in the music industry after Steve Jobs essay. Now a senior Yahoo chief has spoken out in favor of Apple CEO Steve Jobs' call for major labels to abandon digital rights technology (DRM). It points out that consumers are getting confused and that the Microsoft DRM "doesn't work half the time"."
Google

Google News Found Guilty of Copyright Violation 223

Posted by CmdrTaco from the de-index-belgium-in-retaliation dept.
schmiddy writes "A court in Brussels, Belgium, has just found Google guilty of violating copyright law with its Google News aggregator. According to the ruling, Google News' links and brief summaries of news sources violates copyright law. Google will be forced to pay $32,600 for each day it displayed the links of the plaintiffs. Although Google plans to appeal, this ruling could have chilling effects on fair use rights on the web in the rest of Europe as well if other countries follow suit."

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