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Music

Copyright Cutback Proposed As RIAA Solution 709

Posted by CmdrTaco from the things-that-would-help-but-are-impossible dept.
An anonymous reader writes "InfoWeek blogger Alex Wolfe proposes a novel solution to the ongoing spate of RIAA lawsuits over alleged music copying. He suggests legislation which cuts back corporate copyrights from 120 years to 5 years. 'We should do what we do to children who misbehave,' he writes. 'Take away their privileges.' Wolfe says this is regardless of the misunderstanding surrounding the latest case, which apparently isn't about ripping CDs to one's own computer. As to those who say copyrights are a right: "That's simply a misunderstanding of their purpose. Copyrights, like patents, weren't implemented to protect their owners in perpetuity. They are part of a dance which attempts to balance off societal benefits against incentives for writers and inventors. You want to incentivize people to push the state of the creative and technical arts, but you don't want give those folks such overbearing protections that future advances by other innovators are stifled." What do you think; is it time to cut off the record industry?"
Security

California Testers Find Flaws In Voting Machines 167

Posted by samzenpus from the your-vote-can-count-many-times dept.
quanticle writes "According to Ars Technica, California testers have discovered severe flaws in the ES&S voting machines. The paper seals were easily bypassed, and the lock could be picked with a "common office implement". After cracking the physical security of the device, the testers found it simple to reconfigure the BIOS to boot off external media. After booting a version of Linux, they found that critical system files were stored in plain text. They also found that the election management system that initializes the voting machines used unencrypted protocols to transmit the initialization data to the voting machines, allowing for a man-in-the-middle attack. Altogether, it is a troubling report for a company already in hot water for selling uncertified equipment to counties."
User Journal

Journal Journal: Apple gives $100 back for early iPhone adaptors

Journal by Lightlord
Steve Jobs announced that Apple is giving $100 back for those who purchased iPhone before the price drop announced yesterday. According to Steve, "... we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. ... We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone c
Robotics

Robots Teach Autistic Kids Social Skills 171

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the bender-not-a-great-model dept.
posys writes "Wired Magazine has an article showing how the eternal patience of robots lends itself well to teaching new social skills to autistic children. 'The researchers hope that the end result is a human-like robot that can act as a "social mediator" for autistic children, a steppingstone to improved social interaction with other children and adults. "KASPAR provides autistic children with reliability and predictability. Since there are no surprises, they feel safe and secure," Robins said, adding that the purpose is not to replace human interaction and contact but to enhance it. Robins has already tested some imitation and turn-taking games with the children and his preliminary findings are positive.'"
The Almighty Buck

Monkey Business and Freakonomics 182

Posted by CowboyNeal from the cashing-out-in-banana-chips dept.
marct22 writes "Stephen J Dubner, co-writer of 'Freakonomics' said there will be a second Freakonomics book. One of the items that will be covered is capuchin monkeys' use of washers as money, buying sweets, budgeting for favored treats over lesser treats. He mentioned that one of the experiments had similar outcomes as a study of day traders. And lastly, he watched capuchin prostitution!"
Google

Google Website Optimizer 59

Posted by samzenpus from the google-google-google dept.
compuglot writes "Google has released the third leg of the stool in its quest to dominate online marketing. Google Website Optimizer is a multivariate testing application that allows users to test elements and combinations of elements in a website or landing page. The goal is increased conversions, and of course AdWords market share."
Microsoft

Microsoft OneCare Last in Antivirus Tests 144

Posted by CowboyNeal from the not-so-great-expectations dept.
Juha-Matti Laurio writes "PC World has a story reporting that Microsoft's Windows Live OneCare came in dead last out of a group of 17 antivirus programs tested against hundreds of thousands of pieces of malware. The report of an Austrian antivirus researcher was released at the AV Comparatives Web site this week. Several free AV products were included in the test as well." While the top dog was able to find 99.5% of the malicious code, OneCare clocked in at 82.4%. Of course, there's no metric for the severity of the malware in the 17% gap.
PlayStation (Games)

Journal Journal: Will the Wii's Success help Playstation 3? 2

Journal by fistfullast33l

The Wii currently is the hottest item on the block. You can't find it in stores at all and it's all the rage on the internets. Early fanboy reports imply that the Wii is the king of the next generation, and that the 360 and the PS3 will just be afterthoughts. Obviously, it's way to early to tell this. However, a more important fact is pointed out by the success of the Wii. Third party developers will be listening and acting on this. The Wii will begin to gain momentum, and business sens
User Journal

Journal Journal: Dirty restaurants with chicken cheesteaks a la

Journal by philharhamica
black hair need a visit from the health inspector. I bet they might even have rats. Their shrimp in a basket with black veins unremoved and underfried went directly to the trash but were photographed and time and date documented. The receipt was paid and saved for posterity. Make they choke on the polite, AMPLE tip I paid them for delivering the food and may they have a panic attack when they read about it in the newspaper. Maybe one of them had severe PMS or their period that day or a midl

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