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Comment Re:Perhaps Not Defamation (Score 1) 183

how many of those look legal to you?

You can't make an assumption of a files copyright status simply by looking at the filename or even the content. The songwriter Edwin Collins is often prevented from sharing his own music because of a belief that it MUST be a big companies "property".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/oct/06/edwyn-collins-sharing-music

What if I create a movie/song/ebook/document and want to share it but the filename makes it look "illegal"?

Surely the assumption must be innocent until proven guilty?

Comment Re:Idiots (Score 2) 402

First they give 3 million people access to this information and then they complain at a guy that has nothing to do with it. Given the way the US threats people I am sure that the poor soldier who has been in isolation for months has gotten 'an offer he can't refuse' to sign a fake testimony against Assange.

Testimony? They don't need testimony. They have chat logs implicating Assange in aiding Bradley Manning with submitting the documents. The law is pretty clear about these things. We'll just have to wait for his trial.

Incorrect, they only have chat logs between Manning and Lamo (the person who reported Manning). http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/wikileaks-chat/

Comment Re:What the fuck? (Score 1) 119

From the FAQ

Why has Slashdot become so successful?

Slashdot is successful for the same reasons anything else is. We provided something that was needed before anyone else did, and we worked (and continue to work) our butts off to make it as good as it could be.

Answered by: CmdrTaco Last Modified: 10/28/00

Those were the days....

Movies

Emmerich Plans Foundation As a 3D Epic 283

spuke4000 writes "Roland Emmerich, the writer/director/producer behind Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012 is planning to adapt Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. The plans include using technology developed for Avatar including 3D and motion capture technology. When asked about using this technology Emmerich responded: 'It has to be done all CG because I would not know how to shoot this thing in real.'"
Music

EMI Sues Beatles Usurper Off the Net 358

blackest_k sends along a Wired piece on EMI's successful suit to get Beatles music off the Net. Here is the judge's ruling (PDF). "A federal judge on Thursday ordered a Santa Cruz company to immediately quit selling Beatles and other music on its online site, setting aside a preposterous argument that it had copyrights on songs via a process called 'psycho-acoustic simulation.' A Los Angeles federal judge set aside arguments from Hank Risan, owner of BlueBeat and other companies named as defendants in the lawsuit EMI filed on Tuesday. His novel defense to allegations he was unlawfully selling the entire stereo Beatles catalog without permission was that he — and not EMI or the Beatles' Apple Corp — owns these sound recordings, because he re-recorded new versions of the songs using what he termed 'psycho-acoustic simulation.' Risan faces perhaps millions of dollars in damages under the Copyright Act. And copyright attorneys said his defense was laughable and carries no weight."
Google

Dashboard Reveals What Google Knows About You 260

CWmike writes "Ever wonder exactly what Google knows about you? Google took a step today to answer that question with the unveiling of Google Dashboard, which is designed to let users see and control the copious amounts of data that Google has stored in its servers about them. 'Over the past 11 years, Google has focused on building innovative products for our users. Today, with hundreds of millions of people using those products around the world, we are very aware of the trust that you have placed in us, and our responsibility to protect your privacy and data,' Google said in a blog post today. 'In an effort to provide you with greater transparency and control over their own data, we've built the Google Dashboard.' Dashboard is set up so that users can control the personal settings in each Google product that they use. Google said the tool supports more than 20 products, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Web History, YouTube, Picasa, Talk, Reader, Alerts and Google Latitude. Consumer Watchdog said in a statement today that it applauds Google for giving users a single place to go to manage their data. But at the same tine, the group also came down hard on Google, contending that it needs to give users a vehicle for stopping the company from collecting any personal data."

Comment Old news (Score 1) 170

This was covered last year in a BBC documentary; Oceans.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/oceans/locations/redsea/

In Djibouti at the gateway of the Red Sea an oceanographic marvel is occurring - a new ocean is being formed. This ocean is being created by the tectonic plates of Africa and Arabia being torn apart. All oceans are formed in this way, but this is one of the rare places where this process can be witnessed first hand.

Comment Re:ISS spotting (Score 1) 183

If you've got a Twitter account, Twisst is a wonderful service which will send you a message, giving you about a day's warning to the next overpass. Since it gets your city from Twitter, it directly gives you a time and direction to look towards. It's a lot of fun, and very easy to remember to watch out. Check it out.

Transportation

Toyotas Suddenly Accelerate; Owners Up In Arms 1146

cyclocommuter writes "Some Toyota owners are up in arms as they suspect that accidents have been caused by some kind of glitch in the electronic computer system used in Toyotas that controls the throttle. Refusing to accept the explanation of Toyota and the federal government (it involves the driver's-side floor mat), hundreds of Toyota owners are in rebellion after a series of accidents caused by what they call 'runaway cars.' Four people have died." The article notes: "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has done six separate investigations of such acceleration surges in Toyotas since 2003 and found no defect in Toyota's electronics."
Displays

Android Phone Turned Into Virtual Reality Goggles 103

andylim writes "After years of hype surrounding virtual reality, including the classic '90s movie The Lawnmower Man, few of us can claim to have experienced virtual reality at home. But what if you could build your own virtual reality goggles without having to spend a fortune? Using an HTC Magic and Google Street View, Recombu.com made a simple pair of virtual reality goggles that let you immerse yourself in distant locations. As the article points out, you can also use these goggles with augmented reality apps — although you probably don't want to walk around with them all day long."

Comment Re:Seriously? (Score 1) 235

Nope, that's because the people who would use Perl to "throw together a website" are now using PHP and its libraries instead, and good for them. People interested in writing games, applications or well-designed websites (to say nothing of its core "throw together a script or one-liner" market) still use Perl.

Google

Submission + - Google expunges Pirate Bay from search results (pcpro.co.uk) 7

Barence writes: Google has removed links to notorious file-sharing site The Pirate Bay in its search results. The move is a reaction to a takedown notice issued under the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), although it's unclear who filed the complaint. The ban isn't particularly effective: The top result is now The Pirate Bay's Wikipedia entry, which provides a prominent link to the site's homepage. It's also possible to search The Pirate Bay itself using Google, by typing "site:http://thepiratebay.org" into the search bar.

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