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NASA

NASA Draws On Open Source For Shuttle Bug-Tracking 83

Posted by Soulskill from the hard-to-argue-with-cheaper-and-faster dept.
thefickler writes "NASA has built a new software package to track problems with the Space Shuttle using open source tools from Mozilla. '[Alonso Vera, the lead of the Ames Human-Computer Interaction Group] wouldn't say exactly how much the new systems cost to build, but he said they were an order of magnitude cheaper than what was being used before, closer to $100,000 than the $1 million it would have cost in the past.' The Space Shuttle Endeavor launched successfully on Friday, so the new system is being used to track any problems which may crop up in the current mission. As one commentator pointed out, 'A system like this could save more than money; it could save lives.'"
Republicans

Submission + - Congress may outlaw "attempted" piracy

Submitted by
cnet-declan
cnet-declan writes: "The Bush administration is asking Congress to make "attempted" copyright infringement a federal crime. It's no joke. Here's our News.com article on the topic, along with the text of the legislation and a press-release -type summary. Rep. Lamar Smith, a key House Republican, said he "applauds" the idea, and his Democratic counterpart is probably on board too. In addition, the so-called Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007 would create a new crime of life imprisonment for using pirated software in some circumstances, expand the DMCA with civil asset forfeiture, and authorize wiretaps in investigations of Americans who are "attempting" to infringe copyrights. Does this go too far?"
Music

DRM 'Too Complicated' Says Gates 196

Posted by Zonk from the comments-good-for-three-days-or-three-plays dept.
arbirk writes "BBC News is reporting on comments made by Bill Gates concerning DRM.. It seems he has got the point (DRM is bad for consumers), but that opinion differs widely from the approach taken by Microsoft on Zune and their other music related products. The comments were originally posted on Micro Persuasion. The article also has a take on Apple's DRM." From the BBC article: "Microsoft is one of the biggest exponents of DRM, which is used to protect music and video files on lots of different online services, including Napster and the Zune store. Blogger Michael Arrington, of Techcrunch.com, said Bill Gates' short-term advice for people wanting to transfer songs from one system to another was to 'buy a CD and rip it'. Most CDs do not have any copy protection and can be copied to a PC and to an MP3 player easily and, in the United States at least, legally."
Education

Saving U.S. Science 667

Posted by samzenpus from the quick-someone-call-bill-nye dept.
beebo famulus writes "Twenty years from now, experts doubt that America will remain a dominant force in science as it was during the last century. The hand wringing has generated a couple of new ideas to deal with the dilemma. Specifically, one expert says that the federal government should create contests and prize awards for successful science ideas, while another advises that the National Science Foundation fund more graduate students and increase the amount of the fellowships."

Bearshare Shut Down by RIAA 269

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the another-one-bites-the-dust dept.
Pichu0102 writes "According to WebProNews, Bearshare has been shut down by the RIAA." From the article: " Online file-sharing service BearShare, along with operators Free Peers Inc., is packing it up due to a $30 million settlement with the recording industry. The conditions of the settlement were agreed to by the P2P company to avoid further copyright infringement litigation."

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