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Microsoft

Submission + - Torvalds Responds To Microsoft Patent Claims

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Linux Torvalds has a sharp retort to Microsoft executives' statements in a Fortune article that Linux violates 235 Microsoft patents. In an emailed response to InformationWeek's Charlie Babcock, Torvalds writes: "It's certainly a lot more likely that Microsoft violates patents than Linux does." He added: "Basic operating system theory was pretty much done by the end of the 1960s. IBM probably owned thousand of really 'fundamental' patents...The fundamental stuff was done about half a century ago and has long, long since lost any patent protection."
Math

Submission + - $25,000 question: Is this Turing machine universal

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Stephen Wolfram, creator of Mathematica and author of A New Kind of Science, is offering a 25k prize to anyone who can prove or disprove his conjecture that a particular 2-state, 3-color Turing machine is universal. If true, it would be the simplest universal TM, and possibly simplest universal computational system — even simpler than rule 110. The announcement comes on the 5-year anniversary of the publication of NKS, where among other things Wolfram introduced the current reigning TM champion.

Feed MPAA's New Rating System: Would Casablanca Be Smoked Out Of A PG Rating? (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
Remember earlier this year when the MPAA agreed to make some small changes to its movie rating system that had come under a fair amount of criticism for being arbitrary and secretive? Apparently, a part of that shift will be to consider bad habits like smoking a reason to rate a movie for adults only. This has some wondering if classic movies, like Casablanca, would be much more strictly rated today. Luckily, the MPAA won't be re-rating old movies, but at least we can all rest easier knowing that no kids will ever see anyone smoking thanks to this new rating system. After all, if they can't see it in movies, I'm sure they'll never see anyone smoking. Also, I'm sure that the fact that smoking is only allowed in R-rated movies won't make kids think its even cooler and more rebellious than before...
Space

Submission + - Remains of James Doohan lost after landing

Submitted by
caffiend666
caffiend666 writes: "According to a Space.com news article the cremated remains of 200 people were lost in mountains after trip to space. 'The search for the UP Aerospace payload of experiments and the cremated remains of some 200 people — including "Scotty" of Star Trek fame, as well as pioneeering NASA Mercury astronaut, Gordon Cooper — continues within rugged New Mexico mountain landscape.' Is it just me, or does it appropriate that they lost the landing party? He wasn't wearing a red shirt, was he? Here's to a safe recovery!"
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Cold fusion by US Navy breakthrough

Submitted by
Tjeerd
Tjeerd writes: "Gordon's plastic wafer is the product of the latest in a long line of "cold fusion" experiments conducted at the US navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego, California. What makes this one stand out is that it has been published in the respected peer-reviewed journal Naturwissenschaften, which counts Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg and Konrad Lorenz among its eminent past authors (DOI: 10.1007/s00114-007-0221-7). More can be read at New Scientist."
Privacy

Submission + - Russia to halt public access to .RU whois data

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A Domain Tools blog post reports a Russian newspaper article regarding a provision of Russian law that would prohibit public access or posting of Whois data the .RU TLD without written permission. The Personal Data law, which the article states went into effect on January 30, 2007, will require compliance by RosNIIROSa (www.ripn.net) by 2010. Is this just an unintended consequence of privacy initiatives or does it have more nefarious origins?

Lessig, Stallman in New Documentary 110

Posted by CmdrTaco from the but-only-if-you're-in-nyc dept.
Alternative Freedom is a documentary on intellectual property rights featuring lots of interviews with folks like Stallman and Lessig, as well as people like DJ Danger Mouse (creator of the Grey Album). They have a trailer available, but if you're in NYC the movie is now showing. If anyone manages to go, I'd love to see some real reviews of it.

Electrical Noise Causing Physiological Stress? 401

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the human-potatoes-in-a-microwave dept.
el johnno writes "The Globe and Mail is reporting on possible physiological problems caused by so-called 'dirty electricity.' Poor power quality caused by electrical feedback and harmonics from consumer electronics are cited as a possible cause of various 'physiological stress' problems. While previous research in this area looked for connections between EM fields and cancer, some research is now looking into possible connections to fatigue, headaches, depression, and other symptoms. From the article: 'If electricity were flowing in a constant way, most people's bodies would likely adapt, but with all the interference from modern devices, the resulting fields are too variable for people to get used to.'"

DRM Reduces Battery Life 296

Posted by Zonk from the sucks-in-multiple-ways dept.
gr8_phk writes "An interesting article over at C|Net claims that playing DRMed music can reduce battery life up to 25 percent. Yet another reason to stick with plain old MP3 files." From the article: "Those who belong to subscription services such as Napster or Rhapsody have it worse. Music rented from these services arrive in the WMA DRM 10 format, and it takes extra processing power to ensure that the licenses making the tracks work are still valid and match up to the device itself. Heavy DRM not only slows down an MP3 player but also sucks the very life out of them."

Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality 75

Posted by samzenpus from the start-small-think-big dept.
prostoalex writes "When you read a news item about a company buyout or a two-person research project hitting big, how many times have you thought "I wonder if I could run a software company." Apparently, quite a few of software developers are discovering the entrepreneur within, which explains the ever-increasing number of threads on the Business of Software, Software CEO and other similar forums. However, most of the software entrepreneurs are coders, and not business majors. For them the business side of running a company constitutes that grey area that people with suits, expensive glasses and knowledge of word "synergy" learn in business schools. What will be the market for your product? What should you charge for a software app? Should you go freeware, ad-ware, shareware, trialware or open source? How will you accept payments? What are the laws for incorporating a company in the state of Nebraska, and will the IRS go after you, if you don't hire an accountant, and incorporate in Moms basement, which is zoned for residential area? How about marketing - will you be able to reach all the left-handed accountants in the Eastern United States, or should you buy a highway billboard advertising your image editing application?" Read the rest of Alex's review.

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