Comment Format (Score 3, Funny) 563
No doubt Microsoft is already working on their own closed source Microsoft Health Information File Format, with its own special brand of DRM and licensing scheme.
Journal SPAM: Bill Moyers - 'Buying The War' - Neocon excerpt
Feed US schools banning iPods, DAPs to curb digital cheating (engadget.com)
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
Slowly but surely, phenomenons such as texting and digital cheating are being both accepted and rejected (respectively) in high schools across the US. Apparently, school boards are just now figuring out what an iPod is truly capable of, as the gigabytes of space can hold an awful lot more cheat sheets than a mere TI-83 can (fess up old schoolers, we all did it). While cellphone bans have typically been in effect for some time now, it appears that the secret of using display-touting DAPs and PMPs to cheat is coming out, but why in the world has it taken this long? Besides that, we find it a bit curious that teachers weren't already frustrated with being tuned into with just one ear, as it seems that music players in general would cause quite the distraction in your average high school learning session. Still, it won't be long before diminutive Bluetooth earphones become all the rage, and once more institutions of learning will be futilely fighting the same battle all over again.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Submission + - RIAA claims ownership of all artists' royalties
ISurfTooMuch writes: With the furor over the impending rate hike for Internet radio stations, wouldn't a good solution be for them to simply not play RIAA-affiliated labels' music and focus on independent artists? Sounds good, except that the RIAA's affiliate organization SoundExchange claims it has the right to collect royalties for any artist, no matter if they have signed with an RIAA label or not. You can read all about it over at Daily Kos, including excerpts from the SoundExchange Web site. It's amazing how the RIAA looks more and more like the Mafia each day.
Is Commercialization Killing Open Source? 162
An anonymous reader writes "IBM, Sun, Novell, and Red Hat all have a very significant open source element to their businesses. In addition to these juggernauts, there is growing investment in various open source models. Will money flowing into open source destroy its roots? Mark Hinkle just posted an editorial asking the questions Is Commercialization Killing Open Source? in which he comments on 'opensville' and gives some actual investment data, and a lot of insight into the growing trend in 'open source commercialization'. Is there such a thing as 'too much money' when it comes to developing software?"
Feed India could get free 2Mbps broadband internet by 2009 (engadget.com)
Filed under: Wireless
Entire cities getting free WiFi used to be quite the sensation, but now the real hotness is in connecting up an entire nation. According to IndiaTimes, the government is proposing that all citizens of India receive complimentary 2Mbps internet by 2009, and the service would be provided by the state-owned BSNL and MTNL. Officials backing the plan are hoping that giving all residents access to high-speed internet would "boost economic activity" as the citywide free WiFi implementations apparently have in America. The nation's department of telecom will purportedly be laying "an extensive optic cable network across the country, permitting the resale of bandwidth, setting up web hosting facilities within the country, and asking all internet service providers to connect to the National Internet Exchange of India." Unsurprisingly, this issue has created very polarized camps, as consumers cheer on the idea, current telecom providers are shaking at the mere thought of all future telephone calls being converted into free VoIP dialogue.[Via Slashdot]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
RIAA Security Expert's Quest For Reliability 170
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In the ongoing case of UMG v. Lindor, Ms. Lindor has now moved to exclude the trial testimony of the RIAA's 'expert' witness, Dr. Doug Jacobson. Jacobson is the CTO and co-founder of Palisade Systems, Inc, and a teacher of internet security at Iowa State, but in his February 23rd deposition testimony she argues he failed to meet the reliability standards prescribed by Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Federal Rule of Evidence 702. The Groklaw and Slashdot communities participated in both the preparation of the deposition questions, and the vetting of the witness's responses."
Feed The Earth's Climate Is Seesawing, According To Climate Researchers (sciencedaily.com)
During the last 10,000 years climate has been seesawing between the North and South Atlantic Oceans. Cold periods in the north have corresponded to warmth in the south and vice versa. These results imply that Europe may face a slightly cooler future than predicted by IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Feed Help Comes In The Mail For Drinkers (sciencedaily.com)
Mailing a simple information pamphlet to interested drinkers in the general population reduced binge drinking by 10 percent.
Feed Digital Domain: Technology to Dissect Every Dunk and Drive (nytimes.com)
The N.B.A.’s 450 players, arguably the most gifted group of athletes in any professional sport, are probably the most closely scrutinized employees in the world.
Bookmark SPAM: Freedom day in South Africa
Submission + - UK Voters Want To Vote Online
InternetVoting writes: "A recent research survey by ntl:Telewest Business found that nearly half of the respondents would be more likely to vote online. This year the UK government has authorized 13 local election pilots including Internet voting. ntl:Telewest Business estimates 10 million UK households have broadband and 4,789 local libraries offer public access. In the US political parties are beginning to test the Internet voting waters with the Michigan Democratic Party to offer Internet voting in their 2008 Presidential Caucus."
Bookmark How many Friday the 13ths are there in a given year? (askdavetaylor.com)
Feed $500 million underwater fiber network to link Asia, America (engadget.com)
Filed under: Networking
Unfortunately for most, traversing back and forth to Asia from America on a regular basis isn't exactly in the cards, but thanks to a $500 million project agreed upon by a 17-member telecommunications consortium, visiting via fiber will soon be a whole lot snappier. Telekom Malaysia, along with 16 other firms, have awarded a half billion dollar contract to Alcatel-Lucent and NEC to construct a 12,428-mile link between the west coast of America and Southeast Asia. The aptly-dubbed Asia-America Gateway will connect the western US with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii, while also offering "seamless interconnection" with Europe, Africa, and Australia. Moreover, the project is being designed to provide a "more secure link for traffic" across the seas, as it avoids the hazardous Pacific Ring in hopes of dodging massive internet outages due to unexpected earthquakes. Best of all, the wait time for the undersea cabling to make an impact is fairly reasonable, as users should see "faster and more reliable service" when it becomes operational in December of next year.[Via Physorg]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
MIT Dean of Admissions Resigns in Lying Scandal 351
Billosaur writes "CNN has a report that the Dean of Admissions at MIT has resigned her post after admitting to lying about her academic record. 'Marilee Jones, who joined the staff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1979 to lead the recruitment of women at the university, stepped down from her post after admitting that she had misrepresented her academic degrees to the institute, according to a statement posted on MIT's Web site.' The school had recently received information about her credentials and the subsequent investigation uncovered the misrepresentations. Question is, why did it take 28 years?"
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