Date:
Thu, January 18, 2007 11:55:41 PMFrom:
slashdot@slashdot.org
Subject:
[Slashdot] Stories for 2007-01-19
======================================================================
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======================================================================
Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Expert Says Cisco's iPhone violates GPL
* Cod Enzyme Kills Bird Flu
* Six Rootkit Detectors To Protect Your PC
* Slashback: Net Neutrality, Bugged Coins, and Pawns
* MySpace to Offer Spyware for Parents
* Expert Wants to Decertify Global Warming Skeptics
* China Tests Anti-Satellite Laser Weapon
* Evidence Surfaces That MS Violated 2002 Judgement
* The RIAA and French Button-Makers
* The Contradictory Nature of OOXML
* Deathblow To a Voting Machine
* Printers Vulnerable To Security Threats
* Anti-Missile Defenses For Commercial Jets
* Another Indian State Moving To FOSS
* Mossberg - Vista Is Worthy, Largely Unexciting
* WIPO Creating New IP Rights Over Web Content
* The Dark Side of HDCP - Why is My PS3 Blinking?
* Extraterrestrials Probably Haven't Found Us - Yet
* RIAA Arrests Pro Artist for Making Mixtapes
* First Spammer Convicted Under CAN-SPAM Law
* Researchers Developing Single-Pixel Camera
* 'Over 30' Section For Games Stores?
* Vista to be Downloadable (Legally)
* Judge Rules That IBM Did Not Destroy Evidence
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Expert Says Cisco's iPhone violates GPL |
| from the take-that dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday January 17, @19:36 (Communicatio|
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/17/2327204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Stony Stevenson writes "Even while Cisco Systems is suing Apple for
violating its iPhone trademark, an open-source enthusiast is [0]accusing
Cisco itself of infringing copyright in the same product. From the
article: "Cisco has not published the source code for some components of
the WIP300 iPhone in accordance with its open-source licensing agreement,
said Armijn Hemel, a consultant with Loohuis Consulting and half of the
team running the GPL Violations Project, an organization that identifies
and publicizes misuse of GPL licenses and takes some violators to court."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/17/2327204
Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;435863114;pp;1
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Cod Enzyme Kills Bird Flu |
| from the fish-your-flu-away dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday January 17, @20:47 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/17/2334208 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Jon Golden writes "An Icelandic [1]cod enzyme might be the cure for
bird flu. A recent experiment, which the Icelandic company Ens??mtaekni
hf. took part in, indicates that in five minutes, the isolated fish
enzyme killed 99 percent of H5N1 viruses. The killer enzyme, called
penzim, was extracted from the intestines of cod by Ens??mtaekni and is
currently being developed for beauty products and various types of
medicine. The experiment on the H5N1 virus was conducted in London. CEO
of Ens??mtaekni and biochemist J??n Bragi Bjarnason said he is very excited
about the results of the bird flu experiment. "People have feared that
the bird flu virus will change into a human flu virus and now we have a
likely cure in case that happens." Bjarnason also believes that penzim
might prove a cure for common flu and cold, eczema in children and
arthritis."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/17/2334208
Links:
0. mailto:jon@boxg.com
1. http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=257558
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Six Rootkit Detectors To Protect Your PC |
| from the rate-them dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday January 17, @22:05 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/17/2338201 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "InformationWeek has a [0]review of 6 rootkit
detectors.This issue became big last year when Sony released some music
CDs which came with a rootkit that silently burrowed into PCs. This
review looks at how you can block rootkits and protect your machine using
F-Secure Backlight, IceSword, RKDetector, RootkitBuster, RootkitRevealer,
and Rookit Unhooker."
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/17/2338201
Links:
0. http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196901062
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Slashback: Net Neutrality, Bugged Coins, and Pawns |
| from the correction-retraction-and-apology dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Wednesday January 17, @22:58 (Slashback) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/0333224 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Slashback tonight brings some clarifications and updates to previous
Slashdot stories, including: anti-Net-neutrality article modified; no
bugged Canadian coins; a tech program for women in Silicon Valley; Pirate
Bay and Sealand; and Microsoft evangelist apologizes for "pawns" comment.
Read on for details.
This story continues at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/0333224
Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/0333224
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MySpace to Offer Spyware for Parents |
| from the think-of-the-children dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 18, @00:36 (The Internet)|
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/0239226 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
mrspin writes "Following continuing pressure from politicians (and parts
of the media), MySpace is planning to offer parents the chance to
download [0]software which will monitor aspects of their children's
activities on the social networking site. From a business point of view,
the move appears to be a highly risky one. The young users of social
networking sites are notorious for their lack of loyalty ?€? and history
suggests that a change like this could tempt many to abandon MySpace for
the 'next cool thing'."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/0239226
Links:
0. http://blogs.zdnet.com/social/?p=68
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Expert Wants to Decertify Global Warming Skeptics |
| from the believe-it-or-else dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 18, @03:37 (Censorship) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/0421242 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Penguinisto writes "Apparently in the Senate, at least one scientist
wants to put a permanent stop to any [0]arguments over Global Warming.
The Weather Channel's most prominent climatologist is advocating that
broadcast meteorologists be stripped of their scientific certification if
they express skepticism about predictions of manmade catastrophic global
warming."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/0421242
Links:
0. http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=32abc0b0-802a-23ad-440a-88824bb8e528
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| China Tests Anti-Satellite Laser Weapon |
| from the the-people's-laser dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 18, @07:21 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/0235229 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]schnippy writes "U.S. intelligence agencies believe that China has
[1]successfully tested an anti-satellite weapon by destroying one of
their old weather satellites. The test, if confirmed, would be an order
of magnitude more provocative than [2]earlier reports of Chinese blinding
lasers being tested. Arms Control Wonk has a good writeup on [3]what this
will mean for U.S. policy."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/0235229
Links:
0. http://www.spacedebate.org/
1. http://www.aviationweek.com/avnow/news/channel_awst_story.jsp?id=news/CHI01177.xml
2. http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/28/126207&tid=160
3. http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/1359/chinese-test-asat
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Evidence Surfaces That MS Violated 2002 Judgement |
| from the rutroe dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday January 18, @08:12 (Microsoft) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/137219 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
whoever57 writes "In the Comes Vs. Microsoft case, the plaintiffs believe
they have found [0]evidence that Microsoft has failed to fully disclose
APIs to competitors. If true, this would mean that Microsoft has violated
the 2002 judgement. This information has become available since the
plaintiffs have obtained an order allowing them to disclose Microsoft's
alleged misbehavior to the DOJ ('appropriate enforcement and compliance
authorities')."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/137219
Links:
0. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070117045655795
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The RIAA and French Button-Makers |
| from the before-buggy-whips dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday January 18, @09:15 (Businesses) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/149211 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Alien54 writes "Requiring permission to innovate? Feeling entitled to
search others' property? Getting the power to act like law enforcement in
order to fine or arrest those who are taking part in activities that
challenge your business model? Don't these all sound quite familiar?
Centuries from now (hopefully much, much sooner), the actions of the
RIAA, MPAA and others that match these of the [1]weavers and
button-makers of 17th century France will seem just as ridiculous."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/149211
Links:
0. https://slashdot.org/~Alien54/journal/
1. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070110/004225.shtml
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Contradictory Nature of OOXML |
| from the schmandards dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday January 18, @09:52 (Upgrades) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/1422243 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Andy Updegrove writes "the Microsoft Office XML-based format
specification, [1]OOXML, is now in the adoption queue at ISO/IEC. That
process takes six months, and has two steps. During the first one-month
step, any member may submit 'contradictions,' which means aspects in
which a proposed standard conflicts with already adopted ISO/IEC
standards and Directives. Those contradictions must then be 'resolved'
(which does not necessarily mean eliminated), and these resolutions are
then presented back to the members to consider during the five-month
voting stage that follows. A month isn't very long to do a line-by-line
analysis of a 6,000-page spec, but experts in the national standards
bodies around the world are doing just that. What they are finding
includes the use of proprietary, hard-wired elements rather than
incorporation of available ISO/IEC standards; additional Microsoft
technology that must be emulated (but is not covered by the Microsoft
patent pledge); elements that can't be implemented without Microsoft
technical assistance; dependencies on Windows itself; mandatory bugs; and
more. And then there's also the fact that OOXML heavily overlaps ODF ?€? a
platform-independent, already-adopted ISO/IEC. It promises to be an
interesting battle." And an anonymous reader adds word of the release,
after 10 months of development, of [2]Docvert 3.0, an open-source web
service that converts DOC files to Oasis OpenDocument 1.0 ([3]download
the source here).
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/1422243
Links:
0. http://www.gesmer.com/attorneys/updegrove.php
1. http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20070117145745854
2. http://docvert.org/
3. http://holloway.co.nz/docvert/download.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Deathblow To a Voting Machine |
| from the Dutch-e-voting dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday January 18, @10:39 (Security) |
| http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/152205 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]SiggyRadiation writes "According to their newsletter ([1]my English
translation here), the Dutch [2]group that 'doesn't trust the voting
computers' has won a round against the industry and the civil servants
that seem hell-bent on reintroducing voting machines ?€? NewVote, made by
SDU ?€? that the [3]Dutch minister of the interior has suspended.
Apparently SDU provided 5 slightly different samples of its machine to
the Dutch version of the NSA (well... the very humble Dutch version
anyway) for testing purposes. Of those five, four machines emitted
radiation in such a way that the votes cast could be monitored. SDU's
NewVote received its final deathblow when it became clear that the one
machine that stayed within the radiation limits used a green-on-red
color-scheme for its screen. And that would be a small problem for the 4%
of all men that cannot distinguish between red and green."
Discuss this story at:
http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/152205
Links:
0. http://www.fabeltjeskrant.net/
1. http://www.cbw-volendam.nl/fileadmin/rommel/newsletter_autotrans.txt
2. http://www.wijvertrouwenstemcomputersniet.nl/
3. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/31/1323238&tid=158
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Printers Vulnerable To Security Threats |
| from the infected-my-what? dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday January 18, @11:18 (Printers) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/1559254 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
jcatcw writes "[0]Networked printers are more vulnerable to attack than
many organizations realize. Symantec has logged vulnerabilities in five
brands of network printers. Printers outside firewalls, for ease of
remote printing, may also be open to easy remote code execution. They can
be possible launching pads for attacks on the rest of the network.
Disabling services that aren't needed and keeping up with patches are
first steps to securing them." From the article: "Security experts say
that printers are loaded with more complex applications than ever,
running every vulnerable service imaginable, with little or no risk
management or oversight.... [N]etworked printers need to be treated like
servers or workstations for security purposes ?€? not like dumb
peripherals."
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/1559254
Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=277746
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Anti-Missile Defenses For Commercial Jets |
| from the asymetrical-warfare dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday January 18, @11:59 (United States) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/1615205 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
The AP reports that the first [0]anti-missile defense system has been
installed for testing on a commercial jet, a FedEx cargo carrier. The
system is intended to detect the launch of a shoulder-fired missile at
takeoff or landing, and disable the missile with a laser beam. Sen.
Barbara Baxter (D-California) is one of the supporters of the system. She
and other members of Congress are hoping to equip all US commercial
passenger liners with this system in 20 years, at a cost of billions of
dollars. Is this good common sense or the costly future of a society
hobbled by fear of terrorism?
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/1615205
Links:
0. http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/01/16/airline.anti.missile.ap/index.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Another Indian State Moving To FOSS |
| from the dominoes dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday January 18, @12:38 (GNU is Not Unix|
| http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/1710212 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]james.infidel writes "The Hindu, a leading national newspaper, reports
that the Communist government of Kerala (the state with the highest
literacy rate in India) has [1]announced its all-out support for FOSS in
the [2]draft IT policy announced yesterday. The draft also calls for
preferential treatment for companies coming forward to work in the FOSS
domain.
Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/1710212
Links:
0. mailto:james.infidel@gmail.com
1. http://www.hindu.com/2007/01/18/stories/2007011801800700.htm
2. http://itforum.kerala.gov.in/discussion/index.htm
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Mossberg - Vista Is Worthy, Largely Unexciting |
| from the it-cannot-slice-tomatoes dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday January 18, @13:23 (Microsoft) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/1754244 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walter
S. Mossberg says Vista is [1]the best version of Windows yet, but doesn't
represent a major step forward: 'Overall, it works pretty much the same
way as Windows XP.' More from the review: 'Nearly all of the major,
visible new features in Vista are already available in Apple's operating
system, called Mac OS X, which came out in 2001 and received its last
major upgrade in 2005. ... in my tests, some elements of Vista could be
maddeningly slow even on new, well-configured computers. Also, despite
Vista's claimed security improvements, you will still have to run, and
keep updating, security programs, which can be annoying and burdensome.
Microsoft has thrown in one such program free, but you will have to buy
at least one more. That means that, while Vista has eased some of the
burden on users imposed by the Windows security crisis, it will still
force you to spend more time managing the computer than I believe people
should have to devote.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/1754244
Links:
0. mailto:wsjarticles@wsj.com
1. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116908385298979668-0KM342sGUp9UKiEikdnpxRiVaZw_20080118.html?mod=blogs
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| WIPO Creating New IP Rights Over Web Content |
| from the get-the-rights-right dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday January 18, @13:56 (Software) |
| http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/1827231 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "The WIPO is currently engaged in negotiating
[0]a new treaty on digital IP rights, but they're having trouble agreeing
on the particulars. Though the world of YouTube and podcasts seems like a
place that 'requires' laws, the WIPO seems confused about what to do
about it. From the article: 'The proliferation of low cost video cameras
and editing software, higher bandwidth cable, satellite and Internet
connections, are creating a highly diverse and dynamic environment for
creating, distributing, redistributing and remixing information. To this
exciting world the UN's specialized agency for intellectual property
wants to impose a new legal regime. The problem is, no one here has a
clue what the legal regime should look like.' The U.S. is also pushing
for reviving a 1962 treaty (never ratified) that would give the large
cable distributors (like Discovery, Sci-fi, Spike, etc) ownership of even
public domain content if they carry it. This would be in addition to any
rights normally afforded the distributors. "
Discuss this story at:
http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/1827231
Links:
0. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/wipo-stumbles-on-broadcas_b_38946.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Dark Side of HDCP - Why is My PS3 Blinking? |
| from the we-have-the-machine-that-goes-ping dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday January 18, @14:18 (PlayStation (Games|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/197212 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
FloatsomNJetsom writes "High Definition Content Protection is supposed to
make sure you're not playing pirated content, but sometimes your devices
screw up the HDCP 'handshake' (over an HDMI cable) and nothing works.
This happens with some regularity with the PS3, and [0]Popular Mechanics
investigated and found a quick and dirty workaround. From the article:
'We then checked with Leslie Chard, president of HDMI Licensing, which
owns the rights to the standard, who told us that HDCP is one component
of HDMI that has been plagued with interoperability issues. HDCP
(high-bandwidth digital content protection) is designed to prevent the
interception of data ?€? specifically copyrighted Hollywood movies ?€?
between an output component and a display. As Steve Balough, the
president of Digital Content Protection, the licensing company for HDCP
explains, the two pieces of hardware must exchange a key, a sort of
certificate of authenticity unique to each individual device, to verify a
secure connection.' The problem isn't limited to the PS3 ?€? many HDTV
cable boxes and have the same problem. The fix there? Unplugging the
power cable."
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/197212
Links:
0. http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/technology_news/4212161.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Extraterrestrials Probably Haven't Found Us - Yet |
| from the hello-up-there dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday January 18, @14:42 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/1837226 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]kasparn writes "The Guardian today has a story about the Danish
astrophysicist Rasmus Bjoerk, who recently conducted simulations on
[1]how long it will take to colonize the Milky Way. The basic idea is to
send out probes in different directions (including various heights above
the galactic p***). He estimates that it will [2]take some 10 billion
years to explore 4 % of the Milky Way. Since the age of the Universe is
of the same order, his conclusion is that aliens can't have had time
required to find us yet."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/1837226
Links:
0. mailto:kasparn@astro.ku.dk
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1993006,00.html
2. http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph?papernum=0701238
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| RIAA Arrests Pro Artist for Making Mixtapes |
| from the you-are-doing-this-all-wrong dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday January 18, @15:23 (Music) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/1845234 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Maximum Prophet writes "[0]The RIAA is now going after mixtapes;
specifically, the well-known mixtapes of rap artist DJ Drama. From the
article: 'On Tuesday night he was arrested with Don Cannon, a prot??g??.
The police, working with the Recording Industry Association of America,
raided his office, at 147 Walker Street in Atlanta. The association makes
no distinction between counterfeit CDs and unlicensed compilations like
those that DJ Drama is known for.' The story goes on to say that many of
the artists featured on the mixtapes would never have had the exposure
and thus sales they had if DJ Drama had not featured them on a mix.
Nowhere is a specific artist mentioned who claims to have been wronged by
him. Additionally, the article states that mixtapes such as those made by
DJ Drama are an accepted and integral part of rap music culture. His
arrest is confusing on several levels."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/1845234
Links:
0. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/18/arts/music/18dram.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| First Spammer Convicted Under CAN-SPAM Law |
| from the everyone-else-is-sending-greeting-cards dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday January 18, @15:57 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/1953212 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]eldavojohn writes "Spammer Jeffrey Brett Goodin has [1]been convicted
under the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act, the first person in the U.S. prosecuted
successfully under the law. He is facing a sentence of up to 101 years in
a federal prison after being found guilty of numerous illegal acts.
According to prosecutors, Goodin was convicted on multiple counts in
addition to the CAN-SPAM conviction, including wire fraud, unauthorized
use of credit cards, misuse of the AOL trademark and attempted witness
harassment. From the article: 'The law forbids e-mail marketers from
sending false or misleading messages and requires them to provide
recipients with a way to opt out of receiving future mailings. During
trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Goodin used several
compromised Internet accounts to send e-mails to America Online users.
The e-mails appeared to be from the company's billing department and told
customers to update their billing information or lose service.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/1953212
Links:
0. http://www.last.fm/music/Bright+Eyes
1. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/16482522.htm
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Researchers Developing Single-Pixel Camera |
| from the needs-a-very-small-monitor-to-view dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday January 18, @16:43 (Hardware) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/2117243 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Assassin bug writes "According to the BBC, [0]researchers in the US are
developing a single-pixel camera to capture high-quality images
[1]without the 'expense' of traditional digital photography. The idea
behind such a device is that traditional digital photography is wasteful.
Most of the information taken in by the camera is thrown away in the
compression process. From the article: 'The digital micromirror device,
as it is known, consists of a million or more tiny mirrors each the size
of a bacterium. "From that mirror array, we then focus the light through
a second lens on to one single photo-detector - a single pixel." As the
light passes through the device, the millions of tiny mirrors are turned
on and off at random in rapid succession. Complex mathematics then
interprets the signals assembling a high resolution image from the
thousands of sequential single-pixel snapshots. '"
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/2117243
Links:
0. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6263551.stm
1. http://www.dsp.ece.rice.edu/cs/cscamera/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 'Over 30' Section For Games Stores? |
| from the early-20s-soldiers-not-old-enough-to-play-violent-games |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday January 18, @17:06 (Games) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/2152217 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
A New York law introduced by Representative Keith Wright seeks just that,
a section for gaming stores that [0]keeps 'violent games' under lock and
key, and is accessible only to people over 30. The law is one of two
poorly-thought pieces of legislation being considered by New York state's
legal system. From the 1up article: "The history of the courts striking
down such legislation goes just about as far back as politicians who
attempt to bolster their own image by capitalizing on the public fear and
hysteria over the bogeyman of video gaming. It's interesting to note that
recently, courts have begun penalizing entities who purposely waste their
time with attempts at passing frivolous and unconstitutional
anti-videogame legislation. You'd think might deter motions like [these]
somewhat, wouldn't you?"
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/2152217
Links:
0. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3156448
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Vista to be Downloadable (Legally) |
| from the hopefully-in-a-burnable-format dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday January 18, @17:28 (Windows) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/2124257 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]ubermiester writes "InfoWorld reports that [1]Windows Vista will be
available for legal download as of January 30th ?€? the same day it will be
available in retail stores. MS-NBC Online notes that, 'a relatively
[2]low number of computer users are likely to get Vista by downloading it
from the Internet, but the mere availability indicates that Microsoft is
fiddling with distribution methods for the extremely profitable franchise
at the core of its business.' It will be available via the [3]MS
Marketplace site in conjunction with a Circuit City offering.
Additionally, users who decide to 'upgrade' to a more expensive version
of the OS can simply activate the features they want by unlocking them
via online activation."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/2124257
Links:
0. mailto:wmethlie@gmail.com
1. http://www.informationweek.com/windows/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196901658
2. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16679105/
3. http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Judge Rules That IBM Did Not Destroy Evidence |
| from the good-for-them dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday January 18, @18:26 (Caldera) |
| http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/2231200 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]UnknowingFool writes "From the latest in the SCO saga, [1]Judge Wells
ruled today that IBM did not destroy evidence as SCO claims. During
discovery, SCO claims it found an IBM executive memo that ordered its
programmers to delete source code, and so it filed a motion to prevent
IBM from destroying more evidence. The actuality of the memo was less
nefarious. An IBM executive wanted to ensure that the Linux developers
were sandboxed from AIX/Dynix. So he ordered them to remove local copies
of any AIX code from their workstations so that there would not be a hint
of taint. The source code still existed in CVMC and was not touched.
Since the source code was still in CMVC, Judge Wells ruled IBM did not
destroy it. Incredulously, SCO's Mark James requested that IBM tell SCO
how to obtain the information. IBM's Todd Shaughnessy responded that all
during discovery (when IBM gave SCO a server with their CMVC database)
SCO never once said that they were unable to find that information from
CMVC. Judge Wells asked IBM to help SCO out in any way he could."
Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/01/18/2231200
Links:
0. mailto:minh_duong@noSPaM.yahoo.com
1. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070118150234527
Copyright 1997-2006 OSTG. All rights reserved.
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