Need an easy way to add biometrics to an online project? Psylock has an answer. It’s a Flash-based interface that compares your typing style against a list of known styles and logs you in based on... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 11:59 am
Reservoir Hill writes "Four hundred years after it put Galileo on trial for heresy the Vatican is to complete its rehabilitation of the scientist by erecting a statue of him inside Vatican walls. The planned statue is to stand in the Vatican gardens near the apartment in which Galileo was incarcerated. He was held there while awaiting trial in 1633 for advocating heliocentrism, the Copernican doctrine that the Earth revolves around the Sun. The move coincides with a series of celebrations in the run-up to next year's 400th anniversary of Galileo's development of the telescope. In January Pope Benedict XVI called off a visit to Sapienza University, Rome, after staff and students accused him of defending the Inquisition's condemnation of Galileo. The Vatican said that the Pope had been misquoted and since the episode, several of the professors have retracted their protest."
It’s amazing that reporters love horse-race coverage since they’re so damned lousy at it. Hillary Clinton has the nomination sewed up. Rudy Giuliani is the sure nominee. Mike Huckabee is surging... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 11:05 am
Over the past month, my wife and I had a run in with the auction rate security market. We emerged unscathed but there were a few uncomfortable moments and they taught us a few things about markets that... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 10:53 am
By Evan Ackerman Why have just one useless USB accessory when you can have… Um… A whole bunch? This “Mini USB Desktop Multi-tasking Device” from ThinkGeek connects to your computer... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 10:43 am
From a new paper in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Finance Economics. It's doubly funny because of the dry way in which these loopy findings are reported about public company board composition: ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 10:19 am
Millions of internet users are using computer games to perform virtual sex changes, according to new research Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 10:17 am
Auction giant eBay is rolling out a new system to prevent charity event tickets from touted by profiteers Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 10:14 am
Later this month I’m going to do something that I haven’t done in a good five years. I’m going to buy a Mac. My last Mac and I were torn from each other quite some time ago, and I’ve... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 10:11 am
By Luke Anderson I’ve been using Gmail since the beta first started back in 2004 and I’ve never really turned back. I think that in the entire four years that I’ve used it, I’ve... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 10:08 am
Six million people were hurt crashing into lampposts, bollards and bins last year while texting and talking on their mobiles, a study found. The Mirror reports. "Injuries ranged from cuts and bruises... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 10:04 am
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai students will be barred from wearing watches in national university entrance exams this weekend after a student was caught cheating using a mobile phone wrist... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 10:04 am
Eileen Bridges, a senior vice president for strategic planning and technical architecture at Bank of America, said the bank has discovered that energy-efficient windows in its newer buildings are blocking... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 10:00 am
By Andrew Liszewski This handheld cordless vac seems to be targeted toward owners of messy pets because not only can it be used for sucking up dry materials like pet food or dirt, but the recharging base... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 9:52 am
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland's GeoSentric unveiled on Wednesday its mobile social networking service GypSii for Apple's iPhone. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 9:35 am
An anonymous reader writes "It looks like Trent Reznor's new Nine Inch Nails album experiment is a success. Among the various options he gave fans, the most expensive was the $300 Limited Edition Ultra Deluxe Package. It took just over a day for that package to completely sell out, earning Reznor $750,000 in revenue from just that option alone."
HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom's T-Systems business client unit said it had entered a partnership with IT services provider Cognizant mainly focused on system integration... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:33 am
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Small human-like skeletons found in a cave on a remote Indonesian island were actually human and their miniature features probably due to nutritional deficiency, some... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:29 am
The world must respond to climate change and other environmental challenges now while the cost is low or else pay a stiffer price later for its indecision, the Organization for Economic... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:05 am
Engineering services provider Emcor Group's subsidiary, Ohmstede, has completed the fabrication of its largest heat exchanger for petrochemical major ExxonMobil Chemical in Baytown, Texas. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
By Joe Orso, La Crosse Tribune, Wis. Mar. 5--A longtime La Crosse institution and a CEO of an Eau Claire, Wis., hospital will receive the In My Name awards from Catholic Charities of the Diocese of La Crosse at a ceremony today at the Holy Cross Diocesan Center. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
By La Crosse Tribune, Wis. Mar. 5--There are only two weeks left in the current legislative session. Will anything substantive get done? That's an open question, and it's not at all clear that the answer will be "yes." Here are a few issues: --Balancing the state budget. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
By Beverly Fortune, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky. Mar. 5--The CentrePointe development would be the largest LEED-certified project in the state, said Charlie Barnhart, architect with Sherman/Carter/Barnhart Architects. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
By The Associated Press DES MOINES (AP) - A proposal to expand Iowa's bottle-deposit law to include water, tea, juice and sports drinks containers has overcome a funnel-week hurdle in the Iowa House. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
A group called "Citizens for Better Dental Health in Prairie du Chien" has asked the city to fluoridate its public water supply. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
By Joe Rodriguez, The Wichita Eagle, Kan. Mar. 5--The Rev. David Chaney had a servant's heart -- for his family, for his congregation and for strangers, his daughter said. "He enjoyed serving people," Aletra Peeples said. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
By La Crosse Tribune, Wis. Mar. 5--The following appeared in La Crosse County Circuit Court: Accused --Beth A. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
CONSERVATIONISTS from Yorkshire are helping in a study to chart the impact of climate change on some of the world's most diverse wildlife habitats in east Africa. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
By Samantha Marcus, La Crosse Tribune, Wis. Mar. 5--La Crosse's Judiciary and Administration Committee voted Tuesday to recommend the city's public intoxication ordinance be renewed before it expires at the end of this month. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
By Ryan Haggerty, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Mar. 5--Wauwatosa police had responded at least twice since February 2007 to domestic violence incidents involving the man and woman who died Sunday in an apparent murder-suicide, the WauwatosaNow.com Web site reported Tuesday. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
By Dipak Mishra PATNA: Things are all set to change for several hundred legislators of Bihar as very soon all of them will be armed with laptops. They may not be tech savvy as yet but this time they are eagerly awaiting the gadgets and, of course, the "how to ..." training session. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
Alcatel-Lucent has entered into an agreement with integrated communications provider, Brasil Telecom to provide operations and maintenance services for both the internal and external plants. The services will cover wireless, wire line and data networks. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
GyPSii, the world's leading geo-location and social networking service provider for mobile phones and Internet devices, is now available on the iPhone -- Apple's market-leading high-end mobile device. The iPhone has shipped more than five million units worldwide since its launch in 2007. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
I n his weekend radio address, President Bush warned of rogue pharmacists making potentially dangerous prescription drugs readily available online. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
Sheryl Sandberg was in charge of advertising at the Internet giant. Now its rival plans to extend its global reach with one of Silicon Valley's most prominent female executives. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
. -- Apple Inc. has no plans to declare a dividend or buy back its stock, Chief Executive Steve Jobs told the company's annual shareholder meeting Tuesday, adding that iPhone sales were on track. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday at his home in Lake Geneva, Wis. He was 69. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
MIT researchers say people given placebos reported that the supposedly more expensive pills were also more effective. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
My latest Locus column, "Put Not Your Faith in Ebook Readers," just went live. In it, I discuss the fact what while there's plenty of programmers who'll hack you a little ebook business that runs on a phone, handheld game device or PDA; there's a genuine shortage of high-quality manufacturers who'll build you a great, cheap, hardware-based ebook reader, and that that's likely to continue for some time.
China has experienced the largest migration in human history — 160,000,000 people moved from the inland farms to the coastal manufacturing cities — but it is not endless. Most of the world has shut down most of its factories, shuttering domestic manufacturing capacity in favor of the cheap labor, poor working conditions and environmental controls of China's factory cities. When you go to China to get your Kindle or your Wii produced, you're competing for space among the factories that produce socket wrenches, Happy Meal toys, laptop computers, prison cafeteria trays, decorative tin planters, vinyl action figures, keychain flashlights and cheap handguns.
Frankly, book reading just isn't important enough to qualify for priority treatment in that marketplace. E-book readers to date have been either badly made, expensive, out-of-stock or some combination of all three. No one's making dedicated e-book readers in such quantity that the price drops to the cost of a paperback — the cost at which the average occasional reader may be tempted to take a flutter on one. Certainly, these things aren't being made in such quantity that they're being folded in as freebies with the Sunday paper or given away at the turnstiles at a ballgame to the majority of people who are non-book-readers.
Meanwhile, handheld game consoles, phones, and other multipurpose devices have found their way into the hands of people from every walk of life. In some countries, mobile phone penetration is above 100 percent — that is, a significant proportion of the population maintain more than one phone, for example, a work cellular and a home cellular.
Not only can these devices command the lion's share of China's high-quality manufacturing capacity, but they are produced in such staggering volume (and often distributed with a subsidy — game devices are sold below cost in the expectation of selling games; phones are subsidized by carriers) that they can be had for a pittance.
A by-product from the production of Scotland's national drink is being used to treat contaminated ground and waste water in a pioneering technique. The Device for the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 7:42 am
NorseWolf writes "Since its foundation, the United Nations system has been collecting statistical information from member states on a variety of topics. The information thus collected constitutes a considerable information asset of the organization. However, these statistical data are often stored in proprietary databases, each with unique dissemination and access policies. As a result, users are often unaware of the full array of statistical information that the UN system has in its data libraries. The current arrangement also means that users are required to move from one database to another to access different types of information. UNdata addresses this problem by datapooling major UN databases and those of several international into one single internet environment. The innovative design allows a user to access a large number of UN databases either by browsing the data series or through a keyword search."
The company that made "Airborne," -- a supposed remedy for colds -- have settled a lawsuit brought by customers who were upset to learn that the "clinical trials" that proved that it worked were faked. If you bought any of this snake-oil, you can get some money back:
Under the agreement, a special Web site was created here to accept claims from customers, who have spent far more than $23.3 million on the range of Airborne products, from Airborne On-the-Go and Airborne Nighttime to Airborne Gummi and Airborne Power Pixies, which is sweetened for children...
GNG is actually a two-man operation started up just to do the Airborne study. There was no clinic, no scientists and no doctors. The man who ran things said he had lots of clinical trial experience. He added that he had a degree from Indiana University, but the school says he never graduated.
OREM, Utah, March 5 /PRNewswire/ -- FreeLinc, the pioneer and market leader in secure wireless technologies, announced today that it has joined the EDGE(TM) Innovation... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 7:00 am
SHANGHAI, China, March 5 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Focus Media Holding Limited (Nasdaq: FMCN), China's largest digital media group, today appointed Dr. Tan Zhi,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 7:00 am
SAN JOSE, Calif., March 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Photon Dynamics, Inc. (Nasdaq: PHTN), today announced it entered a contract with Schenker Korea Ltd. to carry out... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Mar 2008 | 7:00 am
Redon Buckeye writes "Google's Android software development kit is using several outdated and vulnerable open-source image processing libraries, some of which can be exploited to take complete control of mobile devices running the Android platform. From the article: 'Several vulnerabilities have been found in Android's core libraries for processing graphic content in some of the most used image formats (PNG, GIF an BMP). While some of these vulnerabilities stem from the use of outdated and vulnerable open-source image processing libraries other were introduced by native Android code that use them or that implements new functionality.'"
LEARN TO EARN QUINCY - As technology continues to evolve, the demand for computer-savvy professionals increases. To keep pace with the current job market, working professionals and job-seekers alike are updating their familiarity with popular software programs. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Mar 2008 | 5:00 am
I am responding to the story regarding a sting for safer sidewalks. (Jan. 30.) There seems to be a 500-pound gorilla in the room that no one will talk about. In the old days, the area of Hancock Street in the story was pretty much ignored, except for the occasional student. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Mar 2008 | 5:00 am
What do you think of incarcerating convicted sex offenders after they serve their sentence? Write: Your Views, The Patriot Ledger, 400 Crown Colony Drive, Quincy, MA 02169 Call: 781-340-3156 E-mail: Editpage@ledger.com Please include your home address and telephone number (c) 2008 Patriot Ledger, The; Quincy, Mass.. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Mar 2008 | 5:00 am
RANDOLPH - A program for parents on Internet safety will be held at 7 p.m. Monday at the Randolph Community Middle School, 225 High St. School Superintendent Richard Silverman said the program will address social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Mar 2008 | 5:00 am
Bayreuth (Germany) Festival planners are considering broadcasting some of Richard Wagner's operas on outdoor screens so people can enjoy them for free. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Mar 2008 | 5:00 am
Continuous Computing®, global provider of integrated systems and services that enable telecom equipment manufacturers to rapidly deploy Next Generation Networks (NGN), today announced its participation in Light Reading's Webinar on AdvancedTCA (ATCA) and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), hosted by Light Reading independent analyst Simon Stanley. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 5 Mar 2008 | 5:00 am
Blog posts, traffic patterns, government reports, digital video, email -- a new
crop of data-crunching artists are using data in much the same way Picasso
applied paint, transforming the world of information into mesmerizing
abstractions.
Kevin Kelly's just posted "1000 True Fans," a business plan for all kinds of creators in the twenty first century:
A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans...
Assume conservatively that your True Fans will each spend one day's wages per year in support of what you do. That "one-day-wage" is an average, because of course your truest fans will spend a lot more than that. Let's peg that per diem each True Fan spends at $100 per year. If you have 1,000 fans that sums up to $100,000 per year, which minus some modest expenses, is a living for most folks.
One thousand is a feasible number. You could count to 1,000. If you added one fan a day, it would take only three years. True Fanship is doable. Pleasing a True Fan is pleasurable, and invigorating. It rewards the artist to remain true, to focus on the unique aspects of their work, the qualities that True Fans appreciate.
Wired's GeekDad blog has a great interview with "new weird" literary couple Jeff and Ann VanderMeer about raising children in a ultra geeky household, and about why tech geeks should care about the new weird. Wired's also giving away digital copies of a free new book by Jeff called The Situation.
When she was 10, she asked the neighbor's mother "What magazine do you edit?" because she thought all families had their own magazines. As for my fiction, she mostly encountered it as a teenager and made a show of not reading it, but then would talk to her friends about it when she thought I was out of earshot. Which was cute.
s1d writes "An almost-anonymous British psychologist named Gavin Potter has suddenly risen to the top of the Netflix prize charts. With his very first attempt, he got a score which took the BellKor team seven months to reach. Currently at a score of 8.07, he has only five teams ahead of him now in the race for the ultimate Netflix algorithm. 'Potter says his anonymity is mostly accidental. He started that way and didn't come out into the open until after Wired found him. "I guess I didn't think it was worth putting up a link until I had got somewhere," he says, adding that he'd been seriously posting under the name of his venture capital and consulting firm, Mathematical Capital, for two months before launching "Just a guy." When he started competing, he posted to his blog: "Decided to take the Netflix Prize seriously. Looks kind of fun. Not sure where I will get to as I am not an academic or a mathematician. However, being an unemployed psychologist I do have a bit of time."'"
Replace the firmware running on your home network's router and become a power user overnight. Boost your signal, block file transfers, restrict yours kids' internet access or just make lots of pretty traffic graphs. In Wired.com's How-To Wiki.
Replace the firmware running on your home network's router and become a power user overnight. Boost your signal, block file transfers, restrict yours kids' internet access or just make lots of pretty traffic graphs. In Wired.com's How-To Wiki.
Let your freaky geek flag fly by strapping springy things to your feet and bouncing, head held significantly higher than usual, around the neighborhood. All the kids are doing it. Commentary by Lore Sjöberg.
Stony Stevenson writes "The security firm Fortify Software has warned against a series of attacks against Facebook and MySpace. Buffer overflows that enabled hackers to exploit the Aurigma ActiveX image uploading software used by social networking sites were at the heart of the assault. 'Criminal hackers now view social networking sites as their best target for attacks ... [partially because] such sites are designed to be usable by "unsophisticated" consumers, meaning that the barrier to entry for attacks is potentially lower as users are more likely to click on a link that leads to malware.'"
yuna49 writes "Adam Liptak of the New York Times reports today about the plight of a Spanish tour operator whose domain names have been embargoed by his domain name registrar (eNom). They pulled his domains after they discovered the tour operator's name on a US Treasury blacklist. It turns out he packages tours to Cuba largely for European tourists who can legally travel there, unlike Americans. The article cites 'a press release issued in December 2004, almost three years before eNom acted. It said Mr. Marshall's company had helped Americans evade restrictions on travel to Cuba and was 'a generator of resources that the Cuban regime uses to oppress its people.' It added that American companies must not only stop doing business with the company but also freeze its assets, meaning that eNom did exactly what it was legally required to do.' The only part of the operator's business in the United States is his domain name registration; all other aspects of his business lie outside the United States."
LiveJournaller Capt. Sideburns has posted the results of his experiments in making a Space Invaders pixel-art cutting board -- it worked superbly, as you can see. He's promising Zelda next.
Link
mdekato writes "MSNBC reports that NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured an avalanche on Mars' surface as it happened. Very good still images show what must have been an awesome sight. 'The full image reveals features as small as a desk in a strip of terrain 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) wide and more than 10 times that long, at 84 degrees north latitude. Reddish layers known to be rich in water ice make up the face of a steep slope more than 2,300 feet (700 meters) tall, running the length of the image. Mars' north pole is covered by a cap of ice, and it even snows there. The scientists suspect that more ice than dust probably makes up the material that fell from the upper portion of the scarp.'"
Eric sez, "Australian scientists developed a cheap blood test for African sleeping sickness and gave it away under a Creative Commons license."
Zablon Njiru and Andrew Thompson of Murdoch University led a team that developed the elegantly simple way to check for trypanosomes -- protozoan parasites that are sometimes carried by tsetse flies.
To catch an infection in the earliest stages, when it is most treatable, technicians must look for a very small number of parasites in a sea of body fluids. That is not an easy thing to do, but there is a trick to make it easier: By mixing the liquid sample with a cocktail of molecules that can copy trypanosome DNA, they can make the serum resistance associated gene, a signpost of the disease, stand out -- transforming each test into a manageable task.
Instead of using the polymerase chain reaction, which amplifies the microbe DNA with the aid of an expensive instrument called a thermocycler, the researchers employed another gene multiplying technique called loop-mediated isothermal amplification. It requires little more than a warm water bath and a few chemicals. After that procedure, which takes less than a half hour, the scientists can simply add some SYBR green dye and watch the brew change color if it contains a boatload of duplicated genetic material from the pathogen.
Thomas Hawk sez, "In what I can only view as troubling and a move surely to invite more backlash against photographers, London's Metropolitan police has launched a new counter-terrorism PR campaign complete with anti-photography propaganda.
The campaign is meant to encourage people to turn in 'odd' seeming people that they see taking photographs."
"Thousands of people take photos every day," reads their advertisement being run in London's major newspapers. "What if one of them seems odd?"
In the last edition of John Brockman's always-provoctaive EDGE, Harvard MD and sociologist Nicholas Christakis talked about social networks. But instead of delving into well-trodden social network phenomena like viral videos, Christakis studies a variety of unexpected things that can spread through social networks, such as obesity, happiness, altruism, and, oddly, the taste for privacy. From the essay:
For me, social networks are like the eye. They are incredibly complex and beautiful, and looking at them begs the question of why they exist, and why they come to pass. Do we need a kind of just-so story to explain them? Do they just happen to be there, for no particular reason? Or do they serve some purpose — some ontological and also pragmatic purpose?
Along with my collaborator James Fowler, I have been wrestling with the questions of where social networks come from, what purpose they serve, what rules they follow, and what they mean for our lives. The amazing thing about social networks, unlike other networks that are almost as interesting — networks of neurons or genes or stars or computers or all kinds of other things one can imagine — is that the nodes of a social network — the entities, the components — are themselves sentient, acting individuals who can respond to the network and actually form it themselves. Link
As EDGE is a conversation, the new edition includes two insightful responses to Christakis's essay, from Douglas Rushkoff and Alan Alda (yes, that Alan Alda), and, finally, Christakis's response to them. Also in this EDGE edition, photos from the annual EDGE Dinner where big thinkers meet, eat, and somehow avoid being suffocated by the massive amount of smarts in the room. Link
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "A technology battle is raging in UMG v. Lindor, a court case in Brooklyn. The issue at hand is whether the RIAA's investigator SafeNet now needs to disclose its digital files, validation methodology, testing procedures, failure rates, software manuals, protocols, packet logs, source code, and other materials, so that the validity of its methods can be evaluated by the defense. SafeNet and the RIAA say no, claiming that the information is 'proprietary and confidential'. Ms. Lindor says yes, if you're going to testify in federal court the other side has a right to test your evidence. A list of what is being sought (pdf) is available online. MediaSentry has produced 'none of the above'. 'Put up or shut up' says one commentator to SafeNet."
TechCrunch reports a rumor that Steven Spielberg is readying a new social network for people who are interested in unusual and/or paranormal phenomena like UFOs and ghosts. According to the TechCrunch post, "the new social network may also have original video content investigating alleged ghosts and UFO stories." This has the potential to be very interesting as Spielberg has had a lifelong interest in this topic. Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind is one of my all-time favorite films and in later years, I realized how in touch he was with UFO research at the time. This was brought home for me when I learned that esteemed UFO researcher Jacques Vallee, a past president of Institute for the Future where I work, was the inspiration for Claude Lacombe, the French scientist in the film played by François Truffaut. Apparently, Spielberg's interest in strange phenomena wasn't just tied to Close Encounters either. From TechCrunch:
Spielberg has apparently had at least one paranormal experience himself. There are stories of him staying in a hotel called Excelsior House and being so frightened by ghosts that he fled the room and moved 20 miles away. We’ve also heard anecdotes about Spielberg seeing the ghost of a dead relative repeatedly as a child. Whether based in reality or the product of an exceptional imagination, these experiences may have had an impact on his life’s work and this upcoming social network.
mlimber writes "The Facebook app Scrabulous was written by two Scrabble-loving brothers in India, has over 700,000 users, brings in about $25,000 per month in advertising revenue, and is in flagrant violation of copyright law. The corporate owners of Scrabble, Hasbro and Mattel, have threatened legal action against the creators and have made deals with Electronic Arts and RealNetworks to release official online versions of the game. But according to an NYTimes article, 'Scrabulous has already brought Scrabble a newfound virtual popularity that none of the game companies could have anticipated,' and according to one consultant to the entertainment industry, 'If you're Hasbro or Mattel, it isn't in your interest to shut this down.' Hasbro's partner RealNetworks is 'working closely' with the piratical brothers, but Mattel says that 'settling with the [brothers] would set a bad precedent' for other board games going online."
New import and export tools from photo storage site PhotoShelter give photographers more control over how their images are sold or shared on the web. The release also makes it easier for photographers to use PhotoShelter and rival site Flickr simultaneously.
The ease of fencing a stolen iPod, not to mention the ease of stealing one from an oblivious victim lost in music, makes Apple's little music player a popular target for strong-arm robbers, researchers say.
Fake or not, a video that appears to show a Marine pitching a puppy off a cliff causes controversy. While the military probes the matter, members of the blogosphere unload on the brutal clip.
My second novel Eastern Standard Tribe has been published in German by Heyne, under the title Upload. As with the German edition of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (published as Download), they've released the German text under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Given that Heyne's a division of the mega-publisher Bertelsmann, this is pretty cool news -- especially considering that the CC release was their idea!
My second novel Eastern Standard Tribe has been published in German by Heyne, under the title Upload. As with the German edition of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (published as Download), they've released the German text under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Given that Heyne's a division of the mega-publisher Bertelsmann, this is pretty cool news -- especially considering that the CC release was their idea!
