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PRO-IP and PIRATE Acts Fused Into New BillI Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) have just sponsored a new bill, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008, which would combine the worst parts of the PRO-IP Act and the PIRATE Act. The basic idea is pretty simple: expand the Federal government to create something like the Department of Homeland Security for IP. The Copyright Czar then polices the internet and clogs the courts with thousands of civil lawsuits against individual infringers so the RIAA doesn't have to. Feel free to contact your representatives with your feelings about this bill. Right now, they believe the bill (PDF) will 'protect jobs.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 26 Jul 2008 | 12:19 pm Apple iPhone GPS In NYC: Not Great, Getting Better? (AAPL) - Silicon Alley Insider
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Jul 2008 | 12:12 pm Google Walks Away From Digg DealThe Google/Digg acquisition negotiations were in full swing as of last Tuesday, had passed the term sheet stage and the two companies were in final negotiations in the $200 million range. But sometime...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 11:24 am Lightening the Load for the iPhone's Wimpy Battery - TechNewsWorld
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Jul 2008 | 11:03 am Web Video and the Net's Creaking Backbone - TechNewsWorld
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Jul 2008 | 11:03 am Pakistan Court Frees Local Taleban Commander on BailExcerpt from report headlined "Taleban commander released on bail" by Pakistani newspaper Dawn website on 26 July Lakki Marwat [North-West Frontier Province], 25 July: A local Taleban commander has been released on bail.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am On the absurdity of "maximizing shareholder value"Over on Crooked Timber, Daniel Davies has uncorked a hell of a rant on the fatuous absurdity of the old saw that "corporate officers have a fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value." He starts off by pointing out that you could maximize the profits of the company for this quarter by, for example, firing everyone -- but that the next quarter would be pretty dismal. Then he gets into the meat of it, how every conceivable action can be justified as "maximizing value."In real life, the business judgement rule protects more or less anything that the Creative Capitalism gang might want businesses to do. Even the paradigm example used by Posner – of a corporate chief executive making charitable donations and specifically saying that they weren’t doing it for PR purposes and that they didn’t run the company in the interests of the shareholders – doesn’t actually necessarily give rise to a situation which would fail the business judgement test, because that’s pretty much the story of Body Shop, and if the only way that a company can secure the services of a talented and energetic cosmetics executive like Anita Roddick is to give away money without regard for shareholders, then that’s in the interests of shareholders. There is, of course, a cottage industry in business school cases and the funnies pages of the Economist in proving that instances of corporate philanthropy are actually in the interests of shareholders in the long term.What obligation? Maximise what? Source: Boing Boing | 26 Jul 2008 | 10:57 am The View from Google Knol - InformationWeek
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Jul 2008 | 10:23 am NASA Opens Space Image Libraryslatterz writes with an excerpt from a brief PC Authority article: "Nasa is to make its huge collection of historic photographs, film and video available to the public for the first time. A partnership with the non-profit Internet Archive will see 21 major Nasa imagery collections merged into a single searchable online resource. The Nasa Images website is expected to go live this week. The content of the site covers all the diverse activities of America's space programme, including imagery from the Apollo missions, Hubble Space Telescope views of the universe and experimental aircraft past and present." The site is working already, and it looks fantastic. Don't hesitate to share any interesting pictures or movies you find.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 26 Jul 2008 | 9:13 am AOL Closing Down Some Blogs, ServicesAOL executive vice president Kevin Conroy issued a memo last week, stating that the company would be shedding a number of business units, including Bluestring, Xdrive, AOL Pictures, and MyMobile. PC Magazine...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 9:07 am Smart BatteriesAn interesting post on mobile weblog on smart batteries from NTT DoCoMo. "Researchers at NTT DoCoMo have completed development of an intelligent lithium-ion battery that monitors its own health (and...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 9:02 am How to Save Local Newspapers: CellphonesVerve Wirelesss mission is to save the local paper by making it mobile. It provides publishers with the technology to create mobile Web sites, so readers can read the paper on their cell phones. Verve...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 8:24 am Boom times ahead for mobile webThe world of mobile internet devices is set to explode in the next four years says chip maker Intel. Research carried out for the company suggests portable net-enabled devices will grow to 1.2 billion...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 8:17 am Profits May Be Locked Up in Your Bank's TechnologyBy Stevenson, Bob Most community banking organizations use just 15-25% of the technology already available to them in their core processing system and program applications.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Jul 2008 | 8:00 am Calculation of Valence Electron Structures and Melting Points in Ti- Al Alloys With Interstitial ImpuritiesBy Peng, J Z Yang, X Z; Zhou, F C; Gray, M F According to the average lattice and atom model of the empirical electron theory (EET) of solids and molecules, effects of interstitial impurities on valence electron structures (VESs) and phase transformation of Ti-Al alloys are analysed.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 26 Jul 2008 | 8:00 am Landfill Cleanup in HomestretchBy Jay Conley jay.conley@roanoke.com 981-3114 The rising stretch of land along Virginia 696 where the Kim-Stan Landfill lies against the Rich Patch Mountains used to be a toxic thorn in this rural community's side.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 26 Jul 2008 | 8:00 am Woman Rescued in Lake After Missing for 6 HoursBy Laurie Edwards What started as a search for a possible drowning victim had a happy, if perplexing, ending early Sunday morning when a rescue mission was started, stopped and then completed while most lake residents were still asleep, said Capt.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 26 Jul 2008 | 8:00 am Ward is the Woman Lake Lions Are Hearing RoarBy Laurie Edwards The United States may not have its first woman president this year, but Cheryl Ward has broken the glass ceiling at the Smith Mountain Lake Lions Club when she was installed as president on July 1. "The club has been very supportive of me," she said.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 26 Jul 2008 | 8:00 am Deadline for Citizen Input on Appalachian Relicensing NearsBy Laurie Edwards The Department of Environmental Quality currently is reviewing Appalachian Power's permit application to continue operating the Smith Mountain Project, a hydroelectric powerhouse consisting of Smith Mountain and Leesville dams.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 26 Jul 2008 | 8:00 am A Port Firefighter's Job is Hazardous Just to Show UpBy Kristopher Hanson LONG BEACH - For the firefighters of Station 20 in the Port of Long Beach, just showing up for work can be hazardous.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 26 Jul 2008 | 8:00 am Night Camera May Answer Mountain Lion QuestionBy Cathy Benson cathy.benson@botetourtview.com Ben Shrader, of Bedford, is a volunteer doing a motion camera project, particularly along the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Trail, called the Appalachian Trail project.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 26 Jul 2008 | 8:00 am Summer School Goes OnlineBy Meadows, Robyn It's 8:07 Wednesday morning. Two male teens wearing flip-flops, T- shirts and shorts, straggle into Hempfield High School. While their friends are probably snoozing, they join about 20 silent, drowsy-looking teens sitting in a lecture hall taking tests.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Jul 2008 | 8:00 am When Computer Bug Bites, Teen's Eager To Enter The FrayBy Zook, Stephen Paul Booth got bored one day in his sixth-grade math class and started looking at the programs written in his scientific calculator. He hasn't turned back since.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Jul 2008 | 8:00 am Augustans Join Mass CrowdBy Kelly Jasper Several Augustans were among the 46,000 faithful that filled Nationals Park in Wash-ington, D.C., on Thursday for Mass with Pope Benedict XVI. Attendees included Vince and Renee Minardi; the Rev. Raphael Estrada-Moreno, of St.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Jul 2008 | 8:00 am Cellular Pathway Linked to CancerResearchers at New York University Medical Center have identified a pathway for the development of cancer that suggests new ways of treatment. Dr.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 26 Jul 2008 | 8:00 am AOL Data-Storage Services to Shut DownAOL is shutting three data-storage services, including one of the Internet's earliest photo-sharing sites, as it seeks to cut costs and focus resources on its advertising opportunities.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Jul 2008 | 8:00 am Soviet-era Estonian meat commercialCheck out this 1980s, Soviet-era Estonian commercial for meat and meat products. Now this is what advertising is about: echoing chants, meat slurry being extruded from a machine, and nervous chickens. Link (via Kottke)
Update: This one originally appeared on BB in 2005, thanks to Xeni -- good catch, Mecredis! Source: Boing Boing | 26 Jul 2008 | 7:34 am Soviet-era Estonian meat commercialCheck out this 1980s, Soviet-era Estonian commercial for meat and meat products. Now this is what advertising is about: echoing chants, meat slurry being extruded from a machine, and nervous chickens...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 7:34 am Apple Starting to Restore MobileMe Email Access, Some Email Lost - Mac Rumors
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Jul 2008 | 7:08 am Aging may be caused by renegade genes, worm study findsMetabolic processes important during development may have harmful consequences later, researchers say. Countering...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 7:00 am Depression abates with constant electrical stimulation, study findsOf 20 patients with chronic major depression resistant to drugs, a dozen were helped by stimulation in a part of the brain believed to regulate sadness. ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 7:00 am Randy Pausch, 47; terminally ill professor inspired many with his 'last lecture'His speech at Carnegie Mellon University after a pancreatic cancer diagnosis became an Internet phenomenon and bestselling book. Randy...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 7:00 am Magnetic forces behind northern lights explainedExplosions about a third of the way to the moon are responsible for the sudden brightening of the aurora borealis, scientists discover. ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 7:00 am Hawking nemesis Leonard Susskind speaksIn 'The Black Hole War,' Stanford University physicist Susskind recounts his long history of scientific conflict with famed cosmologist Stephen Hawking (whose concession letter he prints). ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 7:00 am Magnetic forces behind northern lights explained - Los Angeles Times
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Jul 2008 | 6:52 am FCC poised to punish Comcast over Web blocking - The Associated Press
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Jul 2008 | 6:50 am FCC poised to punish Comcast over Web blocking (AP)AP - A majority of members of the Federal Communications Commission have cast votes in favor of punishing Comcast Corp. for blocking subscribers' Internet traffic, an agency official said Friday.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 26 Jul 2008 | 6:44 am Northern Lights Timelapse + Flickr Photos (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) The Northern Lights are one of the most amazing natural phenomenons. Even though NASA just released a scientific explanation for aurora borealis to try to strip us of awe, theres no...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 6:20 am Sirius, XM Merger Gets FCC ApprovalMultiple readers, including koavf, have written to tell us the FCC has finally approved the Sirius-XM merger that has been in the works for quite a while now. CNN has picked up AP coverage as well. We discussed approval of the merger by the Justice Department a few months ago. From CNN: "The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to approve the buyout, with the tiebreaker coming Friday night from Republican commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate. Tate had insisted that the companies settle charges that they violated FCC rules before she would approve the deal. The companies agreed this week to pay $19.7 million to the U.S. Treasury for violations related to radio receivers and ground-based signal repeaters. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin confirmed the final vote Friday night. 'I think it's going to be, in the end, a good thing for consumers and be in the public interest,' he told The Associated Press."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 26 Jul 2008 | 6:09 am Sysadmin of the Year nominations openIt's time again for Sysadmin of the Year nominations:Link Source: Boing Boing | 26 Jul 2008 | 6:02 am Sysadmin of the Year nominations openIt's time again for Sysadmin of the Year nominations: The SysAdmin of the Year Award shines a spotlight on the IT superheroes behind the scenes working tirelessly to troubleshoot, problem solve and...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 6:02 am 32 (Literally) Golden Ideas (SUPER GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) With the Olympics coming up in Beijing, China next month, the world is thinking about gold. However, its not just in sports that gold is the central object of desire. Gold is springing...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 6:00 am Miniature China Monuments - Beijing Lego Sports City (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) If it moves, then Lego has done it, but there is something a little bit different to this Beijing Lego;t looks hideously complicated. The attention to detail in the China architecture...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 5:39 am E.T. Horn Adds Two Account Service SpecialistsDue to increased demand and need for technical service to support its growing customer base, the E.T.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 26 Jul 2008 | 5:00 am Nova Chemicals Reports Profit DropNova Chemicals Corp. said second-quarter profit tumbled 78 percent because of an expense recorded to reflect the mark-to- market value of forward contracts for chemical ingredients.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 26 Jul 2008 | 5:00 am Dell Makes Buyers Hunt for Xp OptionBy JAMES DERK Letters are filling the box this week, many from parents looking to buy the right laptop for a college student. Let's get right to the pile.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Jul 2008 | 5:00 am Dell Launches Summer Rocks Festival Tour and Sweepstakes With a Head- Turning Towel Drop at Parks and Beaches NationwideKick-off Celebrates Hi-Def Mobile Lifestyles with Arrays of Super- Sized, Eye-Popping Beach Towels Dell Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Jul 2008 | 5:00 am popIn Releases "popIn", the Solution to Your "?" While Browsing~Find the Information You Want on the Spot! An Entirely New Way of Browsing~ popIn Corporate Communication Hiroshi Terada, +81-3-6908-1603 info@popin.cc Contact by e-mail is preferred. Logo: http://www.popin.cc/ popIn Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Jul 2008 | 5:00 am Sudan - Telecoms Market Overview & Statistics Available NowResearch and Markets Laura Wood Senior Manager Fax from USA: 646-607-1907 Fax from rest of the world: +353-1-481-1716 press@researchandmarkets.com Logo: http://www.researchandmarkets.com Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/ 3f3f78/sudan_telecoms_m) has announced the addition of the "Sudan - Telecoms Market Overview & Statistics" report to their offering.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Jul 2008 | 5:00 am Broadband Innovations, Part 4: The Doctor Isn't In but Can Still See You (PC World)PC World - How telehealth is changing the way America gets well.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 26 Jul 2008 | 5:00 am Girls are as smart as boys, but tests are getting dumber - ZDNet Blogs
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Jul 2008 | 4:25 am Software Group Contemplates Suing eBay - InformationWeek
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Jul 2008 | 4:05 am Google URL Index Hits 1 Trillionmytrip points out news that Google's index of unique URLs has reached a milestone: one trillion. Google's blog provides some more information, noting, "The first Google index in 1998 already had 26 million pages, and by 2000 the Google index reached the one billion mark. Over the last eight years, we've seen a lot of big numbers about how much content is really out there. To keep up with this volume of information, our systems have come a long way since the first set of web data Google processed to answer queries. Back then, we did everything in batches: one workstation could compute the PageRank graph on 26 million pages in a couple of hours, and that set of pages would be used as Google's index for a fixed period of time. Today, Google downloads the web continuously, collecting updated page information and re-processing the entire web-link graph several times per day."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 26 Jul 2008 | 4:03 am Two New Football Helmets Do Battle Against ConcussionsThey may look like standard football helmets — but these skull shields are about as standard as Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Impala. The basic form is there, but everything else has changed. The aim is to cut the 300,000 concussions that players — from Pop Warner to NFL teams — suffer annually. In January, Riddell, the granddaddy of helmet makers, rolled out its Revolution IQ HITS, equipped with sensors and real-time monitoring tech. And Vin Ferrara, a former Harvard QB who endured his share of head knocks, will start selling his air-cushioned Xenith X1 this fall. Hut, hut, hike! Roll over the numbers below to see the helmets' features. 
Illustration: Bryan Christie
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 26 Jul 2008 | 4:00 am FCC approves Sirius-XM satellite radio merger (CNET)CNET - The Federal Communications Commission on Friday formally approved Sirius Satellite Radio's $3.3 billion buyout of former competitor XM Satellite Radio with conditions.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 26 Jul 2008 | 3:20 am Commando Nerd Patches for iPhone scanning John Young has written some cool projects for Make, such as this helmet-mounted water gun. He just alerted me to another nifty thing he made: Commando Nerd patches, which can be scanned with an iPhone. Here's how he describes them: You have an iPhone. And that means you're just HOURS away from being able to put a QRcode reader on it (there's one currently under review at Apple.)Commando Nerd patch Source: Boing Boing | 26 Jul 2008 | 2:43 am Details of major Internet flaw posted by accident - Computerworld
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Jul 2008 | 2:38 am Lack of Bandwidth Oversight Damages HDTV Qualitymattnyc99 writes "Over at Popular Mechanics, Glenn Derene has a great new column investigating the lawless lands of broadcast television, where the quality of the picture that ends up on your expensive hi-def set is determined by a bunch of fuzzy math. Quoting: 'In fact, there's no real regulation over high-definition picture quality at all — "none whatsoever," one industry consultant told me. And that's part of the reason why different HD stations often have wildly varying levels of picture quality that change from one moment to the next. Behind the scenes, content producers, broadcasters and cable and satellite providers are engaged in a constant tug-of-war over bandwidth and video quality, with no hard metrics to even define what looks acceptable. Even officials at HBO, where Generation Kill looks pretty fantastic on my TV, bemoaned the lack of a silver bullet ... for now.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 26 Jul 2008 | 1:59 am GET Interactive and Gydget Announce Groundbreaking New Technology for Monetizing Video Content on Social Networking SitesWINSTON-SALEM, N.C., July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- GET Interactive, an advertising technology company, and Gydget, a social media marketing platform company, are announcing a...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 26 Jul 2008 | 1:14 am House Industries "Studio Lettering" font collection My favorite type designers, House Industries, have a new set of fonts called Studio Lettering. The description is intriguing: Before the era of digital publishing, highly-trained artists in lettering shops plied their talents to give personality to advertisements, editorials and package designs. While the eye-catching beauty of hand-drawn lettering is still relevant in today’s visual landscape, this bygone skill has sadly fallen to the wayside. Designer Ken Barber brings the lettering artist’s sensibilities back to the modern designer’s desktop with our new Studio Lettering collection. More than three years in development, these fonts use advanced programming to create living and breathing lines of text that escape the rigid constraints of traditional type to flow as they would from an experienced letterer’s hand. The first 200 purchasers receive a free 64-page hardbound Studio Lettering book!Price is $160. House Industries "Studio Lettering" font collection Source: Boing Boing | 26 Jul 2008 | 1:03 am Gallery: Star Wars, Aliens and Outta-This-World Lines at Comic-Con : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.comSAN DIEGO -- More people, more lines and more crazy costumes. Welcome to Day 2 of Comic-Con International, where even hot pretzels can command an impressive line. Left: Mina Castillo, 7, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, dressed up as Jupiter and attended Comic-Con with her grandmother, Cynthia Lucia of San Diego, at left, dressed as Saturn. Her aunt, Cher Delacy of San Diego, came along as Mars.  : Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com“Masquerade is a big thing for us,” said Nicole Roberts, 32, of Van Nuys, California. “Packing for Comic-Con is always a nightmare.” Roberts is dressed as Barf from Spaceballs and is having lunch with her friend Kent Elofson, of Pasadena, California.  : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.comThe line for autographs wraps all the way around the DC Comics booth Friday morning.  : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.comTwo stormtroopers ascend to the second level of the Los Angeles Convention Center on Star Wars day.
Ray Park, who played Darth Maul in Star Wars, signs autographs Friday afternoon.  : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com“Awesome,” said Dwight Boyd, 47, of Palo Alto, California. This is his second year in a row attending Comic-Con. Even the caped crusader needs a little relief sometimes.  : Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.comKaan Toy, 23, of Turkey, sports a Superman cape while working Comic-Con. The cape was great for business, but didn’t make pedaling the bike any easier.  : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.comLeroy Harper eyes a potential buyer at the Dale Roberts Comics booth Friday. The vintage comics sold by the store fetch big bucks, with some going for thousands of dollars.  : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.comJay, aka Christopher Duncan, and Silent Bob, aka Robert Boughuer, take a little break from the action.  : Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.comKathy Valdoria, 25, and Ben Peterson, 26, both of San Diego, came to the show to look at all the crazy toys.  : Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.comMavrick Roberts, of Salt Lake City, is one of an estimated 35 Ghost Busters in attendance at Comic-Con, and he proudly chairs the Salt Lake City Ghost Busters branch.  : Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.comBobba Fett, aka Wayne Riehm of San Diego, stands guard at the entrance to the show floor at Comic-Con.  : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.comGreg Nelson of San Diego makes the perfect Shrek, with his big green head, tattered brown outfit and mildly grouchy personality. 
Source: Wired Top Stories | 26 Jul 2008 | 1:00 am Monster Corner vintage hobby shop Coop alerted my to this amazing photo of "The Monster Korner" in a New Jersey hobby shop from 1964. Every square inch is a treat to the eyeballs. The only place a shop like this could exist today is Tokyo. The text from the photo reads: Rich Palmer ran the nation's largest volume hobby shop in Parsippany, New Jersey. Aurora hired him to organize its Monster Customizing Contest in 1964. Aurora received national television attention when the CBS Evening News visited his shop. Walter Cronkite and Palmer held a conversation in the "Monster Korner" of the store. Big Frankie occupies the top shelf in the Monster Korner. Monster Corner vintage hobby shop (toyranch's photostream) Source: Boing Boing | 26 Jul 2008 | 12:30 am ISP Embarq Monitors User TrafficDeli Korkmaz writes "The Washington Post reports that Sprint-Nextel spin-off Embarq, currently the US's fourth largest DSL provider, monitored Internet activity on some 26,000 customers in Kansas using deep-packet inspection technology NebuAd in order to deliver targeted advertising to users' desktops. CNet provides coverage as well. The House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce is investigating whether any privacy laws were broken. Users were informed of this test and invited to opt out only via Embarq's online Privacy Policy; a mere 15 subscribers did so."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 25 Jul 2008 | 11:57 pm Air Force awards $900M contract to several firmsSeveral defense firms, including Science Applications International Corp. and CACI Technologies Inc., have been awarded a contract worth a possible $900 million to provide services to the Pentagon's unit...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 25 Jul 2008 | 11:45 pm Motorola wins text messaging patent caseMotorola Inc. , the world's No. 3 cell phone maker, said Friday it won a patent case filed against the company over its text messaging software.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 25 Jul 2008 | 11:37 pm Infineon shares rise on plans to cut jobsShares of German chip maker Infineon Technologies AG gained 5 percent Friday after the company revealed plans to slash 10 percent of its global work force in a cost-cutting maneuver to help reverse steep...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 25 Jul 2008 | 11:30 pm Event Innovation Announces InForum(TM), 'The World's First Attendee Relationship Management System,' This Weekend, July 25-28, at IAAM, in Anaheim, CANew Product Provides Entertainment Venues with Real-Time Attendee Data to Facilitate Attendee Relationships and Improve Communication with Customers ANAHEIM,...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 25 Jul 2008 | 11:28 pm Label merges software to build Fanbase (Reuters)Reuters - Fans of Atlantic Records acts like T.I., Shinedown and Simple Plan need only start up their computer to connect with their favorite artist, via Fanbase, a new application created by the label, Billboard has learned.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Jul 2008 | 11:13 pm Label merges software to build FanbaseNEW YORK (Billboard) - Fans of Atlantic Records acts like T.I., Shinedown and Simple Plan need only start up their computer to connect with their favorite artist, via Fanbase, a new...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 25 Jul 2008 | 11:13 pm Citrix Systems shares tumble on outlook fearsShares of Citrix Systems Inc. , which makes software and machinery that helps companies remotely manage their applications, have fallen more than 6 percent over the past two days on lingering fears about...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 25 Jul 2008 | 11:13 pm TI does not endorse 'mini-tender offer'DALLAS, July 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) said today it has been notified of an unsolicited "mini-tender offer"...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 25 Jul 2008 | 11:12 pm It was the cathedral of modern times, but the car is now a menaceVirginia and Leonard Woolf bought their first car, a second-hand Singer, in 1927. Three years earlier, she had complained that an increase in traffic was ruining her walks in the countryside. But within...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 25 Jul 2008 | 11:06 pm San Francisco DA Discloses City's Passwordssnydeq writes "The office of San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris has made public close to 150 usernames and passwords used by various departments to connect to the city's VPN. The passwords were filed this week as Exhibit A in a court document arguing against a reduction in $5 million bail in the case against Terry Childs. Though they placed the passwords in the public record, city prosecutors do seem to think that they are sensitive. InfoWorld's Paul Venezia, who has been following the case closely, provides further analysis of the technical details in the city's case. 'By themselves, [the passwords] would not be enough to allow anyone to access the network via VPN,' Venezia writes, 'but the fact that the city entered them into evidence is quite shocking. At the very least, they'll have to shut down their VPN access for awhile until they've changed them all and modified the configurations of some large number of VPN clients.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 25 Jul 2008 | 10:59 pm Sneak preview of the Martin JetpackHere's a short video of the Martin Jetpack that's going to be unveiled at the Oshkosh Airshow next week. Source: Boing Boing | 25 Jul 2008 | 10:57 pm Plays for the Presidency: Strategy Firm Deconstructs Obama's Berlin SpeechAnalysts Find a Total of Ten Specific Influence Strategies Used 64 Times by Obama to Rally Crowd of 200,000 WASHINGTON, July 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 25 Jul 2008 | 10:52 pm Serenic announces financial results for first quarter ended May 31, 2008EDMONTON, July 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Serenic Corporation (the "Company") (TSX-V:SER), an international software developer and marketer providing financial...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 25 Jul 2008 | 10:49 pm Symbian Talks Open-Source Strategy (TechWeb)TechWeb - InformationWeek - Vendor neutrality and greater transparency will increase adoption of the soon to be open mobile platform, executives point out.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Jul 2008 | 10:40 pm More on moonwalker Edgar Mitchell's claim that space aliens have visited earthIrene Klotz of the Discovery Space website interviewed Edgar Mitchell about his claims that intelligent space creatures have landed on Earth and that the US government has been covering it up.Apollo Astronaut Chats About UFO, Alien Belief (Discovery Space. Thanks, Chris!) Source: Boing Boing | 25 Jul 2008 | 10:31 pm Rock titles drive revolution in games (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Jul 2008 | 10:09 pm Microsoft Blesses LGPL, Joins Apache FoundationPenguinisto writes "According to a somewhat jaw-dropping story in The Register, it appears that Microsoft has performed a trifecta of geek-scaring feats: They have joined the Apache Software Foundation as a Platinum member(at $100K USD a year), submitted LGPL-licensed patches for ADOdb, and have pledged to expand their Open Specifications Promise by adding to the list more than 100 protocols for interoperability between its Windows Server and the Windows client. While I sincerely doubt they'll release Vista under a GPL license anytime soon, this is certainly an unexpected series of moves on their part, and could possibly lead to more OSS (as opposed to 'Shared Source') interactivity between what is arguably Linux' greatest adversary and the Open Source community." (We mentioned the announced support for the Apache Foundation earlier today, as well.)Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 25 Jul 2008 | 10:09 pm Rock titles drive revolution in gamesLOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Record first-half sales of video and computer games got a big boost from Rockstar Games' "Grand Theft Auto IV" and Activision's "Guitar Hero III."Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 25 Jul 2008 | 10:08 pm Logic gates out of dominoesSoftware engineer Neil Fraser made a video that uses domino falls to simulate logic gates, the basic building blocks of digital circuits. Domino Domino Logic (neil.fraser.name, thanks Michelle Hlubinka and Robert Cook!) Source: Boing Boing | 25 Jul 2008 | 10:08 pm CSC Celebrates Wednesday's Team CSC Saxo Bank Victory With Second Donation to Velokhaya Cycling ProgramOne-of-a-kind Cervelo Bikes Being Auctioned in Support of the Life Cycling Academy FALLS CHURCH, Va., July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- CSC (NYSE: CSC) congratulates Carlos...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 25 Jul 2008 | 10:08 pm AUDIO from Medialink and HSBC Direct: Americans Still Find Ways to Indulge in Trying EconomyNEW YORK, July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- General wisdom suggests that while it might be O.K. to treat yourself during good economic times, you also need to "tighten your...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 25 Jul 2008 | 10:05 pm Indiana Man Pleads Guilty to Transporting Child PornographyWASHINGTON, July 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Charles Robert Gorby, 34, of Terre Haute, Ind., pleaded guilty today in Terre Haute to one count of transporting child pornography,Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 25 Jul 2008 | 9:58 pm Painting with R/C cars
Ian Cook puts paints on the wheels of his R/C cars and then drives them to paint pictures. Of cars. (And more abstract pieces too.) Rob has more details and a video over at Boing Boing Gadgets. R/C car painting (BB Gadgets) Source: Boing Boing | 25 Jul 2008 | 9:44 pm What To Expect In KDE 4.1andrewmin writes "Recently, Gnome's been gaining a lot of ground on its KDE counterpart in the desktop environment wars. The KDE developers were hoping to change this with KDE 4, the new radical release of KDE, but it was not to be. KDE 4.0 was buggy and unstable, leaving everyone except the hard-core KDE lovers. Mainly, this was because it just didn't work most of the time. However, the developers were not without hope. They promised that KDE 4.1 would be more stable and fix all the holes and problems with KDE 4.0. That time is coming soon: in just four days, K Desktop Environment 4.1 will be released to the Linux masses." A release candidate for 4.1 came out just over a week ago, with binaries available "for some Linux distributions, and Mac OS X and Windows."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 25 Jul 2008 | 9:18 pm Activist shareholder nominees to join CSX board (AP)AP - Railroad giant CSX said it has asked two nominees of activist hedge fund shareholders TCI and 3G Capital to join its board, but said it will await a vote review and court action before seating its two remaining members.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Jul 2008 | 9:02 pm iPhone Software Update May Fix Frustrating Bugs (NewsFactor)NewsFactor - When Apple released its iPhone 2.0 software earlier this month, CEO Steve Jobs said it would provide the best user experience and the most advanced software platform for a mobile device. However, glitches in the software are leaving users frustrated, with a laundry list of complaints.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Jul 2008 | 8:58 pm Yahoo To Reimburse Customers Of DRM-Protected Music (TechWeb)TechWeb - InformationWeek - The company said its digital rights management servers would be taken down, severely limiting the use of the files.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Jul 2008 | 8:54 pm Delivering 8K VFX Shots For the Dark Knightagent4256 writes "Barbara Robertson over at Studio Daily put forth this article featuring the technical background for the production of The Dark Knight. With most of the film shot with IMAX cameras (producing a theoretical resolution of 18k), the studios could not handle the size. Instead, they cut the resolution by more than half, down to 8K, the maximum resolution for scanned film. 'A single 8K frame requires 200 MB of data,' Franklin says. 'So we had to upgrade our whole infrastructure. We needed faster network speeds to move data around, massively beefed up servers, and — the most important thing — a new compositing solution.' To give you an idea of how far technology has taken us: 'In 1999, when we worked on Pitch Black [released in 2000], we needed to access 2 TB of data,' Franklin says. 'This show used over 100 TB of data.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 25 Jul 2008 | 8:30 pm Prof whose 'last lecture' became a sensation dies (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Jul 2008 | 7:50 pm New Open Web Foundation Has Open Source Technology's BackThe Open Web Foundation, founded by Six Apart's David Recordon, will attempt to fill in the legal and business gaps prohibiting the adoption of advanced Open Source technology. The question is, is it just another level of bureaucracy?
Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jul 2008 | 7:30 pm Geeky TechShop Founder Plans National Franchise RolloutThe founder of TechShop, the Maker Faire-favorite, shared-workshop space in Silicon Valley, says that he's planning to roll out franchises across the country to make the business "like Kinko's for geeks."Source: Wired: Gadgets | 25 Jul 2008 | 7:00 pm Geeky TechShop Founder Plans National Franchise RolloutThe founder of TechShop, the Maker Faire-favorite, shared-workshop space in Silicon Valley, says that he's planning to roll out franchises across the country to make the business "like Kinko's for geeks."
Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jul 2008 | 7:00 pm Blind Taste Test Shows XP Users Love VistaMicrosoft invited a bunch of XP users in to test "Mojave," a new version of its Windows operating system. They loved it. What they didn’t know was Mojave was Vista in disguise.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jul 2008 | 6:40 pm Aboriginal Rock Art at RiskAncient etchings on the rocks of Australia's Burrup Peninsula are at risk, say experts.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 25 Jul 2008 | 6:14 pm Wrong! 5 Reasons Why Lossless Formats Will Not Destroy MP3Tales of the imminent demise of the MP3 format are greatly exaggerated, even though lossless formats have plenty of advantages. Here are five reasons why MP3s will be us for a long time to come.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jul 2008 | 5:30 pm Why Won't Google Video Just Die?As YouTube's dominance of the video market grows, it seems increasingly likely that Google Video will eventually get folded into the mammoth site.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jul 2008 | 5:00 pm Is the World's Largest Shark Shrinking?Whale sharks have been so exploited that they are shrinking in size, according to a new study.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 25 Jul 2008 | 4:00 pm 'Last Lecture' Professor, Randy Pausch, DiesRandy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon computer science professor whose inspiring "Last Lecture" became a viral video hit on YouTube last year, has died at the age of 47.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jul 2008 | 3:36 pm A Dot-Com Banker Who's Stuck in the Past
News from Portfolio.com
 Frank Quattrone thinks the dearth of startup IPOs in today's market is due in large part to the Wall Street research reforms made after the tech bubble burst. He's wrong. At a technology conference at Stanford University yesterday, Quattrone said the industry should petition to remove the regulations that prevent sell-side research analysts from being compensated for their efforts in getting startups through the IPO process. "It hurts the competitiveness of our country to deny companies access to research analysts," he said. The reforms were made after then New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer went after research analysts including Henry Blodget and Jack Grubman for publicly recommending stocks they privately disparaged. Quattrone, who was arguably Silicon Valley's top investment banker during the dotcom boom, spent years fighting federal charges relating to an investigation into his allocation of IPO shares. He eventually prevailed, and he now runs a technology boutique bank called Qatalyst Group. To understand why Quattrone is wrong, it's helpful to remember how Wall Street research worked before the reforms. I witnessed it firsthand as a research associate at Hambrecht & Quist in the mid-1990s, when startup software companies were practically lining up at the door for their chance at the public markets. Research analysts back then were more like startup consultants, doing everything from working with bankers to pitch new business to IPO candidates to hosting roadshow presentations with institutional clients ahead of the offering. There was no "Chinese Wall" between banking and research. I once had a banker ask me for the models for two companies we covered, because they were weighing a merger. In fact, bankers and research analysts worked so closely that it was difficult to determine where one department stopped and the other started. Both groups received bonuses based on the business they won and the performance of the stocks after their debut. That's all well and fine for the bankers, who moved on to other deals after celebrating at the closing dinner. But 25 days after the IPO, the research analyst was supposed to initiate coverage using his objective analysis. Invariably, this recommendation would be a "buy" or a "strong buy." At H&Q, only once did I see an analyst initiate coverage of a hot IPO the bank had underwritten with a "hold" recommendation. The stock, i2 Technologies, had simply climbed too high in the first few weeks of trading to justify an investment recommendation. The morning his report was issued, the analyst faced a stream of irate institutional sales staff and perturbed bankers. They flooded his office, screaming at him behind closed doors, reminding him how much i2 had just paid the bank. Under the new rules, this scenario would seem preposterous. Bankers and research analysts are physically separated, and they must clear legal hurdles even to speak. Research analysts rightfully play no role in pitching the startups or in selling the stock to institutional investors. And they also don't receive additional compensation for business the bank gets from companies they cover. Quattrone argues that this is all wrong, and that startups can't attract investor interest without the expertise of the research analysts. He thinks that's partly to blame for the fact that we're not seeing many IPOs in Silicon Valley these days. He argues that small companies can't get coverage because the few research analysts left on Wall Street only focus on large cap stocks. The fact is, startups shouldn't have to rely on their bank's analysts to sell their story for them. If their business model is sound and their valuation reasonable, their stocks will get noticed by institutions. And why should any bank's institutional clients be subjected to a sales pitch from an analyst who is fundamentally incapable of providing an objective opinion? Individual investors aside, it's the banks biggest clients who should be thankful they no longer have to hear a used-car sales pitch from their brokers every morning. The IPO market isn't thriving for many reasons. But bringing back the old sell-side research scheme to revive it isn't the answer.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jul 2008 | 3:00 pm Pharaonic Boat to Be Excavated, ReassembledPlanks were buried beside the Great Pyramid to be reassembled, Ikea-style, into a boat.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 25 Jul 2008 | 2:08 pm Herbal Remedy, Take Me AwayAn herb used for centuries by Native Americans could become as popular as echinacea.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 25 Jul 2008 | 2:00 pm A Point of No Return for Greenland's IceThere is a tipping point beyond which Greenland's ice will be forever lost, researchers say.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 25 Jul 2008 | 1:25 pm IPhone 2.1 Update to Bring Turn-by-Turn GPS?Looks like the already-overdue iPhone 2.1 software update will extend the functionality of GPS: the device will know not only where you are, but in which direction you are going and how fast you are moving. This is being interpreted by many as the coming of turn-by-turn navigation.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jul 2008 | 12:01 pm IPhone 2.1 Update to Bring Turn-by-Turn GPS?Looks like the already-overdue iPhone 2.1 software update will extend the functionality of GPS: the device will know not only where you are, but in which direction you are going and how fast you are moving. This is being interpreted by many as the coming of turn-by-turn navigation.Source: Wired: Gadgets | 25 Jul 2008 | 12:01 pm Did the U.S. Army Arrange a 'Sweetheart' Deal to Sell Russian Helicopters to Iraq?Earlier this year, the Defense Department quietly gave a U.S. company a contract to provide 22 new Russian-made Mi-17 troop transport helicopters to the Iraqi military in a deal worth an eye-brow raising $325 million, DANGER ROOM learns.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jul 2008 | 12:00 pm
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