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27 January 2012, 7:01 pm |
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leopold rilnhdub [ mail: leopold.rilnhdub[at]bongfaschist.de | homepage: leopold.bongfaschist.de ]
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Mars Rover Opportunity Turns 8 |
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New submitter el borak writes
"Never mind all the talk about the revival of the American auto industry. What may be the greatest car the U.S. has ever built is currently a tidy 78 million miles (125m km) away from this world — resting on the edge of Endeavour crater in the southern hemisphere of Mars. It was on January 25, 2004 that the rover Opportunity bounced down on Mars for a mission designed to last a minimum of three months and a maximum of just a year or two."Read more of this story at Slashdot.  |
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27 January 2012, 6:41 pm |
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bettina leianakg [ mail: bettina.leianakg[at]bongfaschist.com | homepage: bettina.bongfaschist.com ]
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ReDigi Defends Used Digital Music Market |
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NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "ReDigi has fired back, opposing Capitol Records's motion for a preliminary injunction. In his opposition declaration, ReDigi's CTO Larry Rudolph explains in detail (PDF) how the technology employed by ReDigi's used digital music marketplace effects transfer of a music file without copying, but by modifying the record locator in an 'atomic transaction,' and how it verifies that only a single instance of a unique file can enter the ReDigi cloud system. ReDigi's opposition papers also point out plaintiff's own admissions that mp3 files are not 'material objects' or 'phonorecords' under the Copyright Act, and therefore not subject to the Copyright Act's distribution right, and defend ReDigi's used digital music marketplace and cloud storage system (PDF) on a number of grounds, including the First Sale exception to the distribution right applicable to a 'particular' copy, the Essential Step exception to the distribution right applicable to a copy essential to the running of a computer program, and Fair Use space shifting."Read more of this story at Slashdot.  |
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27 January 2012, 6:00 pm |
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olaf oatdhgrt [ mail: olaf.oatdhgrt[at]livemy.de | homepage: olaf.livemy.de ]
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Man Who Downloaded Bomb Recipes Jailed For 2 Years |
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chrb writes "Asim Kauser, a 25-year-old British man, has been jailed for two years and three months for downloading recipes on how to make bombs and the toxin ricin. Police discovered the materials on a USB stick Asim's father gave to them following a burglary at the Kauser family home. Asim pled guilty and claimed that he only downloaded the materials because he was curious. A North West Counter-Terrorism Unit spokesman said, 'I also want to stress that this case is not about policing people's freedom to browse the Internet. The materials that were downloaded were not stumbled upon by chance — these had to be searched for and contained very dangerous information that could have led to an explosive device being built.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.  |
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27 January 2012, 5:18 pm |
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helmut bagrleie [ mail: helmut.bagrleie[at]an-neuss.de | homepage: helmut.an-neuss.de ]
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AT&T Threatening To Raise Rates After Merger Failure |
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An anonymous reader writes "In the quarterly earnings call following the defeat of his attempted acquisition of T-Mobile, AT&T's CEO Randall Stephenson was quick to lash out at the FCC, claiming that because his company was unable to acquire more spectrum to handle the explosion of mobile data users, AT&T would be forced to raise prices and take additional action against the highest data users. PCMag looked into the other side of the story, finding that 'The FCC spokesman ... pointed out that the FCC has approved more than 150 commercial mobile transaction applications in the past year and more than 300 in the past two years, "facts [that] were completely ignored in the [AT&T] conference call," he said.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.  |
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27 January 2012, 4:35 pm |
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viktoria ehkei [ mail: viktoria.ehkei[at]ich-blicks.net | homepage: viktoria.ich-blicks.net ]
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America's Future Is In Software, Not Hardware |
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New submitter tcjr2006 writes "Obama's State of the Union focused on the return of manufacturing jobs to America. This New Yorker story makes the case that the manufacturing jobs aren't going to come back, and he should be focusing on software. Quoting: 'Yes, there are industries where manufacturing jobs can be brought back to America through proper tax incentives and training programs. But maybe he should have talked more about the things that he could do to keep software jobs here. He spoke of federal funding for university and scientific research. But a real pro-software agenda would also include reforming patent law to stop trolling (and perhaps eliminating software patents altogether); increasing H-1B visas for highly skilled coders; stopping Congress from defunding DARPA, whose research helped create Siri, the iPhone’s talking assistant; and opening up the unused, federally owned wireless spectrum. That agenda wouldn’t bring Apple’s manufacturing jobs back, but it would help to keep the company’s coding jobs here. And it would certainly help develop "an economy that’s built to last."'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.  |
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27 January 2012, 3:52 pm |
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heinrich dsiro [ mail: heinrich.dsiro[at]mudjaheddin.de | homepage: heinrich.mudjaheddin.de ]
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Iwata Confirms Nintendo Network, New Wii U Controller Functions |
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New submitter DeanCubed writes "In a Nintendo investor meeting, CEO Satoru Iwata confirmed a new Nintendo Network for the company's 3DS and upcoming Wii U game systems. This includes multiple user accounts per console (not tied to hardware, a first for Nintendo) and digitally distributed retail software releases for their online store. Iwata also noted that the Wii U's tablet controller will feature NFC (Near Field Communication) functionality, allowing the ability to use figurines and cards to input visual data to the console. They are hoping to use this to make micro-transactions for paid DLC easier."Read more of this story at Slashdot.  |
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27 January 2012, 3:38 pm |
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oskar eteran [ mail: oskar.eteran[at]creation-asociale.com | homepage: oskar.creation-asociale.com ]
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Close Approach By Asteroid 2012 BX34 |
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An anonymous reader writes with news that asteroid 2012 BX34, 11 meters wide, is in the process of passing within 60,000km of Earth — about a fifth of the distance between the Earth and the Moon. At that size, the asteroid would pose no danger even if it hit the Earth's atmosphere.Read more of this story at Slashdot.  |
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27 January 2012, 3:12 pm |
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simon trigbi [ mail: simon.trigbi[at]streng-katholisch.de | homepage: simon.streng-katholisch.de ]
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Graphene Membranes Superpermeable to Water |
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Dr Max writes "Not only is graphene the strongest, thinnest and best conducting material known to man, it is now shown to have superpermeability with respect to water as well. This allows a membrane made with graphene to pass water right through it (PDF), while another atom or molecule (even helium) gets blocked. 'The properties are so unusual that it is hard to imagine that they cannot find some use in the design of filtration, separation or barrier membranes and for selective removal of water,' said one of the researchers."Read more of this story at Slashdot.  |
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27 January 2012, 2:30 pm |
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samuel hnaenrm [ mail: samuel.hnaenrm[at]bemon.de | homepage: samuel.bemon.de ]
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Judge Denies Dismissal of No-Poach Conspiracy Case |
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theodp writes "Testifying before Congress in 2007, Google's HR chief stated: 'We make great efforts to uncover the most talented employees we can find.' But according to the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Google actually went to some lengths to avoid uncovering some of tech's most talented employees, striking up agreements with Apple, Intel, and other corporations to avoid recruiting each other's employees. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh ruled that Google, Apple, Intel, Adobe, Disney, Pixar, Intuit and Lucasfilm must face a lawsuit claiming they violated antitrust laws by entering into no-poaching agreements with each other. 'I don't want to see any obstruction on discovery,' Koh told lawyers during a hearing. According to the head attorney representing the plaintiffs, the total damages could exceed $150 million if just 10,000 entry-level engineers were affected."Read more of this story at Slashdot.  |
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27 January 2012, 1:47 pm |
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rudolf jaciunleqe [ mail: rudolf.jaciunleqe[at]spermageile-schlampe.de | homepage: rudolf.spermageile-schlampe.de ]
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Scientists Organize Elsevier Boycott |
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An anonymous reader writes "The academic publisher Elsevier has attracted controversy for its high prices, the practice of bundling journals for sale to libraries and its support for legislation such as SOPA and the Research Works Act. Fields medal-winning mathematician Tim Gowers decided to go public with a blog post describing how he'll no longer have anything to do with Elsevier journals, and suggesting that a public website where mathematicians and scientists could register their support for an Elsevier boycott would further the cause. Such a website now exists, with hundreds of academics signing-up so far. John Baez has a nice write-up of the problem and possible solutions."Read more of this story at Slashdot.  |
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27 January 2012, 1:05 pm |
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henning glaikane [ mail: henning.glaikane[at]jasmin-wagner-fans.com | homepage: henning.jasmin-wagner-fans.com ]
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Pentagon Drafts Kids To Build Drones and Robots |
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MrSeb writes "In a world where warfare is fast becoming fielded by remote controlled and autonomous robots, innovation is the key to victory. The most technologically advanced superpower can see more, plan better, and attack from further away than its inferior adversaries. What better way to revolutionize the drone and robotics industry than use the brilliant minds of our children? That's what DARPA and the Defense Department's research and development arm thinks, anyway. The Manufacturing Experimentation and Outreach Initiative, part of the Adaptive Vehicle Make project, is slated to reach a thousand schools in and out of the country, roping in the brightest minds to develop robotics and advance technology in new and interesting ways. Funded by the Department of Defense, the program comes with a steep cost: The DoD wants unlimited rights to everything the students build. It sounds almost like something Orson Scott Card would dream up."Read more of this story at Slashdot.  |
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27 January 2012, 10:21 am |
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katia ogrre [ mail: katia.ogrre[at]bongfaschist.de | homepage: katia.bongfaschist.de ]
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Ask Slashdot: Techie Wedding Invitation Ideas? |
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Qa32 writes "I am getting married in a few months and being a hardcore techie I wanted to come up with some novel way of making my wedding invite that will truly have even my mom say, 'wow, that was cool.' Has anyone out there done anything similar, or have you thought of something similar you'd like to share? I already have a few: have QR codes, have some basic embedded circuit/plate with wire leads that maybe plays a song when you connect a battery, have a way to turn up a display LCD, etc."Read more of this story at Slashdot.  |
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27 January 2012, 8:59 am |
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adolf iatnicsrh [ mail: adolf.iatnicsrh[at]btcom.de | homepage: adolf.btcom.de ]
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Team Creates Footwear Recognition System |
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Zothecula writes "Facial recognition might be all the rage in giving computer systems the ability to ascertain the identity of individuals — what with most people having different facial features and all. But a team from the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany, has taken a different approach to identify users of touch-based tabletop computers like Microsoft's Surface. Instead of focusing on the face, the team has looked in the opposite direction to develop a system known as Bootstrapper, which distinguishes between users based on their footwear ."Read more of this story at Slashdot.  |
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27 January 2012, 7:55 am |
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lothar amotsh [ mail: lothar.amotsh[at]streng-katholisch.de | homepage: lothar.streng-katholisch.de ]
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EU ACTA Chief Resigns |
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bs0d3 writes "The EU ACTA chief has resigned, saying, 'This agreement might have major consequences on citizens' lives, and still, everything is being done to prevent the European Parliament from having its say in this matter. That is why today, as I release this report for which I was in charge, I want to send a strong signal and alert the public opinion about this unacceptable situation. I will not take part in this masquerade.' 22 EU members signed the controversial ACTA treaty Thursday in Tokyo."Read more of this story at Slashdot.  |
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27 January 2012, 5:45 am |
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jacob aebltr [ mail: jacob.aebltr[at]about-warren.com | homepage: jacob.about-warren.com ]
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1st 'Super Wi-Fi' Net Goes Live In North Carolina |
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alphadogg writes "Lucky residents of Wilmington, N.C., will be the first in the nation to have access to a 'Super Wi-Fi' network. Officials from New Hanover County, N.C., announced Thursday that they had become the first in the United States to deploy a mobile data network on so-called 'white spaces' spectrum that the FCC first authorized for unlicensed use in 2008."Read more of this story at Slashdot.  |
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