As Microsoft prepares to release Windows Vista to the masses, disparate Linux camps are banding together to prepare a counterattack. The Open Source Development Labs is merging with the Free Standards Group to form The Linux Foundation. The goal of the new group is to streamline efforts and help the open-source operating system compete more effectively against proprietary platforms. Community groups, universities, and industry players — including HP, Hitachi, Fujitsu, IBM, Intel, Novell, NEC, and Oracle — are coming together under the new flag
The Center for Consumer Freedom placed ads in the NYT attacking PETA, a radical pro-animal group. A little digging reveals that the Center for Consumer Freedom
is an astroturf organisation (fake grassroots) funded by the fast-food companies that PETA opposes — via Boing Boing
MySpace.com has filed a lawsuit against the self-proclaimed Spam King
for allegedly blasting the portal with spam through the use of compromised user accounts. MySpace also seeks a permanent injunction to bar Scott Richter, who has fought with Microsoft and the state of New York over spam, and his affiliates from using the popular social networking site, according to a MySpace announcement
Researchers have been able to encode an image into a photon and to later retrieve it intact. It’s analogous to the difference between snapping a picture with a single pixel and doing it with a camera — this is like a 6-megapixel camera… You can have a tremendous amount of information in a pulse of light, but normally if you try to buffer it, you can lose much of that information… We’re showing it’s possible to pull out an enormous amount of information with an extremely high signal-to-noise ratio even with very low light levels
Banks and credit card companies are rushing to notify their customers to keep an eye out for fraudulent activity on their accounts after several retailers discovered thefts of customer data from their computer systems. TJX, the parent company of Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and several other national chains, said hackers breached a system that handles credit card, debit card, and check transactions in the United States and Puerto Rico. The company also said there is a possibility the breach is as far-reaching as the United Kingdom and Ireland
Apple plans to open up protected music and movies content bought from the iTunes Store. The iPod maker is expected to make two announcements this week — the first will be to allow streaming of protected AAC content via USB; the second will be to licence its Fairplay DRM to the company’s Made For iPod licencees
The invisible RFID ink process developed by Somark involves a geometric array of micro-needles and an ink capsule, which is used to tattoo
an animal. The ink can be detected from 4 feet away — via Warren Ellis
A 13-year-old girl’s father and stepmother were arrested after the teen told police she had been locked in a room for nearly two years, allowed out only for meals, chores and one-minute timed bathroom breaks. Clint Engstrom, 32, and Lynn Engstrom, 35, were charged Tuesday with one count each of causing mental harm to a child, a felony
There’s a new twist in the ongoing battle between the next-generation, high-definition DVD standards: Hackers have cracked the antipiracy software on several movies published in the HD DVD format. Perhaps ironically, hackers chose to break the copy-protection system in Universal’s Serenity
, a 2005 science fiction film about a renegade crew of space outlaws. The hackers are distributing copies of the films using BitTorrent, a once-controversial file-sharing tool that is working to clean up its reputation by forging partnerships with TV and movie companies. Hmm… as this crack
is on a movie-by-movie basis, I’m seeing this as a workaround rather than a global format crack
Seagate claims the 2.5-inch Savvio 15K, which comes in 36GB and 73GB models, needs 30 percent less power than any other 15K drive. That’s good news to data centres coping with the high cost of cooling bills, as ultradense architectures, including blade servers that pack high-powered machines into racks like sardines, prove harder and harder to cool
Researchers at the University of Alberta Department of Medicine have shown that an existing small, relatively non-toxic molecule, dichloroacetate, causes regression in several different cancers. But there’s a catch: the drug isn’t patented, and pharmaceutical companies may not be interested in funding further research if the treatment won’t make them a profit. In findings that astounded
the researchers, the molecule known as DCA was shown to shrink lung, breast and brain tumours in both animal and human tissue experiments
MGM has announced the extension of the hit Stargate SG-1 franchise with two movies based on the popular series. Stargate: The Ark of Truth
will bring a conclusion to the primary storyline of the past two seasons of SG-1 and Stargate: Continuum
is the usual time paradox tale
A Detroit man with a record of breaking store windows to satisfy a fetish for female mannequins faces up to life in prison if convicted on the latest charge against him
Governor CL Butch
Otter said he will support public hunts to kill all but 100 grey wolves in the state once the federal government removes the animal from Endangered Species Act protections, and that he hopes to shoot a wolf himself
Hewlett-Packard researchers have developed a novel way to create flexible electronic circuits that could make it routine by the end of the decade to modify and upgrade the circuitry in computer-based consumer products even after they have been sold. The technology grows out of an advance in nanocomputing, which involves creating circuitry on a molecular scale and making it interact with today’s silicon wires and transistors
By genetically removing a particular protein, scientists have developed cattle that seem to be resistant to mad cow disease. Dr Juergen Richt with the United States Department of Agriculture in Ames, Iowa and colleagues generated cattle lacking the prion protein and monitored them for growth and general health status from birth to 20 months of age
If you have a Core 2 Duo Macintosh, the built-in WLAN card is capable of networking using (draft 2) 802.11n. This capability can be unlocked via an update Apple distributes with the new AirPort Extreme Base Station. Or, they will sell it to you for $4.99. Why don’t they give it away for free, say with Software Update? Because of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (which was passed in the wake of the Enron scandal). iLounge quotes an Apple representative: It’s about accounting. Because of the Act, the company believes that if it sells a product, then later adds a feature to that product, it can be held liable for improper accounting if it recognises revenue from the product at the time of sale, given that it hasn’t finished delivering the product at that point
— via Slashdot
A samurai sword wielding vigilante has come to the rescue of two Police officers when they were attacked by an armed gang in South Shields, England. A group of men had forced their way into a house and were ransacking the place when passing plain-clothes officers were alerted by a woman inside screaming. The criminals outnumbered them and were armed with a hammer, knives and chains and attacked the Police officers. As one of them stabbed at a Policeman with his knife, a mysterious do-gooder appeared from nowhere and attacked him with a samurai sword. One of the burglars began running away but was stopped by the stranger who struck him on the arm with the sword. Two of the criminals were arrested, but in true hero style the samurai disappeared before police could speak to him — via Boing Boing
The husband of Second Life land baroness Anshe Chung said he should not have filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act complaint against YouTube in his attempts to have the site delete a video of her avatar being attacked by a barrage of digital flying penises. And as a result, he said, he has revoked the DMCA claim. I didn’t realise that some people would misunderstand this as a censorship attempt, which it definitely was not,
Guntram Graef said. So, what was it if not an attempt to scupper the story?
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