The Canadian government is reportedly ready to introduce copyright reform legislation this spring, provided that no election is called. The new bill would move Canada far closer to the US on copyright, with DMCA-style anti-circumvention legislation that prohibits circumvention of DRM systems and bans software and mod chips that can be used to circumvent such systems
It was just a bit of text advocating open data formats that was slipped into a Florida State Senate bill at the last minute with no fanfare, but within 24 hours three Microsoft-paid lobbyists, all wearing black suits, were pressuring members of the Senate Committee on Governmental Operations (COGO) to remove the words they didn’t like
Google CEO Eric Schmidt has confirmed there will be a presentation layer for Google Docs & Spreadsheets. While Google has web-based applications for word processing and spreadsheet management, the addition of a Power Point-style presentation application could be the final step in turning Google’s online office suite into a serious Microsoft Office
Reports continue to filter in about DVDs that refuse to play on standard players from Toshiba, LG, Pioneer, Sony and others. The culprit is titles that utilise Sony’s ARccOS copy protection scheme, such as Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
, The Weinstein Company’s Lucky Number Slevin
, and Sony’s Casino Royale
, The Holiday
, and Stranger Than Fiction
. ARccOS artificially scrambles sectors on the disc in an attempt to keep users from ripping the disc to a drive. Many older (or less sophisticated) players simply skip these corrupted areas as unreadable and continue on. Computers — and unfortunately, some newer players — try to perform error correction on these areas and fail playback
The smoking ban in Ireland has cut air pollution in pubs and improved bar-workers’ health, a study has found. Researchers said the ban, which came in at the end of March 2004, had led to an 83% reduction in air pollution and an 80% cut in cancer-causing agents. Smoking bans are already in place in Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland will follow suit on 30 April, with England’s ban coming into force on 1 July
Microsoft, a veteran defendant of epic antitrust battles in the United States and Europe, is urging antitrust officials to consider scuttling Google’s plan to buy DoubleClick
Want a video removed from YouTube? Send along a fake takedown notice pretending to be from the copyright holder. At least, it’s a prank that worked for a 15 year old from Perth, who sent a signed form to YouTube pretending to be from the Australian Broadcasting Company. The form requested the takedown of hundreds of clips from The Chaser’s War on Everything
, which the ABC has made freely available. The head of ABC-TV comedy, Courtney Gibson, says it is not clear why the boy impersonated an ABC employee and had the clips removed, but she is glad he has now apologised
The Tamil Tigers Liberation Front a separatist group in Sri Lanka, which has been classified as a terrorist group in 32 countries has moved up from routine sea piracy to a space-based one. They have been accused of illegally using Intelsat satellites to beam radio and television broadcasts internationally. Intelsat says that they will end the transmissions within days
. Intelsat has been accused of having business links with Hezbollah before, but claim that they are blameless this time and LTTE was using an empty transponder
Google reached an agreement today to acquire DoubleClick, the online advertising company, from two private equity firms for $3.1 billion in cash, the companies announced, an amount that was almost double the $1.65 billion in stock that Google paid for YouTube late last year. The sale offers Google access to DoubleClick’s advertisement software and, more importantly, its relationships with Web publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies
Computer makers have been told they’ll no longer be able to get Windows XP OEM by the end of this year, despite strong ongoing demand for the OS. Analysts and computer makers are wondering if the move is premature given Vista’s ongoing performance and compatibility issues. Dell recently said it would reintroduce XP on a range of machines due to customer demand but Microsoft will only allow this until the end of the year
The Tokyo Institute of Technology has announced a process for creating an inexpensive, nearly transparent, electrically conductive alumina cement. The conductivity is comparable to metal, and the transparency should be adequate for use in display panels. The process relies upon commonplace and inexpensive metals compared to the rare metals such as iridium currently used in display panels
One of the outstanding figures of modern US literature, Kurt Vonnegut, has died aged 84 in New York. He became a cult figure among students in the 1960s and 1970s with his classics of US counterculture. The pivotal moment of his life was the bombing of Dresden by allied forces in 1945. The experience informed his best-known work, Slaughterhouse Five. He suffered brain injuries after a fall at his home in Manhattan and died on Wednesday, said his wife Jill Krementz
While Apple is promising several new features in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Mac fans won’t be able to get their hands on the Leopard OS until later this year as a result of Apple diverting Leopard engineering and testing resources to the launch of the highly anticipated iPhone, which couples iPod-like functionality with smartphone capabilities
Fast food chain McDonald’s has pleaded guilty to five charges of employing children under the age of 15 at its Rockingham outlet south-west of Perth. The Department for Consumer Protection says McDonald’s was fined $8,000 for employing the children without written permission from their parents and having them working outside restricted hours
Company officials announced Tuesday that Palm will move to a new Linux-based platform to help the company compete better
. The move was announced during a meeting with analysts in New York, where they also discussed the company’s business strategy and refused to talk about recent rumours of a possible buyout
The discovery of the LED is usually credited to four US groups in 1962, but an unrecognised Russian genius got there forty years before. Oleg Losev even filed a patent on using his device for long range communications, and wrote to Einstein to ask for help with the theory — but got no reply — via Slashdot
An anteater attacked a young zookeeper in Argentina, ripping open the woman’s abdomen and legs with its long claws and leaving her in critical condition. This female anteater apparently attacked her keeper at a Buenos Aires-area zoo to protect her offspring. The unusual attack damaged the zookeeper’s stomach, liver and lungs, Jose Potito, the director of the hospital where the woman was being treated, said
Ecuador’s famous Galapagos Islands could be off-limits for tourists after the country’s President declared them at risk and in the midst of an environmental crisis. Most famous for inspiring Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, the Galapagos Islands attract thousand of visitors annually, making them Ecuador’s top tourist destination. But introduced species, illegal fishing and a rapidly growing human population have placed pressure on the archipelago. President Rafael Correa has promised to urgently address the threats. Signing an emergency decree to prevent further harm to the islands, he has left open the possibility of suspending tourism permits temporarily
Up to 5.9 million children face having their fingerprints taken by schools in another move towards a Big Brother
society. Pupils will have to hand over their biometric details simply to borrow library books or gain access to school dinners. A million children’s fingerprints are believed to have been taken already, some without parental approval and even by con tricks
such as pretend spy games. Freedom of Information data obtained by the Tories reveals a further 4.9 million sets of prints could now be added to school computers after the vast majority of local education authorities sanctioned the practice
The Chinese government is requiring game houses to modify MMOG’s to restrict under 18 users to three hours productive
gameplay per day. This anti-addiction
software must be in place within four months, with games not compliant by 15 July liable to be shut down in China. Net9, Shanda and NetEase will be moving to comply with the government regulations. Users will have to register with their real names and Chinese identity card numbers to be allowed access to the games
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