======================================================================
Slashdot on Smack��You��re Invited
Slashdot is sponsoring a Smack Shopping Event on
May 22nd where our loyal readers will have the
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included iPod's (34% off) Tivo Series 3's (22%)
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======================================================================
Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Google Wins Nude Thumbnail Legal Battle
* FCC Approves iPhone
* Driver's License to be the Next Debit Card
* BioWare Holds World Design Contest
* Transformers Full Theatrical Trailer Available
* AMD Reveals New Mobile Technologies
* Holographic Storage Slated to Hit Market This Fall
* Microsoft Bans Modified Xbox 360s From Xbox Live
* Hearst's Seattle PI to Test Market E-Paper
* Documents Reveal US Incompetence with Word, Iraq
* Global Internet Censorship On the Rise
* Polish Fans Held By Police For Movie Translations
* Vista's 40 Million License Sales In Context
* Cleaning up Thunder Bluff
* Broadband isn't Broadband Unless its 2Mbps?
* Microsoft Buys Ad Firm for $6 Billion
* Modeling the Building Blocks of Life
* Extrasolar Planet Could Harbor Life
* $16,000 Bounty for Sendmail, Apache Zero-Day Flaws
* Modern Medicine Might Have Saved Lincoln
* Netflix Sued Over Fradulently Obtained Patents
* Is Speech Recognition Finally 'Good Enough'?
* What's the Matter with HDMI?
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Google Wins Nude Thumbnail Legal Battle |
| from the over-for-now dept. |
| posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday May 17, @20:03 (Google) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/17/2240200
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]eldavojohn writes "Google is currently fighting many fronts in its
ability to show small images returned in a search from websites. Most
recently, [1]Google won the case against them in which they were
displaying nude thumbnails of a photographer's work from his site. Prior
to this, Google was barred from displaying copyrighted content, even when
linking it to the site (owner) from its search results. The verdict:
"Saying the District Court erred, the San Francisco-based appeals court
ruled that Google could legally display those images under the fair use
doctrine of copyright law." This sets a rather hefty precedence in a
search engine's ability to blindly serve content safely under fair use."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/17/2240200
Links:
0. mailto:djohnsop@gmu.edu
1. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-google17may17,1,3536619.story?coll=la-headlines-business
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FCC Approves iPhone |
| from the hitting-the-airwaves dept. |
| posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday May 17, @21:17 (Communications) |
|
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/17/230209
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader alerted us that the iPhone is [0]one step closer to
hitting shelves. "The Federal Communications Commission approved Apple
Inc.'s iPhone, clearing the way for the combined phone and music player
to hit the shelves. Apple expects to begin selling the phones in late
June. Some of the FCC documents confirm a few features of the phone,
including it will have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and will operate in the
1900MHz and 850MHz frequency bands. The phone uses GSM (Global System for
Mobile Communications) technology and the low-speed GPRS (General Packet
Radio Service) wireless data standard."
Discuss this story at:
http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/17/230209
Links:
0. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/051707-fcc-approves.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Driver's License to be the Next Debit Card |
| from the marks-of-the-beast dept. |
| posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday May 17, @22:34 (The Almighty Buc|
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/17/2345231
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]prostoalex writes "Your US driver's license has a magnetic stripe with
unique ID in it, and your debit card carries a magnetic stripe with
account information on it, so why not link the two together and [1]allow
people to use their driver's licenses as debit cards? That's precisely
what a young company National Payment Card is doing in select locations,
according to Business Week: 'Gas-station owners are pleased with the
program too. Because NPC processes the payment as an e-check with the
Automated Clearing House (ACH), a network most commonly used for direct
deposits, participating retailers bypass credit card companies such as
Visa and Mastercard.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/17/2345231
Links:
0. http://www.moskalyuk.com/blog
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| BioWare Holds World Design Contest |
| from the make-a-better-toril dept. |
| posted by CowboyNeal on Friday May 18, @00:01 (PC Games (Games)) |
|
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/17/2358226
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
grayblob writes "BioWare is holding a [0]World Design Contest to find
talented level designers to work in Austin on their first MMORPG. To
enter you must create a module with a 20-40 minute playtime in the NWN1
toolset. The module should include 'a cut scene, intricate puzzles and
interesting NPC behavior.' The contest ends July 20 and like the writing
contest doesn't guarantee employment for the winners."
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/17/2358226
Links:
0. http://www.bioware.com/biozone/articles/2007_world_design_contest/index.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Transformers Full Theatrical Trailer Available |
| from the more-than-meets-the-eye dept. |
| posted by CowboyNeal on Friday May 18, @02:25 (Movies) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/0543217
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]roelbj writes "The [1]full trailer for Michael Bay's upcoming
[2]Transformers movie is now finally available on Yahoo. Unlike the
teaser trailers that have only hinted at what the final effects would
deliver, we can at long last get a much better feeling for how the
live-action CGI Transformers will look."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/0543217
Links:
0. http://www.roelofs.net/
1. http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/transformers.html
2. http://www.transformersmovie.com/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| AMD Reveals New Mobile Technologies |
| from the speedy-names-for-on-the-go dept. |
| posted by CowboyNeal on Friday May 18, @05:11 (AMD) |
|
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/0554208
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
MojoKid writes "AMD disclosed a few details today regarding their
upcoming mobile platform technologies, [0] codenamed "Griffin" and "Puma".
According to AMD, Griffin will be manufactured at 65nm and it will
feature a new mobile optimized on-die Northbridge with a power optimized
DDR2 memory controller, HyperTransport 3 connectivity, and larger L2
caches that current designs. The new memory controller should also extend
battery life thanks to new power saving features, that allow the
controller to operate on a separate power plane and at a lower voltage
than the execution cores."
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/0554208
Links:
0. http://www.hothardware.com/News/AMD_Reveals_Griffin_and_Puma_Mobile_Platform/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Holographic Storage Slated to Hit Market This Fall |
| from the just-in-time-for-christmas dept. |
| posted by CowboyNeal on Friday May 18, @07:34 (Data Storage) |
|
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/0546244
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]prostoalex writes "The Guardian [1]takes a look at the current
developments in the world of holographic storage. Despite being available
in research for over 40 years, the technology is getting commercialized
only now, with [2]InPhase Technologies launching its 600 GB write-once
disk and a drive this fall. What avout the price? "The first holographic
products are certainly not mass-market ��� a 600GB disc will cost around
$180 (��90), and the drive costs about $18,000. Potential users include
banks, libraries, government agencies and corporations.""
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/0546244
Links:
0. http://www.moskalyuk.com/blog
1. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2080840,00.html
2. http://www.inphase-technologies.com/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Bans Modified Xbox 360s From Xbox Live |
| from the and-i'm-really-glad-they're-doing-it-too dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @08:24 (Microsoft) |
|
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/1217212
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has now [0]officially started
banning Xbox 360s that have had their DVD drive firmware modified from
Live, possibly using information brought in by the Crackdown-originated
Halo 3 beta downloads. Scene site forums have already collapsed under
traffic, and Microsoft has officially confirmed that they are banning
modded Xbox 360s to keep the online playing field fair and level."
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/1217212
Links:
0. http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=7339
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hearst's Seattle PI to Test Market E-Paper |
| from the they-get-all-the-rain-and-now-a-cool-epaper-too-bah dept|
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @08:47 (Media) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/1232250
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]NewsCloud writes "The Hearst Corporation [1]plans to use the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer to test market LG Philipps' recently announced
[2]flexible color E-Paper. 'The electronic P-I will carry real-time news,
same as the Internet, not yesterday's news like traditional papers.
Readers will turn the e-paper's pages by touching the flexible screen.
And when those readers head off to work, they will roll up the electronic
P-I and stuff it in their pocket, purse, or briefcase.' The announcement
comes amidst the [3]recent settlement of bitter co-operating disputes
between Seattle's two newspapers and Bill Gates' recent comments on
[4]the shifting of the advertising market away from traditional media."
Update: 05/18 21:51 GMT by [5]Z : Michelle Nicolosi, Assistant Managing
Editor for the PI, emailed this correction: "Someday, Seattle P-I readers
may be able to carry around their news in a bendable, electronic paper
device -- [6]but not any time soon. Hearst Corp., which owns the Seattle
P-I, has no plans to use the Seattle daily newspaper to test a newly
announced E-paper gadget." The original site linked apparently got it
wrong.
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/1232250
Links:
0. http://www.newscloud.com/
1. http://www.crosscut.com/seattle-newspapers/3231/
2. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/14/0410247&tid=196
3. http://www.crosscut.com/seattle-newspapers/2014/
4. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003698400_webmicrosoftads08.html
6. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/316328_epaper19.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Documents Reveal US Incompetence with Word, Iraq |
| from the see-there's-this-thing-called-covering-your-tracks dept.|
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @09:27 (Software) |
|
http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/132235
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]notNeilCasey writes "The U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority, which
formerly governed Iraq, accidentally published Microsoft Word documents
[1]containing information never meant for the public, according to an
article in Salon. By [2]viewing the documents using the Track Changes
feature in Word (.doc), the author has been able to reconstruct internal
discussions from 2004 which reflect the optimism, isolation and
incompetence of the American occupation. Download the author's source
document or [3]look for more yourself. 'Presumably, staffers at the CPA's
Information Management Unit, which produced the weekly reports, were
cutting and pasting large sections of text into the reports and then
eliminating all but the few short passages they needed. Much of the
material they were cribbing seems to have come from the kind of
sensitive, security-related documents that were never meant to be
available to the public. In fact, about half of the 20 improperly
redacted documents I downloaded, including the March 28 report, contain
deleted portions that all seem to come from one single, 1,000-word
security memo. The editors kept pulling text from a document titled "Why
Are the Attacks Down in Al-Anbar Province -- Several Theories." (The
security memo and the last page of the March 28 report can be seen here,
along with several other CPA documents that can be downloaded.)'"
Discuss this story at:
http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/132235
Links:
0. mailto:NotNeilCasey@yahoo.com
1. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/05/18/cpa_documents/
2. http://media.salon.com/doc/Administrators_WEEKLY_ECONOMIC_REPORT_March28-2004a.doc
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Global Internet Censorship On the Rise |
| from the shout-if-you-can-hear-me dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @10:15 (Censorship) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/1324235
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "State-led internet [0]censorship is on the
rise around the world. According to a study conducted by the [1]Open Net
Initiative and reported by the BBC, some 25 of 41 countries surveyed were
filtering at least some content. Skype and Google Maps were two of the
most often-censored sites, according to the article. 'The filtering had
three primary rationales, according to the report: politics and power,
security concerns and social norms. The report said: In a growing number
of states around the world, internet filtering has huge implications for
how connected citizens will be to the events unfolding around them, to
their own cultures, and to other cultures and shared knowledge around the
world.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/1324235
Links:
0. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6665945.stm
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Polish Fans Held By Police For Movie Translations |
| from the harsh-critics dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @10:56 (Media) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/1428207
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]michuk writes "Nine people involved in a community portal Napisy.org
were [1]held for questioning by the Polish police forces this Wednesday.
They will be probably be accused of publishing illegal translations of
foreign movies (which is forbidden by Polish copyright law). Napisy.org
website was shut down immediately afterwards by the German forces (since
the servers were located in Germany). The service was the most popular
Polish on-line portal where users were free to submit translated
subtitles for popular movies. 'According to Polish copyright law any
"processing" of others' content including translating is prohibited
without permission. The people held (aged 20 - 30) were questioned on
Wednesday and Thursday and then allowed to leave. In case of being
accused of illegal publishing of copyrighted material, they can spend in
jail up to 2 years (in the worst case).'"
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/1428207
Links:
0. mailto:michuk@polishlinux.org
1. http://polishlinux.org/gnu/poland-9-people-arrested-for-translating-movies/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Vista's 40 Million License Sales In Context |
| from the a-bit-of-background dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @11:41 (Windows) |
|
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/1445223
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Overly Critical Guy writes "Microsoft's figure of 40 million Vista OEM
licenses sold has less impact when [0]weighed against the expanded size
of the PC market, according to IDC numbers. The myriad of factors
involved in determining success in the market makes Microsoft's constant
comparisons to Windows XP less reliable as a growth indicator ���
particularly with Microsoft refusing to reveal the number of actual
activated Vista licenses. 'HP reported year-over-year PC sales growth of
about 24 percent, or about twice worldwide PC sales growth. Whatever HP
is doing right, it's more than just Vista ... If Microsoft wasn't so hung
up on XP comparisons as the benchmark, it could really demonstrate that
Vista sales are increasing. The first 20 million figure really
represented four months of sales, and that could have been positive data
because Microsoft protected its customers' holiday investments. For free!
Instead of making that point, Microsoft got carried away with making
comparisons back to XP.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/1445223
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Cleaning up Thunder Bluff |
| from the weild-the-banhammer-of-infinite-justice dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @12:10 (Games) |
|
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/164224
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "Colleen Hannon at Gamers With Jobs is mad as
hell, and she's not going to take it anymore. 'Unless you're playing
Neopets, online servers are full of foul-mouthed, racist junk-monkeys.
The hate-filled miasma they spatter around them has reached the point
where many people who could be on those services won't go, and those who
do brave it won't go without a posse and riot gear.' She plays out every
side of the argument: why things have gotten as bad as they've become,
what publishers have and haven't done about it, and why she thinks
[0]things are now at unacceptable levels of incivility. She's calling on
us gamers to get together and figure this out, because: 'If we wait for
the new sheriff in town to fight this battle for us we might not like the
town we're left with.' Is it as bad as she says?"
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/164224
Links:
0. http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/32155
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Broadband isn't Broadband Unless its 2Mbps? |
| from the time-for-a-bit-of-clarity dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @12:23 (Networking) |
|
http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/155231
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
quanticle writes "According to House Democrats, [0]broadband isn't
broadband unless its at least 2Mbps. The view of the House Subcommittee
on Telecommunications is that the FCC's data collection standards are
hopelessly outdated, and is proposing a number of updates to their
criteria. For one, they want 'broadband' reclassified to at least 2mbs,
up from 200kbps. Another requirement will change the FCC's outlook on
broadband availability. Just because one household in a zip code has
broadband access, that will not longer mean everyone in the zip code
does. 'The plan went over well with the consumer advocates who appeared
before the subcommittee. Larry Cohen, president of the Communication
Workers of America, said that the US is "stuck with a twentieth century
Internet" and that he would support increasing the "broadband" definition
to 2Mbps. Ben Scott of Free Press echoed that sentiment, suggesting that
the definition needs to be an evolving standard that increases over time,
which is in contrast to the current FCC definition; it has not changed in
nine years. "We have always been limited by the FCC's inadequate and
flawed data," he said.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/155231
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Buys Ad Firm for $6 Billion |
| from the a-bunch-of-people-just-got-really-quite-wealthy dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @13:06 (Businesses) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/1622212
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]bain writes "The BBC is reporting that [1]Microsoft has agreed to buy
the digital marketing firm Aquantive, in what will be its biggest ever
acquisition. The software giant spent almost $6 billion acquiring the
agency, in its first bid to tackle the online advertising market. 'The
deal is expected to be completed in the first half of 2008, subject to
regulation. Microsoft said the expensive price tag was worth it to access
the complementary technology of Aquantive. The firm will continue to
operate from Seattle as part of Microsoft's online operations, and will
help the software giant broaden the scope of services its MSN consumer
internet unit can offer. Microsoft is the latest technology firm to
pounce on the shrinking independent online advertising sector.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/1622212
Links:
0. http://www.abdn.ac.uk/sie/
1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6670227.stm
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Modeling the Building Blocks of Life |
| from the hard-not-to-enjoy-emulation dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @13:39 (Biotech) |
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/1450238
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]eldavojohn writes "A new research paper is creating some buzz about
[1]the roles of computer engineering in biology. Historically,
computational techniques in genome sequencing have proved useful in
predicting which DNA sequence produces which amino acid and which amino
acid sequence produces which protein. Now, this new [2]research is
leading towards a robust model of proteins and their messaging systems.
This is one step further in understanding the basics of life and,
consequently, pushes us closer to being able to emulate organisms
entirely from the bottom up instead of our failed prior approaches of
from the top down. A long way from perfect, but an opening into a wide
field of study and maybe even a new division of biology."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/1450238
Links:
0. mailto:djohnsop@gmu.edu
1. http://www.physorg.com/news98697221.html
2. http://compbiol.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030092
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Extrasolar Planet Could Harbor Life |
| from the hello-up-there dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @14:22 (Space) |
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/1733243
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]BlueMorpho writes with a link to a Space.com article about a recently
discovered extrasolar planet [1]that may be able to harbor 'life as we
know it.' Orbiting around the star Gliese 581 is a small rocky ball that
might have the same liquid ocean and drifting continent configuration
we're familiar with. The find may be unique in all of space exploration
as this planet appears to be within a habitable band of temperatures for
life, and is categorically not a gas giant. "The bottom line is exciting
...The conditions for life could be there, but is life itself? As yet,
there's no way to know unless the planet has spawned beings that are at
least as clever as we are. As part of the SETI Institute's Project
Phoenix, we twice aimed large antennas in the direction of Gliese 581,
hoping to pick up a signal that would bespeak technology ... Neither
search turned up a signal."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/1733243
Links:
0. mailto:redwood.dragon@gmail.com
1. http://www.space.com/searchforlife/070517_seti_planet.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| $16,000 Bounty for Sendmail, Apache Zero-Day Flaws |
| from the step-right-up-rilly-big-shew dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @15:05 (Security) |
|
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/189208
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Famestay writes "Verisign's iDefense is [0]putting up a $16,000 prize for
any hacker who can find a remotely exploitable vulnerability in six
critical Internet infrastructure applications. The bounty is for a
zero-day code execution hole on the following Internet infrastructure
technologies: Apache httpd, Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) daemon,
Sendmail SMTP daemon, OpenSSH sshd, Microsoft Internet Information (IIS)
Server and Microsoft Exchange Server. 'Immunity founder Dave Aitel, who
also purchases flaws and exploits for use in the CANVAS pen testing tool,
says its doubtful iDefense will get any submissions from hackers. "It's
very hard to exploit [those listed applications]," Aitel said. "IIS 6
hasn't had a public remotely exploitable bug in it. Ever." Several other
hackers I spoke to had very much the same message, arguing that $16,000
can never equate to the amount of work/expertise required to find and
exploit a hole in the six targeted technologies.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/189208
Links:
0. http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=215
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Modern Medicine Might Have Saved Lincoln |
| from the quickly-to-the-delorean dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @15:42 (Biotech) |
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/1811247
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Pcol writes "For the past 13 years the University of Maryland School
of Medicine has presented a [1]historical clinicopathological conference
where they consider famous historical medical cases such as the death of
Alexander the Great and composer Ludwig van Beethoven and provide a
modern diagnosis and treatment in each case. This year Dr. Thomas M.
Scalea, physician-in-chief for the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center
discusses if the world's first center for trauma victims could have
improved the outcome had [2]Lincoln's assassination occurred in 2007.
'This could be a recoverable injury, with a reasonable expectation he
would survive,' Scalea said, noting that assassin's weapon was relatively
impotent compared to the firepower now on the streets today. The modern
prognosis predicts that Lincoln might have conceivably recovered enough
to return to the White House to complete his second term."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/1811247
Links:
0. http://peacecorpsonline.org/
1. http://www.medicalalumni.org/CPC/pages/previous.htm
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Netflix Sued Over Fradulently Obtained Patents |
| from the dirty-pool dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @16:23 (Patents) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/1947245
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "Techdirt has a story about a new [0]class
action lawsuit against Netflix, claiming that the patents the company is
using to [1]sue Blockbuster were obtained fraudulently. Specifically, the
lawsuit claims that Netflix was well aware of prior art, but did not
include it in its patent filing, as required by law. The lawsuit also
claims that Netflix then used these fraudulently obtained patents to
scare others out of the market, in violation of antitrust law.
'Certainly, it makes for an interesting argument. Patents grant a
government-backed monopoly -- which should get you around any antitrust
violations. However, if that patent is obtained fraudulently, then I can
see a pretty compelling claim that you've abused antitrust law. It would
be interesting if other such cases start popping up (and, indeed, the
lawyer who sent it to us said his firm is looking for additional patents
to go after in this manner).'"
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/1947245
Links:
0. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070518/115006.shtml
1. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060404/1939236.shtml
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Is Speech Recognition Finally 'Good Enough'? |
| from the why-do-salty-snacks-keep-coming-up-freedom-fries dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @17:07 (Software) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/1958213
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
jcatcw writes "Speech recognition software is fast, but it still may not
be accurate enough. Clerical jobs usually ask for 40 wpm, but speech
recognition software can keep up with someone speaking at 160 wpm. In
[0]Lamont Wood's demo it did very well at too/two/to and which/witch, but
will it still render 'I really admire your analysis' as "I really admire
urinalysis'? At 95% accuracy, people aren't jumping on the bandwagon.
Wood's typing speed is about 60 wpm with 93% accuracy, so he found that
[1]using speech recognition was about twice as fast as typing. Those who
type at hunt-and-peck speeds will experience results that are even more
dramatic. There's really only one product on the US market: Dragon
NaturallySpeaking from Nuance Communications. The free versions from
Microsoft aren't up to the task and IBM sold ViaVoice to Nuance, where
it's treated as an entry-level product."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/1958213
Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9019220#video
1. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9019224
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| What's the Matter with HDMI? |
| from the hits-directly-mid-i-pocketbook dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday May 18, @18:06 (Media) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/2147207
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
mrnomas writes with a link to the Audioholics site, which wonders [0]why
the HDMI standard is such a mess? The article's author suggests that the
format was designed for the benefit of the content-producers and not the
consumer. The result is a signal that's hard to route and switch, as well
and unnecessarily complicated cable assemblies. They reach back to the
DVI standard to see what might be done to make HDMI a little more
consumer-friendly, with numerous technical elements woven through the
discussion. "DVI lacked a couple of things which the consumer audio/video
industry wanted. It was implemented on a variety of HD displays and
source devices, but it was confusing for the consumer because of the many
variants on the standard and different connector configurations, and it
didn't carry audio signals. A consortium to develop and promote a new
interface, HDMI, was formed; the idea was to come up with a standard
which could be implemented more uniformly, was less confusing, and
offered the option of routing audio signals along with video."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/05/18/2147207
Links:
0. http://www.audioholics.com/education/cables/whats-the-matter-with-hdmi
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