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Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Saturn's A-ring Soaks Up Debris Ejected from Nearby Moon
* Why Linux Doesn't Spread - the Curse of Being Free
* Australian Government Considers Copying UK Copyright Law Ideas
* China Plans to Surpass the U.S. in Nanotech Development
* Toshiba To Halt HD-DVD Production
* WikiLeaks Under Fire
* 'Hundreds of Worlds' in Milky Way
* Courts May Revisit Software Patents
* Satellite Spotters Make Government Uneasy
* Tim Bray on the Birth of XML, 10 Years Later
* New Solar Cell Harvests Hydrogen From Water
* Robot Interprets, Plays Back Dreams
* Inventor to Launch Pop Bottle Rocket into Space
* Pictorial Tour of World's Longest Linear Accelerator
* Gen Con Files For Chapter 11
* Opera Screeches at Mozilla Over Security Disclosure
* UK ISPs To Start Tracking Your Surfing To Serve You Ads
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Saturn's A-ring Soaks Up Debris Ejected from Nearby Moon |
| from the yes-it-is-a-moon dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Sunday February 17, @20:14 (Space) |
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/17/2330203
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
ScienceDaily is running a story about the recently discovered interaction
between Saturn's A-ring and one of Saturn's small moons, Enceladus.
Thanks to data from Cassini, scientists have discovered that [0]ejected
matter from Enceladus' ice geysers is absorbed into the A-ring, where it
is then trapped. We [1]discussed the geysers themselves a few years ago,
and researchers have been working since then to determine where the
material was going. Quoting: "This is the latest surprising phenomenon
associated with the ice geysers of Enceladus to be discovered or
confirmed by Cassini scientists. Earlier, the geysers were found to be
responsible for the content of the E-ring. Next, the whole magnetic
environment of Saturn was found to be weighed down by the material
spewing from Enceladus, which becomes plasma -- a gas of electrically
charged particles. Now, Cassini scientists confirm that the plasma, which
creates a donut-shaped cloud around Saturn, is being snatched by Saturn's
A-ring, which acts like a giant sponge where the plasma is absorbed."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/17/2330203
Links:
0. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080212143619.htm
1. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/28/2320211&tid=160
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Why Linux Doesn't Spread - the Curse of Being Free |
| from the you-get-what-you-may-or-may-not-pay-for dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Sunday February 17, @22:17 (Linux Business|
|
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/0018243
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Vlad Dolezal tips us to a philosophical take on [1]why Linux hasn't
grown to challenge Windows as the most popular operating system.
According to the author, the reason is simple; Linux is free, and humans
tend not to equate free things with being valuable. "Here's what Compy
McNewb sees. He can get both OS's for free. But one of them is worth over
three hundred dollars, while the other one is worth nothing. 'That's not
true!' I hear you scream. 'Linux is worth a lot! It's just being offered
for free!' I know it's not true that Linux is worth less than Windows.
It's far more valuable to the end user in terms of getting things done.
But that's not what Average Joe Computer Newbie sees. He sees a free
product versus a three-hundred-dollar product he can get free. It's all
about the perception!"
Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/0018243
Links:
0. mailto:mughlibuc@atlas.cz
1. http://blog.anamazingmind.com/2008/02/why-linux-doesnt-spread-curse-of-being.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Australian Government Considers Copying UK Copyright Law Ideas |
| from the copying-copyright-right dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Monday February 18, @00:18 (Government) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/0138221
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
msim brings word that Australian legislators are considering an
anti-piracy measure that would [0]require ISPs to terminate internet
access for people who repeatedly download copyrighted material. The
legislation would set up a three-strikes system similar to the one
[1]proposed in the UK recently. While British ISPs [2]resisted
suggestions that they act as internet police, the response may not be the
same in Australia, where the government has already tried to [3]censor
the internet. "Under the three-strikes policy, a warning would be first
issued to offenders who illegally share files using peer-to-peer
technology to access music, TV shows and movies free of charge. The
second strike would lead to the offender's internet access being
suspended; the third would cancel the offender's internet access."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/0138221
Links:
0. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/02/16/1202760662778.html
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/12/1257248&tid=95
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/15/1943235&tid=266
3. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/23/1432216&tid=153
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| China Plans to Surpass the U.S. in Nanotech Development |
| from the don't-let-them-have-wil-wheaton dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Monday February 18, @02:13 (Technology) |
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/0338236
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
SoyChemist writes "Sociologists at the American Association for the
Advancement of Science annual meeting have reported that [0]China is
making major investments in nanotechnology. Their aim is to 'leapfrog'
past the United States in technological development by focusing on
long-ranging scientific goals. So far, the Chinese government has poured
about $400 million into the young field of research. Considering the low
cost of equipment and labor over there, that is a very large sum of
money, and China's investment is expected to 'rise considerably.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/0338236
Links:
0. http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/02/the-chinese-gov.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Toshiba To Halt HD-DVD Production |
| from the one-format-to-rule-them-all dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Monday February 18, @05:19 (The Almighty B|
|
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/0432256
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Multiple users have written to tell us that Toshiba is planning to
[0]halt production of devices related to HD-DVD. According to Japanese
broadcasting network NHK, Toshiba will lose "hundreds of millions of
dollars" as the format war finally draws to a close. Regardless,
[1]investors are pleased that Toshiba has made the decision to cut its
losses. This comes after a [2]last-ditch price cut was unable to prevent
Wal-mart from [3]throwing their lot in with Blu-ray, although some
sources suggest that Wal-mart was [4]already aware of Toshiba's plans to
withdraw from fight.
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/0432256
Links:
0. http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL1643184420080216?sp=true
1. http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUST34593320080218?sp=true
2. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/15/155236&tid=188
3. http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/15/1716241&tid=97
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| WikiLeaks Under Fire |
| from the also-possibly-on-fire dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Monday February 18, @08:15 (Censorship) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/043211
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
kan0r writes "The transparency group [0]WikiLeaks.org currently seems to
be [1]under heavy fire. The main WikiLeaks.org DNS entry is unavailable,
reportedly due to a restraining order relating to a series of articles
and documents released by WikiLeaks about off-shore trust structures in
the Cayman Islands. The WikiLeaks whistle blower, allegedly former vice
president of the Cayman Islands branch of swiss bank Julius Baer, states
in the WikiLeaks documents that [2]the bank supported tax evasion and
money laundering by its clients from around the world. WikiLeaks
alternate names remained available until Saturday, when there seems to
have been a [3]heavy DDoS attack and a fire at the ISP. The documents in
question are still available on other WikiLeaks sites, such as
[4]wikileaks.be, and are also mirrored on [5]Cryptome. Details of the
[6]court documents have also been made available."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/043211
Links:
0. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikileaks
2. http://wikileaks.be/wiki/Bank_Julius_Baer_vs._Wikileaks
3. http://wikileaks.be/wiki/Wikileaks_survives_censorship%2C_ddos%2C_fire
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 'Hundreds of Worlds' in Milky Way |
| from the nothing-to-eat-there-but-roddenberries dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday February 18, @09:04 (Space) |
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/1326201
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Raphael Emportu writes "BBC news is reporting that rocky planets,
possibly with conditions suitable for life, [1]may be more common than
previously thought in our galaxy, a study has found. New evidence
suggests more than half the Sun-like stars in the Milky Way could have
similar planetary systems. There may also be hundreds of undiscovered
worlds in outer parts of our Solar System, astronomers believe. Future
studies of such worlds will radically alter our understanding of how
planets are formed, they say."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/1326201
Links:
0. mailto:cabal@sapo.pt
1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7249884.stm
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Courts May Revisit Software Patents |
| from the yeah-that'll-happen dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday February 18, @09:50 (Patents) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/1356257
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "It looks like the courts may finally be
gearing up to [0]overturn the ruling that opened the floodgates for both
software and business model patents. It's been nearly ten years since the
US courts decided that business methods were patentable and that most
software could be patentable ��� and we've all seen what's happened since
then. With all the efforts to fix the patent system lately, it appears
that the court that originally made that decision may be regretting it,
and has agreed to hear a new case that could overturn that ruling and
restore some sanity to the patent system."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/1356257
Links:
0. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080215/174009268.shtml
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Satellite Spotters Make Government Uneasy |
| from the other-checks-and-balances dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday February 18, @10:35 (Space) |
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/143238
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader found an interesting little story about [0]satellite
spotters and how, not surprisingly, their painstakingly methodical hobby
doesn't exactly make gazillion dollar government agencies all that
excited. Of course the article raises the very obvious point that if a
guy with a pair of binoculars in his back yard can spot a satellite, so
can the Chinese government.
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/143238
Links:
0. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/05/america/satellite.php
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Tim Bray on the Birth of XML, 10 Years Later |
| from the all-bloatetd-and-grown-up dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday February 18, @11:34 (The Internet) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/1634250
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
lazyguyuk writes "Tim Bray posts a lengthy blog on [0]the birth of XML,
formalized as 1.0 in Feb 1998. 'XML is ten years old today. It feels like
yesterday, or a lifetime. I wrote this that year (1998). It's really
long. The title was originally Good Luck and Internet Plumbing but the
filename was "XML-People" and I decided I liked that better. I never got
around to publishing it, so why not now?'"
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/1634250
Links:
0. http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/02/10/XML-People
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| New Solar Cell Harvests Hydrogen From Water |
| from the stealing-what-plants-crave dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday February 18, @12:27 (Power) |
|
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/1637200
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Engadgets is reporting that researchers at Penn State have built a [0]new
kind of solar cell that can harvest hydrogen directly from water. "The
folks at Penn State have now developed a process that more closely mimics
the photosynthesis process in plants, and while we won't pretend to
understand all the nitty gritty of dye usage and other such nonsense, we
do know that such a system could eventually attain 15% or so efficiency,
providing a nice and clean way to gather power for that fuel cell car of
the future."
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/1637200
Links:
0. http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/18/new-solar-cell-cuts-out-the-middle-man-harvests-hydrogen-from-w/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Robot Interprets, Plays Back Dreams |
| from the ceiling-robot-is-watching-you-dream dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday February 18, @13:18 (Robotics) |
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/1651251
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
foobarx writes "Digital artists have created a [0]humanoid robot which
uses brainwave activity recorded during sleep to playback an
[1]interpretation of your dreams. The artists, Brendan Burns and Fernando
Orellana used machine learning to find patterns in the brainwaves and
then matched these patterns to dreams which they remembered having.
Others have noted the [2]possible hazards of this new technology."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/1651251
Links:
0. http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2008/02/how-does-it-work-exactly.php
1. http://youtube.com/watch?v=1RkM1Bt2b3k
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Inventor to Launch Pop Bottle Rocket into Space |
| from the next-comes-the-lawn-chair-with-balloons dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday February 18, @14:22 (It's funny|
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/1749221
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
DrButts writes "An inventor in British Columbia wants to be the first to
[0]launch a pop bottle rocket into space. 'This could be impossible, but
the CEO of AntiGravity Research already holds the altitude record for
boosting an elongated plastic pop bottle ��� propelled by a bicycle pump,
water and a bit of soap ��� into the air. Firing the ubiquitous, two-litre
plastic container usually consigned to the recycle bin into space might
create a whole new definition for space junk, but the dream keeps
Schellenberg going.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/1749221
Links:
0. http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/080217/K021704AU.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pictorial Tour of World's Longest Linear Accelerator |
| from the always-with-the-measuring-contest dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday February 18, @15:31 (Technology|
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/1755226
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Wired has a great [0]pictorial tour of their recent visit to Stanford
University's linear accelerator, the longest in the world. The
accelerator has been the vehicle upon which three Nobel Prizes were
earned and a the next big project will boast an electron laser roughly 10
billion times more powerful than existing x-ray sources.
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/1755226
Links:
0. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/multimedia/2008/02/gallery_slac
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Gen Con Files For Chapter 11 |
| from the missed-their-saving-throw dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday February 18, @16:28 (The Almigh|
|
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/180246
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Heartless Gamer writes to tell us that Gen Con LLC announced late last
week that they have [1]filed for Chapter 11. This move will not affect
the still profitable Gen Con Indy event which will still happen August
14-17, 2008. "This action became necessary as a result of significant
unforeseen expenses associated with attempts to expand its core business
to encompass externally licensed events. [...] The protections afforded
by Chapter 11 will allow Gen Con to further its efforts to address its
liquidity needs, preserve value for its creditors and explore strategic
alternatives for the business." Evan writes to add that this is the
result of [2]LucasFilm suing GenCon.
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/180246
Links:
0. http://hgamer.blogspot.com/
1. http://www.gencon.com/2008/corporate/news-pr/releases/2008/2008.02.15.Press.aspx
2. http://theforce.net/latestnews/story/Lucasfilm_Sues_Gen_Con_112361.asp
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Opera Screeches at Mozilla Over Security Disclosure |
| from the did-too-did-too dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday February 18, @17:30 (Mozilla) |
|
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/2022249
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
The Register is reporting that Mozilla's handling of a recent security
exploit that affected both browsers has drawn an [0]unhappy response from
the Opera team. "Claudio Santambrogio, an Opera desktop developer, said
the Mozilla team notified it of a security issue only a day before
publishing an advisory. This gave the Norwegian software developers
insufficient time to make an evaluation. [...] Santambrogio goes on to
attack Mozilla's handling of the issue, arguing that it places Opera
users at unnecessary risk."
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/2022249
Links:
0. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/18/opera_moz_security_disclosure_row/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| UK ISPs To Start Tracking Your Surfing To Serve You Ads |
| from the weak-anonymizers-and-other-fun-party-tricks dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday February 18, @18:33 (The Intern|
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/2033202
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
TechDirt has an interesting article about a UK-based company that is
trying to work with ISPs to make use of user surfing data to [0]serve
targeted ads. "Late last year, we heard about a company that was trying
to work with ISPs to make use of that data themselves to [1]insert their
own ads based on your surfing history -- and now we've got the first
report of some big ISPs moving into this realm. Over in the UK three big
ISPs, BT, Carphone Warehouse and Virgin Media have announced plans to
[2]use your clickstream data to insert relevant ads as you surf through a
new startup called Phorm."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/18/2033202
Links:
0. http://techdirt.com/articles/20080218/024203278.shtml
1. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071211/024003.shtml
2. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/15/business/AD18.php
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