In one of RIAA’s high profile cases the Free Software Foundation backed defendant Joel Tenenbaum, much to the dislike of the music industry lobby. John Sullivan, Operations Manager at the FSF explains in a guest post why they think these cases impact not just music, but also free software and its technology.
Red Laser, which has just hit the iTunes App Store, is the ultimate iPhone barcode scanner, which works just like one of those red-laser scanners at the checkout (hence the name.)
We take a look at some of the most creatively recycled chairs out there. There is no argument that some of these may not be the most comfortable ones to sit on, but there is also no denying the genius of their designers in thinking of new ways to add function to these objects.
Canonical is preparing to launch Ubuntu One, a new Web service that will offer cloud synchronization and collaboration features. Ars gives you a detailed hands-on look at the service and some of the underlying technology.
The EU is testing out brain scanning as a possible method for catching terrorists. Scans can search for distinctive brain patterns and can be placed in locations such as airports and borders.
CWmike writes “Submitting to mounting legal pressure, Craigslist has announced that it will remove the Erotic Services category from its classified advertising Web site within seven days. The move comes just two and a half weeks after Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist, told Computerworld that the company had no intention of removing the category. While it’s taking down the category, it will be launching a new category called Adult Services, for which each posting will be manually reviewed before it appears. ‘Unsurprisingly, but completely contrary to some of the sensationalistic journalism we’ve seen these past few weeks, the record is clear that use of Craigslist classifieds is associated with far lower rates of violent crime than print classifieds, let alone rates of violent crime pertaining to American society as a whole,’ said Buckmaster in a blog post today. ‘We are optimistic that the new balance struck today will be an acceptable compromise from the perspective of the constituencies, and for the diverse US communities that value and rely upon Craigslist.'”
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basiles writes “Jacques Pitrat’s new book Artificial Ethics: Moral Conscience, Awareness and Consciencousness will be of interest to anyone who likes robotics, software, artificial intelligence, cognitive science and science-fiction. The book talks about artificial consciousness in a way that can be enjoyed by experts in the field or your average science fiction geek. I believe that people who enjoyed reading Dennet’s or Hofstadter’s books (like the famous Godel Escher Bach) will like reading Artificial Ethics.” Keep reading for the rest of Basile’s review.
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Trailrunner7 writes “Threatpost.com reports that security guru Bruce Schneier says not only should the NSA not run cybersecurity for the federal government, no one should. ‘Really what I think is it shouldn’t be anybody. We do better without a top-down hierarchy. Our economic and political systems work best when there isn’t a dictator in charge, when there isn’t one organization in charge. My feeling is there shouldn’t be one organization in charge. Not only shouldn’t it be the NSA, it shouldn’t be anybody,’ Schneier said.”
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bokske writes “An office worker cleaning a fridge full of rotten food created a smell so noxious that it sent seven co-workers to the hospital and made many others ill. Firefighters had to evacuate the AT&T building in downtown San Jose on Tuesday, after the flagrant fumes prompted someone to call 911. A hazmat team was called in. Just another day at the office.”
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Vrtigo1 writes “I work for a small company that has about 50 staff on the road relying on VPN back to our office at any given time. Many ISPs have implemented NXDomain redirection services that hijack DNS traffic to show you sponsored links and other related ads when you mistype a domain name. These services are incompatible with most VPN software, since they prevent the computer from resolving internal hostnames. Large ISPs typically provide an opt-out on their sponsored links page that immediately opts you out of the DNS redirection, but I’ve noticed that some smaller ISPs and CLECs have opt-out links that don’t actually appear to do anything. I don’t have a good solution for employees using these ISPs, and our employees are getting frustrated because the problem is becoming more prevalent and we can’t fix it for them. I’ve tried calling a few of these smaller ISPs for help, but it’s been like talking to a wall. Manually changing DNS servers works temporarily, but the user can’t resolve internal hostnames when they connect to the office LAN again. Have you had to deal with ISPs using non-standard DNS servers? What is your solution?”
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