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Today's Headlines & Columnists
Saturday, December 31, 2011
[Slashdot] Stories for 2011-12-31
Friday, December 30, 2011
======================================================================
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======================================================================
Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Occupy Protesters Are Building a Facebook for the 99%
* Does 'Supersizing' Supershrink Your Brain?
* Doctorow: the Coming War On General-Purpose Computing
* New Group Paves Way For 2012 Online Primary
* Verizon Backtracks On $2 Convenience Fee
* Ask Slashdot: Changing Passwords For the New Year?
* Open Source Increasingly Replaced By Open APIs
* China Reveals Its Space Plans Up To 2016
* Malicious QR Code Use On the Rise
* Attack Tool Released For WPS Setup Flaw
* Court Rules Website Immune From Suit For Defamatory Posting
* Creating the World's Cheapest Tablet
* Warrantless Wiretapping Decisions Issued By Ninth Circuit Court
* Where Would Earth-Like Planets Find Water?
* 2011: Record Year For Airline Safety
* Orangutans To Skype Between Zoos With iPads
* Samoa and Tokelau Are Skipping December 30th
* Copyright Claim Sets Back Cognitive Impairment Testing
* HP Wanted $1.2B For WebOS and Palm
* UK Ministry of Defense Improves War Games For Console Generation
* Transistor Made From Cotton Yarn
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Occupy Protesters Are Building a Facebook for the 99%
| from the will-it-have-games? dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Friday December 30, @08:08 (Social Networks)
| with 380 comments
| https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/0343205/occupy-protesters-are-building-a-facebook-for-the-99?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hypnosec writes "In 2011, social media platforms like Twitter and
Facebook helped protesters to spread their cause and garner support
across the world. What started out as a minor protest comprised of a
handful of people turned into a worldwide protest thanks to the use of
social media. According to Wired, after seeing the impact social media
platforms have had on protests worldwide, several Occupy Wall Street
protesters are [0]creating their own social networking platform aimed at
spreading awareness about particular causes and [1]rallying people for
protests."
Discuss this story at:
https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/0343205/occupy-protesters-are-building-a-facebook-for-the-99?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/12/occupy-facebook/all/1
1. http://www.itproportal.com/2011/12/29/occupy-protestors-tread-social-networking-route/#ixzz1hw8fBuCL
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Does 'Supersizing' Supershrink Your Brain?
| from the food-for-thought dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday December 30, @10:15 (Medicine)
| with 263 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1445212/does-supersizing-supershrink-your-brain?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rambo Tribble writes "As reported by the BBC, the journal [0]Neurology is
set to release the findings of a study in Oregon on diet and brain
shrinkage in Alzheimer's victims. The upshot is: a diet rich in vitamins
and omega-3 fatty acids is beneficial; [1]trans fat and fast food are
detrimental."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1445212/does-supersizing-supershrink-your-brain?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.neurology.org/
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16344228
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Doctorow: the Coming War On General-Purpose Computing
| from the fought-with-dollar-bills dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday December 30, @17:26 (DRM)
| with 240 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/2159200/doctorow-the-coming-war-on-general-purpose-computing?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GuerillaRadio writes "Cory Doctorow's keynote at 28C3 was about [0]the
upcoming war on general-purpose computing driven by increasingly futile
regulation to appease big content. 'The last 20 years of Internet policy
have been dominated by the copyright war, but the war turns out only to
have been a skirmish. The coming century will be dominated by war against
the general purpose computer, and the stakes are the freedom, fortune and
privacy of the entire human race.'" If you don't have time for the entire
55-minute video, [1]a transcript is available that you can probably
finish more quickly.
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/2159200/doctorow-the-coming-war-on-general-purpose-computing?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://boingboing.net/2011/12/27/the-coming-war-on-general-purp.html
1. https://github.com/jwise/28c3-doctorow/blob/master/transcript.md
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| New Group Paves Way For 2012 Online Primary
| from the not-sure-if-want dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday December 30, @11:40 (The Internet)
| with 232 comments
| https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1553216/new-group-paves-way-for-2012-online-primary?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DJRumpy sends this excerpt from CNN: "Americans Elect, which has raised
$22 million so far, is [0]harnessing the power of the Internet to conduct
an unprecedented national online primary next spring. If all goes
according to plan, the result will be a credible, nonpartisan ticket that
pushes alternative centrist solutions to the growing problems America's
current political leadership seems unwilling or unable to tackle. The
theory: If you break the stranglehold that more ideologically extreme
primary voters and established interests currently have over presidential
nominations, you will push Washington to seriously address tough economic
and other issues. Even if the group's ticket doesn't win, its impact will
force Democrats and Republicans in the nation's capital to start bridging
their cavernous ideological divide."
Discuss this story at:
https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1553216/new-group-paves-way-for-2012-online-primary?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/29/politics/americans-elect/index.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Verizon Backtracks On $2 Convenience Fee
| from the people-have-spoken dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday December 30, @16:42 (Businesses)
| with 228 comments
| https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/2059226/verizon-backtracks-on-2-convenience-fee?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Velcroman1 writes with a followup to [0]yesterday's news that Verizon
would be implementing a $2 'convenience fee' for certain online and
phone-based bill payments. In addition to dealing with outrage from
customers, Verizon also felt resistance from the Federal Communications
Commission, who [1]decided they would investigate the matter. Today, in
[2]a brief press release, Verizon announced that they've canceled their
plans for the new fee in response to customer feedback.
Discuss this story at:
https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/2059226/verizon-backtracks-on-2-convenience-fee?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/12/29/1337224/verizon-adds-2-charge-for-paying-your-bill-online
1. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/30/verizon-to-add-2-convenience-charge-despite-network-outages/
2. http://news.verizonwireless.com/news/2011/12/pr2011-12-30.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Ask Slashdot: Changing Passwords For the New Year?
| from the just-use-2012-and-your-initials dept.
| posted by timothy on Friday December 30, @18:50 (Security)
| with 214 comments
| https://ask.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/2326226/ask-slashdot-changing-passwords-for-the-new-year?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New submitter [0]windcask asks "Every New Year's Day, I assemble and
memorize a random collection of seven to ten mixed-case alphanumeric
characters and proceed to change every password I have on the interwebs
to these characters (plus a few extra characters unique to the site). The
problem is I only change them on the sites I visit. Once in a while, I'll
come across a site I haven't visited for a few years, and I may end up
not being able to guess the password before the try-lockout takes effect.
What are your password-changing rituals, and how do they deal with
situations like mine? I do use Keepass for work, but it is sometimes
impractical for times I'm at other computers."
Discuss this story at:
https://ask.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/2326226/ask-slashdot-changing-passwords-for-the-new-year?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:dls%5B%5D_%5B%5Dnocheck@operamail.com
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Open Source Increasingly Replaced By Open APIs
| from the playing-with-somebody-else's-toys dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday December 30, @08:50 (Facebook)
| with 207 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1317216/open-source-increasingly-replaced-by-open-apis?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SharkLaser writes "Open APIs might be the way to get rich in 2012. At the
same time, it can also be what ultimately hinders open source
development. A wide range of companies, including Google, Facebook,
Amazon and Twitter, are [0]building open APIs for other developers to use
and build upon. Open APIs can be used by companies to grow their user
base and introduce new, interesting features on top of their platform.
Independent developers can utilize established services and their users
to grow their own business. A perfect example of open APIs is Facebook
Apps, which lets individuals and companies develop applications and games
on top of the Facebook platform. Developers gain access to Facebook's
established user base and Facebook gains new features and fun stuff to do
on their site. Instead of open sourcing their platforms, companies like
Google and Facebook are providing Open APIs and data access to outside
developers. The actual source code for the services sits safely inside
the company's network and never needs to be disclosed to outside parties,
thus hindering open source development."
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1317216/open-source-increasingly-replaced-by-open-apis?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/30/open_apis/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| China Reveals Its Space Plans Up To 2016
| from the moving-on-up dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 29, @21:09 (China)
| with 192 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/016203/china-reveals-its-space-plans-up-to-2016?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PolygamousRanchKid writes "China plans to [0]launch space labs and manned
ships and prepare to build space stations over the next five years,
according to a plan released Thursday that shows the country's space
program is gathering momentum. China's space program has already made
major breakthroughs in a relatively short time, although it lags far
behind the United States and Russia in space technology and experience.
The country will continue exploring the moon using probes, start
gathering samples of the moon's surface, and 'push forward its
exploration of planets, asteroids and the sun.' Some elements of China's
program, notably the firing of a ground-based missile into one of its
dead satellites four years ago, have alarmed American officials and
others who say such moves could set off a race to militarize space. That
the program is run by the military has made the U.S. reluctant to
cooperate with China in space, even though the latter insists its program
is purely for peaceful ends."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/016203/china-reveals-its-space-plans-up-to-2016?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Malicious QR Code Use On the Rise
| from the time-to-incorporate-rorschach-verification-tech dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday December 30, @13:07 (Security)
| with 190 comments
| https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1727257/malicious-qr-code-use-on-the-rise?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New submitter [0]EliSowash writes "Malware developers are [1]increasingly
using QR Codes as an attack vector. 'The big problem is that the QR code
to a human being is nothing more than "that little square with a bunch of
strange blocks in it." There's no way to tell what is behind that QR
code.' The advice we've always given to the computer user community is
'don't click a link in an email if you don't know who it's from or where
it goes' ��� so how do we protect unsuspecting users from QR codes, where
you can't see the destination at all?"
Discuss this story at:
https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1727257/malicious-qr-code-use-on-the-rise?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:eli@sowash.us
1. http://www.darkreading.com/mobile-security/167901113/security/news/232301147/qr-code-malware-picks-up-steam.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Attack Tool Released For WPS Setup Flaw
| from the choose-your-weapon dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Friday December 30, @05:05 (Security)
| with 145 comments
| https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/047203/attack-tool-released-for-wps-setup-flaw?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trailrunner7 writes "Just a day after security researcher Stefan Viehbock
released details of a vulnerability in the WiFi Protected Setup (WPS)
standard that enables attackers to recover the router PIN, [0]a security
firm has published an open-source tool capable of exploiting the
vulnerability. The tool, known as Reaver, has the ability to find the WPS
PIN on a given router and then recover the WPA passphrase for the router,
as well. Tactical Network Solutions has released the tool as [1]an
open-source project on Google Code, but also is selling a more advanced
commercial version."
Discuss this story at:
https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/047203/attack-tool-released-for-wps-setup-flaw?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. https://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/attack-tool-released-wps-pin-vulnerability-122911
1. http://code.google.com/p/reaver-wps/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Court Rules Website Immune From Suit For Defamatory Posting
| from the people-say-the-craziest-things dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 29, @19:44 (The Courts)
| with 142 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/29/2320209/court-rules-website-immune-from-suit-for-defamatory-posting?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "RipoffReport.com contained an admittedly
defamatory posting, by one of its users, about a person who operated a
Florida corporation providing addiction treatment services. Although the
site was asked by the poster herself to remove the post, it refused. A
Florida appeals court has [1]ruled that the site is absolutely immune
from suit (pdf), and cannot even be directed to [2]remove the offending
post, since under the [3]Communications Decency Act (47 USC 230) 'no
cause of action may be brought' against a provider of an "interactive
computer service" based upon information provided by a 3rd party."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/29/2320209/court-rules-website-immune-from-suit-for-defamatory-posting?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://beckermanlegal.com/
1. http://beckermanlegal.com/pdf/?file=/Lawyer_Copyright_Internet_Law/giordano_romeo_111228DecisionCtOfAppeal.pdf
2. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2011/12/florida-appeals-court-rules.html
3. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode47/usc_sec_47_00000230----000-.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Creating the World's Cheapest Tablet
| from the i-too-remember-the-etch-a-sketch dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday December 30, @18:07 (Android)
| with 142 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/2211204/creating-the-worlds-cheapest-tablet?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back in October, we discussed news that India had [0]launched a $35
tablet. Now, JohnWiney writes with [1]a story in the Globe and Mail about
the device's development. Quoting: "Part of the difficulty in engineering
such a device is that the underlying goal���that its final price should be
within the means of those who can���t afford high-priced tablets���dictates
crucial engineering and component decisions. A piece of
high-impact-resistant glass, such as the touchscreen face of an iPad, can
cost upward of $20. Datawind���s touchscreen glass, which the company had
engineered down the street, costs less than $2, though it won���t allow for
luxuries like pinch-and-zoom finger swiping. There were also compromises
on processing power: Datawind���s 366 megahertz processor costs less than
$5, a fraction of the $15-plus price tag on the chips that power iPads
and other comparable tablets. And while the decision to run Google���s free
Android mobile operating system on the gadget saves money, it requires
coders to dig deep into the Linux kernel that underpins the software,
tweaking it until it runs smoothly on Datawind���s weaker processor."
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/2211204/creating-the-worlds-cheapest-tablet?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1711248/india-launches-35-tablet#comments
1. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/how-a-montreal-company-won-the-race-to-build-the-worlds-cheapest-tablet/article2282337/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Warrantless Wiretapping Decisions Issued By Ninth Circuit Court
| from the win-some-lose-some dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday December 30, @10:58 (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
| with 134 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1549228/warrantless-wiretapping-decisions-issued-by-ninth-circuit-court?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]sunbird writes "The Ninth Circuit yesterday [1]issued two decisions in
the Electronic Frontier Foundation's lawsuits against the National
Security Agency ([2]Jewel v. NSA) and the telecommunications companies ([3]Hepting
v. AT&T). EFF had argued in Hepting that [4]the retroactive immunity
passed by Congress was unconstitutional. The Ninth Circuit [5]decision
(PDF) upholds the immunity and the district court's dismissal of the
case. Short of an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, this effectively ends
the suit against the telecoms. In much better news, the same panel
[6]issued a decision (PDF) reversing the dismissal of the lawsuit against
the N.S.A. and remanded the case back to the lower court for more
proceedings. These cases have been [7]previously [8]discussed here."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1549228/warrantless-wiretapping-decisions-issued-by-ninth-circuit-court?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:sunbird@@@riseup...net
1. https://www.eff.org/press/releases/appeals-court-revives-effs-challenge-governments-massive-spying-program
2. https://www.eff.org/cases/jewel
3. https://www.eff.org/cases/hepting
4. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/08/07/09/2027248/senate-passes-telecom-immunity-bill
5. http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2011/12/29/09-16676.pdf
6. http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2011/12/29/10-15616.pdf
7. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/09/01/1543215/warrantless-wiretapping-cases-at-the-9th-circuit
8. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/04/26/2354211/does-wiretapping-require-cell-company-cooperation
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Where Would Earth-Like Planets Find Water?
| from the at-the-water-store-duh dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday December 30, @14:32 (Space)
| with 134 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1817234/where-would-earth-like-planets-find-water?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]astroengine writes "The term 'Earth-like worlds' is a vastly overused
and hopelessly incorrect term that is popularly bandied about to explain
some recent exoplanet discoveries. Although some of the distant small
worlds being discovered by the Kepler space telescope may be of
Earth-like size, orbiting their sun-like star in Earth-like orbits,
[1]calling those worlds 'Earth-like' gives the impression these alien
planets are filled with liquid water. It turns out that we have only a
vague idea as to where Earth got its water, and it will take a long time
until we have any hint of this life-giving resource on worlds orbiting
stars thousands of light-years away."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1817234/where-would-earth-like-planets-find-water?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.astroengine.com/
1. http://news.discovery.com/space/where-would-earth-like-planets-find-water-111230.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2011: Record Year For Airline Safety
| from the tsa-rushes-to-take-credit dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday December 30, @12:25 (Transportation)
| with 130 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1635241/2011-record-year-for-airline-safety?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
smitty777 writes "Unless something bad happens in the next two days, we
are on track for having [0]a new record for airline safety. The new
record of one death for every 7.1 million passengers beats the 2004
record of one to every 6.4m. The WSJ also notes: 'Another low is the
total number of passenger deaths; as of today that number stands at 401.
Though it was lower in 2004, when 344 passengers were killed in
commercial aviation accidents, that year saw 30% fewer passengers as well
as far fewer flights. Western-built planes have fared best, with one
major crash per 3 million flights, the best number since the
International Air Transport Association began tracking crashes in the
1940s. When factoring in other types of airliners, the crash rate is
about two per million flights. We are also in the midst of the longest
period without a fatal airliner accident in modern aviation; nobody has
died in an airliner since an Oct. 13 propeller plane crash in Papua New
Guinea. The previous record was 61 days in 1985.' Russia, and counties
linked to it, are [1]the only areas that saw a drop. 2011 also seemed to
break the record for [2]unusual airline travel events as well."
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1635241/2011-record-year-for-airline-safety?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204296804577124583734872946.html?mod=fox_australian
1. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/09/uk-airlines-iata-safety-idUSLNE7B801620111209
2. http://www.thestar.com/travel/article/1108389--weirdest-travel-incidents-of-2011
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Orangutans To Skype Between Zoos With iPads
| from the 2011-in-a-nutshell dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday December 30, @15:16 (Idle)
| with 124 comments
| https://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1853229/orangutans-to-skype-between-zoos-with-ipads?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]MrSeb writes "For the last six months, orangutans ��� those great,
hairy, orange apes that go 'ook' a lot ��� at Milwaukee Zoo have been
playing games and watching videos on Apple's iPad, but now their keepers
and the charity Orangutan Outreach want to go one step further and enable
[1]ape-to-ape video chat via Skype or FaceTime. 'The orangutans loved
seeing videos of themselves ��� so there is a little vanity going on ��� and
they like seeing videos of the orangutans who are in the other end of the
enclosure,' Richard Zimmerman of Orangutan Outreach said. 'So if we
incorporate cameras, they can watch each other.' And thus the idea of
WiFi video chat between orangutans ��� and eventually between zoos ��� was
born. It might seem like folly, but putting (ruggedized!) iPads into the
hands of apes could really revolutionize our understanding of great ape
behavior."
Discuss this story at:
https://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1853229/orangutans-to-skype-between-zoos-with-ipads?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://mrseb.co.uk/
1. http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/111143-orangutans-to-skype-between-zoos-with-ipads
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Samoa and Tokelau Are Skipping December 30th
| from the custom-week-crafting dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday December 30, @13:50 (Businesses)
| with 122 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1810227/samoa-and-tokelau-are-skipping-december-30th?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]ocean_soul writes "Starting January 1, 2012 [1]Samoa and Tokelau will
be in time zone +13 instead of -11. This means there will be [2]no
December 30, 2011 in these countries. The decision to switch time zone
was based on the changing international business relations of Samoa.
Samoa had adopted the -11 time zone to make business with the U.S.
easier. However, currently Samoa's most important trading partners are
Australia and New Zealand. By switching time zone the work-weeks and
week-ends on Samoa and Tokelau will be synchronized with those in
Australia and New Zealand."
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1810227/samoa-and-tokelau-are-skipping-december-30th?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:tobias.verhulstNO@SPAMua.ac.be
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13330592
2. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/samoas-dateline-jump-passes-into-law/story-e6frf7jx-1226083970021
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| Copyright Claim Sets Back Cognitive Impairment Testing
| from the we-invented-the-question-mark dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday December 30, @09:33 (Medicine)
| with 112 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1321240/copyright-claim-sets-back-cognitive-impairment-testing?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kilrah_il writes "A recent New England Journal of Medicine editorial
talks about the mini-mental state examination ��� a standardized screening
test for cognitive impairment. After years of being widely used, [0]the
original authors claim to own copyright on the test and 'a licensed
version of the MMSE can now be purchased [...] for $1.23 per test. The
MMSE form is gradually disappearing from textbooks, Web sites, and
clinical tool kits.' The article goes on to describe the working of
copyright law and various alternative licenses, including GNU Free
Documentation License, and ends with the following suggestion: 'We
suggest that authors of widely used clinical tools provide explicit
permissive licensing, ideally with a form of copyleft. Any new tool
developed with public funds should be required to use a copyleft or
similar license to guarantee the freedom to distribute and improve it,
similar to the requirement for open-access publication of research funded
by the National Institutes of Health.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/1321240/copyright-claim-sets-back-cognitive-impairment-testing?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1110652
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| HP Wanted $1.2B For WebOS and Palm
| from the is-that-in-monopoly-money dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday December 30, @15:57 (HP)
| with 104 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/2048237/hp-wanted-12b-for-webos-and-palm?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PolygamousRanchKid passes along this quote: "As baffling as it may seem,
HP was trying to [0]rid itself of Palm without taking a loss on its
purchase, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told [VentureBeat].
The company seemingly ignored that Palm's value had fallen significantly
since HP purchased the smartphone pioneer [1]in April 2010, thanks to the
spectacular failure of the HP Touchpad tablet. And the fact that HP
didn't make any progress with its new webOS phones, the Pre 3 and Veer,
didn't help either. ... The $1.2 billion asking price shines some light
on a story we heard from another source: At one point, HP's team tried to
pitch the sale to Facebook but was practically laughed out of the room.
And yes, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was present at the meeting,
although he apparently didn't say much (I'm sure whatever he was thinking
at the time would have been gold)."
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/2048237/hp-wanted-12b-for-webos-and-palm?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://venturebeat.com/2011/12/28/hp-palm-sale-price/
1. http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/04/28/2040218/hp-to-buy-palm-for-12-billion
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| UK Ministry of Defense Improves War Games For Console Generation
| from the a-war-you-can-relate-to dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 29, @23:07 (Government)
| with 99 comments
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/0116232/uk-ministry-of-defense-improves-war-games-for-console-generation?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hypnosec writes "The [0]UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) has begun updating
its Battlespace2 and other simulations to bring them in line with
commercial wargames like Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3. Andrew
Poulter heads up the technical team behind the war-game and said that
while back in the '80s and '90s, military simulations were state of the
art, today they have fallen far behind commercial alternatives in terms
of graphics and plot. With that in mind, the MoD has been investing
heavily in what's known as 'Project Kite' (knowledge information test
environment), designed to bring the training software to the forefront of
military shooters. Some of this is down to the current generation of new
recruits having been raised on shooter titles from both the Call of Duty
and Battlefield series. This means they've gotten used to high-quality
first-person shooter games. Taking a step down in graphics and immersion
is hardly a way to train a soldier how to react in certain situations."
Discuss this story at:
https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/0116232/uk-ministry-of-defense-improves-war-games-for-console-generation?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
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| Transistor Made From Cotton Yarn
| from the your-socks-want-more-ram dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Friday December 30, @02:02 (Hardware)
| with 89 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/0217232/transistor-made-from-cotton-yarn?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]MrSeb writes "Altering the very fabric of technophilic society, a
multinational team of material scientists have [1]created electric
circuits and transistors out of cotton fibers ([2]abstract). Two kinds of
transistor were created: a field-effect transistor (FET), much like the
transistors found in your computer's CPU; and an electrochemical
transistor, which is similar but capable of switching at lower voltages,
and thus better suited for wearable computers. Cotton itself is an
insulator, but by using various coatings, the team from Italy, France,
and the United States was able to make conductor and semiconductor cotton
'wires' that retained most of their flexibility. The immediate use-cases
are clothes with built-in sensors (think radiation or heartbeat
monitors), but ultimately, think of how many thousands of
interconnections are in every piece of cotton clothing ��� you could make a
fairly powerful computer!"
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/0217232/transistor-made-from-cotton-yarn?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://mrseb.co.uk/
1. http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/110911-electric-circuits-and-transistors-made-from-cotton
2. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1566119911003065
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