narramissic writes “Today Google put an end to the ‘will they or won’t they’ debate with the announcement that the company intends to join in the bidding for 700MHz wireless spectrum in late January. ‘We believe it’s important to put our money where our principles are,’ Eric Schmidt, Google’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. ‘Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today’s wireless world. No matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet.’”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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narramissic writes “Today Google put an end to the ‘will they or won’t they’ debate with the announcement that the company intends to join in the bidding for 700MHz wireless spectrum in late January. ‘We believe it’s important to put our money where our principles are,’ Eric Schmidt, Google’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. ‘Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today’s wireless world. No matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet.’”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Slashdot

New Zealand police question, but don’t hold, a teenager suspected of leading an international crime ring that has siphoned millions from victims’ bank accounts.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

New Zealand police question, but don’t hold, a teenager suspected of leading an international crime ring that has siphoned millions from victims’ bank accounts.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

Ponca City, We Love You writes “For years, the major record labels have fought a pitched battle against the MP3 format. Although major labels like EMI and the Universal Music Group have embraced MP3s in recent months, a story from the Mercury News says early returns from those moves indicate they’ve had little impact on the industry’s fortunes — for better or for worse. ‘These are ailing businesses on their last legs,’ said Eric Garland, chief executive of BigChampagne, a market research company focused on digital media. The question of copy protection on song downloads ‘matters a whole lot less to them than it once did.’ The industry has a bigger problem. Consumers used to buy CDs for $10 or $15 a pop. Increasingly, they’re buying songs at about $1 apiece instead. So, even if transactions continue to increase, the industry is seeing far less money each time consumers buy and it’s having a difficult time making up the difference.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Slashdot

Ponca City, We Love You writes “For years, the major record labels have fought a pitched battle against the MP3 format. Although major labels like EMI and the Universal Music Group have embraced MP3s in recent months, a story from the Mercury News says early returns from those moves indicate they’ve had little impact on the industry’s fortunes — for better or for worse. ‘These are ailing businesses on their last legs,’ said Eric Garland, chief executive of BigChampagne, a market research company focused on digital media. The question of copy protection on song downloads ‘matters a whole lot less to them than it once did.’ The industry has a bigger problem. Consumers used to buy CDs for $10 or $15 a pop. Increasingly, they’re buying songs at about $1 apiece instead. So, even if transactions continue to increase, the industry is seeing far less money each time consumers buy and it’s having a difficult time making up the difference.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Following on the speech given earlier this month by the head of the Associated Press, where it was made clear that the AP and news organizations still think that they can be gatekeepers of news, a bunch of publishers along with the AP are now trying to revise robots.txt so that they can hide content on a more selective level. Now, it is true that robots.txt can be rather broad in its sweep. But it’s rather telling that it’s the publishers who banded together and are telling search engines what changes are needed, rather than working with the search engines to come up with a reasonable solution. In the meantime, there really are some simple solutions if you don’t want content indexed by search engines — but we’ve yet to fully understand why publishers are so upset that Google, Yahoo and others are sending them so much traffic in the first place.

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Genes come in pairs but if one is silenced that means there is no backup if the other one fails. This may go a long way toward determining what illnesses and diseases an individual is most vulnerable to contracting.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

Genes come in pairs but if one is silenced that means there is no backup if the other one fails. This may go a long way toward determining what illnesses and diseases an individual is most vulnerable to contracting.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

Google will be there when the FCC auctions the 700 megahertz spectrum in January. The winning bidder must allow its users to download any software application they want to any mobile device, and Google says it’s all about that.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

Google will be there when the FCC auctions the 700 megahertz spectrum in January. The winning bidder must allow its users to download any software application they want to any mobile device, and Google says it’s all about that.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

Nrbelex writes “Facebook is reining in some aspects of a controversial new advertising program, after users became extremely upset and threatened various ‘protests’ over possible privacy infringement issues. ‘Late yesterday the company made an important change, saying that it would not send messages about users’ Internet activities without getting explicit approval each time … Facebook executives say the people who are complaining are a marginal minority. With time, Facebook says, users will accept Beacon, which Facebook views as an extension of the type of book and movie recommendations that members routinely volunteer on their profile pages.’”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Nrbelex writes “Facebook is reining in some aspects of a controversial new advertising program, after users became extremely upset and threatened various ‘protests’ over possible privacy infringement issues. ‘Late yesterday the company made an important change, saying that it would not send messages about users’ Internet activities without getting explicit approval each time … Facebook executives say the people who are complaining are a marginal minority. With time, Facebook says, users will accept Beacon, which Facebook views as an extension of the type of book and movie recommendations that members routinely volunteer on their profile pages.’”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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jg21 writes “Via the Web 2.0 Journal, a worthy link to Yahoo! Architect and JSON inventor Douglas Crockford’s latest ideas to fix HTML. He’s categorically not a fan of HTML 5, which is still just an Editor’s Draft and not endorsed by W3C yet. Crock puts forward ten ideas that in his view would provide extensibility without complexity, adding that the simplification of HTML he is proposing would reduce the cost of training of web developers and incorporates the best practices of AJAX development. From the article: ‘The problems with HTML will not be solved by making it bigger and more complicated. I think instead we should generalize what it does well, while excising features that are problematic. HTML can be made into a general application delivery format without disrupting its original role as a document format.’”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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jg21 writes “Via the Web 2.0 Journal, a worthy link to Yahoo! Architect and JSON inventor Douglas Crockford’s latest ideas to fix HTML. He’s categorically not a fan of HTML 5, which is still just an Editor’s Draft and not endorsed by W3C yet. Crock puts forward ten ideas that in his view would provide extensibility without complexity, adding that the simplification of HTML he is proposing would reduce the cost of training of web developers and incorporates the best practices of AJAX development. From the article: ‘The problems with HTML will not be solved by making it bigger and more complicated. I think instead we should generalize what it does well, while excising features that are problematic. HTML can be made into a general application delivery format without disrupting its original role as a document format.’”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Josh Fink writes “The Guardian has an interesting piece on ‘Akill’, a teenager from New Zealand who was the ringleader of a hacking ring. The economic impact of the ring may have totaled £9.7m. ‘The teenager was the “head of an international spybot ring that has infiltrated computers around the world with their malicious software’, Martin Kleintjes told New Zealand national radio … The FBI estimates that more than 1m computers have been infected, and puts the combined economic losses at more than $20m (£9.7m).’ Eight people have been charged, pleaded guilty or have been convicted since June. The FBI really has been putting a crackdown on botnets / spyware recently.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Slashdot

Josh Fink writes “The Guardian has an interesting piece on ‘Akill’, a teenager from New Zealand who was the ringleader of a hacking ring. The economic impact of the ring may have totaled £9.7m. ‘The teenager was the “head of an international spybot ring that has infiltrated computers around the world with their malicious software’, Martin Kleintjes told New Zealand national radio … The FBI estimates that more than 1m computers have been infected, and puts the combined economic losses at more than $20m (£9.7m).’ Eight people have been charged, pleaded guilty or have been convicted since June. The FBI really has been putting a crackdown on botnets / spyware recently.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Slashdot

Thanks to a court ruling issued Wednesday [PDF], the Director of National Intelligence now has less than two weeks to turn over to the Electronic Frontier Foundation some 300 pages worth of documents concerning the lobbying efforts of the telecom industry, which is seeking immunity from suits related to its role in extralegal surveillance. (EFF has itself brought just such a lawsuit.) The ruling found that the government has not provided any compelling explanation for its foot-dragging response to EFF's Freedom of Information Act request for the documents, and that "the public interest will be served by expedited release of the requested records" before the passage of legislation that could provide retroactive immunity. Since an industry lobbying to protect itself from potentially costly lawsuits is hardly surprising, the attempt to delay disclosure here actually leaves me more curious than I otherwise might be about the contents of the documents. Less interesting than the mere facts about who spoke with whom may be the rationale for amnesty offered by the telecoms: Since they should prevail on the merits if they acted within the law, it may be instructive to see precisely what they are worried about.

Julian Sanchez is an expert at the Techdirt Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Julian Sanchez and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.

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Bergkamp10 writes “Australia’s University of Technology in Queensland has created a groundbreaking new system that can detect invisible intruders on wireless LANs. Wireless networks have been almost impossible to thoroughly secure as they possess no clearly defined boundaries, instead they are defined by the quality and strength of the receiving antenna. QUT Information Security Institute researcher Dr Jason Smith has invented a new system to detect eavesdropping on unencrypted networks or active hijackings of computer sessions when a legitimate user who is logged onto the network leaves the connection. Smith has created a series of monitoring techniques that when used together can detect both attackers and configuration mistakes in network devices.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Slashdot

Bergkamp10 writes “Australia’s University of Technology in Queensland has created a groundbreaking new system that can detect invisible intruders on wireless LANs. Wireless networks have been almost impossible to thoroughly secure as they possess no clearly defined boundaries, instead they are defined by the quality and strength of the receiving antenna. QUT Information Security Institute researcher Dr Jason Smith has invented a new system to detect eavesdropping on unencrypted networks or active hijackings of computer sessions when a legitimate user who is logged onto the network leaves the connection. Smith has created a series of monitoring techniques that when used together can detect both attackers and configuration mistakes in network devices.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Slashdot

It started as a rumour post on Kotaku and a Penny Arcade comic strip: reviewer Jeff Gerstmann was fired from the gaming news site Gamespot for giving the co-op action title Kane and Lynch a low score, and snarking on the game in the review. The catch? The firing was dictated by games publisher Eidos, who didn’t appreciate the veteran reviewer’s tone in the piece. Their hideous ad campaign (spread across the entirety of the Gamespot site) may have been used as a bargaining tool of some kind. Joystiq has a lengthy, detailed summary of this event and its implications, which is no longer technically a rumour. Gerstmann confirmed to the blog that he has been let go from the C|Net-affiliated site, but as of right now can’t talk about the details. “The ramifications of the story, if true, are huge. Readers should fairly expect there to be an inviolable firewall between advertising and editorial in journalism, and game journalism (yes, that includes “just reviews”) is no different. While our industry has had its fair share of accusations of impropriety, nothing so far has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Giving a publisher the power to fire a senior editor is a line no outlet should be willing to cross.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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An anonymous reader writes “An Egyptian human rights activist has been muzzled after YouTube and Yahoo! shut down his accounts. Award-winning blogger Wael Abbas regularly writes and posts video about police brutality, torture and sexual harassment in Egypt. One of the videos — of an Egyptian bus driver being brutalized by an officer — was used as evidence to convict two members of the police force. That’s a rare occurrence in a country where human-rights groups say torture is rampant. YouTube said the decision to remove Abbas’ videos had nothing to do with the Egyptian government, but was rather an internal decision.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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roady writes “We have seen a lot of talk over the years about the Canadian DMCA. But few know about the Swiss version recently adopted by law makers … not even the Swiss people. The government and media have been very quiet, probably to avoid a referendum. Indeed, Switzerland is a direct democracy and if 50,000 citizens sign a referendum, the whole country will have a chance to vote against the new copyright law. In this version of the DMCA, sharing a file on P2P networks will land you one year in jail, even though the law mandates a levy on blank media. The history of the law is available online.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Trotti Laganna writes “Lawyers are now arguing a case brought against Microsoft over Vista’s marketing. The software giant is being dinged for allegedly not telling the truth when it put the ‘Vista capable’ logo on PCs that would only be capable of running Vista Home Basic. Case in point – even the software giant’s marketing director Mark Croft was confused by the pre-launch campaign in the United States. Croft’s explanation was that “‘capable’…has an interpretation for many that, in the context of this program, a PC would be able to run any version of the Windows operating system”. After a 10-minute break to talk to Microsoft’s lawyers, Croft admitted he had made ‘an error’, and retracted his previous statement, saying that, by ‘capable’, Microsoft meant ‘able to run a version of Vista’.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Over the summer, we wrote about a lawsuit someone had filed against the RIAA in Oregon, claiming that the RIAA’s investigation tactics were illegal, since the firm it used to sniff out unauthorized users, MediaSentry, was not a licensed investigator in Oregon. This seemed like a relatively weak claim (or at least one focused on the letter of the law more than the spirit). However, it appears that argument has caught the attention of Oregon’s Attorney General who already is unhappy with the RIAA. You may recall that earlier this month, the Attorney General stood up to the RIAA after it tried to get the University of Oregon to identify students. It was surprising to see the AG get involved in such an issue, but clearly, he believes the RIAA is going too far. The RIAA responded to his filing, opposing the motion, of course. And now the Attorney General has responded, not just about this particular issue, but slamming the RIAA on a number of fronts, suggesting that the RIAA may be in a bit more hot water than it believed. He repeats the argument that the RIAA’s investigation techniques are illegal and then goes on to slam the evidence the RIAA has, how it’s gathered, how it uses these cases to squeeze money out of unsophisticated people and many other points about these RIAA cases. The response then points out why this is an important matter for the Attorney General to take a stand on and how it would like to get some answers from the RIAA:

“Because Plaintiffs routinely obtain ex parte discovery in their John Doe infringement suits, as they themselves have pointed out, their factual assertions supporting their good cause argument are never challenged by an adverse party and their investigative methods remain free of scrutiny. They often settle their cases quickly before defendants obtain legal representation and begin to conduct discovery…. While the University is not a party to the case, Plaintiffs’ subpoena affects the university’s rights and obligations. Plaintiffs may be spying on students who use the University’s computer system and may be accessing much more than IP addresses. The University seeks the Court’s permission to serve the attached interrogatories on Plaintiffs and conduct telephonic depositions of the individuals who investigated the seventeen John Does named in this lawsuit to determine 1) what their investigative practices are and 2) whether they have any additional information with which to identify the John Does.”

It looks like the RIAA may have messed with the wrong university in the wrong state.

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Reservoir Hill writes “Zombie insects might sound like a B-movie plot device (quicktime video) but to the emerald cockroach wasp (Ampulex compressa ), they’re a tried and tested way to provide food for their hungry larvae. The wasp relies on cockroaches for its grisly life cycle but unlike many venomous predators, which paralyze their victims before eating them, the wasp’s sting leaves the cockroach able to walk, but unable to initiate its own movement. Researchers have discovered that the wasps sting the cockroaches once to subdue them, then administer another, more precise sting right into their victim’s brain. The venom works to block a neurotransmitter called octopamine with a similar action to dopamine, which is involved in preparations to execute complex behaviors such as walking. Then the wasp grabs the cockroach’s antenna and leads it back to the nest ‘like a dog on a leash’, says one researcher. The team found that they could restore spontaneous walking behavior in stung cockroaches by giving them a compound that reactivates octopamine receptors in the insects’ central nervous system. Researchers were also able to create their own zombies by injecting unstung cockroaches with a compound that blocks the receptors producing a similar effect to that of the venom.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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It’s been an interesting week in the wireless arena. First Verizon Wireless promised to tear down some of its walled garden, then it announced plans to use LTE as its next generation wireless technology… and now the news comes out that Sprint has turned down an offer of a $5 billion offer from SK Telecom and Providence Equity Partners. There were some strings attached, including bringing back Tim Donahue to run Sprint. Donahue was the head of Nextel when Sprint and Nextel merged, but left soon after the merger was done. Personality-wise, people have often noted how Donahue was different than the folks at Sprint, so perhaps it’s no surprise that Sprint isn’t interested, even as the company is desperately seeking a CEO following the ouster of Gary Forsee.

What’s more interesting than the CEO job or the money, however, is the question of what SK Telecom is playing at here. The company has invested heavily in its US MVNO joint venture Helio, which was announced nearly three years ago to great fanfare, but hasn’t lived up to the hype (though, it has managed to survive where many MVNOs have collapsed). SK Telecom, like Japan’s NTT DoCoMo before it, keeps looking for investment opportunities outside their home countries, but never seem to be able to repeat the successes they’ve had back home. DoCoMo, you may recall, had a deal with AT&T Wireless that turned into something of a disaster for everyone, so having SK Telecom assisting Sprint is hardly a slam dunk, despite its success back in Korea. SK Telecom seemed to pitch part of the benefit of working with Sprint being its experience with WiMax in South Korea, but so far, that experience is anything but encouraging. It’s also worth wondering if such an investment would eventually lead to Sprint taking over Helio to consolidate SK Telecom’s focus (alternatively, some might point out that since Helio uses Sprint’s network, SK Telecom’s investment offer could even be seen as a way to protect Helio’s network).

What is clear is that Sprint needs some leadership and some direction, and it needs it quickly. With Verizon Wireless’ LTE announcement, the race for next generation wireless technologies got a lot more interesting. While Sprint may have had a pretty big head start, the more it staggers around trying to find a CEO and a plan, the more it cedes to the other players who at least have the appearance of having a comprehensive strategy in place (the reality may not match the PR spin, of course). The SK Telecom deal may have provided both a leader and some direction, but clearly the company’s current board didn’t appear thrilled with either. Don’t expect this to end here, though. There may be additional attempts by SKT, and it may cause others to wake up and pay attention as well. Sprint may end up with a leader and a strategy thrust upon it, whether it wants it or not.

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A Sage Developer writes “During a recent conference, Sage Days 6, Dan Bernstein (who has recently come under attack for his licensing policy) was among the invited speakers. During a panel discussion on the future of open source mathematics software, Bernstein declared that all of his past and future code would be released to the public domain. This includes qmail, primegen, and a number of other projects. Given the headache that incompatibility between GPLv3 and GPLv2 is causing developers, will we see more of this?”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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SoyChemist writes “Scientists from Korea and the Czech Republic have discovered new drugs that can counteract the chemical overload caused by nerve gas. All of the experimental medications belong to a family of chemicals called oximes. Those molecules reactivate the enzyme that is damaged by the chemical weapons. Last year, the FDA approved the first combined atropine and oxime auto-injector for use by emergency personnel. Israel has been providing them to their citizens since the first Gulf War.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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One-armed robot Stair 1.0 switches from observing and navigating the world to interacting with it by manipulating things in its environment.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

Twenty-one times more powerful than your average presentation pointer, the photonic disruptor packs a punch in nonlethal takedowns.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

Before you pitch your new business, you’d better know what the VCs want to hear. Here’s a handy script and table to help you hit the talking points that count.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

India has long been the world’s primary source of bones for medical study, producing excellent quality specimens. When the Indian government outlawed the export of human remains in 1985, Western countries turned to China and Eastern Europe, but now there are signs that the trade never ended.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

Imagine changing TV channels if it meant climbing off the couch to walk over to the set every time. Zenith’s 1955 design for the Space Command remote-control system changes all that. People accept the 30 percent price hike for the set in favor of the convenience.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

One-armed robot Stair 1.0 switches from observing and navigating the world to interacting with it by manipulating things in its environment.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

Before you pitch your new business, you’d better know what the VCs want to hear. Here’s a handy script and table to help you hit the talking points that count.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

Twenty-one times more powerful than your average presentation pointer, the photonic disruptor packs a punch in nonlethal takedowns.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

Imagine changing TV channels if it meant climbing off the couch to walk over to the set every time. Zenith’s 1955 design for the Space Command remote-control system changes all that. People accept the 30 percent price hike for the set in favor of the convenience.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

For years, Microsoft’s software has had the (in some cases, well-deserved) reputation for being rather insecure — leading many who were concerned about security to look for alternatives. However, a few years back, Bill Gates made it a focus within the company to change that and to make Microsoft’s products much more secure, knowing that it was important to buyers. While some may question how successful Microsoft has been, how ironic is it that some are now claiming that Microsoft’s focus on security in Vista is what’s hurting adoption of the company’s new operating system? It turns out that, while security is important to users, it’s not so important that it comes at the expense of other things — like stability and compatibility. In other words, while focusing on security, Microsoft may have dropped the ball on other features that actually are more important in the buying and upgrading decisions. On top of that, it appears that some people (again, reasonably so) are a bit annoyed that Microsoft is now touting “security” as a major feature of Vista — as the company is basically admitting that it screwed up in previous products, and you should now pay Microsoft to upgrade away from its own crappy security. Not exactly a strong selling point.

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ninja_assault_kitten writes “There’s an interesting rant from Oliver Rist up on the PC Magazine site. He compares the catastrophe that is Vista to the recently released OS X Leopard. While clearly one is a lion and the other a cub, there do appear to be some frustrating similarities. From the article: ‘A month of using Leopard with the same software I had under Tiger and the OS has dumped six times. That’s six cold reboots for Oliver. Apple isn’t even honest enough to admit that Leopard is crashing: The OS just grays out my desktop and pops up a dialog box telling me I’ve got to reboot. Like the whole thing is my fault. I even snapped a picture of it. After all, I HAD PLENTY OF CHANCES!’”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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As Slate's Dahlia Lithwick aptly observes, the largely neglected "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007," which passed by an overwhelming margin in the House and will now be taken up by the Senate, seems to have provoked two types of reactions among those who've noticed it: Half think it's a pointless, redundant boondoggle, the other half think it's a first step toward an Orwellian War on Thoughtcrime. The stated purpose of the bill is to try to come up with ways to stop “radicalized thought” from turning into terrorist action — but that’s pretty open ended.

After a cursory read of the bill itself, I tend toward the former interpretation: The law, which would establish a commission to study the causes of "ideologically based violence," evokes MiniLuv less readily than it does Tom Chapin's satirical folk song "A Study's About to Begin." And, indeed, the government has already conducted ample research [PDF] on the psychology and sociology of terrorism. Still, it's not hard to see why civil libertarians get uneasy when the bill's sponsor, California Democrat Jane Harman, is prone to talk about formulating plans "to intervene before a person crosses that line separating radical views from violent behavior," which, presumably, means "intervening" while the person is still only holding radical views. Nor is it especially comforting to reflect on the bill's "finding" that "The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States," which suggests a mandate to focus on offensive online speech. Precisely because the bill is redundant, it seems more useful to worry about the actual steps law enforcement agencies take in service of "prevention." Depending on the composition of any commission convened under the law, there's a fair chance it will produce, if not a boot stamping on a human face forever, then at least a generous helping of national security FUD.

Julian Sanchez is an expert at the Techdirt Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Julian Sanchez and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.

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They’re smart, metallic sex machines without the human foibles that can be so messy. Maybe by 2050 the template David Levy lays out in Love + Sex With Robots will be ready to go online. Commentary by Regina Lynn.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

As the holiday travel season begins, in addition to the rabid shopping, gluttonous meals, and uncomfortable moments under the mistletoe at office parties, we must prepare ourselves for another unwelcome companion to the season: airport delays. This event is almost inevitable if you plan to fly more than twice this season. So, in order to prevent the additional stress of an unwanted visit to the airport security holding cell because you said something “dangerous” to the gate attendant during a flight delay, the How To Wiki delivers a few travel, and pre-travel, tips to avoid any extra time in those ergonomically aberrant waiting chairs.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

Interactive artists repurpose motion sensors and security cameras to put a creative spin on global surveillance, in 11 installations in Europe, the United States and Latin America.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

Just one of the most successful game show contestants ever. The software engineer wins 74 straight games on Jeopardy!, and walks off with $2.5 million.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

Interactive artists repurpose motion sensors and security cameras to put a creative spin on global surveillance, in 11 installations in Europe, the United States and Latin America.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

They’re smart, metallic sex machines without the human foibles that can be so messy. Maybe by 2050 the template David Levy lays out in Love + Sex With Robots will be ready to go online. Commentary by Regina Lynn.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

Just one of the most successful game show contestants ever. The software engineer wins 74 straight games on Jeopardy!, and walks off with $2.5 million.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

As the holiday travel season begins, in addition to the rabid shopping, gluttonous meals, and uncomfortable moments under the mistletoe at office parties, we must prepare ourselves for another unwelcome companion to the season: airport delays. This event is almost inevitable if you plan to fly more than twice this season. So, in order to prevent the additional stress of an unwanted visit to the airport security holding cell because you said something “dangerous” to the gate attendant during a flight delay, the How To Wiki delivers a few travel, and pre-travel, tips to avoid any extra time in those ergonomically aberrant waiting chairs.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired Top Stories

cashman73 writes “Most Slashdot readers are probably familiar with Google’s book scanning project, a collaboration with several major universities to digitize works of literature, art, and science. But Google may have been beat to the punch this time — about a decade ago, Carnegie Mellon University embarked on a project to scan books into digital format, to be made available online. Today, according to new reports, they now have a collection of 1.5 million books, the equivalent of a typical university library, available online.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Slashdot