Sambar Technologies Technical Headlines

Tech Memeorandum

Does The GPL Still Matter? (Tom Lee/Techdirt)

Tom Lee / Techdirt:
Does The GPL Still Matter? — from the expired-license? dept — The GNU General Public License heads to court again today, as Skype attempts to defend its distribution of Linux-enabled SMC hardware handsets that appear to be in violation of the operating system's open source license.

Xbox 360 "Jasper" 65nm GPU in Production (Marcus Y...

Marcus Yam / DailyTech:
Xbox 360 “Jasper” 65nm GPU in Production — Microsoft preps 65nm GPU for cooler Xbox 360s — Chip process evolution is a usual thing in a console's lifecycle, but rarely has it been as important as in the case of the Xbox 360. — Known for its relatively hardware fragility …

House overwhelmingly passes controversial PRO-IP A...

Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
House overwhelmingly passes controversial PRO-IP Act — The House of Representatives has approved the Pro-IP Act, a controversial legislative proposal that aims to impose stricter penalties for copyright infringement. The bill, which has strong support from the content industry, passed by a vote of 410 to 10.

AT&T yanks iPhone free Wi-Fi info from site (Gregg...

Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
AT&T yanks iPhone free Wi-Fi info from site — On-again free hotspot access now off-again — Computerworld) Only hours after posting information that indicated iPhone owners would receive free access to AT&T's public wireless hotspots, the company pulled all references to the service from its Web site.

Shawn Fanning Finally Gets A Real Payday: Electron...

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Shawn Fanning Finally Gets A Real Payday: Electronic Arts Buys Rupture For $30 Million — Shawn Fanning, best known for founding Napster, has a new job. He will be working at Electronic Arts, which is about to buy his social-network-gaming startup Rupture for $30 million, according to sources with knowledge of the deal.

Yahoo Technology

Gates: Microsoft shifts focus after Yahoo deal col...

AP - Microsoft Corp. will focus on growing its own advertising and Internet search business after it withdrew its takeover offer for Yahoo Inc., Chairman Bill Gates said Friday.

Facebook, states set bullying, predator safeguards...

AP - Facebook, the world's second-largest social networking Web site, is adding more than 40 new safeguards to protect young users from sexual predators and cyberbullies under an agreement with officials nationwide that was announced Thur Read More...

Google execs hope for long-term ad deal with Yahoo...

AP - Google Inc.'s top executives expressed hope Thursday that the Internet search leader will be able to form a potentially lucrative advertising partnership with Yahoo Inc. — a deal that would lower the odds of Microsoft Corp. renewing its attempts to buy Yahoo.

With Microsoft mum, analysts mull next moves for L...

AP - Without the influx of Web traffic that Microsoft bet would quickly follow a Yahoo buyout, the software maker is facing a long slog if it wants to turn its money-losing online services business into a Google-killer.

Cablevision plans wireless broadband network ...

AP - Cable TV provider Cablevision Systems Corp. disclosed plans Thursday to offer high-speed wireless Internet service across its coverage area in the New York region. Read More...

US-CERT

Microsoft Releases Advance Notification for May Se...

(added May 8, 2008) A full-content feed is available at http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.atom Read More...

Microsoft Releases Windows XP Service Pack 3

(added May 7, 2008) A full-content feed is available at http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.atom Read More...

PHP 5.2.6 Released

(added May 6, 2008) A full-content feed is available at http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.atom Read More...

Common Data Format Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

(added May 5, 2008) A full-content feed is available at http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.atom Read More...

WordPress Vulnerabilities

(added April 28, 2008) A full-content feed is available at http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.atom Read More...

Gizmodo

NES Controller Mod, May Just be Most Fun Coffee Ta...

Forget touchscreen, solar powered or even self-destructing coffee tables... Kyle Downes has modded the coffee table into its best version ever: a retro-tastic NES controller. Just look at the sleek... Read More...

NASA Wants to Get You in Bed for $17,000 [Siestas]...

NASA wants to get you in bed, and if that wasn't luring enough, she wants to pay you $17,000 for 90 days. Sadly, there is no french lingerie involved: their Bed Rest Project wants to study the effect... Read More...

Smart Dog USB Hub Has Four Paws, Four Ports and a ...

This Smart Dog USB hub is a bit of a three-in-one marvel. As well as the four USB ports, the bow-wow acts as a shonky computer speaker. Then, if you rip the head off this irridescent puppy, you've... Read More...

BUILT Laptop Bag: Water-Resistant, But Not Bullet-...

When it comes to laptop bags and cases, there are traditional-style ones, modern ones and downright unusual ones... we can't decide which to put the new BUILT Laptop Backpack into. It's almost a... Read More...

CD's Get Into The Groove, Do Music the 45RPM Way [...

This is a story of a not so environmentally friendly, but rather groovy repurposing idea: reusing CDs as records (remember them?) At the UK's Futuresonic festival last week, a guy called Aleks... Read More...

NPR Technology

FCC Seeks to Calm Nerves over Digital TV

The FCC announces on Thursday that it will use the city of Wilmington, N.C., as a testing ground for changes in the way millions of Americans get their TV signals. By February of next year, regular over-the-air TV signals are supposed to be phased out — and the FCC wants to make sure this process goes smoothly. Read More...

Why It Pays to Predict the Election

John Delaney says crowds who stake their own money in so-called prediction markets reveal a special kind of wisdom. Delaney is the CEO of Intrade, a Dublin-based company that has been called the king of all prediction markets. Read More...

Burger King Locked in Dispute with Farm Workers

Burger King is embroiled in a labor dispute with tomato pickers in Florida, and now a Burger King executive has been tied to e-mail spreading misinformation about the workers' cause, says Amy Bennett Williams of the Fort Myers News-Press. Read More...

Insurers Eye Savings from Treatment Overseas

Uninsured Americans are flying to Thailand for cheap surgery. But reporter Avery Comarow says U.S.-based insurance companies are studying the safety of sending patients to foreign countries for cheap major surgery. Read More...

EarthLink Dropping Philadelphia's Wireless Network

EarthLink is threatening to turn off Philadelphia's municipal wireless network if the parties can't agree to a takeover plan. The city's wireless network was supposed to be a model for cities around the country and an example of how to bridge the digital divide. But the network has been plagued by delays and spotty service. Read More...

GovTech

Digg

Grizzly polar bear hybrid | Grolar bear |

?One of the real things that is happening is that grizzlies are moving north, at the same time the polar bears are forced to be on the beach and we have found a number of grizzly bear polar bear hybrids. Dr Divoky has witnessed the onset of climate change first hand and its effects, which includes Cooper Island being invaded by Read More...

Google Gets Closer to a Mobile Future

Google has long said that its best hope for future growth comes from mobile devices. Today, Google moved to bring that future a bit closer. Read More...

Incest Dad: 'I'm no monster... I could have killed...

Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who fathered seven children with his daughter while keeping her imprisoned in a windowless dungeon in his cellar, has complained about poor media coverage of the case. His criticism of the international media's reporting was published in the German tabloid Bild Zeitung... Read More...

China Delivers an Official "F.U." to Olympic Movem...

When awarding the Olympics to China's authoritarian communist government, the International Olympic Committee trusted China's pledge to allow media coverage without censorship or interference. It also pledged to stop counterfeiting of Olympic intellectual property. Now China says: "We lied. What are you going to do about it?" Read More...

Interactive Timeline of Every Single Space Launch....

Not even NASA has done it: a collection of 6038 liftoffs since Sputnik, which celebrates its golden anniversary this fall. Explore PM's interactive time line..... Read More...

Slashdot

Facebook Agrees To User Safety Plan

Facebook has reached an agreement with the attorneys general of 49 states and the District of Columbia to develop and enhance controls to protect minors from inappropriate content. This follows a similar commitment from MySpace several months ago. The lone holdout in each case was Texas. News.com notes: "In the deal, the social network has agreed to develop age verification technology, send warning messages when an under-18 user may be giving personal information to an unknown adult, restrict the ability for people to change their ages on the site, and keep abreast of inappropriate content and harassment on the site. While the agreement is with U.S. state authorities, Kelly said that the tools deployed will apply to Facebook's international users as well. More than half of the site's 70 million users are outside the U.S."

NASA Planning Mission To 40-Meter-Wide Asteroid

FudRucker points out a story from The Guardian about NASA's plans to visit 2000SG344, an asteroid 40 meters wide and weighing roughly 71 million kilograms. The manned mission would take three to six months, and it would make use of the Orion spacecraft, which will be replacing to retiring space shuttle fleet. "A report seen by the Guardian notes that by sending astronauts on a three-month journey to the hurtling asteroid, scientists believe they would learn more about the psychological effects of long-term missions and the risks of working in deep space, and it would allow astronauts to test kits to convert subsurface ice into drinking water, breathable oxygen and even hydrogen to top up rocket fuel. All of which would be invaluable before embarking on a two-year expedition to Mars. As well as giving space officials a taste of more complex missions, samples taken from the rock could help scientists understand more about the birth of the solar system and how best to defend against asteroids that veer into Eart Read More...

Infringement 'Detrimental To the Public Health, Sa...

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has declared that copyright infringement 'substantially interferes with the interest of the public in the quality of life and community peace, lawful commerce in the county, property values, and is detrimental to the public health, safety, and welfare of the county's citizens, its businesses and its visitors.' You might laugh, but that means they can close up a property for up to one year for violations of the anti-infringement ordinance [PDF] and the owner can be fined $1,000 for each infringing work produced on site. Not to mention the penalties in the PRO-IP Act, which just sailed through the House."

Nathan Myhrvold and the Business Of Invention

elwinc writes "There's a great New Yorker story about Nathan Myhrvold's Intellectual Ventures company, whose business model is to nurture ideas, write patents, and sell them. Apparently they're filing about 500 patents a year including a passive thorium reactor which consumes waste from conventional reactors. On the lighter side, you can read how Nathan has achieved 'dominant T. rex market share.'" Though we've discussed Myhrvold and his company in the past, the New Yorker focuses more on how incredible it is to have a group of very intelligent people sitting around a table developing ideas.