Free Republic

<p>Aide who took donation for Davis resigns By Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Gov. Gray Davis' director of e-government personally accepted a $25,000 political contribution from a lobbyist for the Oracle Corp. last year, shortly after the state signed a controversial long-term software contract with the company, The Bee learned Thursday.</p>

Investigators busted an elaborate shell game played with stock certificates and dummy corporations that ripped off computer companies to the tune of $2 million over the last 18 months. The 140-count indictment against 16 members of a "sophisticated" ring of accountants, computer operators and others was the first of its kind, District Attorney Richard Brown said yesterday. "What set this criminal enterprise apart was its sophistication and corporate savvy," Brown said. At the heart of the scam were dummy companies that the perpetrators created with great detail, investigators said. In one deal outlined by Brown, the group got the name...

US asked to market computer chip implant27-02-2002 WASHINGTON (AP) - A Florida technology company is poised to ask the government for permission to market a first-ever computer ID chip that could be embedded beneath a person's skin. For airports, nuclear power plants and other high security facilities, the immediate benefits could be a closer-to-foolproof security system. But privacy advocates warn the chip could lead to encroachments on civil liberties. The implant technology is another case of science fiction evolving into fact. Those who have long advanced the idea of implant chips say it could someday mean no more easy-to-counterfeit ID...

Dr. Damn cleans house for file-swappers By John Borland Special to ZDNet News April 25, 2002, 4:30 AM PT The record companies had their Napster, and the stream of file-swapping companies that followed. The file-swapping companies now have their "Dr. Damn." For the past several weeks, the pseudonymous programmer, who says he's a male college student and declines to give his real name, has been releasing versions of popular file-swapping programs online with the advertising and user-tracking features stripped out. He's done Grokster and iMesh. And he's not alone. His work, now available through the Grokster and iMesh networks themselves,...

Japanese supercomputer takes world's fastest title from US A new Japanese supercomputer has taken the title of world's fastest away from the US. The NEC Earth Simulator processes data five times faster than its closest competitor. It works at a speed of 35,600 gigaflops compared to its closest rival, IBM's ASCI White, which runs at a speed of 7,226 gigaflops. A gigaflop equals a billion mathematical operations per second. The NEC Earth Simulator is as large as four tennis courts and creates a "virtual planet Earth" to predict climate patterns. Jack Dongarra, a University of Tennessee computer science professor, leads...

What techniques have parents used to control access to Internet? I have looked at "I am Big Brother." However, it is more of a monitoring package, rather than one that blocks access. What I am interested in is a package that would allow access to (e.g. Instant Messenger) applications only when we allow it (sort of like a timelock). Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.

A little-known San Francisco company on Tuesday unveiled a personal computer that crams processor, memory, battery and storage into a package the size of a paperback novel. When the $1,000 Ultra-Personal Computer hits stores this fall or winter, it will operate as a wireless handheld computer, akin to a Palm, OQO Inc. said. Or it can be used as a "modular PC" that connects to a full-size keyboard, mouse and monitor to replace a desktop PC. "This is a full Windows XP computer that fits in your pocket," said Colin Hunter, executive vice president of OQO. "Desktops are pretty much...

Those who recall Clarke's HAL 9000, manufactured in Urbana, Illinois, cannot see a daisy without reflecting on the rational ironies of life -- one of the most flagrant of which is that the richest man on Earth is named "Gates." Consider yourself on notice. For the fourth time in living memory, gates seem about to change our lives. Here's the headline from the Nature Magazine item. New channel built: Chemists copy from cells to make a tunnel for salt.And, some text below that headline said: Chemists have finally achieved what every human cell can do. They have designed and built...

Dion's new CD crashing party for some users Wed Apr 3, 1:57 AM ETBy Chris Marlowe LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Celine Dion's latest release is generating heated discussions on Internet message boards. But the subject under fire is not the star's music -- it's that the CD will not play on computer CD drives. Epic/Sony released "A New Day Has Come" embedded with Key2Audio copy protection in Germany and several other European countries. According to a spokeswoman for Sony Music Entertainment, it is clearly stated on the front of the booklet and on the back of the jewel...

The BigonAlbert Manque is a physicist of the old school. "Fifty years ago physicists could make experiments using material from the hardware store," says Manque, who works at the Centre de l'Etude des Choses Assez Minuscules in Paris. "I too prefer to work on a small scale." His penchant for tabletop research recently paid off. He and a colleague at the center have discovered an extraordinary new fundamental particle. Although the particle exists for just millionths of a second, it is the size of a bowling ball. Its existence, says Manque, could possibly explain a host of mysterious phenomena. Manque...

Can't fire up my computer, says "error loading explorer.exe, you must reinstall windows". But the restore CD disk brings up a message that I will lose all data on my hard drive. Am seeking a fix that saves the data(I have over 500 articles saved in favorites or as text docs, would hate to lose all that). Running Windows ME on a home desktop PC(e-machine), but my only current internet access now is here at the library. If anyone has advice that I can take home to work on a fix, I'd be greatly indebted to them.Here's what happened. Went...

March 27, 2002 Promote Consumer Use of Broadband and Prevent Digital Piracy! Dear Colleague I invite you to join me in supporting legislation that would encourage demand for broadband Internet service and protect creative enterprise from the threat of digital piracy. The promise of the Internet has not been fully met. While consumers have unprecedented access to information resources on the web, there is still a demand for more. Congress has recently debated ways to better serve our constituents by improving access to broadband Internet service, yet the demand for this technology is severely lacking. This is simply because consumers...

The Department of Defense is preparing to implement the most sweeping restrictions yet on foreign information technology (IT) workers. This planned policy—which will cover one-third of civilian federal employees—will ban non-U.S. citizens from a wide range of computer projects. The Departments of Justice and Treasury have instituted similar restrictions on non-citizens working in certain areas. Those steps were taken prior to last September’s attacks. The DOD policy—slated for adoption within 60 to 90 days—extends restrictions on foreign nationals handling secret information to “sensitive but unclassified positions,” which include the growing number of contract workers who process paychecks, write software,...

The Department of Defense is preparing to implement the most sweeping restrictions yet on foreign information technology (IT) workers. This planned policy—which will cover one-third of civilian federal employees—will ban non-U.S. citizens from a wide range of computer projects. The Departments of Justice and Treasury have instituted similar restrictions on non-citizens working in certain areas. Those steps were taken prior to last September’s attacks. The DOD policy—slated for adoption within 60 to 90 days—extends restrictions on foreign nationals handling secret information to “sensitive but unclassified positions,” which include the growing number of contract workers who process paychecks, write software,...