Free Republic

 The mood among campus file-swappers By Sumir MeghaniMay 14, 2003, 4:00 AM PT The Recording Industry Association of America recently stepped up its effort to combat music sharing by suing four university students who used their college networks to run file-sharing services.But at Stanford University--as well as at other colleges and universities around the country--students are growing increasingly perturbed by what they see as an attempt by the record labels to infringe on their legitimate right to make copies of digital media. This is not a group to alienate. The RIAA's own statistics show that almost one-third of music...

PALM BEACH, FL– May 13, 2003 – Applied Digital Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSX), an advanced technology development company, today announced that it has developed and successfully field tested a working prototype of what the company believes is the first-ever subdermal GPS “personal location device” (PLD). Field testing and follow-up laboratory testing of the disk-shaped prototype confirm that the specially designed antenna and the induction-based power-recharging method function properly. The dimensions of this initial PLD prototype are 2.5 inches in diameter by 0.5 inches in depth, roughly the size of a pacemaker. As the process of miniaturization proceeds in the coming...

NEW YORK - It may be the best news the high-tech industry has seen all year: This morning Verizon Communications laid out the details of its plan to slash prices, increase speeds and reach more customers with high-speed Internet access--moves which could invigorate the relatively torpid U.S. broadband market. High prices and lagging speeds have been the two primary reasons that America's use of broadband lags well behind global leaders such as Canada and South Korea. Silicon Valley groups such as Technet say the slow U.S. rollout has crippled many bandwith-hungry technologies and left the U.S. telecom industry drowning...

Microsoft's head of worldwide sales last summer circulated a 'stop Linux at any price' email to sales execs and senior company executives, including Steve Ballmer, Jim Allchin and Jeff Raikes. According to the International Herald Tribune, which has seen the email, Orlando Ayala was aiming to block Linux's progress in government. "Under NO circumstances lose against Linux," he said, saying that in cases where the deal involved governments or large institutions there was a special fund available which could be used to offer large discounts, or even to give Microsoft software away. The existence of what the casual observer might...

Latest hacking tool is a light Novel way to break security systems By Staff at the Newsdesk: Thursday 15 May 2003, 09:08 SECURITY ON even the most carefully built systems can be breached using a light according to Sudhakar Govindavajhala, a Princeton University student. A report on News.com states that he has managed to break into supposedly secure systems using the most novel of techniques: using a light. Breaking into the systems requires physical access, how else would you shine a light on the system? The technique is fairly simple though not guaranteed to work every time. One of...

The "Buffalo Spammer" is in the can. An upstate man accused of using 343 stolen identities to send 825 million junk E-mails has been arrested in New York's first-ever criminal prosecution of a spammer. Howard Carmack, 36, was apprehended near his Buffalo home late Tuesday, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said yesterday. He pleaded not guilty, but was unable to post his $20,000 bail. His next court date is Monday. "He is in a jail cell without a computer," Spitzer said. "We believe we have an overwhelming case." Carmack, dubbed the "Buffalo Spammer" by prosecutors, is accused of forgery, falsifying business...

SCO suspends Linux sales By Peter Williams [15-05-2003] Commercial users of Linux warned that they could face legal liability SCO has suspended its sales and distribution of Linux pending resolution of the intellectual property issues surrounding the operating system. The owner of the Unix licences, which is suing IBM for $1bn over the alleged misuse of Unix code in Linux, has also issued a statement stating that legal liability for use of Linux may extend to commercial users. "When SCO's own Unix software code is being illegally copied into Linux, we believe we have an obligation to educate commercial...

I'm a college student, doing a project on Cometa Networks, I would really appreciate it, if the good freepers here, who are among the best and the brightest could give me information on this joint venture. The last time the freepers helped me out was in economics and I did great (thanks free republic). Any help now, I would really be thankfull for.

Crashed Computer Traps Thai Politician Updated 14 May 2003   Thailand's Finance Minister Suchart Jaovisidha had to be rescued today from inside his expensive BMW limousine after the onboard computer crashed, leaving the vehicle immobilized. Once the computer failed, neither the door locks, power windows nor air conditioning systems would function, leaving the Minister and his driver trapped inside the rapidly heating vehicle. Despite the pair's best efforts, it took a full ten minutes before they were able to summon the attention of a nearby guard who freed the two men by smashing one of the vehicle's windows with...

High-Tech At Fingertips Of Dallas Schools Teachers, Employees Would Use Fingertips To Log In POSTED: 9:10 a.m. CDT May 14, 2003 UPDATED: 9:16 a.m. CDT May 14, 2003 DALLAS -- The Dallas Independent School District is going high-tech as it tests a new system this summer that will scan fingerprints. Teachers and employees would have their 10 fingertips scanned, and could use their touch to log in. School district officials say the system would better track timecards. If the test is successful, the district says it will consider placing hundreds of the machines throughout its schools.

SAN FRANCISCO - Electronic Arts, the video game publisher, said today that it would not make online versions of its popular sports games available for Microsoft's Xbox game console for at least a year, signaling a failure of more than two years of negotiations between the companies. Executives at Electronic Arts, which is based in Redwood City, Calif., said that they were worried that Microsoft was seeking to gain greater control over their customers who participate in online games on the Xbox.Instead, Electronic Arts, the nation's leading computer game maker, planned to announce on Tuesday a one-year exclusive arrangement with...

Mac site makes all out attack on... Apple Online music crap, servers poor, PCs better By INQUIRER staff: Monday 12 May 2003, 15:02 A COLUMN on dedicated Mac site Macnet has launched an all out diatribe against Apple, Steve Jobs, and nearly all of their work and pomps. The column kicks off by claiming that Apple's music service creates "practically worthless files" compared to the real thing on CD. AAC encoded with DRM "is a mistake", the site claims. It continues by saying that Jobs' decision to stick with Motorola chips meant Apple got burned in the process, while...

Israeli firm acquires US-based technology company Israel’s Zoran Corporation, a provider of digital chip solutions, has agreed to purchase US-based Oak Technology. The transaction is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2003 and is subject to approval by the stockholders of both companies as well as regulatory approval. Under the terms of the contract, unanimously approved by the respective Boards of Directors, each outstanding share of Oak's common stock will be exchanged for 0.23 of a share of Zoran common stock and cash in an amount equal to $1.78. Outstanding options to purchase Oak stock will...

update IBM will announce its next-generation mainframe Tuesday, sources said. The system, called the z990 and code-named T-Rex, will spearhead Big Blue's effort to ensure the lineage isn't doomed to extinction. The machine will come with 32 processors initially, with a 48-processor version by the end of 2003 and a 64-processor version in 2004, said Illuminata analyst Gordon Haff. By comparison, IBM's current top-end z900 mainframe, introduced in 2000, has 16 processors. In addition, the company is expected to announce that the mainframe can be subdivided into several independent partitions. Initially, the system will support as many as 15 partitions...

A new type of computer memory uses carbon, rather than silicon WAITING for a computer to turn on is a nuisance. That is why manufacturers have been trying to create ?non-volatile? memories. These would be fast, like the random-access memory (RAM) chips that are currently used for often-accessed memory, but they would also continue to store information even without power, like hard drives, which are too slow to use except for long-term storage. Several technologies have been competing to become the standard for fast, non-volatile memory. The best known is magnetic RAM, which IBM and Motorola are touting. Others are...

RIAA an undemocratic, unelected, overpowerful regime In Depth, Inquirer It's time for an investigation into its powers and claims By €uromole: Thursday 08 May 2003, 08:23 THE RECENT CLAIMS by the New York Times that record companies are preparing software that will lock a computer system for a period of minutes or perhaps hours make it high time to call "Enough!" on the tactics of the RIAA and its members and to call for a thorough investigation of its powers and activities in regard to anti-piracy. The most serious misgiving that I have with the RIAA is that it is...

The SCO lawsuit as dark comedy Slow motion PR train wreck By Egan Orion: Wednesday 07 May 2003, 16:05 SOMETHING OF THE NIGHT there is, about SCO Group (nee Caldera), in its plan to impose its will on major Linux distributors. The difference is that SCO isn't presenting itself as hard-bitten "wide boys" hinting broadly about vandalism and arson, but as Armani-wearing voracious predators, apparently wildly threatening to loose a plague of intellectual property lawyers. This might be chilling for Linux vendors and the Linux community, except that, as the story begins to play out in the online press...

Microsoft intros Anti-Trustworthy Computing DRM aims to kill piracy and competition By Arron Rouse: Thursday 08 May 2003, 12:20 THERE MUST BE some confusion about what digital rights management (DRM) means. Steve Ballmer has decided that people need to know more about the topic, even though it has been with us for a good few years now, he has sent out an email missive to the masses. The Vole itself kicked off its own efforts four years ago in the realm of media DRM. The trick in trying to persuade people of something that is completely made up is...

Alright, I must have gone somewhere I shouldnt have,because I have hundreds of pop-up ads I cannot stop

New fuel tank design linked to shuttle disaster   13:20 16 April 03   NewScientist.com news service   The Columbia shuttle disaster may been triggered by a combination of a new external fuel tank design and ageing of the spacecraft, a Columbia Accident Investigation Board press conference was told on Tuesday. Although some remaining alternatives remain to be ruled out, the CAIB's focus is now on two crucial factors. First, it appears that a new fuel tank design led to foam falling off during liftoff. A one-kilogram block was seen striking Columbia's left wing during launch. Secondly, the damage this impact caused may...