Thursday, July 19, 2007

IP Canada's Copyright Cops Give Go-Ahead For iPod Tax. An anonymous reader writes "Michael Geist reports that the Canada's Copyright Board has given the go-ahead for a new copyright tax on iPods, despite an earlier court decision blocking the fee. The Board apparently ruled that not including iPods would make criminals of millions of Canadians and that the levy could conceivably be applied to cellphones and personal computers. 'If we're going to make P2P legal through a levy system, the system must (1) address both downloading and uploading; (2) consider addressing non-commercial use of content; (3) cover audio and video; and (4) more closely link the copying to those paying the levy. The government has yet to play its hand on this issue, but with the prospect of an unpopular levy and mounting pressure for a Canadian fair use provision, it will have to take a stand sometime soon.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. 11:05:20 PM    comment [] OS hosting Firefox Developers Sell Parakey Startup to Facebook (PC World). PC World - Social networking site Facebook Inc. has bought Parakey Inc., a tiny startup that had been developing software it bills as a Web-based operating system. [Yahoo! News: Technology News] 11:03:03 PM    comment [] video EU endorses cell-phone TV standard (AP). AP - The European Commission on Wednesday endorsed a Nokia-backed mobile TV standard called DVB-H, saying Europe needed to pick one technology over others and promising to look at ways to mandate its use. [Yahoo! News: Technology News] 1:06:23 PM    comment [] math True Random Number Generator Goes Online. amigoro writes "A 'true' random number generator that relies on the unpredictable quantum process of photon emission has gone online providing academic and scientific community access to true random numbers free of charge."Read more of this story at Slashdot.[Slashdot] 1:04:32 PM    comment [] open source $298 Wal-Mart PC Has OO.org, No Crapware. cristarol writes "Wal-Mart has begun selling a $298 PC (Everex IMPACT GC3502). It comes with Windows Vista Home Basic and OpenOffice.org 2.2, as well as a complete lack of crapware: 'Users accustomed to being bombarded with trialware offers and seeing their would-be pristine Windows desktops littered with shortcuts to AOL and other applications will likely be pleased at their absence from the GC3502.' The machine is targeted at the back-to-school market. The hardware is nothing to write home about: a 1.5GHz Via C7 with 1GB of RAM and integrated graphics, but as Ars points out, it should be more than capable of performing basic tasks." Dell sells a low-end PC through Wal-Mart for $200 more, and one assumes it is loaded with crapware. Anybody know for sure?Read more of this story at Slashdot. 12:52:54 PM    comment [] evolution Humans Evolved From a Single Origin In Africa. Invisible Pink Unicorn writes "Researchers at the University of Cambridge have combined studies of global human genetic variations with skull measurements worldwide to show conclusively the validity of the single origin hypothesis. The alternative hypothesis contended that different populations independently evolved from Homo erectus to Home sapiens in different areas. The lead researcher explains, 'The origin of anatomically modern humans has been the focus of much heated debate. Our genetic research shows the further modern humans have migrated from Africa, the more genetic diversity has been lost within a population. However, some have used skull data to argue that modern humans originated in multiple spots around the world. We have combined our genetic data with new measurements of a large sample of skulls to show definitively that modern humans originated from a single area in Sub-saharan Africa.' The article abstract is available from Nature."Read more of this story at Slashdot. [Slashdot] 12:47:18 PM    comment [] speed Ubiquitous Multi-Gigabit Wireless Within Three Years. Anonymous Howard passed us a link to the Press Escape blog, and a post about the future of ultra-fast wireless connectivity. Georgia Tech researchers unveiled plans to use ultra-high frequency radio transmissions to achieve very high data transmission rates over short distances. In a few years, the article says, we'll have ubiquitous multi-gigabit wireless connectivity, with some significant advances already under their belts. "GEDC team have already achieved wireless data-transfer rates of 15 gigabits per second (Gbps) at a distance of 1 meter, 10 Gbps at 2 meters and 5 Gbps at 5 meters. 'The goal here is to maximize data throughput to make possible a host of new wireless applications for home and office connectivity,' said Prof. Joy Laskar, GEDC director and lead researcher on the project along with Stephane Pinel. Pinel is confident that Very high speed, p2p data connections could be available potentially in less than two years. The research could lead to devices such as external hard drives, laptop computers, MP-3 players, cell phones, commercial kiosks and others could transfer huge amounts of data in seconds while data centers could install racks of servers without the customary jumble of wires."Read more of this story at slashdot 12:44:36 PM    comment [] networks Oxford University uses Facebook photos as proof for disciplinary hearings (AFP). AFP - LONDON - Just who do you want seeing your photos on Facebook, one of the fastest-rising of the world’s new social networking websites? If you’re a student celebrating the end of exams with traditional end-of-term high-jinks, the answer just might not include your college disciplinary committee.[Yahoo! News: Technology News] 12:42:01 PM    comment []

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