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Tree131 writes "Just in case you don't have enough distractions driving on the highway, Clear Channel is planning to roll out digital billboards. The new billboards will feature ads that depend on the time of day as well as the general area demographics. I wonder how long before someone with lots of time on their hands hacks into the system and starts tampering with the messages."

bluephone writes "News.com.com.com.com... has article about a federal judge dismissing lawsuits brought by 5 users and the EFF over fears of being sued by media corporations. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper stated the suits were moot since media companies agreed not to sue users in August 2003. She also pointed out that the suit brought by media companies against ReplayTV has been dismissed as well."

narftrek cut-and-pastes the text from 2600's announcement that Ford has conceded the case they brought against 2600 over a certain domain. Our earlier story has some background. A Volvo repair shop near me is named "Island Vo Vo"; the L is silent, you see, because Ford really sucks.

micantos writes "Check this out! Apparently somebody is claiming they've done the unprecedented, recorded the first "perfect" Pitfall game. Personally I liked Pitfall II a lot more... finding that damn Quickclaw was fun..."

cr0sh asks: "I am seeking help obtaining TV output under Linux. I am currently running SuSE 6.2 and XFree86 3.3.2, using a Hecules Stingray 128/3D with TV out. I have tried numerous different modelines under X to try and activate the TV output, with no luck. A look at the chipset revealed that the card uses a Chrontel CH7002D-V to provide the TV output. Studying the specifications revealed that in order to activate it, an I2C bus or direct pin programming may be used. I searched the internet using Google to see what I could find out regarding this chip and Linux, but the best I turned up was an I2C bus driver for a Riva TNT/BTV chipset. Seeing that this may have been a blind alley, I tried setting up my Genius HiEncoder VGA-to-TV converter to display the output from the card, with help from Tomi Engdahl and his site. I eventually found a solid modeline to use, however, all I get is a black and white display. No matter what changes to the modeline I try, I cannot obtain color. I really need a color TV output (it is to drive an HMD I own). Can anyone give me suggestions as to how I may get proper TV output, either via my current card (anyone know how to enable the Chrontel?), gaining color via my converter (has anyone used the HiEncoder with Linux?), or using an entirely different video card (with TV output supported under Linux)? Any help would be appreciated."

cr0sh asks: "I recently bid and won (on Ebay) a set-top box that I am planning to hack. It is distributed by Liberate Technologies, Inc. (formerly Network Computer, Inc.), and appears (based on a Web search on Google) to be made by Acer (called the CyberTV). Liberate Technologies calls it the NT150 Endeavor System. I have found one other distributor - DEI - on whose page some specs were given. 133 MHz X5 processor (what is this? I am guessing an AMD 586/133), 8 MB RAM, 4MB Flash, lots of ports. The device I received appears to have the ethernet adapter, and not the 56K modem. I didn't receive any documentation or such. From what I have been able to find, the device apparently uses special signals embedded in the VBI of a broadcast signal to bring up Web pages from a Web site, and overlay them onto the broadcast signal, so that you can get an 'enhanced' TV experience. This is accomplished by software Liberate calls TV Navigator. I haven't found any info on the OS used, but I think it may be QNX. Liberate provides a site for development. I was told by the seller that supposedly you can hook up a hard drive and/or a floppy internally, based on information a tech at Liberate told him. I haven't had a chance to open the machine up to verify/find the headers to do such, so I don't know if they are intact or if there would be some soldering involved. Does anyone know anything more about this box, and how 'hackable' it is?"

Lets start this off with some eyecandy from Mdog. Hi res pics of coronal loops meet Rob's First Rule of Art. Wow. Not enough eye candy? tradica noted that Pixar's new movie 'Monsters Inc.' now has trailers available even the the movie won't be out for a year. Course since Jobs is @ pixar, no surprise that I can't watch the clip. Instead of food for your retinas, Nerf97A4 sent in recipes that will never be used on Iron Chef since they all involve cooking with twinkies in some form or another. Deep fried Twinkies? Makes me shudder... maybe instead you should look at jedigeek fouund an online store called CyberCandy which allows you to buy candy from around the world. funferal noticed that a OECD have publshed their Privacy Statement Generator. Ant noted one wizard that that probably doesn't exist in Word. alecto sent us a fun link where you can read 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall which has code snippets to generate the song in languages from APL to zsh. PhadeRunner sent us Mr. T vs. The Matrix. and FlameSnyper sent The Matrix and Ghost in The Shell. One is slightly more serious then the other. An anonymous reader documented filling a cubicle with packing peanuts in case your boss is out of time and you need some help. Speaking of bosses, Need a weapon? WD_40 aims you at a site where you can learn how to create your own spud gun. Course you could do it the old fashioned way: pimp showed us a site dedicated to electrocuting common household stuff. Like, for example, a furby. While on the subject of electricity, loose_change sent in several links about Power meters and how they aren't exactly the best in user interface. A competition followed to try to make a better on. The winner is definitely less hostile ;) CresentCityRon sent in something you don't want to electrocute: apparently MIT students are working on Geek Porn which is pretty much what is sounds like. School officials aren't so happy about it.

All right, this FBI Carnivore thing and the review it's undergoing at the Illinois Institute of Tech [IIT] has been getting lots of press and lots of flack. The person overseeing the legal end of the process is Dean Henry H. Perritt, Jr. of the IIT's Chicago-Kent College of Law. Ask Dean Perritt any question you want. Tomorrow afternoon we'll forward 10 of the highest-moderated ones to him, and we expect his answers back sometime next week. Note: Before you start questioning Dean Perritt, you may want to check this story in Slashdot's Your Rights Online section, which links to some interesting new Carnivore information. (Special thanks to pridkett for arranging this interview.)