Slashdot Mirror

quakeslut writes "It's Feb. 1st everyone... and all of you who have been reading Slashdot know that today MyDoom.A begins it's attack... according to Reuters, SCO has already been hit hard. Stay tuned for Tuesday when MyDoom.B hits Microsoft..."

An assortment of Super Bowl tidbits: Supposedly sports gambling sites are being threatened with denial of service attacks if they don't pay protection money - also a Reuters story. Infinitus writes "The NFL's legal firm has a PDF up that outlines the NFL's intellectual property rights to words like 'Super Bowl' and 'NFL'. Including a neat little chart that tells you what you can and can't say..." VeggiePossum23 writes "Panthers Upset Patriots, 29 to 21... at least in the Sony Sponsored '989 Sports Game Before the Game' played on NFL Gameday 2004 on the PS2 Console. This annual event, held Wednesday night in Houston, has a perfect 8-year track record of picking the winner of the Super Bowl. Carolina Panthers Wide Receiver Steve Smith controlled the Panthers, winning an upset victory against New England Patriots' Wide Out Troy Brown, also controlling his own team." lordbyron writes "CBS is doing a SuperBowl of commercials that will include a vote for the best commercial in history. You can watch the top 10 now and make sure that you vote at 9pm on Sunday 1/31. It includes some classics like the Apple commercial and the exploding mosquitos from Tabasco."Wing Bowl.--->

Thanks to Reuters for its article discussing videogame-based predictions for this weekend's Super Bowl. The piece explains: "Days before the real football championship is contested, Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith has beaten the New England Patriots' wide-out Troy Brown 29-21 in a head-to-head video game matchup." The match was played on Sony's NFL GameDay 2004, and it's noted: "In the first eight years of the event, the winner of the electronic showdown went on to hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy as the Super Bowl champion." Elsewhere, 1UP has done its own Super Bowl predictions on four different football videogames, and the final results also favor the Panthers.

Malfourmed writes "Reuters reports that the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien won a cybersquatting case against Alberta Hot Rods, a Canadian-based operator which registered jrrtolkien.com and linked it to its commercial celebrity Web site. The group - which has already lost domain name cases brought by actors Pierce Brosnan and Pamela Anderson, and author Michael Crichton - was found to have no legitimate rights, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said in a ruling."

jnguy writes "According to Reuters, Ed Fries, Microsoft's game studio head, has resigned. The last major person to leave Microsoft in this fashion was Seamus Blackley. I wonder if this has any other meaning - I've seen Fries at many of Microsoft's parties and launch events, and consider him one of the biggest figures in Xbox history." CNN Money has further information on Fries' departure, noting that "he plans to remain in the gaming industry", and commenting that he was "actively involved in the development and launch of the Xbox gaming system and oversaw the acquisition of several major game developers, including Bungie Software... and Rare." They also have comments from Fries himself, as he muses on his future: "I'm looking for a situation where I have a lot of freedom around the development of our products and the way those products come to market. I've had some of that to date, but not as much as I would like."

Thanks to Reuters for its story reporting on Bill Gates' announcement of an Xbox Media Center Extender kit at the CES show in Las Vegas, discussing the add-on "that will extend the functions of its Windows XP Media Center Edition to the console, turning it into a set-top box that allows the playback of live and recorded video, music and photos." 1UP has a couple more details, noting the add-on "will combine an Xbox DVD title with a dedicated remote control [and] currently carries no release date or price point", and the Reuters interview with Gates has him noting of the Xbox: "We are pushing the boundaries in terms of expanding what people think of as what the device can do." He's also confident but secretive about the next generation of consoles, suggesting: "In terms of the next round, hey, it's a new game. We're not showing our hand and I don't think Sony's showing their hand. We're doing some very cool work, but that's really all we say at this point."

Thanks to Reuters for their story revealing Sony's PSX 'media center' has been a major hit in Japan, after the PlayStation 2, DVD recorder and DVR combo "went on sale on December 13 in Japan amid a flurry of media attention." According to Sony boss Ken Kutaragi: "We sold 100,000 PSXs in the first week. It sells for almost 100,000 yen ($941) and it still sold out. There are no products out there that can say that." CNET News are also reporting that the PlayStation 2 has finally launched in China, after "the company... shelved plans for its December launch but failed to provide a full explanation for the change." The PS2 roll-out seems very low-key indeed, though, as "the electronics giant cut down its distribution to two cities from the original five."

jhkoh writes "TiVo has filed a lawsuit against satellite TV provider EchoStar for infringing on its 'Time Warp' patent for DVR time-shifting. TiVo CEO Mike Ramsay adds: 'Our aim here is not to litigate everybody ... but to further advance and seek commercial relationships so that people recognize the value of our intellectual property, and give us fair compensation.'"

Thanks to Reuters for their report that California state legislator Leland Yee will introduce two bills restricting sales of violent video games next week. According to the article, the bills will continue Yee's previously reported plans: "The first bill will expand the 'harmful matter' definition to include games where the player can injure another human character 'in a manner that is especially heinous, atrocious or cruel'", and "The second bill would require games with a 'Mature' rating from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, meaning they are not intended for children under 17, to be stocked above children's eye level and separately from other games. Stores would also have to display signs explaining ESRB ratings." However, although Yee "has signed on a number of co-sponsors" for the California-specific bills, their passage into law is not assured, and the piece points out that "Federal courts have previously struck down laws in Indianapolis and St. Louis" drafted along similar lines.

An anonymous reader writes "Reuters is running a story about failing Apple hardware. 'Can a few bad apples -- like product quality complaints and potential lawsuits -- spoil the bunch for loyal fans of Apple Computer Inc. ahead of their biggest party of the year? As enthusiasts devoted to Apple prepare to descend on San Francisco next week for the annual Macworld conference, at least two online petitions have collected hundreds of signatures from potential plaintiffs seeking to file lawsuits over claims of defects in the iBook laptop.'" Yay, online petitions, the most effective way to effect change in the world.

deaddeng writes "Memory maker Micron Technology is allegedly seeking amnesty from a US Dept. of Justice grand jury investigation of price fixing, collusion, and antitrust by the memory industry, according to numerous news services, including the LA Times and Reuters. Last week, a Micron regional marketing employee pled guilty to charges brought under the same DoJ investigation for destruction of evidence and lying to the grand jury. The DoJ is investigating charges that major memory makers colluded to prevent the success of Rambus memory favored by Intel, and once that was achieved, colluded again to raise prices for DDR-SDRAM in 2001-02. If Micron is granted amnesty, it can keep its executives from facing criminal prosecution, but it may still face civil court challenges."

ThePretender writes "A Reuters article details the story of (what I believe is) the first online-gaming lawsuit won regarding virtual theft, with a Chinese court ordering a game company to 'return hard-won virtual property to a player whose game account was looted by a hacker'. Apparently, the article feels the need to throw in that the RedMoon-playing gamer's looted booty included 'a make-believe stockpile of bio-chemical weapons' for some reason... 'I exchanged the equipment with my labour, time, wisdom and money, and of course they are my belongings,' said Li Hongchen (the gamer) and the courts agreed, ordering the game company to restore his bounty." We've covered earlier stages of this lawsuit in the past.

jfoust writes "Reuters is reporting that the space tourism company Space Adventures has signed up two Americans, at $20 million each, to fly on future Soyuz missions to the ISS. No details about who these people are, other than one is a 38-year-old male Manhattan real estate developer. One will fly in 2004 and the other in 2005. If you haven't quite saved up the $20 million yet, don't worry, the company is still looking for at least two additional tourists for flights through 2007..."

FreeLinux writes "With not much SCO news today, it seemed that this story was needed - Reuters is reporting that, SCO is again suffering under a DDoS attack that has crippled their web site and email system since Wednesday morning. For the third time this year, the SCO Group's Web site came under attack, apparently by hackers unhappy with the company's legal threats against users of the Linux operating system. The denial-of-service attack started at 6:20 a.m. EST Wednesday and continued through the day, said Blake Stowell, spokesman for the Lindon-based company."

cloudscout writes "The FCC is demanding that AT&T Wireless Services explain their number portability failures. Apparently, tens of thousands of customers are having their number portability requests delayed because of computer system problems at AT&T Wireless. Sadly, the FCC did not say they were going to be imposing fines for this breach of regulations yet but I'm sure that will follow if things don't improve quickly." Reader (54)T-Dub adds: "As many of you already reported on wed, there have been some pretty serious delays for people switching cellphone providers according to this NYTimes article (free reg required). Most notably former AT&T customers can expect to wait up to a week for their number to switch."

Thanks to Reuters for their story reporting on Microsoft and the U.S. armed forces' plans to expand a program bringing Xbox Live to troops overseas. There's a press release on the USO site with more details, including a U.S. Air Force lieutenant's comments: "Xbox Live allows me to play my favorite games with friends and family as though I am sitting on the couch right next to them back home in Garden Grove, Calif. We share stories, laugh and poke fun at each other in real time as we play." We previously covered a pilot scheme using the U.S. Air Forces in Europe, and a spokesman "...said the program was such a success it will be expanded to nearly every Air Force base around the world."

Thanks to Reuters for the news that Sega has sued Fox, EA, and developers Radical Entertainment over the similarity between EA's The Simpsons Road Rage and Sega's own Crazy Taxi. The story reveals: "Sega holds a U.S. patent, known as the '138 patent, on 'Crazy Taxi,' in which players take the role of a taxi driver who has to accomplish outrageous driving stunts to pick up passengers and quickly deliver them to their destinations." The patent infringement suit, which asks for the recall of the game and damages for lost profits, claims The Simpsons Road Rage was designed to "deliberately copy and imitate", citing a review "...that characterized 'Road Rage' as a 'shameless incident of design burglary'."

Thanks to Reuters for their report rounding up the sales figures reported for Thanksgiving by the major console makers. Nintendo announced "...it sold more than 500,000 units of its GameCube console during Thanksgiving week, roughly twice what it sold in the entire month of October", and Sony indicated "...the PS2 sold more than 1 million units in November, with sales of its $199 online-enabled Combo Pack doubling from October." Finally, Microsoft "...said year-over-year hardware sales for its second-place Xbox were up 7 percent during Thanksgiving week", with Halo sales peaking 435 percent after its price cut. Reuters also has a piece talking to software publishers, in which they're cautiously optimistic over "relatively strong" game sales.

Thanks to Reuters for their report rounding up the sales figures reported for Thanksgiving by the major console makers. Nintendo announced "...it sold more than 500,000 units of its GameCube console during Thanksgiving week, roughly twice what it sold in the entire month of October", and Sony indicated "...the PS2 sold more than 1 million units in November, with sales of its $199 online-enabled Combo Pack doubling from October." Finally, Microsoft "...said year-over-year hardware sales for its second-place Xbox were up 7 percent during Thanksgiving week", with Halo sales peaking 435 percent after its price cut. Reuters also has a piece talking to software publishers, in which they're cautiously optimistic over "relatively strong" game sales.

Thanks to Reuters for their story revealing Sega's profits jumped 485 percent for the first half of the fiscal year, to 5.93 billion yen ($54.53 million), largely due "to strong sales of its [Japanese] arcade game machines such as [popular crane game] 'UFO Catcher 7' and [intriguing arcade-based CCG] 'The Key of Avalon'." Elsewhere, Sega's consumer division "...posted an operating loss of 1.8 billion yen, but it was less than it expected because of solid sales of its soccer simulation and car racing games." However, the company "...trimmed its projection of key U.S. sports games to 1.73 million from 2.6 million units", still dogged by Electronic Arts' domination of the genre, as the president said: "We need to carefully plan how to compete with EA in terms of marketing, but we believe our games can win more market share because of their high quality."

romcabrera writes: "Reuters reports that 'Chinese authorities have detained a civil servant, whose essays are banned by Beijing on the Internet, on charges of subversion'. According to the article, China has created a special Internet Police Force which 'blocks some foreign sites and shuts down domestic sites posting politically incorrect fare'."

romcabrera writes: "Reuters reports that 'Chinese authorities have detained a civil servant, whose essays are banned by Beijing on the Internet, on charges of subversion'. According to the article, China has created a special Internet Police Force which 'blocks some foreign sites and shuts down domestic sites posting politically incorrect fare'."

Richard Finney writes "Lenslet is announcing the 'World's First Commercial Optical Processor.'. Reuters has the story here. The Inquirer has a cool graphic here on it. The processor is specified to run at a speed of 8 Tera (8,000 Giga) operations per second, one thousand times faster than any known DSP. When Lenslet releases its Enlight processor in a matter of weeks, a unit using the technology will be 1.7 centimetres high and measure 15 by 15 centimetres."

Thanks to BBC News for their article discussing the fall in Sony's quarterly profit by 25 percent, blamed partially on "feeble sales in many products - most notably games hardware." The article points out: "Sony's game division, which produces both hardware and software for games, saw its sales fall to 161bn yen in the third quarter, from 250bn yen a year earlier", and a Reuters article adds analysis, pointing out the 91 percent operating profit reduction was partly down to "...additional research and development cost for next-generation microchips", as Sony ramp up R+D for the PlayStation 3. But although an analyst commented that "...the game division was hit harder than we had anticipated", the company will still be making a nearly $1 billion overall profit for the year, with PS2 by far the most popular, currently best-selling worldwide console.

Thanks to Reuters for their story that Nintendo have purchased over 1 million Bandai shares, making them one of Gundam creator and toy/game/film company Bandai's top 10 shareholders. A spokesman "...said Nintendo, the maker of GameCube home video consoles, which did not own any shares in Bandai as of March, has no intention of acquiring the toymaker", but GamesAreFun relay Japanese tabloid rumors that "a full-on merger between the two groups could take place sometime in the future." But it may be more likely, Video-Fenky points out, that "it's a move on Nintendo's part to win Bandai closer to their side and get them to release Gundam and Super Robot Taisen games... on their machine."

Thanks to Reuters for the news that Nintendo have recaptured the top of the videogame software charts for the first half of the business year in Japan. According to the piece, "Konami, which shoved Nintendo aside in the April-September period last year thanks to its popular soccer game [the Winning Eleven series], slipped to No.2", as the two companies "sold a total 3.1 million and 2.9 million units respectively", with Super Mario Advance 4 and Wario Ware, Inc particular sales highlights for Nintendo. The story also notes: "As for hardware, sales of Microsoft's Xbox game console remained in a slump in Japan, selling only 28,656 units, well below Sony's PlayStation 2 at 1.1 million and Nintendo's GameCube at 319,037."

Scared Scientists writes "Peter Agre, who has just won the Nobel Prize for research on cell membranes, is finally a scientist with enough recognition to speak out about the policy of intimidation against scientists by the Bush administration. He says, with respect to Thomas Butler, a plague expert, "He was arrested and taken away in chains ... This is something that's bothered many of us". Many scientists have been outspoken about these problems thus far, maybe a Nobel Prize laureate has enough influence to finally move something. He even wants to use some of his prize money to battle the intimidation by the government."

Scared Scientists writes "Peter Agre, who has just won the Nobel Prize for research on cell membranes, is finally a scientist with enough recognition to speak out about the policy of intimidation against scientists by the Bush administration. He says, with respect to Thomas Butler, a plague expert, "He was arrested and taken away in chains ... This is something that's bothered many of us". Many scientists have been outspoken about these problems thus far, maybe a Nobel Prize laureate has enough influence to finally move something. He even wants to use some of his prize money to battle the intimidation by the government."

Slashback tonight brings updates on the recent Google hiccup, LookSmart and the FBI's note-snooping in the Adrian Lamo case, as well as (at long last!) a list of the theaters whose seats will soon be smooshed for far longer than usual under the weight of those dedicated enough to sit through 10 hours of Lord of the Rings. Read on below for the details.

Microsoft thinks LookSmart looks less smart. securitas writes "Internet search company LookSmart was dropped by Microsoft's MSN service today. MSN has decided not to extend its licensing contract with LookSmart beyond January 2004. The news is devastating for LookSmart since, 'Microsoft accounted for approximately 65 percent of listings revenues, and all of LookSmart's licensing revenue in the second quarter of 2003,' according to a company press release not listed on LookSmart's site. The move comes after LookSmart recently launched its own Overture-style pay-per-click service and indicates Microsoft is close to launching its new search engine technology designed to unseat Google for the search crown. All of this is against the backdrop of acquisitions by rival Yahoo. More coverage at SearchEngineWatch and a Reuters mirror at CNN Money."

They could have fixed this if they'd googled for an answer ... powerg3 writes "This follow-up, explains the Google wackiness posted yesterday. Here's the quote from the Google Weblog: '...when a spam result comes up in a search, Google not only blocks the spam, but every result after it. This means that for searches where spam results manage to rise to the top, very few -- sometimes zero -- results will be returned....It's pretty amazing that such a serious bug made it past Google's tests. It will be interesting to see how quickly it's fixed.'"

Pardon me, mum, can I borrow your hard drive? AndreL writes "The Guardian has an update about the BBC's digital archive plans. They're considering using P2P technology to avoid bandwidth bottlenecks. The bad news: because of technical, financial, and legal problems nothing will happen until 2006 at the earliest."

Please arrive in costume if at all. KTecumseh writes "The list of theaters showing the extended editions of LOTR as been revealed. You can check out the list at the official website, and before you look, pray that you live somewhere close by to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime experience. For those that can not make the full 10-hour saga, they are also showing the first two extended additions on different dates, but who wants to miss out on an entire theater of sweaty LOTR fans."

Shamus Arrigan asks plaintively "There is no mention of these ticket sales in any other country. Does anyone know when and where these tickets will be sold at? (Canada especially)"

Wait, are you fellas press? Dangnabbit! ccnull writes "Good news from the inquest against hacker Adrian Lamo. According to a paragraph in a Washington Post column (buried about 3/4 of the way down the story), the FBI appears to be backing off from pursuing reporters' notes in the case. Relevant quote: 'A Justice Department official says the FBI agent "acted out of turn" by not seeking approval from the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan and Attorney General John Ashcroft's press office. "The agent did not follow standard procedures," the official says. "We're just not going to pursue it. It is the policy of the Justice Department to exhaust all other means before seeking information from members of the media."'"

Eh, what's a few orders of magnitude? Grant hayes writes: "It seems the decimal point in the Mono story you ran is being a bit ambitious. We should be reading Mono 0.28, not Mono 2.8. Check the link below as well as links there to other Mono resources; I see 0.28 throughout." Here's the Mono site -- guilty as charged. Thanks for the correction.

Thanks to Reuters for their report that Vivendi Universal Games has still not found a buyer, with indication that, despite much confusion, "The video game unit is not a part of the newly-created NBC Universal, and Vivendi has signaled its intention to hold on to the division." VU Games is also the parent company of both Sierra and Blizzard, but although "...industry insiders have questioned why Vivendi would want to retain ownership considering its divestiture of other entertainment assets", VU Games will stay as it is for now, since "...sources in the banking and games-publishing industries have said the sale bogged down over price, with Vivendi asking on the order of $800 million."

Thanks to Reuters for their report that Vivendi Universal Games has still not found a buyer, with indication that, despite much confusion, "The video game unit is not a part of the newly-created NBC Universal, and Vivendi has signaled its intention to hold on to the division." VU Games is also the parent company of both Sierra and Blizzard, but although "...industry insiders have questioned why Vivendi would want to retain ownership considering its divestiture of other entertainment assets", VU Games will stay as it is for now, since "...sources in the banking and games-publishing industries have said the sale bogged down over price, with Vivendi asking on the order of $800 million."

Thanks to Reuters for their story discussing Sony's plans to start mass production on a smaller PlayStation 2 chip. The new chip is "using cutting-edge 90-nanometer processing technology", and monthly production of the chip, which is functionally identical, and "...combines the game console's microprocessor and graphics chip, will start at 'several' hundred thousand units before growing to more than a million units by next year." They also plan to start a test plant for their next-gen Cell processor, widely rumored as the basis for the PlayStation 3, and the Sony plants are "...expected to start mass production of 'Cell' in the second-half of 2005", hopefully far enough ahead of time to avoid the chip shortages that plagued the PS2 launch.

TCPALaw writes "Reuters is reporting that the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has just ruled that the FTC can go ahead with administration and enforcement of the national Do-Not-Call list, staying a lower court ruling that blocked the FTC from implementing the list. Now I can sue those pesky telemarketers .. I have already gotten 3 telemarketing calls to the phone number I put on the national list since the list went into effect." Reader jhlund1976 points to the court's decision itself. Note, as strredwolf does, that this only means the FTC can "run the registry while a challenge from telemarketers winds its way through the courts." Strredwolf also points to the all-knowing Google News link.

Thanks to Reuters for their article summarizing the "mixed response" to today's launch of Nokia's N-Gage 'mobile game deck'/phone hybrid. According to the piece, "The Finnish firm said it aims to sell between six and nine million units between now and the end of 2004 as it seeks to break the grip on a market dominated by Nintendo's GameBoy", but many are less convinced, with CNN Money suggesting "N-Gage might sound great on paper, but it's a disaster in execution", an earlier San Jose Mercury News piece criticizing the N-Gage as "...a hopeless muddle - lacking in quality games, too confusing in regards to service plans, too expensive and crippled by a series of stunningly bad design decisions", and GameSpy advocating a "wait and see" approach, although they also have the inevitable contrarian view.

Thanks to Reuters for their story indicating Microsoft won't necessarily act on Nintendo hardware price reductions. Xbox boss Robbie Bach, in a Tokyo news conference, suggested "...the company's main benchmark when it comes to pricing would remain Sony... and not Nintendo", and added "We've been selling at a price premium to GameCube since the first day and I don't think that's going to change." Elsewhere in the news conference, Bach talked about the long-term growth of consoles, estimating that "...video games have a penetration rate of about 40 percent, but that rate can grow to 80 percent over the next decade if games become more appealing to a wider audience."

CowboyRobot writes "One 'advantage' of global warming is the increasing availability of fossil records fom the frozen north. For example, new evidence shows that many of the most common mammals in North America walked across the Bering land Bridge from Asia thousans of years ago. Reuters and Discovery Channel have other versions. (sorry, no pics)"

Thanks to Reuters for their article discussing the Electronic Arts CFO's comments at a recent financial conference. He discussed gaming prospects for the holiday season, since "...last December, a number of publishers were forced to warn on their prospects... after games they expected would be major hits failed to meet their targets, and retailers tightened the shelf-space devoted to also-ran games", and he suggested game company bankruptcies could be on the way: "There's going to be some road kill. There are going to be people who aren't going to make it." He also made some pointed comments about Xbox Live, which EA still haven't signed up for, saying: "We're not about to support a model where the content provider does not get paid for the content provided."

dmehus writes "It was only a matter of time, the pundits said, and they were right. Popular Enterprises, LLC., an Orlando, Florida based cybersquatting so-called 'search services' company, has filed a lawsuit in Orlando federal court against VeriSign, Inc. over VeriSign's controversial SiteFinder 'service.' While PopularEnterprises has had a dodgy history of buying up thousands of expired domain names and redirecting them to its Netster.com commercial "search services" site, the lawsuit is most likely a good thing, as it provides one more avenue to pursue in getting VeriSign to terminate SiteFinder. According to the lawsuit, the company contends alleges antitrust violations, unfair competition and violations of the Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. It asks the court to order VeriSign to put a halt to the service. VeriSign spokesperson Brian O'Shaughnessy said the company has not yet seen the lawsuit and that it doesn't comment on pending litigation."

Thanks to Reuters for their report that last month's video game sales rose 4 percent from August 2002, due in significant part to EA's Madden NFL 2004, which "...sold 1.45 million units on the PS2 and 310,000 units on the Xbox in the month, generating sales of more than $86 million. Sales of Madden for GameCube were negligible." There were new figures on hardware sales, too, as "PS2 sold 291,000 units in August to bring its installed base in the United States to 18.8 million, while... Xbox sold 144,000 units to rise to 5.8 million and... GameCube sold 100,000 units to 4.5 million." Analysts suggested that PS2 sales "continue to lag behind expectations" (1 million short of the 9.5 million hoped), and predicted that Nintendo will "...introduce their own bundle or price cut by the end of September" (scanned early-October print ads for a major US retailer have the GameCube at $99.)

Thanks to Reuters for their story confirming the official Xbox Wireless Adapter, now locked in for an October 5th release for $139. Details of this 802.11b/g device were inadvertently leaked by the FCC a couple of weeks back, and TeamXbox has a first look at the adapter, but this announcement also reveals the new Xbox Live bundle deal, as Microsoft "...will offer a $40 rebate to people who buy both the adapter and the $69 Xbox Live Starter Kit, which offers a one-year subscription to the company's online gaming service, a headset for voice communications and a copy of the game 'MechAssault.'"

Brahmastra writes "Reuters has posted an article about the best and worst companies for workplace privacy, passing on information from the forthcoming issue of Wired Magazine, and IBM comes out on top. How does your workplace compare?" According to the summary, Eli Lilly was rated "the most notorious Big Brother boss", after "...its invasive background checks of workers after Sept. 11, 2001, some of which led to dismissals."

anagama writes "For anyone who cringes whenever accosted by topics such as psychics, haunted houses, or any sort of new age drivel; for anyone who thinks James Randi is cool or has an active subscription to the Skeptical Inquirer - you're gonna love this story about infrasound. Here's a quote: "British scientists have shown in a controlled experiment that the extreme bass sound known as infrasound produces a range of bizarre effects in people including anxiety, extreme sorrow and chills -- supporting popular suggestions of a link between infrasound and strange sensations. ... Some scientists have suggested that this level of sound may be present at some allegedly haunted sites and so cause people to have odd sensations that they attribute to a ghost -- our findings support these ideas.""

RobertM writes "Professor Eli Biham, one of the worlds most famous crypto analysts, together with two of his students presented an interesting paper on flaws in GSM at the IACR Crypto conference. The GSM association is not happy. Read more on theReg." There's also a Reuters article about the situation.

v1x writes "Reuters reports that Japan, South Korea and China are set to agree to jointly develop a new computer operating system as an alternative to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software. It is said that if the plan matures, the three nations are likely to build upon an open-source operating system, such as Linux, and develop an inexpensive and trustworthy system."

securitas writes "The New York Times is carrying a Reuters story about Linux as the software of choice for consumer electronics. At the world's largest consumer electronics show, the IFA trade fair 'the first Linux products are already on show and more will come soon, companies said.' The reason? Linux is freely available, widely embraced and profit margins in the consumer electronics business are one or two percent at best. The math is simple. The industry push comes from the members of the Consumer Electronics Linux Forum (CELF), that includes Sony, Philips, Matsushita/Panasonic, Hitachi, Sharp, Samsung, NEC, IBM, LG, Thomson/RCA and Toshiba. The CELF was previously discussed on Slashdot. Mirrors at Silicon.com and CNet News."

An anonymous reader writes "Reuters reported that Lik Sang and Sony now settled the 'Mod Chip Lawsuit' out of Court. As part of the Sony settlement, Lik Sang signed what it called an acknowledgement and undertaking that included a one-time compensation to Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., Lik Sang spokesman Alex Kampl said in a statement." Of course, part of the settlement involves Lik Sang no longer selling mod chips for any Sony product, so potential modders will need to look elsewhere. The court actions against Lik Sang by both Nintendo and Microsoft are still standing.

Rovaani writes "A group of Finnish scientist have found a gene causing dyslexia. Dyslexia is the most common learning disorder among children and affects anywhere between 3 percent and 10 percent of the population."

MrZeebo writes "According to this story at Canada.com, the FBI, along with other authorities, have traced the origin of the Sobig worm. The quick timeline: Apparently, an earlier version of the worm installed a backdoor on a home computer in British Columbia. The creator of the worm used this compromised computer to create a Usenet account with Easynews.com in Phoenix, using a stolen credit card. The worm spread from Usenet, and contained the IP addresses of 20 computers to contact on Friday, and to download an unknown program from those computers. Officials were able to take 19 of these computers offline before the mass-download. However, the 20th computer stayed online, and many copies of the worm were able to get the rogue program. Those that did were merely redirected to a porn site, no damage done. However, now infected computers will continue to try and connect to the other 19 every Friday and Sunday until the worm expires on Sept. 10th." Reader muldoonaz points out this brief Reuters story about the investigation, too.

Arclightfire writes "First there was the setback of a New England judge throwing out an attempt to uncover the names of students at MIT accused of piracy and now CNet is reporting that a 'Jane Doe' is arguing that the subpoena violates her right to due process." There's also a Reuters story.

securitas submits this painfully well-linked piece: "eWEEK reviews the RIM BlackBerry 7230 color handheld, Research In Motion's latest combination wireless e-mail/phone/PDA, and the first BlackBerry to feature a full-color display. The tri-band GSM/GPRS J2ME device features a 240-by-160-pixel, 65,000-color display, 16 MB flash +2 MB SRAM, an Intel 386 32-bit chip, SMS, an HTML browser (missing from the preceding BlackBerry 5810), a claimed 4 hours talk/10 days standby removable/rechargeable lithium-ion battery, POP3/IMAP/Exchange/Notes wireless e-mail for up to 10 accounts with file attachment management, security via Triple DES encryption, USB sync/recharging and the usual organizer functions. RIM squeezes it all into a 4.8 oz/136g, 4.4x2.9x0.8 inch/11.3x7.4x2.0 cm package (tech specs at RIM). The BlackBerry 7230 is exclusive to T-Mobile USA until 2004 and costs about $400. With this release, RIM is moving the BlackBerry into the prosumer/consumer market to expand its customer base beyond enterprise users. The release comes amid speculation of BlackBerry doom following RIM's recent patent ruling loss and ahead of the highly anticipated Handspring Treo 600, its direct competition (which includes the MS Pocket PC Phone Edition Smartphone and the Palm Tungsten W). More at Wired News, E-Commerce Times, InfoWorld and Forbes/Reuters."