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Domain: tampatrib.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to tampatrib.com.
Stories · 5
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Closed Source -> Charges Dismissed?
Snorpus writes "According to the Tampa Tribune, judges in the central Florida county of Seminole are dismissing DUI charges when the defendant asks for information on how the breath test works. Apparently the manufacture of the device is unwilling to release the code to the state, and all four judges in the county have been dismissing DUI cases when the state cannot provide the requested information. Could this apply to other situations where technical means (radar guns, video surveillance, wire-tapping, etc.) are used to gather evidence? " I'd not plan on this as a legal defense, but the question it raises - of public access to information - is an important one. -
Fl. County Halts FTTP Until Installation Is Safer
celerityfm writes "Warning: Deploying Verizon's new Fiber To The Premises (FTTP, see previous) in YOUR neighborhood may involve geysers of raw sewage spewing onto your front yard or sinkholes opening and swallowing moving vehicles. Well, Hillsborough County, host to one of the first FTTP trial sites, has ordered Verizon to stop deployment of FTTP until they can figure out how to stop creating sinkholes that open up under minivans with children inside. No word on whether SBC is having similar problems with their fiber roll-out." -
Florida Ponders Communication Tax on LANs
victor_the_cleaner writes "Here in Florida, a little known tax provision may lead to LANs being taxed. According to the article, 'The provision was intended to make sure companies operating their own land line communication systems, which two decades ago was limited to large utilities and railroads, were paying the same taxes paid by those who rely on commercial phone carriers. About 10 companies (in Florida) pay more than $1.2 million annually based on that definition. However, the statute is so broadly worded that it could be interpreted to describe a local area network.' Internal auditors at the city of Tampa noticed a couple of years ago that the substitute communications service provision was still there and asked state officials why it wasn't being enforced. And now people like Sharon Fox, the city of Tampa's tax revenue coordinator are pushing for enforcement." -
Desalination Plant Begins Operation in Tampa
ambisinistral writes "The Tampa Tribune reports that the first commercial desalination plant in the U.S. is set to begin operations today. By March the plant is expected to be operating at full capacity, producing 25 million gallons of fresh water a day (10% of the water currently provided to the area from well fields). There are ecological concerns about returning highly saline water from the plant back into Tampa Bay. Proponents of desalination claim the natural tide cycle will effectively flush the bay of the saline rich discharge, while opponents of the plant feel the ecology of the bay will be badly damaged. Both sides plan on strict monitoring of the situation." -
Slashback: Imagination, Redistribution, Stiction
Tirelessly flogging the dead horses of industry, crunching gravel where Angels fear to tread past sundown, gathering wool that no sheep has ever known, and shooting nanodarts packed with moss spores deep into any stones which happen to roll by, here's another helping -- Large but not SuperSized -- of assorted errata and addenda. Even some lizards.Igor, throw that switch, would you? It's getting drafty in here. After all the attention that the various projects working to codify the the Human Genome have gotten in the past few years, the audacity of what Celera and the Human Genome Project itself are doing has seemingly faded into the commonplace. That may change soon, as first drafts of the genetic sequence of a human being are expected both from Celera and the HGP.
Phasers back on stun, and bring us back to DefCon 3. Turn down that klaxon, ensign. According to this CNN story, that darn Serbian Badman Trojan may not have been much of a threat; despite dire predictions otherwise by NetSec echoed by everyone from CNN to Slashdot. At least, the FBI doesn't seem too concerned. Thanks to ghoti, who alerted us to the downgrade.
All I want is friggin' sharks with friggin' lasers on their heads ... If you enjoyed reading Time-Digital's recent Neal Stephenson interview, you may be intrigued by the article contributed by The Original Bobski, pondering questions like ""How can the future-fiction business hope to compete against our reality of humanoids who wear life-altering computers and elongate their lives with superdrugs and genetic mutation? How is it possible for any self-respecting science fiction writer to hope to stay ahead of the headlines?" Neal himself is quoted, along with a passel of SciFi writers who might be familiar to regular readers of the Slashdot Book Reviews section. Seems that The Future just keeps on arriving ...
iCrave TV: OK for Sasketchewanians, not Pittsburgers. julez writes "Back in April www.icravetv.com was taken offline because of numerous lawsuits. This article on CBC online says that they are set to relaunch their service in the fall on a subscription basis. Some stations will remain free, but, like cable, "specialty channel packages" will cost you $8-$9 a month. And of course, it will only be availble to Canadians via some unnamed security software." From the article: "The privately held Internet company showed 17 Canadian and U.S. stations when its site started last November. The service drew more than 800,000 viewers in its first month." That's a market, folks. ("Quick, shut it down! Somebody might make some money if we're not careful!") Read more about iCrave on Slashdot.
If Nike builds sneakers like this, we'd happily worship the swoosh. After the wall-climbing robot tech that hemos pointed out a few days ago, ABCNews.com serendipitously featured some more information about the Real Thing. Real Geckos, that is. How do they stick to walls? Well, here are some hints: no glue, no suction cups, no bubble gum and no special effects.