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Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Citizendium After One Year
* IBM Recycles Waste CPU Wafers Into Solar Panels
* Capsaicin Tested On Surgical Wounds
* The Real Mother of All Bombs, 46 Years Ago
* Call For Halt To Wikipedia Webcomic Deletions
* Google Begins “Gmail 2.0″ Rollout
* Today’s Gamers, Tomorrow’s Leaders?
* Google’s Plans for a Social API
* The Uncertain Future of BitTorrent
* Verizon Might Deliver Google Phone
* Joel and Original Cast of MST3K Riding the Cinematic Titanic
* Slashdot 10-Year Anniversary Party Grand Prize Winner
* Blogger Wins 1.5 Year Legal Battle
* Apple to Allow Virtual Mac OS X Server Instances
* The History of Slashdot Part 4 - Yesterday, Today,  Tomorrow
* Privacy Groups Mull ‘Do Not Track’ List for Internet
* The Official Ubuntu Book
* Intel in the GHz Game Again - Skulltrail Hits 5 GHz
* One-Third of Employees Violate Company IT Policies
* Germany Seeks Expansion of Computer Spying
* Court Blocks Controversial New Patent Rules
* Why Everyone Should Hate Cellphone Carriers
* Can Google Kill PowerPoint?

+—————————–—————————————+
| Citizendium After One Year                                         |
|   from the 3,200-articles dept.                                    |
|   posted by kdawson on Tuesday October 30, @20:21 (Education)      |
|   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/30/2151242              |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]Larry Sanger writes “[1]Citizendium, ‘the Citizens’ Compendium’ — a
free, non-profit, ad-free, wiki encyclopedia with real names and a role
for experts — has just announced that it’s [2]celebrating the one-year
anniversary of its wiki, an occasion for which I wrote a [3]project
report. Make up your own mind about whether ‘we’ve made a very strong
start and an amazing future likely lies ahead of us.’ We have been the
subject of a lot of misunderstanding, but we’ve still proven a lot, such
as that a public-expert hybrid wiki is consistent with accelerating
growth and leads to high quality, or that eliminating anonymity helps
remove vandalism. Signs are good that we are starting into a serious
growth spurt. Might the Web 2.0 umbrella be expanded to include real name
requirements and roles for experts? It’s looking that way.”

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/30/2151242

Links:
0. http://www.larrysanger.org/
1. http://www.citizendium.org/
2. http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Citizendium_Press_Releases/Oct302007
3. http://www.citizendium.org/oneyearandthriving.html

+—————————–—————————————+
| IBM Recycles Waste CPU Wafers Into Solar Panels                    |
|   from the trash-to-power-revisited dept.                          |
|   posted by kdawson on Tuesday October 30, @22:03 (Power)          |
|   http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/30/2236220     |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]Luyseyal writes “IBM has developed a process for [1]scrubbing waste
silicon wafers clean, allowing the otherwise highly secret waste to be
sold. The silicon quality usually necessary for solar production is very
high and the cost of solar panels reflects it. Recycling this waste
should help bring down the cost in the long run and add a new profit
vector for chip manufacturers. The article notes that IBM has such a high
profile in the chip business that this recycling tech should spread
rapidly.”

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/30/2236220

Links:
0. http://www.downbeatsinc.com/
1. http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/technology/10/30/1030silicon.html

+—————————–—————————————+
| Capsaicin Tested On Surgical Wounds                                |
|   from the that-smarts dept.                                       |
|   posted by kdawson on Tuesday October 30, @23:48 (Biotech)        |
|   http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/30/196215       |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]Ponca City, We Love You writes “Bite a hot pepper, and after the burn
your tongue goes numb. The Baltimore Sun reports that Capsaicin, the
chemical that gives chili peppers their fire, is being [1]dripped
directly into open wounds during highly painful operations, bathing
surgically exposed nerves in a high enough dose to numb them for weeks.
As a result patients suffer less pain and require fewer narcotic
painkillers as they heal. ‘We wanted to exploit this numbness,’ says Dr.
Eske Aasvang, a pain specialist who is testing the substance. Capsaicin
works by binding to C fibers called TRPV1, the nerve endings responsible
for long-lasting aching and throbbing pain. Experiments are under way
involving several hundred patients undergoing various surgeries,
including knee and hip replacements using an ultra-purified version of
Capsaicin to avoid infection. Volunteers are under anesthesia so they
don’t feel the initial burn.”

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/30/196215

Links:
0. http://poncacityweloveyou.com/
1. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-te.peppers30oct30,0,1228065.story

+—————————–—————————————+
| The Real Mother of All Bombs, 46 Years Ago                         |
|   from the things-that-go-boom dept.                               |
|   posted by kdawson on Wednesday October 31, @02:30 (The Military) |
|   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/0313258              |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]vaporland writes “[1]Tsar Bomba is the Western name for the RDS-220,
the largest, most powerful weapon ever detonated. [2]The bomb was tested
on October 30, 1961, in an archipelago in the Arctic Sea. Developed by
the Soviet Union, the bomb had a yield of about 50 megatons. Its
detonation released energy equivalent to approximately 1% of the power
output of the Sun for 39 nanoseconds of its detonation. The device was
scaled down from its original design of 100 megatons to reduce the
resulting nuclear fallout. The Tsar Bomba qualifies as the single most
powerful device ever utilized throughout the history of humanity.”

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/0313258

Links:
0. http://www.vaporland.com/
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba
2. http://sonicbomb.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=90

+—————————–—————————————+
| Call For Halt To Wikipedia Webcomic Deletions                      |
|   from the deletionism-rampant dept.                               |
|   posted by kdawson on Wednesday October 31, @05:16 (The Internet) |
|   http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/0328239          |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]ObsessiveMathsFreak writes “Howard Tayler, the webcomic artist of
Schlock Mercenary fame, is [1]calling on people not to donate money
during the latest Wikimedia Foundation fund-raiser. This is to protest
the ‘notability purges’ taking place throughout Wikipedia, where articles
are being removed en-masse by what many see as overzealous admins. The
webcomic community in particular has [2]long felt slighted by the
application of Wikipedia’s contentious [3]Notability policy. Wikinews
reporters have recently begun [4]investigating this issue, but are the
admins listening?”

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/0328239

Links:
0. mailto:obsessivemathsfreak.eircom@net [Email address: obsessivemathsfreak.eircom #AT# net - replace #AT# with @ ]
1. http://www.schlockmercenary.com/blog/index.php/2007/10/30/wikiwatch-how-did-that-picture-get-there/
2. http://comixtalk.com/terrence_markswikipedia_and_you
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability
4. http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Story_preparation/Wikipedia_versus_the_WebComics:_Define_notability

+—————————–—————————————+
| Google Begins “Gmail 2.0″ Rollout                                  |
|   from the still-the-same-primary-colors dept.                     |
|   posted by kdawson on Wednesday October 31, @08:02 (Google)       |
|   http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/0350228           |
+—————————–—————————————+

Stony Stevenson writes “Google on Tuesday confirmed it is [0]giving Gmail
a new look. This blog post has [1]screenshots of a new Gmail interface
that has been made available to a limited number of users. They are
calling it “Gmail 2.0″ even if Google isn’t. Google confirmed the update
is underway at its new San Francisco office, just prior to a briefing on
an unrelated upcoming Google announcement. A Google spokesperson said
that the new look has been made available to about one percent of all
Gmail users and is being rolled out the rest on an ongoing basis.”

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/0350228

Links:
0. http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202800313
1. http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-10-29-n47.html

+—————————–—————————————+
| Today’s Gamers, Tomorrow’s Leaders?                                |
|   from the something-to-think-about dept.                          |
|   posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 31, @08:48 (Games)       |
|   http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/1229241        |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]slash-sa writes “Video games have become problem-solving exercises
wrapped in the veneer of an exotic adventure. In today’s fast and
rapidly-changing business environment, the strategic skills they teach
are more important than ever. From realistic battlefield simulations to
the building of great nations, from fantastic voyages through worlds of
mythology to conquering space, “Generation G” could well offer the answer
to [1]unlocking great 21st century strategists and leaders.”

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/1229241

Links:
0. http://www.myadsl.co.za/
1. http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Gaming/1808.html

+—————————–—————————————+
| Google’s Plans for a Social API                                    |
|   from the i’m-still-waiting dept.                                 |
|   posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 31, @09:30 (Google)      |
|   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/1231212              |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]NewsCloud writes “After tonight’s [1]Breaking Open Facebook with Free
Open Source Software, TechCrunch reports [2]Google plans to announce an
open API for social networking tomorrow. “OpenSocial is a set of three
common APIs, defined by Google with input from partners, that allow
developers to access core functions and information at social networks:
1) Profile Information (user data) 2) Friends Information (social graph)
and 3) Activities (things that happen, News Feed type stuff)” Says Om
Malik: “[3]OpenSocial attacks Facebook where it is the weakest (and the
strongest): its quintessential closed nature…Even if you take Facebook
out of the equation, the task of writing and adapting widgets for the
every increasing number of social platforms was going to be turn into a
colossal mess.”"

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/1231212

Links:
0. http://www.newscloud.com/
1. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/30/2138224&tid=95
2. http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/30/details-revealed-google-opensocial-to-be-common-apis-for-building-social-apps/
3. http://gigaom.com/2007/10/30/opensocial/

+—————————–—————————————+
| The Uncertain Future of BitTorrent                                 |
|   from the standards-are-hard dept.                                |
|   posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 31, @10:09 (Networking)  |
|   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/1250208              |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]javipas writes “The people behind the popular BitTorrent tracker are
working on a [1]new version of the BitTorrent protocol that could become
the successor to the current one, maintained by BitTorrent Inc. The
company founded by Bram Cohen — original author of this protocol — now
has decided to close the source for several new features in the
BitTorrent protocol, and this “gives them too much power and influence”.
[2]The new file format would be called .p2p, and would maintain backwards
compatibility with current .torrent files.”

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/1250208

Links:
0. http://www.javipas.com/
1. http://securep2p.net/index.php/ProtocolDesgin
2. http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-sees-a-future-without-bittorrent-071030

+—————————–—————————————+
| Verizon Might Deliver Google Phone                                 |
|   from the oh-no-wait-i-thought-it-wasn’t-real dept.               |
|   posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 31, @10:44 (Google)      |
|   http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/136222      |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]MrCrassic writes “There are talks floating around surrounding
[1]Google’s possible talks with Verizon and possibly T-Mobile to
establish an agreement for the carrier to deliver phones carrying
Google’s speculated mobile operating system. According to the article,
one of the main hurdles slowing down the product are concerns about user
privacy and advertising, one of Google’s well-renowned strengths. With
over 6 million customers potentially at their disposal, could this be
“the deal” that establishes Google’s hegemony in the internet sphere?”

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/136222

Links:
0. mailto:cnunez.public [Email address: cnunez.public #AT# gmail.com - replace #AT# with @ ]
1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119377870431576706.html?mod=djemalert

+—————————–—————————————+
| Joel and Original Cast of MST3K Riding the Cinematic Titanic       |
|   from the dear-god-please-no-mike dept.                           |
|   posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 31, @11:18 (Movies)      |
|   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/139231               |
+—————————–—————————————+

AugstWest writes “Unfortunately it’s in separate projects, but just after
Jim Mallon (the man who owns all things MST3K) announced that he would be
bringing back Tom Servo, Crow and Gypsy in animated Flash shorts on the
web along with Paul Chaplin (a writer from the original MST3K), Joel
Hodgson, the series creator, has announced that he will be launching a
new venture called [0]Cinematic Titanic. It will feature horrible movies
riffed by the original cast of MST3K, including Josh Weinstein (the
original Tom Servo), Trace Beaulieu (the original Crow), Frank Conniff
(TV’s Frank), Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester) and, of course, Joel
himself. They’ve already got the rights to 12 movies, and will be
releasing one a month starting in December for DVD purchase or download.”

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/139231

Links:
0. http://www.cinematictitanic.com/

+—————————–—————————————+
| Slashdot 10-Year Anniversary Party Grand Prize Winner              |
|   from the congratulations-for-the-carnage dept.                   |
|   posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 31, @12:00 (Slashdot.org)|
|   http://meta.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/1415238         |
+—————————–—————————————+

From Brisbane to Beunos Aires… From the UK to France to Romania… from
New York to San Francisco and everywhere in between, we had well over
100s of parties and over 2,300 registered attendees scattered around the
world. Many of them got boxes of t-shirts and [0]ThinkGeek gift
certificates (and some of them even got them on time). We’ve seen cakes
with legos and logos, we seen nerf gun fights, and even a lawn sporking.
I’ve put a tiny sampling of my [1]favorite pictures online. The grand
prize winner is of the $1k store credit at ThinkGeek is [2]Lindsi from
Minneapolis. Their party featured a lolcats cake, a taco bar and a dude
in a helmet smashing computers with a sledge hammer in a raining parking
lot. They earned it. We had a great time in both Palo Alto and Ann Arbor-
I hope you guys had fun wherever you gathered. See you again in 2017!

Discuss this story at:
http://meta.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/1415238

Links:
0. http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/62d1/
1. http://picasaweb.google.com/rmalda/SlashdotParties
2. http://www.flickr.com/photos/vibrant/sets/72157602788247909/

+—————————–—————————————+
| Blogger Wins 1.5 Year Legal Battle                                 |
|   from the fighting-the-good-fight dept.                           |
|   posted by Zonk on Wednesday October 31, @12:44 (Censorship)      |
|   http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/1624239          |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]FixYourThinking writes “After nearly one and a half years of
harassment from a relentless attorney, it seems that quietly a blogger in
South Carolina has [1]won a monumental ruling in favor of bloggers. In a
summary judgement requested by the Defendant, Philip Smith was able to
obtain a special sanction after the Plaintiff attorney put a ‘notice of
lien’ (called lis pendens) on Smith’s residence. The judge also
reprimanded the Plaintiff attorney for abusive deposition and court
procedure. The case set forth the following; ‘It’s not the format; it’s
the content and intention that make text journalism / reporting.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/1624239

Links:
0. http://www.fixyourthinking.com/
1. http://fixyourthinking.com/2007/10/whats-been-going-on-in-last-week.html

+—————————–—————————————+
| Apple to Allow Virtual Mac OS X Server Instances                   |
|   from the server-in-a-server-in-a-server dept.                    |
|   posted by Zonk on Wednesday October 31, @13:23 (Technology (Apple|
|   http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/1629236        |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]Glenn Fleishman writes “Apple has changed its license for Mac OS X
Server 10.5 (Leopard Server) to [1]allow virtualized instances. VMware
and Parallels are poised to offer support. This probably presages a
thoroughly overhauled Xserve product with greater capability for acting
as a virtual machine server, too. ‘Ben Rudolph, Director of Corporate
Communications for Parallels, told me, “Enabling Leopard Server to run in
a virtual machine may take some time, but we’re working closely with
Apple on it and will make it public as quickly as possible.” Pat Lee,
Product Manager at VMware, concurred, saying “We applaud Apple for the
exciting licensing changes implemented in Leopard Server. Apple customers
can now run Mac OS X Server, Windows, Linux and other x86 operating
systems simultaneously on Apple hardware so we are excited about the
possibilities this change presents.” Although neither company committed
to specific features or timetables, it appears as though we should be
seeing virtualization products from both that will enable an Xserve to
run multiple copies of Leopard Server in virtual machines.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/1629236

Links:
0. http://blog.glennf.com/
1. http://db.tidbits.com/article/9277

+—————————–—————————————+
| The History of Slashdot Part 4 - Yesterday, Today,  Tomorrow       |
|   from the at-the-end-of-the-tour dept.                            |
|   posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 31, @14:00 (Slashdot.org)|
|   http://meta.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/1631213         |
+—————————–—————————————+

Today, on the last day of our 10 year anniversary navel gazing
spectacular, I present the final (thank god!) chapter in my 4 part
history of Slashdot. I’ve written about the creation, the explosion, and
the corporatization. Today I talk about where we are today, and what I
see as our future, and how I feel about it. Clicky click the magic link
below to read the last “thrilling” chapter, and celebrate with me the
fact that I won’t have to spend this much time writing about Slashdot for
another decade.

This story continues at:
http://meta.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/1631213

Discuss this story at:
http://meta.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/1631213

+—————————–—————————————+
| Privacy Groups Mull ‘Do Not Track’ List for Internet               |
|   from the i’d-sign dept.                                          |
|   posted by Zonk on Wednesday October 31, @14:44 (Privacy)         |
|   http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/1640203          |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]Technical Writing Geek writes with a Reuters story about a collection
of privacy groups looking to set up a [1]‘Do Not Track’ list online,
similar to the ‘Do Not Call’ list meant to dissuade telemarketing.
“Computer users should be notified when their Web surfing is tracked by
online advertisers and Web publishers, argue the Consumer Federation of
America, the World Privacy Forum and the Center for Democracy and
Technology, among other groups in a coalition promoting the idea. Rather
than burying privacy policies in fine print, companies should also
disclose them more fully and provide easier ways to opt out, the groups
said. The organizations submitted the proposals to the Federal Trade
Commission, ahead of the consumer watchdog agency’s workshop on Nov. 1-2
to study the increasing use of tracking technology to target online ads.

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/1640203

Links:
0. http://technical-writing.dionysius.com/
1. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071031/ap_on_hi_te/online_advertising_privacy

+—————————–—————————————+
| The Official Ubuntu Book                                           |
|   from the read-all-about-it dept.                                 |
|   posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 31, @15:20 (Book Reviews|
|   http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/149243         |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]Craig Maloney writes “Over the long history of Linux, there have been
many different distributions. One of the most famous distributions, love
it or hate it, is the Ubuntu distribution. Ubuntu has come quickly from
being the new kid on the block with the Warty Warthog release (4.10) to
the most recent release Gutsy Gibbon (7.10). In that three year span,
Ubuntu has grown from a handful of enthusiasts and developers to a
thriving worldwide community. The Official Ubuntu Book is the official
book from Canonical, which describes not only the Ubuntu distributions,
but also the community from which Ubuntu is derived.” Read below for the
rest of Craig’s review.

This story continues at:
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/149243

Discuss this story at:
http://books.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/149243

Links:
0. http://decafbad.net/

+—————————–—————————————+
| Intel in the GHz Game Again - Skulltrail Hits 5 GHz                |
|   from the spookily-appropriate-code-name dept.                    |
|   posted by Zonk on Wednesday October 31, @16:02 (Intel)           |
|   http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/1922255     |
+—————————–—————————————+

An anonymous reader writes “Intel’s Skulltrail dual-socket enthusiast
platform has been making the rounds on the web for half a year or so, but
we haven’t seen many details yet. TG Daily got a [0]close look at an
almost complete prototype, which surely sounds almost like a production
ready version, judging from the article. Everything that TG Daily
describes sounds like Skulltrail PCs will be very limited in availability
and insanely expensive. Intel also has said it has developed ’special’
Xeon processors with desktop processor attributes just for Skulltrail.
These chips are currently running at a stable 5 GHz.”

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/1922255

Links:
0. http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/34636/135/

+—————————–—————————————+
| One-Third of Employees Violate Company IT Policies                 |
|   from the yeah-but-they-were-all-bad dept.                        |
|   posted by Zonk on Wednesday October 31, @16:39 (Security)        |
|   http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/1947259           |
+—————————–—————————————+

BaCa writes with a link indicating that a survey of white collar US
workers shows that something like [0]a third of all employees break IT
policies. Of those, almost a sixth actually used P2P technologies from
their work PCs. Overall, the survey indicates workers aren’t overly
concerned about any kind of security: “The telephone survey found that
65% of white-collar professionals are either not very concerned or not
concerned at all about their privacy when using a workplace computer. A
surprising 63% are not very concerned or are not concerned at all about
the security of their information while at work. Additionally, most
employees have the misconception that these behaviors pose little to no
risk to their companies.”

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/1947259

Links:
0. http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=5590

+—————————–—————————————+
| Germany Seeks Expansion of Computer Spying                         |
|   from the government-in-your-pocket-on-your-laptop-on-your-hard-dr|
|   posted by Zonk on Wednesday October 31, @17:22 (Privacy)         |
|   http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/1955205          |
+—————————–—————————————+

gooman writes “The LA Times reports on a [0] proposal to secretly scan
suspects’ hard drives which is causing unease in a nation with a history
of official surveillance. Along with several other European countries,
Germany is seeking authority to plant secret Trojan viruses into the
computers of suspects that could scan files, photos, diagrams and voice
recordings, record every keystroke typed and possibly even turn on
webcams and microphones in an attempt to gain knowledge of attacks before
they happen.”

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/1955205

Links:
0. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-security30oct30,0,3975040.story?track=mostviewed-storylevelproposal

+—————————–—————————————+
| Court Blocks Controversial New Patent Rules                        |
|   from the walking-a-fine-line dept.                               |
|   posted by Zonk on Wednesday October 31, @18:01 (Patents)         |
|   http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/201228           |
+—————————–—————————————+

An anonymous reader writes “InformationWeek is reporting that a court in
Virginia has issued an injunction against controversial new patent rules
that were supposed to go into effect tomorrow. The court [0]granted a
motion filed by GlaxoSmithKline, which is suing the US patent office over
the issue. Among other things, the new rules would limit the extent to
which existing patent applications can be modified. The patent office
says the new rules would speed up the patent process, but critics say
they hurt inventors.”

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/201228

Links:
0. http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202800798

+—————————–—————————————+
| Why Everyone Should Hate Cellphone Carriers                        |
|   from the penalty-for-wanting-to-talk-to-your-wife dept.          |
|   posted by Zonk on Wednesday October 31, @18:36 (It’s funny.  Laug|
|   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/1637226              |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]The Byelorrusian Spamtrap writes “Wired Magazine’s made its position
clear on the state of play in America’s cellular industry, delivering a
[1]long, satisfying screed on why all of us should stop complaining and
do something about it. ‘They own politicians - Sure, it’s just phones. In
a world where worse things happen all the time amid the muck and despair
of human existence, having to pay for premium text is hardly worth
worrying about, is it? You can (and should) opt out, and not sign on the
dotted line to begin with. But today’s cell towers might be tomorrow’s
Pony Express: they’re TV stations, internet access, emergency 911 and
news networks all rolled into one. WWAN could well end up supplanting
copper sooner than anyone expects: do you want these companies in charge
of it?’”

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/1637226

Links:
0. mailto:spamtrapspamtrap [Email address: spamtrapspamtrap #AT# gmail.com - replace #AT# with @ ]
1. http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/10/10-reasons-to-h.html

+—————————–—————————————+
| Can Google Kill PowerPoint?                                        |
|   from the fight-it-out-with-pretty-colors dept.                   |
|   posted by Zonk on Wednesday October 31, @19:34 (Google)          |
|   http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/31/1622246        |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]theodp writes “Far from a PowerPoint killer, Slate’s Paul Boutin finds
Google’s online presentation tool Preso [1]more like a PowerPoint
commercial — a half-baked app that shows how powerful Microsoft’s program
really is. But if you have your druthers, Boutin suggests ditching both
and opting for Apple’s Keynote, which [2]helped snag an Oscar for Al Gore
and inspired this [3]Dear-PPT-Letter. ‘The first hurdle … You can’t use
it on a plane. Google Preso only works if you’ve got a live,
high-bandwidth Internet connection. You can save the finished product to
an HTML presentation on your laptop, but you can’t edit the saved version
or upload it back. The Splunkers would need to finalize their presos
early in the morning in a rented conference room, where both Wi-Fi and
Verizon wireless cards have been known to fail. That would kill the
presentation.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/10/31/1622246

Links:
0. mailto:theodp [Email address: theodp #AT# aol.com - replace #AT# with @ ]
1. http://www.slate.com/id/2176549/
2. http://www.apple.com/hotnews/articles/2006/05/inconvenienttruth/
3. http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/2007/02/a-breakup-letter/

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