Phyrfight Intel

From: EFF

“Innocent Target of File-Sharing Lawsuit Deserves Attorney’s Fees

RIAA Should Pay Victim’s Legal Costs in Baseless Suit

San Francisco – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), along with the American Association of Law Libraries, the ACLU, and Public Citizen, filed a brief with an Oklahoma district court Thursday, strongly urging a judge to award the innocent target of a file-sharing lawsuit the cost of her attorney’s fees in battling the baseless allegations of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).”

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Facinating stuff from:Cornell

Three Lectures by Hans Bethe

IN 1999, legendary theoretical physicist Hans Bethe delivered three lectures on quantum theory to his neighbors at the Kendal of Ithaca retirement community (near Cornell University). Given by Professor Bethe at age 93, the lectures are presented here as QuickTime videos synchronized with slides of his talking points and archival material.

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Sony recently announced that it would not be releasing the upcoming Playstaion 3 console simultaneously in Japan, North America and Europe as was previously promised. The console will be released late in Europe currently posted as March 2007.

The reason: Blu-ray isn’t ready.

This comes after Sony postponed the launch for 6 months in May 2006. Why did they postpone such a highly anticipated product?

Blu-ray wasn’t ready.

So my question to Sony is this: Why are you so caught up in being absolutely certain that Blu-ray is the default format for your next generation gaming machine?

The answer is that the disc format belongs to Sony, and rather than let the market decided which format is better, Sony would prefer to beat HD-DVD by forcing the production and use of Blu-ray taking advantage of its already-installed base of Playstation gamers. The problem here is that Sony has made one enormously gross assumption. Sony believes that no matter what they do, their console will far outsell either of its competitors and create and overwhelming demand for Bly-ray discs.

However, the fact that Microsoft has had a console of almost identical gaming power on the market for a year and the fact the Nintendo will be launching an innovative and cheap console slightly before the Sony launch will prove to be a much more considerable challange than they realize.

More as it develops.

From: CNET

“A Brazilian judge has ordered the local office of Google to disclose the data of users of its social-networking site Orkut who have been accused of crimes such as racism or child pornography…

…He said Google’s local office had shown a complacent attitude toward “the serious crimes practiced on Orkut” and showed “profound disrespect for national sovereignty.” ”
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I found one of the coolest videos I have seen in a long time. It occurred while I was wandering through the Technology Liberation Front blog. The video is very simple in it’s presentation, but what it lacks in production value it makes up for in choreography. Also, if you are one of the technology inclined, I suggest reading the TLF blog. The blog takles many of the issues surrounding technology in this era of digital transition.

In a recent article on global warming some scientists think we should dispense excess sulfur into the atmosphere to halt global warming. Sometimes the stupidity of scientists, no matter what field, astounds me. I wonder how will we come by the sulfer: extracting it from the earth using fossil fuel machines or producing it in factories that run off fossil fuels? There is one very simple way, grow more plants! Using sulfer does not take the carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Plants on the other hand use carbon dioxide like humans use oxygen. It simply blows my mind.

“The simplest explanation is usually the best.” – Occam’s Razor

Blu-ray/HD-DVD Consolidation

Ricoh Technologies announced over the weekend that it has developed a device that will allow all forms of disc media to be written and read by one device. Hopefully this will lead to consumer and manufacturer choice with a seemless integration of the two high definition disc formats.

Gotchya!

But in all seriousness, Sony updated their online store today to show that the Blu-ray disc players have been delayed another 3 months. It would seem the technology giant is having serious issues getting their technology in order. Will this affect the release of the Playstation 3? Only time will tell.

ABC News has reported that US paratroopers will soon be using carbon-fiber wings to enter combat zones.

Can you say Starship Troopers?

iDon’t!

It’s the slogan for SanDisk’s Newest mp3 player that uses flash memory instead of a hard drive and a graphical instead of a text-based interface. The new e200 series mp3 player is cheaper than an iPod in any of its 2,4, or 6 GB forms, with the 2 GB model coming in at a bargain basement price of $179. Oh, and unlike the iPod, this mp3 player has an unused flash drive for extra memory whenever you need it. I think I’ve learned to say iDon’t.

From Wired:

“A file detailing aspects of AT&T’s alleged participation in the National Security Agency’s warrantless domestic wiretap operation is sitting in a San Francisco courthouse. But the public cannot see it because, at AT&T’s insistence, it remains under seal in court records.”

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From Wired:

“They can steal your smartcard, lift your passport, jack your car, even clone the chip in your arm. And you won’t feel a thing. 5 tales from the RFID-hacking underground.”

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