http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl News for nerds, stuff that matters en-us Copyright 1997-2009, Geeknet, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2009-12-29T18:53:11+00:00 Geeknet, Inc. help@slashdot.org Technology hourly 1 1970-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://a.fsdn.com/sd/topics/topicslashdot.gif http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8176486&from=rss If the sources that Digitimes is reporting are correct, then China can expect to see a few more customized, 3G phones in the coming year. The sources are saying that both Acer and Asustek are planning models for 2010, and that Acer is working with China Mobile and China Unicom to produce TD-SCDMA and WCDMA models while Asustek is reportedly set to release a China-specific Garmin-Asus branded handset for both carriers in 2010 as well. Now, keep in mind of course that none of this has been confirmed by either company as of yet, but the move certainly wouldn't surprise us, either. Acer, Asustek working on custom 3G phones for China? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Digitimes |Email this|Comments engfeed 2009-12-29T18:52:37+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1141870/Duke-Nukem-3D-Ported-To-Nokia-N900?from=rss It looks as if Duke Nukem isn't completely 'nuked' after all. Someone has ported the 90s classic on to a Nokia N900. As you'll see in the video, you control Duke using the Qwerty keypad and shoot using the touchscreen. Wondering how long it will take for this to get on other mobile platforms? andylim 2009-12-29T18:52:32+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8176478&from=rss Back in May, we wrote about the effort to get a Right to Repair bill passed for automobiles: So far, thanks in part to lobbying by automakers, that bill hasn't gone very far. Reader MR sends in this article exploring both the bill and how automakers have been abusing intellectual property law to force you to pay more. Basically, as cars become more sophisticated and computerized, automakers are locking up access to those computers, and claiming that access is protected by copyrights. Mechanics are told they can only access the necessary diagnostics if they pay huge sums -- meaning that many mechanics simply can't repair certain cars, and car owners are forced to go to dealers, who charge significantly higher fees. There is no legitimate basis for this at all. It's a clear misuse of intellectual property laws -- which were never designed for this sort of thing -- to prevent independent auto mechanics from repairing newer cars. But it's the end result of the increasing creep of intellectual property rights, and the growing computerization of everything. It allows manufacturers to extend "IP" rights to physical goods, and create all sorts of new monopolies. In a perfect world, this wouldn't need a separate law. It would be a clear violation of antitrust laws. But, we don't live in a perfect world, and for the time being you're probably paying a lot more money to repair your car because of it. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story techdirtfeed 2009-12-29T18:52:19+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8176474&from=rss Google invites reporters to an Android event next week, raising expectations that it will unveil the Nexus One phone. nytfeed 2009-12-29T18:52:05+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1141868/SoftMaker-Office-now-free-with-a-charity-twist?from=rss The office suite SoftMaker Office for Windows and Linux is now available as a free download ... with a twist: For every successful download, the developer donates ten Euro cents to charity and development projects on the open charity platform betterplace.org. Nearly two weeks into this campaign, the site has logged more than 57,000 downloads. But hurry, the campaign ends on December 31. martin-k 2009-12-29T18:50:58+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1141866/Wholesale-Hiphones---China-Replica-iPhone?from=rss Wholesale Hiphones and Miphones — Hiphone and Miphone Unlocked — China Cheap Hiphone and Miphone Wholesale Mini Hiphones and Miphones, Hiphone and Miphone Quad Band / Dual SIM, Unlocked Hiphone and Miphone with Cheapest Price from China at http://www.chinaecarts.com/ Chinaecarts 2009-12-29T18:50:29+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1141864/After-Bing-Yahoo-and-Flickr-Censor-Porn-in-India?from=rss After a Slashdot story on how Bing decided sex was too sensitive for India, Yahoo! and its associated site Flickr have decided to do the same.While it's true that this is because of India passing laws that prohibit the publication of porn, no complaint was ever launched (and never will be) and glorious Google still continues to return accurate and unbiased results. So why is Yahoo! doing this? Is it because of its tie up with Bing? I assume this is the case.Indian ISPs have already told the government and the courts that its not their job to restrict porn and it's technologically infeasible too. In the absence of a complaint, I can only assume that Yahoo! has decided to do this of their own volition. Given that the "sex" search term is searched more in India than in any other country, isn't it the duty of Yahoo! to provide accurate results to its customers? In the face of the fact that it can always plausibly deny control of its results and claim that filtering porn is infeasible, why in god's name is it deciding to do this to sex hungry Indians? Since Yahoo! already has a low search market share in India, this will drive it even lower. Good riddance I say. bhagwad 2009-12-29T18:36:53+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1141862/Bing-Ad-Center-Intentionally-Breaks-Mac-Support?from=rss Microsoft AdCenter (the Microsoft website used to place advertisements in Bing! tells users that they are using an "unsupported browser" if they attempt to use Safari, however if you change the user-agent string in Safari to report itself as Firefox for Windows, the site appears to work perfectly. Worse yet, if you click the provided link regarding supported browsers they say this in their help system: "Microsoft adCenter does not support Safari. Microsoft adCenter does not support Mac or Virtual PC." So they claim that you can't even use an emulator to place an advertisement with Bing. When will they learn? lordreye 2009-12-29T18:36:13+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1141856/Canadian-censorship-takes-down-4500-sites?from=rss According to activist group "The Yes Men", the government of Canada has shut down two parody websites criticizing Canada's poor environmental policy. The article goes on to claim that "In response to Environment Canada's request, Serverloft immediately turned off a whole block of IP addresses, knocking out more than 4500 websites that had nothing to do with the parody sites or the activists who created them. Serverloft was shown no warrant, and never called the web hosting company about the shutdown." uncadonna 2009-12-29T18:22:09+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1141848/New-version-of-open-sourced-game-Alien-Arena?from=rss A new version of the open sourced FPS game, Alien Arena has been released. Version 7.33 includes many new features, such as an in-game IRC client, headshots, improved anti-lag, and optimizations for greater performance. A matchmaking feature has also been added to the server browser, as well as player rankings and statistics. Alienkillerrace 2009-12-29T18:01:22+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1141846/DECAF-Release-New-Version-Claim-Legal-Pressure?from=rss The authors of DECAF, the anti-COFEE privacy tool, have now released a new version of their DECAF tool, targeting Microsoft COFEE and other hidden data extraction software. The authors claimed that they had shut their previous version down by exploiting an unintended coding bug, in order to avoid "any damage that might have happened in the event DECAF v1 was used to block forensic examiners". "[Cypherspeak] informed me of my hazardous circumstances ... They are pretty well versed with federal statues... so I followed their advice and pulled the app. " Anonymous Coward 2009-12-29T17:58:39+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8174576&from=rss Adobe's Flash and Acrobat Reader products will become the preferred targets for criminal hackers in 2010, a security vendor predicted this week. macworldfeed 2009-12-29T17:52:36+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8174568&from=rss Nokia has filed a patent infringement complaints against Apple with the U.S. International Trade Commission, alleging that most if not all of Apple's products are in violation. macworldfeed 2009-12-29T17:52:24+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8174558&from=rss T-Mobile is telling employees to prepare for the launch of a Google Android phone in early January that will be sold directly by Google, according to a report. cnetfeed 2009-12-29T17:52:04+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1141840/mutuelle?from=rss Assursante est un comparateur pour les assurances santé de la compagnie SwissLife.Vous pouvez choisir l’assurance santé le mieux adaptée à vos besoins.Informez-vous également sur l'univers de l'assurance santé en parcourant notre lexique.Votre mutuelle avec assursante c’est très simple vous avez le choix entre plusieurs formule mutuelle sante et les meilleurs garantie mutuelle les plus adaptées a vos besoins vous pouvez sélectionner une mutuelle pour l’optique, une mutuelle généraliste, une mutuelle pour des soins dentaires.Assursante vous permets de souscrire votre mutuelle en ligne vous avez le choix entre plusieurs gamme mutuelle 7 formule sont disponible, vous pouvez également simuler vos remboursement mutuelle. Anonymous Coward 2009-12-29T17:34:08+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8173952&from=rss I've never understood book price fixing laws in Europe, that require books to be sold at the same price. Economically challenged individuals claim that this helps independent booksellers who aren't forced to undercut prices of other book chains. Except, of course, forcing higher prices on everyone actually leads to fewer books purchased, less innovation and less opportunity for those independent bookstores to offer something better. These laws have caused trouble for Amazon in the past. Over in France, Amazon's famous free shipping promotions were deemed illegal for being an effective "price discount" on books. And now a bookseller is suing Amazon in Germany for supposedly violating fixed prices on books as well (found via Michael Scott). In this case, the bookseller is sick of people showing up with printouts from Amazon, and wants to force Amazon to offer higher prices, because apparently consumers must suffer. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story techdirtfeed 2009-12-29T17:33:49+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8173946&from=rss The company said its customers bought more e-books than physical books for the first time ever on Christmas Day. nytfeed 2009-12-29T17:33:35+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8173934&from=rss roundup The sheer number of online retailers accused of betraying customer trust has churned up an unprecedented scandal for the e-commerce sector. cnetfeed 2009-12-29T17:33:18+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1141838/Filme-Anjos-da-Noite-3-Download--Baixaki-Filmes?from=rss BAIXE GRATIS o terceiro episódio da trilogia Anjos da Noite. Este terceiro filme mostra o início da guerra entre Vampiros e Lobos e é o filme mais bem produzido da trilogia. FILME DUBLADO GRATIS, BAIXE AGORA. Anonymous Coward 2009-12-29T17:33:13+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8173926&from=rss There is increased evidence that the Arctic could face seasonally ice-free conditions and much warmer temperatures in the future. Scientists documented evidence that the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas were too warm to support summer sea ice during the mid-Pliocene warm period (3.3 to 3 million years ago). This period is characterized by warm temperatures similar to those projected for the end of this century, and is used as an analog to understand future conditions. sdfeed 2009-12-29T17:33:06+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8173916&from=rss Researchers have developed a synthesis technique that generates moving pictures of 3-D objects which will allow security developers to generate an infinite number of "emergence" images virtually impossible for any computer algorithm to decode. sdfeed 2009-12-29T17:32:55+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8173904&from=rss Not only is acupuncture as effective as drug therapy at reducing hot flashes in breast cancer patients, it has the added benefit of potentially increasing a woman's sex drive and improving her sense of well-being, according to a new study. sdfeed 2009-12-29T17:32:44+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8173896&from=rss The past year has been marked by a series of moral transgressions by powerful figures in political, business and celebrity circles. New research explores why powerful people -- many of whom take a moral high ground -- don't practice what they preach. sdfeed 2009-12-29T17:32:32+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8173890&from=rss It's the ultimate goal in the treatment of cancer: tailoring a person's therapy based on his or her genetic makeup. While a lofty goal, scientists are steadily moving forward, rapidly exploiting new technologies. Researchers report a significant advance in this field of research using a new chip that looks for hundreds of mutations in dozen of genes. sdfeed 2009-12-29T17:32:20+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8173888&from=rss I spent a lot of yesterday giving press interviews. Nothing I haven’t said before, but it’s now national news and everyone wants to hear it. These are the most interesting bits. Rachel Maddow interviewed me last night on her show. Jeffrey Goldberg interviewed me for the Atlantic website. And CNN.com published a rewrite of an older article of mine on... bsfeed 2009-12-29T17:32:05+00:00