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+-   UC Tuition Hike Provoking Lots of Civil Unrest on Saturday November 21, @01:20AM theodp

Submitted by theodp on Saturday November 21, @01:20AM
education
theodp writes "In a striking scene of civil disobedience, dozens of students barricaded themselves inside a UC Berkeley building for more than 11 hours Friday to protest a 32% tuition increase (video), one of the biggest fee hikes in UC history. Police battled the protestors, arresting 41 on trespassing charges. Meanwhile, over at UC Santa Cruz, hundreds of students, staff and faculty crowded the administration building, forcing the campus to shut down the building. A protest earlier in the week at UC Davis ended with the arrest of 52 protesters. And after the UC Regents voted Thursday to approve the staggering tuition hike, angry students defied riot gear-clad police at UCLA as they surrounded the regents' van and detained them for about 45 minutes. Students also raced after UC President Mark Yudof when he left the building under police escort after laying low for three hours. 'There is no money,' explained Yudof, who noted that his own $600,000 salary is really more like $540,000 these days (not counting hefty housing, pension, car, relocation and other payments, of course!). UC officials are reportedly floating the idea of turning away in-state students in favor of non-resident students who are viewed as cash-cows, although figures released Monday suggest otherwise, showing that Berkeley's 3,506 international students received an average of $21,741 in U.S. support (pdf) in 2008-2009."
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+-   UC Students Staging Protests Over 32% Tuition Hike on Friday November 20, @02:49AM theodp

Submitted by theodp on Friday November 20, @02:49AM
education
theodp writes "As the University of California regents voted Thursday to raise tuition by 32%, angry students pounded drums in protest and blocked exits to the UCLA building where the regents were meeting. Police in riot gear escorted the regents out of the building and administered some taser love, but students still managed to surround the regents' van and detain them for about 45 minutes. Students also raced after UC President Mark Yudof, who left the building under police escort about three hours after the vote. 'There is no money,' explained Yudof, whose $600,000 salary was cut 10% in the last year. University officials are reportedly considering turning away in-state students in favor of non-resident students who are viewed as more 'profitable,' although figures released Monday showed that Berkeley's 3,506 international students received an average of $21,741 in U.S. support (pdf) in 2008-2009."
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+-   Corps of Engineers Liable for Katrina Damage on Thursday November 19, @05:20PM Hugh Pickens

Submitted by Hugh Pickens on Thursday November 19, @05:20PM
earth
Hugh Pickens writes "The Christian Science Monitor reports that a federal judge has ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers — and thus the US government — is liable for a big chunk of the damage caused when hurricane Katrina pushed ashore on August 29, 2005 by failing to stop the natural widening of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet canal (aka Mr. Go) causing it to eventually bump up against the shore of Lake Borgne, on the city's east side. "It is the court's opinion that the negligence of the corps, in this instance by failing to maintain the MR-GO properly, was not policy, but insouciance, myopia, and shortsightedness," wrote US District Court Judge Stanwood Duval. Judge Duval said he believed it was the failure to shore up the outlet that "doomed the channel to grow to two to three times its design width" allowing waves on Lake Borgne to enter the Mr. Go and travel into the east side of the city, battering the levees to a degree to which they were not designed. "One of the greatest catastrophes in the history of the US" was both predictable and preventable, testified veteran Louisiana geologist Sherwood Gagliano, a former Corps consultant. The landmark ruling awards $719,000 to four plaintiffs from the city's Lower Ninth Ward and neighboring St. Bernard Parish who filed suit in 2006 but more importantly now puts pressure on President Obama to help the region settle claims that could reach into the billions of dollars. "Don't call this a natural disaster. It's a man-made disaster, and everyone in New Orleans knows that," says New Orleans screenwriter John Biguenet."
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Comments: 1 +-   An Open Source Alternative to Sharepoint?-> on Thursday November 19, @07:45AM mmaney

Submitted by mmaney on Thursday November 19, @07:45AM
news
mmaney writes "ReadWriteWeb's Alex Williams (@podcasthotel) reports that MindTouch this morning launched a cloud-enabled open source alternative to Microsoft Sharepoint. Williams says "It's also another example of how enterprise technologies are increasingly designed so the average business user may perform tasks that have traditionally been the domain of the IT department.""
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+-   Engineered Bacteria Glows to Reveal Land Mines-> on Tuesday November 17, @11:29AM MikeChino

Submitted by MikeChino on Tuesday November 17, @11:29AM
earth
MikeChino writes "Sifting through minefields to remove hidden threats is currently a dangerous, tedious, and expensive process, however scientists at the University of Edinburgh recently announced that they have engineered a strain of bacteria that glows green in the presence of explosives, making mine detection a snap. The new strain of bacteria can be sprayed onto local affected areas or air dropped over entire fields of mines. Within a few hours the bacteria strain begins to glow wherever traces of explosive chemicals are present."
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+-   Are Amazon's Sales Tax Collection Arguments B.S.? on Tuesday November 17, @01:23AM theodp

Submitted by theodp on Tuesday November 17, @01:23AM
money
theodp writes "Over at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Michael Mazerov carefully picks apart Amazon's arguments against collecting sales taxes, arguing that they simply do not withstand scrutiny. While Amazon officials say collecting sales tax in every state would be excessively burdensome, Mazerov notes the e-tailer already collects sales tax in virtually every state for numerous other companies that sell on its website. Mazerov also finds it disingenuous for Amazon to argue that it should not have to help support public services in states in which it has no physical presence when the company fails to support public services in most of the states in which it has a physical presence. Finally, Mazerov isn't buying Amazon's argument that its opposition to collecting sales tax is not driven by a desire to gain a price advantage over competitors, which he finds at odds with the company's own actions and SEC filings. By claiming sales tax immunity, says Mazerov, Amazon has enjoyed an unfair 5%-10% price advantage over local retailers, while also depriving states and localities of hundreds of millions of dollars of legally due revenue each year."
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Comments: 1 +-   Caffeinated Alcoholic Drinks May Be Illegal-> on Saturday November 14, @05:50AM Anonymusing

Submitted by Anonymusing on Saturday November 14, @05:50AM
news
Anonymusing writes "The FDA has announced an investigation into the "safety and legality" of alcoholic beverages with caffeine in them. As the Wall Street Journal notes, two major beer companies (MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch) stopped produce caffeinated alcoholic drinks last year after reports of increased negative effects compared to caffeine-free alcohol. CNN notes that, according to FDA rules, "food additives require premarket approval based on data demonstrating safety submitted to the agency" — and caffeine is a food additive. The targeted beverage makers have 30 days to respond."
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Comments: 2 +-   Suspect cleared by Facebook alibi-> on Friday November 13, @09:45PM postermmxvicom

Submitted by postermmxvicom on Friday November 13, @09:45PM
postermmxvicom writes "Rodney Bradford has been cleared of robbery charges because of a facebook update. The defense was able to prove that the update was made from his father's house 13 miles away from the crime one minute earlier. Surely, this must be media hype as this would not be a difficult alibi to fake."
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Comments: 2 +-   GNOME 3 Delayed Until September 2010 on Friday November 13, @02:46PM supersloshy

Submitted by supersloshy on Friday November 13, @02:46PM
gnome
supersloshy writes "Contrary to popular opinion, GNOME 3 will not be released in March next year. It has been delayed until September 2010, six months later. According to the news message, this is because "our community wants GNOME 3.0 to be fully working for users and why we believe September is more appropriate." GNOME 3's main goal is to re-define the ways people interact with the desktop, mainly through a new UI design (currently called "GNOME Shell"), while GNOME 2.30, set for release in March, will have a focus on being stable."
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+-   Lenovo to Announce 'Smartbook' at CES-> on Friday November 13, @12:02PM adeelarshad82

Submitted by adeelarshad82 on Friday November 13, @12:02PM
news
adeelarshad82 writes "Lenovo will announce a "smartbook" at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the company confirmed on Thursday.The smartbook, basically a netbook that uses an ARM processor and a non-Windows operating system, was also mentioned in a speech given by Paul Jacobs, chief executive of Qualcomm, at its investors day analyst conference. The smartbook will be powered by Qualcomm's embedded, ARM-based Snapdragon processor. The device will be sold by AT&T, probably as part of a subsidized data plan, as other wireless carriers have done."
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+-   Medvedev Proposes to Reduce Timezones in Russia-> on Friday November 13, @05:02AM suraj.sun

Submitted by suraj.sun on Friday November 13, @05:02AM
news
suraj.sun writes "Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has proposed reducing the number of time zones spanning his vast country. Russia currently have 11 time zones.

Medvedev made mention in his speech of the difficulties in having so many time zones.

"Have we ever thought about to what extent such a fractional division allows for an effective governance of our country. Does it not result in the use of too costly technologies?"

He pointed out that the US and China — other very large countries — "show that it is possible to cope with a smaller time difference".

The president did not mention how many time zones might be cut, but Vladivostock Economics University rector Gennady Lazarev told the RIA Novosti news agency that it could be reduced to just four — one each for Kaliningrad, Moscow, the Ural Mountains region and Siberia and the Far East.

BBC News : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8357630.stm"
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+-   Nicaragua creates innovative information system-> on Thursday November 12, @08:06PM johanneswilm

Submitted by johanneswilm on Thursday November 12, @08:06PM
earth
johanneswilm writes "Nicaragua is the second poorest country of the Americas. It is now also the Latin American country with the most capable web-based information system, thanks to open source software. ALBAstryde itself is open source and it is based on Django and jQuery. It allows the user to play with the data, and its reach is further extended by a net of radio stations who are broadcasting the numbers to remote peasants, who thereby for the first time ever get up to date data on prices and general production levels in the country.
The implementation for the ministry of agriculture of Nicaragua already contains live data."
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Comments: 1 +-   Intel and AMD settle lawsuits-> on Thursday November 12, @09:38AM Kohenkatz

Submitted by Kohenkatz on Thursday November 12, @09:38AM
intel
Kohenkatz writes "Intel has agreed to pay $1.25 billion to AMD. In return, AMD will drop its lawsuits about patent and anti-trust complaints. The two companies released a joint statement: "While the relationship between the two companies has been difficult in the past, this agreement ends the legal disputes and enables the companies to focus all of our efforts on product innovation and development.""
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+-   Your Opinion Counts at CNN - Should It? on Thursday November 12, @03:18AM theodp

Submitted by theodp on Thursday November 12, @03:18AM
media
theodp writes "Some people love how CNN employs Twitter to engage its audience. Not Steve Dahl. 'I am not interested in the take of @stinky on the Fort Hood shootings or any other current events,' complains Dahl of the access the media gives to Internet know-it-alls. 'I am watching CNN because I expect them to gather the news, not act as a clearinghouse for any bonehead with a computer, a cable modem and a half-baked opinion.' So when's Twitter Demolition Night, Steve?"
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+-   Summary of all the MIT Algorithms lectures-> on Wednesday November 11, @06:21PM pkrumins

Submitted by pkrumins on Wednesday November 11, @06:21PM
education
pkrumins writes "This is my summary of the whole MIT Introduction to Algorithms course. I watched all 23 lectures and posted detailed lecture notes along with videos on my blog. It took me a year to publish my notes but it was worth every second. This material could be useful to many people who are interested in learning algorithms."
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+-   Great White Sharks Sometimes Visit San Francisco on Wednesday November 11, @02:58PM Ponca City, We love you

Submitted by Ponca City, We love you on Wednesday November 11, @02:58PM
earth
Ponca City, We love you writes "Juliet Eilperin writes in the Washington Post that while for years, humans have thought of great white sharks wandering the sea at random, only occasionally venturing close to shore, it's turns out we were wrong. Scientists lured 179 great white sharks to their boat with a carpet decoy designed to look like a seal, and used a lance to attach satellite tags with the aid of 2.3-inch titanium darts to track the sharks and discovered that Pacific white sharks spend months near the northern and central California coast between August and February foraging among elephant seals, sea lions and other prey. The sharks were spotted as far inland as the mouth of the San Francisco Bay, east of the Golden Gate Bridge. "It shows you how wild it is off our West Coast of North America. This is Yellowstone," says Stanford University marine sciences professor Barbara A. Block. The fact that "a major concentration" of great whites can ignore humans "shows us the sharks are really minding their own business. The number of interactions with people is very small, considering," says Salvador J. Jorgensen. Every winter the sharks travel to a a certain location along the route between Hawaii and California called the white shark cafe. Male white sharks "converge in a very specific area of the cafe," says Jorgensen, while female sharks move in and out of the area. "It adds a little more evidence to the argument that this could be an important reproductive area.""
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Comments: 1 +-   MPAA wants to turn off analog ports on TV asks FCC-> on Tuesday November 10, @05:48PM suraj.sun

Submitted by suraj.sun on Tuesday November 10, @05:48PM
tv
suraj.sun writes "The Motion Picture Association of American wants to rent movies to TV viewers earlier in the release window, but they don't want anyone potentially streaming that video out to other appliances. That's why last week they went back to the FCC to once again ask for the power to disable analog ports on consumer television sets.

This capability is called selectable output control or SOC, and the FCC banned it back in 2003. SOC would allow "service operators, such as cable companies, to turn off analog outputs on consumer electronics devices, only allowing digital plugs" such as HDMI. The MPAA is arguing that if they could directly turn those plugs on and off, they could offer more goods to consumers.

But that's not what over a dozen public interest groups think, notes Home Media Magazine:

Groups including Public Knowledge, the Digital Freedom Campaign, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Consumer Federation of America and the Media Access Project, are fighting the MPAA over the request, saying it puts control of privately owned consumer electronics into the hands of the movie industry, hurts TiVo and Slingbox owners, and leaves out consumers who own TVs without digital connections.

Consumerist : http://consumerist.com/5400626/mpaa-asks-fcc-for-control-of-your-tvs-analog-outputs"
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+-   Evolution to be taught to all juniors in the UK-> on Tuesday November 10, @01:05PM Novotny

Submitted by Novotny on Tuesday November 10, @01:05PM
education
Novotny writes "Andrew Copson in The Guardian (link below) writes a piece on evolution being included for the first time in the national curriculum for primary (junior) school in the UK. A tremendous victory for science! As noted in the article, this move along with the banning of 'the teaching of creationism and intelligent design in science lessons, should put English schools in the forefront of education about evolution.'

I'm very proud of the UK :)"
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+-   UK ISP Will Use EU Law to Prevent Customer Cut-Off-> on Tuesday November 10, @05:52AM Mark.JUK

Submitted by Mark.JUK on Tuesday November 10, @05:52AM
internet
Mark.JUK writes "Broadband ISP TalkTalk UK has said that the new EU agreement on telecoms regulation will make it almost impossible for film studios and music labels to force Internet providers to cut-off users who are "suspected" of repeated involvement with illegal file sharing (P2P) without first obtaining a court order. That is apparently the view of telecoms and copyright lawyers contacted by the ISP. However it remains a matter of much debate as to whether the new European rules will play the role that TalkTalk hopes. Much as we've reported before, the wording is extremely ambiguous and governments could easily twist "fair and impartial procedure" into a kind of kangaroo court if they so wished."
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+-   Esquire Launches 1st Augmented Reality Magazine-> on Monday November 09, @12:39PM Anonymous Coward

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 09, @12:39PM
media
An anonymous reader writes "We've seen augmented reality applications for years (and seen the GE windmill replicated in PopSci), but now Esquire Magazine seems to be trying to show off the undying value of print by launching its "AR issue" — which, from this demo video, looks pretty cool. Applications include a 3D cover with Robert Downey Jr., a weather-changing fashion portfolio with The Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner, a time-sensitive Funny Joke from a Beautiful Woman with Community's Gillian Jacobs, plus a song, a photo slideshow, and a face-recognition ad from Lexus. From the behind-the-scenes geekery: "Advancements to further involve the user were happening even as we produced this issue, and while motion-sensor recognition already exists, so-called "natural-feature tracking" technology could soon put you inside AR without any googly-looking boxes at all.""
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