Stephen's Weekly Tech News - Edition 5

[KynloStephen66515]

Well...It's been 5 Weeks since I took the reigns on the Tech News section and a lot has happened since I started.

I have had A LOT of great feedback since starting and I must thank you all for your support in my new roles, here on DC!

Anyway, hope you enjoy this weeks edition of your Tech News  

-Stephen


Obama to 'aggressively protect' intellectual property

As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama was young, a technology fan, and appeared to be an establishment outsider. For those reasons some techies hoped he might be sympathetic to copyright reform.

Those hopes are fading fast as President Obama appears to have lined up on the side of....Read More...


At SXSWi, Facebook flexes its gaming muscle

AUSTIN, Texas--Facebook envisions its technology as a powerful unifying force in the gaming world, games program manager Gareth Davis said to a packed house of eager coders at the social network's "Developer Garage" event on Sunday afternoon here. The get-together was held as part of the South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSWi), which drew developers and...Read More...


Shuttleworth heir opens up on Ubuntu biz

When you have Mark Shuttleworth as your backer, as commercial Linux distributor Canonical does, it is a bit like having money in the bank when the bank also believes fervently in your cause. It is a rare combination, and one that has allowed the Ubuntu project to reach out from its Linux desktop beginnings into commercial servers - and with the latest releases, cloudy infrastructure - without having the profit pressure that most startups have to deal with as they try to grow.

While Shuttleworth may be the...Read More...


Google '99.9%' certain to pull China search plug

Google is now "99.9 per cent" certain it will shut down its Chinese search engine, according to a report citing "a person familiar with the company's thinking."

The Financial Times reports that the web giant has drawn up detailed plans for closing Google.cn, saying the company's discussions with Chinese authorities reached an impasse. The news came hours after a Chinese minister warned Google that it would "have to bear the consequences" if it stopped censoring results on Google.cn.


On January 12, after alleged Chinese hackers pilfered some sort of intellectual property from the company, Google announced it had decided to "no longer" censor search results in China, saying it would spend "the next few weeks" in...Read More...


ICANN delays decision on pornography domain

ICANN has delayed its ruling on the proposed .xxx internet porn domain until this summer.

Today, at its meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, the ICANN board voted to push a decision to its next get-together in Brussels this June, while giving its CEO and chief counsel two weeks to prepare recommendations on how to proceed with the .xxx proposal. These recommendations will then be open to comment for 45 days, the AP reports.
 

In 2005, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers - the net's overseeing body - approved a longstanding proposal for a top-level domain dedicated to pornography. But after opposition from various governments - including the US, natch - it went on to...Read More...


Android Has Enough Class for Opera

Users of Android smartphones now have a new option for browsing the Web: A beta version of Opera Mini 5 was released Thursday for the Linux-based Android platform. New features in the software, which is an upgrade to the current version 4.2, include tabbed browsing, Speed Dial, Opera Link and Download Manager...Read More


Can a Clown-Nosed Wand Move the Needle for PS3?

Sony put PlayStation 3 fans in a tizzy by whipping out its latest controller, which it calls the "Move." It looks a whole lot like a black version of Nintendo's WiiMote controller, only it's got this big, clown-nose ball on the end of it. That ball actually serves a purpose. The Move's motion is partially registered by a...Read More...


All Your Apps Are Belong to Apple: The iPhone Developer Program License Agreement

The entire family of devices built on the iPhone OS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) have been designed to run only software that is approved by Apple—a major shift from the norms of the personal computer market. Software developers who want Apple's approval must first agree to the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement.

So today we're posting the "iPhone Developer Program License Agreement"—the contract that every developer who writes software for the iTunes App Store must "sign." Though more than 100,000 app developers have clicked "I agree," public copies of the agreement are scarce, perhaps thanks to the prohibition on making any "public statements regarding this Agreement, its terms and conditions, or the...Read More...

Thanks to 40hz for linking me to this story


Sniffing Out an HTML5 Conspiracy

Should the next version of HTML, the Web standard that embodies how pages are laid out and constructed, include explicit specifications for inline, 2-D dynamic graphics? There's valid arguments on both sides. One side believes that the ability to plot charts and animations would have been part of the original HTML standard anyway, had the technology existed on the back end in the beginning; giving HTML 2-D graphics now, they say, plugs a hole left open for too long. Another believes the...Read More...


15 memorable quotes from the Pirate Bay's Peter Sunde

The Pirate Bay's Peter Sunde was beamed into a conference room by Skype at South by South West Interactive today to talk to interviewer Elizabeth Stark about the Pirate Bay, his views on copyright and whether the Pirate Bay can ever be fully shut down.

While Sunde was often non-specific about the issues when pressed, he did drop some gems into the interview. Here are 15 of the most memorable quotes from his interview.

On why he didn't personally attend SXSWi:

"If I come to the US I will get so sued that I won't get out of the US for quite a while."

On the threatening letters received from lawyers...Read More...

Video of The Week

Thanks to mouser for the video to celebrate 'Pie Day'

Got a story you feel needs sharing with the world? Submit it to me via PM and, after approval and verification, I will happily add it to next weeks Tech News!

[40hz]

Re: Peter Sunde's 15 "memorable" quotes.

Am I the only person in the world that is still waiting to hear any comment from Mr. Sunde that would sound relevant to anyone other than a clueless child?

And after Pirate Bay's absolute sellout once the authorities got serious about cracking down (where he basically said "while we're aware of what we've advocated, please understand we're not willing to go to jail for standing by it") I can't understand why he's still being taken seriously in some quarters.

Amazing.  

----------------

@Stephen - thanks again for your hard work to keep a quality Tech News column coming to us regularly!

  

[wraith808]

(where he basically said "while we're aware of what we've advocated, please understand we're not willing to go to jail for standing by it")

-40hz (March 14, 2010, 09:16 PM)

Did you really expect him to go to jail for this?

[40hz]

(where he basically said "while we're aware of what we've advocated, please understand we're not willing to go to jail for standing by it")

-40hz (March 14, 2010, 09:16 PM)

Did you really expect him to go to jail for this?

-wraith808 (March 14, 2010, 10:31 PM)

Expect him to? In Sweden? Not for a 'New York Minute' ...

But after listening to all his rhetoric leading up to the "showdown" I would have had a lot more respect for him if he at least expressed a willingness to go.

I still stand by what I've said here, and earlier, here:

https://www.donation....msg170239#msg170239

https://www.donation....msg170294#msg170294

 

----

Personal Note: For the record, I'm not too big on jailing people in general. Many times, that's a "cure" that creates bigger problems than the one it tried to correct. Just my 2¢...

[mouser]

Nice news update, thanks for this 

[Lutz_]

Thanks for bringing me up-to-date, again!     

[KynloStephen66515]

@Stephen - thanks again for your hard work to keep a quality Tech News column coming to us regularly!

-40hz (March 14, 2010, 09:16 PM)

Nice news update, thanks for this 

-mouser (March 15, 2010, 01:48 AM)

Thanks for bringing me up-to-date, again!     

-Lutz_ (March 15, 2010, 06:39 PM)

To all the above, Thanks for your support, but, in all honesty, it's not needed.  All I need to see, to be happy, and continue doing it, is a nice view count - Even if the views only hit 10-20, I would still do it, for those 10-20 people who wanted to read it.  (Any readers is a great amount haha)

15 memorable quotes from the Pirate Bay's Peter Sunde

The Pirate Bay's Peter Sunde was beamed into a conference room by Skype at South by South West Interactive today to talk to interviewer Elizabeth Stark about the Pirate Bay, his views on copyright and whether the Pirate Bay can ever be fully shut down.

While Sunde was often non-specific about the issues when pressed, he did drop some gems into the interview. Here are 15 of the most memorable quotes from his interview.

On why he didn't personally attend SXSWi:

"If I come to the US I will get so sued that I won't get out of the US for quite a while."

On the threatening letters received from lawyers...Read More...

-Stephen66515 (March 14, 2010, 07:15 PM)

I must admit, I found some of his 'Replies to legal threats' section on TPB rather amusing.

I don't agree with people who say he should be jailed, but I must say, I can't condone a lot of what he says/does.  He seems to live in the knowledge that nobody can touch him, and those who make a 1/2 decent effort, all fail and he will be back online within hours of being shut down! - At the end of the day though, .torrent files contain nothing illegal, its what they LINK to that is illegal (generally), so on that note, hes perfectly OK by me to keep his website up.

Can we really get done for showing people where illegal information is stored?  If so, could Google get done for listing TPB in their search engine?, Could Youtube get done for the amount of music videos (uploaded, and recorded ILLEGALLY) get done? Could any site that remotely mentions, or links to another that contains illegal data, get done?...I could go on and on but I don't want to get in to a huge rant about this!

ICANN delays decision on pornography domain

ICANN has delayed its ruling on the proposed .xxx internet porn domain until this summer.

Today, at its meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, the ICANN board voted to push a decision to its next get-together in Brussels this June, while giving its CEO and chief counsel two weeks to prepare recommendations on how to proceed with the .xxx proposal. These recommendations will then be open to comment for 45 days, the AP reports.
 

In 2005, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers - the net's overseeing body - approved a longstanding proposal for a top-level domain dedicated to pornography. But after opposition from various governments - including the US, natch - it went on to...Read More...

I don't see why such a TLD would cause such problems over @ ICANN! - This TLD would certainly make the Internet a much safer place for children and people not wanting to fall across these websites...IMO, .xxx should be FORCED upon any website containing pornographic images/video's/data, and any running on generic TLD's (.com, .co.uk, .net, .info etc...) should be given the option to either A> Move to .xxx, or B> Shut down all its operations.

This should also be used for gambling websites (.GAM) maybe? and any other website we don't want children coming into contact with (Yes, i know...Use Filters and such, but even with that in place you have no such guarantees, if you could simply filter out .xxx and .gam websites then all is good and well with the world)

I agree that some websites will go under the radar, but if .xxx was given to companies for FREE, then why would they have any reason to try go under the radar?

Can a Clown-Nosed Wand Move the Needle for PS3?

Sony put PlayStation 3 fans in a tizzy by whipping out its latest controller, which it calls the "Move." It looks a whole lot like a black version of Nintendo's WiiMote controller, only it's got this big, clown-nose ball on the end of it. That ball actually serves a purpose. The Move's motion is partially registered by a...Read More...

As a huge PS3 fan, and a big follower of Sony, and Sony related products, I should feel bad for saying this, but, meh...I don't...

Seriously, the guys down at Sony need to get a grip on reality and bring us something new, fun, and interesting, rather than re-designing something readily available for OTHER consoles made by OTHER companies YEAR'S ago!

They say that we currently only use 15-18% of the PS3's possible power...so why not bring us something to make use of the 72-75% that we don't already use?!

Gimme 3D gaming, Gimme motion sensors...GIMME SOMETHING FUN

[J-Mac]

Needed or not, thank you for the news updates, Stephen. They are very much appreciated!

Jim

[zridling]

"Obama to 'aggressively protect' intellectual property"
__________________
As the EU overwhelmingly trashed it, Obama was one of the few supporting it. From Glyn Moody:

One of the most dispiriting aspects of the ACTA saga is that practically everything has been conducted behind closed doors. What we know is largely from leaks and a few, costive hints from officials when they deign to let us little people peak behind the curtain for a millisecond or two.

http://www.computerw...=14&entryid=2846

[Deozaan]

On pornography on the Pirate Bay:

"Porn is useless. I compare porn to pizza: if I am really hungry I wouldn't go buy a pizza and watch it. I would eat it."

Deja Vu: I was having a stupid/silly conversation with a friend when I was 18 and somehow we decided that "Easy Cheese Pizza" was a sexual euphemism of some sort. I can gladly say that I don't remember the details of what it was supposed to mean, but it was just strange having that memory pulled back from the deep recesses of my subconscious like that. I had completely forgotten about that for all these years until reading that analogy. Speaking of which, I have no idea what he means by that analogy. Is he suggesting that people should eat pictures?

Shuttleworth on Ubuntu
I was wondering how something like Ubuntu would/could make money. That article had some good information that opened my eyes a bit.

Gimme 3D gaming, Gimme motion sensors...GIMME SOMETHING FUN

I'm pretty sure the PS3 Move is a motion sensor. And besides that the SIXAXXIS/DualShock 3 (or whatever it's called) have motion sensors in them as well.

ICANN .xxx TLD
I still don't get what the fuss is about that TLD. They should make that TLD available, give everyone a chance to move their .com or whatever over (whoever has the .com gets dibs on the .xxx for 30 days or something to make sure opportunists don't steal the domain name) and then .coms (and any other TLD) are no longer allowed to host porn. Seems simple enough. There will be sites that slip through the cracks, but if people can cause a DCMA takedown as easily as it seems they can then I don't see why there couldn't be a way to do something similar for having porn on the internetz where it doesn't belong. It just seems like a simple way to let people get what they want or stay away from what they don't want.

HTML5 2D
I personally don't see why you'd want to put graphics into HTML. Don't png and gif and jpg and svg already do everything you need for 2D images? Doesn't Javascript's canvas make up for what you can't do with the other image formats?