Delivering his keynote address at this week’s annual CA Expo in Sydney, former Google CIO Douglas C Merrill added to the growing belief that punishing and demonizing file-sharers is a bad idea. Merrill, who after his Google stint joined EMI records, revealed that his profiling research at the label found that LimeWire pirates were iTunes’ biggest customers.
Yesterday, during his keynote speech at the CA Expo in Sydney, former Google boss Douglas C Merrill said that com... (more)
Did you know that two significant events in spaceflight took place in 1969? The first was the first manned landing on the moon, on July 20, 1969. The second is a little less known. Buoyed by the success of the space program, President Nixon made the fateful decision to launch the Space Shuttle program in that same year.
As the mass-BitTorrent lawsuits continue to pile up in U.S. courts, more stories of what appear to be wrongfully accused persons hit mainstream media. A 70 year-old retired widow from San Francisco falls into this category. The grandma was recently ‘caught’ sharing porn on BitTorrent and was offered a $3,400 settlement, or the option to risk a $150,000 fine in a full court case.
Since 2010 tens of thousands of regular people have been sued in the U.S. for sharing films... (more)
Lawyers defending a file-sharing site say a new legal victory provides final confirmation that sites providing links to copyright works act lawfully in Spain. In a complaint filed during 2009, SGAE claimed that Index-web.com violated its rights but in yet another blow to the music rights group and Spain’s Ley Sinde anti-filesharing law, this week a court disagreed.
Several rulings over the past couple of years have indicated that sites providing mere links to copyright works... (more)
On Monday, UPI announced the findings of a recent Harris poll that revealed a record low amount of people believe the global warming theory. Only 44% of the 2163 people polled say they believe that CO2 is warming the earth:
Only 44 percent say they 'believe the theory' that carbon dioxide emissions are warming the Earth, down from 51 percent in 2009 a
A draft study produced by researchers at Yale University and four other research institutions has arrived at a surprising (to them) finding: The more that people are scientifically literate, and the more that they’re numerate, the likelier that they’ll be climate change skeptics.
Even more surprising (to them): socialistic types and free market types are poles apart in their thinking on climate change, with those most knowledgeable in each camp having the strongest vie... (more)
Patents were an instrument during the guild era that regulated how knowledge could pass from master artisans to their apprentices. For some reason, this monopolization on knowledge and brake on innovation has survived into the free enterprise age, after 1850.
Many people have a lot of preconceptions about patents that aren’t true, just like a lot of people had preconceptions about the necessity of copyright before file sharing became widespread and people ex... (more)
The number of Internet users worldwide has now surpassed two billion and so many of us have integrated the web into our lives so much that it's hard to quantify how much it's worth to us. But why not give it a shot? Think about it.
How much would someone have to pay you to give up the Internet for the rest of your life?
The National Traffic Highway Safety Administration finally cleared The Transition to be on American roadways. How wonderful it would be if the company – and now you see why there are so few involved in this long struggle – could focus on innovating rather than pleasing bureaucrats. This machine seems a bit dated because it is way overdue.
... (more)
Movie studio Paramount are adept at sending out cease and desist notices, having engaged in the activity for many years. However, while the vast majority are related to solely digital activities such as the unauthorized distribution of movies and TV shows, a recent takedown notice has a very interesting ‘real-world’ twist – the recreation of a physical object from digital data. [...]
On June 8th Blatt announced on theRPF.com movie prop fansite that he was recreat... (more)
Two weeks ago raids and arrests in several European countries took out several prominent websites. Aside from the main target, movie streaming links portal Kino.to, the raids also affected several file-hosting sites including Duckload.com. Despite taking a big hit Duckload is not giving up. Instead, the site has respawned with a full-blown movie streaming site that’s already generating millions of page views a day.
On June 11th Europe witnessed one of the largest piracy-rela... (more)
WASHINGTON — Young children are possessed by possessions. Preschoolers argue about what belongs to whom with annoying regularity, a habit that might suggest limited appreciation of what it means to own something.
But it’s actually just the opposite, psychologist Ori Friedman of the University of Waterloo in Canada reported on May 28 at the Association for Psychological Science annual meeting. At ages 4 and 5, youngsters value a person’s ownership rights — s... (more)
In its April 2011 issue, Inc. (a publication dedicated to small-business entrepreneurs) ran an extraordinary article on Raymond Damadian, inventor of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Damadian and his team of research scientists spent the 1970s developing a machine able to track cancer in the human body more efficiently than any existing method at the tim... (more)
(CNSNews.com) - Most of the human race does not see global warming as a serious threat, according to a Gallup poll released last week that surveyed individuals in 111 countries.
Respondents were asked: "How serious of a threat is global warming to you and your family?" They were given the options of anwering: not at all serious, not very serious, somewhat serious or very serious.
Worldwide, only 42 percent told Gallup they believed global warming... (more)
26-year-old single mom looking forward to doing the 'little things' again
Six-and-a-half weeks after receiving the first hand transplant in the western United States, Emily Fennell is becoming so accustomed to her new right hand that she barely remembers when she didn't have one.
