ACTA's EU future in doubt after Polish pause

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has suspended his country's ratification of ACTA, in a move that could make the agreement null and void across the EU

(ZDNet UK - Intellectual Property)

02/03/2012 05:33 PM

AMD looks to ARM itself for low-power tablets

The company is opening up its processors to technologies from other chip makers, potentially including low-power specialist ARM, so it can develop products better suited to mobile devices, such as tablets

(ZDNet UK - Processors)

02/03/2012 05:20 PM

FBI call hacked by suspected Anonymous activists

The FBI has confimed that hackers intercepted a conference call to discuss the Anonymous hacking group with Scotland Yard and other cybercrime officers, after obtaining an email setting up the call

(ZDNet UK - Security Threats)

02/03/2012 05:07 PM

BT accelerates fibre plans as revenues fall

The telecoms provider plans to allow premises to choose whether they want full-speed fibre connections that support downloads up to 300Mbps

(ZDNet UK - Networking)

02/03/2012 04:40 PM

Samsung Galaxy Extreme Xcover S5690

The Galaxy Extreme is an affordable rugged handset, although it's short on internal storage and the screen and camera are both disappointingly low-resolution. If you want a tough Android smartphone, you should also consider the similarly priced Motorola Defy+.

(ZDNet UK - Smartphones)

02/03/2012 04:14 PM

UK customers to lose out in Microsoft licensing change

Changes to Microsoft's European volume-licensing pricing structure in the summer will see UK customers likely to pay more, according to the software maker

(ZDNet UK - IT At Work)

02/03/2012 03:26 PM

Apple overturns Motorola's ban
Apple is granted a suspension of a sales ban imposed on some of its iPads and iPhones in Germany.
02/03/2012 04:10 PM

Hackers breach FBI-UK police call
Hackers Anonymous release a recording of an intercepted conference call between the FBI and UK police discussing their efforts to fight hacking.
02/03/2012 08:54 PM

BT vow fibre optic 'game changer'
Fibre optic connections to at speeds of 300 Mbps will be available 'on demand' in the UK next year, BT says.
02/03/2012 07:20 PM

Hackers fool bank security system
Criminal hackers have found ways around new security devices used for online banking, the BBC has learned.
02/02/2012 04:12 PM

Megaupload bail appeal rejected
Kim Dotcom's bail appeal is rejected by a New Zealand Court, as US campaigners hint at legal action to prevent files being deleted.
02/03/2012 11:48 AM

Google asked to pause rule change
An EU data protection group writes to Google to ask them to suspend changes to their privacy policy.
02/03/2012 02:40 PM

Micron's Appleton dies in crash
Steve Appleton, the chief executive of memory-chip maker Micron, has died in a plane crash near Boise, Idaho.
02/03/2012 09:30 PM

Blogger removal now 'per country'
Blogger, Google's blog platform, switches domains to make "per country" content removal possible.
02/02/2012 04:10 PM

Romney looks to boost front-runner status in Nevada
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - With a huge lead in polls, Republican front-runner Mitt Romney appears poised for an easy win in Nevada on Saturday that would put him in firm command of the party's see-sawing presidential nominating race.
02/04/2012 06:00 AM

Jobless rate at 3-year low as payrolls surge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States created jobs at the fastest pace in nine months in January and the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to a near three-year low, giving a boost to President Barack Obama.
02/04/2012 12:14 AM

Over 200 people killed in Syria's Homs before U.N. vote
BEIRUT (Reuters) - More than 200 people were killed in shelling by Syrian forces in the city of Homs, activists said on Saturday, as the U.N. Security Council prepared to vote on a draft resolution backing an Arab call for President Bashar al-Assad to give up power.
02/04/2012 06:05 AM

A sobering look at Facebook
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - It's the year's hottest initial public offering, but some wealth managers find themselves having a hard time recommending Facebook to their clients.
02/03/2012 10:15 PM

Komen reverses move to cut Planned Parenthood funding
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation backed down from its decision to cut funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion and birth control services, following a massive outcry by supporters of the world's largest breast cancer charity.
02/03/2012 10:02 PM

Insight: Syria's Assad set for long conflict
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - With the enemy at the gates, Bashar al-Assad was dining out.
02/03/2012 10:23 PM

Facebook On Collision Course With New EU Privacy Laws

An anonymous reader writes "Facebook and other U.S. internet companies are faced with a new EU data protection regime, the Christian Science Monitor reports. U.S. concepts of free expression and commerce will battle European support for privacy and state legislation. 'Companies must understand that if they want access to 500 million consumers in the EU, then they have to comply. This is not an option,' said a spokesman for the EU Justice Commissioner."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

02/04/2012 07:14 AM

Researchers Feel Pressure To Cite Superfluous Papers

ananyo writes "One in five academics in a variety of social science and business fields say they have been asked to pad their papers with superfluous references in order to get published. The figures, from a survey published in the journal Science (abstract), also suggest that journal editors strategically target junior faculty, who in turn were more willing to acquiesce. The controversial practice is not new: those studying publication ethics have for many years noted that some editors encourage extra references in order to boost a journal's impact factor (a measure of the average number of citations an article in the journal receives over two years). But the survey is the first to try to quantify what it calls 'coercive citation,' and shows that this is 'uncomfortably common.' Perhaps the most striking finding of the survey was that although 86% of the respondents said that coercion was inappropriate, and 81% thought it damaged a journal's prestige, 57% said they would add superfluous citations to a paper before submitting it to a journal known to coerce. However, figures from Thomson Reuters suggest that social-science journals tend to have more self-citations than basic-science journals."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

02/04/2012 05:08 AM

Ask Slashdot: Are Daily Stand-Up Meetings More Productive?

__roo writes "The Wall Street Journal reports that an increasing number of companies are replacing traditional meetings with daily stand-ups. The article points out that stand-up meetings date back to at least World War I, and that in some place, late employees 'sometimes must sing a song like "I'm a Little Teapot," do a lap around the office building or pay a small fine.' Do Slashdot readers feel that stand-up meetings are useful? Do they make a difference? Are they a gimmick?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

02/04/2012 03:06 AM

Doctors 'Cheating' On Board Certifications

Maximum Prophet writes "After taking board exams, doctors have been routinely getting together to remember and reproduce as much of the exam as they can. These notes are then bound and reproduced. According to the American Board of Dermatology, the exams are protected by copyright laws, and any reproduction not approved by the board is illegal. While I have no doubt that the Board believes this, and pays lawyers to believe it as well, I don't think they understand copyright. Perhaps they should invest in better testing methods."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

02/04/2012 01:04 AM

Yes We Can (Profile You): a Brief Primer On Campaigns and Political Data

An anonymous reader writes "In the Stanford Law Review Online, Professor Daniel Kreiss discusses 'the history of political data, focusing on the recent proliferation in voter data and development of new voter-modeling techniques,' and how 'these data practices undermine privacy and democratic practice, even as they increase participation and voter turnout.' He writes: 'Underlying all of this is a vast data infrastructure that has made targeted online advertising and marketing possible, and has contributed to a revival of field campaigning over the last decade. Online advertising and field campaigning rely on voter modeling based on hundreds of data points culled from surveys, public records, and commercial information sources such as credit histories. This data details the location, demographics, political affiliations, social networks, behavior, and interests of citizens.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

02/04/2012 12:20 AM

Apple Clarifies iBooks Author Licensing

bonch writes "After drawing criticism over iBooks Author's licensing language, Apple has modified it in a software update to make clear that Apple is claiming rights to the .ibook format itself and not the content therein: '[The license restriction] does not apply to the content of such works when distributed in a form that does not include files in the .ibooks format.' In other words, the content may be sold on competing book stores as long as it is not packaged using iBooks Author."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

02/03/2012 11:59 PM

Satellite Phone Encryption Cracked

New submitter The Mister Purple writes "A team of German researchers appears to have cracked the GMR-1 and GMR-2 encryption algorithms used by many (though not all) satellite phones. Anyone fancy putting a cluster together for a listening party? 'Mr. Driessen told The Telegraph that the equipment and software needed to intercept and decrypt satellite phone calls from hundreds of thousands of users would cost as little as $2,000. His demonstration system takes up to half an hour to decipher a call, but a more powerful computer would allow eavesdropping in real time, he said.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

02/03/2012 11:38 PM

Canada's Internet Among Best, Report Says

silentbrad writes "Canadians enjoy among the fastest, most widely available and least expensive broadband Internet in the developed world, says a report released Thursday. The report, based on the results of 52 million speed tests of broadband users across the G7 countries and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) membership, was produced by Montreal-based consulting firm Lemay Yates Associates Inc. on behalf of Rogers Communications Inc., the country's largest broadband service provider. It disputes the OECD's own report, published in July, that ranked Canada's high-speed Internet offerings significantly below those of other countries. The report comes days after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission revealed a sharp jump in the number of complaints it has received regarding Internet traffic-management practices, or 'throttling' in recent months." And it's about to get a little better — reader ForgedArtificer points out that Rogers has promised to end all throttling over their network by the end of the year.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

02/03/2012 10:56 PM