Archive for November 19, 2009
Twitter urges Murdoch to be open
Nov 19th
Newspapers should become “radically open” if they want to make money in the online world, the co-founder of social networking site Twitter has said.
Leaked UK government plan to create “Pirate Finder General”
Nov 19th
Secretary of State Peter Mandelson is planning to introduce changes to the Digital Economy Bill now under debate in Parliament. These changes will give the Secretary of State (Mandelson — or his successor in the next government) the power to make “secondary legislation” (legislation that is passed without debate) to amend the provisions of Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988).
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/19/breaking-leaked-uk-g.html
http://torrentfreak.com/uks-terrifying-anti-piracy-plans-leak-091119/
China’s Ministry of Culture tightens grip on MMO industry
Nov 19th
China’s Ministry of Culture said in a circular that it would require game operators to re-examine the content of the games they offer to make sure it doesn’t contain and “obscene or violent content” or anything that might be considered “lowbrow.” But what it really means is that the Ministry of Culture wants to stamp out any themes that go against the government’s socialist views. The circular also said that operators must limit the number of virtual marriages and player-versus-player combat sessions in these games.’
Releasing the Chromium OS open source project
Nov 19th
Today we are open-sourcing the project as Chromium OS. We are doing this early, a year before Google Chrome OS will be ready for users, because we are eager to engage with partners, the open source community and developers. As with the Google Chrome browser, development will be done in the open from this point on. This means the code is free, accessible to anyone and open for contributions. The Chromium OS project includes our current code base, user interface experiments and some initial designs for ongoing development. This is the initial sketch and we will color it in over the course of the next year.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/releasing-chromium-os-open-source.html
New York Tests Xbox-Based Alert System
Nov 19th
Gamers are used to confronting invading terrorists, nuclear attacks, and natural calamities—in virtual form. But those living in New York State could soon receive warnings about real emergencies through their favorite video console.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/state-local/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=221900336
Microsoft denies it built ‘backdoor’ in Windows 7
Nov 19th
Computerworld – Microsoft today denied that it has built a backdoor into Windows 7, a concern that surfaced yesterday after a senior National Security Agency (NSA) official testified before Congress that the agency had worked on the operating system.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9141182/Microsoft_denies_it_built_backdoor_in_Windows_7
China military site draws hackers
Nov 19th
The Chinese military defence website was subjected to 2.3 million hacking attempts in its first month online according to officials.
