Pay & Sit Park Bench Is A Libertarian Dream

Whenever we write about investing in bike lanes or sharing the road, drive-by commenters invariably complain that they are paying road taxes and they will share the road when cyclists and pedestrians contribute. Let's ignore the fact that cyclists and pedestrians subsidize drivers since road taxes only cover a small portion of the cost of maintaining our highways and roads, and suggest that in these tough times, everyone has to share the load. After all, any Tea Partier would tell you that nothing in the Constitution says that it is the job of the government to, say, provide a pedestrian with a place to sit.

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U.S. Court Rules Consumers Never Have the Right to Copy DVD Movies

Making one copy is stealing one copy, says MPAA

This week a landmark verdict was handed down to RealNetworks with deep implications for fair use and personal property in America. The ruling wasn't about filesharing, piracy, or malicious computer use. Rather, it was fight over whether users should be able to make copies of digital content that they legal own. And in a precedent-setting decision, the media companies beat a small software vendor and fair use advocates and laid down an imposing decision -- copying DVDs that you own is illegal.

The suit filed against RealNetworks centered around the company's RealDVD software, which ripped through protection technology to allow users to make digital copies of their legally-owned content. RealNetworks had plans to release a DVD drive/software bundle called Facet, which would make the process even quicker and easier.

The company's business model, though, was put to the legal test. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filed suit against the company over alleged violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and breach of contract in a lawsuit filed last fall. The MPAA's assertion was simple -- consumers do not have the right to copy DVD movies -- ever.

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Is this woman really 157 years old?

This photograph taken on June 1, 2010 shows Turinah, the Indonesian woman believed to be 157-years-old, chopping onions at home in a village in South Sumatra.

Officials disccovered the woman during a national census and they believe Turinah's claim to have been born in 1853. Which means she was born before the World Wars, much before the aeroplane, telephone, cars, televison were invented.

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CHEAP: $70 Blu-ray Disc Player Hits Target

Remember when Blu-ray Disc players were so expensive that even the PlayStation 3 at its $600 launch price was considered a bargain? I do. And how the world has changed now that consumers can pick up a Blu-ray Disc player for the same price as a collector's edition of a game for that PS3.

Engadget reports that Target is now selling a Philips BDP5010 Blu-ray Disc player for $69.98 that features DivX support, a SDHC card reader, BD Live, and HDMI CEC.

Article Source Click Here

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Opera 10.50 Web browser : The fastest browser on Earth

New features

Better integration with the Windows operating system

• Windows 7:
  • Aero Glass
  • Aero Peek
  • Jump Lists

Opera Carakan JavaScript engine

• Cross-platform bytecode interpreter for a new register-based instruction set
• Internal object model with automatic classification and inline property caching
• Machine code generation (JIT compiler)
• Divided garbage collection heap: automatically traverses the memory of active heaps
• Caching of compiled programs
• Reduced memory usage
• Additional Carakan information (http://my.opera.com/core/blog/2009/12/22/carakan-revisited)

Opera "O" tab and menu

The new Opera "O" tab and its associated menu (located on the left side of the Opera Tab bar) replaces the traditional Opera Menu bar. This increases vertical space in the Opera desktop window, and centralizes frequently used features and tools in one, convenient location. Optionally, the new Opera "O" tab and menu can be replaced with the traditional Opera Menu bar by clicking "Show Menu Bar" in the Opera "O" menu. This new Opera feature contains the following items.

• Tabs and Windows ►
• Page ►
• Print ►
• Bookmarks ►
• History
• Downloads
• Opera Unite ►
• Synchronize Opera ►
• Widgets ►
• Notes
• Mail and Chat Accounts
• Mail ►
• Contacts
• Appearance
• Settings ►
• Help ►
• Show Menu Bar
• Exit

Opera Presto 2.5 rendering engine

Opera 10.50 (with Opera Widgets for Desktop) for Windows contains the latest Opera rendering engine: Opera Presto 2.5, and incorporates the following features.

Full List of Features

If ur hands are getting itchy than hit Download

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Kingston 2400MHz DDR3 'World's Fastest Memory'

Kingston today announced it has developed what it claims is the fastest Intel-certified memory in the world. How fast, you ask? 2400 MHz.

Kingston's speedy HyperX dual-channel DDR3 memory kit (given the charming model name KHX2400C9D3T1K2/4GX) has Intel' XMP certification on the Core i7 platform.

Those who like to tweak their memory will like to know that the 2400 MHz kit runs at 9-11-9-27-2 timings at 1.65 volts as tested on several P55-based systems including the Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P motherboard.

The 2400 MHz kits will be available sometime in the second quarter.

For Source Click Here.

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Girl killed in Wii Remote mix-up

A girl has been killed after picking up a loaded gun, apparently mistaking it for a Wii Remote gun-style controller.

Three year-old Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan from Wilson County Tennessee died from a single self-inflicted shot to the abdomen from a .380 calibre semi-automatic pistol. The loaded firearm had been left on the coffee table in the living room of the girl’s house, after her stepfather thought he had heard a prowler outside.

According to the child’s mother, Cheyenne had been playing a Wii game that uses a gun peripheral - not one manufactured or approved by Nintendo (seen in the picture, underneath the handgun used in the shooting) - shortly before the accident occurred. The youngster was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

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The FBI Sucks at Photoshop [PIC]

This week, the FBI released a “digitally-altered” image showing what Osama Bin Laden possibly looks like now that he’s older.

While the FBI claims to have used “cutting-edge” technology to create the image, a Spanish politician has noticed that the poster is a modified version of his campaign photo — he now finds his face in America’s most wanted list.

While on the surface it’s an amusing misstep by intelligence agencies, Gaspar Llamazares, the former leader of Spain’s United Left coalition, calls the move “shameless.” His safety is at risk, hetold the BBC, and he no longer feels able to travel to America now that his likeness is on a wanted poster: “Bin Laden’s safety is not threatened by this but mine certainly is,” Llamazares said.

The FBI is quoted admitting to the error, saying that the artist found the photo on the web and didn’t know it was of a Spanish politician:

“When producing age-progressed photographs, forensic artists typically select features from a database of stock reference photographs to create the new image…it appears that in this instance the forensic artist was unable to find suitable features among the reference photographs and obtained those features, in part, from a photograph he found on the Internet.

The forensic artist was not aware of the identity of the individual depicted in the photograph. The similarities between the photos were unintentional and inadvertent.”

We don’t think it matters that the man in question was a notable politician: Using photos from an image search to create a most wanted poster is surely putting the subject at risk, is it not?

Source : Click Here

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A 570 megapixel camera will launch next year to prove the existence of Dark Energy.

Here's a small disclaimer: the 570 megapixel camera currently under construction isn't exactly small, and it won't end up on Walmart shelves anytime soon. Rather than replace the aging Hubble telescope due to hit retirement in 2014 (the James Webb Space Telescope will actually have seat), this $35 million dollar camera will focus its 74 CCD sensors on dark energy.

Called the Dark Energy Camera, this rig isn't looking for the existence of the dark side of the Force, but rather the invisible substance that supposedly makes up 70-percent of the universe. The camera is currently under construction at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois under the supervision of Brenna Flaughter.

The idea of this camera is to peer back into time when the universe was only a few billion years old by pointing its mammoth lenses up into the Southern Hemisphere. Flaughter and her team of scientists want to understand how the dark energy diminished the influence gravity had over galaxies, thus allowing the expansion of the universe to accelerate.

The scientists are betting that the 570 megapixel monster will help solve the riddle by mapping the light from over 300 million galaxies and supernovas. The Dark Energy Survey and the digital camera is expected to go live in 2011, and could even challenge Einstein's general theory of relativity. "It’s throwing the tools of the digital age onto the old question of where we are," said Craig Hogan, the director of the Center for Particle Astrophysics at Fermilab.

The images produced by the Dark Energy Camera should make one heck of a desktop wallpaper.

Source: Click Here

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The Mighty King Falls – PS3 Hacked

Hi ,
This has been a great month for me , good news and good events have been pouring from all around . To add to a list of great events that occurred this month is the recent news that PS3 has been hacked .

For starters , PS3 is the most powerful and most secure gaming console of this time! GeoHot(George Hotz ) , a 17 year who was the person who was responsible for the hacking of iPhone has now once again proved that he is the Boy genius.

Yesterday he released to the general public the method he used to hack the PS3. This is great development , since PS3 which was not been hacked for the past 3+ years has finally fallen!

Even though some argue that the complete hack and subsequent copying of the game and playing is still not in future. Since, to make PS3 completely hacked , we need the Root Key , the holy grail for everything ! PSP even though hacked at various security levels has still not been compromised on the root key level !.

But this development will mark a new beginning . To quote from his blog

There are also articles popping up from everywhere that the hack which GeoHotz has revealed is not complete and still needs loads of work like reverse engineering the whole firmware for a full pledged HomeBrew !

You can read about why this method is still in its early stage here

You can also read a in-depth analysis of the method here

This news has been all over the net and PS3 users are actually jumping in the air , whether they can have ISO loader or run Pirated games is still a big

Source: Click Here

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iPhone Hacked by Teen and Trades For Nissan 350Z

A New Jersey teenager has cut a deal to trade a hacked iPhone for a new set of wheels and three further iPhones, Yahoo! reports. Seventeen-year-old George Hotz, of Glen Rock, made the announcement on his blog, having successfully unlocked the Jesus phone. Duly released from the shackles of AT&T, the device was then swiftly offered for sale.

Hotz said: "Terry Daidone, the founder of Certicell contacted me this morning, and offered to make a trade for the iPhone. I traded it for a sweet Nissan 350Z and 3 8GB iPhones." He described the trade as "a great end to a great summer", and he can only hope AT&T's attack lawyers don't provoke a sudden autumn chill.

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RIM to Launch New BlackBerry App Store in India

Apple really grabbed the attention of everyone involved in the mobile device market when it came up with the iPhone App Store even if things have not always gone as smoothly as users might have liked.

Then, just last month, we reported how Microsoft was looking to enter the App Store business with 'Skymarket' for Windows Mobile downloads early next year.

Now, pretty much inevitably, Research in Motion has announced at the BlackBerry Developer Conference in California that it has two major new 'distribution initiatives' for BlackBerry applications.

These take the shape of a new online application storefront plus a new 'on-device' application centre to provide consumers with easy discovery of and access to a wide range of BlackBerry apps. Those businesses with either BlackBerry Enterprise Server or Professional Software deployments will still control the applications that can be downloaded within the corporate infrastructure.

RIM tells me that the application storefront is scheduled for a March 2009 debut, but BlackBerry developers can start submitting stuff for inclusion as soon as December. The pricing model has also been confirmed, with developers being allowed to set their own prices.

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Run Windows applications on Linux, BSD, Solaris and Mac OS X With Wine

Wine lets you run Windows software on other operating systems. With Wine, you can install and run these applications just like you would in Windows.

Wine is still under active development. Not every program works yet, however there are already several million people using Wine to run their software.

Open Source and User Driven

Wine will always be free software. Approximately half of Wine's source code is written by volunteers. The rest is sponsored by commercial interests, especially Codeweavers who sell a supported version of Wine.

Wine is heavily reliant on its user community. User tests fill our Application Database to track how well programs work, and all the answers in the forums come from volunteers.

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Dell Mini 3 – iPhone’s Brother From Another Mother?

Dell unveils Android-based Mini 3 smartphone

Dell said Friday that it's ready to enter the smartphone business with the Android-based Mini 3.

Long rumored to have a smartphone in the works, Dell said that the first two carriers to sell the Mini 3 will be China Mobile and Brazil's Claro.

In China, the Mini 3 will use OPhone, China Mobile's customized version of Google's Android operating system. "We are excited for Dell to be among the first manufacturers to introduce new technology based on the OPhone platform," an unnamed China Mobile representative said in Dell's press release.

Dell would not offer any specifics about the software on the Brazilian phone, saying simply that "the initial Mini 3 smartphones are designed around the Android platform."

Article Source Full Dell Mini 3 Photo Gallery.

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Western Digital WDTV Media Player

The Western Digital WDTV ($110 as of March 5, 2009) marks the hard-drive maker's first foray into the field of media players, but the move makes sense as an extension of the company?s existing hard-disk products. The WDTV box lets your HDTV play media transferred from any USB storage device (flash drive or external hard drive), without any need for a streaming network device to bridge the distance from your storage drive or PC to the TV. Western Digital?s first-generation WDTV accomplishes its core task fairly well, but its menu system is slow.

The WDTV can connect to any standard-definition or high-definition television; it has composite audio/video connectors and HDMI, as well as optical audio output. HDMI is actually missing from its competitor, the Seagate FreeAgent Theater player.

The WDTV's two USB ports--one at front, one at back--let you keep two storage devices connected to the player simultaneously.

Source

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Archos 7 Internet Media Tablet

The Archos 7, the bigger, beefier brother of the Archos 5, is an Internet Media Tablet that offers a slick design, a solid Web-surfing experience (complete with Flash support), and excellent video playback on a large, high-resolution 7-inch display. Unfortunately, Archos nickel-and-dimes customers when it comes to adding format support, and we had some issues getting premium movies to download from CinemaNow.

Design and Interface

Measuring 7.5 x 4.3 x 0.6 inches and weighing a hefty 1.4 pounds, the Archos 7 isn’t a device designed for toting around in your jacket pocket. But with the girth comes a sharp 7-inch (800 x 480-pixel resolution) display that’s far more suitable for watching movies than the Archos 5 (which sported a 5.0 x 3.1 x 0.5-inch, 8.8-ounce figure). The player sports a shiny gunmetal plastic finish that conveys that it’s a premium product (which is welcome considering the $449 price tag), but it attracts all manner of fingerprints and smudges.

Two dedicated volume keys are on the top of the device, headphone and AC adapter jacks are on its left side, and two non-standard USB ports are built into the bottom. Stereo speakers flank the display, and a kickstand in the back props the Archos 7 into prime movie-watching position.

Like the Archos 5, this model utilizes a touchscreen for input and navigation; We had no problems navigating the system’s intuitive menus and folders. A dock on the left side of the screen that lets you quickly access media files, TV, Internet, settings, and Add-Ons (and their corresponding sub-folders) using bright, colorful icons. The latest firmware (1.3.05) was very stable and worked in conjunction with the ARM Cortex processor to produce a lag-free experience when moving about the system.

Homepage Review(Source)

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Microwave With Built-In YouTube Player (video)

Two researchers from Japan’s Keio University (which yours truly attended just until recently by the way) have developed a kitchen appliance aimed at the total web geek in you, a YouTube-powered microwave. The so-called Castoven [JP] is based on a conventional, unbranded model of “good quality” but sports a 10.4-inch LCD screen in the door panel. (Video and pics) Source

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Court ruling forces Mininova to end illegal torrents

The Netherlands-based file-sharing website Mininova has removed all torrents that enabled users to download copyright-protected material.

The move follows a ruling in a Netherlands district court three months ago ordering the firm to remove links to illegal content.

The court said that Mininova's notice and take down policy was insufficient to keep it operating within the law.

The news is the latest in an ongoing campaign against file-sharing sites.

Although Mininova has not totally shut down operation, it has now removed all torrents that would enable users to download copyright-protected material, opting instead to only host a limited 'featured content' service, which offers legal licensed files.

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AMD Phenom II Breaks 7GHz Barrier

" A while back I went to a fun overclocking event held by AMD, where there was a lot of vapor, some exploding burritos, and some overclocking that got tantalizingly close to 7GHz. It was just an arbitrary number, and they broke a bunch of other records, but they couldn’t quite hit that last target. But a few months and I can only guess how much liquid helium later, they nailed it. "

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Start-up claims its DVDs Last 1,000 Years

If you really, really need to make sure those precious photos of yours last virtually forever - or at least longer than the average two- to five-year lifespan of consumer-grade DVDs, then start-up Cranberry LLC has the answer for you: a DVD that literally lasts a millennium.

Cranberry's DiamonDisc product holds a standard 4.7GB of data, which roughly amounts to 2,000 photos, or 1,200 songs, or three hours of video, but the media is unharmed by heat as high as 176 degrees Fahrenheit, ultraviolet rays or normal material deterioration, according to the company. DiamonDiscs contain no dye layers, adhesive layers or reflective materials that could deteriorate.

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