] WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal appeals court on Friday
] rejected efforts by the recording industry to compel the
] nation's Internet providers to turn over names of
] subscribers suspected of illegally swapping music online.

Yay!

Record Industry May Not Subpoena Online Providers

Went up last night. Now we'll see if it takes as many minor revs as 2.4 did to become stable...

] The first piloted and rocket-powered craft to have been
] developed by a private company made its maiden flight on
] Wednesday, over the Mojave desert in California.

First private rocket ship goes supersonic

inignoct wrote:
] ] Blockbuster Inc. president and chief operating officer
] ] Nigel Travis on Thursday called for an end to regional
] ] coding on DVDs, saying they merely create more
] ] opportunities for piracy.
]
] weren't the region codes supposed to prevent piracy? Oops!
] That was back when you needed a compliant, hardware DVD player
] to watch video...

Region codes enable:

1. selling for different prices in different countries. (see e.g. the Levis/EU/Trademark case for a particularly gross example of this!)
2. releasing at different times in different countries.

RE: Blockbuster CEO comes out against region codes...

] The capture of Saddam Hussein has lifted Americans' view
] of the state of the nation and their opinion of President
] Bush, while at least momentarily halting what had been a
] spiral of concern about the nation's economic and foreign
] policy, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News
] Poll.

Sigh.

Bush's Approval Ratings Climb in Days After Hussein's Capture

] Leaders from the boldest nuclear initiative since the
] Manhattan Project gather this weekend to decide on a
] beauty contest with a 10-billion-dollar prize: which
] country will host the world's first large-scale nuclear
] fusion reactor.

Moment of truth for nuclear fusion scheme

] CD burning software developer Optima Technology has sued
] rival Roxio and threatened any other company that allows
] users to record information onto a CD-R.

Stupid PTO...

Roxio first target as CD-R patent owner threatens industry

]
] Virginia announced yesterday the indictments of two people
] on criminal charges involving unsolicited e-mail, the
] first case to be brought under an antispam law that took
] effect in June. Virginia is one of the few states with
] laws that include criminal penalties for sending
] unsolicited bulk e-mail, or spam.

Not sure if this is good or bad.

Virginia Indicts 2 Under Antispam Law

] Concerned that pregnant women, nursing mothers and young
] children could be exposed to unsafe levels of mercury,
] the federal government took steps yesterday to caution
] people in these groups that they should limit the amount
] of tuna they eat.

A little frightening that industrial pollution is bad enough that sea fish (tuna) can contain enough mercury to be dangerous...

Draft Federal Advisory Warns Some Groups to Limit Tuna

] And while the consequences would be nowhere near as
] catastrophic as those in the movie, geophysicists
] increasingly wonder whether the magnetic field has begun
] one of its occasional reversals that in the next few
] thousand years might lead to compasses pointing south
] instead of north.

Magnetic Field Is Fading, but No Dire Effects Are Foreseen