Smart lampposts that could provide high-speed internet access are set to go on trial in Scotland.

Cute.

Internet lampposts to be trialled

Satellite operator SES Global said its US division SES Americom has signed an agreement with BellSouth Corp to provide facilities for a trial of internet protocol television.

SES Americom wins order from BellSouth for IPTV trial

Rambus said yesterday that the chip maker Advanced Micro Devices had agreed to pay $75 million over five years to license Rambus technology for increasing the speed at which computer chips communicate with each other.

You'd think AMD would know better...

Rambus Seals $75 Million Licensing Deal

No doubt you've seen the BoingBoing article about Coldplay's incredible DRM-EULA requirements. Some thought it must be satire. Others thought it was just a regional issue, because the individual that posted the insert is in India. But it seems to be more widespread than that, judging from complaints I'm reading online from customers in other countries. So, I got intrigued, and I did a little digging. If you thought Digital Rights Management was just about protecting someone's Most Holy IP, take a look at what I found.

First, while many of you can read the terms from the photograph on Boing Boing, I don't think the blind or sight-impaired can, so here's what the Coldplay insert tells you the consumer must not do and might not be able to do with the CD:

Sheesh...

More DRM Follies - The Coldplay Edition

At this critical moment, the music industry needs to cultivate as many new customers as it can, not drive away potential ones by making the music inconvenient, restricted, or, even worse, invasive. But whatever the major labels continue to do, why do their tactics have to apply to the entire music catalog? Understandably, recorded music executives may be petrified by the free market forces that rule a capitalist economy, especially that it is one's customers that ultimately call the shots that shape any commercial marketplace.

Why DRM Everything?

INTEL is to spend $2 billion (£1.16 billion) on a global advertising campaign in 2006 which will see the technology group dump one of the world’s most famous logos.

The group, which is based in California, says that it needs a new look because it no longer wants to be seen as a business that only makes computer processors.

Intel wants to sell consumer electronics, wireless communications and healthcare. It also wants to create all kinds of chips and software, not just microprocessors.

Intel will spend $2bn on selling new look in 2006

SUMMARY: The FAA proposes requirements for human space flight of crew and space flight participants as required by the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004. If adopted, this rulemaking would establish requirements for crew qualifications, training, and notification. It would also establish training and informed consent requirements for space flight participants. The rulemaking would also modify existing financial responsibility requirements to account for the FAA's new authority for space flight participants and crew, and to issue experimental permits. The experimental permit is the subject of a separate rulemaking. The FAA is conducting this rulemaking in order to fulfill its responsibilities under the new act. The requirements are designed to provide an acceptable level of safety to the general public, and to notify individuals on board of the risks associated with a launch or reentry.

Human Space Flight Requirements for Crew and Space Flight Participants; Proposed Rule | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

In 1994, the Cacophony Society staged the world's very first SantaCon in San Francisco. Influenced by the surrealist movement, Discordianism, and other subversive art currents, the Cacophonists decided to celebrate the Yule season in a distinctly anti-commercial manner, by mixing guerilla street theatre, pranksterism, and public intoxication. However, the idea and event has evolved since then, spawning a plethora of different versions of the event all over the world.

Apparently my assessment of "surrealist" when someone first described Santarchy to me last week was right on.

SantaCon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A French government crackdown on digital piracy backfired Thursday as lawmakers rebelled by endorsing amendments to legalize the online sharing of music and movies instead of punishing it.
...
An 11th-hour government offer to give illegal downloaders two warnings prior to prosecution was not enough to stem the rebellion. Instead, the amendments voted would legalize file-sharing by anyone paying a monthly royalties duty estimated at $8.50.

Flat rate, all you can eat.

France Lawmakers Endorse File-Sharing

In a chaotic conclusion to the Congressional year, the Senate blocked an effort on Wednesday to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and struck a last-minute accord to extend the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act for six months.

With Vice President Dick Cheney casting the decisive vote, the Senate also approved a $40 billion budget-cutting plan. And the Senate sent to President Bush a Pentagon policy measure with a ban on torturing detainees linked to terrorism.

Senate Rejects Bid for Drilling in Arctic Area