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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 46 declined, 12 accepted (58 total, 20.69% accepted)

Science

Submission + - The Shifting Tides of International Science (economist.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "The Economist has a story on the increasing scientific productivity countries like China, India, and Brazil relative to the field's old guards in America, Europe, and Japan. Scientific productivity in this sense includes percent of GDP spent on R&D and the overall numbers of researchers, scholarly articles, and patents that a country produces. The article sees this as a natural side effect of the buoying economic prospects of these countries. Perhaps the most positive piece of the story is the fact that a full 35% of scholarly scientific articles in leading journals are now the product of international collaboration. From the article: "[M]ore than 35% of articles in leading journals are now the product of international collaboration. That is up from 25% 15 years ago—something the old regime and the new alike can celebrate.""
The Courts

Submission + - Why Google is the New Pirate Bay 1

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "Forbes is running a story discussing the verdict in the Pirate Bay case and its implications on file sharing, specifically with regard to Google. The article points out what most on /. already realize: Google provides essentially the same service that the Pirate Bay does. The Pirate Bay case may be far from over, accounting for appeals, but the Pirate Bay's assumption of being unchallengeable was shattered. The article raises the question of whether or not Google is untouchable in the matter. The story is quick to point out how the situation resembles a futile game of cat mouse, but given how the Pirate Bay's confidence was ultimately broken, is Google untouchable?"
Math

Submission + - Quantum Theory May Explain Wishful Thinking (physorg.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "Humans don't always make the most rational decisions. As studies have shown, even when logic and reasoning point in one direction, sometimes we chose the opposite route, motivated by personal bias or simply "wishful thinking." This paradoxical human behavior has resisted explanation by classical decision theory for over a decade. But now, scientists have shown that a quantum probability model can provide a simple explanation for human decision-making — and may eventually help explain the success of human cognition overall."
Television

Submission + - NBC to Create Programs Centered on Sponsors (physorg.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "It sounds farcical when you first hear it, but NBC has teamed up with an ad agency to produce actual feature programs that are centered around promoting the products of the network's sponsors. The network has already began production on one sci-fi program entitled "Gemini Division", which will act as a platform for products from Microsoft, Intel, and Cisco. The programming will be broadcast via the network's "digital properties", eg the NBC web site. I guess it was only a matter of time for something like this to come along after product placement became the norm."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Why Google Doesn't Need to "Win" in Jan. (thestreet.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "TheStreet.com discusses how Google is "shrewdly playing" their bid for the 700 mhz spectrum. The article points at that through getting the government to put an open access stipulation on the spectrum, Google has almost assured itself of meeting its goal without actually having to win the bid. From the article:

Indeed, as long as this goal is met, it's hard to see why Google would want to take on the costly task of building and running its own network. But given how much is at stake when it comes to the mobile market, Google's vigilance is shrewd, even if it never planned to own the spectrum."
Space

Submission + - Private Company First to Take on Lunar X Challenge

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "A private company by the name of Odyssey Moon (pdf warning on the official press release) has become the first team to complete registration for Google's Lunar X Challenge. They will likely be competing with several heavyweights in the field, as Carnegie Mellon University, along with many others, has already expressed an interest in the competition."
Communications

Submission + - FCC May Move to Cap Cable Companies Size (reuters.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is moving toward resurrecting a proposal that would limit the size cable operators could reach on a nationwide basis, sources said on Friday. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has enough support on the five-member commission to pass a measure that would bar cable companies from owning systems that have more than a 30-percent share of U.S. multichannel video subscribers, according to one FCC source. Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus said in a research note that Martin is aiming for a vote on the cable ownership cap no later than the commission's next meeting on Dec. 18."
Businesses

Submission + - Publishers Seek Change in Search Result Content (washingtonpost.com) 1

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "The Washington Post is running a story on the fight between publishers and search engines over just what exactly is allowed to be shown by the search results. Personally, I'm much more likely to go to a web site based on a concise, clear, and informative search result. However, this is making publishers uneasy. From the article:

The desire for greater control over how search engines index and display Web sites is driving an effort launched yesterday by leading news organizations and other publishers to revise a 13-year-old technology for restricting access. Currently, Google, Yahoo and other top search companies voluntarily respect a Web site's wishes as declared in a text file known as robots.txt, which a search engine's indexing software, called a crawler, knows to look for on a site.

But as search engines expanded to offer services for displaying news and scanning printed books, news organizations and book publishers began to complain. News publishers said that Google was posting their news summaries, headlines and photos without permission. Google claimed that "fair use" provisions of copyright laws applied, though it eventually settled a lawsuit with Agence France-Presse and agreed to pay the Associated Press without a lawsuit filed. Financial terms haven't been disclosed. The proposed extensions, known as Automated Content Access Protocol, partly grew out of those disputes. Leading the ACAP effort were groups representing publishers of newspapers, magazines, online databases, books and journals. The AP is one of dozens of organizations that have joined ACAP."
Networking

Submission + - Are Mobile Torrents on the Rise? (zdnet.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "ZDNet is running an article on the "mobile implementation of the bittorent protocol." From the Article:

The first big open source trend of 2008 is already on the horizon. Mobile Torrents. Mobile implementations of the BitTorrent protocol are nearly certain to be part of whatever Google Android comes up with, and if not someone will have one for the open platform straightaway.

Already a Windows Torrent product is on Version 2.0, and given the video capability of the iPhone it's clear Apple is not going to let this opportunity pass by. A Symbian Torrent program is on Version 1.3. Torrent Reactor is listing a bunch of mobile Torrent files, not just the usual suspects of audio and video but games as well. MoveDigital has been offering metered Torrents since last year."
The Courts

Submission + - Apple Shareholder Lawsuit Dismissed (news.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "New Apple General Counsel Daniel Cooperman won his first battle on behalf of his new company yesterday, successfully convincing a judge to dismiss a shareholder lawsuit over Apple's stock-options backdating mess.

The New York City Employees Retirement System had sued Apple claiming that the company's practice of backdating stock options diluted the value of the stock. Apple has admitted that it improperly backdated stock options on several occasions, including two awards to CEO Steve Jobs, and last December it took a $84 million charge to account for the options.

But the suit had to show that Apple shareholders lost money in order to recover damages..."
Communications

Submission + - FCC Moves to Regulate Cable TV Competition (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by
explosivejared
explosivejared writes: "The Federal Communications Commission is likely to impose a new regulation on the largely unregulated cable television industry, the first of what may be more to come. Under a proposed rule circulating at the FCC, cable companies such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable would have to slash the price they charge smaller television programmers to lease access on spare cable channels, a move the FCC says would open up cable viewers to a wider diversity of shows. In addition, the FCC is contemplating a national ownership cap that would prevent one company from having more than 30 percent of all cable subscribers."

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