New submitter thunderdanp writes with news that a company called Worlds Inc. has filed a patent suit against Activision Blizzard, targeting World of Warcraft and the Call of Duty series. The patents in question describe a "System and Method for Enabling Users to Interact in a Virtual Space." Worlds Inc. is quite glad that "their" technology has "helped the businesses of virtual worlds gaming and the sale of virtual goods to grow into a multibillion-dollar industry" — but now they want a cut.
An anonymous reader writes "Following on the heels of the FCC and U.S. mobile carriers finally announcing plans to create a national database for stolen phones, a group of iPhone users filed a class action lawsuit against AT&T on Tuesday claiming that it has aided and abetted cell phone thieves by refusing to brick stolen cell phones. AT&T has '[made] millions of dollars in improper profits, by forcing legitimate customers, such as these Plaintiffs, to buy new cell phones, and buy new cell phone plans, while the criminals who stole the phone are able to simply walk into AT&T stories and 're-activate' the devices, using different, cheap, readily-available 'SIM' cards,' states their complaint. AT&T, of course, says the suit is 'meritless.'"
New submitter cb_is_cool writes "From the Beeb: 'The Pentagon has put in an order for prototype contact lenses that give users a much wider field of vision. The lenses are designed to be paired with compact heads up display units — glasses that allow images to be projected onto their lenses.' Hopefully, any mugger within 50 yards will have a red status bar above his head. 'The central part of each lens sends light from the HUD towards the middle of the pupil, while the outer part sends light from the surrounding environment to the pupil's rim. The retina receives each image in focus, at the same time."
McGruber writes "The New York Times has the sad story of Jack B. Palmer, an employee of Infosys, the giant Indian outsourcing firm. 17 months ago, Mr. Palmer made a quiet internal complaint that Infosys was committing visa fraud by bringing 'in Indian workers on short-term visitor visas, known as B-1, instead of longer-term temporary visas, known as H-1B, which are more costly and time-consuming to obtain.' Since making his complaint, Mr. Palmer 'has been harassed by superiors and co-workers, sidelined with no work assignment, shut out of the company's computers, denied bonuses and hounded by death threats.'"
jjp9999 writes "Bethesda announced they're bringing Kinect support to Skyrim. It doesn't sound like this will include motion detection. Rather, it will be around voice commands — tons of voice commands. It supports dragon shouts, trading, navigation, switching weapons, and a whole lot of other features that usually require you to assign hotkeys or to sort through menus. They also gave a brief hint at new content, stating they've 'been hard at work on creating the first set of game add-ons that will be exclusive to the Xbox 360. This additional content will add new quests, locations, features, and much more to the world of Skyrim.'"
itwbennett writes "Chinese officials said Thursday that 210,000 online posts and 42 websites have been taken down since mid-March in a government crackdown on rumors. In addition, 6 people were detained for allegedly fabricating rumors saying that military vehicles were in Beijing and that the city was in trouble."
pcritter writes "With the Oracle v. Google trial date set for next Monday, the Judge has asked Google and Oracle to take a position on whether a programming language is copyrightable. This presumably relates to whether Google violated copyright by using a variant of the Java language and its APIs in the Android framework. Oracle, who thinks it can be, has used J.R.R. Tolkein's Elvish language as an examples (PDF) of a language that can be copyrighted. Google disagrees (PDF)."
New submitter boner writes "In a follow-up to an earlier Slashdot story, scientists at the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands yesterday published their findings that they have indeed found the Majorana particle. The announcement on the university website provides both a summary of the academic paper (PDF) and background of this groundbreaking discovery. Quoting: 'Majorana fermions are very interesting – not only because their discovery opens up a new and uncharted chapter of fundamental physics; they may also play a role in cosmology. A proposed theory assumes that the mysterious ‘dark matter, which forms the greatest part of the universe, is composed of Majorana fermions. Furthermore, scientists view the particles as fundamental building blocks for the quantum computer.'"
Trailrunner7 writes "Mozilla is developing a feature in Firefox that would require some user interaction in order for Flash ads, Java scripts and other content that uses plugins to play. In addition to easing system slowdowns, the opt-in for Web plugins is expected to reduce threats posed by exploiting security vulnerabilities in plugins, including zero-day attacks. 'Whether you hate them or love them, content accessed through plugins is still a sizable chunk of the web. So much so, that over 99% of internet users have Flash installed on their browser,' writes Mozilla's Jared Wein, the lead software engineer on the project, in a blog post."
AstroPhilosopher writes "In a move similar to Hollywood's attempt to have the Supreme Court ban VCRs back in the 80's, ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and Univision are set to appear in court next month to urge a New York federal judge to block Aereo. 'Aereo lets those in New York who want to watch on their iPad what they can pull down for free from the public airwaves to their TV with an antenna.' The networks, however, say Aereo will cause irreparable harm to their business. Aereo's conduct apparently causes them to 'lose control over the dissemination of their copyrighted programming, disrupts their relationships with licensed distributors and viewers and usurps their right to decide how and on what terms to make available and license content over new internet distribution media.'"
After the recent failure of North Korea's rocket launch test, experts are warning that the country's leadership will likely try to save face by following it up with a nuclear weapons test. According to CBS, "The rocket launch had been hailed as a moment of national pride, but it disintegrated over the Yellow Sea, earning it embarrassment as well as condemnation from a host of nations that deemed it a covert test of missile technology. In a rare move for Pyongyang, the government admitted that the rocket did not deliver a satellite, but it also pressed ahead with grandiose propaganda in praise of the ruling Kim family." The Guardian adds, "Speculation is mounting that the North will attempt to claw back some of its credibility with a third nuclear test. Recent satellite images from the site used for previous nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 suggested plans for another underground explosion were already in place before the Unha-3 rocket broke apart and splashed into the Yellow Sea on Friday morning."
Hugh Pickens writes "The LA Times reports that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants to require automakers to include a brake-throttle override system in all their cars and light trucks to help drivers regain control when a vehicle accelerates suddenly when the throttle becomes stuck or jammed. 'America's drivers should feel confident that any time they get behind the wheel they can easily maintain control of their vehicles — especially in the event of an emergency,' says Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The move came after a fiery 2009 Lexus crash after a floor mat was improperly installed and may have trapped the accelerator pedal, causing the vehicle to race down California Highway 125 outside San Diego at more than 100 miles per hour, crashing and bursting into flames, killing an off-duty California Highway Patrol Officer and three members of his family. That crash led to a recall of 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles to fix the floor mat problem, and Toyota issued millions more recall notices to fix sticking gas pedals and other issues. Now Toyota has made a brake-override system standard, implementing it in all vehicles the company sold by the end of 2010, and most other automakers offer such a system on many of their vehicles or are adding it. Other automakers would have about two years to comply with the proposal (PDF). 'We learned as part of the comprehensive NASA and NHTSA studies of high-speed unintended acceleration that brake-override systems could help drivers avoid crashes,' says NHTSA Administrator David Strickland."
tqft writes "What the world needs is more truly random sources of numbers. Researchers from Australian National University have found a brilliant way to make one: 'We do this by splitting a beam of light into two beams and then measuring the power in each beam. Because light is quantised, the light intensity in each beam fluctuates about the mean. Those fluctuations, due ultimately to the quantum vacuum, can be converted into a source of random numbers. Every number is randomly generated in real time and cannot be predicted beforehand.' So if you need some really random numbers, just use their generator service."
The Mac platform now finds itself in the crosshairs of malware developers along with Windows, but that isn't a reason to switch to Linux. "Less targeted" doesn't equal "more secure".
With office, graphics, and management components, this new open source contender aims to provide 'the most comprehensive free suite anywhere,' its makers say.
Concerns about the economy appeared to outweigh promising sales news from major IT players including SAP and Google, as computer stocks, along with other...
Apple could be working on seamless unibody headphones--which won't retain dirt--for its iPod and iPhone.
Intel's upcoming Core i-series processors based on the Ivy Bridge architecture are being pitched at ultrabooks, but the company is now extending the chips to...
Apple Computer came under fire from experts for back-pedaling on its support for IPv6, the next-generation Internet Protocol.
Apple is dealing with the harsh reality that Mac OS X has become a target for malware attacks, and it's responding with an innovative approach that others should emulate.
This newly updated password manager works on multiple platforms and syncs easily between them. It can even back up your data to Dropbox.
Lawyers for Megaupload, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Web hosting provider Carpathia Hosting and other groups fighting over who should maintain 1,100...
One Lego fanatic plans to recreate the entire first level of Super Mario Bros in Lego, one block-per-pixel.
The number of Macs infected with the Flashback botnet has plummeted in the last few days, antivirus vendor Symantec says.
Big bucks buys through the years don't always turn out the way either party expects. Here are a few famous examples.
Mozilla developers are working on a new Firefox feature that will block the automated display of plug-in-based content like Flash videos, Java applets or PDF...
After the success of the Kindle Fire, Google sees plenty of space for more tablets at the lower end of the market; at the top, few challenge Apple’s iPad.
Apple's deal with e-book publishers contained a sweetheart clause to keep Apple's wares competitive.
Adding to its already considerable line of analysis software and expertise, IBM announced Friday that it has acquired business intelligence software provider...
A new survey from Webroot finds that many online behaviors are perceived as more high-risk than real-world safety or security concerns.
UPDATE: The average "cost per click" paid by advertisers declined for the second quarter, and Google announces a stock split.
This prison guard robot not only keeps you in check behind bars, but also can read your body language for trouble.
Dusseldorf is expanding its patent court to handle more cases, hoping to land an important role in the European Union's planned Unified Patent Court system.
When the Titanic set sail 100 years ago this month, its state-of-the-art technology included the advanced wireless of the early 20th century.
IBM has distributed to partners the first external beta code of Notes/Domino Social Edition, which will allow Notes client applications to run in a browser, the...
A $25 iPad app can let users of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview get a taste of Metro touch interface running on a tablet.
A court in Delhi Thursday dropped the Indian unit of Google from a civil suit regarding alleged objectionable content on its websites, but retained the parent...
Another week of free games brings new twists on some classic games and a game about installing games.
Prepaid smartphones were once both lower-cost and lower-quality, but lately they're becoming a viable alternative for many users.
SAP published preliminary figures for its first-quarter results on Friday, showing revenue up 11 percent year on year, but margins shrinking with operating...
Microsoft is battling to reduce the time it takes to approve and publish Windows Phone apps, and to improve the responsiveness of its developer portal App Hub.
Sharp said Friday it has begun mass production of displays using IGZO (indium, gallium, zinc) technology, which analysts have said is a prime candidate for use...
Two days after Apple promised to decontaminate Macs infested with the Flashback malware, on Thursday the company delivered.
Infosys' revenue in its fourth quarter and full fiscal year ended March 31 fell short of guidance, as global markets for its services are recovering very slowly...
Microsoft named a new executive to head the company's Greater China region on Friday, following the sudden departure of the area's current leader.
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has postponed the deadline for new generic top-level domains after detecting a technical issue with the software.
China has taken down more than 210,000 online posts and closed 42 websites since mid-March as part of a crackdown on Internet rumors, which authorities claim...
U.K. police arrested two teenagers on Thursday evening for allegedly making hoax phone calls to a hotline set up to report suspicious terrorism-related activity...
Jason Scott and his merry band of hacker-archivists are trying to preserve our “digital history.”
Microsoft will begin charging developers to use the API (application programming interface) for its Bing search engine, the company announced Thursday.
Leave yourself a way out if your cloud initiative doesn't go as planned.
Barnes & Noble on Thursday released a new Nook Simple Touch e-reader with a screen that lights up so that books can be read in the dark.
New business unit will address the gap between Microsoft and non-Microsoft technologies.
Comcast has become the first U.S. broadband ISP to enable next-gen Internet services for residential customers.
Instagram sold to Facebook for $1 billion, irking longtime users--here's how to gather up your photos and run.
Sony's new SmartWatch allows you to check smartphone information without taking your phone out of your bag or pocket.
Unauthorized apps can access certain types of data without any permissions at all.
EMC on Thursday gave more enterprises a way to build all-in-one private cloud systems, providing an alternative to the VBlock architecture that it developed with...
New model will be the only E Ink e-reader for sale with an LED-based light built-in.
Oracle is planning to release 88 patches on Tuesday, covering vulnerabilities affecting a wide array of its products, according to a pre-release announcement...
A leaked Microsoft roadmap shows an early 2013 release date for Microsoft Office 15.
When Google rolled out significant changes to Google+ on Wednesday, it did so without first warning developers on the platform.
Oracle and Google are due in court Monday for the start of an eight-week jury trial that could have significant implications for developers of Android...