A collection of stories tagged 'media' from Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/ Copyright 2006 RoomforMilk.com. RoomforMilk is not affiliated with Slashdot.org. Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:53:49 EST Blue's News pointed out a report about a study sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation which found that online gaming and social networking are beneficial to children, teaching them basic technical skills and how to communicate in the Information Age. The study was conducted over a period of three years, with researchers interviewing hundreds of children and monitoring thousands of hours of online time. The full white paper (PDF) is also available. "For a minority of children, the casual use of social media served as a springboard to them gaining technological expertise — labeled in the study as 'geeking out,' the researchers said. By asking friends or getting help from people met through online groups, some children learned to adjust the software code underpinning some of the video games they played, edit videos and fix computer hardware. Given that the use of social media serves as inspiration to learning, schools should abandon their hostility and support children when they want to learn some skills more sophisticated than simply designing their Facebook page, the study said."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/26290 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/VWNTA0S9dR4/article.pl Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:05:01 EST Appleinsider is reporting that the new MacBooks/MacBookPros have built-in copy protection. Quote: 'Apple's new MacBook lines include a form of digital copy protection that will prevent protected media, such as DRM-infused iTunes movies, from playing back on devices that aren't compliant with the new priority protection measures.' Ars Technica is also reporting on the issue. Is this the deal they had to make to get NBC back? Is this a deal breaker for Apple or will fans just ignore it to get their hands on the pretty new machines? Is this a new opportunity for Linux? And what happened to Jobs not liking DRM?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/26277 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/JyVqwZk_gsA/article.pl Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:05:12 EST Appleinsider is reporting that the new MacBooks/MacBookPros have built-in copy protection. Quote: 'Apple's new MacBook lines include a form of digital copy protection that will prevent protected media, such as DRM-infused iTunes movies, from playing back on devices that aren't compliant with the new priority protection measures.' Ars Technica is also reporting on the issue. Is this the deal they had to make to get NBC back? Is this a deal breaker for Apple or will fans just ignore it to get their hands on the pretty new machines? Is this a new opportunity for Linux? And what happened to Jobs not liking DRM?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/26261 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/JyVqwZk_gsA/article.pl Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:05:02 EST Tombstone-f sent in a cool update on a project that I continue to keep an eye on. MythTV has become a dominant force in the do it yourself media mega box space, so any improvements to the UI matter significantly. "One of the biggest new features of the next version of MythTV (version .22) will be its new user interface. This new interface will offer many new features to MythTV, including animation, better interactivity, and faster and easier development for themers and developers alike." I think it still has a ways to go to compete with some of the more mainstream PVR boxes in terms of minimalism and good use of whitespace, but hopefully the improvements will get more people into the door.Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/26207 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Ie0PPGw6n9A/article.pl Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:05:01 EST The New York Times reports that China has "agreed to loosen restrictions on foreign news and information providers inside the country, settling a trade dispute with the United States, the European Union and Canada." Formerly, all such news sources required licensing through China's official Xinhua News Agency. Note that the focus seems to be on financial reporting and information, rather than all forms of news reporting.Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/26153 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/9pB4u3_tYqg/article.pl Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:05:01 EST Microsoft has denied paying a Nigerian contractor $400,000 in a bid to retard Linux's movement into the government sector. Media reports alleged that Microsoft had proposed paying that sum to a government contractor under a joint marketing agreement last year, in order to persuade the contractor to replace Linux OS with Windows on thousands of school laptops. Although a joint marketing agreement was drafted to document the best practices for using technology in education, it was never executed, said a Microsoft regional manager for Africa. It became clear, he added, that one customer wanted a Linux OS."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/26103 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/erJpFMazGzA/article.pl Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:05:09 EST super-papa sends us to Locus Magazine for an article by Cory Doctorow discussing the conflicts between copyright law and modern culture, and arguing against the perception that copying media is still unusual. Quoting: "Copyright law valorizes copying as a rare and noteworthy event. On the Internet, copying is automatic, massive, instantaneous, free, and constant. Clip a Dilbert cartoon and stick it on your office door and you're not violating copyright. Take a picture of your office door and put it on your homepage so that the same co-workers can see it, and you've violated copyright law, and since copyright law treats copying as such a rarified activity, it assesses penalties that run to the hundreds of thousands of dollars for each act of infringement. There's a word for all the stuff we do with creative works — all the conversing, retelling, singing, acting out, drawing, and thinking: we call it culture."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/26039 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/8AE0zA9qKbo/article.pl Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:05:02 EST I've recently had two CD-Rs reported to me as faulty which are just 3 years old. This is worrying — I suspect the failure rate for this batch could be 10%. When researching CD longevity there is old and unreliable information; pious 'how to cosset your discs so they last 100 years' blurb; and endless discussions of what sort of dye to use, don't use cheap media, burn slower (or don't), but not much by way of hard facts besides there's a lot of data loss going on. Does anyone know of a generic utility (win or *nix would suit me) that can map sector readability/error rates of CDs? I'd like to measure decay over time in my environment with my media and my other variables; and I expect others would too."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/26004 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/EG3KSqYFOsE/article.pl Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:05:01 EST The French Senate has approved a three strikes law for Internet users who download copyrighted entertainment media without paying for it. If, after two warnings, a person continues to download pirated music and movies, the internet service providers would cut off access for a year. Quoting: 'The legislation passed with a massive cross-party majority of 297 votes to 15. Only a handful of conservatives, centrists and socialists voted against, while the Communists abstained. In passing the bill, the senators rejected an amendment proposed by senator Bruno Retailleau of the right-wing MPF party replacing internet cut-off with a fine. ... The bill sets up a tussle between France and Brussels. In September, the European Parliament approved by a large majority an amendment outlawing internet cut-off." We discussed the introduction of this legislation several months ago.Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25931 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/KezkOaiBxCQ/article.pl Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:05:10 EST Reader Justblair recommends his blog entry detailing how he made a hard drive silencer for a pittance. "This article demonstrates a very easy-to-make hard drive silencer that not only outperforms most commercially available devices, but is cheaper to implement as well. Requiring very little in fabrication skills, it is an ideal addition to a media PC or HTPC. It may even suit you if your head is aching after many hours of being whined at by your hard drive."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25925 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/F-sS9cVqSmM/article.pl Sun, 02 Nov 2008 06:05:01 EST An anonymous reader asks "What information sources and social networking sites will you be using to supplement the election coverage on TV next Tuesday? I am ready with a big HDTV with Comcast, a Mac mini, and and an Xbox 360. I also have two laptops (one good for websites and one for streaming video), an old-school Blackberry, a 'regular' cell phone, a Nokia N810, a Squeezebox, and finally Sirius Satellite Radio. Which websites should I watch for live county results? I already know about the Twitter Vote Report for tracking and reporting voting issues and I already watch 'CNN Reporters' on Friendfeed for the national flair. What other Twitter accounts should I follow? Which urgent ones should I send to my phones? Which YouTube accounts or keywords I should subscribe to in Miro? What are the most popular sites for posting 'on-scene' videos — iReport, Flickr, something else? I know most local Fox affiliates are great about streaming, but is there a page that lists all of the streams, in case I need to quickly focus on one city or area? Basically, how would you configure all those gadgets?" This reader might find some guidance in what to focus on, when, in a video produced by reader (and data modeler) Bruce Nash that lays out a predicted timeline for when the media will call each state, depending on when the polls close and how tight each race is expected to be.Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25921 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/G99jwlV-zgg/article.pl Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:05:08 EDT The Internet will mark an infamous anniversary Sunday, when the Morris worm turns 20. Considered the first major attack on the 'Net, Morris served as a wake-up call about the risk of software bugs, and it set the stage for network security to become an important area of computer science. It was also the first time many non-techies heard of the 'Net, as the mainstream media covered the story extensively." Reader maximus1 contributes a brief ITWorld story about Robert Morris himself.Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25901 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/A6hVxnEF7rI/article.pl Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:05:14 EDT Gamasutra is running an article discussing the influence of games and gamers on the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections. The connection, while minor, is continuing to strengthen, from allowing people to register to vote through their consoles, to in-game advertising, to games about and involving the candidates. However, it may still be an uphill climb as media-sharing becomes easier. From Gamasutra: "There are reasons games have grown slowly compared to other technologies for political outreach. The most important one is also the most obvious: since 2004, online video and social networks have become the big thing, as blogs were four years ago. Instead of urging voters to 'play my game,' as Loftus and I surmised, candidates urged their constituents to 'watch my video.' Online video became the political totem of 2008, from James Kotecki's dorm room interviews to CNN's YouTube debates."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25891 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/ZusfWtPDelI/article.pl Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:05:11 EDT The economic crisis will ultimately eliminate open source projects and the "Web 2.0 free economy," says Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur. Along with the economic downturn and record job loss, he says, we will see the elimination of projects including Wikipedia, CNN's iReport, and much of the blogosphere. Instead of users offering their services "for free," he says, we're about to see a "sharp cultural shift in our attitude toward the economic value of our labor" and a rise of online media businesses that reward their contributors with cash. Companies that will survive, he says, include Hulu, iTunes, and Mahalo. "The hungry and cold unemployed masses aren't going to continue giving away their intellectual labor on the Internet in the speculative hope that they might get some 'back end' revenue," says Keen."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25705 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/z3wj0pVQxfY/article.pl Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:05:06 EDT A recent Slashdot article got me thinking about dead and dying media. I'd like to build a cheap PC with the goal of being able to read as many old formats as possible. Size and power consumption would be design considerations; priority of media formats would be primary. How would you approach such a project?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25643 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/ZHxt0Cbqv8Y/article.pl Mon, 20 Oct 2008 06:05:01 EDT It appears that Verizon is going to start double-dipping by charging both consumers AND content providers for SMS text messages. Verizon has informed content partners that it will levy a $.03 charge for messages sent to customers, effective November 1. From RCRWireless: 'Countless companies could be affected by the new fee, from players in the booming SMS-search space (4INFO, Google Inc. and ChaCha) to media companies (CNN, ESPN and local outlets) to mobile-couponing startups (Cellfire) to banks and other institutions that use mobile as an extension of customer services.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25433 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/m2EsxQ7LwLs/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:18 EDT I'd like to file a bug report on the US educational system. The New York Times reports on a recent study that shows the US fails to encourage academic talent as a culture.'"There is something about the culture in American society today which doesn't really seem to encourage men or women in mathematics," said Michael Sipser, the head of M.I.T.'s math department. "Sports achievement gets lots of coverage in the media. Academic achievement gets almost none."' While we've suspected that the US might be falling behind academically, this study shows that it is actually due to cultural factors that are devaluing the success of our students. I suspect there's a flaw in the US cultural system that prevents achievement on the academic front as valuable. Could anyone suggest a patch for this bug or is this cause for a rewrite?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25429 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/VJ78KEdyxOU/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:12 EDT I'd like to file a bug report on the US educational system. The New York Times reports on a recent study that shows the US fails to encourage academic talent as a culture.'"There is something about the culture in American society today which doesn't really seem to encourage men or women in mathematics," said Michael Sipser, the head of M.I.T.'s math department. "Sports achievement gets lots of coverage in the media. Academic achievement gets almost none."' While we've suspected that the US might be falling behind academically, this study shows that it is actually due to cultural factors that are devaluing the success of our students. I suspect there's a flaw in the US cultural system that prevents achievement on the academic front as valuable. Could anyone suggest a patch for this bug or is this cause for a rewrite?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25416 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/VJ78KEdyxOU/article.pl Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:05:01 EDT It appears that Verizon is going to start double-dipping by charging both consumers AND content providers for SMS text messages. Verizon has informed content partners that it will levy a $.03 charge for messages sent to customers, effective November 1. From RCRWireless: 'Countless companies could be affected by the new fee, from players in the booming SMS-search space (4INFO, Google Inc. and ChaCha) to media companies (CNN, ESPN and local outlets) to mobile-couponing startups (Cellfire) to banks and other institutions that use mobile as an extension of customer services.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25415 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/m2EsxQ7LwLs/article.pl Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:05:09 EDT Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, better known in the industry as 'Woz', believes that the iPod is on its way out and has revealed his discomfort with some aspects of the iPhone. Wozniak said that the iPod has had a long time as the world's most popular media player, and that it will fall from grace due to oversupply. Wozniak also commented on the iPhone's proprietary nature and locked service provider, and compared it to Google's open Android platform. "Consumers are not getting all they want when companies are very proprietary and lock their products down," he said. "I would like to write some more powerful apps than what you're allowed.""Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25380 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Ii1c1EAUkM4/article.pl Thu, 09 Oct 2008 06:05:00 EDT unlametheweak recommends an Ars Technica report that the US Senate has unanimously passed a bill requiring the FCC to explore what "advanced blocking technologies" are available to parents to help filter out "indecent or objectionable programming." "...the law does focus on empowering parents to take control of new media technologies to deal with undesired content, rather than handing the job over to the government. It asks the FCC to focus the inquiry on blocking systems for a 'wide variety of distribution platforms,' including wireless and Internet, and an array of devices, including DVD players, set top boxes, and wireless applications."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25307 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/A1ZvUwIBbfw/article.pl Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:05:11 EDT On Friday someone posted a false rumor that Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack on CNN's unverified citizen journalism site, iReport. Apple's stock price went vertical, losing 9% before Apple stepped in and denied the rumor; the stock then recovered most of its loss. The SEC is investigating. PCWorld looks at the hit taken by citizen journalism as a result of this incident. "[The] increasingly blurred line between journalism and rumor is a serious concern for Al Tompkins, the broadcast/online group leader at The Poynter Institute — a specialized school for journalists of all media forms. 'How could you possibly allow just anybody to post just anything under your [CNN] label unless you have blazing billboards that say, "None of this has been verified, we've not looked at any of this, we have no idea if this is true?"' he asks."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25301 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/0ctxmBC80Qc/article.pl Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:05:01 EDT Ian Lamont recently asked Google if they planned to extend their transcription of books and other printed media to include public records, many of which were handwritten before word processors became ubiquitous. Google wouldn't talk about any potential plans, but Lamont found out a bit more about the limits of optical code recognition in the process: "Even though some CAPTCHA schemes have been cracked in the past year, a far more difficult challenge lies in using software to recognize handwritten text. Optical code recognition has been used for years to convert printed documents into text data, but the enormous variation in handwriting styles has thwarted large-scale OCR imports of handwritten public documents and historical records. Ancestry.com took a surprising approach to digitizing and converting all publicly released US census records from 1790 to 1930: It contracted the job to Chinese firms whose staff manually transcribed the names and other information. The Chinese staff are specially trained to read the cursive and other handwriting styles from digitized paper records and microfilm. The task is ongoing with other handwritten records, at a cost of approximately $10 million per year, the company's CEO says."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25294 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/MQrYFsI9h0s/article.pl Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:05:01 EDT GovIT Geek writes to tell us that third-party websites will no longer be off limits for members of the US House, providing that they use it for "official purposes" and not personal, commercial, or campaign purposes. "The rules are seen by House Administration Chairman Robert Brady as a compromise between several proposals under consideration in recent months and are closely aligned with those circulated by the Senate Rules Committee last week. [...] 'These new guidelines are a step in the right direction for a Congress that has been behind the technological curve for too long,' Boehner said. 'By encouraging the use of emerging and established new media tools, Congress is sending the message that we want to speak to citizens, and receive feedback, in the most open and accessible manner possible.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25250 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Njc5oUIoS6w/article.pl Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:05:06 EDT Time-shifting via Tivo changed the way we consume television programming. Now, Open Source enters the fray. Roku, the streaming-media set-top box has decided to Open Source its software. Roku had received praise for its streaming solution, and was in the press recently for its deal with Netflix, allowing users to stream Netflix movies directly to the box. From the article, 'Roku will release an open source version of its software by the end of the year. The CEO says he's looking for deals with content providers to stream their products through his device, and hopes to sell a bunch of them as a result.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25167 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/hRiLRyRQ5xo/article.pl Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:07:00 EDT