Techdirt:RIAA Says It's Granting You A Favor In Letting You Use Your iPod

Techdirt:RIAA Says It’s Granting You A Favor In Letting You Use Your iPod

The recording industry has made it clear in the past that they feel they deserve money for every iPod sold, even though they fought the development of MP3 players every step of the way, claiming (oh, that again?) that it would destroy the music business. Of course, they seem to ignore that the success of the iPod alone has allowed them to start to build up a business in digital music sales. The latest move, however, is to suggest that the fact you can transfer (some) songs from CDs (that don’t have copy protection) to your iPod has nothing to do with fair use (which they like to pretend doesn’t exist) and is simply a gracious favor that the recording industry offers everyone by choice. As part of a petition they’ve filed with the government concerning the latest DMCA rule-making, they make it clear that the government should recognize transferring music to an iPod is because they alone have said it’s okay, and does not show that copying a song to another device is fair use in any manner.

Microsoft driver flaw saps battery strength | CNET News.com

Microsoft driver flaw saps battery strength | CNET News.com
Microsoft has confirmed the existence of a flaw in its USB 2.0 drivers for Windows XP Service Pack 2 that can cause a notebook to consume power at a faster-than-expected rate when using a peripheral device.

The issue, first uncovered by Tom’s Hardware two weeks ago, appears to affect certain Intel-based notebooks running Windows XP Service Pack 2. When a peripheral device was connected to a USB (universal serial bus) 2.0 port, the notebook’s battery life plunged at a greater rate than would normally be expected from the use of a peripheral such as a mouse or storage key. At the time that details of the flaw were published, Intel denied its processors or chipsets were the responsible for the issue. And Microsoft refused to confirm to CNET News.com until yesterday that the software company was responsible for the battery performance problem .

IOL: Scientists detect first neutrinos

IOL: Scientists detect first neutrinos

Hoping to unlock the mysteries of black holes and the Big Bang, a team of scientists from Japan and seven other countries has apparently detected its first neutrinos in a multiyear project under way in Antarctica.The project, dubbed IceCube, was launched in 2002, but only detected its first neutrinos on January 29, recording the faint flashes of light given off by the particles when they interact with electrons in water molecules, team member Shigeru Yoshida, a cosmic-ray physics professor at Chiba University, said on Thursday.

Yoshida said it was the first time neutrinos had been captured in a natural environment outside a laboratory, but cautioned that the results still needed to be studied and confirmed.

IOL: New teen-repelling gadget launched

IOL: New teen-repelling gadget launched

A new gadget repels gangs of teenagers by emitting a high-pitched noise that can be heard only by under 20s.Police are backing the Sonic Teenager Deterrent, nicknamed the Mosquito because of its sound, reports the Daily Telegraph.

It annoys teenagers so intensely they have to clutch their ears. Eventually they can stand it no longer and have to move on.

But because the body’s natural ability to detect some frequency wave bands diminishes almost entirely after 20, adults are completely immune.