One of the major beneficiaries of the increased interest in alternative energy has been ethanol, which has seen a surge in investment activity, despite questions about how efficient or "green" it actually is. Historically, one of the more bona fide alternative forms of energy has been solar power, although it has always been hampered by issues of cost effectiveness. But it appears that the technology may finally be getting its day in the sun, so to speak. The solar power sector has been well represented during the recent IPO boom, particularly firms from China, which have raised $1.1 billion collectively from public investors. Of course, by virtue of their being from China, these companies are taking advantage of two separate simultaneous booms.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In support of its ex parte, 'John Doe,' discovery applications against college students, the RIAA has been using a declaration by its 'Anti-Piracy' Vice President Carlos Linares (PDF) to show the judge that it has a good copyright infringement case against the 'John Does.' A Boston University student has challenged the validity of Mr. Linares's declaration, and the RIAA is fighting back. Would appreciate the Slashdot community's take on the validity of Mr. Linares's 'science.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

I read my favorite business book of all time at least once a month. Luckily it’s only 30 pages.

Benjamin Franklin’s The Way to Wealth, was first published in 1758 as a preface to Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac. It’s a summary of his previously published thoughts on how to succeed in business (and, I’d say, life).

It’s chock full of astute observations such as:

Creditors have better memories than debtors

If you want to be wealthy, think of saving as well as earning

A ploughman on his legs is higher than a gentleman on his knees

If you want to know the value of money, go try to borrow some

Buy what you do not need, and soon you will sell your necessities

It’s easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it

Experience keeps an expensive school, but fools will learn in no other

A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two different things

Keep your shop and your shop will keep you

...and so on.

And if you’ve ever wondered where “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” and “There are no gains without pains” came from, now you know.

It’s really a wonderfully simple read that’s packed with reason. You can buy it for a few bucks or read it online for free. I’d recommend the purchase—it’s a great little book to have around.

Over the years, there have been tons of articles about Wikipedia -- some more ridiculous than others. The haters of Wikipedia are pretty common, though, as you read what they have to say it often becomes clear that they don't actually understand Wikipedia and believe it's something it's not. However, the NY Times Magazine this past weekend has a more interesting -- and, frankly, "neutral" -- article on Wikipedia that looks more at the people who keep Wikipedia going as well as Wikipedia's impact on news coverage. It notes that Wikipedia is often much better than offshoot Wikinews when it comes to keeping up with breaking news. However, what's most interesting is hearing the various quotes from the various volunteers who keep Wikipedia going. Despite what you may have read from various Wikipedia critics, the folks who devote so much time to Wikipedia take it, and its principles of neutrality, incredibly seriously. While there may be nothing really new in the article, it's one of the first that I've seen that gives a more reasonable picture of how Wikipedia's biggest supporters view the site -- and it works quite well as a response to people who insist that Wikipedia couldn't possibly be trustworthy (or that it somehow is an affront to "experts" -- when that's not the case at all).

DigDuality writes with an explanation of the silence of the Show Us the Code initiative. The push he began — to gather influential sponsors demanding that Steve Ballmer reveal what Linux code he believed to be infringing Microsoft patents — was discussed here last February. "Show Us the Code has been silent since March 23. May came and went — the deadline allotted for calling Ballmer's bluff — but the site gave no update. I now explain the silence. After a scheduled interview with Forbes columnist Dan Lyons didn't happen, and my place of employment falsely accused me of representing that they endorsed my own political goals, I decided it was best to shut my mouth so I would be able to keep paying my bills. I'm glad to see Linus now publicly echoing the sentiments that this site espoused. Maybe someone already accustomed to the limelight will have better luck in challenging Microsoft's FUD machine."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

NY Times: "Presidents have the power to grant clemency and pardons. But in this case, Mr. Bush did not sound like a leader making tough decisions about justice. He sounded like a man worried about what a former loyalist might say when actually staring into a prison cell."

Miguel de Icaza: "No criminal left behind."

A new entrypoint in the API.

http://docs.twittergram.com/#isPhoneRegistered

There will be an end-user announcement here tomorrow.

Exciting times!

Matt writes "Straight from our good friend and colleague in the fight for quality distributions, Mr. Patrick Volkerding, comes a brand-new and eagerly-awaited release of Slackware, version 12. HAL automount, KDE 3.5.7 and XFCE 4.4.1, Xorg 7.2, 2.6 kernels as far as the eye can see, oodles of updated applications and utilities, and hardware support for just about anything under the sun. Get it here. Enjoy! I know I will."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The music industry has felt threatened by Allofmp3.com for quite some time. After all, a site delivering DRM-free music at a low cost is record labels' worst nightmare. The RIAA's always-intense lobbying efforts paid off when it got the US government to threaten Russia that unless it shut down the site, it wouldn't be admitted to the World Trade Organization. They've now gotten what they paid for their wish, as Allofmp3.com has now been shut down, after pressure from the Russian government. But in a move to highlight the utter pointlessness of all of this, the company behind Allofmp3 -- which has shown little concern for the flap over the WTO -- has already set up another site, Mp3sparks.com, which appears nearly identical to Allofmp3. The company says it's setting aside 15 percent of its revenues to pay royalties to record labels, and is considering paying another 5 percent on top of that, even though it's not legally required to do so. Of course, that's not likely to matter to the labels, which sued Allofmp3, even though it had apparently been trying to pay royalties to them, in accordance with Russian law. The typically misguided approach of the music industry here is obvious, though it's more than a little annoying to see the recording industry (yet again) get the government to do its bidding -- particularly when the US government ignores the WTO on other matters, when it's convenient.

Xeni Jardin: Lewis "Scooter" Libby received a commutation of his 30 month prison term today from the president of the United States, who described the sentence as "excessive." Link.

An anonymous reader notes that President Bush has decided to commute Scooter Libby's sentence after numerous appeals failed. Libby was convicted in March of obstruction of justice in connection with the Valerie Plame affair. The President's action spares Libby from 30 months behind bars."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Mark Frauenfelder:
I went to TED2007 as a member of the press and was profoundly impressed by the quality of the events and the speakers. I drove home dumbfounded by the cascade of mind-boggling information in the presentations I saw there.

I told my friends about TED and its effect on me, but I knew I wasn't able to convey how wonderful the speakers were. Fortunately, TED is offering the talks on its website in the form of 20-minute videos. There very high quality, and they're free.

I recommend starting with researcher Hans Rosling's presentation of his Trendalyzer software, which converts inscrutable database numbers into instantly-understandable and revealing dynamic animations.

In a follow-up to his now-legendary TED2006 presentation, Hans Rosling demonstrates how developing countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. He shows us the next generation of his Trendalyzer software -- which analyzes and displays data in amazingly accessible ways, allowing people to see patterns previously hidden behind mountains of stats. (Ten days later, he announced a deal with Google to acquire the software.) He also demos Dollar Street, a program that lets you peer in the windows of typical families worldwide living at different income levels. Be sure to watch straight through to the (literally) jaw-dropping finale.

Link

Mark Frauenfelder: Gatwick aiport has a new capsule hotel, called the Yotel. A four hour stay in a premium cabin (10 square meters, or about 108 square feet)costs £40.00 (US$80).

Bedside charging points, personal lighting, dimming control and bed deployment switch allows you to work or relax without moving from the comfort of your bed

The luxury bathroom includes overhead rain shower, a hand shower, revitalising all in one body wash, hairdryer, heated mirror and soft towels .

A retractable storage area below the bed for suitcases.

The study desk folds out of the techno wall with its own stow able chair and a complete range of power and connectivity including free internet access and cosy local lighting. Suit and dress hanging and storage for everything from your smalls to the loose change provide a place for everything and everything a place.

A 23”flat screen TV system with huge choice of films, TV, radio, internet and an input for your own music and iPod.

Order from a cabin service menu on screen or visit the galley where your cabin crew are on duty 24 hours a day.

Link

A few weeks back, the media pranksters, The Yes Men, pulled off their latest prank. They got on stage at a gas and oil conference, pretending to be an ExxonMobil exec and a member of the U.S. National Petroleum Council and proceeded to pitch a new product called Exxon Vivoleum, which would be made from the remains of people who died due to global climate change. The two men were soon escorted off-stage and out of the building. No matter what your opinion is on the topic of energy companies or climate change, it was a pretty amusing prank. It got it's week or so of play in the news and on some talk shows and had started to fade away. However, now it's popping back up because someone (and no one seems to know who) has convinced the Yes Men's ISP to pull the plug on the Vivoleum parody site (via Slashdot). On top of that, the ISP is demanding that all mentions of Exxon be removed from the Yes Men's own website, or their email will be turned off. This, of course, would suggest that Exxon was behind the complaint that got the site pulled. If that's the case, then Exxon is overstepping its bounds. Parody is protected free speech (and Exxon's lawyers know this). Furthermore, simply mentioning the name of Exxon doesn't infringe on their trademark. Abusing intellectual property law to shut up critics can backfire badly. Already, this is causing the Vivoleum story to get added life after it had started to fade, and now it could open up questions about whether Exxon is abusing intellectual property law as well.

Mark Frauenfelder: Japan's wickedly cool-looking new bullet train, the Type N7000, started operating today. It cost $2.1 billion to develop and can go 185 MPH.

JR officials are touting the Type N700 as the fastest bullet train ever. It will travel between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka stations in two hours and 25 minutes -— five minutes less than before. It will barrel between Tokyo and Hakata in four hours and 50 minutes, saving about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, here in California, we don't even have a train that goes between LA and SF. I guess I'll have to settle for this Shinkansen N700 USB Flash memory. Link

Mark Frauenfelder: Tom says:

The Supreme Court's ruling in the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case has caused much confusion about what type of student speech is punishable (promoting illegal drug use) and what is permissible (promoting changes to drug laws).

Students for Sensible Drug Policy has put together a fun and educational flash game where players pose as a high school principal who has to choose whether to punish students for a series of banners about drugs and drug policy.

If you punish too many students, you'll get sued, so watch out!

Link

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Supreme court-approved drugs for Jesus
• Bong Hits 4 Jesus: high court ruling's implications for online speech
• Paul Krassner on Supremes' "Bong hits 4 Jesus ruling"
• Chief Justice Rehnquist's drug habit

studguy1 writes to tell us TorrentFreak is reporting that the Russian government has shut down Allofmp3, the popular online music site. "AllOfMP3 has been a thorn in the side of the RIAA and the US government for years. Last year, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said that if Russia wants to join the WTO, they should shut down the pirate music website that is robbing US recording companies of sales."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Mark Frauenfelder: Surveillance video of young picketpockets removing purses and wallets from unwitting tourists at Milan airport. Link