Radio Free Europe writes "The big news is not that SoundExchange has repackaged the same royalty proposal that small webcasters rejected in May, but that SoundExchange has dropped its previous insistence that DRM be a part of any agreement. 'On the bright side, it doesn't appear as if DRM is part of the terms this time around. Previously, SoundExchange stated that webcasters who agree to the deal must actively "work to stop users from engaging in 'streamripping'." This began a war of words between the Digital Media Association (DiMA) and SoundExchange, with DiMA accusing SoundExchange of using rate negotiations to push mandatory DRM. SoundExchange's letter leaves the much-maligned streamripping issue out of the discussion, clearing at least that hurdle.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Just last week, we were talking about how the fear of being accused of "willful infringement" was once again distorting the purpose of the patent system. If you're found willfully infringing, rather than just accidentally infringing, the damages can be tripled. For that reason, many companies now have policies telling employees that they are not to search through patents, as any indication that they saw a specific patent could potentially be used as evidence of willful infringement. However, there is some good news on this front. The Against Monopoly blog points out that a new appeals court ruling has raised the bar on what is considered willful infringement to the point where the accuser must show "clear and convincing evidence that the infringer acted despite an objectively high likelihood that its actions constituted infringement of a valid patent." It's interesting to see this ruling come out of CAFC, the appeals court that handles patent cases. The Supreme Court has been slapping down CAFC decisions left and right lately, suggesting that it's unhappy with CAFC's previously lenient position on patents. Perhaps the folks at CAFC have gotten the message.

tom66 writes "Seems like a long time coming, as Microsoft today has axed it's Anti-Linux campaign 'Get the Facts', and Microsoft has replaced it with a new campaign, called 'compare'. This article touches up on why they may have done it, and the criticism surrounding Get the Facts."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Xeni Jardin:

Above: "My name is Glenn Weyant and i play the US/Mexico border with a cello bow and other implements of mass percussion. Link."

How much is that blow job in the window? Pay rates for sex acts at Kink.com: Link.

At long last: The Stephen Colbert / Richard Branson splashdown: Video Link.

A Tyrannosaurus Rex could outrun David Beckham: Link.

Scientists replicate out-of-body experience using VR goggles and a stick. Link.

Beautiful golden unicorn weathervanes! Link!

BB reader Matt C. says: "The Earth was cool at a young age. But like most aging ex-hipsters it later quit smoking and tried to cover its bald patches." Link.

Link to "A 15,000 year tour of Manhattan," Flash slideshow of NYC decaying after all the humans are dead (we used poisonous gases/and we poisoned their asses). From the website promoting Alan Weisman's new book, "The World Without Us."

This machine produces instant french fries automagically from powdery potatoey flakes. Link.

So, you want to be a sommelier: Link .

Crafty pancake pillows: Link.

Crafty boobie pillows: Link.

Michael Vick, step aside, and kindly take those rottweilers with you: "Actor and Internet personality Wil Wheaton has been indicted by federal prosecutors on charges of promoting and hosting a robot fighting ring." Link.

Can an opera singer's voice really shatter glass? Link.

Racist jerks at a hotel in Mexico treat Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu like a bag lady: Link.

OMG LINUS TORVALDS READS BOINGBOING! Link. The sky above is full of win, and the stars, they spell out "hawsum."

Excellent 1980s party robot for sale on eBay: Link (shown below).

(Thanks, Jack, Fred McCord, Alberto Colin, Scott Rosenblum, Maddy , DJ Spiess, Sean Carton, Joel M, Peabody, Brian, Susannah Breslin)

superstick58 writes "As a system integrator, I am often providing control solutions that utilize sophisticated Ethernet networks and as they say in the biz 'link top floor to shop floor.' Forbes has an article about the security issues that exist in SCADA systems. When I look back at some of the systems I have put in which include direct I/O control over ethernet and distributed HMI monitoring, if I can get access from the internet, it would be easy to bring down power for a plant or at the very least make operators in the building very uncomfortable. How vulnerable are the manufacturing centers of the world?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

For a long time, Google insisted that it had no intention of competing directly against Microsoft in its core business areas, but as the company started to expand its online office suite, it became clear that the two companies would form a rivalry. That being said, few have argued that Google's office apps actually offer a substitute for MS Office (at least not yet), but rather that they work well in certain key areas. Nonetheless, one analyst is warning that deploying Google apps could be a potentially "career limiting" move for any enterprise architects. In other words, don't throw out your Office licenses just because you can save money going with Google. That might be good advice, except that it's basically just knocking down a straw man, as it's hard to imagine there are many people out there actually considering such a drastic course of action. What's funny is that the analyst then goes on to describe the 'limited' areas where Google's service might be useful; they include startups, small businesses, collaborative projects, and enterprise non-power users. It sure sounds like a large swath of the market could be well served by these tools by the analyst's own admission. Simply warning of dire consequences for anyone who puts too much confidence in Google doesn't really address the question.

Xeni Jardin:

Following up on a previous BoingBoing post, here's a snip from CBC news:

Quebec provincial police admitted Thursday that their officers disguised themselves as demonstrators during the protests at the North American leaders summit in Montebello, Quebec.

Link (Thanks, Deb Johnson)

Decius adds,

Police in Quebec have admitted that the people in the YouTube video linked yesterday on BoingBoing were their officers. However, the press release says "Les policiers ont été repérés par les manifestants au moment où ils ont refusé de lancer des projectiles." In english thats: "The police officers were located by the demonstrators when they refused to launch projectiles." Now that version of events is very clearly contradicted by the video, which shows demonstrators telling the officers to put the rock down, not to launch it.

Xeni Jardin:

A good roundup of video chat services and "social television networks" in this NYT article by John Biggs: Link.

Included here, LA-based Operator 11, founded by Josh Harris (previously, founder of Pseudo.com and Jupiter). I visited not long ago and snapped some of the crew at work on my iphone, above. A fascinating place, and a nascent social phenomenon I don't entirely understand, but intend to keep an eye on.

This piece in MIT Technology Review dives in a little deeper to the Operator 11 story: Link.

Lucas123 writes "Seagate will introduce drives based on flash memory in various storage capacities across its range of products including desktop and notebook PCs, according to Sumner Lemon at IDG News Service. The drives are expected to consume less power (longer battery life), offer faster data transfer rates and be more rugged than spinning disk, which has moving parts that can be damaged from an impact."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Cory Doctorow: Love this ceramic juice-jug with integrated squeezer:

With geometric shapes that are pleasing to the eye and warm, colorful enamel decorations, the "tropics" ceramic set is well suited to various tastes and atmospheres, being very attractive even to children. This is a totally ecological design, which encourages us to follow a healthy diet, and it allows us to prepare and serve natural orange, grapefruit or lemon juice, without any reaction between the acids contained in the juice and the varnished ceramic set. The squeezer can be used combined with the pitcher, in which the citrus fruit can be thoroughly squeezed; and then the juice can be served immediately or it can be kept in the pitcher until breakfast time, for this the squeezer is placed upside down and the pitcher is covered with its lid.

Link (via Popgadget)

Cory Doctorow: A Consumerist reader writes in with this chilling tale of TSA confiscation hijinx -- crack anal-probers at the Sacramento airport stole the flyer's pudding, but left him with his stabby stabby knife.

I was passing through Sacto airport security checkpoint. I sent my carry-on backpack through the Xray machine. The operator found something, and raised her hand for assistance. Another TSA person came over and pulled my bag out of the machine and commenced with a hand search. Inside he found a package of unopened Hunts Pudding Snacks in my lunch. He confiscated the pudding "it's a liquid" and sent me on my way. Absurd, but forgettable. However later in the day I had a layover, and was going through my backpack looking for a pen and came across my Swiss Army Knife with a 4" locking blade.

Link (Thanks, Meghann!)

Xeni Jardin:

Over at the Wired News Threat Level blog, Ryan Singel writes:

The nation's top spook Michael McConnell told El Paso Times reporter Chris Roberts last week that debating the nation's spy laws in public means "some Americans are going to die"

[ Ed note: And every time you masturbate, god kills a kitten. ]

...and that companies being sued for helping the government spy on Americans did help the government, an admission that Bush Administration lawyers have repeatedly told courts was a secret that could put Americans at risk. The astounding interview was published on Wednesday.

Link. And in related news, Ryan also reports:

The Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell contradicted the government and his own legal defenses of the nations' telecoms by telling an El Paso newspaper that the companies helped the government with its warrantless wiretapping program. That program ran from October 2001 to January 2006 without court supervision, but now gets special program warrants from a secret spy court.

The nation's largest telecoms, including AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, are being sued for allegedly violating federal and state privacy laws by secretly helping the government spy on Americans' phone and email calls.

Link.

Cory Doctorow: Dutch architects zecc architecten converted a water tower into a nautilus-shaped vertical luxury flat that looks surprisingly homey. I'm especially fond of the little sundeck on the roof. Link (Thanks, Justin!)

Update: Katie sez, "An episode of grand designs, the UK self-build design-porn show, featured a Lutyens-designed water tower that a couple had in their garden. They decided to sell their house and build a new one inside the stilts of the water tower."

Rambus has been involved in a whole series of lawsuits concerning its patents. If you don't recall, the company has been accused of sitting in on meetings for a standards body and then modifying its patent applications to cover technology included in the standard. Of course, once the patents were granted and the standards were set, Rambus basically went after everyone demanding licensing fees. The case has gone back and forth over the years in courts and in the US Federal Trade Commission -- who ruled that these actions were a violation of antitrust law. Over in Europe, it seems that officials feel that this is the perfect test case for a new kind of antitrust violation: "patent ambush." It's nice to see regulators realizing that abuse of patents should be considered an antitrust violation. Hopefully we'll see more of that going forward. Rambus, of course, claims this is nothing new, but it can't be good for them. In the meantime, as always when we post about Rambus, we wonder how long it will take for the company's stock holders to trash us for daring to question the company. Last time we wrote something negative about the company we got an email saying that "the authorities" had been alerted to our post. We wonder if "the authorities" have been alerted about the awful things European Union regulators are saying about Rambus as well.

Xeni Jardin: Johannes Grenzfurthner and the other wild 'n' crazy deep thinkers behind monochrom have just released details on a sex-and-tech-themed conference taking place October 5-7 at the Kink.com porn palace in San Francisco. Snip from the manifesto:

According to a study by Simon Smith, more than 800 items were registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office as sex toys between 1840 and 1997. Among them was a condom with a built-in computer chip that can play music. Progress?

From the depiction of a vulva in a cave painting to the newest internet porno, technology and sexuality have always been closely linked. No one can predict what the future will bring, but history indicates that sex will continue to play an essential role in technological development.

The porno effect accompanies every new technological development. Immediately after producing his famous bible, Gutenberg used his press to print erotica. Photography was utilized just as quickly. In 1874 the London police discovered 130,000 pornographic photos in the course of a single house search. The introduction of cinematic technology also confirmed the close relationship between pornography and technological innovation: in 1896 a pornographic film was shown publicly for the first time, two years after the premiere of the first films of any interest to the general public. Since then, more pornographic films than nonpornographic films have been produced. That in 1977 the first video cassettes to appear on the market featured pornographic content should come as no surprise. The development of the camcorder and the instamatic camera made it possible for anyone so inclined to produce porno in privacy at home. The fact that the first affordable Polaroid model was named "The Swinger" seems to indicate that the industry was well aware of this possible use.

Link to Arse Electronika.

The name is a play on words, and a poke at art conferences some would say take themselves too seriously: Link.

Xeni Jardin: Johannes Grenzfurthner and the other wild 'n' crazy deep thinkers behind monochrom have just released details on a sex-and-tech-themed conference taking place October 5-7 at the Kink.com porn palace in San Francisco. Snip from the manifesto:

According to a study by Simon Smith, more than 800 items were registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office as sex toys between 1840 and 1997. Among them was a condom with a built-in computer chip that can play music. Progress?

From the depiction of a vulva in a cave painting to the newest internet porno, technology and sexuality have always been closely linked. No one can predict what the future will bring, but history indicates that sex will continue to play an essential role in technological development.

The porno effect accompanies every new technological development. Immediately after producing his famous bible, Gutenberg used his press to print erotica. Photography was utilized just as quickly. In 1874 the London police discovered 130,000 pornographic photos in the course of a single house search. The introduction of cinematic technology also confirmed the close relationship between pornography and technological innovation: in 1896 a pornographic film was shown publicly for the first time, two years after the premiere of the first films of any interest to the general public. Since then, more pornographic films than nonpornographic films have been produced. That in 1977 the first video cassettes to appear on the market featured pornographic content should come as no surprise. The development of the camcorder and the instamatic camera made it possible for anyone so inclined to produce porno in privacy at home. The fact that the first affordable Polaroid model was named "The Swinger" seems to indicate that the industry was well aware of this possible use.

Link to Arse Electronica.

The name is a play on words, and a poke at art conferences some would say take themselves too seriously: Link.