iSoftNews

Louisiana Federal Judge Blocks Drilling Moratorium

webmaster — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:06:06 +0000

eldavojohn writes “In the ongoing BP debacle, the Obama administration imposed a six-month moratorium on offshore drilling and a halt to 33 exploratory wells going into the Gulf of Mexico. Now a federal judge (in New Orleans, no less) is unsatisfied with the reasons for this and stated, ‘An invalid agency decision to suspend drilling of wells in depths of over 500 feet simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region, and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country.’ The state’s governor agrees on the grounds that blocking drilling will cost the state thousands of lucrative jobs.” The government quickly vowed to appeal, pointing out that a moratorium on 33 wells is unlikely to have a devastating impact in a region hosting 3,600 active wells. And reader thomst adds this insight on the judge involved in the case: “Yahoo’s Newsroom is reporting that the judge who overturned the drilling moratorium holds stock in drilling companies. You can view his financial disclosure forms listing his stock holdings online at Judicial Watch (PDF).”

Australian Cybercrime Enquiry Report Released

webmaster — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:06:09 +0000

An anonymous reader writes “The Australian Government Standing Committee on Communications has released the results of a year long enquiry into cybercrime in a report titled Hackers, Fraudsters and Botnets: Tackling the Problem of Cyber Crime. This report includes a recommendation that Internet Service Provider customers should be forced to install anti-virus and firewall software on their computers as part of their contractual obligations. The Australian Communications and Media Authority receive further powers and responsibilities under the recommendations with respect to shutting down websites hosting malicious content and ensuring that infected consumer devices are disconnected from the Internet.”

AT&T not selling iPhone 4 until June 29 (AP)

webmaster — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:06:26 +0000

AP - Though Apple stores will be carrying the iPhone 4 this Thursday, you’ll have to wait until next week if you want to buy it from its official U.S. wireless carrier, AT&T Inc.

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Opinion: My Old Nemesis…So We Meet Again (by Gorzo The Mighty)

webmaster — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:06:56 +0000

Aha. There was indeed an explanation for shipboard oxygen consumption exceeding projections by a fraction of a percent: It seems a parasite has stowed away upon my Royal luxury vessel!

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HP announces new rack, blade servers

webmaster — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:06:09 +0000

Hewlett-Packard on Tuesday announced new blade and rack servers designed to deliver more performance while combining hardware and software capabilities to improve server reliability and lower energy costs.

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A New 30″ Contender: HP ZR30w Review

webmaster — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:06:01 +0000

Recently, HP’s performance ZR series of LCD displays have attracted quite a bit of attention. We’ve heard your comments and pleas for reviews of the 22” and 24” ZR series of HP displays, and those are still very much forthcoming. But for today, we’re breaking some news with a review and launch announcement of HP’s 30” high performance display refresh - the S-IPS ZR30w. It's HP's latest and greatest flagship, and we've thoroughly reviewed it.

Meet HP's new 30" flagship, the ZR30w

Does this 1+ billion color behemoth capture the 30" crown? Read on and find out!

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Apple sells 3 million iPads in first 80 days - Los Angeles Times

webmaster — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:06:48 +0000

Economist (blog)

Apple sells 3 million iPads in first 80 days
Los Angeles Times
Apple Inc. has sold more than 3 million iPads just 80 days after the tablet computer's launch in the United States. The touch-screen iPad blew past analysts' expectations even in its first month when it sold 1 …
Apple Sells Three Millionth iPad 80 Days After LaunchWall Street Journal
Apple Says It Sold Three Million IPads in 80 DaysBloomberg
UBS Analyst Raises iPad Estimates for Fiscal 2010 & 2011The Mac Observer
CNET -InformationWeek -ChannelWeb
all 461 news articles »

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Google Voice: Your Guide to Getting Started - PC World

webmaster — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:06:12 +0000

PC World

Google Voice: Your Guide to Getting Started
PC World
Google Voice, previously available only by personal invitation, provides you with a single number to centralize all the phones in your life. Your Google Voice number can ring multiple phones — either all at the same time or individually, …
Faster Forward: Google Voice now open to all in the USWashington Post
Google Voice makes its (US-only) public debutArs Technica
Google Voice Free for AllWired News
InformationWeek -CNET -Los Angeles Times (blog)
all 137 news articles »

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Pandora Radio on iOS 4.0 Results in Audio Skipping

webmaster — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:06:38 +0000

Today Apple announced the gold master release of iOS 4 to the general public. While the rollout has gone relatively smoothly thus far, with both Anand and I moving from the latest release candidate to the gold master build without issue, we noticed something unnerving while doing performance and battery life testing involving one of iOS 4’s most touted features: background audio playback multitasking.

The combination of Pandora Radio background playback while surfing the web in Safari results in audio skipping after about an hour. Read on for more info.

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Welcome to Valhalla: Inside the New 250GB Xbox 360 Slim

webmaster — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:06:58 +0000

Five years ago we dissected the original Xbox 360. Today we're back with the new, slim Xbox 360 and have put together a similar guide to disassembling the console. In addition we've gone in and looked at the power savings and noise reduction made possible by further integrating the CPU and GPU onto a single package.

Moore's Law delivers as the new Xbox 360 uses roughly 80% of the power of the previous generation (and less than 50% of the original Xbox 360). Noise characteristics are also improved. We measured a 4 - 5 decibel reduction in noise when using the system.

Read on for the full guide!

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