No IP Addresses for RIAA

From ars technica:

The music industry's requests for more personal information regarding the identity of several accused file-sharers have been shot down by a federal judge. Judge Nancy Gertner quashed a subpoena this week in the infamous London-Sire v. Does 1-4 case, saying that the IP addresses of three anonymous Boston University students could not be handed over because the university had "adequately demonstrated that it is not able to identify the alleged infringers with a reasonable degree of technical certainty."

U.S. Kids Lag in 'Net Access

From Reuters:

Fewer young Americans have Internet access than their peers in the Czech Republic, Canada, Macao and Britain, a survey of 13 countries around the world showed.

Wakamaru Robot Makes Acting Debut

From CNet:

Tuesday marked the theatrical debut for the bot, which appeared onstage alongside real-life actors in a play that's being hailed as a first in robot-human artistic collaboration. Hataraku Watashi ("I, Worker"), by playwright Oriza Hirata, focuses on a couple who own two housekeeping robots, one of which loses its motivation to work.

Cell Phones Fill Texas Prisons

So many were found during a recent sweep of prisoner cells that officials at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice are considering installing phone jamming equipment.

Drew Convicted of 3 Misdemeanors

But was found not guilty on felony charges.

Claim: Wikipedia Drug Info Incomplete

Researchers in Florida have found that Wikipedia entries for medications, while generally accurate, often omit important information about possible adverse effects and dangerous interactions with other drugs.

Dr. Kevin A. Clauson of Nova Southeastern University in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and his colleagues found few factual errors in their evaluation of Wikipedia entries on 80 drugs. But these entries were often missing important information, for example the fact that the anti-inflammatory drug Arthrotec (diclofenac and misoprostol) can cause pregnant women to miscarry, or that St. John's wort can interfere with the action of the HIV drug Prezista (darunavir).

Med Searches May Lead to Anxiety

The study of 515 individuals was done by Microsoft, but it's unclear from the article what kind of medical background the researchers have.

"Web search engines have the potential to escalate medical concerns," or "cyberchondria," Ryen White and Eric Horvitz wrote in the study published by the Redmond, Washington-based software company on Monday.

Facebook Wins $873M Judgement

Against a Canadian spammer.

Judge Jeremy Fogel on Friday ordered Adam Guerbuez and his company Atlantis Blue Capital to pay 436.2 million dollars in statutory damages and another 436.2 million dollars in aggravated statutory damages for violations of the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM).

More Bush Email May Be Lost

Much of the problem is because the National Archive's plan lacks specifics.

"The American people are at risk of losing the Bush administration’s electronic records," warned Anne Weismann, CREW's top lawyer. "It is appalling that less than two months before the administration ends, the agency entrusted with preserving our nation's historical records still has very little information about what records it will be receiving. True to form, the White House is keeping both NARA and the public in the dark up to the very end."

Lost Nasa Toolbag on eBay

Psych!

Dawn of the Robotic Insect Spies

From the AP:

The next generation of drones, called Micro Aerial Vehicles, or MAVs, could be as tiny as bumblebees and capable of flying undetected into buildings, where they could photograph, record and even attack insurgents and terrorists.

Tim Karr - Net Neutrality Update

Our guest on November 22 was Tim Karr of FreePress and SaveTheInternet. We talked about some of the possibilities regarding Net Neutrality during the upcoming Obama administration.

- Listen to the Interview -

Jury Selection in MySpace Suicide Trial

From Wired:

Jury selection began Tuesday in the trial of a Missouri woman accused of making unauthorized use of MySpace to cause emotional harm to a 13-year-old girl.

Nat. Geo. Gets Its Game On

National Geographic is now developing video games.

Lynda Weinman Interview

Our guest on November 15 was Lynda Weinman of Lynda.com and author of many books. We talked about the latest hot topics in web development, such as Rich Internet Applications, as well as some basics, such as when it's appropriate to use these bells and whistles.

- Listen To The Interview -

Jerry Yang to Step Down

Jerry Yang is reportedly going to step down as CEO of Yahoo!

Mama Kills Animals

PETA has posted a game on its site which lets us know what they think about serving up turkey for Thanksgiving. Its a parody of the popular Nintendo DS game Cooking Mama.

Virtual Worlds / DigiFest 2008

As part of our coverage of AFI DigiFest 2008, we talked with Nonny de la Pena and Peggy Weil about using new technology to tell a story. Their Gone Gitmo installation in Second Life is a prime example.

-Listen to the Interivew -

We also talk about other things at DigiFest. Here are Ric's notes, so you can follow along.

"My Last Days on Mars"

Nasa's Phoenix Lander is currently guest blogging on Gizmodo. It also has a Twitter feed.

Two Hour Pre-Election Special

With just a few days to go, we were joined by Brad Friedman for the entire two hours to talk about some of the latest voting irregularities, and what can be done about them.

- Part 1 - Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman of Free Press.org
- Part 2 - Craig Aaron of Free Press.net
- Part 3 - Nancy Scola of Twitter Vote Report
- Part 4 - John Bonifaz of Voter Action