Kiwis rally opposition to NZ copyright bill.
Two controversial provisions of a New Zealand copyright law, slated to take effect next month, are stirring opposition. Artists and ISPs say the law will result in the disconnection of users and deletion of content on the basis of mere allegations of copyright infringement.
By julian.sanchez@arstechnica.com (Julian Sanchez).
"Skanks in NYC" blog post leads to lawsuit against Google.
Bloggers that wish to retain their anonymity may be watching an otherwise farcical case that's been filed in New York, where a model has claimed that a blog has defamed her and is suing Google in an attempt to discover who's behind it.
By jtimmer@arstechnica.com (John Timmer).
Inside assisted GPS: helping GPS help you.
Ever wonder how your mobile phone can find your location quickly, even on a cloudy day where a satellite signal is hard to come by? The answer is that many of these devices use assisted GPS (AGPS). Ars brings you an in-depth look at how this technology works.
By glenn@glennf.com (Glenn Fleishman).
Indie dev suggests peers should support OS X, Linux gaming.
An independent developer from Wolfire Games has made the case that his peers should be supporting OS X and Linux with cross-platform games for a number of easy to grasp reasons. In the face of heavy competition, this simple strategy could be the key to success.
By fcaron@arstechnica.com (Frank Caron).
WiMAX goes live in Portland; Chicago delayed into 2H 2009.
Clearwire opens its second WiMax market in Portland, Ore., but future deployment plans are murky. Clearwire's service competes on price and speed with wireless and wireline sevices.
By glenn@glennf.com (Glenn Fleishman).
Root inside: researchers claim crack for Intel's vPro.
A pair of security researchers claim to have cracked Intel's trusted execution technology (TXT), a critical part of the vPro platform. Few details on the attack are available, so it's hard to suss out what, if anything, this means for the chip giant's plans.
By jon@arstechnica.com (Jon Stokes).
Macworld.Ars: Keynote day coverage wrap-up.
We recap our team's first full day of Macworld festivities, starting with the Phil-note this morning and ending with parties this evening.
By clintecker@gmail.com (Clint Ecker).
"Social electronics," open source, and Linux smartphones.
OpenMoko CEO Sean Moss-Pultz recently used a message to the project mailing list to share his views about openness, community-driven product development, and the future of OpenMoko.
By segphault@arstechnica.com (Ryan Paul).
Pols hit panic button as DTV coupon program goes broke.
Things are getting hairy for the DTV transition. What now? The analog converter coupon program is broke.
By ml@lasarletter.net (Matthew Lasar).
Intel feels pain from dropping revenue, WiMAX investment.
The chip giant finally feels the full brunt of the recession, as revenue drops by 20 percent and its investment holdings plummet by over $1 billion. Its investment in WiMAX is also hurting Intel's bottom line.
By jtimmer@arstechnica.com (John Timmer).
Ars at CES: Ballmer keynote coverage and more.
Ars is at CES. Look inside and find out how to stay on top of our coverage.
By eric@arstechnica.com (Eric Bangeman).
FCC: Burn it down or reform it?.
The FCC needs either an overhaul or a complete dismantling. At a conference in DC this week, academics and former FCC staff argue that the agency can be fixed. A new website offers their ideas and seeks thoughts from the public, too.
By nate@arstechnica.com (Nate Anderson).
AT&T moves closer to offering in-home cell base stations.
AT&T is asking customers whether they'd like to test putting a tiny cellular base station in their home.
By glenn@glennf.com (Glenn Fleishman).
OLPC downsizes half of its staff, cuts Sugar development.
The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, which aims to build low-cost mobile computing devices for students in developing countries, has announced major layoffs.
By segphault@arstechnica.com (Ryan Paul).
Oprah and her book club latest target of patent trolls.
A patent holding company has wound up with a patent that appears to cover the transmission of books via the Internet, and (after settling with Google) now has Oprah Winfrey's book club in its sights. But the real story may be how the patent was produced in the first place.
By jtimmer@arstechnica.com (John Timmer).
DVCS adoption is soaring among open source projects.
Large-scale open source software projects are increasingly adopting distributed version control systems such as Git, Bazaar, and Mercurial. Ars takes a look at the challenges and rewards of making the jump to a DVCS.
By segphault@arstechnica.com (Ryan Paul).
OQO launches world's smallest Vista PC with OLED screen.
OQO has been around almost as long as Ars, and through the years the company has been so far ahead of the portable computing curve that it hasn't been able to catch on with consumers. But Intel's Atom and the rise of OLED could make 2009 OQO's year, at long last.
By jon@arstechnica.com (Jon Stokes).
CES.Ars: Live blog of Microsoft keynote.
Ars Technica's live coverage of the Microsoft keynote at CES 2009
By clintecker@gmail.com (Clint Ecker).
Students, law prof want RIAA trial live and online.
The group of Harvard Law students defending one Joel Tenenbaum in an RIAA lawsuit have an unusual request for the judge: they want the whole case streamed live over the Internet.
By nate@arstechnica.com (Nate Anderson).
Forecasting space weather and its economic impact.
The National Academies convened a public workshop last year on the impact of space weather on the economy and society; we take a look.
By jonathan@arstechnica.com (Jonathan M. Gitlin).
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