HD DVD cracks - Digg Riot

The Riot on Digg last night was amazing to watch unfold. A submission on Digg which contained the recently uncovered encryption key for HD DVD discs was removed yesterday by the site's admins after the site was served with a DMCA takedown notice, according to Digg CEO Jay Adelson. Such takedown notices are not uncommon. The AACS LA has issued them far and wide in an attempt to give the crack as low a profile as possible—Boing Boing blogger Cory Doctorow was the recent recipient of just such a notice after students of a class on copyright he was teaching at the University of Southern California posted the key and a link to the infamous Doom9 forum where AACS cracks have been openly discussed.

The futility of the AACS' actions was demonstrated last night when Digg was hit with a barrage of submissions containing the forbidden key. For a few hours, Digg's front page consisted of little more than a succession of links to the hexadecimal HD DVD key. After several hours, Digg cofounder Kevin Rose said that the site had received the message loud and clear, pledging that Digg would no longer kill stories and comments containing the key.

While the shenanigans at Digg were fascinating to watch as they unfolded, in the grand scheme of DRM it serves mostly as a reminder that the Internet holds no secrets. Like it or not for the AACS LA, DVD Forum (which backs HD DVD), and the Blu-ray Disc Association, Pandora's Box is opened wide. Not only is the key out in the open, but perhaps more damagingly to the HD lobby, public awareness of DRM and its cracks has been raised. How will HD DVD, Blu-ray, and AACS LA respond? We don't know, and chances are that they don't either. more

Congress Attacks Rural Broadband Program

Members of a House committee charged yesterday that a five-year, $1.2 billion program to expand broadband Internet services to rural communities has missed many unserved areas while channeling hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidized loans to companies in places where service already exists.

The Post reported that since 2001 more than half the money has gone to metropolitan regions or communities within easy commutes of a mid-size city. An Internet provider in Houston got $23 million in loans to wire affluent subdivisions, including one that boasts million-dollar houses and an equestrian center. more

Rapid-fire brings Sandia closer to fusion goal

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An electrical circuit that should carry enough power to produce the long-sought goal of controlled high-yield nuclear fusion and, equally important, do it every 10 seconds, has undergone extensive preliminary experiments and computer simulations at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z machine facility.

Z, when it fires, is already the largest producer of X-rays on Earth and has been used to produce fusion neutrons. But rapid bursts are necessary for future generating plants to produce electrical power from sea water. This had not been thought achievable till now. more

Fox Canceled Drive

Fox Broadcasting has canceled Drive. The newest hit show that was set to air on Monday Evenings. This is the second time that Fox has screwed actor Nathan Fillion and has had a show thrown away by Fox. The last show was Firefly back in 2002. If I were this guy I would step back and take a serious look about working for Fox again. There is another story over at Variety. And I found this post in the forum of xgoth. The only thing that I can find on Fox's Drive site is a message saying that the Final 2 episodes will air sometime this summer.

Despite decent reviews, "Drive" quickly stalled, averaging just a 2.3 rating and 6 share among adults 18-49, and 5.6 million viewers overall.

Monday night's "Drive" didn't help matters, coming in fifth place for the hour (1.5/5) and driving "24" to record lows, dropping Fox to fourth for the night.

Extreme Tattoos

Need I say more...

Vermont Senate: Impeach the President

Vermont Senate Adopts Resolution Seeking Impeachment of Bush, Cheney MONTPELIER, Vt. Apr 20, 2007 (AP)— Vermont senators voted Friday to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, saying their actions have raised "serious questions of constitutionality."

Game Industry Cash?

Gamers are snapping up the new generation of games consoles - Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii, and Sony's Playstation 3 [PS3], but at huge cost to the industry.

Hardware makers are losing hundreds of dollars on every console sold, and games publishers face an "increasingly difficult environment, as rising development costs and small user bases [mean] that return on investment in next generation games development is unlikely to be achieved before 2008," according to media analysts Screen Digest. More importantly, though, the video games publishers are facing a revolution of their business model...more

War In Iraq Unpublished Pictures

I found these images while browsing. The site is in spanish but the pictures are there.

Find Open Source Alternatives to commercial software

Find open source alternatives to your favourite commercial products. Browse through the software categories and compare pros and cons of both commercial products as well as open source software.

US Marijuana Party Official Website - Who We Are

The United States Marijuana Party
Is a motivated group of Americans who are tired of living in fear of their government because of marijuana prohibition. We are fed up with the intrusion into our personal lives, with urine testing at work and at school, with armed home invasions, and with the possibility of prison because of a plant. We are Americans and we do not piss in a cup for anyone but our doctor!"