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Oracle Goddess writes 'In a story just dripping with irony, Amazon Kindle owners awoke this morning to discover that 1984 and Animal Farm had mysteriously disappeared from their e-book readers. These were books that they had bought and paid for, and thought they owned. Apparently the publisher changed its mind about offering an electronic edition, and apparently Amazon, whose business lives and dies by publisher happiness, caved. It electronically deleted all books by George Orwell from people's Kindles and credited their accounts for the price. Amazon customer service may or may not have responded to queries by stating, 'We've always been at war with Eastasia.'' of this story at Slashdot.

Most people are familiar with the notion that a computer virus can be passed from PC to PC, but many folks would probably be surprised to learn that a sick PC can often pass its infection on to Web sites, too. Some of the most pervasive malicious software circulating today (e.g., Virut ) includes...

The Asus N90SV-A2 desktop replacement laptop is roughly the size of two 15-inch notebooks turned vertically and placed side by side. Movies and games look great on the large (18.4-inch diagonal), bright, full-HD-resolution (1920 by 1080) screen. (Asus recently released a more game-focused laptop of similar size, the Asus W90VP.)

bfire writes 'Police officers in the Australian state of Queensland plan to conduct a 'wardriving' mission around select towns in an effort to educate citizens to secure their wireless networks. When unsecured networks are found, the Police will pay a friendly visit to the household or small business, informing them of the risks they are exposing themselves to. Officers also hope to return to surveyed areas within a month to see if users have fixed their security settings. The idea is modeled on another campaign where officers walk around railway stations checking cars have been locked, and leaving notes warning people of the dangers involved with leaving their vehicles unsecured.' of this story at Slashdot.

Ssquared22 writes 'It may feel like a rip-off to some, but you've got to admit that paying $30 for Gears of War 2 sure beats paying $60! Game publishers and developers may not like it, but people are going to trade in used games for new games and those old games will be sold back to other people. There's nothing game developers can do to stop them, and companies like Gamestop continue to laugh all the way to the bank. In an article at Crispy gamer, David Thomas dissects one of the most critical issues in gaming today: used games and merchants (online and brick-and-mortar) who specialize in this 'sleight of hand.'' of this story at Slashdot.

Bill Gates and a team of co-inventors have proposed an idea for killing hurricanes before they can potentially make devastating landfall. The project, for which the inventors have submitted a patent application, involves placing vessels in the path of the storm and having them pull cooler water from beneath the oceans surface, which theoretically would rob the hurricane of its strength. - Bill Gates continues to think big: a newly released patent application shows the microsoft founders latest project involves nothing short of controlling the weather. The application, filed with the U.S. Patent and Trade Office by a limited-liability corporation named Searete on Jan. 3, 2008, g...

Summit writes 'A scientist has claimed to have discovered a radioprotectant that all but eliminates acute radiation sickness even in cases of lethal doses of radiation in tests on rats and monkeys, when injected up to 72 hours after exposure. They also claim the drug, a protein, has no observed negative effects in humans. They have not irradiated any people just yet, but if this turns out to be true, it could mean everything from curing cancer to making manned interplanetary space expeditions feasible... not to mention treatment for radiation exposures in nuclear/radiological accidents/attacks. If this drug works, it would mean a true breakthrough as past experiments with radioprotectants were not particularly promising in any respect.' The only source for the story at this time is an exclusive in YNet News, a site with the subtitle 'Israel At Your Fingertips.' Such a radioprotectant would be huge news for Israel. Make of it what you will. of this story at Slashdot.

The Asus N90SV-A2 desktop replacement laptop is roughly the size of two 15-inch notebooks turned vertically and placed side by side. Movies and games look great on the large (18.4-inch diagonal), bright, full-HD-resolution (1920 by 1080) screen. (Asus recently released a more game-focused laptop of...

An Ashburn real estate agent has been charged with several counts of mortgage fraud after helping more than 100 people buy houses they couldn't afford and defrauding lenders of about $50 million, the Loudoun County sheriff said yesterday.