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It appears that Wikipedia's reputation as the Internet's open source encyclopedia -- where any and all can contribute -- may itself be in need of some editing. Media reports quote a spokesperson for the Wikimedia Foundation, which manages the user-generated site, as saying that the English-language version will soon start experimenting with designated editors.

Xerolooper writes 'What would the world be like if everyone could enjoy the same patent system we use in the USA? From the article: 'A senior lawyer at Microsoft is calling for the creation of a global patent system to make it easier and faster for corporations to enforce their intellectual property rights around the world.' They have already attracted opposition from the open-source community and the Pirate Party. According to the article The World Intellectual Property Organization WIPO will be meeting in Geneva on the 17th and 18th of September.' of this story at Slashdot.

Adam Dunkels writes 'Inspired by the Twitter-sized program that crashes Mac OS X, I just wrote a really, really rudimentary IP stack called twIP, small enough to fit in a Twitter tweet. Although twIP is very far away from a real IP stack, it can do the first task of any IP stack: respond to pings. The entire source code can be found in this 128-character-long tweet. For those who are interested in low-level network programming, a code walkthrough with instructions on how to run the code under FreeBSD is available here. The FAQ: Q: why? A: for fun.' of this story at Slashdot.

Pakistan Taliban sources have confirmed their leader Baitullah Mehsud has been killed. The Americans have been saying since August the 5th one of.

DEBKAfile's Middle East and Washington sources do not expect anything much to come of the conversation Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US Middle East envoy George Mitchell hold in london Wednesday, Aug. 28 - although the two governments are close to accord on a settlement standstill. This is because US president Barack Obama went off on a holiday before his staff had finished the Middle East policy review he ordered.

The Chinese government has launched a drive to promote voluntary organ donations, as it tries to move away from the use of executed prisoners as the major source of transplant organs.

Report comes amid improvement in ties between Pyongyang and Washington, but observers are sceptical of motiveNorth Korea's attempts to improve relations with the US took another step forward today following reports that it has invited senior officials in the Obama administration to discuss its nuclear programme.The US is considering sending its special envoy to North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, and its chief nuclear negotiator, Sung Kim, to Pyongyang next month, according to the JoongAng Ilbo.The South Korean newspaper cited a senior diplomatic source in Washington as saying the visit could include a meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il.The report comes amid an improvement in ties between the two countries. Earlier this month the North released two US journalists who had been imprisoned for entering the country without permission, following a visit to Pyongyang by Bill Clinton.North Korea has also made conciliatory gestures towards its neighbour, including the release of a So

Matt_dk writes 'he first satellite launched by South Korea failed to reach its designated orbit pattern on Tuesday, the the NY Times is reporting. The two-staged KSLV-1 rocket, built in cooperation with Russia, failed to deliver the 100-kilogram oceanic and atmospheric research satellite into its target orbit. The rocket was launched from the Naro Space Center, 300 miles south of the capital Seoul. 'The failure to push the satellite into its intended orbit was announced by Ahn Myong-man, the minister of education, science and technology, at a news conference. Mr. Ahn gave no further details. But South Korean news outlets, citing unidentified sources, said the satellite broke away from the rocket about 22 miles farther from the Earth than had been intended.'' of this story at Slashdot.

A lifeline for the Phoenix Coyotes may end up coming from an unlikely source: El Mirage.

President Obama is expected to nominate Ben Bernanke to a second term as head of the Federal reserve, a senior administration official told CNN Monday night.