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Ground Crew Back In Touch With LightSail Solar Spacecraft

Yesterday, we noted that the Planetary Society’s solar-sail powered craft had lost radio contact with its controllers here on Earth; Engadget reports that the group has issued an update, and the news is good. From the Society’s release: “The solar sailing spacecraft test mission, a precursor to a 2016 mission, has now resumed contact after […]

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Steve Albini: The Music Industry Is a Parasite — and Copyright Is Dead

journovampire sends word of another thought-provoking rant from Steve Albini (mentioned here last a few years back for his paean to the beauty of analog tape for recording): The veteran producer addressed an audience in Barcelona on Saturday: “The old copyright model – the person who creates something owns it and anyone else that wants […]

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Google Calendar Ends SMS Notifications

LuserOnFire writes: Google has sent out an email this morning that says in part: “Starting on June 27th, 2015, SMS notifications from Google Calendar will no longer be sent. SMS notifications launched before smartphones were available. Now, in a world with smartphones and notifications, you can get richer, more reliable experience on your mobile device, […]

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Orange County Public Schools To Monitor Students On Social Media

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Orange County, Florida, is undertaking a sweeping effort to snoop on the social media communications of the county’s public school students and staff, for the nebulous task of “[ensuring] safe school operations,” and say they will use the software (at a license cost of about $13,000 per year) “to conduct […]

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Artist Uses 3D Printing To Preserve Artifacts Destroyed By ISIS

tedlistens writes: “From the burning of the Library of Alexandria to the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan by the Taliban, to the Nazi’s battle to burn as much “degenerate art” as they could find, mobs and soldiers have been quick to destroy what took societies centuries to create; what museums and collectors […]

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Ask Slashdot: What Interesting Things Can I Power With an External USB Battery?

New submitter expert464 writes: I just purchased an external USB battery for the main purpose of charging smartphones. I’ve also thought of using it to power a USB lamp and charge a bluetooth speaker. What other things am I missing that would be useful and/or interesting to power when not near an electrical outlet?

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Can You Commit Copyright Infringement By Using Your Own Work?

Mrs. Grundy writes: Notorious appropriation artist Richard Prince has been in the news again with his show consisting of screen shots of other people’s Instagram photos printed as large inkjets on canvas. These prints have reportedly sold for $90,000. In 2013 Prince successfully defeated a lawsuit for a previous appropriation by convincing the court his […]

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New Alloy Bounces Back Into Shape 10 Million Times And Counting

wrp103 links to the BBC’s report of a newly engineered alloy that returns to its original shape after deformation even after 10 million cycles more than 10 million times. From the article: “Memory shape alloys” like this have many potential uses, but present incarnations are prone to wearing out.The new material — made from nickel, […]

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The Patriot Act May Be Dead For Good

HughPickens.com points out Shane Harris’s report at The Daily Beast that when powerful spying authorities under the Patriot Act expire at the stroke of midnight Monday, as currently appears likely, they may never return. “Senators have been negotiating over whether to pass a House bill that would renew and tweak existing provisions in the long-controversial […]

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Ask Slashdot: Switching Careers From Software Engineering To Networking?

An anonymous reader writes: I am a software engineer with over 10 years of experience making approx 210k a year after bonus. I’ve seen countless of software engineering jobs off-shored or taken by H1Bs over the past 5 years. While I am pretty safe at my current job, software engineering as a profession is beginning […]

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