From Droid Life: UK Judge Orders Apple to Post on Website that Samsung Did Not Copy iPad Design

We need some of these U.K. judges shipped over here as soon as possible. In a recent ruling, Judge Colin Birss has ordered Apple to place a statement on the official Apple website that Samsung did not ripoff Apple’s iPad design with their Galaxy Tab lineup. Apple’s lawyers did contest this at first, explaining that this is essentially promoting Samsung on their own site, but the judge incredibly dismissed the claim.

Along with the statement that will remain on Apple’s site for the next six months, they must also publish it in several UK newspapers and magazines to help Samsung’s overseas image. Booyah!

Via: CNET

Cheers Ryan and Matt!

from Droid Life

From Gizmodo: 9-Year-Old School Lunch Blogger Silenced By Politicians

For the past two months, one of my favorite reads has been Never Seconds, a blog started by 9-year-old Martha Payne of western Scotland to document the unappealing, non-nutritious lunches she was being served in her public primary school. Payne, whose mother is a doctor and father has a small farming property, started blogging in early May and went viral in days. She had a million viewers within a few weeks and 2 million this morning; was written up in Time, the Telegraph, the Daily Mail, and a number of food blogs; and got support from TV cheflebrity Jamie Oliver, whose series “Jamie’s School Dinners” kicked off school-food reform in England. More »
 

from Gizmodo

From Ars Technica: Lawmakers want FCC to bail out LightSquared with military spectrum

A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants the Federal Communications Commission to salvage LightSquared’s seemingly doomed plan to build a 4G LTE network by letting the company trade its spectrum for more suitable airwaves controlled by the Department of Defense.

“We ask the FCC to conduct a thorough and thoughtful review of all available spectrum controlled by the Department of Defense (DoD) that could be repurposed or reallocated to meet increased demand,” the lawmakers said in a letter sent Tuesday to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, and reported by the IDG News Service last night. “We also request that the FCC move swiftly to identify other options, including the use of alternate spectrum, for LightSquared’s proposed nationwide 4G LTE wireless broadband network…. A spectrum swap is the most resourceful and efficient way to quickly expand broadband access nationwide.”

LightSquared filed for bankruptcy protection last month after the FCC halted its plan to build a nationwide cellular network on spectrum that is adjacent to airwaves used by GPS devices. The powerful signals from LightSquared towers would overwhelm the signals GPS devices must receive to provide location services, making the network infeasible, the FCC concluded.

 

from Ars Technica

From Discover Magazine: Shining shoes for NASA | Bad Astronomy

FACT: NASA’s total budget is less than 1% of the Federal spending. Way less than 1%.

FACT: The proposed fiscal year 2013 budget out of the White House has huge cuts to NASA. Planetary sciences alone has $300 million slashed from it.

FACT: If this cut stays in the budget, NASA will have to pull back from some big and exciting planetary missions. It’s already made NASA back out of an agreement with the European Space Agency on two ambitious Mars probes.

FACT: This sucks. A lot. America leads the way in scientific planetary missions, and this cut will hurt that, significantly.

It’s unclear if Congress will reinstate that money. So what can we do?

My friend Alan Stern — head of the new Horizons Pluto probe already on its way to the tiny world — decided to try something radical: raise public awareness about all this by holding various “fund raisers” across the nation — bake sales and car washes! Yes, you read that right: planetary scientists will be washing cars and giving away cookies to help save NASA. It’s not really about raising …

 

from Discover Magazine