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Weather looks to be a problem once again at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. Forecasters are estimating a 70% chance of unacceptable launch conditions thanks to thunderstorms and anvil clouds, which blow off the top of thunderstorms and could cause lightning. The storms should crop up earlier in the day than they did on Saturday, when the afternoon launch was called off just minutes before liftoff because of anvil clouds in the area.

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NASA shuttle weather experts consistently predicted a 60 percent chance that weather around Discovery's Pad 39B launch site could prevent today's liftoff. Anvil clouds - a potential source of triggered lightning during launch - from inland thunderstorms are among the primary concerns. But earlier this morning, conditions changed. Discovery now has a 60 percent chance of launching into space, with only a 40 percent chance of anvil clouds and inland thunderstorms affecting the space shot.

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Most of those on the site started noticing the stains just a few weeks after they began using the MacBooks, which went on sale in mid-May. The Intel-based replacement to the iBook and 12-inch PowerBook comes in three models. The two lower-end models (starting at $1,099 and $1,299) come in white; the top-of-the-line model (starting at $1,499) comes in the apparently unaffected black.

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Weather conditions are important for the actual liftoff because lightning from anvil and cumulus clouds could strike the shuttle. The clouds could also block the view of ground cameras that must track the shuttle's ascent into space. And NASA does not want to fly the shuttle through rain because water could damage the orbiter's sensitive heat shield. But the weather must also be favourable around the runway at KSC in case the shuttle encounters a major problem during launch and has to make an emergency landing. Such a manoeuvre has never been tried in the 25-year history of the space shuttle programme.

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A Spanish intellectual property law has finally banned unauthorized peer-to-peer file-sharing in Spain, making it a civil offense even to download content for personal use. The legislation, approved by Congress on Thursday, toughens previous provisions. An early May circular from Spain's fiscal general del estado, or chief prosecutor, allowed downloads for purely personal use.

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The pictures in Jensen's van are sent through the city wireless network to an emergency operation center, where important decisions can be made. "In my (business), you need to make some decisions really quick. That is what this allows us to do," he said. As a specialist in hazardous materials, Jensen gets called in when there is a chemical leak or a suspicious substance that might pose a danger to the public. To find out, Jensen looks at it in a microscope. Often the pictures must be examined further. Through the wireless network, they can be e-mailed to a lab in seconds.

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Once they've purchased something through Google Checkout, consumers can track their orders through the system, which will be live starting Thursday at Checkout.google.com. Merchants using the system will be charged a processing fee of 20 cents per transaction, plus 2.2 percent of the relevant purchase price. Customers who pay for search-related keyword ads through Google AdWords will be able to process, free of charge, transactions that add up to 10 times the dollar amount of their AdWords spending, Kamangar said. Beyond that, they pay the 20 cents plus 2.2 percent. Kamangar said the regular transaction fees are less than those charged by credit card companies, which can be about 1 percent higher.

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A Saturday launch would occur at 1939 GMT (1539 EDT). An early weather forecast indicates a 40% chance of rain and a 30% chance of lightning on Saturday afternoon. "I'm hoping the weather's going to improve a little bit ... so we can get off on time," says astronaut Piers Sellers. If Discovery does not lift off on Saturday, its launch window shifts about 25 minutes earlier each day. This will give it a bigger chance of avoiding the afternoon thundershowers that are common in Florida in July. Discovery's window extends until 19 July.

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Would there be an impact on consumers' monthly bills?
Copps: Absolutely--there could be an impact. I think you're much better off, again, if you're a VoIP or wireless provider, there's a possibility now that your bills are going to go up because we haven't included the broadband. When everyone participates in the (system) it's more equitable and fair and you don't feel the pain as much. It could well be consumers are going to feel more pain, and that's something we always have to be sensitive and alive to. Consumers, too often, don't get the priority concern that they ought to get.

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Is this an example of what is to come in the United States or other parts of Europe? People have long discussed this concept, known as "compulsory licensing." Meaning that basically the government assumes people are going to be putting copyrighted material on this blank media, Other ideas in the same vein include licensing fees imposed on DSL or cable customers, again assuming they are going to be making unauthorized copies of copyrighted material.

Said By The Press Release

Corsair Expands Popular XMS PRO and XMS XPERT Product Families with New DDR2-800 Low Latency Offerings

-- Shipping immediately, the new TWIN2X2048-6400C4PRO and TWIN2XP2048-6400C4 aim at enthusiasts who demand uncompromised performance with real-time memory activity indicators –

Fremont, CA (June 27, 2006) –Corsair Memory, the worldwide leader in design and manufacture of high performance memory, today announced the introduction of two new DDR2-800 low latency 2GB kits. Designed with the advanced users in mind who demand performance, aesthetics and functionary in one package, the new TWIN2X2048-6400C4PRO and TWIN2XP2048-6400C4 memory kits are optimized for the current AMD socket AM2 platform and the upcoming Intel platform.

Joining the growing XMS DDR2 product line, Corsair's TWIN2X2048-6400C4PRO and TWIN2XP2048-6400C4 are aimed at gamers and enthusiasts who demand low latencies of 4-4-4-12 at standard 800MHz frequency. The Corsair XMS product family now offers complete performance-oriented DDR2 solutions ranging from the classic XMS to the PRO and the XPERT in a variety of speeds and densities. The TWIN2X2048-6400C4PRO features activity LEDs that show the level of memory usage, while the TWIN2XP2048-6400C4 features a proprietary integrated micro-controller with embedded sensors to measure voltage, temperature and frequency on the memory module. Each of these parameters, along with a user-programmable scrolling marquee, can be shown on a big alpha-numeric display that is a part of the memory module. Both the PRO and the XPERT kits are available in Corsair's signature platinum heat spreaders. Continuing Corsair's commitment to the highest standard of engineering performance memory, the new 6400C4's are built using carefully selected RAMs and are optimized for new and upcoming platforms, and promise superior memory performance at 800MHz.

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Heating and air conditioning might also be to blame. When people and animals go above or below a "thermoneutral" ambient temperature, they lose weight - if it is too cold they burn fat to stay warm, and if too hot their appetites decrease. But studies show that people are keeping their houses warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer than they did a few decades ago, so these natural influences on weight are negated.

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Representatives will begin meeting next month to evaluate their technologies, determining, for instance, whether cropping an image would change its signature and hinder comparisons. Also to be discussed are ways to ensure that customers' privacy is protected. Authorities still would need subpoenas to get identifying information on violators. The companies involved said they are talking with other service providers about joining. But companies that do not participate still are required by law to report any suspected child-porn images, and many already have their own techniques for monitoring and identifying them.

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This year, both the House and Senate have been engaged in the difficult process of rewriting our antiquated telecommunications laws. The overarching idea is to bring the benefits of competition to consumers by streamlining the video franchising process. This will allow more service providers to enter the cable market and begin offering Americans more choices at lower prices. However, Net neutrality threatens to hold this needed reform hostage. This term has become a nebulous catchall for a number of competing public policy issues. To illustrate the current level of confusion: Neither the House Energy and Commerce Committee nor the Senate Commerce Committee could arrive at a conclusion of what Net neutrality really means. Senator Ted Stevens, R-Ark., rightly expressed his frustration that defining it was like "defining a vacuum."

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For me, this would be my first hands on experience with DDR2. Even though I had never personally used a stick of DDR2 RAM before I received my new system, I had been reading extensively and following DDR2's evolutionary process since it first surfaced on the market in 2004. My interest in DDR2 was first peaked when I ran across this white paper article entitled New DDR2 Memory Offers Advantages for Dual-Processor Servers published by Thor Sewell in September, 2004. Since then I have ravenously devoured all the articles and reviews I could find detailing the technical advancements concerning DDR2 in preparation for its mainstream emergence into the Computer Enthusiast market.

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The Epox 9U1697 GLI motherboard that's passing through the PCSTATS test labs today is based on ULi's last chipset which was quite a sleeper, the M1697. Make no mistake about it, the Epox 9U1697 GLI motherboard is inexpensive but that doesn't mean it's a slow motherboard! Now here is the tricky part - while there are two PCI Express x16 slots on the Epox 9U1697 GLI motherboard, they do not officially support nVIDIA SLI or ATi CrossFire. Dual videocards can be used for multiple 2D displays, like for workstation style applications - but that's it. Now that nVIDIA owns ULi, it's possible that it may eventually certify the ULi chipset as SLI compatible, but that is something you shouldn't bet on.

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The card itself is really massive as previously mentioned, and uses the same PCB as the X1800XL. This is not true for X1800GTOs from other manufacturers which have one less mosfets on the PCB. This made us think that the X1800GTO from HIS could possibly be unlocked to all 16 pipelines without too much difficulty – more on this later.

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If you’re looking for a simple out of the box NAS solution, the Linksys NSLU2 is a good all around contender. Novices will appreciate the easy default setup, while pros will benefit from the extensive open source initiative surrounding “The Slug.” However, limited supported capacities and only 2 USB ports make other offerings very attractive options if you don’t want to void the warranty.

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The Kontron "786LCD/mITX LV Plus" is a very convincing product, even though it does have some slight flaws. If you don't mind the couple of extra watts with the power-consumption and you for example need 3 network connections for a system, you should definitly consider this motherboard. The board is also an excellent choice for networking solutions, mainly because of its extensive (remote) hardware monitoring. The price also seems right.

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NASA will begin the countdown for the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery at 5 p.m. EDT June 28. The countdown includes nearly 28 hours of built-in hold time leading to a scheduled launch at about 3:49 p.m. on July 1. The launch window extends for nearly five minutes. The launch team at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., will conduct the countdown from the newly renovated Firing Room 4 of the Launch Control Center.

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Exploitation of security holes prompts users and vendors to close those holes, vendors to emphasize security in system development, and users to adopt improved security practices. This constant strengthening of security reduces the likelihood of a catastrophic attack -- one that would threaten national or even global security [...] Current federal law, however, does not properly value such strategic goals.

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Tower Records chief marketing officer Russ Eisenman said the digital store fit perfectly with Tower's history of offering music in all formats that prevailed throughout its 45-year history. All of the music is in Microsoft's Windows Media Audio format, encoded at a higher bit rate than most other online stores to provide better audio fidelity.

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The Bang for the buck tradeoff on the ASUS EN7900GT is excellent. At a MSRP of $299 the EN7900GT TOP can hold its own with the latest games and is ready for today's demanding applications. The next iteration of Microsoft operating systems, Microsoft Vista is due to release to the consumer early next year, and to big businesses later this year. Vista will bring a new GUI (Graphics User Interface) called Windows Aero Glass. The 7900GT and other Shader Model 3.0 parts are fully ready for the new GUI. Vista will also bring the next iteration of Direct3D, Direct3D10.

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Please join me today as we determine if LeadTek's quality of words captioned above stand tall and are transmitted into actions with one of their newest products, the LeadTek WinFast WinFast PX7950 GX2 TDH.

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Recently we had the chance to review the HIS X1600 Pro and after finishing the review we were pleasantly surprised by how well it performed against the competition. So today we are pitting the HIS X1600 XT IceQ Turbo against the same cards to see how well it stacks up against them and to make thing a bit more interesting we have also included the some scores using the two cards in CrossFire mod.

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Today we have the last card in our HIS X1300 series of reviews; the X1300 dual DVI 512MB PCI Express. Unlike the previous two cards, this X1300 does not feature the IceQ cooler and instead uses a passive cooling solution. This is most likely because this card is not a part of the "Turbo" line of HIS cards meaning that it has received no overclock and comes at the normal X1300 speeds right out of the box. The core and memory speeds on this card are the typical 450MHz and 250MHz (500MHz effective).

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FOXCONN has done a good job with the NF4SLI7AA-EKRS2 motherboard. The board supports CPUs up to the 8xx series, with the 9xx series requiring a nForce 5 for Intel board instead or a 975 board from Intel Otherwise, for the street price of $119, the NF4SLI7AA-EKRS2 is an excellent buy for people wanting an SLI motherboard and a Intel CPU of the 8xx series or prior. Performance on the NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 is exemplary in most respects.

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The Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe is one of the first Socket AM2 motherboards to make it into the PCSTATS labs, and it's one motherboard with a lot of expectations attached. Coming out of the box, the ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe is extremely user friendly; in the hardware layout on-PCB, inside the BIOS, and with respect to its tweaking software. The Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe supports 940-pin socket AM2 AMD Athlon64/X2/FX and Sempron processors and is based on the flagship nVIDIA nForce 590 SLI and nVidia MCP55PXE chipsets.

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The SyncMAX PC2-5300 Express memory has been certified to run in a dual channel configuration at speeds of 667 MHz with CAS latency timings of 4-4-4. The memory can also be run at 533 MHz (PC2-4300) with tighter CAS 3-3-3 timings if one so chooses. The SyncMAX PC2-5300 Express that passed through the PCSTATS test labs today were good if you keep the target audience in mind.

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On Friday, June 23rd, we will coordinate a day of action, and this time it doesn't involve yellow hazmat suits. You don't even have to leave your desk. We will provide contact numbers for executives at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and similar organizations around the world. We're asking you to proclaim your support for digital freedoms by calling the RIAA and telling them what you think of DRM and what you think of them!

Said By The Press Release

OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today announced two low latency PC2-6400 memory solutions prepared to deliver enthusiasts the performance they demand on the latest DDR2 platforms. The new PC2-6400 Platinum Revision 2 Edition is rated at 4-4-4 and the new PC2-6400 Titanium Alpha Edition is rated at 3-4-3-9 making this dynamic duo an exciting new addition to the acclaimed OCZ memory line.

The PC2-6400 CL3 is the first member of the OCZ Titanium Alpha series, a new line of memory that carries the industry’s highest performing DDR2 solutions. All Titanium Alpha modules feature exclusive, multicolored XTC (Xtreme Thermal Convection) heatspreaders implementing an innovative Titanium deposition coating process that is resistant to scratches. Each Titanium Alpha module has its own unique color scheme and displays interchanging shades depending on the lighting and angle of the heatspreader. No two Titanium Alpha modules look alike.

The PC2-6400 Platinum Revision 2 and PC2-6400 Titanium Alpha will be available in 2GB (2x1024MB) dual channel kits.

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As far as motivation goes, Microsoft sees its entry into the security fray as a "very broad opportunity" for itself and for its customers, Brown said. "The primary reason we're doing this is that there is clearly a customer need for this approach," he said. Companies such as McAfee, Symantec, Trend Micro and Computer Associates have long demonstrated that there is money to be made in protecting Windows systems. For Microsoft, it is simpler to create security add-ons than to build security into its products, an approach that would also make it harder for the company to make extra money.

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Americans are still reeling from last month's revelations that the NSA has been logging phone calls since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. The Congressional Research Service, which advises the US legislature, says phone companies that surrendered call records may have acted illegally. However, the White House insists that the terrorist threat makes existing wire-tapping legislation out of date and is urging Congress not to investigate the NSA's action. Meanwhile, the NSA is pursuing its plans to tap the web, since phone logs have limited scope. They can only be used to build a very basic picture of someone's contact network, a process sometimes called "connecting the dots". Clusters of people in highly connected groups become apparent, as do people with few connections who appear to be the intermediaries between such groups. The idea is to see by how many links or "degrees" separate people from, say, a member of a blacklisted organisation.

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"It puts Hollywood, acting through the FCC, in charge of how consumer electronics manufacturers should build their devices," said Art Brodsky, a spokesman for the nonprofit group Public Knowledge, one of the plaintiffs in the suit. Senate committee aides said earlier this week that a number of Republicans share concerns about the government's wading into technological mandates. They would rather not see the provisions in the bill at all but added them after pressure from Democrats like Barbara Boxer, who counts a large chunk of the entertainment industry in her California constituency.

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Congress is mandating the use of DRM, plain and simple. Although one part of the bill seems to give a nod to fair use, it's done in the same way as it was under the DMCA. Meaning, the bill ignores fair use. It reads that the FCC's regulation won't affect fair use rights-well, it won’t. Those fair use limitations still exist under the copyright law-but as we know well, DRM legally trumps fair use thanks to the DMCA.