In the ongoing saga of the Jammie Thomas trial, where the RIAA tried to get its first serious victory in court against an alleged file sharer, things may be looking a bit grim for the RIAA's argument. While it initially gloated after winning the case, the judge later admitted that he may have made a "manifest error of law" in saying that the RIAA did not need to prove actual infringement -- but that showing Thomas had "made available" content was good enough. While both the MPAA and the RIAA tried to explain why actual proof of infringement shouldn't be necessary because it's just too difficult (the gist of their arguments), it appears that the judge is not at all persuaded by their arguments and seems quite likely to declare a mistrial.

Spice up your romance in Palm Beach or experience your own post-Olympic glory at the site of this year's Summer Games, just two of the exciting offers from our weekly deal roundup.

Greetings from the good ol' U S of A! I'm back in the States, this time in New York City. The flight from Dusseldorf to New York was easy; immigration was not.

If you're headed to Sin City with your favorite band of broads, here's a down-and-dirty list of musts for a quick jaunt.

Since the arrival of West Nile virus, pediatricians have changed their advice about the use of the most effective insect repellents, which contain the active ingredient DEET. Here's what you need to k

You can buy first-aid kits that contain most or all of the items you need, but they tend to be very expensive compared to just going to the pharmacy and buying the items individually. Here's what we s

Charis Atlas Heelan brings you a round-up of recent news for U.S. National Parks, including free audio and video tours and music festivals.

Charis Atlas Heelan brings you a round-up of recent news for U.S. National Parks, including free audio and video tours and music festivals.

Live recording of the Geek News Central Podcast check out the podcast page for the archive of this event.

A US appellate division court has thrown out a DMCA claim against the Air Force (a former soldier wrote some software on his own time for the USAF, added in a time-bomb that made it stop working, and quit and sold the software's copyrights to a company that sued the Air Force for defusing the time-bomb rather than buying a license) and has made it clear that the DMCA doesn't apply to the US government at all. But the court also addressed the DMCA claims made by Blueport, and its decision here is quite striking. "The DMCA itself contains no express waiver of sovereign immunity," the judge wrote, "Indeed, the substantive prohibitions of the DMCA refer to individual persons, not the Government." Thus, because sovereign immunity is not explicitly eliminated, and the phrasing of the statute does not mention organizations, the DMCA cannot be applied to the US government, even in cases where the more general immunity to copyright claims does not apply. It appears that Congress took a "do as we say, not as we need to do" approach to strengthening digital copyrights. Link...

The call for proposals for O'Reilly Emerging Tech 2009 has just gone up: "Living, Reinvented." I was involved in every ETech from the first P2PCon in 1999 right up to last year (I'm taking a year or two off while I catch up on fatherhood and book-deadlines), and I have had some of my most mind-blowing, life-altering conversations and experiences at these events, which showcase the leading edge of (often impractical but never boring) experimentation, skunkworks, and passionate development. This year's theme sounds fantastic, too. Proposals are due Sept 17, and the event is next March 9-12 in San Diego San Jose. # Nomadism & Shedworking: As cities and their suburbs rapidly increase their footprint, there are some who reject the crowded living conditions, but take advantage of the connectedness. They adopt a high-tech lifestyle within the constraints of a smaller space or take their posessions and their bits with them on the road, to the farthest reaches of the globe. How do they do this and what can we learn from them? # Sustainable Life: The American lifestyle is unsustainable. How do we move to one-Earth economy? What are Europeans doing? Will Dubai be the trendsetter with its newest sustainable city? How will a renewed interest in environmental design affect us? Last year’s keynoter Alex Steffen posited that it would be technology driving the change, not a restriction of habits or an energy diet. Right now the abundant world is being changed by rising oil and medical costs, forcing change. What technology will break through? # Life Hacking & Information Overload: We are bombarded with too much information, but at least some of it is relevant. What are the tools that we can use to process it? How can we identify the subset we actually care about? How do we identify the necessary bits of information that makes us more productive? Can we use cognitive science to help us deal with modern day living? What does neuroscience tell us about our brains and how we should handle learning and processing? Will ubicomp be able to help us stave off the overload or will it hasten our doom? Link...

Move to curb recorded celebrity phone calls