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In a move that is sure to please many developers, Apple has decided to again grant promotional codes to mature App Store software rated for ages 17 and up -- a distinction that still includes all browser-embedded apps.

Apple seem to have a passion for trying to re-invent the way we use certain technologies. With this in mind, the FT website has published an article which talks about Apple's plans to come together with major record labels to tackle the lull in album buying in the recent years. The popularity of download-able content has shot through the roof, especially music, leaving many people with bare CD cabinets. However, have no fear because Apple seems to think it has the answer.

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Hugh Pickens writes "The Washington Post reports that Department of Homeland Security is relying on a rushed, flawed study to justify its decision to locate the $700 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility for highly infectious pathogens in a tornado-prone section of Kansas. A GAO report says that it is not 'scientifically defensible' to conclude that lab can safely handle dangerous animal diseases in Kansas. Such research has been conducted up to now on a remote island on the northern tip of Long Island, NY. 'Drawing conclusions about relocating research with highly infectious exotic animal pathogens from questionable methodology could result in regrettable consequences,' the GAO warned in its draft report. Critics of moving the operation to the mainland argue that a release could lead to widespread contamination that could kill livestock, devastate a farm economy, and endanger humans. Along with the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease, NBAF researchers plan to study African swine fever, Japanese encephalitis, Rift Valley fever, and other viruses in the Biosafety Level (BSL) 3 and BSL-4 livestock laboratory capable of developing countermeasures for foreign animal diseases. According to the article, DHS lobbied a Congressional committee to try and convince them that the GAO report was flawed, and to head off any hearings on the controversy. Despite this, the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee plans to hold a hearing Thursday on the risk analysis."

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Glenn Fleishman lets us know that Verizon is finally offering nationwide Wi-Fi access to its high-speed Internet customers, long after Cablevision's similar service went live. While Cablevision is building out an in-house network of hotspots, Verizon is relying on a deal with Boingo Wireless — a strategy with both strengths and drawbacks, as Wi-Fi Net News points out. Neither Verizon's nor Boingo's announcement reveals the mechanics of how existing Verizon DSL and FiOS customers will get access, but an AP report spells it out: "To use a hotspot, the customer must install software that works only on computers with Windows Vista or XP installed. Phones, iPods, and Macintosh computers with Wi-Fi can't access the hotspots."

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Microsoft has unveiled a new website with the focus on 'cool' technologies that Microsoft has created. According to Microsoft blogger Steve Clayton, Microsoft Wave "is a cool new site from our UK team that is something we've long been without – a cool site that isn't trying to sell anything, simply showing the breadth of cool technology that Microsoft is involved in." Currently Wave hosts information on:Microsoft 2019 visionMicrosoft TagPhotosynthProject NatalWorldwide TelescopeSurfaceDeepzoom Clayton is one of three Microsoft bloggers who will be participating on the site. The site is being run by Microsoft's UK team. View: Microsoft Wave

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Hugh Pickens writes "The Guardian reports that according to a study commissioned by the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND), a joint initiative of the Australian and Japanese Governments, terrorists could use information warfare techniques to make a nuclear attack more likely — triggering a catastrophic chain of events that may be an easier alternative 'than building or acquiring a nuclear weapon or dirty bomb themselves.' While the possibility of a radical group gaining access to actual launch systems is remote, the study suggests that terrorists could focus on feeding in false information further down the chain — or spreading fake information to officials in a carefully orchestrated strike. According to the study 'Hacking Nuclear Command and Control' [PDF], cyber-terrorists could 'provoke a nuclear launch by spoofing early warning and identification systems or by degrading communications networks.' Since command and control systems are placed at a higher degree of exploitation due to the need for rapid decisions under high pressure with limited intelligence, cyber-terrorists 'would not need deception that could stand up over time; they would only need to be believable in the first 15 minutes or so.'"

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Earlier today, Western Digital announced two additions to their hard-drive range, including a 1 terabyte (1024 Gigabytes) 2.5" Laptop Hard-disk drive and a 750 GB 2.5" Laptop Hard-disk drive. Western digital was able to expand mobile hard disk space to 1 TB and 750 GB by "A slight increase in overall drive height has driven storage capacity for 2.5-inch form factor drives upwards to a realm once thought to be impossible. " The hard disks are also claimed to be "whisper silent", and to run very quietly, even during heavy operations.

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Microsoft announced today that it has begun accepting application submissions to the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Todd Brix, Senior Director for Mobile Platform Services Product Management at Microsoft, confirmed that Microsoft is accepting submissions from registered developers. "We certify apps on a First In, First Out (FIFO) basis. Certification should normally take about 10 business days" said Brix in a company blog post. Microsoft is aiming to provide developers with detailed reports explaining which test and why applications fail if they do not meet the process, policies and guidelines Microsoft has published.

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Should ISPs get to decide how quickly you can reach a given site? Here's a recent example of how that's implemented.

Western Digital has announced a couple of new 2.5-inch mobile hard drives weighing in at 750GB and 1TB. The drives feature a 3 GB/s transfer rate and Western Digital's "WhisperDrive" tech along with specialized shock tolerance and head parking to ensure durability. "Both models are shipping now through various channels; the 1TB model is currently available in My Passport Essential SE USB drives. The Scorpio Blue 750GB model has a suggested sticker price of $190 while the Scorpio Blue 1TB is a mere $250. The My Passport Essential SE 1 TB portable drive is $299.99 USD and the 750 GB model is $199.99 USD."

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zeazzz writes to mention that the folks over at UMPC have a very cool little writeup and pictorial of a user's latest wearable PC. With the surge in smart phone adoption it seems that enthusiasm for wearable computers has dropped off a bit, which is too bad. I certainly look forward to my augmented reality HUD instead of depending on my iPhone for everything. "Essentially he took the MyVu headset, removed one of the eye pieces, and mounted the other to his glasses to that he could see his surroundings and the UX's screen at the same time. The MyVu is attached to the UX through the A/V output port on the UX's port replicator dongle. With some additional addons he provided his UX with extra battery life via an external battery, and several input methods to communicate with the UX while the rest of the kit resides within the backpack."

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duanes1967 writes "A company called Joule Biotech claims to have a breakthrough in biofuel production. Their process can create 20,000 gallons of fuel per acre per year at a cost of about $50 per barrel. 'Algae-based biofuels come closest to Joule's technology, with potential yields of 2,000 to 6,000 gallons per acre; yet even so, the new process would represent an order of magnitude improvement. What's more, for the best current algae fuels technologies to be competitive with fossil fuels, crude oil would have to cost over $800 a barrel says Philip Pienkos, a researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO. Joule claims that its process will be competitive with crude oil at $50 a barrel. In recent weeks, oil has sold for $60 to $70 a barrel.'"

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It seems totally bizarre to us that some of the most sensitive data on earth quite often is carried around on standard laptops that could be easily lost or stolen. Make no mistake ― this happens more than most of us realize. Don’t be under the naive illusion that sensitive data about each and every one of us is safely under lock and key at all time

After a Foxconn employee allegedly committed suicide when an iPhone prototype vanished, an official with the Chinese manufacturing company said the former employee had demonstrated a pattern of suspiciously losing products.

An anonymous reader writes "I have been asked to contribute to my university's revised ICT (Information and Communication Technology) strategy and I am curious what fellow Slashdot members consider to be the main advice in this context. What are the major mistakes that organizations like universities make? Given the complexity of the different participants in a university, how does one have a coherent strategy that fulfills the needs of such a wide audience? How does one promote open source in a managerial culture? How does one deal with the curse of the virtual learning environment?"

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When it was reported than an employee at Foxconn committed suicide after being accused of losing an iPhone prototype China's labor laws came under scrutiny again. After first denying that it had interrogated the employee using techniques that many would consider criminal it has surfaced that the company paid $44,000 to the family for the death of their family member according to the New York Times. Company officials have said that "Several times he had some products missing, then he got them back" but would not go on to say what all the employee may have allegedly lost or misplaced in his past.

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From operating systems to search engines to ad servers to office apps, 10 ways Google and Microsoft are battling each other for tech supremacy.

Dr_Ken writes to mention recent coverage of a Harvard Cyber-Law study on Techdirt that analyzes the uses of copyright in the academic world. Some are claiming that the applications of copyright in academia are stifling and that we should perhaps go so far as to abolish copyright in the academic world entirely. "I've even heard of academics who had to redo pretty much the identical experiment because they couldn't even cite their own earlier results for fear of a copyright claim. It leads to wacky situations where academics either ignore the fact that the journals they published in hold the copyright on their work, or they're forced to jump through hoops to retain certain rights. That's bad for everyone."

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The Financial Times is reporting that Apple is "racing to offer a portable, full-featured, tablet-sized computer in time for the Christmas shopping season". The revelation confirms rumours that surfaced earlier this year and earlier this month were confirmed by insiders as Apple targeting an October release. The FT believes the device could be launched as early as September. It's expected the device will connect to the internet, like the iPod Touch, and possibly run the same software to connect to Apple's AppStore. The screen is rumoured to be 10" and the device is expected to cost $800.

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KingofGnG writes "Disney has chosen the San Diego Comic-Con International to present its new sci-fi project: the sequel to Tron. The classic movie from 1982 dealt with video games, virtual reality and 3D graphics when none of those things were widely popular. The new movie has got an official title and synopsis now, and they've released the very first trailer from the movie (this time without silly censorship) together with some concept art and the teaser poster." No matter how silly the movie is, they'll at least get my money for sheer nostalgia.

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