foundation

Of all the cataclysmic threats facing humanity, the one that could really wipe us off the map -- a hit by a truly massive asteroid -- gets relatively little in terms of resources.

The B612 Foundation aims to change that with the launch of a space telescope that would try to track half a million asteroids in the inner solar system believed to be larger than the one that hit Russia's Tunguska in 1908, causing enormous damage.

The Tunguska object's size and nature remains a matter of debate. But only 1 percent of larger asteroids have been mapped so far, according to B612, which was named after the fictional asteroid home of the Little Prince. … Read more

On October 4, 2004, the idea of incentive prizes hit the mainstream when Burt Rutan and his team at Scaled Composites launched SpaceShip One into orbit for the second time and won the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

Since then, prizes like that have become more and more common, and though the X Prizes are still the gold standard, there are now similar competitions from medical research to science to business, and beyond.

Not long ago, however, the U.S. government got into the business (PDF) of using competitions like these to come up with new ways to solve existing … Read more

The patience of Kyle Goodwin, a former MegaUpload user, has apparently run out.

The videographer, who stored clips of high school sports action at MegaUpload, filed a three-page motion today that asks a federal court in Virginia to figure out a way to return his clips to him.

Goodwin has waited for the company, the U.S. government, Hollywood film studios, and other interested parties to determine what to do with the data on MegaUpload's servers, which were seized by the United States in January. The district court overseeing the case told everyone with a stake in MegaUpload's … Read more

In order for venture-capital firms to invest in startups, they need funding from institutional investors. In many cases, such investors are happy to drop some cash in a fund. But a new study warns that doing so might not be the best idea.

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, an organization that promotes entrepreneurship by investing in venture-capital funds, found things might not be as bright as some firms would have investors believe. In fact, the organization found that over the last 10 years, the vast majority of venture-capital funds have failed to outperfom the public stock market. In the last … Read more

Critics of the U.S. government's antipiracy efforts have new ammunition to support claims that authorities are too eager to do the bidding of copyright owners.

Authorities seized Dajaz1.com, a music blog, and held onto it for more than a year before returning the domain to the owners. This only occurred after the government repeatedly failed to produce evidence that the site had violated copyright laws. David Kravets of Wired.com first reported the story.

This appears to be the latest public-relations setbacks for the large entertainment companies lobbying Congress for tougher antipiracy laws. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (… Read more

ALEXANDRIA, Va.--MegaUpload's lawyers got much of what they asked for today from a federal district court regarding what should be done with the company's servers and user data.

Lawyers representing consumers, MegaUpload, the six major Hollywood studios, the U.S. government, and MegaUpload's hosting service were all in court to voice their opinion about what should be done with billions of digital files belonging to maybe as many as 60 million former users of the cyberlocker service. The government shut down the site in January and filed criminal copyright charges against MegaUpload's managers, including founder … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- The autocratic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia doesn't have much to worry about, at least not yet, from democracy activists and the Internet, one of the country's best known bloggers predicts.

"It is very unlikely that we will see any change in the country in the short and medium term," Ahmed Al Omran, creator of SaudiJeans.org, said at an event in CNET's offices in downtown San Francisco yesterday evening. Al Omran left Saudi Arabia to study at Columbia University and now lives in Washington, D.C.

A so-called Day of Rage protest … Read more

Blame MegaUpload, if you stored legal documents on the cyberlocker service and now may not be allowed to retrieve them, according to the U.S. government.

Neil MacBride, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia who in January shut down MegaUpload, after accusing founder Kim DotCom and six other company managers of criminal copyright violations, asked a federal court in documents filed last night to deny a request for a protective order filed by Carpathia Hosting, which houses MegaUpload's user data.

Carpathia wants the court to help pay the costs of preserving MegaUpload's data, which … Read more

The trade group for the top Hollywood film studios told a federal court that it opposes any plan that would allow MegaUpload to buy back its servers.

That unyielding stance position could hurt MegaUpload's efforts to retrieve its servers, which company lawyer Ira Rothken said it needs to defend itself. In January, the United States filed criminal copyright charges against the cyberlocker service, founder Kim DotCom and other managers. DotCom and six others are expected to fight U.S. attempts to extradite them to this country.

The Motion Picture Association of America laid out its position in an 8-page … Read more