American News World - News And Technology

The UN Security Council votes to send 3,000 more troops to DR Congo following renewed fighting in the east of the country.

China has increased computer espionage attacks on US government and business interests, Congress is warned.

The winning numbers drawn Thursday in "The Numbers Game" mid-day draw were: 2-9-5-5

The Massachusetts unemployment rate rose to 5.5 percent in October as the state shed 7,000 jobs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic leaders in Congress sidetracked legislation to bail out the auto industry Thursday and demanded the Big Three develop a plan assuring the money would make them economically viable. “Until they show us the plan, we cannot show them the money,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said at a hastily called news conference in the Capitol….

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has passed legislation extending jobless benefits through the December holidays, keeping checks flowing to laid-off workers who would otherwise lose them….

TRS-80 writes “Apple has sent a DMCA takedown notice to the IpodHash project, claiming it circumvents their FairPlay DRM scheme. Some background: Apple first added a hash to the iTunesDB file in 6th-gen iPods, but it was quickly reverse-engineered. They changed it with the release of iPhone 2.0 and a project was started to reverse the new hash, but weren’t successful yet. My guess is Apple used the same algorithm as FairPlay for the new hash, so Apple could use the DMCA to prevent competing apps like Songbird and Banshee from talking to iPods/iPhones. BTW, don’t tell Apple, but the project uses a wiki, so the old page versions from before the takedown are still there.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New cost estimates from the state Department of Transportation released today show the most likely price of a new Highway 520 bridge has increased to $4.5 billion, if an interchange similar to today’s Montlake interchange is chosen.

The state released its cost estimates for replacement of the aging Alaskan Way Viaduct this morning, and tunnel options come in as the most expensive: $3.5 billion for one and $2.7 billion for the other.

Take your next ski vacation in Eastern Washington, for great snow and low prices.