Good news, open source fans -- copyleft licenses just got a big boost from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which ruled last week that the open source Artistic License is valid and enforceable, and that violating the terms of the license constitutes copyright infringement. (You might be familiar with the Artistic License -- it's what governs Perl.) That's a big deal, as it's the first open source license to get put to the test -- while traditional EULAs have been upheld for years, open licenses hadn't been directly litigated like this yet, and it means that similar licenses like the GPL and Creative Commons now stand on firmer ground. As you'd expect, OSS advocates like Lawrence Lessig and the Open Source Initiative are all pretty pumped about the ruling, with Lessig calling it "huge and important news." We'd agree wholeheartedly, but here's some food for thought while you celebrate in the comments: if you're okay with FOSS software developers enforcing open-source license agreements, are you also okay with commercial software developers enforcing their own EULA restrictions? We can think of one in particular that seems to have people pretty ticked off.

Read - InformationWeek article
Read - Lessig blog post

This one's a bit morbid, but the technology behind it all is actually quite interesting. Japan's own Nichiryoku has evidently created a unique urn retrieval system that enables family members with deceased loved ones to return to a reverent storage facility, swipe an RFID card, and watch their late mother / father / etc. emerge from the underground for viewing. Aside from saving space and money, this also provides mourning kin with a sense of security, as we're told that the urns are kept where even minor acts of God won't disturb them. Check out a demonstrative video just after the break.

[Via CScout]

It's one thing to see competition unnecessarily push more and more megapixels into palm-sized cameras, but this game of leapfrog is one we can actually get behind. A pair of giant solar plants will soon be installed in San Luis Obispo County in California, covering 12.5 square miles and promising to generate around 800 megawatts of power. OptiSolar will be responsible for laying enough panels to generate 550 megawatts, while SunPower -- the same company associated with the 14 megawatt installation at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada (pictured) -- will provide the other 250. The energy will eventually be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric, though any sort of pricing arrangements are strictly under wraps for now. C'mon Nevada, you gonna let the Golden State do you like that?

[Via Slashdot]

NASA has delayed plans to send an unmanned robotic spacecraft to the Moon -- and the pause in action will cost $7 million a month, say reports. According to various news outlets, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was set to blast off for the Big Cheese this December, but officials have decided a February 27th launch will provide the team with more wiggle room. The $491 million device is being sent skyward to circle the Moon's poles and map a safe touchdown spot for actual humans, set to journey up onto the Lunar surface sometime in 2020. In addition to the Orbiter, the space agency plans to launch an impactor probe into one of the Moon's poles in search of water ice. It should be a blast.

Believe us, we've seen a variety of unorthodox thermometers before, but this one just shines in a very special way. Brando's USB indoor / outdoor thermometer ($22) is pretty self-explanatory, but we'll humor you a bit by going into detail. The unit itself is powered via your USB port and provides a much more precise reading than those silly weather websites that just take samples from an area nearby. There's even software bundled in to log readings every second for 12 whole hours. Science project, anyone?

[Via Coolest Gadgets]

Just under two years ago, researchers at Boeing-Spectrolab managed to achieve 40.7% solar cell efficiency. Two years later, scientists at the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory have demonstrated their nerve by trumpeting an all new world record... one that's 0.1% points better than the last. Yes, your new record now sits at 40.8% -- tremendous progress, wouldn't you say? Looking outside of the numbers, you'll find that these cells differ "significantly" from the prior record holders, which enable them to be thinner, lighter, cheaper and altogether swanker. That's it for now folks -- come back in a couple years, we hear 40.9% is just around the bend.

[Via CNET]

Hard to say if this solution will be cheaper than the bordering-on-free LifeStraw, but a team at the University of South Australia has developed a low-cost method for removing bacteria and other contaminants from water "using tiny particles of pure silica coated with an active nano-material." Professor Peter Majewski is pretty proud of the all new system, stating that it can "remove bacteria, chemicals, viruses and other contaminants from water much more effectively than conventional water purification methods." Due to its ability to function sans additional energy and its low overall cost, the team is hoping to see the creation bring clean water to developing countries. The best part? It should be available within two years.

[Via Protein OS]

The Tigers down at Clemson University are doing more than deciding whether an all-purple uniform really sends a sense of fear to the opponent, as they're also crafting shock-absorbing carbon springs which could theoretically protect gadgets when they crash to the ground. In working with researchers at UC San Diego, the crew has determined that layers of tiny coiled carbon nanotubes can act as "extremely resilient shock absorbers." The team envisions their discovery finding its way into body armor, car bumpers, bushings and even in shoe soles, but we're hoping that cellphones and PMPs get lined with this stuff to protect from those butter-finger moments.

[Via Physorg]

Had enough Wall-E mods yet? Really, you have? What, you some kind of whiskey-drunk, bunny stuffer? This is Wall-E, the Disney robot sent to save us from ourselves and apparently, beige computers. This latest mod by Frenkie Janse drops a a trio (hey, why not) of DVD drives into Wall-E's trash compacting belly. Add cardboard, aluminum, toy bulldozer parts, and some fancy Dremeling and this is the result. See him in action after the break.

[Via Fusion Mods, thanks John]

Far from being the first LED-infused floor we've seen hipsters and hippies break dance and boogie down on (respectively), Sensacell's latest contraption still manages to stand out by bringing back memories of when mouse trails really were the coolest thing about an operating system. Flashbacks aside, the installation -- which is currently at the entrance to the Comunitat Valenciana in Spain -- possesses over 1,000 interactive modules, each of which include capacitive sensors and a LED lighting system. The integrated tech enables it to recognize when someone is walking over it and consequently light up as if to leave an eye-catching LED trail of their path. Can you imagine how many hours days you could entertain an ageless kid with this? Video after the jump.

The latest in nanowire research has a crew at the University of California, Berkeley creating the very first integrated circuit "that uses nanowires as both sensors and electronic components." By utilizing a so-called "simple" printing technique, the researchers were able to create a batch of uniform circuits that could one day serve as image sensors. According to Ali Javey, an electrical-engineering professor at the institution, the goal is to "develop all-nanowire sensors" which could be used in a wide array of applications, and the benefit of using 'em is their exceptionally high level of sensitivity. In due time, the gurus would like to make everything on the circuit printable, though we have this strange feeling we won't be seeing any actual results from all of this for years to come.

Alright, Microsoft: we take it all back. It was wrong, just wrong of us to impugn your promotional filmmaking skills. That Bruce Springsteen parody? Spot on. Awkward Vegas flirtations? True pathos. And now, to promote the launch of your latest version of the Surface table for Sheraton Hotels, you've crafted the touching story of a curious kid, a smug photo-twirler, her tardy date and a loving asian family. We don't want to spoil anything, but complications ensue, folks, and this is one nail-biter worthy of a sequel. Do they all end up going to dinner together? Or are they destined to troll Craigslist that evening, seeking their missed connection...

You: Cute family.
Me: Sultry Surface spokeswoman.
My date was a disaster, and now I'm all alone for the weekend, let me teach you how to pair your phones with the table over Bluetooth, and then we can all go get ice cream together!

Heartbreaking, simply heartbreaking. Video is after the break.