Comment Re:Hey, worked for Napster (Score 1) 151
Who? ;-)
Comment Thanks! (Score 1) 1521
Read the site everyday - thanks for the time and effort you've put in trawling the internets.
Had a random person at work spot me reading /. a couple of weeks ago say, "you read slashdot, oh you are a nerd" in the nicest possible way :)
Comment Re:Everything costs more in Australia (Score 1) 440
Not being a troll here - I genuinely am unsure about the right answer - but don't Canadians spell it globalisation?
Comment Re:Sue! (Score 0) 108
Lawers suing? Although interesting, I fail to see what's odd about this - they should have seen that one coming from a mile away!
Comment Re:iiNet (Score 1) 98
This is why I've been a a happy customer of iiNet for nearly a decade
Ditto. I like my ISP providing the service I pay for and not terminating it because a third party (ie NOT the police or a court) says they should.
Comment Same deal in Australia (Score 1) 390
An interesting report about the practice of fracking in rural Australia. Similar stories about widespread pollution - particularly to do with the chemicals used in the process - but also about some of the battles mining companies play with land owners
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20110221/gas/
Porsche Unveils 911 Hybrid With Flywheel Booster 197
MikeChino writes "Porsche has just unveiled its 911 GT3 R Hybrid, a 480 horsepower track vehicle ready to rock the 24-hour Nurburgring race this May. Porsche's latest supercar will use the same 911 production platform available to consumers today, with a few race-ready features including front-wheel hybrid drive and an innovative flywheel system that stores kinetic energy from braking and then uses it to provide a 160 horsepower burst of speed. The setup is sure to offer an advantage when powering out of turns and passing by other racers."
AU Legal Group Says ISP Allowed 100K Illegal Downloads 191
In Australia, a court wrapped up day one of what promises to be a 4-week trial of media interests against ISP iiNet. Reader bennyboy64 writes "iTnews reports that Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft investigators claim to have recorded almost 100,000 instances of Australian internet service provider iiNet users making available online unauthorized copies of films and TV programs, lawyers for the film industry said in the Federal Court in Sydney today. The lawyers for the film industry claimed iiNet had done 'nothing' to discourage copyright infringement on its network. iTnews also has a background piece on the case, with a Flash-y graph."
Church of Scientology Proposes Net Censorship In Australia 464
An anonymous reader writes "Submitted by the Australian branch of Scientology to the local Human Rights Commission is a proposal to eliminate anonymity on the net and the removal of critical websites (MS Word document).
The submission is listed as #1931 at this page at the Australian Human Rights Commission." (Read on below for some of the details of what the Scientologists propose.)
Comment Call me paranoid... (Score 2, Funny) 257
... but I'm just not happy with google going around streets and taking pictures of my house, my car, etc. Of course I've put photos up on the internet of the house, the cars, the inside of the house, loved ones - but that's stuff that *I've* posted (and on services that - theoretically - only an elected few can view).
It's not illegal in Australia (hell, is it technically illegal anywhere yet?) and I'm sure it fits into google's "do no evil", but while it's not "evil", if an individual person (rather than a computerised camera car) put photos up of my house it's plain creepy.
Big cities full of stores, monuments, various points of interest - fine - driving all the way out to where I live and showing the world I've neglected my lawn - not so much.
EMI Only Selling CDs To Mega-Chains From Now On 334
farrellj writes "According to Zeropaid, record company EMI has been notifying small music stores that they will no longer be able to buy EMI CDs from EMI, and will have to buy product from mega-chains like Walmart. Independent record store customers are some of the most loyal music buyers around. You are not going to find the back catalog, what used to be the staple of the music business, at your local Walmart. One wonders when the music business is going to run out of feet to shoot?"
The 100 Degree Data Center 472
miller60 writes "Are you ready for the 100-degree data center? Rackable Systems has introduced a new enclosure that it says can run high-density racks safely in environments as hot as 104 degrees (40 degrees C), offering customers the option of saving energy in their data center. Most data centers operate in a range between 68 and 74 degrees. Raising the thermostat can lower the power bill, allowing data centers to use less power for cooling. But higher temperatures can be less forgiving in the event of a cooling failure, and not likely to be welcomed by employees working in the data center."
Study Finds the Pious Fight Death Hardest 921
Stanislav_J writes "A US study suggests that people with strong religious beliefs appear to want doctors to do everything they can to keep them alive as death approaches. The study, following 345 patients with terminal cancer, found that 'those who regularly prayed were more than three times more likely to receive intensive life-prolonging care than those who relied least on religion.' At first blush, this appears paradoxical; one would think that a strong belief in an afterlife would lead to a more resigned acceptance of death than nonbelievers who view death as the end of existence, the annihilation of consciousness and the self. Perhaps the concept of a Judgment produces death-bed doubts? ('Am I really saved?') Or, given the Judeo-Christian abhorrence of suicide, and the belief that it is God who must ultimately decide when it is 'our time,' is it felt that refusing aggressive life support measures or resuscitation is tantamount to deliberately ending one's life prematurely?"
Comment There go the customers (?) (Score 1) 360
Something that isn't entirely clear to me - obviously this is a bad thing - but doesn't this mean that people just jump ship and go to other ISPs? Business usually understands people moving with their feet.
AT&T, Comcast To Join RIAA Team 360
suraj.sun writes "AT&T and Comcast, two of the nation's largest Internet service providers, are expected to be among a group of ISPs that will cooperate with the music industry in battling illegal file sharing, three sources close to the companies told CNET News. The RIAA said last month that it had enlisted the help of ISPs as part of a new antipiracy campaign. The RIAA has declined to identify which ISPs or how many. It's important to note that none of the half dozen or so ISPs involved has signed agreements. But as it stands, AT&T and Comcast are among the companies that have indicated they wish to participate in what the RIAA calls a 'graduated response program.'"
