Comment Cost/benefit (Score 1) 219
Did you get your money's worth of tools? If so, rejoice and go fix gramma's phone, too.
If not, sell what crap they sent you and go buy a BrewMP flip phone. you'll thank me later.
Comment Why is Beau still here? (Score -1, Offtopic) 76
See above question
Comment Better Idea. (Score 2) 59
Find a way to force them to watch Bono LIVE.
Comment Re:Good! (Score 1) 31
Still true.
Comment Re:Good! (Score 1) 31
Lol. Flamebait. But it's true. and Epstein didn't kill himself.
Comment Good! (Score -1, Flamebait) 31
Suck it, console fanboys! PC gamers are the ONLY gamers.
Submission + - Valve Loses Bid to End Antitrust Case Over Steam Gaming Platform (bloomberglaw.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Valve must face antitrust litigation over claims that “most favored nation” policies for its Steam distribution platform have driven up video game prices across the industry, a federal judge in Seattle ruled. Judge John C. Coughenour let part of the case move forward in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, saying it’s plausible Valve exploits its market dominance to threaten and retaliate against developers that sell games for less through other retailers or platforms.
The company “allegedly enforces this regime through a combination of written and unwritten rules” imposing its own conditions on how even “non-Steam-enabled games are sold and priced,” Coughenour wrote. “These allegations are sufficient to plausibly allege unlawful conduct.” The May 6 decision hands a win to the consumers and game publishers leading the proposed class action after the judge twice issued preliminary rulings in Valve’s favor. Coughenour first ordered Steam subscribers to arbitrate their consumer claims in October, then tentatively dismissed the developer lawsuit the following month. Consumers who don’t subscribe to Steam—and never signed its arbitration agreement—are still involved in the case. [...]
Coughenour trimmed the Valve case May 6, rejecting claims that the Steam store and gaming platform operate in separate markets the company ties together. There are no plausible allegations of any consumer demand for “fully functional gaming platforms distinct from game stores,” he said. But the judge let the most-favored-nation claims move forward, walking back his earlier skepticism about the idea that Steam commissions are “supracompetitive.” He had previously found that their stability over time shows Valve didn’t raise prices as it gained market share. In fact, when the company competed only against brick-and-mortar retailers, it “did not need market power to charge a fee well above its cost structure because those brick-and-mortar competitors had a far higher cost structure,” Coughenour wrote. That makes the analysis apples-to-oranges, he said.
The company “allegedly enforces this regime through a combination of written and unwritten rules” imposing its own conditions on how even “non-Steam-enabled games are sold and priced,” Coughenour wrote. “These allegations are sufficient to plausibly allege unlawful conduct.” The May 6 decision hands a win to the consumers and game publishers leading the proposed class action after the judge twice issued preliminary rulings in Valve’s favor. Coughenour first ordered Steam subscribers to arbitrate their consumer claims in October, then tentatively dismissed the developer lawsuit the following month. Consumers who don’t subscribe to Steam—and never signed its arbitration agreement—are still involved in the case. [...]
Coughenour trimmed the Valve case May 6, rejecting claims that the Steam store and gaming platform operate in separate markets the company ties together. There are no plausible allegations of any consumer demand for “fully functional gaming platforms distinct from game stores,” he said. But the judge let the most-favored-nation claims move forward, walking back his earlier skepticism about the idea that Steam commissions are “supracompetitive.” He had previously found that their stability over time shows Valve didn’t raise prices as it gained market share. In fact, when the company competed only against brick-and-mortar retailers, it “did not need market power to charge a fee well above its cost structure because those brick-and-mortar competitors had a far higher cost structure,” Coughenour wrote. That makes the analysis apples-to-oranges, he said.
Submission + - Tech YouTubers Are Stepping Up a War Against Indian Scam Call Centers
An anonymous reader writes: Former NASA engineer Mark Rober builds some awesome stuff on his YouTube channel, like devious squirrel mazes, but his most popular video series is the annual glitter bomb, a beautifully over-engineered fake package that douses porch pirates with a shower of glitter and fart spray. In an unexpected twist, last year's glitter bomb video also helped police catch and arrest someone involved in a phone scam scheme, and Rober's spent the subsequent year digging into just how these phone scam operations work. In a new video he shows off the extensive results of that effort, including hiring double agents to infiltrate several phone centers in India and hacking their security camera footage. And of course he got off a stink bomb, too.
For Rober, this crusade started when he teamed up with another YouTuber, Jim Browning, to try to send a glitter bomb to a scammer operation. Browning's whole channel, which has 3.7 million followers, is devoted to identifying the call centers behind tech support scams and refund scams. These scams typically target the elderly and less computer-savvy folks and usually rely on the scammers gaining remote access to your computer and then tricking them into giving up personal information like their bank account login. "Refund" scams make people believe they've been overcompensated with some bogus refund and trick them into sending cash in the mail to the scammers. The people who receive those cash packages in the United States are essentially underlings in these scam operations, so after getting a glitter bomb in their hands last year, Rober set his sights on the call centers themselves. With Browning's help, they were able to gain access to the CCTV of the infiltrated call centers, while another YouTube pair, Trilogy Media, traveled to Kolkata, India to run operations on the ground.
For Rober, this crusade started when he teamed up with another YouTuber, Jim Browning, to try to send a glitter bomb to a scammer operation. Browning's whole channel, which has 3.7 million followers, is devoted to identifying the call centers behind tech support scams and refund scams. These scams typically target the elderly and less computer-savvy folks and usually rely on the scammers gaining remote access to your computer and then tricking them into giving up personal information like their bank account login. "Refund" scams make people believe they've been overcompensated with some bogus refund and trick them into sending cash in the mail to the scammers. The people who receive those cash packages in the United States are essentially underlings in these scam operations, so after getting a glitter bomb in their hands last year, Rober set his sights on the call centers themselves. With Browning's help, they were able to gain access to the CCTV of the infiltrated call centers, while another YouTube pair, Trilogy Media, traveled to Kolkata, India to run operations on the ground.
Journal Journal: What does "friend" mean on WTS (or Slashdot)? 1
Just another cut and paste for consideration, but at this point I'm beginning to regard the "Why?" button as another castle in the sky. Surely there must be such a website somewhere? (But most of the sentiments do sort of apply to Slashdot. It's just that Slashdot is basically a fossil from the aeons before Unicode evolved.)
Friend = a click on an "Add Friend" link? Sorry, but I don't think so.
Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Alternative to "Intelligent" Google Search? 2
Captain Chad writes: I first heard about Google here on Slashdot. At the time I was using AltaVista for web searches, but Google immediately proved its superiority. Now 20+ years later I struggle with Google's latest system. It appears to be interpreting the perceived intent of my search request instead of using the very specific keywords I provide. I'm often getting results that aren't on the same topic as what I'm looking for, and adding more keywords seems to make it worse. Even using double quotes doesn't help much any more. Google Search has become too "intelligent" for me to use effectively.
So I'm looking for a replacement search engine, one that searches for what I tell it to search for, like Google used to do. With that in mind, what search engine(s) do you recommend?
So I'm looking for a replacement search engine, one that searches for what I tell it to search for, like Google used to do. With that in mind, what search engine(s) do you recommend?
Submission + - A Microsoft account will soon be required to install Windows 11 (windows11news.com)
Ammalgam writes: Looks like Microsoft is getting ready to force more people to have a Microsoft account for the installation of the latest version of its operating system. That being the upcoming Windows 11 22H2 release.
Previously, the company made these changes for Windows 11 Home users, removing the option to use a local account when installing that version of the OS. Now, this measure is not just limited to that edition, as Redmond now requires users to link accounts even on Windows 11 Pro.
That leaves just Windows 11 Enterprise free from this restraint.
Staring with the 22H2 feature update for the operating system, you will need to connect your Microsoft account during installation. Microsoft will then automatically configure OneDrive for the device and begin syncing data across your devices.
This includes transferring settings and preferences automatically to help you manage multiple PCs easily.
Previously, the company made these changes for Windows 11 Home users, removing the option to use a local account when installing that version of the OS. Now, this measure is not just limited to that edition, as Redmond now requires users to link accounts even on Windows 11 Pro.
That leaves just Windows 11 Enterprise free from this restraint.
Staring with the 22H2 feature update for the operating system, you will need to connect your Microsoft account during installation. Microsoft will then automatically configure OneDrive for the device and begin syncing data across your devices.
This includes transferring settings and preferences automatically to help you manage multiple PCs easily.
Comment So they're free? (Score 1) 33
Asking for a friend.
Comment So, if i get the patch.. (Score 1) 9
So, if i get the patch.. I am not protected from the exploit, but i should get it anyways, because it provides protection from severe compromise?...
Submission + - India to launch open e-commerce network to take on Amazon, Walmart (reuters.com)
Hmmmmmm writes: India will on Friday launch an open network for digital commerce (ONDC) as the government tries to end the dominance of U.S. companies Amazon.com (AMZN.O) and Walmart (WMT.N) in the fast-growing e-commerce market, a government document showed.
The launch of the platform comes after India's antitrust body on Thursday raided domestic sellers of Amazon and some of Walmart's Flipkart following accusations of competition law violations. The companies did not respond to request for comment on the raids.
The government's so-called ONDC platform will allow buyers and sellers to connect and transact with each other online, no matter what other application they use. It will be soft-launched on Friday before being expanded, the trade ministry told Reuters.
The government document said that two large multinational players controlled more than half of the country's e-commerce trade, limiting access to the market, giving preferential treatment to some sellers and squeezing supplier margins. It did not name the companies.
The document said India's ONDC plan aimed to onboard 30 million sellers and 10 million merchants online. The plan is to cover at least 100 cities and towns by August.
The launch of the platform comes after India's antitrust body on Thursday raided domestic sellers of Amazon and some of Walmart's Flipkart following accusations of competition law violations. The companies did not respond to request for comment on the raids.
The government's so-called ONDC platform will allow buyers and sellers to connect and transact with each other online, no matter what other application they use. It will be soft-launched on Friday before being expanded, the trade ministry told Reuters.
The government document said that two large multinational players controlled more than half of the country's e-commerce trade, limiting access to the market, giving preferential treatment to some sellers and squeezing supplier margins. It did not name the companies.
The document said India's ONDC plan aimed to onboard 30 million sellers and 10 million merchants online. The plan is to cover at least 100 cities and towns by August.
Submission + - SPAM: Webb Telescope captures 5 different, dazzling views of a nearby galaxy
schwit1 writes: It only took 25 years of development, 17 years of construction, eight launch delays, and five months of alignments, but finally, the James Webb Space Telescope is almost ready for prime time. New photos released by the European Space Agency (ESA) — and an accompanying video from NASA — show images of stars taken by a fully aligned space telescope, instruments and all.
The image shows snapshots from each of Webb’s three imaging instruments, plus its spectrograph and guidance sensor. The images show a field of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a galaxy near the Milky Way about 158,000 light-years away. If it orbits our galaxy, it would be, by far, the largest satellite galaxy. But there’s a chance it’s just passing through or slowly merging with our galaxy.
Link to Original Source
The image shows snapshots from each of Webb’s three imaging instruments, plus its spectrograph and guidance sensor. The images show a field of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a galaxy near the Milky Way about 158,000 light-years away. If it orbits our galaxy, it would be, by far, the largest satellite galaxy. But there’s a chance it’s just passing through or slowly merging with our galaxy.
Link to Original Source
