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Feed Source code auditing keeps organizations on the right side of licensing (newsforge.com)

From feed by nffeed
In 2000, when Theresa Friday, Ray Waldin, and Jeff Luszcz were working for dot-com startup Cacheon, they saw firsthand the power of open source software to impact a business model. In Cacheon's case, it looked like open source had dealt a death blow to the company, but it was really careless use of third-party code that was the source of the trouble, Friday says. The three colleagues were so impacted by what they had seen that they launched a new business designed to help other companies prevent implosion from software licensing issues.
Patents

Submission + - Torvalds Responds To Recent Linux Patent Claims.

Submitted by
Happy To Be Free
Happy To Be Free writes: "Information Week response from Lead Kernel Developer Linus Torvalds on recent Microsoft allegations that Linux infringes on Microsoft patents. Torvalds states "It's certainly a lot more likely that Microsoft violates patents than Linux does. If the source code for Windows could be subjected to the same critical review that Linux has been, Microsoft would find itself in violation of patents held by other companies," he said. It is important to note that fundemental OS theory was done by IBM over fifty years ago, and that IBM probably owned thousands of really fundemental patents. So according to him, and many of us users, Microsoft should name the patents it claims have been violated so the claims can be tested in court or so open-source developers can rewrite code to avoid the violation all together. It is widely accepted that Microsoft would rather have Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt floating through the ether than name which patents, if any, are being infriged upon. In a parting shot Torvalds posed the question, "Don't you think that if Microsoft actually had some really foolproof patent, they'd just tell us and go, 'nyaah, nyaah, nyaah!'""
The Courts

Submission + - OIN Stands Ready to Sue Microsoft over Patent FUD

Submitted by
Litigious Bastards Redux
Litigious Bastards Redux writes: "OIN, a patent trust created by IBM, Novell and others to protect Linux, has just issued a press release saying that they stand ready to sue Microsoft to protect Linux. Although Microsoft has stirred up a lot of controversy about how Linux infringes upon their patents, they still haven't listed the actual patents they believe Linux has infringed upon. So far, analysts think that Microsoft fears the legal trouble the GPLv3 could cause for them, are only making noise so that they can make private deals with companies to slow Linux adoption, or that they are being pushed to litigate instead of competing or innovating because migrating to Vista is a pain in the ass and Office's lock-in is being broken by ODF. Only one thing is clear so far: actually litigating these patents would turn Microsoft into another SCO."
Microsoft

Submission + - Torvalds Responds To Microsoft Patent Claims

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Linux Torvalds has a sharp retort to Microsoft executives' statements in a Fortune article that Linux violates 235 Microsoft patents. In an emailed response to InformationWeek's Charlie Babcock, Torvalds writes: "It's certainly a lot more likely that Microsoft violates patents than Linux does." He added: "Basic operating system theory was pretty much done by the end of the 1960s. IBM probably owned thousand of really 'fundamental' patents...The fundamental stuff was done about half a century ago and has long, long since lost any patent protection."
Republicans

Submission + - Jerry Falwell

Submitted by zophyx
zophyx writes: The Reverend Jerry Falwell died suddenly today.
The Rev. Jerry Falwell found unconscious in office at Liberty University
Falwell, 73, was rushed to a Lynchburg, Virginia, hospital
He is a nationally known voice for conservative Christian views
Operating Systems

Submission + - Buy my software or I'll sue you!

Submitted by
jandrese
jandrese writes: "LONDON (Thomson Financial) — Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc could face a possible lawsuit for failing to include measures to control access to copyrighted material in products such as Vista OS, iTunes and the iPod, two companies have warned.

Media Rights Technologies and BlueBeat.com have issued cease and desist letters to both companies and to Adobe Systems Inc and Real Networks — which produce the Adobe Flash Player and Real Player respectively — for actively avoiding their X1 SeCure Recording Control, which they said is an effective copyright protection system.

I guess DRM companies have gotten so used to suing their customers that suing potential customers seems like a good idea."
Intel

Submission + - Samsung puts finishing touches on DDR3 memory

Submitted by
HostAdmin
HostAdmin writes: "Buckle your seatbelts, boys and girls! DDR3 is almost here (well, 2009 is "almost here", isn't it?)

DDR3 is the long-awaited successor to DDR2 memory, now the most common memory type used in PCs. The newer chips will offer data transfer speeds up to 1.6Gbps, twice the memory bandwidth of DDR2. That means better performance for both 3-D graphics and multithreaded applications that tap the power of multi-core processors. The chips will also consume less power — around 1.5 volts compared to 1.8 volts for DDR2 — which means longer notebook battery life, Samsung said.
"
Software

Submission + - Hackers hacking over hacked hackers-haven

Submitted by MrShaggy
MrShaggy writes: The folks over at the PirateBay, are admitting that they have been hacked. User-names and passwords. Although they are encrypted they are urging members to update their passwords, not only on that site, but on any other website that you might have used the same pass on.

Here is the link in the Inquirer;http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?a rticle=39591 http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39 591
User Journal

Journal Journal: Ice Cores, Air Pockets, and the Grand Hoax

Journal by kcarlin

By some miracle of compartmentalization, the UN that brought us the Oil for Food Scandal and human shield services for Hesbollah were expected by some to turn out a respectable result via the IPCC on climate change. Dr. Zbigniew Jaworowski, a leading expert in ice core studies, finds for experience over optimism here.

Feed German MacBook melts during movie screening (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Laptops

We've seen MacBooks in many different states of distress during their brief existence -- burned, cracked, bulging, whining, and discolored, to name a few -- but a German member of MacUser has just posted pics of what may be the first unit that we've ever witnessed to actually begin melting from the exhaust heat. Apparently this unlucky movie buff was running down the AFI's Top 100 Movies of All Time, and had just gotten absorbed in the 2000 Wayans brother tour de force 'Scary Movie' when the hot air from those notorious vents started to warp and deform the LCD's plastic bezel. Thankfully all's well that ends well as Apple has agreed to replace our hero's notebook with one of the non-melty variety, though with MacBooks having been clocked at running north of 200 degrees Fahrenheit, this may not be the last Dalí-esque laptop we see. Check out another angle after the break...

[Via Gadget Lab]

Continue reading German MacBook melts during movie screening

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Censorship

Submission + - Verizon DSL Throttling Access to Skype?

Submitted by Gabriel Landau
Gabriel Landau writes: I've been trying to download Skype all weekend to talk to my friend in Prague from my home Verizon DSL connection. Every time I went to http://www.skype.com/download, the page took nearly forever to load, and the connection timed out before it loaded completely. Assuming their server was under heavy load all weekend, I came into work this morning and checked the site again; it loaded very quickly through my office T1 (non-Verizon). I just checked my home computer again, and the page still times out. Is Verizon intentionally throttling all traffic to Skype servers to force customers to use their own for-pay services? Is this behavior illegal and anti-competitive?

Feed AMD Announces Phenom Brand (pheedo.com)

From feed by thfeed
AMD confirmed the brand name for its next generation dual- and quad-core processors desktop processors: Phenom X2 and Phenom X4.

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