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GNOME

Submission + - Unicode Character-of-Death crashes GTK apps on Win (gnome.org)

Submitted by Olipro
Olipro writes: A long-standing, but until yesterday undiscovered bug in GTK for Windows has revealed that any application using GTK (such as X-Chat, Pidgin and Wireshark to name but a few) can be made to crash if any non-BMP character is sent for display resulting in much malicious fun across IRC and IM networks. As yet, no word from the GTK devs has been heard.
Piracy

Submission + - Is it stealing if you don't keep it?

Submitted by pyrothebouncer
pyrothebouncer writes: I've been thinking about the idea of piracy with the recent SOPA and PIPA news and came up with a curious question. If I download a movie, watch it and then discard it, isn't that the same as going to a bookstore reading a book/magazine, putting it back on the shelf and then leaving?

I've just read the WHOLE book/magazine. I now contain the knowledge or information in my head that is contained in the item. But, I have not purchased or rented the item. I don't have a copy of it.

In the same way describing the film, I've just watched the WHOLE movie. I now contain the knowledge or information in my head that is contained in the item. But, I have not purchased or rented the item. I don't have a copy of it (I just deleted it).

I haven't stolen a purse, or a car, as is often shown in the "anti-piracy" campaign ads.
Mars

Submission + - Did Someone Put Out a Cosmic Hit on Russia's Mars (vice.com) 1

Submitted by
pigrabbitbear
pigrabbitbear writes: "It’s been more than two months since Russia’s Phobos-Grunt spacecraft failed to complete its mission of landing on Mars’ moon Phobos and returning with a soil sample. It first went silent in orbit; it’s since crashed into the Pacific. Now, the director of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin, is suggesting that something, or someone, sabotaged the mission."
Space

Submission + - Any Exoplanet Possible in a 'Compulsive' Universe (discovery.com) 1

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes: ""Exoplanet discoveries have shown us that if it isn't forbidden by the laws of thermodynamics and Newtonian physics, then it is compulsive," said Virginia Trimble of the University of California at Irvine during the American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, Texas, last week. It appears that if you can imagine it, without breaking any laws of physics, then any kind of alien world is possible. Does this go for alien life too? "We will ultimately reach that summit with the eventual discovery that life is a condition of the universe," hypothesizes Discovery News' Ray Villard. "In other words, that self-replicating matter is nature's favorite form of self-expression.""

Submission + - SOPA author Lamar Smith infringes copyright on his (google.com)

Submitted by Craefter
Craefter writes: On an earlier version of Lamar Smith's campaign website Lamar himself wasn't too clever by pulling a background image from Flickr without asking or mentioning the original photographer, DJ Schulte.
Vice magazine did a research into any copyright infringement Lamar could have made on his website and found one in violation of the Creative Commons.
Hardware

Submission + - Scammers replacing iPads with bags of clay in Cana (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A group of thieves in Canada managed to upset a number of legitimate consumers come Christmas morning when they opened their iPad 2 packaging to find nothing but a bag of clay, in some cases even the charger had been replaced with clay.

What the scammers had managed to do was purchase iPad 2s, remove the tablet, and then make up the weight and shape with clay. They also had the necessary tools and materials to professionally reseal the iPad 2 box so it looks as if it had never been opened. The stores accepted the tablets back as returns without further checks because they were sealed, and then proceeded to resell them to other customers.

Submission + - Anonymous May Have Issued Call To Take Down Iowa C (thenewcivilrightsmovement.com) 1

Submitted by samriel
samriel writes: All of a sudden the GOP now is concerned that the Internet hactivist group Anonymous (may have) issued a call to supporters to take down the January 3 Iowa Caucuses. Six weeks ago a video surfaced that was claimed to be by Anonymous—an anarchy-ish-styled, loosely-intertwined informal groups that has succeeded in taking down Internet sites like PayPal, Bank of America, and the Westboro Baptist Church.
Piracy

Submission + - GoDaddy continues to bleed customers over SOPA (itworld.com) 1

Submitted by bdking
bdking writes: Despite a transparent reversal of policy regarding its support of the Stop Online Piracy Act, domain registrar GoDaddy continues to lose customers to a reddit-inspired boycott. That GoDaddy was the No. 1 target of SOPA opponents — despite much larger companies also supporting the legislation — speaks to the Achilles heel of most Internet companies.
Education

Submission + - A World Without Schoolteachers (americanthinker.com)

Submitted by Attila Dimedici
Attila Dimedici writes: I came across a an article this morning that suggests that the Nook and the Kindle have changed things in such a way that schools are becoming obsolete. His premise is that the ideal way to teach children is by a tutor. Schools arose because those who were not well enough off to afford tutors pooled their resources to hire a tutor (teacher) for all of their children. Schools further developed because they offered the opportunity for society to indoctrinate children in the values society considered important. Until today, the indoctrination has become more important than the education.
The author's premise is that the Nook and the Kindle have allowed large amounts of written material on many different subjects to become accessible enough that parents can tutor their children at a price that just about everyone can afford.
Programming

Submission + - What if Babbage..? (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk
mikejuk writes: It was on this day 220 years ago (December 26 1791) that Charles Babbage was born. The calculating machines he invented in the 19th century, although never fully realised in his lifetime, are rightly seen as the forerunners of modern programmable computers. What if he had succeeded? Babbage already had plans for games arcades, chess playing machines, sound generators and desktop publishing. A Victorian computer revolution was entirely possible.

Comment Re:Default is the only option (Score 1) 696

by samriel (#36933602) Attached to: Seigniorage Hack Could Resolve Debt Limit Crisis

it is the President's job to execute the laws & budget that congress hands him, with whatever funding they provide. We are looking now at a dictator if Obama does not sign a budget passed by congress.

It is the job of the President to be a check against the power of the Congress. If Congress passed a bill that balanced the budget by confiscating all private property, should Obama sign it? He is the executor, but also the protector.

Comment Re:breach of contract (Score 1) 207

by samriel (#36932188) Attached to: AT&T To Start Data Throttling Heaviest Users

What kind of law do you want to draft that reduces corporate influence without also reducing the ability of citizens to organize and lobby?

Simple: require that only HUMAN entities, not legal or financial entities, are allowed to organize and lobby. The Founding Fathers didn't imagine that we would be crazy enough to recognize a nonhuman corporation as a legal person with free speech and all of the other rights.

Comment Re:When will they learn? (Score 2) 221

by samriel (#35038286) Attached to: FBI Executes 40 Search Warrants For 'Anonymous'
You're exactly right, and that's why they hate Anonymous so much. Most other terror organizations can be destroyed merely by taking out their head men. Anon doesn't work that way. Arrest the LOICers, Anon gets pissed off and LOICs. Arrest Moot, Anon gets pissed off and LOICs. Do nothing, Anon gets pissed off and LOICs. They have no control over them, and that's why they can't stand them.

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