cwj123 - Slashdot User

Submission + - Brussels Wants to Tax WiFi Antennas

Submitted by

mernil

on Sunday March 25, 2007 @05:01AM

mernil writes: "According to brusselsjournal.com "Olivier Maingain, the mayor of Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe, one of the 19 Brussels boroughs, is planning to tax all "antennas for the transmission of data". Each antenna will be taxed a staggering 4,000 euros per year. [...] While the small antenna on your wireless router could theoretically be taxed, the new tax seems to target WiFi-antennas that can be seen from the outside, i.e. that are positioned on the outside of buildings. If the owner of the aerial cannot be identified the owners of the buildings have to pay the new tax.""

Submission + - Grand Theft Auto IV

Submitted by CoffeeHedake on Sunday March 25, 2007 @02:15AM

CoffeeHedake writes: http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/ Noticed this on my TV this morning @ 2:00AM, a counter ticking down the time until a trailer for the new GTA? Odd. Not sure if anyone else on the East Coast has noticed....

Submission + - Microsoft: The World's Biggest Cybersquatter?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25, 2007 @10:57PM

An anonymous reader writes: What happens if you use Internet Explorer and try to visit a domain that doesn't actually exist? Microsoft sends you to an automatically generated results page filled with related pay-per-click ads. Click any ad and MS earns $$$. Earthlink is doing this too and Charter just got into the game. Is Firefox next?

http://www.dailydomainer.com/200784-microsoft-eart hlink-charter-cybersquatting.html

Submission + - Why Linus hates GNOME.

Submitted by nnkx00 on Sunday February 25, 2007 @09:18PM

nnkx00 writes: DesktopLinux.com is running a story about why Linus hates the GNOME Desktop Environment. And while the bulk of the story is spent telling of Linus' complaints, the real story is about how to make a good out-of-the-box desktop environment that works for people just sitting down at a machine, and yet is customizable.

Submission + - Xbox Live Marketplace Digital Rights MISManagement

Submitted by

Divalent

on Sunday February 25, 2007 @03:38AM

Divalent writes: "For over fourteen months, Microsoft has been aware of a problem that is presented to a user if they attempt to play an XBL arcade game or a game with premium paid downloadable content on any other machine than the one it was originally downloaded on. (See forum thread begun on 12/18/05)

MS has not come forward and publicly acknowledged the problem. Their representatives on the forums have even gone so far as to say, despite it's frank illegality, that those that had consoles stolen or replaced, in or out of warranty, from retailers will not have the workaround solution applied to their accounts unless they have explicit proof of said replacement. This means if your box breaks out of warranty, you cannot simply trash it and head to a store and buy a new one. You must somehow show continuity and PROVE to Microsoft that your old box is broken and has been replaced by the one you say it has been replaced by. Whatever happened to content being tied to your Gamertag, an ID that is uncopy-able and can only be logged onto one console at any one time? Where was the mention prior to launch of tying content to Gamertag AND the first console used to download the content before launch? That little detail wasn't even brought up until the Fall Update in October '06.

Currently there is a group of users who have had enough of this mismanagement of the growing segment of users with this problem. It is felt that Microsoft has its choice of a myriad of solutions such as Apples (de)authorizing protocol for iTunes. You can get a synopsis of the problem at Parallax Abstraction's blog on the matter here along with his recommendations of what to do. Included in the suggestions, whether you've personally been effected by the problem or not, is the urging to sign a petition that asks Microsoft to change the Digital Rights (Mis)Managment scheme currently in place."

Submission + - Top Canadian Court strikes down detention law

Submitted by

athar

on Sunday February 25, 2007 @02:07AM

athar writes: "The Canadian Supreme Court, in an unanimous 9-0 decision, struck down the security certificate regime in Canada, whereby foreigners could be detained indefinitely on the basis of secret evidence, with no real ability to challenge their detention. The Court ruled that the regime violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and has given the government one year to rectify the regime. The decision is in stark contrast to the current legal situation in the United States."

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