Comment Knuth (Score 1) 674
Call me when it's been re-written by Knuth !
Comment Re:non competes only make sense when... (Score 1) 248
EMC is not a Biotech company, and moreover it has a history of successfully enforcing non-compete clauses: Don Kempel for instance:
http://news.cnet.com/Storage-giant-sues-former-executive/2100-1015_3-274247.html
They appear to work for EMC !
Comment RTVE Server room in Madrid (Score 1) 1127
The air conditioning was pumping second hand cigarette smoke IN to the server room.
No-one was smoking in the server room, but the smoke concentration was higher in there than the rest of the building.
It was the non-smokers who were huddled out side the building taking oxygen breaks.
Then when we finished for the day, the damn project lead slammed the car door on my hand.
Still, the food and wine were superlative...
Comment Re:Here we go again (Score 5, Informative) 243
The pixie dust is in the controller, not the platter.
Comment Re:Places Apple still have DRM. (Score 1) 264
Mobile phones & Ipods (make sure user can't run Apps which haven't paid the Apple tax)
Absolutely not true. You can license your iPhone/iPod Touch app on a per device basis and completely bypass the App store - no fees to Apple necessary.
The "tax" is for using the App Store as a distribution method.
ITMS (video)
Again, there's nothing to stop you putting your own video without DRM on your iPod.
Comment Executive Summary (Score 2, Informative) 133
An excuse to show off about how well travelled he is, and, very incidentally, by the way be buys bags that have straps that cost more than your bag.
Comment Re:Leave sooner. (Score 1) 675
Yup, companies rarely give "recommendations" or bad references. They may be able to dismiss you without cause, but any company big enough to have a legal department knows that they can get sued for limiting your ability to earn a living by giving a negative reference.
You've got the new job, don't worry. Personal recommendations carry more weight than anything pro-forma on corporate letterhead.
Comment Re:Well, duh. (Score 1) 349
I think you might want to spend a little more time with the genuine article.
That laptop's not where you think it is.
Comment Samba ? (Score 1) 570
I think what you outline is a possibility, but it is not mandatory. I don't believe that Samba, for instance, makes Linux a second class citizen. Far from it...
Most folks that I know would much rather run Unix based Samba servers than Windows, and I do believe that Samba has reached such a degree of penetration that breaking it would not be in Microsoft's interest: think of the number of media servers designed to share with windows systems that are actually running an embedded Linux.
I'm certain there are other cases where the open source implementation is better than the proprietary one.
Feds Target "Mongols" Biker Club's Intellectual Property 393
couchslug writes in with a Reuters account of a Federal raid on a California-based motorcycle club, the Mongols, on charges "ranging from murder and robbery to extortion, money laundering, gun trafficking and drug dealing." The interesting twist is that the authorities are asking the courts to seize the IP of the biker club — specifically, their trademarked name "Mongols." "Federal agents and police in seven states arrested more than 60 members of the Mongols motorcycle gang on Tuesday in a sweep that also targeted for the first time an outlaw group's 'intellectual property,' prosecutors said. The arrests cap a three-year undercover investigation in which US agents posed as gang members and their girlfriends to infiltrate the group, even submitting to polygraph tests administered by the bikers ... [T]he name 'Mongols,' which appears on the gang's arm patch insignia, was trademarked by the group. The indictment seeks a court order outlawing further use of the name, which would allow any police officer 'who sees a Mongol wearing this patch ... to stop that gang member and literally take the jacket right off his back' ..."
Submission + - Samsung and Microsoft Launch High Speed Smartphone
Kevin Gamble writes: "Microsoft and Samsung launched their HSDPA Smartphone today at the ITU Telecom World 2006 convention in Hong Kong. HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) allows users to bring content to their phones at the same rate as a home broadband connection. The phone, running Windows Mobile 5.0, can connect with BlueTooth and WiFi 2.0 and has two digital cameras which can be used for 3G video calls.
Samsung, Microsoft launch HSDPA smartphone"
