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Businesses

Will Write Code, Won't Sign NDA 438

itwbennett writes "John Larson hears a lot of 'ideas' from a lot of entrepreneurs who want his programming expertise, but says he 'will almost never sign an NDA.' He has plenty of reasons for refusing to sign, but one that really resonates is that, regardless of what your lawyer may say, demanding an NDA upfront starts the relationship off on the wrong foot. The bottom line: If you want a programmer to hear you out, don't start by assuming that they'll steal your great idea."
Privacy

New Samsung TV Watches You Watching It 320

CanHasDIY writes "Straight out of 1984, Samsung has unveiled a new series of televisions with integrated cameras and microphones, complete with facial and voice recognition software. Best of all, there appears to be no physical indication of the mic and camera's status, so consumers have no way of knowing when they're being monitored, or by whom... and if you don't find the idea of a TV that watches you creepy enough, apparently Samsung's Terms of Service include a clause allowing third-party apps to make use of the monitoring system, and use the data gathered for their own purposes. Nothing Orwellian about that..."
The Media

Rob Malda (CmdrTaco) Joins the Washington Post 232

kodiaktau writes "Slashdot founder and long time cat herder Rob Malda joins the Washington Post per an announcement today. According to the press release, he will be the Chief Strategist and Editor-at-Large working for WaPo Labs." Rob has a more detailed description of the job on his blog: "Don Graham is trying to accomplish something that is a bit of a cliche these days: A startup inside an established corporation. A group that can exist at a nexus between newspapers, websites, cable networks, and TV stations and think about the big picture and the future without the normal burdens associated with a business operating at a large scale. ... They are actively iterating and experimenting in many directions, with strong support from the top of the organization. ... Washington Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli assures me that I'll also be working with the newsroom where I can contribute words, ideas, and tools that will improve the experience of the journalists doing work that I personally believe transcends the bottom line."

Comment this is a hack (Score 1) 155

Really what they need to do is come out with a flash rom that you reflash your particular android device with and boom you're using ubuntu both in dock and undock mode... Doing it the way they are currently doing it, basically as an app running on the phone, is a step in the right direction, but really the road map should be to fully replace Android with Ubuntu. I think most people who use Android devices wish these devices were just running ubuntu, because ubuntu (and any desktop linux OS really) has a ton of more features out of the box than Android. With Android, they took linux, stripped away all the things that made it great, and then put a clunky window manager on top of it and a sandbox with limited features. I bet the same Android device running Ubuntu would run almost twice as fast, due to the natively compiled nature of Ubuntu versus the interpreted Java-based Android.

Comment Indians and large companies love the H1-B program (Score 1) 494

I think it's funny when you talk about the problems with the H1-B program, Indian people seem to be the most vocal proponents of the system, are the first to try to deflect criticism of the program, point the blame on other things such as "older workers cost more", etc. The reality here is that the H1-B system has been abused for decades to get lower paid workers, regardless of whether or not there was actually ever a US Citizen worker that could do the work. Unfortunately, the H1-B system will continue to be abused as a tool by large organizations to hire overseas workers at 1/3rd the cost of hiring US workers to do the same job. I think in most industries, the argument that there are not enough US workers is not based on facts. It's usually coming from the heads of large entities that are saving millions or billions per year by utilizing the program. As long as the program exists, it will continue to be abused this way. The H1-B program has nothing to do with "not enough skilled US citizens who can do the work", and alot to do with "I can hire the same guy for 1/3rd the price". Anyone who says differently is focused on some biased side of the conversation. The Indians think its a great program because it naturally enriches their poor country which would otherwise have been disenfranchised without the support of this program. The large organizations love the program because they get the workers for 1/3rd the price.

Comment this is already settled case law (Score 1) 536

It has already been proven in many court cases that a "Terms of Service" page on a web site is not a contract, as are click-through agreements are also not legally binding contracts. Also, when web sites like Craigslist have in their Terms of Service that you must pay thousands of dollars per posting if you violate their terms of use, this too is also illegal and unenforceable.

Lets face it, public_html is PUBLIC H-T-M-L. If it is reachable from any computer without supplying a password to gain entry, then therefore it remains a public resource. Terms of Service does not apply.

Comment lack of understanding (Score 4, Informative) 263

On a good day, Wifi (802.11a/b/g/n) can travel about 900 feet between devices. Even with a directional antenna and some good hardware, you're looking at a maximum of about one mile transmitting distance between devices... Not sure how you could have any kind of sustainable network within these limited parameters.

Comment parachutes (Score 0) 155

I'd feel more safe if they provided parachutes. It's hard to survive a plane crash when you're traveling towards the ground at thousands of feet per second without a parachute. I think all the stuff they talk about like "using your seat as a floatation device" are all complete nonsense when 90+% of plane flights don't travel over bodies of water. Give me a parachute and a way to jump out of the plane, and at least I know that I'm going to *possibly* survive.
Science

The Electric Airplane Is Coming 187

An anonymous reader writes "The electric car is so yesterday; electric airplanes are coming. A battery electric-powered ultralight aircraft has been flying for the last year. A series-hybrid motor glider and a concept for an all-electric, 50-seat passenger plane were introduced at the Paris Air Show."

Comment sentencing guidelines (Score 3, Interesting) 204

The sentencing guidelines have been changed several times over the last 20-30 years regarding the penalties for this type of offence. In the 1980's or 1990's, had this guy been sentenced, he would likely be facing probation or at most a few months in jail, depending on his prior history. These days, they really throw the book at these people and the sentences are on par with murderers and other violent felonies. This man was born about 10 years too late, and was about 10 years older than he should have been when he committed these crimes. Also, I highly doubt the inflated numbers involved in the theft of the credit card data. The credit card companies have been known to dramatically inflate these losses, and then if you ask them for any sort of documentation proving any of it, the real numbers are somewhere around 1% of the original amount they specified. They probably claim this as a deduction on their taxes.

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