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Businesses

Blogger Loses Unemployment Check Because of Ads 554

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the time-for-an-injection-of-common-sense dept.
Techdirt is reporting that one unfortunate, unemployed New York lawyer recently had her unemployment benefits greatly reduced because of the incredible $1/day she was earning via ads on her blog. "The whole thing sounds like a bureaucratic nightmare, with NY State asking her to get a form from her new 'employer' who didn't exist. Then NY Department of Labor started giving her all sorts of contradicting information, and eventually an 'investigation' into her 'business' — during which time her unemployment benefits were stopped entirely. She's now pulled the Google AdSense from her blog (total earned over the life of the blog $238.75)."
Desktops (Apple)

Most Mac Owners Also Own a Windows PC, But Not Vice Versa 814

Posted by timothy from the I-was-gonna-tell-you-honest dept.
Barence writes "More than eight out of ten Mac owners also own a PC, according to a new piece of research. The NPD survey found that 12% of US computer-owning households have a Mac. However, 85% of those also own a Windows PC, suggesting that the Mac/PC divide is nowhere near as clear cut as both Apple and Microsoft suggest. Mac owners are also far more likely to have multiple computers in the house. Two thirds of Mac owners have three or more computers in the home, while only 29% of PC owners have two or more PCs."
Earth

A Geek Funeral 479

Posted by kdawson from the beam-me-up dept.
We've recently talked about a geek wedding, and now reader Sam_In_The_Hills writes in with news of his brother's geek funeral. "I've not seen this topic covered here before even though it's one that will concern us all at some time: what to do with our corporeal remains after we've left for that great data bank in the sky. For my recently departed brother (long illness, don't smoke!), I thought this nice SPARCstation would be a cool place to spend eternity. Yes, he's really in there (after cremation). I kept the floppy drive cover but for space reasons removed the floppy drive, hard drive, and most of the power supply. I left behind the motherboard and power switch and plugs to keep all openings covered. The case worked quite well at his memorial party. His friends and family were able to leave their final good-byes on post-notes. Anyone who wanted to keep their words private could just slip their note into the case through the floppy slot. All notes will be sealed in plastic and placed within the case. There has been one complication. His daughters like the look of it so much they aren't now sure if they want to bury him. One more thing: the words on the plaque really do capture one of the last things he ever said. Of course as kids we watched the show in its first run."

Comment Re:License missing (Score 1, Interesting) 336

by neo (#29542233) Attached to: Google Serves a Cease and Desist On Android Modder

If I buy a Nike T-Shirt. It has a Nike logo on it. If I sell it to you, did I just commit trademark infringement? No? Why not?

The difference is this. You buy Nike T-Shirts then print some slogan on them and then either sell them or give them away. What you've done is now made it appear the slogan is from Nike (or it's reasonable to assume people could be confused by it.)

Yes, this is a problem, isn't it.

Comment Mistaken market. (Score 3, Insightful) 459

by neo (#29529643) Attached to: Microsoft Says Google Chrome Frame Makes IE Less Secure

Google is not in the business of providing searches. Google is in the business of selling ads. It just happens that having the best search gives you more eyeballs on your ads. They leverage that advantage to gain share in other markets. It does sound like another company I've heard about.

But you're on target here, this is obviously not comfortable for Microsoft. Five years ago they wouldn't have even bothered to issue a response. This is the kind of press release that is pure fear.

Someone has made a plug-in for your browser that makes it 8X faster.

  • It shows incompetence of your developers that someone else had apparently patched your buggy/slow software.
  • Eventually people learn that it's actually another browser. Most people don't even know what a browser is.
  • Why use something in emulation when you can run the real thing? People will switch.

It's something I said a long long long time ago. What can kill Microsoft? Something free.
Government

$2,000 Bribe Bought Password To DC P.O. System 187

Posted by timothy from the but-what-harm-could-that-do? dept.
theodp writes "While the Administration is counting on new Federal CIO Vivek Kundra to simplify and speed the federal IT procurement process, it's doubtful he'll be able to reduce red tape to the extent that a former minion of his did at the scandal-rocked D.C. Office of the CTO. Exhibiting some truly out-of-the-box thinking, project manager Tawanna Sellmon not only processed phony invoices for the contractor at the center of the D.C. bribery and kickback scandal, she also gave him the password to the city's computerized database used to track purchase orders. Sellmon pleaded guilty last week for her role in the scam, which netted her an envelope containing $2,000 in cash, as well as an undisclosed number of $25-$100 gift cards."
The Almighty Buck

Micropayments For News — Holy Grail Or Delusion? 234

Posted by kdawson from the content-is-information-you-don't-need dept.
newscloud writes "Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab sounds off on micropayments for news content, on the side of the argument that says they are a dangerous delusion: 'What does it mean for journalism? It could mean charging for different platforms, for early alerts, for special members-only access to certain premium or value-added content. But I'm pretty sure of one thing: It doesn't mean charging people fractions of a cent to read a news story, no matter how sophisticated the process.' The article provides good context on the debate over micropayments from a 2003 piece by Clay Shirky, to recent analysis and opinion by Masnick, Outing, Graham, and Reifman. Google's micropayment plans were recently discussed here."

Comment Over heating. (Score 1) 383

by neo (#29262347) Attached to: Apple Blames 'External Forces' For Exploding iPhones

Do you have a case around your iPod/iPhone? Did you stick a nice logo or stickers or velum wrap around that makes your cool toy look like a radio? Do you wear a black t-shirt?

I noticed my iPod Touch was throwing it's pitches slower than normal. (Ok, the game was...) But that it also was warm. It wasn't like this in the winter! What was up? Well, I'm guessing here, but I bet my processor is overheating. So I pull off the super cool overlay I designed and paid $12 for. Yep... the pitcher works much better thank you.

Clue? Stop overheating your damn iPods/iPhones.

Comment Can you install a kill switch on a laptop? (Score 1) 273

by neo (#29232627) Attached to: Homeland Security Changes Laptop Search Policy

They can't take something that looks like a laptop but is in reality a paper weight, right? So if I have a kill switch that makes the laptop not work what are they going to do? They would probably still take it but if they can't BOOT the thing... if it doesn't even work... what can they do?

Madmax had his kill switch tied to explosives... but I guess that would be a "no no".

Comment Hilbert Space (Score 1) 259

by neo (#29232047) Attached to: Entanglement Could Be a Deterministic Phenomenon

The invocation of Hilbert space in the article suggests a LINEAR cellular automata. It would suggest the possibility of any two points in space affecting each other through a very long, but singular line. The concept is akin, if I understand it correctly, to saying that the entire universe is one long line in Hilbert space and thus each iteration of movement affects all others.

but, IANAP

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