436164
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
Reuters is reporting that Antigua, in a WTO ruling, can lift US copyright on films and music. FTA: "A World Trade Organization (WTO) arbitration panel granted Antigua's request to levy trade sanctions on U.S. intellectual property, for instance by lifting copyright on films and music to sell it themselves, prompting concern from Washington.
The WTO panel said Antigua was entitled to compensation of $21 million a year from the United States for being shut out of the U.S. online gambling market."
419085
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
InformationWeek is reporting that the MSN Mobile website will start placing banner and text ads on mobile browsers. FTA: "The software giant claims that the introduction of mobile ads will enhance the experience for customers: "Microsoft is continuing to make significant investments in the MSN Mobile portal. By incorporating advertising on MSN Mobile, we are allowing advertisers to extend their existing campaigns from PCs to games and now to mobile phones, further delivering on our vision to extend advertising across multiple platforms and devices," said Joanne Bradford, MSN's corporate VP and chief media officer, in a statement." There you have it folks — evidence that the advertisers are the customers, not the end users.
400961
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
Adobe and Yahoo! are experimenting with ads in PDF documents. FTA: "The text-based ads are displayed in a panel adjacent to the content with no moving or flashing elements. Each time the PDF is viewed, ads are matched by Yahoo to the content." Next up: AdBlock Plus for PDF?
378759
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
In what appears to be a ver bold move, A Delaware firm named AutoText Technologies "claims that Apple and virtually all of the US electronics industry is infringing on a patent for the concept of a computer-based transcription device" and of course, has filed a lawsuit against over 20 manufacturers, including Apple, HP, Nintendo, and even wireless service providers such as Verizon and T-Mobile. Note that the patent was issued in 1994.
377949
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
In a surprising change, the White House has "cleared the way for the Justice Department to restart an investigation into the government's no-warrant electronic surveillance program.". FTA: "We recently received the necessary security clearances and are now able to proceed with our investigation," [H. Marshall] Jarrett said in the letter he wrote to five members of the House, including Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat from New York.
377411
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
iPods have been seen as artistic in their design — here's an example of an iPod as embedded art: a fully working iPod encased in clear resin. Also read about it at TUAW.com
361837
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
Our very own CmdrTaco has made the cover of November's IEEE Spectrum magazine. The article talks about the evolution of Slashdot, the Slashdot Effect, and even takes a light jab at Digg ("People on Digg "have the feeling that they are the ones determining what goes on the main page, and administrators on the site are all too happy to let that delusion persist," he says. "[But] stories randomly disappear. Obviously there are higher powers at work.""). It's a good read, although it makes a somewhat disturbing revelation: " It's midmorning at Slashdot as Malda bounds into his office. There's a doll of Tim the Enchanter from Monty Python and the Holy Grail on his desk and a lamp filled with marbles. Anime posters cover the wall. When his cellphone rings with the presumably ironic ringtone of Britney Spears's "Baby One More Time," Malda taps the mute button. He has work to do."
353555
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
This is according to a blog at Jupiter Research. Zucker made this statement at an event organized by the Newhouse School of Public Communications. According to Zucker, Apple's resistance to flexible pricing has "destroyed the music business."
304179
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
CNN is reporting that an Oregon judge has ruled two provisions of the Patriot Act unconstitutional. FTA:
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, set up to review wiretap applications in intelligence cases under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA [as amended by the Patriot Act, stated later in the article], "holds that the Constitution need not control the conduct of criminal surveillance in the United States," Aiken wrote.
"In place of the Fourth Amendment, the people are expected to defer to the executive branch and its representation that it will authorize such surveillance only when appropriate."
The government "is asking this court to, in essence, amend the Bill of Rights, by giving it an interpretation that would deprive it of any real meaning. The court declines to do so," [Judge Ann]Aiken said.
300669
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
TUAW reports that details regarding the release of Office 2008 for Mac are emerging. There will be three packages at various price points: the standard version ($339.95 full/$239.95 upgrade), student/teacher ($149 only) and a "special media" edition that includes Microsoft Expression Media for Mac ($299.95/$499.95). Entourage will be sporting Exchange support (except in student version). A few comments after the article are already pointing out how iWork '08 is a worthy alternative at half the cost, and NeoOffice is a great free alternative. Given these two alternatives, how far will Office 2008 for Mac really go?
281037
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
Computerworld has an article asking if Apple is the new Microsoft; Mike Elgin of Compuerworld writes, in part: "Don't get me wrong. I think Apple's execution of these features is far better than its competitors'. And it would be horrible decision-making to not build the iPhone simply because others pioneered key features. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Apple doing what Microsoft did: dominating the market with features other companies had first. If it was fair to slam Microsoft over Windows, it's fair to slam Apple over the iPhone and iPod Touch."
265473
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
The iPhone has been unlocked. According to a story at Engadget, the unlocking takes a few minutes, is restore-resistent, and activates several other neat little features (like selecting a particular carrier). Wireless Internet access worked, SMS worked, email worked, Google Maps worked...the iPhone is free of AT&T exclusivity.
240331
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
DailyTec reports that
Representatives from three voting machine companies expressed their criticisms against a California state-sponsored "top-to-bottom review" that found "very real" vulnerabilities in their products.
A sales exac with Sequoia Systems complained that "the study was conducted in a closed lab environment over a period of weeks as opposed to a true election environment or in accordance with ISO criteria. "None of the attacks described ... are capable of success."" Jim March of Black Box Voting also had some criticisms of the study: ""Your agency's review only partially examines the risks of inside manipulation with these systems. Procedural remedies can be circumvented by those with some level of inside access. In fact, we would contend that the most high risk scenario of all is that of inside manipulation, and we would also contend that the systems used in California cannot be secured from inside tampering.""
187723
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
TechNewsWorld is reporting that Apple has updated the MacBook Pro line with the Santa Rosa chipset from Intel. In addition, Apple is also introducing mercury-free displays with some models. FTA:
When Apple presented new editions of its MacBook line last month, the company excluded the latest Intel Centrino chips, dubbed "Santa Rosa," which had been released just days prior. The chips have found their way into Apple's new high-end MacBook Pro notebooks, which the company revealed Tuesday. Certain models use mercury-free displays, falling in line with the company's recent ecological promises.
168005
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
E-Commerce reports that Amazon.com is getting into the DRM-free music business.
The company announced today it plans to launch a digital music store where people can buy and download songs. The files will be in the MP3 format, and they will not contain digital rights management (DRM) coding that limits the number of times users can copy downloaded music and which devices can play the songs.
The article goes on to say that there are over 12,000 labels will be represented, including some offerings from EMI. No other major labels are following in EMI's footsteps, but one analyst has pointed out that the big labels could team up to offer their own DRM-free online storefront.
"That would be a heck of a competitive advantage right there," [Alan] Chapell told MacNewsWorld. "But even if the record companies were to do that, they would horribly mess it up."
