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."
166463
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
US News and world report is running a piece on the lessons Microsoft can learn from Vista. The story talks about dealing with bloggers, making sure that the hardware specs listed for Vista are really up to the task, and making alternatives (i.e. Windows XP work) easily available. It ends with this:
Vista is not New Coke, says Microsoft's Brooks, because it's not going away. There may have been missteps in Vista's development and release, and Microsoft is studying what it can learn for future releases. But, overall, Microsoft is happy with the system and will base future Windows upgrades on Vista, Brooks says: "It is the future."
149895
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
Apple has issued a software update that addresses battery performance issues concerning MacBooks and MacBook Pros bought between February 2006 and May 2007. It is a software update only; battery safety is not an issue. Even so, the notice does state that if you experience the listed symptoms, including "Battery pack is visibly deformed," that you should take your notebook in for service.
124393
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
Over at CNN is a report that a blogger (or "freelance journalist") has been freed after spending 226 days in jail — a record for a journalist held in contempt. FTA:
Wolf had been found in contempt for refusing to obey a subpoena to turn over his video from a July 2005 protest during the G-8 economic summit where anarchists were suspected of vandalizing a San Francisco police car. One city officer was struck during the rally and his skull was fractured.
He goes on to say that "Now that the fences of the law and the tradition that has protected the press are broken down, the people are the victims. The First Amendment, as I read it, was designed precisely to prevent that tragedy." How does a subpoena for video footage of a public event in a criminal investigation violate the First Amendment?
122197
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
Apple has announced the availability of high-quality, DRM-free EMI tracks at the iTunes Music Store. From the Apple press release:
DRM-free tracks from EMI will be offered at higher quality 256 kbps AAC encoding, resulting in audio quality indistinguishable from the original recording, for just $1.29 per song. In addition, iTunes customers will be able to easily upgrade their entire library of all previously purchased EMI content to the higher quality DRM-free versions for just 30 cents a song. iTunes will continue to offer its entire catalog, currently over five million songs, in the same versions as today — 128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM — at the same price of 99 cents per song, alongside DRM-free higher quality versions when available.
118993
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
Apple's iTunes Music Store has started to allow single track purchases to apply to future album sales The deal is this: if you buy a track and within six months decide to buy the rest of the album, your previous tracks are credited towards the album purchase. To go a step further, according to the Boston Herald, this offer is retroactive to any track purchased since the opening of the iTunes Music Store for the next 90 days.
115187
submission
frdmfghtr writes:
IHT is running an opinion piece on 'net neutrality.' Christopher Wolf writes about the harm of net neutrality legislation, ending with:
The astonishing growth of the Internet has been due to a "hands off" policy, with the marketplace and existing laws creating the parameters rather than rigid regulatory edicts whose adverse side-effects could well be severe. Let's hope lawmakers and policymakers keep that in mind.
