Bob the Hamster - Slashdot User

Submission + - a cell phone my boss can use?

Submitted by James Paige on Tuesday June 26, 2007 @01:35PM

James Paige writes: Question: Where can I find a cell phone with voice mail that my boss can actually use? No phone I have ever seen has been remotely simple enough to suit his tastes.

For his land line he has an answering machine with two buttons "PLAY" and "DELETE" and one flashing light. It is red when there are messages and blank when there are not. In his mind, this is the ultimate pinnacle of of voice mail user-interface, and anything like menu-button-pick-voice-mail-wait-input-password-li sten-to-nasal-female-voice-read-off-a-selection-me nu to get to his messages is just too complex.

His solution? Call me, ask me to check his messages, and then I call him back and report them to him.

But why can't a phone just have a "Play Messages" button? An actual physical button, not a gui on the screen, and not a spoken menu. Doesn't anybody make this? I don't think my boss is so far off base in wanting this. I would like it too.

Submission + - Canadian Govt sees no need for new anti-CAM law

Submitted by

SOCALchillin

on Tuesday February 13, 2007 @06:54PM

SOCALchillin writes: "Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson says current copyright laws against camcorded movie bootlegging are just fine. After threats from Hollywood to delay opening box office dates for the movies it distributes to Canada, the country to our North has responded in kind to the warnings. Initially taken aback by the heated rhetoric, now on the offensive to counter Hollywood's claims. Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said recently that the current laws the country already has on the books are enough to effectively combat piracy in his country."

Submission + - BBC decides to release content with Windows DRM

Submitted by Serious Callers Only on Tuesday February 13, 2007 @06:48PM

Serious Callers Only writes: Arstechnica looks at the BBC decision to use Microsoft DRM for their iPlayer software — forcing users to purchase Windows software to access BBC media. The BBC trust have expressed concerns about the plan, but for now have allowed the BBC to go ahead with their scheme. From the article :

"The BBC now has the means and the opportunity to make its vast archives available over the Internet, but it faces a major problem: rights. On the podcast, BBC workers point out that the difficulty in making the BBC's massive archive freely available is not primarily technical, but legal."

Unfortunately the use of DRM means that the primary problems users encounter in using BBC content will not be legal, but technical. The BBC podcast is available from backstage.

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