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Comment Re:Sign me up... (Score 2, Insightful) 681

Exactly. I have a sales background and think this is funny. They're implying that win7 vs linux is a reasonable choice. They're talking about built-in support for devices which people might remember having to install a cd to run. If people even know what Linux is I'm sure it was from someone (probably more knowledgable) saying Linux is more secure even if it was followed up by a critique of Linux. My friend that I work with as a sysadmin is very pro ms but wouldn't buy half the stuff in these slides.

Comment Re:Good stuff... (Score 1) 150

It's important to realize that boycotts aren't meant to put a company out of business (at least usually aren't). The goal is to force them to change their behaviour. Focus on, for instance, Bravia TVs. If a significant dent was made in sales to the point that it didn't look like statistical noise then that might start at dialog between two sony divisions something like, "Hey people don't want to watch DRM encumbered crap from an anti-consumer corporation on a sony TV. They know who we are and are choosing more consumer-friendly brands."

Actually though I'd ignore most sony divisions (like the PS3 or technical engineering that invents and creates CDs) and focus on the relevant ones like sony pictures and sony bmg. That would make it a little more obvious where the lost profits went and why.

Comment Re:Dear Pranknet (Score 1) 543

"I'm not upper class. Currently lower, probably."
However the OP had the foresight to say "identify with" and not just assume you were rich. In arguments like this the rich don't even need to hurl the class warfare accusations, too many people anticipate their own wealth.

Comment Re:Who would guess (Score 1) 345

With over 380 member companies, we represent the vast majority of commercial picture libraries and agencies in the UK.

Companies range from small specialists to multinationals, collectively managing in excess of 350 million images, within an industry estimated to be worth over £500m per year in domestic revenue alone.

The market for photography is hugely competitive, and part of our role at BAPLA is to draw up standard contracts, arrange collective agreements that help protect our members and offer extensive profile raising to promote them.

We are dedicated to supporting our members in the following ways:

        * Promoting our members on our website and in our newsletter
        * Promoting established best practice and standard contracts
        * Directing client enquiries with an image search referral scheme
        * Publishing news and events on our website, offering regular e-mail communications to BAPLA members
        * Researching and reporting market developments
        * Collecting and sharing information, skills and knowledge
        * Stimulating debate on key issues in the industry
        * Raising the profile of the picture library industry and promoting greater understanding of its value and diversity
        * Addressing issues of interest to our members on a local, national and international level and working to ensure that picture library users and suppliers enjoy an efficient service of the highest standard.

BAPLA is steered by an elected voluntary Executive Committee of 12 officers, supported by full time head office staff and a number of subcommittees.

BAPLA also works closely with its sister organisations - PACA in the USA and CEPIC across Europe.

BAPLA Administration

Simon Cliffe, Executive Director

Susanne Kittlinger, Membership & Communications Manager

Damalie Nakalema, Association Administrator

Comment Re:I'll be happy with proper XHTML support. (Score 1) 314

I'm sorry I don't know the technical reasons. xml parsers are faster than html parsers. I imagine it's due to supporting fewer tags. There are difficulties serving the pages as application/xhtml+xml that don't exist for text/html though.

From my perspective I'd like to support this as much as I can because I look forward to a day when the web is mostly xml documents with css layouts. I can dream.
XBox (Games)

Submission + - X-Box Extends Warranty! (xbox.com)

ebauman writes: "An open letter from Peter Moore of Microsoft's X-Box division states that they are extending the warranty on all Xbox 360 units, both new and previously bought, for three years due to hardware failures. Peter, in his letter, defines hardware failure as those that cause the infamous "three red-lights" on the power button. This extending of warranty comes as a barrage of complaints hit Microsoft about their 360 units failing in one way or another."
PHP

Submission + - Death of php4 imminent - say open source projects (gophp5.org)

b.rudge writes: "Several open source projects have joined forces and given web hosts an ultimatum to upgrade or die with php4.

"PHP 4 has served the web developer community for seven years now, and served it well. However, it also shows its age. Most of PHP 4's shortcomings have been addressed by PHP 5, released three years ago, but the transition from PHP 4 to PHP 5..."
GoPHP5.org has given web hosts exactly 214 days warning to upgrade, and is trying to gather more open source php projects to gain momentum."

Security

Submission + - What's the Truth Serum? (softpedia.com)

markerfit writes: The truth serum is a drug that would be injected into the muscles to extract information from persons resistant to deliver it, most often by a police, intelligence, or military organization and the concept turned popular due to espionage novels and movies.
The Internet

Submission + - Dotworlds sues Google for libelous search results (techdirt.com)

Helios1182 writes: Techdirt received a press release from dotWORLDS detailing a lawsuit against Google for indexing what they determined to be libelous search results. The filed a similar suit in the USA but it did not proceed so they are attempted again in the UK. The whole article can be found here
United States

Submission + - Army's and Air Force's use of drones growing fast (sybpipe.com)

mi writes: "An article on USA Today concentrates on the turf-war between Army and Air Force over the procurement and the use of the unmanned aircraft (drones) — some of them so small, they are launched by soldiers by hand. Even more interesting, however, are the sheer numbers of the devices in active use, and their growth rate."
Power

Submission + - McDonald's Grease Powering McDonald's Trucks (ecogeek.org)

hankmt writes: "McDonald's, known mostly for smiling like an evil clown while the world gets fatter and fatter, is now actually doing something productive with all of those kilojoules of grease. The company is planning on powering its entire UK truck fleet with bio-diesel created from its own waste vegetable oil.

The fuel will be composed of 85% fryer oil and 15% virgin rapeseed oil. However, Matthew Howe, Senior VP of McDonald's UK was quoted saying "As we get better at the refinement we will be able to remove virgin rape from the process," a line which we sincerely hope never gets taken out of context."

Security

Submission + - Auction site for selling security vulnerabilities (darkreading.com)

talkinsecurity writes: "A Swiss research lab has built an eBay-like marketplace where hackers and researchers can sell the security vulnerabilities they discover to the highest bidder. WabiSabiLabi could replace the back-room, secret sites where researchers and hackers used to sell their exploits and replace them with a neat, clean way to make money by finding security flaws. Those who have seen the site say they are concerned about how the buyers will be vetted, and how the marketplace will ensure the flaws aren't found through "illegal" methods. http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=128 411&WT.svl=news1_1"
Digital

Submission + - Burned by DRM and MLB (kousenit.com)

kousen writes: "Back in late 2004, I purchased and downloaded several Major League Baseball game files from mlb.com. The files all have a "wmv" extension. The first time they are played in Windows Media Player (the only media player supported at the time), they are supposed to access a site at MLB.com and acquire a license.

As you may have guessed, I recently tried to play one of those files, and the license site no longer exists. My "backup" of the licenses, acquired at the time, is on an old system I no longer use.

I tried calling the toll free number at MLB. Eventually a manager there told me I need to access their digital download service. He also admitted the service is not only not available, it has not been available all year. Even worse, he wasn't even sure whether or not it will ever be available again, though he suggested I keep checking.

So basically, I'm out of luck, unless someone here has any ideas how I can get around this idiotic DRM issue. Can anyone help me?"

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