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Media

Submission + - "Viacom hit me for infringing my own copyright (blogspot.com) 2

Submitted by
Chris Knight
Chris Knight writes: "Long story short: I ran for school board where I live this past fall and created some TV commercials including this one with a "Star Wars" theme. A few months ago VH1 grabbed the commercial from YouTube and featured it in a segment of its show "Web Junk 2.0". Neither VH1 or its parent company Viacom told me they were doing this or asked my permission to use it, but I didn't mind it if they did. It was great to see the commercial was being enjoyed by a far wider audience than I'd expected. I was honored that they chose to use it and thought that Aries Spears's commentary about it was pretty hilarious, so I posted a clip of VH1's segment on YouTube so that I could put it on my blog. This morning I got an e-mail from YouTube saying that the video has been pulled because Viacom is claiming that I'm violating its copyright. Viacom used my video without permission on their commercial television show, and now says that I am infringing on THEIR copyright for showing the clip of the work that Viacom made in violation of my own copyright! Talk about chutzpah! Needless to say, I would like to fight this: not for any kind of monetary compensation, but just for the right to employ my own self-created material per Fair Use."
Nintendo

Submission + - Wii Becomes Leading Console

Submitted by Bender0x7D1
Bender0x7D1 writes: According to VG Chartz, total worldwide sales of the Nintendo Wii have surpassed those of of the XBox 360. It has been a long time since Nintendo held the lead in console sales and Sony, the sales leader of the previous generation, is lagging far behind in this current generation. The question is: Does the Wii have the staying power to keep outselling the competition, or will upcoming games like Halo 3 and GTA IV give the advantage to Microsoft and Sony?
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - iPhone unlocked from AT&T network by NJ hacker (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Everyone needs a hobby I guess. A New Jersey teenager said today he has hacked the lock that ties Apple's iPhone to AT&T's wireless network, a move that now lets him use it on T- Mobiles network. Experts say T-Mobile is the only other U.S. carrier compatible with the iPhone's cellular technology. George Hotz, 17, posted the hack on his blog, said the unlocking procedure is complicated and requires skill with both soldering and software and takes about two hours to perform. Hotz said: "So if you follow these steps, you should have an unlocked iPhone. I'm sorry about how hard they are to follow, but someone will get them to work, and simplify them, and simplify them more. Hopefully a software unlock will be found in the near future." http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/18731"
The Courts

Submission + - Convicted BitTorrent Admin, Force to Dump Linux.

Submitted by
loconet
loconet writes: "TorrentFreak is running a story about Sk0t, an ex-administrator of the EliteTorrents BitTorrent tracker, who is to have his internet connection monitored by the US Government. Further more, the monitoring software only runs on Windows, which, according to his parole officer, means that if he wants to use a computer, it will have to be a computer running Windows, where the software can be installed or face being barred from the internet."
First Person Shooters (Games)

Submission + - Bioshock PC is defective by design 4

Submitted by ringbarer
ringbarer writes: Kotaku reports that the long-awaited spiritual successor to System Shock has a few shocks for any PC gamers who want to buy it. Customers are discovering that the 'SecuROM' anti-copying technology will only permit them to install the game twice, after which the DVD becomes nothing more than an expensive coaster. As PC Gamers are renowned for rebuilding and reinstalling their machines on a regular basis, it is clear that this will only hurt legitimate players.
Security

Submission + - Do hackers prevent the release of source code? 3

Submitted by
HotdogsFolks
HotdogsFolks writes: "I've been considering releasing the source code from one of my job websites under the GPL licence for quite some time now. It's a fully functioning, everything-you-could-possibly-want system, so I'm happy to give it away to save people from having to write a similar system from scratch.

The only thing holding me back is the cycle of security patches I'll no doubt find myself in once the bad guys start analysing my code.

I'm not a security expert — I code for fun — so I'm not totally confident I'd be able to spot security issues even if I analysed my code myself.

What would you do if you were in my shoes? How do I get my software out there in the least painful way possible?"
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - DMCA means you cannot delete files on your own PC (wired.com)

Submitted by
DragonHawk
DragonHawk writes: "According to Wired, John Stottlemire found a way to print duplicate coupons from Coupons.com by deleting some files and registry entires on his PC. Now he's being sued for a DMCA violation. He says, "All I did was erase files or registry keys." Says a lawyer: "It may cover this. I think it does give companies a lot of leverage and a lot of power." So now the copyright cartels are saying that not only can we not copy things on our computers, but we cannot delete things on our computers. Time to buy stock in Seagate."
Television

Submission + - Paramount to dump Blu-Ray for HD DVD

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Paramount and DreamWorks Animation Each Declare Exclusive Support for HD DVD. A press announcement was made this morning by Paramount Home Entertainment indicating that the studio will throw its entire weight behind HD-DVD starting August 28, abandoning Blu-Ray entirely. In plain English, this means that films like "Transformers" and "Shrek The Third" will come only to HD-DVD! http://www.dvdreview.com/news/
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - DMCA lawsuit for circumventing coupon print limits

Submitted by whoever57
whoever57 writes: A Fremont, CA man (John Stottlemire) who claims that he was trying to show his skill in order to get a job at Coupons, inc. created a program and showed people how to delete the files and registry entries that limited the printing of coupons using software from coupons.com. He now faces a lawsuit, from Coupons, inc., alleging DMCA violations. The company alleges that his actions are equivalent to those of DeCSS creator "DVD Jon". Mr. Stottlemire asks how deleting files off one's own computer can be illegal, while some lawyers suggest that the DMCA is very broad and may apply in this case.
Sci-Fi

Submission + - US Patent office considers patenting Warp Drive

Submitted by darthcamaro
darthcamaro writes: Think that Warp drive is just a figment of Star Trek imagination? Think again. A patent application is now before the USPTO to patent Warp drive.
The Worsley-Twist warp drive does not depend upon traditional emissions of matter to create thrust. Rather, the drive creates a change in the curvature of the space-time continuum — thus allowing travel by warping space-time.
Media

Submission + - Penny Arcade Recieves email on homeless man murder

Submitted by Gots_Hussies
Gots_Hussies writes: Penny Arcade artist Mike "Gabe" Krahulik recently recieved an email from a woman who knew one of three teenagers who beat and murdered a homeless man. The email is a response to Krahuliks attack on the media for believing the teenagers story that 'violent videogames were the reason we did it'. Excerpt from article "Your news post about the kids and the homeless man yesterday made me sick to my stomach, before I even read the CNN article. I knew what it was going to be about before even reading the article. It was not the article itself, or even your post that made me sick, it was the fact that I know this boy. Or, rather that I could be considered one of the "parents" of this boy."
Windows

Submission + - Vista not selling well because of...piracy?

Submitted by techmuse
techmuse writes: DailyTech reports that Steve Ballmer blames the slow sales of Windows Vista (down 60% compared to the launch of Windows XP) not on the 5 year delay in shipping, the failure to ship before the holiday season, the high system requirements, the poorly implemented user account control, the significantly harsher licensing restrictions, the price increase, the increased interest in Mac OS and Linux, or the much stricter antipiracy technologies already built into the OS. Rather, he blames the entire drop in sales on piracy, and promises to step up antipiracy efforts. What do you think?
Networking

Submission + - How much storage do you "control"?

Submitted by linkedlinked
linkedlinked writes: While looking for some old backups with a friend, we started talking about storage space, and how so many of our random files wind up in obscure places. We realized that each of us has "access" to a pretty sizable heap of storage (for college kids). I would guess that, between ftp accounts on friends' servers, random school storage space, root access to a few work servers, and my own half-dozen computers and servers, I probably have near 5-6 TB of usable storage. Out of curiosity, we decided to ask Slashdot- legality aside, how much storage space could you feasibly dominate on a whim?
Software

Submission + - The future of packaging software in Linux

Submitted by
michuk
michuk writes: "There are currently at least five popular ways of installing software in GNU/Linux. None of them is widely accepted throughout the popular distibutions. This situation is not a problem for experienced users — they can make decisions themselves. However, for a newcomer in the GNU/Linux world, installing new software is always pretty confusing. The article tries to sum up some of the recent efforts to fix this problem and examine the possible future of packaging software in GNU/Linux."

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