Submission + - Using free wireless at library described as theft
Robert Carter writes: "According to the Anchorage Daily News (http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8667098p-855 9268c.html) a Man's laptop was taken for using free wireless outside of a library in Palmer. What does this say about the liability of free or municipal hotspots for informing that unauthorized use is prohibited?"
Submission + - Violation of Consumer Protection Laws and Comcast?
spotdog14 writes: "Recently in the East Lansing, MI market Comcast has upgraded their billing system. Before this "upgrade" subscribers to Basic/extended services could rent an HD cable box and receive what HD channels that were offered from their existing service (ie: if you got ESPN, you could get ESPN HD). Now Comcast alleges that the way it is now is the way it has always been, where in order to get ESPN HD you must subscribe to "Digital Classics" package on top of your basic/extended package. Comcast has gone as far as accusing myself of stealing cable because i got channels 202-209 (in the local EL market) even though i pay over $142 a month for cable/internet service.
Is this a violation of my consumer protection rights? It seems to be, when calling tech support i get a different answer each time i call, not to mention being accused of stealing. I have the brochure when i first signed up for my HD service that clearly states that "High Definition TV channels are available to specific service level" and that means that if you subscribe to what ever channels, that if they are available in HD, then you would get them. The new brochure states that "A subscription to Digital Classics is required to receive ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, INHD, INHD 2."
Can they change service requirements without informing those who subscribe to them? Follow the topic over at the AVS Forums here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=98 84760&&#post9884760
Let me know what i should do?"
Submission + - How FairPlay Works: Apple's iTunes DRM Dilemma
An anonymous reader writes: Understanding how Apple's FairPlay DRM works helps to answer a lot of questions: why it hasn't been replaced with an open, interoperable DRM that anyone can use, why Apple isn't broadly licensing FairPlay, and why the company hasn't jumped to add DRM-free content from indie artists to iTunes.
Submission + - Dell takes small steps toward Linux
daria42 writes: Dell has acknowledged that 83,000 users have urged it to sell PCs with Linux pre-installed, but it has fallen short of accepting their suggestion. The requests were made through a new user forum, Dell IdeaStorm, which was launched by Dell 10 days ago, shortly after Michael Dell regained the chief executive's seat. Dell IdeaStorm gives users the chance to tell the PC vendor what kind of systems it should offer.
Feed Kazaa’s Creators Do Latest Venture by the Book (nytimes.com)
Joost, the new Web video venture of Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, has struck the mother lode of television programming through its deal with Viacom.
Submission + - free wireless user's laptop seized
An anonymous reader writes: "ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A police officer seized the laptop computer of a man using the Palmer Library's wireless Internet connection outside the building after the library had closed." http://ap.alaskajournal.com/stories/state/ak/20070 224/151748280.shtml
Mind boggling.
Mind boggling.
Submission + - Question: Oracle, Foreign Keys, JTA and Synonyms
Atmosphereum writes: Our team works with Java (1.4.2_09), WebSphere Application Server (5.1.1.7), JTA and Oracle (9.2.0.6), and we have discovered a problem which occurs in only one of two seemingly identical environments — and we're not sure why.
In each environment we have two Oracle databases — A and B. On database A, we have tables Table1 and Table2, which has a foreign key that references Table1. On database B, we have synonym BSynonymATable2, which is a synonym to Table2 on database A, as well as BSynonymATable1, which is a synonym to Table1 on database A.
Our code does the following within a JTA transaction:
In one of our certification environments (environment X), with the code and WAS pointing to its databases, the transaction commits successfully.
In another environment (environment Y), with the code and WAS pointing to its databases, the transaction fails after the databases' DISTRIBUTED_LOCK_TIMEOUT has expired.
When we pointed environment X's code and WAS to environment Y's Oracle databases, the transaction fails with the same problem — suggesting that the problem lies somewhere on the database side.
Unfortunately we have been unable to find any obvious differences between the databases in environment X and those in environment Y.
The following sequence also succeeds in environment X but fails in environment Y:
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!
In each environment we have two Oracle databases — A and B. On database A, we have tables Table1 and Table2, which has a foreign key that references Table1. On database B, we have synonym BSynonymATable2, which is a synonym to Table2 on database A, as well as BSynonymATable1, which is a synonym to Table1 on database A.
Our code does the following within a JTA transaction:
- Through a data source to database A, inserts a record into Table1 (the "parent" table).
- Through a data source to database B and synonym BSynonymATable2, inserts a record into Table2 (the "child" table) which references the record created in step 1.
- Commits the transaction (or tries to)
In one of our certification environments (environment X), with the code and WAS pointing to its databases, the transaction commits successfully.
In another environment (environment Y), with the code and WAS pointing to its databases, the transaction fails after the databases' DISTRIBUTED_LOCK_TIMEOUT has expired.
When we pointed environment X's code and WAS to environment Y's Oracle databases, the transaction fails with the same problem — suggesting that the problem lies somewhere on the database side.
Unfortunately we have been unable to find any obvious differences between the databases in environment X and those in environment Y.
The following sequence also succeeds in environment X but fails in environment Y:
- Through a data source to database B and synonym BSynonymATable1, inserts a record into Table1 (the "parent" table).
- Through a data source to database A, inserts a record into Table2 (the "child" table) which references the record created in step 1.
- Commits the transaction (or tries to)
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!
Submission + - $25 Mill for solution to removing greenhouse gases
Anonymous Coward writes: "The Virgin Earth Challenge (of Virgin Airlines fame) is a prize of $25m for whoever can demonstrate to the judges' satisfaction a commercially viable design which results in the removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases so as to contribute materially to the stability of Earth's climate.
http://www.virginearth.com/"
Submission + - Jakon Nielson on Life-Long Computer Skills
khendron writes: "The Jakob Nielson's latest newsletter, he laments the fact that schools appear to be teaching kids how to use specific computer application (he cites Excel in his example). What a waste of time, since these skills will be useless by the time the kids graduate. Instead, he lists a number of "life-long" computer skills that we should be teaching kids: Search Strategies, Information Credibility, Information Overload, Writing for Online Readers, Computerized Presentation Skills, Workspace Ergonomics, Debugging, and User Testing and other Basic Usability Guidelines.
From the article about Debugging: "We shouldn't turn everyone into a programmer, but the basic debugging concept is a fundamental survival skill in the computer era. Most spreadsheets contain formula errors, for example, and unless people know how to find such mistakes, they'll make decisions based on the wrong numbers."
Who thinks his list is accurate? Or complete?"
From the article about Debugging: "We shouldn't turn everyone into a programmer, but the basic debugging concept is a fundamental survival skill in the computer era. Most spreadsheets contain formula errors, for example, and unless people know how to find such mistakes, they'll make decisions based on the wrong numbers."
Who thinks his list is accurate? Or complete?"
Journal Journal: Google's YouTube strikes deal with NBA 1
Google announced today a partnership with the National Basketball Association to provide a new "NBA Channel" on YouTube, featuring game highlights and videos featuring NBA players. The new arrangement isn't as extensive as that between Google and the National Hockey League, which provides full games for online viewing
Drupal Gets Non-Profit Backing 77
DrupalAssociation writes "Drupal, the popular and widely used CMS, now has the backing of a non-profit association. Having grown in size and scope for the last six years, the Drupal software project needs more structured support with infrastructure, marketing and funding. The Drupal Association will help with these needs but will not be directly involved with Drupal software development. Donations are now being solicited. Plans for Corporate and individual membership are being drawn and will be announced at a later time. Dries Buytaert, the founder of Drupal and the President of the Association, announced the Association on Drupal.org today."
Submission + - Modern Day Witch-Hunt in Connecticut
zhenya00 writes: USAToday is reporting on a story most of us are already familiar with; the case of Julie Amero, a 40 year old Norwich, Connecticut substitute teacher who has been convicted of four counts of risk of injury to a minor when the un-patched Windows 98 computer she had used to check her email began to display a flurry of pornographic pop-ups to the students in her classroom. She faces up to 40 years in prison when she is sentenced this Friday March 2.
From the article:
From the article:
Can this country really allow something like this to happen? Why isn't there general outrage on the front page of every newspaper? Why aren't those responsible being flooded with calls and emails from angry citizens?"Julie Amero was a victim of a school that couldn't be bothered to protect its computers, of a prosecutor without the technology background to understand what he was doing, a police "expert" who was not, and a jury misled by all of them. "Miscarriage of justice" doesn't begin to describe it."
Submission + - FreedroidRPG 0.10.1 is out!
FreedroidRPG development team writes: "Version 0.10.1 of FreedroidRPG, the open-source isometric role playing game featuring Tux, has been released on Sunday, Februar 25th.
This new release brings lots of small improvements, mostly in the form of bug fixes and new UI features:
# Dozens of bugs fixed
# Performance improvements, especially on load/save operations.
# A few tweaks to dialogs
# Started implementing magical items
# An alpha-stage translation support for dialogs has been written. German version included.
# Gameplay slightly adjusted — items don't wear out as fast as before"
This new release brings lots of small improvements, mostly in the form of bug fixes and new UI features:
# Dozens of bugs fixed
# Performance improvements, especially on load/save operations.
# A few tweaks to dialogs
# Started implementing magical items
# An alpha-stage translation support for dialogs has been written. German version included.
# Gameplay slightly adjusted — items don't wear out as fast as before"
Submission + - Wikipedians are 42% Liberal, 8% Conservative
Jon writes: "Jimmy Wales has claimed that Wikipedians are more likely to be liberal, and Wikipedia has been accused of liberal bias. But a sampling of 901 Wikipedians reveals surprising statistics.
42% of Wikipedians self-identify as liberal (49% is current American average)
8% of Wikipedians self-identify as conservative (41% is current American average)
42% of Wikipedians self-identify as libertarian (5% is a rough American average)
So liberals are proportionately represented on Wikipedia, conservatives are very under-represented, and libertarians are extremely over-represented."
