Comment Re:Caffeinated Fish (Score 1) 294
"School of fish" is no longer just a collective noun.
Submission + - Lenovo CEO Gives $3M Bonus To Employees (theverge.com)
damn_registrars writes: "Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing received a $3,000,000 bonus for the healthy finances of his company this past year. The bonus is not unusual for top executives, however what he did was. Yuanqing gave the entire $3M to lower-level employees (including on the assembly line) at Lenovo. For some of the employees, he gave them the equivalent of another month's pay.
Yuanqing receives an annual salary of $14M, so he won't be poor without the bonus by anyone's measure. However his giving away the $3M bonus was not something that many other CEOs have opted for in recent memory."
Yuanqing receives an annual salary of $14M, so he won't be poor without the bonus by anyone's measure. However his giving away the $3M bonus was not something that many other CEOs have opted for in recent memory."
Submission + - Anti-piracy group fined for stealing music (bgr.com)
zacharye writes: Oh, the irony. A musicians’ rights group in the Netherlands was fined this week for stealing music from a client, using it without his permission and failing to pay royalties. Music royalty collection agency Buma/Stemra approached Dutch musician Melchior Rietveldt in 2006 and asked him to create a composition that would be used in an anti-piracy advertisement, which the group said would be shown exclusively at a local film festival. One year later, Rietveldt purchased a Harry Potter DVD only to find that his piece was being used on DVDs around the world without his permission...
Submission + - Judge Rules iPod/iPhone Speaker Docks Don't Infringe on Bose Patent; Apple Sighs (cepro.com)
CIStud writes: "U.S. District Court in Massachusetts has ruled that iPod, iPad and iPhone speakers docks do not infringe on a patent owned by Bose Corp. for digital audio conversion. The ruling in the case of Bose vs. small dock speaker makers SDI, DPI, Imation and others reportedly was a test case that would have set precedent for potential patent infringement by other manufacturers... and even Apple... according to the defendant's legal team. At issue: Is an iPhone, iPad or iPod a "computer." The judge says they aren't."
Submission + - Star Wars Fans Fix Up Luke Skywalker's Home (inhabitat.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: How far would a Star Wars fan go to preserve a relic from the iconic film series? One devoted fan traveled to Tunisia to rescue Luke Skywalker's boyhood home, also known as The Lars Homestead, as seen in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. On a trip to Tunisia in 2010, Belgian traveler Mark Dermul came upon the modest dome-shaped hut that George Lucas built in the mid-1970s to serve as Luke Skywalker's home. The structure was falling apart when Dermul found it, so he hatched a scheme to restore it. After two years and a lot of cement and plaster, Luke's house is looking better than ever.
Submission + - Android Forums Hacked: 1 Million User Credentials Stolen
An anonymous reader writes: Phandroid's AndroidForums.com has been hacked. The database that powers the site was compromised and more than 1 million user account details were stolen. If you use the forum, make sure to change your password asap.
Submission + - Canada's Supreme Court ruling scraps fee for downloading music (www.cbc.ca) 1
Maow writes: Canada's Supreme Court has issued 5 rulings regarding copyright today.
The Supreme Court today scrapped the royalty paid to songwriters and music publishers for downloading music but maintained the tariff for the streaming of music.
Gamers might be interested in this part:
The court also overturned another lower court decision that allowed SOCAN to collect a tariff when video games are downloaded over the internet.
The Supreme Court today scrapped the royalty paid to songwriters and music publishers for downloading music but maintained the tariff for the streaming of music.
Gamers might be interested in this part:
The court also overturned another lower court decision that allowed SOCAN to collect a tariff when video games are downloaded over the internet.
Submission + - ECJ says Software Functionality not protected by copyright (clarkslegal.com)
An anonymous reader writes: ECJ has decided that copyright cannot protect the functionality of a software program, its programming language or its data file format, so that rivals can study a product’s functionality and create a product that provides identical functions.
Submission + - Support the Restoration of Copyrights to their Original Duration of 28 Years (whitehouse.gov) 1
scottblascocomposer writes: Something that I think many /.ers can get behind: a petition (for whatever those are worth) to restore the 28 year copyright term established by the founders of the United States.
Submission + - Best Buy to Lay Off 650 Geeks (cepro.com)
CIStud writes: "Best Buy has confirmed it intends to lay off 650 Geek Squad employees responsible for home theater installations in the next few weeks. The company claims that the layoffs are not a signal that it is de-emphasizing in-home installation services, but simply a "restructuring" so it can better service a different class of customer."
Submission + - Church of Scientology Enlisting Followers in Censorship (yahoo.com)
DrEnter writes: Apparently, the recent very public divorce of Katie Holmes and devout believer Tom Cruise is reflecting negatively on the Church of Scientology. Adding to this are other recent issues causing problems for "church" leadership. In response, the "church" has decided to encourage its followers to censor online chatter and comments about the "church" and the divorce. This Yahoo blog post sums it up nicely. In short, they are encouraging members to complain about people posting negative comments about the "church" as violating the "Code of Conduct" in the posting venue. I can only imagine they are hoping these complaints will just be rubber-stamped and respected without investigation, but I think the campaign deserves a bit more attention.
Comment Is water no longer a liquid? (Score 1) 266
This must be a belated April Fools' joke, like the petition to ban DHMO. How can the worldwide ocean's surface level rise more in one area than another?
I mean, it's liquid water. Won't any tiny local variation in average surface height be quickly spead out and normalized by our old friend: Mr. Gravity?
Am I missing something?
Submission + - India unblocks The Pirate Bay and other sharing sites (bbc.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Millions of Indians can breathe a sigh of relief. They are once again able to access their favorite file-sharing sites, including The Pirate Bay and Torrentz.eu, after a consortium of ISPs appealed a broad censorship order. The Madras High Court specified an earlier decision and ruled that Internet providers no longer have to block entire websites to prevent a single movie from being shared online. It states that only specific web addresses — URLs — carrying the pirated content should be blocked, but not the entire website.
Submission + - Time Warner Cable patents method for disabling fast-forward function on DVRs (fiercecable.com) 1
antdude writes: "FierceCable reports "Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) has won a U.S. patent for a method for disabling fast-forward and other trick mode functions on digital video recorders.
The patent, which lists Time Warner Cable principal architect Charles Hasek as the inventor, details how the nation's second largest cable MSO may be able prevent viewers from skipping TV commercials contained in programs stored on physical DVRs it deploys in subscriber homes, network-based DVRs and even recording devices subscribers purchase at retail outlets...""
The patent, which lists Time Warner Cable principal architect Charles Hasek as the inventor, details how the nation's second largest cable MSO may be able prevent viewers from skipping TV commercials contained in programs stored on physical DVRs it deploys in subscriber homes, network-based DVRs and even recording devices subscribers purchase at retail outlets...""
Submission + - Canadian Government Backs Down on Airport Recording (calgaryherald.com)
ryanakca writes: "Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toes ordered a halt to the installation eavesdropping equipment at Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport until a privacy review could be completed. Although 'similar audio-video equipment has been operating at other Canadian airports and ports of entry for "many years"', the Canadian Border Safety Agency failed to complete the Privacy Commissioner's required "privacy impact assessment" before the Ottawa airport installation."
