Psycosys - Slashdot User

Submission + - Where are people going... CNN.com? No....Mininova. (fastsilicon.com)

Submitted by

mrneutron2003

on Tuesday November 13, 2007 @04:10PM

mrneutron2003 writes: "As proof positive of the relative disconnect mainstream media experiences on the internet, multibillion dollar news organization CNN is now outranked in sheer web traffic by......a torrent search engine. It appears that sometime in mid September mininova.org surpassed CNN , and as you can see from the accompanying Alexa graph continues to skyrocket well ahead of the worlds #1 news organization. Seems people are more interested in the next episode of Heroes, than they are the 2008 Presidential Election. I can't half blame them. http://www.fastsilicon.com/off-the-wall/where-are-people-going-.-cnn.com-no-mininova.org.html?Itemid=60"

Submission + - SCO found guilty of lying about Unix code in Linux (linux-watch.com)

Submitted by

mlauzon

on Tuesday November 13, 2007 @02:22PM

mlauzon writes: "In the United States, SCO's Linux/Unix litigation has been stalled out while the company's bankruptcy trial is being dealt with. In Germany, however, several court cases have found SCO Group GmbH, SCO's Germany branch, guilty of lying about Linux containing stolen Unix code.

In the first case, reported on by Heise Online, the pro-Linux German companies, Tarent GmbH and Univention found that SCO was once more making claims that Linux contained Unix IP (intellectual property). Specifically, SCO GmbH made the familiar claims that "As we have progressed in our discovery related to this action, SCO has found compelling evidence that the Linux operating system contains unauthorized SCO UNIX intellectual property (IP)." This was followed by the usual threat "If a customer refuses to compensate SCO for its UNIX intellectual property found in Linux by purchasing a license, then SCO may consider litigation."

The German Linux companies had already successfully protested against these statements in 2003. Then they were granted an injunction against SCO from making its claims that Linux contains illegally obtained SCO IP, a.k.a. Unix source code. If SCO violated this injunction, SCO would have to pay a fine of 250,000 Euros.

Since Tarent and Univention brought the matter to the attention of the courts, SCO has taken down the offending page with its claims.

Of course, in the U.S. court system, it has already been ruled that SCO has no Unix IP. Novell, not SCO, owns Unix.

Tarent's managing director told Heise Online that he found "It disconcerting, though not surprising, to see SCO trying to do towards the end what it is really being paid for by its supporters: spreading falsities as disparaging as possible about Linux." Unlike 2003, where Linux companies had to nip things in the bud, exercising vigilance is due now where things are coming to an end: "Even though SCO has reached the end of the line in our opinion, one should not let them get away with this."

In a similar case, Andreas Kuckartz, a German Linux advocate, had been publicly stating since 2003 that "SCO IP Licenses for Linux" amounted to little more than "protection money pricelists" and that SCO is "spreading rumors about copyright violations in Linux." Further, Kuckartz claimed that "The SCO Group Inc. is probably is involved in crimes such as stock manipulation and filing a fraudulent complaint against IBM."

SCO took him to court over these claims and SCO has lost (German PDF document). The Higher Regional Court in Munich ruled, Kuckartz said in e-mails to Linux-Watch, "that my statements are allowed because none of the factual statements I made to support those accusations are false. I can now even go to a business partner of The SCO Group GmbH and tell him or her that SCO is probably involved in the named crimes."

Kuckartz claim that he believes is the most important one is that in the four years the case has dragged out, SCO never objected "to my statement that SCO has not presented any proof of copyright violations in the lawsuit SCO vs. IBM."

In the United States, however, SCO, even now, continues to drag out its unsubstantiated claims that IBM has stolen SCO's Unix IP. In the SCO bankruptcy hearing, SCO attorney Arthur Spector once more claims, "Our litigation is a tremendous asset" and "Our litigation with IBM could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars.""

Submission + - When will this poll be replaced?

Submitted by

TheRagingTowel

on Thursday October 18, 2007 @05:24AM

TheRagingTowel writes: "1. By tomorrow
2. In 2 days
3. In 2 weeks
4. Never, this is the last one
5. Yesterday
6. Yes
7. When CowboyNeal says so!"

Submission + - Why Users Ditch OS X for Windows (osweekly.com) 7

Submitted by

coward

on Thursday October 18, 2007 @02:12AM

coward writes: "OSWeekly.com says users ditch OS X for Windows. Why? It's too pricey, the article claims. "If one more person points me to a Mini and tells me this is going to replace a 2.00GHz PC with standalone video and a SATA drive, I'm going to scream. Despite Apple providing a superior OS for the casual consumer, it remains a price issue for most people. You take any unsuspecting cash conscious family and if you actually tell me that they are going to be willing to drop $1,099 versus $499 on a notebook for their child, you had better present one serious sales pitch. Even considering the long-term value, malware-free environment, those parents would be presenting their soon to be college aged kid, the fact is they are not informed enough to understand that the $499 notebook is an utter junk, thanks to poor hardware quality."

Submission + - GPL, BSD Fight for Best Licensing Agreements (madpenguin.org)

Submitted by toby on Thursday October 18, 2007 @02:05AM

toby writes: Matt Hartley writes about BSD vs. GPL and their fight against one another for the best licensing agreements. He writes: "Any Linux user dumping Linux over the GPLv3 is doing so out of a knee jerk reaction. I have found most of the Linux community to be as helpful and warm as the BSD community. Unless the Linux user is a corporation that wants to develop something to eventually be used by another corporation that's looking to integrate proprietary software into the mix, the very idea of a mass Linux bailout is stupid. If being flamed on a daily basis by Linux enthusiasts hasn't driven me away from the Linux world yet, then why would a new version of the GPL be enough to get me to move on? Sorry, I use Linux full-time, everyday, all day.

Submission + - SPAM: Is it safe to mod my Wii or Xbox 360?

Submitted by drunkentyger on Thursday October 18, 2007 @01:51AM

drunkentyger writes: The short answer: no When it comes to the modding community, the reality is that nothing is 100% safe. But, in all likely hood, most people who purchase a mod chip and install it on their own console will escape the notice of law enforcement agencies. But with major sting operations occurring recently, let's explore the POSITIVES & NEGATIVES of modding. AND CHEAP LEGAL ALTERNATIVES. READ MORE..
Link to Original Source

Submission + - 4G mobile technology offers 3.6gbps downloads 1

Submitted by

Gareth

on Thursday October 18, 2007 @12:47AM

Gareth writes: "The Korean Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute has developed the fourth-generation mobile communications technology that allows an increased transmission rate of 3.6 gigabits per second (gbps). The newly developed mobile communications technology can transmit a file big enough to hold the entire Encyclopedia Britannica (4.7GB DVD) in less than 10.5 seconds. The new technology would reduce the time it takes to download a movie to just two seconds."

Submission + - Darth Vader Rules! (npr.org)

Submitted by

Critical Facilities

on Monday October 15, 2007 @09:34AM

Critical Facilities writes: "In a move sure to make him a candidate for "All time Star Wars Geek", Benoit Lambert trumped everyone at the International Balloon Festival in Albuquerque, N.M.

Belgian Benoit Lambert's hot-air balloon, in the shape of Darth Vader's mask, is harder to navigate than traditionally shaped balloons. But Lambert says he flies confidently because "the force is with us."
I guess this just goes to show what a true geek can accomplish when left to his own devices."

Submission + - Geo IP Abuse 1

Submitted by

TCook

on Monday October 15, 2007 @04:58AM

TCook writes: "Why do online places like Blogger and MySpace think it is a good idea to change the language delivered to a brower based on the IP location?

Do their webmasters not know that there is a meta tag for Accept-Language delivered in the request and that is what they SHOULD use.

Just because I am in Sweden or in Germany doesn't mean I can READ Swedish or German.

Yes, I have submitted feedback but I never received a reply."

Submission + - 1997-2007: The 10 Year Apple Comeback (9rules.com)

Submitted by

Scrivs

on Monday October 15, 2007 @03:25AM

Scrivs writes: "In 1997 Steve Jobs was named the interim CEO of Apple after haven been "ousted" in 1985 by the same company. It was a year of uncertainty and doom for Apple. You couldn't go a month without reading an article by a major publication proclaiming the death of Apple. Back then you had to wonder why Steve Jobs would take on such a task, but now..."

Submission + - Computer Forensics: Linux Style! (osweekly.com)

Submitted by

Jose Fernando

on Monday October 15, 2007 @03:05AM

Jose Fernando writes: "Which OS do you think is best for computer forensics? Obviously, being as we are Linux users, we'd likely recommend admins consider using a Linux-based approach for such a task. But which applications are honestly available on this platform? Not only that, are any of them open source? Quote: "Totally Connected Security, on the other hand, is able and willing to utilize applications that run on Linux. One being TCT (The Coroner's Toolkit). It may not necessarily be designed to work for the defense or the prosecution in a court case regarding various computer related criminal activities, but the message is there — open source code that only I can verify, please. And from the looks of it, Totally Connected Security is a company that understands the value of using open source software in these situations whenever possible."

Submission + - BulletProof-X: Windows Safe Mode Comes to Ubuntu (madpenguin.org)

Submitted by

tobyL

on Monday October 15, 2007 @02:52AM

tobyL writes: "MadPenguin.org takes a look at BulletProof, Windows-like Safe Mode option for Ubuntu. The author writes, "A few people have charged this new Ubuntu feature, known as BulletProof-X , as being little more than a safe mode-like option, which a competing OS from Redmond has had for years now. What these people fail to grasp, however, is the fact that you can use BulletProof-X to detect your monitor using the CD that's designed for Windows. It's true; just pop it in the drive and Ubuntu will then parse your .inf file from the Windows driver CD. If I remember correctly, Windows Safe mode doesn't even provide access to a CD drive, much do any kind of driver installation for PC monitors."

Submission + - Nintendo Power--The End of an Era 1

Submitted by

Guppy06

on Sunday October 14, 2007 @02:32PM

Guppy06 writes: "Starting with volume 222 in December, Nintendo will no longer be in charge of its own dedicated magazine, Nintendo Power, instead handing the reins over to Future US, publisher of other gaming magazines such as PC Gamer, Official Xbox Magazine, and Playstation: The Official Magazine. Nintendo started Nintendo Power from its original "Nintendo Fun Club" back in 1988 and since then the magazine has been the official mouthpiece of the company to its fanbase, often being the medium used for new announcements, such as the development of the now-classic Game Boy and Super NES. Similarly, it seems Nintendo is no longer publishing its own video game guides, which were published under the Nintendo Power name; recent flagship titles such as Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass only have Nintendo-authorized guides published by Prima available."

Submission + - A new fun way of looking at server logfiles (fudgie.org) 1

Submitted by

Fudgie

on Sunday October 07, 2007 @05:37AM

Fudgie writes: "My boss claimed it was pretty much impossible to create an entertaining way to visualize server traffic and events in a short time frame, so of course I had to prove him wrong.

A weekend of neglecting my family produced a small ruby program which connects to your servers via SSH, grabs and parses data from Apaches access log and Ruby on Rails production log, and displays your traffic and statistics in real-time using a simple OpenGL interface (tested under Linux and Mac OS/X).

It's a bit hard to explain over text, so please have a look at http://www.fudgie.org/ for an example movie, and more information."

Submission + - Interesting Math, for Ninjas with ADD

Submitted by

holden

on Sunday October 07, 2007 @05:11AM

holden writes: "The University of Waterloo Pure & Applied mathematics club has recently digitized its short attention span math seminars. It is a series of short ~15 minute talks on different math subjects (ranging from 16 different profs of the Pythagorean theorem, to advanced combinatorics). The topics are presented in an interesting way, and should be understandable by anyone with basic grasp of math."

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