bubulubugoth - Slashdot User

Submission + - New Mail Boxes Pay Tribute to Star Wars

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10, 2007 @02:24AM

An anonymous reader writes: With the 30th anniversary of Star Wars this year, the Postal Service has come up with a unique tribute: R2D2 mail boxes. Pictures of legions of them lined up can be found here.

Submission + - Microsoft conveniently missing some source code...

Submitted by

gmHumfrey

on Saturday March 10, 2007 @01:58AM

gmHumfrey writes: "This article at The Register has two interesting points. The first and major topic of the article is that microsoft thinks that Windows98SE in a virutal PC is a Macintosh. Maybe their just finally publically admitting to having borrowed the Mac desktop. Second and more interesting is this quote from the article:"In the Comes anti-trust case, it emerged that two dozen libraries were shipping with Windows, for which Microsoft couldn't produce the source code." Convenient. You might recall this slashdot article where showusthecode.com is trying to get Microsoft to put up source code in proof of their (future) patent dispute claims or shut up. So how is it that they can find all of this "offending" code in the millions of lines of code that makes up Windows, but can't find the source code for a couple of dozen libraries? Not knowing which two dozen libraries are missing, I wonder how many of these have been patched and released as part of a service pack or hotfix ; unless they were doing some assembler level editing, then how did would the "fix" these libraries without the source code?"

Submission + - SCO says IBM hurt profits

Submitted by

AlanS2002

on Saturday March 10, 2007 @12:28AM

AlanS2002 writes: "In its ongoing litigation against International Business Machines Corp., the SCO Group Inc. on Monday said IBM hurt SCO's relationship with several high-tech powerhouses, causing SCO's market share and revenues to plummet. In a hearing before U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball, an attorney for Lindon-based SCO said IBM "pressured" companies to cut off their relationships with SCO. And "the effect on SCO was devastating and it was immediate," Mark James said. IBM on Monday argued for summary judgment on the matters of unfair competition and business interference, but SCO contends that a jury trial is needed."

Submission + - Hans Reiser to Stand Trial for Wife's Murder

Submitted by Matt Perry on Friday March 09, 2007 @09:20PM

Matt Perry writes: A judge has ruled that the murder trail against Hans Reiser is to go forward. Even so, the judge questioned some of the evidence against Reiser. No matter the outcome, Reiser will most likely sell his company to fund his defense (see previous Slashdot story). What might this mean for the future of ResierFS4?

Submission + - Some SF Schools Banning Homework

Submitted by

theodp

on Thursday March 01, 2007 @01:49AM

theodp writes: "Alarmed by indicators of student stress like cheating and substance abuse, some SF Bay Area schools are reducing an education staple: homework. Homework is mostly banned at Menlo Park's Oak Knoll School, but some teachers apparently have higher 'expections' [sic]."

Submission + - The Microsoft OOXML Contradictions Revealed

Submitted by

Andy Updegrove

on Wednesday February 28, 2007 @11:38PM

Andy Updegrove writes: "Someone was kind enough to send me the package of materials distributed by ISO/IEC JTC 1 earlier today to its members.The package contains each of the responses filed during the ISO Fast Track Contradictions period for Ecma 376, the specification based upon Microsoft's OOXML formats, as well as the responses prepared by Ecma to those responses. Earlier, Microsoft had downplayed reports by myself and others that the great majority of the responses were negative, suggesting that most or many were either neutral, or in fact "laudatory." In fact, the actual responses demonstrate that 14 of 20 responses — more than 2/3s — were clearly negative, two indicated divisions of opinion among the members of the national bodies submitting them, three were inconclusive or neutral, and one offered no objections.What happens next? The transmittal note from JTC1 indicates that after internal consultation, next steps will be communicated to the National Bodies "in the very near future." But given the degree of opposition and concern expressed by a significant percentage of those national bodies entitled to vote up or down on adoption, it's fair to say that Microsoft has its work cut out for it, if it wants to see OOXML achieve the same degree of international standards status as ODF. http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/articl e.php?story=2007022819130536"

Submission + - Google 'Metaverse' rumour re-ignited

Submitted by

jasoncart

on Sunday January 28, 2007 @01:48PM

jasoncart writes: "Rumours of a of a persistent world 'game' from Google have been re-ignited this week, with analyst Michael Eisenberg of Benchmark Capital caught ruminating on the prospect of a Google-engineered 'metaverse'. Several sources point towards this new online world, which Google could use as a new method for delivering context-sensitive advertising."

Submission + - 53 CSS-Techniques You Couldn't Live Without

Submitted by

vitaly.friedman

on Saturday January 20, 2007 @07:30PM

vitaly.friedman writes: "Cascading Style Sheets offer many advantages you don't have in table-layouts — i.e. a strict separation between layout, or design of the page, and the information, presented on the page. Over the last few years web-developers have developed many useful techniques, which can save you a lot of time — of course, if you are able to find them in time. This article lists 53 essential css-techniques, which will make your life easier. "Thanks to all developers who contributed to accessible and usable css-based design over the last few years. We really appreciate it.""

Submission + - New Full Touch Screen Concept Phone Nokia Aeon.

Submitted by

Azazelo

on Saturday January 20, 2007 @02:20PM

Azazelo writes: "New Full Touch Screen Concept Phone Nokia Aeon. Not only are the looks mind blowing but what about the touch screen that covers the full surface of the Nokia mobile phone (yes we did say the WHOLE surface). Tele Communication has got that one step better."

Submission + - Google Checkout sees poor customer satisfaction

Submitted by

Aryabhata

on Saturday January 20, 2007 @01:07PM

Aryabhata writes: "As per an Arstechnica report on a survey by investment firm J.P. Morgan Securities, Google Checkout has had a relatively quick and modest market penetration of six percent since its launch in June of 2006, but lags behind in customer satisfaction vs PayPal. On the customer satisfaction front, only 18.8 percent reported having a "good" or "very good" experience with Google Checkout, while 81.2 percent indicated a fair to poor experience customer experience compared to PayPal's 44.2 percent reporting good experiences. Some users have reported anecdotally that Google Checkout mistakenly canceled sales without warning or that the checkout process took too long."

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