Submission + - USPS Delivers Mail With Only A Map
atanas writes: "When blogger Ron Pristas read the story about the UK Royal Mail delivering a letter with only a map, he decided to put the US Postal Service to the test. And when he got the letter back as undeliverable, he did not give up but tried mailing it again from a different facility. Ron's persistence paid off! The envelope is now in the hands of its intended recipient.
http://blog.entchev.com/2007/01/25/the-us-postal-s ervice-is-as-good-as-the-uk-royal-mail.aspx"
Father of Internet Warns Against Net Neutrality 322
An anonymous reader writes "At a recent talk at the Computer History Museum Robert Kahn, co-inventor of TCP/IP, warned against net neutrality legislation that could hinder experimentation and innovation. Calling 'net neutrality' a slogan, Khan also cautioned against 'dogmatic views of network architecture.' A video of the talk is also available."
Submission + - Pretexting Now Illegal
Investigative Lead writes: "Pretexting, better known as lying, is now illegal thanks to a law signed by President Bush last week. While the new law doesn't address many of the other times private investigators may lie in order to gather private information, it at least stops them from gathering telephone records under false pretenses. The bill itself was introduced late last year, but only finally got the necessary support after the HP spying scandal broke, where they used PIs on their own board members in order to identify press leaks. Anyone trying some of those techniques now could end up with a maximum of 10 years in prison."
Submission + - New free online OpenOffice tutorials
An anonymous reader writes: There's a new series of free online tutorials for OpenOffice at: http://inpics.net/
They're free, as in beer — there's no charge to use them. And unlike most tutorials, these are based on pictures instead of words — good for getting newbies up to speed.
That's important, because mental "switching costs" are some of the biggest obstacles to the adoption of desktop Linux. Windows users say, "I already know how to use Microsoft Office. Why should I take the time to learn something else?" These tutorials, by making it easy for them to learn OpenOffice, make it easier for them to start using a Linux distro that includes it.
They're free, as in beer — there's no charge to use them. And unlike most tutorials, these are based on pictures instead of words — good for getting newbies up to speed.
That's important, because mental "switching costs" are some of the biggest obstacles to the adoption of desktop Linux. Windows users say, "I already know how to use Microsoft Office. Why should I take the time to learn something else?" These tutorials, by making it easy for them to learn OpenOffice, make it easier for them to start using a Linux distro that includes it.
Submission + - Big Red Button disasters
FredDC writes: The Daily WTF? has a story about a Big Red Button disaster. What Big Red Button disaster have you experienced? caused? heared about? Or can happen any day now?
Submission + - Robert Kahn: Net neutrality is "just a slogan&
Starble writes: "While Kahn's fellow TCP/IP inventor has gone to bat (and to work) for Google and net neutrality, earlier this month Kahn answered a question about net neutrality at a forum that diverges rather starkly from Cerf's position. He agrees the net shouldn't be allowed to "fragment" but thinks you can't innovate with the regulations Cerf is calling for. Ahh... old friends.
Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEpzbXVPTOk"
Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEpzbXVPTOk"
