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Operating Systems

Submission + - Why Users Wait for OS Upgrades (osweekly.com)

Submitted by
LNXPhrak
LNXPhrak writes: "According to OSWeekly.com author Brandon Watts, users wait to upgrade their operating systems for a variety of reasons. These reasons include: "With that said, I do understand why people hold out for a little bit before they get onboard with something new like an operating system. I expect this delay of adoption with Windows, but in talking with my fellow Mac users, I discovered that several of them had also decided that they would skip buying one of the first Leopard discs and instead wait for the first update to be released before they upgraded. I'd be doing good if I could hold out that long, but I can't. I just have to see what all the fuss is about."
Government

Submission + - Obama, Huckabee win Iowa caucuses

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Democratic Illinois Senator Barack Obama and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a Republican, have been declared the winners of their presidential caucuses in Iowa, the first test in the race for the White House. Obama, who had been in a tough three-way battle against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and former senator John Edwards, won convincingly. Vying to become the first black president, Obama had 37 per cent support among Democrats. Edwards appeared headed for second place with Clinton finishing a close third. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/01/03/iowa-caucus.html?ref=rss
Intel

Submission + - Major blow for OLPC (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by carvell
carvell writes: According to reports, it looks like Intel have pulled out of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, citing "philosophical" differences as the reason. Back in May 2007 the OLPC founder, Nicholas Negroponte said that Intel should be ashamed of themselves, as they had planned a "rival" "classmate" laptop, intended to drive out the OLPC competition. Could this latest development be related to the classmate at all? Although OLPC appear to be using AMD processors, surely the loss of a major company backing the project will have repercussions for the OLPC project as a whole.
Education

Submission + - Intel remove support from OLPC

Submitted by smithberry
smithberry writes: The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project has not to look far for its troubles lately, as stories on /. over the last few weeks prove. The BBC are now reporting that Intel are removing their support. The article is very brief, but it says

Citing "philosophical" differences, Intel has withdrawn its funding and technical help from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project.
Arstechnica say it changes very little because OLPC are committed to AMD, but I wonder what the long term outlook for OLPC is now? Is this the end of the beginning, or the beginning of the end? Have they simply paved the way for some similar project to come along with newer and cheaper hardware and gain from the OLPC concept? So many questions, and only time will tell.
The Military

Submission + - China's President Hu Talks IT Warfare (itworld.com)

Submitted by
narramissic
narramissic writes: "In his keynote speech at the Communist Party Congress in October, China's president, Hu Jintao, was specific in his references to one area of IT: defense. 'We must build strong armed forces through science and technology. To attain the strategic objective of building computerized armed forces and winning IT-based warfare, we will accelerate composite development of mechanization and computerization, carry out military training under IT-based conditions, modernize every aspect of logistics, intensify our efforts to train a new type of high-caliber military personnel in large numbers and change the mode of generating combat capabilities.'"
Security

Submission + - Shell gas station customers can pay by fingerprint 2

Submitted by Carnth
Carnth writes: The biometric devices, made by a San Francisco-based company called Pay By Touch, are one part of a technological trifecta Shell is rolling out at its gas stations. Customers will be able to initially scan their fingerprints at a kiosk inside the gas station and can link payment information either at the store or online. In addition, gas station attendants are testing hand-held wireless devices that allow full-service customers to pay electronically at their car window. "I think it scares people," said Debbie Britton, a store manager. "They're more confused about the whole system. Some of them say, 'Well, now the FBI can find me.'" Shell said it will not share personal information of Pay By Touch customers with third parties, and it still offers traditional forms of payment for those uncomfortable with the system.
Education

Submission + - Are Plastic Bags Hurting Your Business? (ezinearticles.com)

Submitted by roychuk
roychuk writes: The new trend in retail shopping is offering shoppers reusable bags. These bags, while retailing anywhere from $1.39 to $15, are supposed to make shoppers opt not to use the conventional plain-old plastic bags. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that store owners are piggybacking on their consumers' empathy for the environment to make their businesses seem more eco-friendly. http://ezinearticles.com/?Are-Plastic-Bags-Hurting-Your-Business?
Censorship

Journal Journal: The latest LiveJournal bannings

Journal by makomk

This is an attempt to briefly summarize what's going on at LiveJournal. Basically, two LiveJournal users got permanently banned (with no warning) for posting ponographic drawings of Harry Potter characters. Now, LiveJournal claimed (though not publicly) they were child porn, but the people in the drawings aren't obviously under 18 and the people in question didn't claim that they were. Unfortunately for Livejournal, one of the user
Businesses

Submission + - Brad Fitzpatrick headed for Google? (valleywag.com)

Submitted by
sootzoo
sootzoo writes: "LiveJournal founder Brad Fitzpatrick, who sold his company, Danga Interactive, to Six Apart two years ago, has vested his shares, declared his boredom with Six Apart, and after weighing offers from Google and Facebook, has chosen to head to Google, a source close to Fitzpatrick says. The only reason that Six Apart management hasn't announced it, the source adds, is that they can't figure out how to spin it."
Censorship

Submission + - LiveJournal Users Fight Deletions (com.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: LiveJournal users who patronize sex-themed Harry Potter fan art and fiction communities are revolting a second time over account suspension notices that they say are unwarranted and trample on their free-expression rights.

The latest round of "permanent suspensions" involves two Harry Potter fanartists "ponderosa121" and "elaboration", who posted artwork featuring characters of indeterminate age, which LiveJournal staffers claim violates obscenity laws and is "material LiveJournal has chosen not to host."

No word if this has anything to do with the recent departure of LiveJournal creator Brad Fitzpatrick, or if it is simply coincidental timing.
Censorship

Submission + - LiveJournal Employee Publicly Mocks Users (firefox.org)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: LiveJournal recently permentantly suspended (without warning) the accounts of two fandom artists for allegedly violating "obscenity" policies. This follows in the wake of previous deletions , in which most of the outrage came from LJ's "delete first, ask questions later" policies.

Now it seems that in the wake of recent deletions, LiveJournal employee Abe Hassan (known as burr86 on LiveJournal), who has often served as a spokesperson for LJ on such communities as lj_biz, was discovered mocking banned users and fandom in general in a flamewar community. Outrage ensues.

Perhaps now would be a good time for LJ to hire an actual public relations specialist?

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