Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Wrong summary (Score 4, Informative) 443

Stockab has fibers connected to municipal housing. That's about 20% of all fiber, and they cost more as both ISP and stockab get paid. The reason why it's so cheap is because of fierce competition between the different broadband providers. There was zero regulation and great tax benefits during the IT-boom era which led to a large number of broadband providers. That made a huge difference.

I pay (in Stockholm) about $7/month for a 100 Mbit connection and that's through privately owned fiber, not the municipal one. It also varies from city to city. In the case of Västerås (another Swedish city) they did actually build a full municipal fiber network and through laws and regulations made it a monopoly (the fibers, not the service). Prices there are about $30-40/month for a 20 Mbit connection.

Comment Re:oh goody. (Score 2, Insightful) 499

Actually, with the latest incarnation of C#, it gets much more compact. I don't know how to get indentation to work within the ecode tag but you should still get the idea:

class foo
{
public int dontTouch { get; set; }
}

class bar
{
public void someMethod()
{
foo ourFoo = new foo() { dontTouch = 5 };
int asdf = ourFoo.dontTouch;
}
}

Patents

Submission + - Patent Lawsuit - Providing Photos via a Network

An anonymous reader writes: from http://www.setexasrecord.com/news/196764-recent-pa tentcopyright-infringement-cases-filed-in-u.s.-dis trict-court

Plaintiff Peter Wolf claims he owns the rights to U.S. Patent No. 7,047,214 for "Process for Providing Event Photographs for Inspection and Distribution Via a Computer Network." The process allows photo proofs to be viewed and ordered online. He is suing Brightroom, Island Photography, Bird's Eye View, Digilabs, Printroom, SmugMug and Master Photos for infringement on the patented process.
Edward Goldstein of Houston is representing Wolf.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge David Folsom
Case No. 2:07-cv-00238-DF
Privacy

Submission + - YouTube to Begin Using Video Fingerprinting (lawbean.com)

Spamicles writes: "YouTube will begin testing video recognition technology in conjunction with Time Warner and Disney. Testing will begin next month in hopes that the software, designed to recognize copyright content in videos, will be ready to roll out later this year, the company said. Google, which now owns YouTube, had agreed to implement some kind of technology to identify copyright content on its site so it can remove pirated content or negotiate with owners for a license."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Announces Table Computer

denoir writes: BBC has a story on Microsoft unvailing a table sized computer featuring a multi-touch interface. It's name is "Surface". Designed to do away with the need for a traditional mouse and keyboard, users can instead use their fingers to operate the computer. Also designed to interact with mobile phones placed on the surface, Microsoft says it will initially sell the unit to corporate customers. Multi-touch interfaces have been in focus recently, especially with the Apple iPhone featuring one.
Privacy

Submission + - Blair pushes new UK anti-terror law before leaving

CanarDuck writes: Tony Blair wrote a column published in the Sunday Times in which he announces new anti-terror laws reinforcing the powers of the police. This comes mere weeks before Blair will step down from his position as UK prime minister. From the piece: "[The current legislation is] much weaker than we wanted, perpetually diluted by opposition amendments, constantly attacked on civil liberty grounds.[...] We have chosen as a society to put the civil liberties of the suspect, even if a foreign national, first. I happen to believe this is misguided and wrong."
Google

Submission + - EU questions Google privacy policy

An anonymous reader writes: BBC reports that the European Union is saying that Google's privacy policy may be breaking European privacy laws by keeping people's search information on its servers for up to two years. A data protection group that advises the European Union has written to the search giant to express concerns. The Article 29 group, made up of data protection commissioners around the EU, has asked Google to clarify its policy. Peter Fleischer, Google's global privacy counsel, said the firm was committed to dialogue with the group.

The EU has a wide range of privacy protections that set limits to what information corporations may collect and what they may or may not do with them. In the US on the other hand privacy laws generally cover government actions while the business sector remains largely unregulated. Is it perhaps time to follow the European example and extend privacy laws to include corporations?
Education

Submission + - Teachers Fake Gunman Attack

Anti_Climax writes: Staff members of an elementary school staged a fictitious gun attack on students during a class trip, telling them it was not a drill as the children cried and hid under tables. You can see the full story on CNN. It'll be interesting to see what happens to these teachers after the charges brought against students in recent months.

Feed Orangutans show off video game skills at Atlanta zoo (engadget.com)

Filed under: Gaming

While they don't yet appear to have tried their hand at Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, a pair of orangutans at Zoo Atlanta have recently started to hone their skills at some slightly simpler fare, which some IBM workers developed for the zoo in their time off. Apparently designed to study the cognitive skills of the primates, the games involve drawing pictures with the touchscreen, picking out identical photographs, and matching orangutan sounds to the proper picture. For each correct answer, the orangutans are rewarded with a food pellet -- something Nintendo would be wise to consider for its next console.

[Via FARK, photo courtesy of Gene Blythe/AP]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!


Data Storage

Submission + - Terabyte-Capacity Optical Disc Demoed

An anonymous reader writes: Various sources report on a technology demo of the 'TeraDisc' by Israeli startup Mempile, where 100 layers of data were recorded and read back on a single optical disc. Recording and readback are achieved by 2-photon absorption, and a DVD-sized, removable, 1 TB-capacity WORM disk is promised in 2010. And that's only with a red laser!
Media

Submission + - Is recording from radio a crime?

rvarada writes: XM is being sued by music publishers because their players can record the music. Even though the recording is being done by the end users, which is within fair rights, and XM and the makers of these players are already paying royalties to the music industry. So how long till I will get sued for recording a radio show using a microphone?

Slashdot Top Deals

"More software projects have gone awry for lack of calendar time than for all other causes combined." -- Fred Brooks, Jr., _The Mythical Man Month_

Working...