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Programming

Submission + - Programming Open Source is vital learning (artima.com)

Submitted by
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf,
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf, writes: "I can remember thinking at the time that I would be able to sell these, along with the SDK, to clients who wanted sophisticated and easy-to-use windowing components all over the globe, and then be able to retire and ride my bike forever more. It didn't quite work out like that. I was smart enough (but only after I'd spent all the effort) to realise the daunting challenge it would be to control installation and version, handle environmental issues and bug reports, and manage the trade-offs between protecting intellectual property and hindering users. And then there's the hassles of the financial side and the daunting nature of the warranties. Long story short is that the controls were never commercialised. They see action in various bespoke projects for clients from time to time, as well as in several of my internal / free tools. But all that effort has never seen a direct payoff. The payoff in learning was immense, however, and I'm very glad for it.

http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=229570"
Google

Submission + - Google joins Wimax consortium (alleyinsider.com)

Submitted by
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf,
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf, writes: "Sprint will have 51% equity ownership of the new company, Clearwire's existing shareholders will own 27%, and a host of investors from the cable and technology industries will own about 22% of the company. These include:

        * Comcast (CMCSA), which will invest $1.05 billion
        * Intel Capital (INTC), which will invest $1 billion
        * Time Warner Cable (TWC), which will invest $550 million
        * Google (GOOG), which will invest $500 million
        * Bright House Networks, which will invest $100 million

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/5/sprint_clearwire_announce_wimax_deal_terms"
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Free Wi-Fi to be ad-supported (nytimes.com)

Submitted by
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf,
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf, writes: "Travelers want to log on everywhere at no charge, while hotels, airports and coffee shops are looking for a way to pay for their Wi-Fi networks as visitors increasingly use greater amounts of bandwidth.

The compromise that is emerging is to offer both free and paid options, with the free services increasingly requiring something in return, like viewing an advertisement or signing up for a loyalty program.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/technology/06wifi.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=login

(Free registration required, sorry!)"
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Political middlemen cut by interactive site (treehugger.com)

Submitted by
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf,
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf, writes: "By distilling climate policy choices down to the most key, and letting you rate them all for reasonableness, — these being the ones to which the accepted econometric models are generally most 'sensitive' — anyone can model the economic impact of climate policy ideas being bandied about by politicians, lobbyists, Think Tank "experts" and newspaper editors. You don't have to be an mathematician or economist to work the scenarios.

The effect, we hope, will be to "disintermediate" the pundits and paid experts who so dominate American political life.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/yale-professor-democratizes-climate-action-cost-models.php"
Privacy

Submission + - Video monitoring solves only 3% of crimes (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf,
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf, writes: "A senior Metropolitan police officer has described the UK's CCTV strategy as a "fiasco", saying billions had been spent with very little impact on either stopping crime or providing evidence.

But don't count on the UK's flocks of cameras being taken down any time soon — the comments appear to be a thinly veiled plea for more cash to be poured into the country's favourite surveillance technology.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/06/police_cctv_is_rubbish/"
Privacy

Submission + - How China leads world in web censorship (spiegel.de)

Submitted by
Chris Blanc
Chris Blanc writes: "Surveillance computers form the backbone of the Chinese security system, monitoring the bulk of online communication round the clock. The machines are supported by an army of government censors, whose numbers are estimated at over 30,000. This Herculean effort is on the increase as Internet users multiply at a record rate. As of February, China officially has the most Internet users in the world (221 million to America's 220.6 million). And what happens in China can easily change the Internet as a whole. Experts believe that the country has already exported its innovative censorship methods to countries such as Iran and Vietnam.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,551110,00.html"
Privacy

Submission + - USA copies laptop HD data on entry to country (mirror.co.uk)

Submitted by
Chris Blanc
Chris Blanc writes: "Guards can download any details contained in the items and keep them indefinitely, following a new court ruling.

The latest legislation could mean lengthier queues as security copy photos, emails and phone records. Visitors already face hour-long waits while armed officers take fingerprints and photos.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/05/05/exclusive-tougher-security-checks-to-enter-us-as-laptops-and-mobile-phones-searched-89520-20405885/"
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - GTA IV sells songs with one click during game (reuters.com)

Submitted by
Chris Blanc
Chris Blanc writes: "It's been well established how TV shows, ads and videogames are growing areas of music discovery and promotion. But until "GTA IV," there's been no construct that allows for the immediate identification and purchase of those songs from videogames. "GTA IV" has added that "buy" button, and record labels welcome the innovation.

"It's a very big deal for us," says Cynthia Sexton, senior vice president of marketing and licensing for EMI Music North America. "We're continually looking for new ways to sell our music. There are millions of people buying 'Grand Theft Auto,' and we hope they will enjoy the music and in turn buy those tracks."

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0430077120080505?sp=true"
Government

Submission + - Bill would penalize companies for aiding Internet (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf,
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf, writes: "US-based companies could be held liable for helping officials in other countries censor the Internet, if a bill proposed by House Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) is approved. Smith recently announced his plans to push the Global Online Freedom Act (HR 275) to the House floor for voting after having lobbied human rights organization Reporters Without Borders for support. Among other things, the Global Online Freedom Act will bar US companies from disclosing personally-identifiable information about a user, except for "legitimate foreign law enforcement purposes."

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080501-bill-would-penalize-companies-for-aiding-internet-censorship.html"
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Sun's third-quarter loss stuns investors (yahoo.com)

Submitted by
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf,
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf, writes: "Wall Street expected Sun Microsystems Inc.'s global sales base to help it weather the U.S. economic slowdown and turn a profit in the first three months of the year.

Instead, the Santa Clara-based server and software maker stunned investors Thursday by reporting a loss in its third quarter, caused in part by sagging sales to U.S. consumer-oriented companies that are putting off big-ticket spending for better times.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080502/ap_on_hi_te/earns_sun_microsystems"

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