Mindwarp - Slashdot User

Submission + - RIAA "Expert Witness" Deposed by Slashdott

Submitted by Stanistani on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @02:17PM

Stanistani writes: Slashdotter Ray Beckermann NewYorkCountryLawyer yesterday grilled the RIAA's so-called expert witness in the UMG v. Lindor case. Defense Attorney Beckermann invites the Slashdot and Groklaw communities to "see the fruits of their labor."

Feed '30s Hollywood Cartoon Censorship (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @02:12PM

Cartoon Brew highlights how the Hayes Code impacted cartoons in 1939 -- male characters couldn't be effeminate, kids had to behave and Flossie the cow's sexy udders had to be clothed. At Table of Malcontents.

Submission + - Idiots Unite! Blog and Panel

Submitted by

Andy Flynn

on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @02:11PM

Andy Flynn writes: "It's a blog, it's a SXSW Music panel. How to survive, thrive, and be happy working with the universally loved art form called music. Idiots Unite!, Room 12AB Austin Convention Center, Thursday, March 15th, 2:45 pm — 4:00 pm Moderator: David Katznelson Pres, Birdman Recording Group Inc Yobie Benjamin CEO, goodstorm.com Jonathan Blaufarb Esquire, Davis Shapiro Lewit & Hayes LLP Scott Booker Co-Founder/Owner, World's Fair/Hellfire Enterprises LTD Jeff Castelaz Pres, Dangerbird Records/Cast Management Celia Hirschman Managing Dir, One Little Indian"

Submission + - Microsoft: Google 'cavalier' on copyright

Submitted by

w1z4rd

on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @02:03PM

w1z4rd writes: "The Guardian reports, "Microsoft will today launch a blistering attack on Google, accusing the Silicon Valley giant of a "cavalier" attitude to copyright."

"Companies that create no content of their own, and make money solely on the backs of other people's content, are raking in billions through advertising revenue and IPOs," says Microsoft Lawyer Tom Rubin"

Submission + - France Bans Filming of Violence By Non-Journalists

Submitted by

BostonBTS

on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @02:01PM

BostonBTS writes: "According to this Macworld Story, the French Constitutional Council has made it illegal to film (or distribute video of) violence unless you are a professional journalist. The law was approved exactly 16 years after Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King were filmed by amateur videographer George Holliday. From the article:

The broad drafting of the law so as to criminalize the activities of citizen journalists unrelated to the perpetrators of violent acts is no accident, but rather a deliberate decision by the authorities, said [Pascal Cohet, a spokesman for French online civil liberties group Odebi]. He is concerned that the law, and others still being debated, will lead to the creation of a parallel judicial system controlling the publication of information on the Internet.
"

Submission + - Factory soot leads to increased pacific storms.

Submitted by Cryolithic on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @01:58PM

Cryolithic writes: From the Vancouver Sun

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html ?id=e28e0f63-8add-4f03-aa2e-f64a8499bad5&k=5988

Soot from the factories of Asia is changing weather across the Pacific Ocean and causing storms like the December howler that clobbered Vancouver's Stanley Park, a new study says.

"The intensified Pacific storm track is climatically significant," and is the first time climate scientists have been able to measure the effect of "aerosols" — minute airborne particles — on climate, the team writes.

Submission + - Stopping WGA Installation sends data to Microsoft

Submitted by

rev

on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @01:37PM

rev writes: "The new WGA Notification installation that can be installed using Windows Update sends data to Microsoft if the user decides to cancel the installation. A cookie is set that could be used to identify the host and information such as version of Windows and WGA as well as language of the operating system are transmitted. Part of the data is encrypted. (read more)"

U.S. Senators Pressure Canada on Canadian DMCA 466

Posted by Hemos on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @01:20PM from the the-creeping-fingers-problem dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The U.S. copyright lobby brought out some heavy artillery last week as it continued to pressure Canada to introduce a Canadian DMCA. U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins gave a public talk in which he described Canadian copyright law as the weakest in the G7, while Senators Dianne Feinstein and John Cornyn wrote to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to urge him to bring in movie piracy legislation."

Submission + - RIAA Bashed in the Sunday Comics

Submitted by ryanduff on Sunday March 04, 2007 @09:45AM

ryanduff writes: While reading the comics this morning, I had a good laugh as the comic Foxtrot (Bill Amend) bashes the Recording Industry Association of America for suing "single moms, widows, grandmothers, dead people, and children." Jason Fox attempts to get away with downloading by teaching his pet iguana Quincy how to use Bittorrent and someone at the RIAA puts their psychiatrist on hold because "someone named 'lizardlips' is downloading Metallica."

Journal SPAM: Best Buy Confirms It Uses Secret Website 2

Journal by Jeremiah Cornelius on Sunday March 04, 2007 @12:48AM

Under pressure from state investigators, Best Buy is now confirming my reporting that its stores have a secret intranet site that has been used to block some consumers from getting cheaper prices advertised on BestBuy.com.

Submission + - cnet.co.uk talks to the brains behind Asimo

Submitted by

sebFlyte

on Friday January 12, 2007 @10:43AM

sebFlyte writes: "CNET are at CES, and they've got an interesting look at Asimo up. It's an interview with one of the developers from Honda talking about not only the potential Asimo has, but also fundamental issues about the design: quite how human they want it to be, why it's child-sized, and why it talks the way it does. It's also cut with some video of Asimo in action... and I must say, it's not just the interviewer who's creeped out by the little chap."

Submission + - PS2 still the highest selling game console

Submitted by

Van Cutter Romney

on Friday January 12, 2007 @10:33AM

Van Cutter Romney writes: "The PlayStation 2 remained the highest selling game console over the holiday season with 1.4 million units sold. This was more than the XBOX 360 which sold 1.1 million units; the Nintendo Wii which sold 604,000 units and lastly the PS3 selling 491,000 units. The PS2's high sales volume is attributed to its recent price reduction from $149 to $129.

Among games, Gears of War for XBOX 360 was the top grosser followed by Guitar Hero 2 for the PS2."

Submission + - Brightest Comet in 30 Years Visible in SOHO Images

Submitted by anthemaniac on Friday January 12, 2007 @10:32AM

anthemaniac writes: The brightest comet in 30 years is now entering the field of view of the SOHO spacecraft, and it's simply stunning. Many skywatchers were frustrated because Comet McNaught was about as bright as Jupiter but it was so low on the horizon that it was very hard to spot. Now it's easy to see without even going outside. Next up: Folks in the Southern Hemisphere will get a good look at the comet starting Sunday.

Journal Journal: Genealogy Website Publishes Immigrants' Documents

Journal by taketheleap on Friday January 12, 2007 @10:01AM

CBC is reporting about a new online database website, ancestorsonboard.com, allows users to search through more than 30 million passengers of ships destined for Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand and the United States from as far back as 1890. The site's search can be narrowed by name, port of departure, destination country and destination port.

Norman & Spolsky - Simplicity is Out 381

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday December 12, 2006 @11:31AM from the knobs-and-buttons-for-the-weee dept.

guanxi writes ""As simple as possible, and no simpler", you might have heard a few time, or KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). No more! The new hot trend is complexity: '[I]f you think simplicity means ... "does one thing and does it well," then I applaud your integrity but you can't go that far' says Joel Spolsky. 'Why are Yahoo! and MSN such complex-looking places? Because their systems are easier to use [than Google]' explains Donald Norman, who also also tells us that Simplicity Is Highly Overrated. Are they trying to make a subtler point, are they just consultants making a splash, or complexity the Next Big Thing in design?" From the 'highly overrated' article: "After touring the store my two friendly guides and I stopped outside to where two new automobiles were on display: two brand new Korean SUVs. Complexity again. I'm old enough to remember when a steering wheel was just a steering wheel, the rear view mirror just a mirror. These steering wheels were also complex control structures with multiple buttons and controls including two sets of loudness controls, one for music and one for the telephone (and I'm not even mentioning the multiple stalks on the steering column). The rear view mirror had two controls, one to illuminate the compass the other simply labeled "mirror," which lit a small red light when depressed. A rear view mirror with an on-off switch? The salesperson didn't know what it did either."

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