Submission + - 10 Reasons it doesn't pay to be "The Computer (lifereboot.com)
Shaun Boyd writes: "Scroll down for the top 10 list."
Submission + - The Unauthorized State-Owned Chinese Disneyland
rmnoon writes: "Apparently Japanese TV and bloggers have just discovered Disney's theme park in China, where young children can be part of the Magic Kingdom and interact with their favorite characters (like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and the Seven Dwarfs). The park's slogan is "Because Disneyland is Too Far", and there's even an Epcot-like dome. The only problem? Disney didn't build it, and they didn't authorize it. What's more? It's state-owned!
Now that China is hosting the Olympics and seeking to build international credibility, what responsibility does it have to not engage in blatant violations of international trademarks in publicly-owned operations?"
Now that China is hosting the Olympics and seeking to build international credibility, what responsibility does it have to not engage in blatant violations of international trademarks in publicly-owned operations?"
Submission + - SPAM: Vonage gets shot down in retrial bid
alphadogg writes: A U.S. federal appeals court has rejected Vonage's request that it order a lower court to retry a patent-infringement case against the company, Vonage confirmed Thursday. The VOIP service provider, embroiled in a dispute with Verizon, had asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to vacate an earlier jury verdict after a Supreme Court decision this week that is expected to change the way courts look at patent cases. Vonage was already appealing the verdict.
[spam URL stripped]t -rejects-vonage-request-for.html
Submission + - Myspace goes homophobic
Seto89 writes: Since the beginning of the week Rupert Murdoch-owned MySpace has omitted the "Gay" option in the profile sex preference settings. More details in the AC article.
Also it is now impossible to post a bulletin with a content similar to the one posted in protest (can be found here) — the bulletins just don't appear (though bulletins with other content work fine).
Is Rupert Murdoch going into unstoppable censorship spree? Or does he only assume that all gays will hide from him in a closet?
Also it is now impossible to post a bulletin with a content similar to the one posted in protest (can be found here) — the bulletins just don't appear (though bulletins with other content work fine).
Is Rupert Murdoch going into unstoppable censorship spree? Or does he only assume that all gays will hide from him in a closet?
Submission + - Intel reveals the future of the CPU-GPU war
Arun Demeure writes: Beyond3D's ninjas have once again obtained new information on Intel's plans to compete against NVIDIA and AMD's graphics processors, in what the Chief Architect of the project presents as a "battle for control of the computing platform". He describes a new computing architecture based on the many-core paradigm with super-wide execution units, and the reasoning behind some of the design choices. Looks like computer scientists and software programmers everywhere will have to adapt to these new concepts, as there will be no silver bullet to achieve high efficiency on new and exotic architectures.
Submission + - High Tech Civil Rights Lawyers?
CalibanCaliban writes: Do you have recommendations for Canadian High Tech Civil Rights resources and lawyers?
I am aquainted with a 17 year old youth who recorded a racially charged verbal conflict in a classroom and the subsequent physical fight during lunch on school property. This was done from his cell phone. He editted it, set it to music and posted it to YouTube. The school administration elected to suspend the youth for 10 days. This seemed disproportionate to me as it seemed much closer to art or journalism than creating a hostile learning environment.
Subsequently provincial police got involved and the youth recording and posting the conflict was charged with assault. Obviously a good lawyer is in order and I was hoping Slashdot readers might be able to identify similar cases, useful resources or legal counsel that they could recommend for this scenario.
I am aquainted with a 17 year old youth who recorded a racially charged verbal conflict in a classroom and the subsequent physical fight during lunch on school property. This was done from his cell phone. He editted it, set it to music and posted it to YouTube. The school administration elected to suspend the youth for 10 days. This seemed disproportionate to me as it seemed much closer to art or journalism than creating a hostile learning environment.
Subsequently provincial police got involved and the youth recording and posting the conflict was charged with assault. Obviously a good lawyer is in order and I was hoping Slashdot readers might be able to identify similar cases, useful resources or legal counsel that they could recommend for this scenario.
Submission + - Nearly transparent, electrically conductive cement
zero_offset writes: The Tokyo Institute of Technology has announced a process for creating an inexpensive, nearly transparent, electrically conductive alumina cement, reports Pink Tentacle, a blog that focuses on a broad range of interesting news from Japan. Conductivity is comparable to metal, and the transparency should be adequate for use in display panels. The process relies upon commonplace and inexpensive metals compared to the rare metals such as iridium currently used in display panels. (This is probably useful in many other ways, but slashdot's section/topic choices for articles are somewhat arbitrary and limited.) The blog links to several Japanese-language articles which have defied all my attempts to translate them.
Feed Maybe You Should Back Up Your Own Email; Google, AOL, Yahoo All Losing Emails (techdirt.com)
Web-based email has made quite the comeback in the past few years thanks to massive increases in email storage offerings, as well as revamped user interfaces. However, it appears that all of the big players have run into some problems actually keeping email systems online. This past week there have been stories of both AOL and Yahoo losing a ton of email (thousands of emails for AOL, millions for Yahoo Japan). This comes just a few months after Google had some problems with mass email deletions in Gmail. While the convenience these services provide is fantastic, all of these stories of lost emails should act as a reminder that you probably shouldn't trust any of these providers alone to care for your email. It's almost surprising that we haven't seen more of an effort by these or other providers to position email backup services as well, promising to keep you running, should your main account get knocked out or deleted.
Submission + - Xbox 360 HD DVD Hacked even for Revoked licences
Umuri writes: As mentioned in an article at engadget, the XBox 360 player has been compromised and now can play HD DVDs without authenticating with AACS, allowing even revoked licenses to be played. Backup your movies, format shift them, whatever. Defective by design doesn't even quite cover the failure of the model, or the success of the groups who made this possible.
Submission + - Amazon's Lawyers Jerking USPTO Around?
theodp writes: "Reacting to an actor's do-it-yourself legal effort that triggered a reexam of Amazon.com's 1-Click patent, attorneys for Amazon have fired back, deluging the USPTO with documents to review, including Wikipedia articles. With the latest batch, Amazon's high-priced law firm even requested that USTPO examiners review an archived page of Norm Quotes (yes, Norm from Cheers) and rule that it does not invalidate CEO Jeff Bezos' 1-Click patent."
Submission + - Verizon FiOS requires Windows?
DarthWilber writes: Verizon FiOS is recently available in my area and I have been inundated with letters and phone calls from Verizon attempting to get me to sign up. The last call I received ended the spiel with "... If you meet the system requirements." When I asked what the requirements were, they asked if I was running Windows or Macintosh. I said I was running Linux. They said it won't work with Linux. When I inquired for the reason. I was met with "It just does."
Submission + - Secure a PC For Your Mom?
BoneThugND writes: "ITSecurity.com has published a 20 minute guide to securing a PC. While many of the tips are solid, I am thinking I should go a bit further to protect my mom's new Windows machine. Assuming she is not a very savvy user, what should I be doing to make sure her box isn't slowed down by dozens of malware programs after three weeks of surfing?"
Submission + - Why You Can't Trust Google To Protect Your PC
Anonymous Coward writes: "Google and StopBadware have partnered up to blacklist sites on Google's search engine results who distribute malware. However, they've ended up blacklisting many innocent sites while ignoring lots of confirmed offenders. This site posted a list of websites that Google says are safe to visit, but are genuinely malicious. Sounds a lot like Microsoft's misguided forays into computer security.
Why Google Can't Be Trusted To Protect Your Computer"
Why Google Can't Be Trusted To Protect Your Computer"
Submission + - Harry Potter Book 7 Named
Croakyvoice writes: JK Rowling has today given fans of the Harry Potter Books the name of Book 7 of the very popular series via a xmas present on her site, to get to the name you need to follow a complicated procedure but thankfully the name of the book has been revealed as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Submission + - Generate Flash movies on the fly with PHP
An anonymous reader writes: Rich Internet Applications is the new buzz-phrase for Web 2.0, and a key component of the substance behind Web 2.0 is Adobe Flash. Learn how to integrate Flash movies into your application and generate Flash movies dynamically using the Ming library. It's worth understanding Flash and what it can do to extend the reach and interactivity of a Web 2.0 PHP application.
