mswope - Slashdot User

Journal Journal: The Problem with Driver-Loaded Firmware

Journal by Kadin2048 on Sunday December 31, 2006 @11:01PM

(Submitted as a story on 12/31/2006)

If you've gone to a big-box store and purchased a wireless card recently, you might have had some trouble getting it to work under Linux, or any non-Windows OS for that matter. One reason for this is that more and more manufacturers are producing hardware that are useless without proprietary firmware. While these new designs allow for lower parts counts and thus lower cost, it presents a serious problem for F/OSS software because it can sometimes gua

Council of the EU Says "We Cannot Support Linux" 370

Posted by kdawson on Sunday December 31, 2006 @09:30PM from the penguins-need-not-apply dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Council of the EU has a streaming service so that we can watch its meetings — but the service can only be accessed by Mac or MS Windows users. This is because they employ WMV format for the videos. In the FAQ they express a really strange opinion about this: 'The live streaming media service of the Council of the European Union can be viewed on Microsoft Windows and Macintosh platforms. We cannot support Linux in a legal way. So the answer is: No support for Linux.' An online petition has been set up to create pressure to convince the EU council to change its service to one that is platform independent."

Submission + - Judge calls for UK DNA database

Submitted by Tandoori Haggis on Sunday December 31, 2006 @08:48PM

Tandoori Haggis writes: "Everyone who lives in Britain should have their DNA stored on a national database,", according to a "top judge" in the UK, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4038079.stm Would this make UK citizens safer? Is DNA really really going to be the 100% certain solution or will it tend to cause more problems for the citizen, e.g., identity theft, mistaken identity?

Submission + - Ancient Canadian Ice Shelf Breaks Free

Submitted by FST on Sunday December 31, 2006 @07:28PM

FST writes: CNN.com is reporting that an ancient Canadian Ice Shelf just broke free from Canada's Arctic. From the article: "The mass of ice broke clear 16 months ago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 800 kilometers (497 miles) south of the North Pole, but no one was present to see it in Canada's remote north...'This is a dramatic and disturbing event. It shows that we are losing remarkable features of the Canadian North that have been in place for many thousands of years. We are crossing climate thresholds, and these may signal the onset of accelerated change ahead,' Vincent said Thursday."

Submission + - Successful Open Source Project and Deep Pockets?

Submitted by

JoPapaEd

on Sunday December 31, 2006 @06:32PM

JoPapaEd writes: "Has Open Source software passed the idealistic phase and matured to the point that, to be successful, deep pockets are needed? Linux has had a fabulous run, but could they have run as far without IBM? Apache has a solid position, but again IBM is everywhere. Firefox has been a meteor — with a large assist from Google. And now Ubuntu is starting to have Googleprints all over it. I'm thinking about open sourcing a project scheduling engine, but my pauper pockets suggest this would be a big mistake. Can a grass roots open source project still work, or has 2007 passed this quaint notion by?"

Fedora Legacy Shutting Down 180

Posted by kdawson on Sunday December 31, 2006 @05:08PM from the yum-update-and-pray dept.

An anonymous reader writes to pass on the news that the Fedora Legacy project is going away. The project has been providing security updates and critical bugfixes to end-of-life Red Hat and Fedora Core releases. From the article: "In case any of you are not aware, the Fedora Legacy project is in the process of shutting down. The current model for supporting maintenance distributions is being re-examined. In the meantime, we are unable to extend support to older Fedora Core releases as we had planned. As of now, Fedora Core 4 and earlier distributions are no longer being maintained. Discussions... on the #Fedora-Legacy channel have brought to light the fact that certain Fedora Legacy properties (servers) may be going away soon, such as the repository at http://download.fedoralegacy.org and the build server."

Submission + - Osborne Effect to iPhone: Top 10 Apple Myths, 2006

Submitted by DECS on Sunday December 31, 2006 @05:04PM

DECS writes: What a wild ride 2006 turned out to be for Apple Computer. The company sold more Macs than ever, while delivering an entirely revamped Mac product lineup based on Intel processors.

Apple also held onto its lead in music players with the iPod, and online music sales through the iTunes Store. After expanding iTunes into video downloads, it rapidly picked up the vast majority of that market as well.

Throughout its best-ever year however, the company was also dogged by panicked rumors and misleading reports. Here's a look at the top ten Apple myths by the usual suspects: opportunist profiteers, shady shock tabloids, self appointed experts, and the incessantly pandering rumor mill.

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Q4.06/4BF05EEE-E8 CA-4FC9-8B33-8B5759D36B27.html

1 The Register's Osborne Effect
2 Greenpeace Toxic Apple Panic
3 Apple Options Scandal and Delisting 4: The iTunes Monopoly Myth
5 The iTunes Collapse Myth
6 Microsoft's iPod Killer Myth
7 The Xbox Success Myth
8 Mac OS X Red Box Myth
9 & 10 iPhone Myth, Panic, & Threat

Journal Journal: Wii-less No More 2

Journal by robi2106 on Sunday December 31, 2006 @05:03PM

So I'm getting a Wii. Not directly, and not through the secondary speculative gaming market (aka eBay). a co-worker and his wife waited all night at a Best Buy a few weeks ago and bought two. One they sold to our boss who began each day with the phrase "Gotta get a Wii. Find me a Wii" until he got his Wii.

Bookmark Top 10 Apple Myths of 2006: Osborne Effect (roughlydrafted.com)

by DECS on Sunday December 31, 2006 @05:00PM

Submission + - not a desktop . . . rather its a neighborhood

Submitted by

Virchull

on Sunday December 31, 2006 @04:14PM

Virchull writes: "The $150 laptop has an entirely new metaphor for user interaction. Its aimed at kids who don't have desks at home, so there is no "desktop". Rather, the screen metaphor is the kid and the surrounding neighborhood. Never seen a file folder? No problem, the metaphor is an automatically generated "journal" with the associated documents for events. There are skeptics and fans, but soon millions of kids will explore a computer with a whole different metaphor for interaction. More at: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8MC0 2EO0.htm"

Submission + - Apple faces suit over "illegal" iTunes Mon

Submitted by

Michael

on Sunday December 31, 2006 @02:12PM

Michael writes: "Things just keep getting better for Apple on the legal front... According to the Associated Press Apple is facing a lawsuit that claims they have built an illegal monopoly due to the copy-protection system that generally prevents iTunes music and video from playing on rival players...Likewise, songs purchased elsewhere aren't easily playable on iPods. The plaintiff is seeking unspecified damages and other relief. On the 20th of December, the court denied Apple's motion to dismiss the complaint. The case was originally filed on July 21. Does this case have merit? Click Here for the full story"

Submission + - Verizon Arithmetic

Submitted by richmaine on Sunday December 31, 2006 @02:12PM

richmaine writes: We all know about how pretty much all the phone companies lie about rates by adding on a lot of extra charges in addition to the quoted rate. But those lies usually amount to "only" a factor of two or so. Apparently Verizon has a new way to lie by a factor of 100 by confusing cents and dollars. A recording that hilariously reveals a phone tech and supervisor who apparently don't know the difference either is here.

Submission + - Crazy DIY fire fix for a failed iBook logic board.

Submitted by jdp816 on Sunday December 31, 2006 @02:10PM

jdp816 writes: Mark Hoekstra of Geektechnique.org has recently posted the results of an experiment to fix the logic board from a Dual-USB iBook that is no longer covered by the Apple Logic Board Repair program. Dead iBook video + fire + crazy hacker = repaired iBook!

Submission + - PCBSD 1.3 Released

Submitted by rgbecker on Sunday December 31, 2006 @01:58PM

rgbecker writes: The latest version 1.3 of PCBSD the easy to use FreeBSD based distro has been announced. Downloads available here.

Submission + - Microsoft bribing bloggers with free laptops

Submitted by

Slinky

on Wednesday December 27, 2006 @09:52AM

Slinky writes: "According to at least six bloggers, Microsoft has been sending out free top-of-the-line laptops pre-loaded with Vista as a 'no strings attached gifts'. This 'reward' for their hard work on covering tech in general is coincidentally right before the launch of Vista to consumers. To be clear, these weren't loans, they were gifts, and they were top-of-the-line Acer Ferrari laptops. Microsoft blogger Long Zheng broke the silence over the source of the freebies."

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