Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - Apple want to ban iGasms

Submitted by cyberianpan
cyberianpan writes: The UK News of the World reports that UK high street adult retailer Ann Summers has come up with a new product, the iGasm- it connects to any music player & reproduces the music as a sensual vibratory experience to bring a female to orgasm. Apple are threatening legal action claiming the ad poster image rips off iPod advertising. Have Apple finally succeeded in patenting the letter i ?
The Courts

Submission + - Copyright Misuse Claim Against RIAA Upheld

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The RIAA's attempt to dismiss a "copyright misuse" counterclaim against it has been rejected by Judge Charles L. Brieant, in a White Plains, New York, case, Lava v. Amurao. The counterclaim (pdf) calls for the record labels to forfeit their copyrights on the ground that they "are competitors in the business of recorded music.....[and] are a cartel acting collusively in violation of the antitrust laws and public policy, by litigating and settling all cases similar to this one together, and by entering into an unlawful agreement among themselves to prosecute and to dispose of all cases in an identical manner and through common lawyers..... Such actions represent an attempt....to secure for themselves rights far exceeding those provided by copyright laws......Such acts constitute misuse of copyrights, and lead to a forfeiture of the exclusive rights.....". The judge also upheld (pdf) a counterclaim for declaratory judgment of non-infringement, and granted the motion for leave to file an amicus curiae brief filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation."
Privacy

Submission + - Bank Officers Emailing Your Info In The Clear..

Submitted by
Austin
Austin writes: "I recently received a email from a loan officer at a major national bank regarding the final documents to my condo closing. The only problem is I am not buying a condo at all, the loan officer made a mistake in the email address domain. I replied and informed her of the mistake. The next day I received thirteen more documents, all unencrypted, non-password protected. The docs pertained to income statements, closing worksheets containing all identifying information (ssn, dob), and, this is good, complete routing instructions for the payment. If banks are going to send this information to external entities like your broker or title lawyer shouldn't they have to protect it in some manner?"
Security

Submission + - What would you do if you got this e-mail ?

Submitted by
dalpeh
dalpeh writes: "I just got this e-mail from my web host. (somewhat edited) —

Dear Customer, Thank you for using ******** as your hosting provider. ******** has reason to believe some User Names and Passwords may have been compromised. ******* customer's credit card information has not been accessed. To ensure website security, we mandate that you change your password for your account. If you do not change your password, ******** will automatically change it for you. To change your password, please log into your account at www.******** .com and access "User Settings" within the Control Panel. If your password has been changed by ****** you will receive an email notice. If you would like to retrieve your password, please visit www.********.com, select "Customer Login" at the top of the page, then select "I forgot my password". We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Kindest Regards, ******* Support — - —

My passwd was already changed which has now broken my wordpress blog of course. I am happy for the quick action, but I feel really let down and considering to switch over to a big name place like godaddy. What would you do ?"
The Internet

Submission + - Are social networks the new operating systems?

Submitted by social network watch
social network watch writes: Last week, Paypal founder Max Levchin, argued that Microsoft's biggest threat is MySpace, not Google. From InformationWeek: "Social networks, said Levchin, are becoming operating systems in the sense that they create consumer lock-in through control of user data." Now news comes that Facebook will announce a new strategy that will see outside companies being allowed to set-up-shop on the social network so that they can leverage "Facebook users' networks of online friends". Thus turning Facebook into a platform. This is more evidence of what Tim O'Reilly calls 'data as the new Intel Inside' where "the winner will be the company that first reaches critical mass via user aggregation, and turns that aggregated data into a system service." So are social networks like Facebook trying to become the new operating systems?
NASA

Submission + - NASA's future inflatable lunar base

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "If you think that future NASA's moon camps need to have a science fiction look, you might be disappointed. Today, NASA is testing small inflatable structures. In fact, if these expandable 'tents' receive positive reviews, astronauts will 'camp' on the moon as early as 2020. These 12-foot (3.65 meter) diameter inflatable units could be used as building blocks for a future lunar base. Right now, a prototype is tested at NASA's Langley Research Center. But NASA also wants to test other inflatable structures in the not-too-friendly environment of the Antarctic next year. Still, it's too early to know if NASA's first habitable lunar base will use inflatable or rigid structures. Here you'll find more details about this project and pictures showing this NASA's inflatable lunar basic unit during and after deployment."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft investing in new copy protection

Submitted by daniel_howell
daniel_howell writes: According to this article, Microsoft is in investing in a different approach to copy protection. The technology in questions imprints a file with a combination of a "watermark" and a "fingerprint", identifying who bought the music (or video or whatever) and who has the rights to use it. I guess the eventual idea is to combine it with web-crawling technology such as the prototype in this story, and then go after file sharers directly.

It all sounds a bit Big Brother — but it has to better than selling me something that doesn't let me play the file where I want. And it is in line with most copy protection laws around the world, not just the USA.
Encryption

Submission + - Legal Battle For AACS Begins

Submitted by henrypijames
henrypijames writes: As widely expected, the MPAA has learned nothing from the debacle of its failed prosecution against DVD Jon (of DeCSS) and is now releasing its army of lawyers to fight against the circumvention of AACS (the successor of CSS): Upon the reception of a DMCA takedown notice, SourceForge has immediately terminated its hosting of BackupHDDVD (a tool to backup HD DVD movies, as its suggestes). The project leader is seeking advice on how to proceed.
Mozilla

Submission + - Firefox 3.0 Opens Door to Web Apps, Mozilla Says

Submitted by MilwaukeeCharlie
MilwaukeeCharlie writes: CIO Magazine is reporting some buzz about Firefox 3.0, due to be released later this year.

Some of the likely new features include:
  • Offline support for web apps
  • New paradigm for "bookmarks" and "history"
  • Built-in database (SQL Lite), used for full-text indexing of the cache
  • Support for Javascript 2
Businesses

Submission + - Stock Market Drop Blamed on Computer Error

Submitted by
WebHostingGuy
WebHostingGuy writes: "Today the Dow Jones Industrial Index dropped a little over 3% in value. Stock market swings come and go but it is interesting that the sudden drop in the stock market is the result of a computer glitch. According to MSNBC, the computers running were not properly calculating trades. This led to the switch to a backup system which led to several seconds delay which impacted the Dow. Even now after the close of the market spokesmen for the NYSE Group Inc. could not confirm if all closing share prices were even valid."

Slashdot Top Deals

My computer can beat up your computer. - Karl Lehenbauer

Close