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Comment Re:Wait (Score 1) 257

by Lucky_Norseman (#38994465) Attached to: Sale Or License? Sister Sledge Sues Over ITunes

You mean the music labels aren't there for the protection of the artist!?

It also seems that 75% cut is still a lot for copying an mp3 file and drawing up some paperwork. Even if the label also provided the recording studio, etc, it seems like the artist is still getting the short end of the stick. Why is it that the artist always seems to be the last one to realize the label is screwing him even harder than its screwing the consumer?

No, you misunderstand. All the expenses for renting a studio, mixing, marketing etc comes from the artist's share. The 75% goes to coke, hookers and limos for the bosses.

Comment Re:RIM is already dead (Score 2) 218

by Lucky_Norseman (#38740770) Attached to: Research In Motion To Be Sold, Possibly To Samsung
BlackBerry too has the option to turn of data when roaming
But if you turn off data, you are essentially offline.
With a BlackBerry you can stay online and available and it still won't cost you an arm and a leg.
Most email are simply a short bit of text with possibly some attachments.
When I am in another country I get all my normal emails, and most of them I can reply to there and then. If I need to examine the attachments or read a very long mail I can usually wait till I'm back at the hotel with Wifi and read on the laptop.
80K is a lot of plaintext,. And the limit is actually configurable.

Comment Re:Exponential Growth (Score 1) 543

by Lucky_Norseman (#38648748) Attached to: Pirate Party Leader: Copyright Laws Ridiculous
No. a DRMed copy should be more like a trade secret.
Whwn you invent a new industrial process you have a choice to either patent it and let the world know how it is done or keep it a trade secret and forever give up the patent protection. If someone else figures out how it is done, they can use the process freely.
Similarly you should have a choice to either give it out openly with copyright protection or use DRM and forever give up the protection of copyright on that work.

Comment Re:There work here is done (Score 1) 90

by Lucky_Norseman (#38297052) Attached to: RIM Gives Up After Losing Initial Battle Over BBX Trademark

Screw RIM. I only know about it because I've been following QNX. Frankly, I'd love to see RIM go under, get taken over, and QNX ending up in the hands of someone who'll reopen the source and let me legally continue my projects I was working on before RIM got their mitts on it. :)

A more likely scenario if RIM should go under is that QNX is sold to Microsoft who will then lock it safely away.
Be careful what you wish for.
Facebook

Upcoming EU Data Law Will Make Europe Tricky For Social Networks 168

Posted by samzenpus from the no-information dept.
Thorfinn.au writes "EU politicians are mulling new data protection laws that could make Europe a hostile place for social networks. The EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding and the German Federal Minister for Consumer Protection, Ilse Aigner drew up proposals for the new data protection law which reads: 'EU law should require that consumers give their explicit consent before their data are used. And consumers generally should have the right to delete their data at any time, especially the data they post on the internet themselves. We both believe that companies who direct their services to European consumers should be subject to EU data protection laws. Otherwise, they should not be able to do business on our internal market. This also applies to social networks with users in the EU.'"
Earth

IEA Warns of Irreversible Climate Change In 5 Years 1105

Posted by samzenpus from the it's-getting-hot-in-here dept.
iONiUM writes "As a follow up to the previous slashdot story, there has been a new release by the International Energy Agency indicating that within 5 years we will have irreversible climate change. According to the IEA, 'There are few signs that the urgently needed change in direction in global energy trends is under way. Although the recovery in the world economy since 2009 has been uneven, and future economic prospects remain uncertain, global primary energy demand rebounded by a remarkable 5% in 2010, pushing CO2 emissions to a new high. Subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption of fossil fuels jumped to over $400bn (£250.7bn).'"
NASA

NASA Successfully Test Fires J-2X Engine. 119

Posted by samzenpus from the fire-it-up dept.
tetrahedrassface writes "NASA successfully test fired the J-2X engine Wednesday for 500 seconds at Stennis Space Center. The J2-X is derived from the J2 engine from the Apollo Era, and will power the upper stage of the SLS. From the article: 'We have 500 seconds of good data, and the first look is that everything went great. The J-2X engine team and the SLS program as a whole are extremely happy that we accomplished a good, safe and successful test today,' said Mike Kynard, Space Launch System Engines Element Manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. 'This engine test firing gives us critical data to move forward in the engine's development.'"
Businesses

How Do I Get Back a Passion For Programming? 516

Posted by samzenpus from the you've-lost-that-loving-feeling dept.
bigsexyjoe writes "I am a somewhat experienced software developer who is pretty much an office drone. I used to enjoy writing code. I even enjoyed writing routine code before it became routine. But now I just come in day in and day out. I work for manipulative jerks. I don't care about the product I create. I don't enjoy coding anymore. I'm not great at interviewing. I don't have an impressive resume. I stick in more advanced stuff into my code when I can, but that is always on the sly. So my question is how do I get back the enjoyment I used to have writing code?"
Businesses

Why Microsoft Embraced Gaming 146

Posted by Soulskill from the something-about-extending-and-i-forget dept.
wjousts writes "A interesting take on the birth of the Xbox from Technology Review: 'When the original Xbox video-game console went on sale in 2001, it wasn't clear why Microsoft, known for staid workplace software, was branching out into fast-paced action games. But Microsoft decided that capitalizing on the popularity of gaming could help the company position itself for the coming wave of home digital entertainment. "Microsoft saw the writing on the wall," says David Dennis, a spokesman for Xbox. "It wanted to have a beachhead in the living room." ... Now Microsoft is linking Xbox 360, its most successful consumer-focused brand, with others that have not been as well received. It is integrating Bing, its search engine, into Xbox and Xbox Live to enable people to search for multimedia content. By the end of the year, Microsoft is expected to unveil an updated Xbox Live design that is more in line with the look of Windows phones and the forthcoming Windows 8.'"

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