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Operating Systems

Submission + - Apple Leopard Won't support G4 or G3 processors

Submitted by goombah99
goombah99 writes: According to AppleInsider, apple is about to announce that Leopard will not support G4 power PC processors. Previously developers had been told that it would require at least an 800 MHZ G4. But AppleInsider alleges only G5 and higher will now be supported because of speed issues, and testers have been told that the new os "cannot be installed" on lesser machines. This cutoff in minimum requirements means that all those original imac flat screens and titanium powerbooks are now forked to the Tiger (10.4) Update Path. Since much of Leopards advances came in the form of either under-the-hood changes (e.g. 64 bits) or added capabilities (e.g. time machine) but don't seem to substantially change the UI or API for core capabilities this may turn out to be less of a blow than it will initially be perceived as. While this apparently means there will be now two-flavors of the apple OS in widespread us, it's worth noting that Apple has also had a long standing mechanism for fat-binaries that allows a single application to transparently hold code for many different OS's and Architectures.
Patents

Submission + - Bead&Button: teaching our designs is unethical (beadandbutton.com)

Submitted by
Big Hairy Goofy Guy
Big Hairy Goofy Guy writes: "This month's Bead&Button magazine has an editorial (PDF) about ethical behavior as it relates to beadwork designs. For those zealots who believe "information wants to be free" (such as myself) it is a bit surprising that such an ancient art could be subjected to such a strict copyright regime. At one extreme is the question "how should artists and publishers be compensated" and at the other extreme is the question "how can you own a pattern of beads?"

From the article: "It is unethical to teach a beading project ... without the artist's permission." Fill in the ... with "that has appeared in a magazine, book, or website" or with "learned in another teacher's class" It appears that this magazine is concerned only with the first question.

See also: Sarah Feingold's article (PDF) in the same issue on how copyright law applies to beadwork."
Security

Submission + - Forbes 400 targeted by ID thieves. (informationweek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Numerous media outlets have been reporting this story, about an ID theft ring which targeted the Forbes list of 400 richest Americans. It seems that Igor Klopov a 24 year-old Russian citizen was the ring leader and was caught after attempting to pick up $7 million in gold that he was using to launder the money. I guess it goes to show that anyone can be the target of identity theft, I mean they even went after the President of Transunion one of the credit reporting bureaus.
Upgrades

Submission + - TiVo abandoning subscribed users, update too hard?

Submitted by jbridges
jbridges writes: TiVo claims it's too difficult to upgrade Series 1 TiVos to correct for the new Daylight Savings rules.

Series 1 TiVos run on standard Linux, and use software for Daylight Savings.

Series 1 DirecTiVos (same platform, made for DirecTV) have had their software upgraded with the DST Fix.

Series 1 TiVos will still function partially, but will have the wrong date/time during the time between old DST and new DST. This will cause all manual season passes to break, and make the manual guide wrong.

This is getting close to boat anchor mode... time to upgrade to a DVR PC?

Discussion at the TiVo Community about the Non-Upgrade
Education

The Best Graphing Calculator on the Market? 724

Posted by Cliff from the better-than-a-TI? dept.
aaronbeekay asks: "I'm a sophomore in high school taking an honors chem course. I'm being forced to buy something handheld for a calculator (I've been using Qalculate! and GraphMonkey on my Thinkpad until now). I see people all around me with TIs and think 'there could be something so much better'. The low-res, monochrome display just isn't appealing to me for $100-150, and I'd like for it to last through college. Is there something I can use close to the same price range with better screen, more usable, and more powerful? Which high-tech calculators do you guys use?"
United States

Submission + - USPS Delivers Mail With Only A Map

Submitted by
atanas
atanas writes: "When blogger Ron Pristas read the story about the UK Royal Mail delivering a letter with only a map, he decided to put the US Postal Service to the test. And when he got the letter back as undeliverable, he did not give up but tried mailing it again from a different facility. Ron's persistence paid off! The envelope is now in the hands of its intended recipient. http://blog.entchev.com/2007/01/25/the-us-postal-s ervice-is-as-good-as-the-uk-royal-mail.aspx"
United States

Submission + - Bush wants H-1B visa cap hike

Submitted by jcatcw
jcatcw writes: "We've got to expand what's called H-1B visas," Bush said yesterday, speaking at E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. in Wilmington, Del. "I feel strongly about what I'm telling you. It makes no sense to say to a young scientist from India, 'You can't come to America to help this company develop technologies that help us deal with our problems.' So we've got to change that..., change that mind-set in Washington, D.C.," he said. Last year he also called on Congress to raise the cap, but it failed to do so, leaving the limit at 65,000. His remarks yesterday were almost a cut-and-paste job from a talk he gave last year at 3M Co.'s headquarters in St. Paul, Minn.
Software

Journal Journal: Sleazy strategy used by McAfee

Journal by statusquobuster
Read my first-hand account of what I went through to get rid of all McAfee files so that I could install a different Internet security software package: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/122530/mcafee_tyranny_consumers_are_being.html
Handhelds

Submission + - 18 Months Free Service with an iPhone

Submitted by
iluvcapra
iluvcapra writes: "TheStreet.com is reporting some interesting news from an AT&T Conference call:
Cramer said AT&T is one of the most interesting stories coming out of the tech period. In its call, the company made it very clear that it's going to use Apple's iPhone to get customers from Verizon Wireless by giving away its service for a year and a half to those customers who buy the phone.
"
Data Storage

Submission + - Fujitsu 5TB HDD to be available in the near future

Submitted by
Vinit
Vinit writes: "Fujitsu has developed a key technology which will allow making a hard drive with 5TB storing capacity possible in the near future. If researchers will have their way, then the company will quintuple today's highest commercial storage densities. The new technology will allow packing 1Tb/inch2 data, five times more then current densities. On paper it means a 3.5" drives with a capacity of about 5 TB, 2.5" notebook drives with 1.5 TB and 1.8" portable drives with about 500 GB. The record of highest density is held by Seagate (421 Gb/inch2). http://www.pclaunches.com/hard_drive/fujitsu_5tb_h dd_to_be_available_in_the_near_future.php"
United States

Submission + - U.S. Pennies to be Worth Five Cents?

Submitted by Z-MaxX
Z-MaxX writes: As a result of the sky-high copper prices, the U.S. one-cent coin can be worth more when melted down and sold as copper metal. New regulations against the melting down and exporting of coins have recently been passed, but Francois Velde, senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, thinks these measures will not be enough. He suggests "rebasing" the penny to be worth five cents.
United States

Submission + - A "Bill of Rights" for Airline Passengers

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: From their website http://www.strandedpassengers.blogspot.com/

Airlines aircraft on the tarmac in Austin, Texas, for nearly nine hours Dec. 29 with overflowing toilets and almost no food, said they are forming a coalition to push for airline passenger rights legislation in Congress.

Congress previously considered a passenger bill of rights in 1999 after passengers complained of being stranded on a grounded Northwest flight under similar conditions, and amid rising delays in the air traffic system and complaints about service. But the airline industry was able to forestall the legislation by agreeing to a voluntary bill of rights.

The Coalition for Airline Passenger's Bill of Rights, which is planning a grassroots campaign to add to its ranks, claims the voluntary measures haven't worked, and held a teleconference Jan. 23 to make its case. In addition, the coalition has started a blog at www.strandedpassengers.blogspot.com.

"We feel that enough is enough. This is not the first time, nor is it likely to be the last, that this kind of degrading treatment is visited on passengers," said Kate Hanni, one of the passengers from American flight 1348, said in a press release issued by the new coalition Jan. 22.

"Thousands of legitimate complaints by travelers mistreated by the airlines are regularly dismissed or inadequately addressed by the industry."

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