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Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Considered Dumping Mac Office

Submitted by narramissic
narramissic writes: In the wake of the recent Iowa anti-trust trial, documentary evidence emerged that Microsoft considered abandoning Office for Mac. In a June 1997 e-mail memo to then Mac Business Unit chief Ben Waldman, Bill Gates says that halting development is 'the strongest bargaining point we have, as doing so will do a great deal of harm to Apple immediately.' The document also confirms that Microsoft at the time saw Office for the Mac as a chance to test new features in the product before they appeared in Windows, 'because it is so much less critical to our business than Windows.'
Patents

Submission + - E-auction Company Uses Patent to Sue Nashville PD

Submitted by Synistar
Synistar writes: GovDeals, an Ebay-like government auction company, is using a patent that they were awarded on a "tiered method for auctioning government assets over a computerized network, such as the Internet"to sue the Nashville Police Department . Apparently GovDeals was rejected in their bid to become a contractor for the city government. They warned the city that they were in process of obtaining a patent and that the city would be in violation of it if they did not hire GovDeals. When they lost the bid and were awarded the patent they then turned around and sued the Police Department for violating it. So were patents intended as a means to wrangle government contracts and punish those who don't hire you?
Software

Submission + - What content management system do you recommend?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: So I'm trying to decide on an open source content management system to use for a weekly college newspaper. Right now we're using Dreamweaver to manually update static pages and moving directories around to archive stories — very ugly. I'm having some difficulty convnincing the school employees to go along with my megalomaniacal plans for the website. I initially wanted to use Drupal, but the system administrators don't want to use PHP because of "security holes." The site is hosted on a Windows server and unfortunately setting up our own Unix server isn't an option.

Basically, I'm looking for something that will allow us to post stories, pictures that go with those stories, and we'd also like to get into video content, probably using YouTube as a host. It can't require PHP, and should be as configuration-free as possible (for instance not necessarily requiring access to email). It should also allow for weekly archiving of the stories and, although not a must, autogeneration of RSS feeds would be nice. Of course, I'd like something that is as widely used/standard as possible so that I can point to other sites as support for switching to the new system.
The Internet

Submission + - Who will digg Digg, and for How Much?

Submitted by
linux-laptop
linux-laptop writes: "(May be From who-will-snap-our-rival department?) In its annual book of predictions "The World in 2007", The Economist puts it as a foregone conclusion that Digg will get snapped up for a fortune this year and that Kevin Rose will become a household name. The site which put social news on the scene, with a great position to soak up a whole lot of new users and traffic as it adds more categories (witness the quick success of the US Elections 2008 category), will certainly be a prize catch for any acquirer. This article analyzes the suitors and the dynamics which might guide their actions."
Apple

Apple TV to be a Centrally Controlled P2P Network? 165

Posted by Zonk from the lean-on-your-neighbors dept.
Rolgar writes "PBS' Bob Cringely theorizes that since the Apple TV will be an always-on device with a 40GB hard drive, Apple may move to content distribution via a P2P network. The ISPs will incur higher bandwidth locally, possibly lose some subscribers to cable TV, but have fewer costs through the Tier II Internet backbone providers. Bob also expects that Google will be involved with their fiber network and advertising expertise, and my hope is that they'll bundle in YouTube content as well. The article suspects that they won't get around to announcing the full details of this plan until they hit a half million units or more, and that this Apple and Google pairing will become the equivalent of a cable TV provider with almost none of the infrastructure costs. Eventually, he hopes, we'll see a real HD revolution from Apple and Google for this service." If Apple rolled something like this out to the service, would you bite on it? What would it take you to move to this over Tivo or MythTV?
The Almighty Buck

Scientists Offered Cash to Dispute Climate Study 668

Posted by Zonk from the you're-wrong-and-i-think-mr.-lincoln-knows-why dept.
w1z4rd writes "According to an article in the Guardian, scientists and economists have been offered large bribes by a lobbying group funded by ExxonMobil. The offers were extended by the American Enterprise Institute group, which apparently has numerous ties to the Bush administration. Couched in terms of an offer to write 'dissenting papers' against the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, several scientists contacted for the article refused the offers on conflict of interest grounds."

'Dumb Terminals' Can Be a Smart Move for Companies 372

Posted by Zonk from the up-is-down-black-is-white dept.
Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "More companies are forgoing desktop and laptop computers for dumb terminals — reversing a trend toward powerful individual machines that has been in motion for two decades, the Wall Street Journal reports. 'Because the terminals have no moving parts such as fans or hard drives that can break, the machines typically require less maintenance and last longer than PCs. Mark Margevicius, an analyst at research firm Gartner Inc., estimates companies can save 10% to 40% in computer-management costs when switching to terminals from desktops. In addition, the basic terminals appear to offer improved security. Because the systems are designed to keep data on a server, sensitive information isn't lost if a terminal gets lost, stolen or damaged. And if security programs or other applications need to be updated, the new software is installed on only the central servers, rather than on all the individual PCs scattered throughout a network.'"
Security

Diebold Security Foiled Again 201

Posted by Zonk from the please-think-then-vote dept.
XenoPhage writes "Yet again, Diebold has shown their security prowess. This time they posted, on their website, a picture of the actual key used to open all of their Diebold voting machines. Ross Kinard of Sploitcast crafted three keys based on this photo. Amazingly enough, two of the three keys successfully opened one of the voting machines. But fear not, Diebold has removed the offending picture, replacing it with a picture of their digital card key. Take that, hackers!"
Microsoft

Gates Foundation Revokes Pledge to Review Portfolio 236

Posted by Zonk from the no-pledge-no-problem dept.
NewsCloud writes "After the LA Times reported that the Gates Foundation often invests in companies hurting the very communities Bill and Melinda want to help, the Seattle Times reported the foundation planned 'a systematic review of its investments to determine whether it should pull its money out of companies that are doing harm to society'. Shortly after that interview, the Gates Foundation took down their public statement on this and replaced it with a significantly altered version which seems to say that investing responsibly would just be too complex for them and that they need to focus on their core mission: 'There are dozens of factors that could be considered, almost all of which are outside the foundation's areas of expertise. The issues involved are quite complex...Which social and political issues should be on the list? ... Many of the companies mentioned in the Los Angeles Times articles, such as Ford, Kraft, Fannie Mae, Nestle, and General Electric, do a lot of work that some people like, as well as work that some people do not like. Some activities might even be viewed positively by some people and negatively by others.'"
User Journal

Millimeter-Wave Weapon Certified For Use In Iraq 806

Posted by kdawson from the bang-you're-hot dept.
jdray writes "Wired has a story on the certification of the Active Denial System for use in Iraq. The ADS is a millimeter-wave weapon that uses a reportedly non-lethal energy beam to inflict short-term pain on its targets, encouraging them to leave an area. Experimenters call this the 'Goodbye effect.' I can see using this in a wartime situation, but how long before we see these things mounted to the top of S.W.A.T. vans for domestic crowd control? And, is that a bad idea?" From the article: The ADS shoots a beam of millimeters waves, which are longer in wavelength than x-rays but shorter than microwaves — 94 GHz (= 3 mm wavelength) compared to 2.45 GHz (= 12 cm wavelength) in a standard microwave oven... while subjects may feel like they have sustained serious burns, the documents claim effects are not long-lasting. At most, 'some volunteers who tolerate the heat may experience prolonged redness or even small blisters'... There has been no independent checking of the military's claims." Wired use Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain documents on the military's testing program.

Bionic Bugs To Fight Terrorists 417

Posted by Zonk from the really-strong-swatter dept.
dptalia writes "Israel is looking to create a small robot, no larger than a hornet to follow, film, and kill terrorists. It's just one of a series of weapons the country is considering as an alternative to conventional technologies. Other ideas floating around include gloves that would give their user 'bionic strength', and ultra-miniaturized sensors to detect explosives on suicide bombers." From the article: "The research integrates nanotechnology into Israel's security department and will find creative solutions to problems the army has been unable to address, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres told Yedioth Ahronoth. 'The war in Lebanon proved that we need smaller weaponry. It's illogical to send a plane worth $100 million against a suicidal terrorist. So we are building futuristic weapons,' Peres said."

HP Regains Throne as Top PC Maker 134

Posted by Zonk from the get-your-red-hot-desktop dept.
Nick writes "HP is once again the leading PC manufacturer." From the article: "HP has snatched the PC crown from Dell's barely coherent clutches. It has taken HP close to three years to once again lead the market in worldwide PC sales. Under CEO Carly Fiorina and post Compaq, the company largely gave up on the tit-for-tat struggle with Dell for the PC top spot that had been so important to it over the years. Now it has reclaimed the #1 slot during the third quarter on the back of Dell's self-destruction. Overall, worldwide PC shipments hit 59.1m units in the third quarter - a 7 per cent rise from the same period last year, according to new data from Gartner. The US PC market, however, dipped 2 per cent, marking its first fall since mid-2002. Dell is particularly exposed to the US PC market, and it showed." Update: 10/20 16:37 GMT by Z : Switched link to a more current story.

Yahoo's Time Capsule Project 167

Posted by kdawson from the hello-we're-here dept.
eldavojohn writes, "Yahoo is compiling a time capsule (Flash required). This massive project, which accepts donations from anyone, is no ordinary time capsule, though. This time capsule will be digitized and beamed into space from the ancient pyramid of Teotihuacan in Mexico. From the article: 'Starting on Tuesday, enthusiasts from around the world will have a chance to submit text, images, video and sounds that reflect human nature to be included in the message.' I highly doubt this 'time capsule' will reach anyone, but it is a neat idea. After browsing through some of the pictures posted, I would hope extraterrestrial life would be more hesitant to exterminate us — if not for anything else than curiosity. We constantly strive to have our legacy live on in the galaxy." Yahoo worked with Internet artist Jonathan Harris on this project.

California Sues Automakers for Global Warming 725

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the new-revenue-models dept.
ajs writes "Reuters is reporting that the state of California is suing automakers over global warming. California is claiming that automakers have 'harmed the resources, infrastructure and environmental health,' of the state. The targeted automakers are Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp., Chrysler Motors Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co."

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