Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Security

Submission + - The anonymous-HBGary story: How it happened (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by metalcup
metalcup writes: Ars technica has a wonderful article on how Barr tried to track anonymous, his apparent hubris, and how anonymous 'bitch-slapped' him at the end.
Nate Anderson (the author) doesn't go into the technical details of how the servers for HBGary Federal were compromised, but he pieces together a nice chain of events and conversations between Gary and his programmer (who keeps saying Gary is being stupid), and the rest of the company from the emails and other stuff that anonymous posted on piratebay.

  Thought it might interest the crowd here..
Patents

Submission + - White House consults public on innovation (whitehouse.gov)

Submitted by ciaran_o_riordan
ciaran_o_riordan writes: Ever wanted to tell Obama's policy advisers what you think of software patents? For this week only, the White Houses' policy advisors are taking input on the topic of innovation and the "digital highway". You can draft your responses on End Software Patents' wiki page, and you'll find info and arguments there too that might be useful. Getting a foothold for pushing software patent abolition in the USA is difficult, so let's make the most of this. A good submission has already been posted on Techdirt.

Submission + - Net Neutrality Advocate Named Advisor to FTC (motherboard.tv)

Submitted by HansonMB
HansonMB writes: The fight for net neutrality has been an uphill battle from the start. But with lame-duck representatives like the FCC’s Julius Genachowski sitting back as corporate telecoms buy-out, throttle and further marginalize the principles of an open and equal internet, perhaps the dispirited nature of the struggle is due in part to the absence of a strong leader figure advocating from the inside. That strong leader figure, if ever there was one, is Tim Wu, and he’s just become the newest senior advisor of the Federal Trade Commission.

Comment Re:Meh. (Score 1) 173

by Mr2001 (#35134042) Attached to: Last.FM To Require Subscription For Mobiles and Home Devices

With that out of the way, streaming isn't the point of Last.fm. It's all about the scrobbling.

The way I see it, the only value of scrobbling is to get better personalized streams. I don't see the point of uploading all that data just so you can review it later on a web page.

Last.fm knows about my music tastes and provides just plain better recommendations than any other service I've tried.

Agreed, but a list of recommendations isn't very useful on its own. I've been using Last.fm for years specifically because it uses my music tastes to introduce me to new music by playing it. If I just want a web page that says "since you like Band X, you should try Band Y", I can post on a forum and get answers from actual humans.

Comment Re:Completely Different (Score 1) 173

by Mr2001 (#35134016) Attached to: Last.FM To Require Subscription For Mobiles and Home Devices

I thought Last.fm was basically only used by people to track your musical trends and patterns. I really didnt think anyone listened to those stations they have.

And I thought the opposite. Why would you give Last.fm all that information about your listening habits if they weren't going to give you recommendations in return?

After I saw this announcement, I turned off scrobbling. If they're done giving me free streams, I'm done giving them free data.

Comment Re:WAAAAAAA (Score 1) 173

by Mr2001 (#35134000) Attached to: Last.FM To Require Subscription For Mobiles and Home Devices

I hate commercials and advertising but I refuse to pay! Waaaaaaa!

You say that as if they actually tried advertising and their users complained. But they didn't, they went straight from "free" to "subscription required".

The problem might be that they can't figure out how to put ads in their mobile apps. If their programmers are really that talentless, that could also explain why there are so many complaints about the Android app being unstable.
HP

An Open Letter To PC Makers: Ditch Bloatware, Now! 609

Posted by Soulskill from the take-this-free-trial-and-shove-it dept.
MojoKid writes "This is the final straw, the last stand. This is the year that companies have to wise up and realize that they're destroying the experience of the very machines they are marketing so vigorously against their competitors. We're talking about bloatware, and it's an issue that we simply cannot remain silent on any longer. The term 'bloatware' generally refers to any additional software installed on a machine that is not a native part of the operating system. 'Bloatware' is usually provided by third-party software companies, and can range from security suites to unwanted Web browser toolbars. It's most problematic, as these programs generally attempt to boot up first thing, right as the OS is booting up, before the end-user ever has a chance to launch the program on their own accord. It's time for manufacturers to take note: consumers do not want bloatware. It's a royal pain from top to bottom, and moreover, it ruins your brand. When people think of HP and Dell, they immediately think of just how infuriating it is that their last 'new' PC took over one minute to boot up and become usable. To these companies: why are you saddling your machines with software that makes it less enjoyable to use? The solution seems pretty simple. If you still wish to include loads upon loads of third-party software, stick it all on a thumb drive and include it with every new machine. Problem solved."
Music

Last.FM To Require Subscription For Mobiles and Home Devices 173

Posted by Soulskill from the if-thine-foot-offend-thee,-shoot-it dept.
Hummdis writes "If you, like so many others, listen to Last.FM on your mobile or home entertainment devices, then you're going to need to pay for this once-free service effective February 15th. It remains free to listen on the Last.FM website, Xbox Live, Windows Mobile 7 phones and the desktop app, but if you want to continue to listen on Android, your Blu-ray player, or any other device, you'll need to spend the $3.00 per month to be able to do so."
Encryption

Sony Wins Restraining Order Against Geohot 397

Posted by timothy from the do-you-defend-him-to-your-death? dept.
tekgoblin writes "The courts have just issued a temporary restraining order against George Hotz (Geohot). Sony filed this lawsuit because they were unhappy that Geohot had released the Playstation 3 decryption keys so other people could play unsigned games on it. [Geohot is prohibited from] 'offering to the public, creating, posting online, marketing, advertising, promoting, installing, distributing, providing, or otherwise trafficking' in any software or methods for circumventing the PS3's protection methods. No longer can he 'provide links from any website to any other website' relating to such matters, or publish any information obtained by hacking the PS3. And more to the point, he can no longer 'engage in acts of circumvention of TPMS in the PS3 System to access, obtain, remove, or traffic in copyrighted works.' Pretty much he can't talk or think about the PS3 for some time."
Democrats

Obama Nominates RIAA Lawyer For Solicitor General 463

Posted by CmdrTaco from the this'll-be-great dept.
Xiph1980 writes "President Barack Obama on Monday nominated former Recording Industry Association of America lawyer Donald Verrilli Jr. to serve as the nation's solicitor general. The solicitor general is charged with defending the government before the Supreme Court, and files friend-of-the court briefs in cases in which the government believes there is a significant legal issue. The office also determines which cases it would bring to the Supreme Court for review. Verrilli is best known for leading the recording industry's legal charge against music- and movie-sharing site Grokster. That 2003 case ultimately led to Grokster's demise when the US Supreme Court sided with the RIAA's verdict."
Displays

Apple Files Patent For Display Mouse 156

Posted by timothy from the mickey-caught-flashing dept.
astrodoom writes "AppleInsider has posted a story detailing a new patent application by Apple that hints at the possibility of adding a touchscreen to the company's magic mouse. At a basic level this could mean things like customizable colors or artwork displayed on the user's mouse, but the possibilities extend much further to fully customizable mouse layouts and program controls. Apple Insider comments on the possibilities: 'The display on the mouse would change according to what the user may be doing on their Mac. As an example, the application describes displaying a number of icons for quickly selectable options when a user is running Apple's Pages word processing application. Switching over to the spreadsheet software, Numbers would reconfigure the buttons on the screen to allow for commands in that respective application.'"
The Media

No Playboy App For iPad, After All 140

Posted by timothy from the you'll-need-to-go-on-a-safari-for-that dept.
tsamsoniw writes "The rumors that a Playboy app would appear in the Apple App Store were greatly exaggerated. Playboy plans to offer an online service through which subscribers can access past and current issues of the nudie mag — and per Playboy, it will be accessible via Safari and support iPad features (whatever that means). But if Playboy does come out with a native app for iPad, all the nudity will be censored. That should be just fine for the legions of people who indeed read the magazine for the articles. This really shouldn't be a surprise, though: If Apple insists on 'protecting' users of its high-priced gear from pixelated naughty bits in a graphic-novel version of classic literature, it certainly won't let users access the full monty. It's a shame, though: If Apple's customers want access to that sort of content, Apple should allow them to get at it via a native app instead of suffering a potentially buggier, less secure browser-based experience."
The Internet

No More Version Numbers For HTML 336

Posted by timothy from the now-they'll-have-threat-level-colors dept.
An anonymous reader writes "HTML5 will be the last version of HTML that carries a version number. Ian Hickson, a Google engineer and editor of the HTML5 standard, announced that the language will be transitioned to a 'living standard' without version numbers. A bit like Chrome, if you will."
Image

Pro Silverlight 4 In VB Screenshot-sm 181

Posted by samzenpus from the read-all-about-it dept.
jddp writes "MacDonald is a programmer's programmer, and Pro Silverlight 4 in VB is a model of what a programmer's guide should be. He explains a mass of technical information in considerable detail without losing the big-picture. His clear and concise exposition of concepts and functionality is never confusing or needlessly repetitive. The book's organization is logical, yet the chapters can be read in isolation, as the need or interest arises." Keep reading for the rest of jddp's review.

Slashdot Top Deals

I have never seen anything fill up a vacuum so fast and still suck. -- Rob Pike, on X.

Close