Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Microsoft

Submission + - The Vista Death Watch (pcmag.com)

Submitted by Corporate Troll
Corporate Troll writes: John C. Dvorak muses over the current state of Vista and he isn't very optimistic. Still, his biggest grip seems to be price and not the other problems that Vista has.

Microsoft has extended the life of Windows XP because Vista has simply not shown any life in the market. We have to begin to ask ourselves if we are really looking at Windows Me/2007, destined to be a disdained flop. By all estimates the number of Vista installations hovers around the number of Macs in use.

How did this happen? And what's going to happen next? Does Microsoft have a Plan B? A number of possibilities come to mind, and these things must be considered by the company itself.
The Courts

Submission + - Florida Judge OK's Claims Against Record Companies (blogspot.com)

Submitted by NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: A federal judge in Tampa, Florida, has ruled that an RIAA defendant's counterclaim against the record companies for conspiracy to use unlicensed investigators, access private computer records without permission, and commit extortion, may move forward. The Court also sustained claims for violations of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act as well as a claim under Florida law for deceptive and unfair trade practices. The decision (pdf) by Judge Richard A. Lazzara in UMG v. DelCid rejected, in its entirety, the RIAA's assertion of "Noerr Pennington" immunity, since that defense does not apply to "sham litigations", and Ms. Del Cid alleges that the RIAA's cases are "sham".
Windows

Submission + - Automated Bartender Runs Windows

Submitted by __aajbyc7391
__aajbyc7391 writes: Linux might have WINE (Wine is Not an Emulator), but Windows now has the automated wine bar, known as the MyFountain. The device, which contains an 'embedded PC' running Windows XP Embedded, is meant for both home and institutional users. It can automatically pour hot, cold, and both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and some models will feature a 'wine preservation system' that allows wine to be dispensed by the glass without spoiling. It checks IDs too, thus keeping the kiddies away from the good stuff.
The Internet

Submission + - FCC decides 4.6 billion minimum bid for Spectrum (wired.com)

Submitted by ChainedFei
ChainedFei writes: From Wired News, In a surprising turn for the Spectrum auction, the FCC have stated that the minimum bid for the C-block spectrum being offered in the auction will be $4.6 billion, which coincidentally was the amount that GOOG fronted as a minimum bid to endorse certain open standards for the spectrum being sold.

It is essentially a move to shut out smaller possible competitors while also maximizing the money the auction will generate for the grade-A areas of the spectrum. In addition, any single bidder wishing to purchase the entirety of the spectrum must front a minimum of $10 billion.
Media

Submission + - Journalist attempts to hack, gets caught (valleywag.com)

Submitted by
wawannem
wawannem writes: "I know that fark is not likely considered the serious news institution that slashdot is... In fact, I've heard of it referred to as slashdot's immature, mentally handicapped, younger stepbrother. Whatever it is, it appears that it drew some attention from a Fox news affiliate. Enough attention that it seems a reporter may have tried to hack into their servers.
FTA — Curtis believes that Phillips, or someone working with Phillips, sent him and several other Fark employees deceptive emails in an attempt to get them to download a trojan, a form of computer virus. The Trojan was designed to capture their passwords and give the author access to Fark's servers. In one case, it succeeded, giving a hacker passwords to a file server and one Fark employee's email account; he tried, but failed, to break into Fark's Web servers and email.
The article goes into some other speculation about the reporter's intentions, but I would imagine that the title of journalist should not exempt him from punishment in this case."
Music

Submission + - MP3 patent verdict against Microsoft reversed (marketwatch.com)

Submitted by silgaun
silgaun writes: A judge overturned verdict against Microsoft ruling that the company had not infringed on two digital audio patents claimed by Alcatel-Lucent. The judge said that Lucent didn't hold exclusive IP rights to the MP3 format. Microsoft and other companies have been paying licensing fees for this. "The great thing about a verdict like this is it removes a cloud over the entire industry," said Jonathan Potter of the Digital Media Association trade group. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/15-billion-p atent-verdict-against/story.aspx?guid=%7B020059D1- 1820-4BE8-AE0D-655DBE5CBD35%7D
Networking

Submission + - How do you build a new internet? | Guardian.co.uk (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by
Kraisch
Kraisch writes: "How do you cut online crime, tackle child pornography, halt crippling viruses and get rid of spam? The answers could lie in a £200m successor to the internet that computer experts are already referring to as the next rendition of the virtual world. Researchers in the US want at least $350m (£175m) to build the Global Environment for Network Innovations (Geni), touted by some as the possible replacement for today's internet. In Europe, similar projects are under way as part of the EU's Future and Internet Research (Fire) programme, which is expected to cost at least £27m."
Music

Submission + - ASCAP suing local bars, clubs for playing music (nwsource.com) 1

Submitted by Seismologist
Seismologist writes: The Seattle Times is reporting thisstory about the ASCAP going after local establishment owners for allegedly not paying music royalties. From the article, it sounds like the ASCAP group has "agents" listing in on what the bars are playing over the speakers:

A Seattle restaurant is among more than two dozen venues swept up in a music-licensing crackdown for allegedly failing to pay royalties to play copyrighted music in public. Without a special license, owners of bars, clubs and restaurants could be sued for playing any one of 8 million recorded songs, even from their own CDs. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) says that equates to performing copyrighted music without permission, and the group is going after local businesses that haven't paid them for the privilege.
Security

Submission + - RIAA Virus

Submitted by
johkir
johkir writes: "A recently discovered worm called "Deletemusic" travels via removable disks and spreads to every disk on a machine. When you restart, all files ending in ".mp3" — whether you ripped them from your CDs, purchased them from iTunes or eMusic, or download them via BitTorrent — are deleted. The worm is spreading, albeit modestly, causing a small number of infections. You pretty much have to have no security measures active on your computer, and currently it only travels by disk, but I'm sure an internet transmitted (bittorrent/email/etc) version will be around soon. The authors of Deletemusic remain unknown. Who suspects the RIAA? Or someone who accepts everything the RIAA has said as unbiased truth."
Music

Submission + - ASCAP Members are Idiots

Submitted by BWShellShocked
BWShellShocked writes: Music suit creates discord A Seattle restaurant is among more than two dozen venues swept up in a music-licensing crackdown for allegedly failing to pay royalties to play copyrighted music in public. Without a special license, owners of bars, clubs and restaurants could be sued for playing any one of 8 million recorded songs, even from their own CDs. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) says that equates to performing copyrighted music without permission, and the group is going after local businesses that haven't paid them for the privilege.

I don't understand why Musicians continue to let these bastages pull this kind of crap. How do they think people decide to buy their music, go to their concerts, etc? Do they think we walk into a music store and say "Wow, cool cover art, I'll buy that CD!" even though I've never heard of the artist, nor heard any of their music before? I think they're lucky they aren't being subjected to the same mafia strongarm tactics that their fans are. Wonder how they'd like being coerced, threatened, sued, and terrorized into paying the bars, resturants, radio stations, and anyone else that provides free advertising for their music. They should be grateful to have their music played and heard by as many people as possible, which has a direct correlation to how much money they will make in CD and ticket sales. What's the point of being a musician if no one ever hears your music? And for those musicians that are only in it for the money, if no one ever hears it, who do they think is going to buy it?
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Futurama Movie Set for November 27th (tvsquad.com)

Submitted by
kevin_conaway
kevin_conaway writes: "TV Squad informs us that the new Futurama movie will be available on November 27th. The show will return as a full-length high-def film sold on DVD. It will be followed by three additional films, and each film will be divided into four episodes each to be aired on Comedy Central. So, that's 4 DVD movies or 16 new episodes depending on how you look at it."
Television

Submission + - Reboot to get Reboot

Submitted by
superstick58
superstick58 writes: "Reboot, one of the first CG animated TV shows is returning as a trilogy of feature-length films. This was a great cartoon for me as a budding geek in the mid 90's. Perhaps it also helped stimulate other developing nerds to embrace the computers that are supposedly run by these enjoyable CG characters."
Programming

Submission + - Image of Crashed iPhone in Single-User Mode? (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Someone says they have snapped a photo of the iPhone in single-user mode after an alleged crash. However, what I find interesting is the article itself, which talks about why Apple has to change their strategy and "open" part of the iPhone-flavored Mac OS X up to make it a truly revolutionary product. First, by releasing an official SDK for developers to create insanely great applications, just like with the desktop OS. And second, by making part of it public so security experts can help Apple to make it bullet-proof, like Mac OS X and Darwin.

Slashdot Top Deals

Happiness is twin floppies.

Close