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Spam

Submission + - Spammers spamming using our addresses

Submitted by
Vesty
Vesty writes: "I recently enabled a catchall on our domain while our company transitioned to a new website. I didn't want emails going astray etc while things changed over... Recently I've noticed that on the catchall I get a LOT of 'delivery failure' and similar emails, that are all being returned to the same non active alias. After a bit of digging I discovered that about half a dozen different companies spam has been being sent using an alias at our domain as their from address. I've been slowly attempting to call each of the companies, most are extremely shady, occasionally I get a real person that supposedly knows nothing about it. It seems to me that each of these companies has farmed out there 'advertising' to the same third party that is using our address as their from address. I'm sure this has happened to other people, what can we do to stop it? With the amount of spam these fools send I'm worried that any email from our domain will automatically be treated as spam... Anyone have any suggestions? Are they breaking any laws?"
Enlightenment

Submission + - Scientists offer new way to read online text

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists at a small startup called Walker Reading Technologies in Minnesota have determined that the human brain is not wired properly to read block text. They have found that our eyes view text as if they're peering through a straw. Not only does your brain see the text on the line you're reading, but it's also uploading superfluous information from the two lines above and the two lines below. This causes your brain to engage in a tug of war as it fights to filter and ignore the noise. The result is slower reading speeds and decreased comprehension. The company has developed a product that automatically re-formats text in a way that your brain can more easily comprehend. This article in VentureBeat — http://venturebeat.com/2007/05/10/live-ink-offers- better-way-to-read-text-online/#more-10459 — explains.
Media

Submission + - Format Shootout: Blu-ray vs. HD DVD

Submitted by
Arden
Arden writes: "The coming years are set to see a great increase in the number of movies sold in high definition. The two formats vying for dominance in this arena are HD DVD and Blu-ray. Which will win, and become the future standard for high definition movies and media? As James Viviani writes, the answer may be more complicated than you think."
The Internet

Submission + - What to do when your domain is hijacked?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A few moments ago I noticed my web site was down. After doing a little research, I saw that my domain has been hijacked! My registrar is Dot Earth. I have called them several times, but all I can get is a cheesy answering machine. I also tried to login to their web interface, but it appears they have disabled my account as well. I thought about calling up another registrar and transferring the domain, however Dot Earth has changed the registrant of my domain to "DRS EXPIRED DOMAIN" (even though the domain expiration date is 2008-05-01, almost exactly a year in the future). Since my name is no longer anywhere on the domain, it seems unlikely I would be able to transfer it. What do you do when you are in domain registrar hell?
Communications

Submission + - Vonage v. Verizon: Prepare for Round 2

Submitted by
mattatwork
mattatwork writes: "According to the NY Times, Vonage is preparing to take it's case back down to the lower courts for a retrial of the lawsuit against them from Verizon. Their hope is that with newer approaches set forth by the supreme court that the lower courts will be able to decide whether Verizon's patent(s) are ordinary/obvious (*cough* yes) or deserve patent protection. I wonder if this time it will be more obvious to the courts that Verizon's patents aren't so original?"
Programming

Submission + - Getting paid for the same development twice

Submitted by
aftk2
aftk2 writes: "I'm a freelance web programmer, and a little less than a year ago I found myself confronted with a fairly encapsulated but non-trivial problem. Solving this problem involved writing a suite of test scripts that validated data submitted to an external database, and processed the various responses correctly. This was all necessary to be "certified" by the authority controlling the external service. Due to the nature of the API and the fairly rigorous certification process, this took a little bit of time, and a bit of skill (and patience!)

However, now I find myself in a conundrum. Another client with which I am only tangentially affiliated is interacting with the same external service, and I've been asked if I will provide these test scripts to another developer. If I provide these, what's the proper way to obtain compensation for them? An additional line item on my invoice? How would any of you handle this particular situation? This is a great working relationship that I don't really want to damage, but at the same time I would really prefer not being taken advantage of.

(If anyone needs or wants a little more information about the exact nature of the problem, feel free to ask questions — I just wanted to be brief in my question.)"
Security

Submission + - Hard drive snafu has NBA star suing, fuming

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "All basketball player Bruce Bowen wanted was his hard drive fixed. What he got apparently is an invasion of privacy and a big mess. The Smoking Gun Website says the San Antonio Spurs forward hired a Texas company to fix but instead the repair company removed the machine's hard drive and sold the item — which contained confidential personal and financial information — to another customer. Bowen is now seeking over $2 million in damages from Computer Nerdz, the San Antonio company used to repair his Gateway computer. http://www.networkworld.com/community3/?q=node/147 53"
Microsoft

Submission + - Trials of Reverting a Notebook from Vista to XP

Submitted by
penguin_dance
penguin_dance writes: "As if you need another reason to hate Microsoft or Vista, here's another one: They made it virtually impossible to delete Vista and install Windows XP. But part of the blame needs to go to the hardware manufacturers who have apparently removed their XP drivers.

Thor Schrock's blog tells how the team did it which involves a lot of hassles trying to find the right drivers.

Obviously it would be better to buy the laptop with Windows XP (or even better, nothing, installed.) Which begs the question, "Where's the best place to buy an up-to-date laptop without Vista?" (not a mac, please.)"
First Person Shooters (Games)

Submission + - Jack Thompson Blames VA Shootings in Microsoft

Submitted by
Bowie J. Poag
Bowie J. Poag writes: "I took the time out of my busy schedule of ripping peoples spines out because I played Mortal Kombat in high school to notice this new gem from Jack Thompson. Apparently, he sent a letter to Microsoft blaming them for the shootings, since Microsoft publishes Counterstrike, and that's what the nutbag killer liked to play in his spare time. No word yet on whether or not Thompson will sue Milton Bradley for encouraging kids to spend hours at a time trying to sink battleships."
Enlightenment

Submission + - Survey Says: Videogames Don't Cause Violence

Submitted by beef623
beef623 writes: A recent survey conducted in England indicates that video games don't lead to violence after all.

The Board, which classifies up to 300 games a year, concluded that for gamers "The violence helps make the play exhilaratingly out of reach of ordinary life."

But it added "Gamers seem not to lose awareness that they are playing a game and do not mistake the game for real life."


Not surprisingly though, 2 out of the 3 story highlights CNN lists twist the context of the story to try to say otherwise.

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