FTFY.

All I think of when I hear that phrase is something akin to a leg race. I imagine a bunch of Chinese nationals racing each other on a track while doing handstands.

It's kind of funny, the things one can extrapolate from a simple grammatical error.

Yes, because this absolutely, positively, most certainly prevents you from installing software from any other source.

Oh, wait, no it doesn't. All it does is allow you to download pre-compiled binaries from a central source. You are still able to pull the source code from the project and view/compile it yourself. So tell me, how does this violate the spirit of open source software? Or are you just inherently afraid of anything called an "App Store"?

I have a legal question I'd like answered by any Slashdot lawyers. Even the IANALs will suffice, just chime in if you have some insight.

The EFF is a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization. In order to avoid taxes on the donations, I assume this new Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) will also register as a 501(c)(3) or similar charitable organization.

Now, here's the kicker. I know most charities operate by taking donations and using those donations to provide goods or services to their target recipients. The Red Cross gives out meals and blankets to disaster victims. Family Planning charities hand out birth control to low-income women. But does the law allow them to just hand out cold hard cash?

This charity receives money from donors, and that's perfectly legal. But is it legal for them to turn around and distribute that money to third parties who are not registered charities themselves? Is it legal for them to disburse charity funds to a non-charitable business entity where no exchange of goods or services has taken place? Is it legal for them to disburse money directly to individuals?

I think if they play this too fast and loose they might find themselves out of money and out of a charity.

Don't dilute your camp's offerings with excessive technology. If parents are sending their kids to summer camp, it's because they want them to get OFF the computer, get active, and learn about the arts. Video game design is not an "art".

I believe today's generation of children needs even greater exposure to the real arts like music (orchestral and choral, not the shit they hear on the radio), dance (ballet and tap, not that "high school cheerleader dance team" bullshit), theater, etc. I'd understand if you wanted to add a very in-depth Photoshop/graphic design program as that's moreso art than it is technology, but iOS game design is hardly something a parent would consider "art" when camp registration rolls around.

Please don't mourn the loss of poorly-animated American flag GIFs on pastel blue backgrounds adorned with horrible ClipArt.

Please also don't wish back into existence webrings or link exchanges.

You can long for another GeoCities if you really, really want, but why? Does it mean that much to you to have a few extra million shitty web pages out there with orange "Under Construction" banners and 200 pictures of someone's favorite anime character? Besides, nowadays you can't even twirl a lolcat by its tail without hitting some kind of "free web hosting" site. Sure, they might stick an ad or two on your page, but so did Geocities, and even though people raged and bleated about how the evil overlords were trying to make their money back, they still used GeoCities for years to come.

Stop mourning the loss of inconsequential shit that's old and obsolete. That's what hipsters pay good money to do (ironically enough).

tl;dr: Everything in this article is either still around, or has been replaced with something very similar.

P.S. The author's name is "Anil Dash". Wow... probably sucked to be him in middle/high school.

Yes because it's true that employers sometimes see increased technology spending as an alternative to hiring more staff. ("We'll just buy you a laptop and cell phone and you can work from home in the evenings, too! That way we won't need to hire someone else to help you get everything done during the 8-5 workday.")

No because there will come a point where businesses and their managers will realize that you can't just buy a magic box from Best Buy, plug it into the wall, and generate profit from your hindquarters. You'll need staff that know how to manipulate the Hot New Thing(TM) and make it do what you want. And so, wherever there is a new and complex technology that someone can use to make money but doesn't quite know how, there will always be an opportunity for someone who knows about this new and complex technology to make money managing it for other people.

And finally, I say "Maybe" because it's a given that some technology makes things easier on technical employees, so some burden is lifted, but at the same time that burden is replaced with additional responsibility, usually coming from a position that has just been "permanently vacated"... It's an endless cycle. "This technology makes managing our infrastructure easier, so we don't need as many people to manage our infrastructure. But now we need people to manage the technology that manages our infrastructure. And now we need middleware so it plays nicely with our accounting software..." and on, and on, and on.

After spending the last few years watching their users' every move, they've moved on to tracking other imaginary beings.

You do realize you're talking about Valve servers, and this person who threw the temper tantrum on the mailing list is probably 12 years old and bought his server with daddy's credit card? It's no surprise, really. If you're looking for foolish, overdramatic, hot-headed people, look no further than Counter-Strike players.

If our dear leader would just invite them both to the White House to have a beer and talk, maybe this whole thing will blow over. Although, if she's not a drinker, it might have to be sodas.

I recommend Jolt.

It's already clear in this case. She had gone to the exact same store the preceding Friday attempting to buy dozens of iPhones, and on that particular day understood quite well what the manager meant when he said "Please leave and do not return to this store." Yet we're to believe that the following Monday, when faced with the same situation and the same "Please leave and do not return", she's now a poor Chinese immigrant fresh off the boat, struggling to break through the language barrier.

Huh. Apparently, you can unlearn a language over the course of a weekend.

= Slashdot Field Day

It was as if a million freetards suddenly had nerdgasms, and were frothing at the mouth. I fear something overdramatic and theatrical has happened.

Any facts reported in the original account of the event have been conveniently stripped from the article and summary to make this submission Slashdot-appropriate. That is to say, to avoid potential injury to the precious egos of Slashdot-reading fanboys, articles should contain none of the following:

1. Sound justification for any Apple-sanctioned activities or strategies
2. Market research or information which would suggest any kind of commercial success of Apple products in the marketplace despite repeated claims that "Apple doesn't know what consumers want"
3. Evidence of wrongdoing of anyone other than Apple or its affiliates

Clearly, the submitter was just doing their part to keep Slashdot safe-to-read for Apple haters and fandroids. We applaud your efforts, good sir!

Certain cryptography functions and related software packages are export-restricted by some governments for National Security(tm). As a result, products that contain export-restricted software is also export-restricted. Go read the PuTTY webpage, you'll see what I mean.

Oh, thank god! Whew. You had me nervous there for a second.

I was afraid that a good chunk of the Slashdot readership would be brought up on charges.