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Submission + - Chase "rips off" charities in Facebook Contest (nytimes.com)

Submitted by ssv03
ssv03 writes: As reported in the New York Times: Chase Community Giving of Chase Bank recently held a contest on Facebook in which users were encouraged to vote for their favorite charities. At the end of the contest, the 100 charities with the most votes would win $25,000 and advance to the next round to have a chance to win $1 million. Initially, the vote counts for each organization were made public, but two days before voting ended they were hidden, and the final totals have still not been released. While Chase had no official leader board during the voting, several organizations were keeping track of projected winners. Those projections were almost identical to the final results, yet several organizations including Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), Marijuana Policy Project and several anti-abortion groups were not finalists. They had been performing very well (some within the top 20) until the vote counters were removed. Chase Bank has so far refused to discuss the issue with the organizations. SSDP has released a press release here and is calling for a boycott.

Comment Re:It is their right, but aggressive move nonethel (Score 2, Insightful) 254

by cbensinger (#30321242) Attached to: Modded Xbox Bans Prompt EFF Warning About Terms of Service

I have no problems with what they did; but I question their logic. Those consoles that are banned from Live for being "modded" can still obviously play pirated games. What they *can't* do is go on live and among other things purchase things. So while they will undoubtedly sell some more consoles (Craigslist and eBay are full of banned consoles) and probably some more games - I don't really see this as doing much to stop piracy - I only see it stopping any legit spending from those consoles.

Seems to me that there must've been a better way to handle this; but that's just me.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft closing the book on Encarta (cnet.com)

Submitted by mytrip
mytrip writes: Microsoft has quietly confirmed that it is getting out of the encyclopedia business, ending its long-standing Encarta product.

As noted by Ars Technica, the software maker says it will discontinue all its online Encarta products by October, with the exception of Encarta Japan, which will run through the end of the year. It will also stop selling Microsoft Student and Encarta Premium, paid software products that included the online encyclopedia.

In a posting on its Web site, Microsoft said that the move reflected the change in the way people use reference material. It didn't mention Wikipedia by name, but I think we all know the biggest change to encyclopedias to come around in recent memory.
Movies

Submission + - Netflix offers second price hike in 6 months

Submitted by
Jherico
Jherico writes: "Having added a $1 surcharge for blu-ray access in October, Netflix has decided the best way to deal with the recession is to raise the price again.

As we buy more, you are able to choose from a rapidly expanding selection of Blu-ray titles. And as you've probably heard, Blu-ray discs are substantially more expensive than standard definition DVDs — often as much as 30% more. We're committed to providing a high quality Blu-ray experience for our members who choose to add Blu-ray access, and in order to do that we need to adjust Blu-ray pricing. As a result, the monthly charge for Blu-ray access is increasing for most plans and will now vary by plan.

The new pricing is essentially $1 per slot in your plan, plus $1 for the account, i.e. $6 for a 5-at-a-time plan. Customer response has been immediate and venemous."

Space

Submission + - Segregated bathrooms in space (floridatoday.com)

Submitted by phlack
phlack writes: Florida Today (via the Associated Press) has an article discussing the politics surrounding the operations of the International Space Station, mainly about how the resources are allocated. Specifically, Americans astronauts have to eat their own food, and Russian Cosmonauts can't use American bathrooms or exercise machines. Didn't we get rid of this nonsense in the 1960's?
Programming

Submission + - Steve Gibson Discusses Software Patents

Submitted by MasterOfMagic
MasterOfMagic writes: On this week's episode of Security Now, Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte discuss software patents, how they are different from trademarks and copyrights, and why they think that they are bad. The actual discussion about software patents starts 15:50 into the podcast. They also discuss IBM's patent portfolio, the RIM patent matter, and the Novel-Microsoft pact. As a bonus, they discuss Apple's Airport responding to request to closed ports instead of ignoring requests to them, and a follow up to the allegation that The Geek Squad used SpinRite without permission. While I know that software patents is a quite divisive issue on Slashdot, the discussion is a good introduction and refresher for people that are 'new around here'. IANAL, nor is Steve Gibson or Leo Laporte, but their discussion is a good starting point.
Windows

Submission + - Community-driven Windows Longhorn revival

Submitted by CompSci101
CompSci101 writes: ZDNet has a blog posting about a community effort to build out Windows Longhorn features that were dropped before the release of Vista, including WinFS, using an older version of the Longhorn previews.

The link to the blog entry is here: (zdnet), which comes complete with links to the community site and even a screenshot. How this work will be accomplished without access to the source isn't clear, as the community site and linked Wiki don't have much information, although there is a version available for download off the community site.

Zune Team Getting Amnesty for iPod Use 303

Posted by Zonk from the ooooh-free-ipods dept.
MsManhattan writes "The Zune development team at Microsoft is apparently offering amnesty to employees who give up their iPods in favor of using the Zune MP3 player. An MSNBC employee has posted a photo on Flickr of the company's 'iPod Amnesty Bin,' which sports an image of a bitten green apple and the words 'Bite me.' Whether it's to be taken seriously or is a joke to boost employee morale is anyone's guess, and naturally no one at Microsoft was available for comment. From what can be seen in the photo, only a few early-model iPods have been deposited."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft, open source and patents

Submitted by Mark Raker
Mark Raker writes: In a ZDNet UK interview, Microsoft's Jerry Fishenden makes the unusual move of saying Microsoft should specify which of its patents are being 'infringed' by the open source community. From the interview: ZDNet: I think it's the way that Microsoft has stated that 235 patents have been broken, then refused to specify which patents have been broken, and then said that it isn't going to litigate for now. It's not simply a question of protecting intellectual property. Fishenden: Yes, well we need to be specific about intellectual property and where the [Linux] violations are, I guess. This goes against what Microsoft patents attorney Jim Markwith told OSBC when he said it would be "impossible" for Redmond's bureaucrats to respond to the volume of responses that would result from disclosure, as reported in The Register.

Games Are No Cause For Murder 112

Posted by Zonk from the there-very-rarely-is dept.
An anonymous reader writes "At Gamers With Jobs, Shawn Andrich speaks out against pointing the finger at videogames as a causative factor in a murder cases. He makes the excellent point that, though we may enjoy the metaphor, life is not a game. There is no simple connection between event A and event B. Our actions are dictated by experiences from a lifetime, and they should be addressed that way for good or ill. 'Life can't be framed up like a game of billiards. There is no easy eight ball, corner pocket shot to be made when trying to draw a line between cause and action ... Lasting, positive change will only come when we stop reaching for causes and start creating conditions that will support kids and teenagers who need it. We can't make anyone put the pin back in the grenade, but by supporting active, caring people who want to help, we might be able to influence some of those fateful decisions before it gets that far.'" GamePolitics on Joystiq has an editorial up looking at a similar question.
Wii

Submission + - Wii Motherboards Changed to Prevent Piracy

Submitted by Croakyvoice
Croakyvoice writes: Nintendo in an effort to stop piracy on its Nintendo Wii Console is now shipping consoles in Japan with 3-pins that are physically cut from a surface-mounted IC, this latest move makes all present Wii modchips incapable of modding the new consoles. As yet this new motherboard change is only showing up in Japan where it has already pushed the price of consoles up.
Intel

Submission + - Do not buy Intel Core 2 Duo ES CPUs.

Submitted by
crazyeyes
crazyeyes writes: "Here's a great article on Intel's ES Core 2 Duo CPUs and why we should avoid them. Yes, they are cheap but most are also broken in some way. Here's a quote from the author :

"Engineering Samples used to be special handpicked samples for reviewers that are more overclockable and have unlocked multipliers. With the release of the Core 2 Duo and the abundance of its ES samples in the market, they are not what they used to be. This article shows what's wrong with the current ES samples and why they aren't recommended."
Spread the word!"

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