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Windows

Submission + - Samba 4 has reached Alpha Stage (samba.org)

Submitted by DaMattster
DaMattster writes: Samba4 alpha1 is the culmination of 4.5 years of development under our belt since Tridge first proposed a new Virtual File System (VFS) layer for Samba3 (a project which eventually lead to our Active Directory efforts), and 1.5 years since we first released a Technology Preview. We wish to allow users, managers and developers to see how we have progressed, and to invite feedback and support.
Music

Submission + - Creative Commons Already Out of Touch?

Submitted by PostThis
PostThis writes: This article (which Magnatune's and Creative Commons' Board of Directors member John Buckman seems to agree with) explains that Creative Commons (CC) music is not all that suitable for videographers. Apparently, only about 5% of CC compositions (the ones licensed only under the "By" attribution clause) can be 'synched' with video without imposing license alterations to the actual video footage or its publishing rights on web sites (even if the video is non-commercial or also published under the CC "By" license). Are CC licenses bound for some changes in the future just to keep up with the YouTube times, or it will prove as inflexible and complex to change as copyright law has become?
Communications

New Bill to Clarify Cellphone Contracts 177

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the immediately-suspect-for-caring-about-the-common-man dept.
theorem4 writes to tell us that US Senators today unveiled legislation designed to empower cell phone customers across the nation by providing more protections and guaranteed options. "The Cell Phone Consumer Empowerment Act of 2007 will require wireless service providers to share simple, clear information on their services and charges with customers before they enter into long-term contracts; a thirty-day window in which to exit a contract without early termination fees; and greater flexibility to exit contracts with services that don't meet their needs."
Patents

Supreme Court Weakens Patents 331

Posted by CmdrTaco from the any-lawyers-on-the-plane dept.
ajakk writes "The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion, overturned the decades old test for determine whether a patent is obvious. The Court ruled that the Court had looked at obviousness in a "narrow, rigid manner." This should allow patents to be more easily invalidated because they are obvious."
United States

Submission + - Mercury for Everyone! (The Shiny Stuff)

Submitted by
phyrebyrd
phyrebyrd writes: "How much money does it take to screw in a compact fluorescent light bulb? About US$4.28 for the bulb and labour — unless you break the bulb. Then you, like Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine, could be looking at a cost of about US$2,004.28, which doesn't include the costs of frayed nerves and risks to health."

Feed Has The DVR Resulted In More Reality TV Programming? (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
Economist Austan Goolsbee had a column in the NY Times last week looking at the economic rationale for why reality TV programming has become so popular these days. It goes well beyond the simple answer that it's cheap to produce. As Goolsbee notes, if that were the case, it would have caught on much earlier. Instead, the argument is that with the rise of satellite and cable TV adding many more options for people's viewing time (and you could argue plenty of other entertainment options as well), the pool from which network TV operators can expect to get viewers is shrinking, forcing them to search out cheaper programming.

However, a separate NY Times article may offer another potential reason (whether on purpose or not). It looks at a new study of what programs people record on DVRs and finds that people are less likely to record "timely" programs on their DVRs, preferring to watch them live. This includes the obvious things like news and sports -- but also reality TV programming. That's because who gets kicked off American Idol is likely to be talked about the next morning at work, and people want to make sure they've seen the latest so they can talk about it. That creates fewer incentives to record the program and watch it later. So, whether or not TV programming execs recognize it, reality TV programming may actually get more people watching, rather than skipping, commercials.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft wins AT&T patent battle

Submitted by
Hanners1979
Hanners1979 writes: "BBC News reports on the verdict of a long-running case in the US Supreme Court about the reach of US patent law, where Microsoft admitted to breaching an AT&T-held patent in the US, while refusing to accept liability for any breaches occuring outside of the country. The court upheld Microsoft's take on the case, which could well have intriguing ramifications both for patent law and any future cases against Microsoft themselves."
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Part three of 1979 Douglas Adams interview

Submitted by
Ben Coppin
Ben Coppin writes: "Darker Matter issue three has just gone live with the third and final part of the exclusive interview with Douglas Adams from 1979. In this part we find out that Douglas Adams only really liked two of the original episodes of the radio series of the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and why he thought he was totally washed up at the age of 24.

http://www.darkermatter.com/issue3/douglas_adams.p hp"
The Internet

Internet2 and National LambdaRail To Merge 44

Posted by kdawson from the fattest-pipes dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Ars Technica has the story on the rapproachment of the two main US providers of high-speed networks to academic and research institutions: Internet2 and National LambdaRail have agreed to merge. And they're moving quickly, after tussling over the details of such an agreement for more than a year. The two groups have decided to put final merger documents before their respective boards by April 20, with merger completion to take place by June 29."
Linux Business

Submission + - Novell Puts Foot in Mouth re Microsoft Agreement

Submitted by wes33
wes33 writes: As noted on groklaw, Novell's Director of Marketing, Justin Steinman, has made some remarks revelatory of Novell's attitude towards the free software movement, and they aren't so nice. Amongst the outright lies about how much Novell financially supports the FSF, we find that they think they can muscle into GPLv3 support for the infamous Microsoft-Novell patent protection racket.

Let's hope they are wrong about that too.
Music

Submission + - UW-Madison defies RIAA

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: UW-Madison Division of Information Technology is refusing to pass on the RIAA's settlement letters. "These settlement letters are an attempt to short circuit the legal process to rely on universities to be their legal agent" says Brian Rust, communications manager for the UW Division of Information Technology. Rust said DoIT receives about 10 to 20 cease-and-desist notices per day, which they are obligated to forward to their users. The notices are only warnings, Rust added, but the settlement letters brought on by the Recording Industry Association of America are more of a threat.
Security

Submission + - IE adoption rates

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Internet Storm Center at SANS is reporting IE 7 adoption rates in security minded users vs. the general public. They also report that Firefox is adopted on a 50-50 basis with IE (all versions) in the more security minded population.

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=2466
Sun Microsystems

Submission + - Sun hires Debian Linux founder

Submitted by daria42
daria42 writes: Sun Microsystems has hired Ian Murdock, who founded the Debian version of Linux and who has held various posts involving the open-source operating system. At Sun, Murdock now holds the title of chief operating platforms officer. On his blog, he said he'll work both with Linux and Sun's competing, newly open-source Solaris.

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