squideatingdough - Slashdot User

Submission + - 15-Plus Years in Jail for Posting a Link? (infoworld.com)

Submitted by squideatingdough on Monday December 10, 2012 @04:33PM

squideatingdough writes: Bob Cringely reports on the case of Barrett Lancaster Brown, former self-anointed spokesperson for the Anonymous movement, that may be of interest to anyone who posts or otherwise shares a link on the internet. According to federal law, Mr. Brown may be in for a prison sentence of 15 years or more simply for posting a link that contained a list of credit card numbers. He did not use or sell these card numbers--simply posted a link to them. The results of this law should be very troubling for journalists and many other web users, as Bob clearly explains in his post on his Infoworld blog.

Submission + - Apple's Cloud Email Censors Your Email Attachments (infoworld.com)

Submitted by squideatingdough on Monday November 19, 2012 @01:55PM

squideatingdough writes: Bob Cringely has an interesting post on his Infoworld blog about how certain phrases will cause Apple to not deliver your email, even when those phrases are used in attachments. I've heard of deep packet inspection, but not "deep word inspection."

Submission + - Astronomers get picture of nearby exoplanet

Submitted by

The Bad Astronomer

on Monday November 19, 2012 @12:11PM

The Bad Astronomer writes: "While nearly a thousand planets are known to orbit other stars, getting direct pictures of them is extremely difficult due to the glare from their host stars. Fewer than a dozen images of exoplanets exist. However, we can now add one more to the list: Kappa Andromedae b, or Kap And b for short. It's about 170 light years away, and orbits Kappa And, a massive star bright enough to see with the naked eye. One hitch: its mass puts it right at the upper limit for a planet, and it may edge into brown dwarf territory. Further observations are needed to pin its mass down."

Submission + - No, Apple doesn't own the mobile "page turn" (cbsnews.com)

Submitted by bizwriter on Monday November 19, 2012 @11:51AM

bizwriter writes: Nick Bilton at the New York Times reported that Apple owns the on-screen page turn because of a recent patent. Just one problem: it doesn't because Bilton and his editors misunderstood what they were reading and didn't do enough extra research to question the premise.

Submission + - Steve Jobs--The Lost Interview (cringely.com)

Submitted by squideatingdough on Wednesday July 04, 2012 @02:34PM

squideatingdough writes: Bob Cringely posted that a lost interview with Steve Jobs is now available on iTunes. Not sure I'd pay for that, but thought the Apple Fanboys out there would.

Comment Georgia Tech Historical Note (Score 1) 126

by squideatingdough on Thursday June 14, 2012 @02:15PM (#40325795) Attached to: The History of the CompSci Degree

As an undergrad at Ga. Tech back in 1969-1973, they had a GRADUATE program in C.S., but no undergrad program. I had a roomate who was working on his masters in C.S., but I could not major in that. Also at that time, there was no minor program available (for anything--not just C.S.). So I majored in physics and took a lot of computer courses when I could. Good old Basic, ALGOL, and Fortran for the most part. I even recall an assembly-level simulation language called "Dummiestron" (or Dummystron?).

Submission + - Bloggers Not Journalists, Federal Judge Rules (infoworld.com)

Submitted by squideatingdough on Wednesday December 07, 2011 @08:30PM

squideatingdough writes: On InfoWorld, Robert X. Cringely covers a recent case of a blogger accused of libel and defamation. The federal judge ruled that journalists warrant more protection from libel suits than bloggers, but it is obvious from the article that bloggers' rights can vary by state, depending on the "shield laws" in force.

Submission + - An App to Renegotiate EULAs? (justia.com)

Submitted by squideatingdough on Thursday October 27, 2011 @01:13PM

squideatingdough writes: On Justia, Anita Ramasastry provides a very interesting take on how to possibly fight back against unreasonable terms made in End User Licensing Agreements (EULAs). A recent example, reported earlier in Slashdot, being when Sony amended its terms of use for accessing online games. Have any Slashdot users successfully used any of the techniques mentioned in this article? And are there even other options not mentioned in this article?

Submission + - Using Apps to Change Terms of Use in EULAs? (justia.com)

Submitted by squideatingdough on Wednesday October 26, 2011 @09:48PM

squideatingdough writes: A very interesting take on ways to possibly fight back against unreasonable terms made in End User Licensing Agreements (EULAs). A recent example, reported earlier in Slashdot, being when Sony amended its terms of use for accessing online games. Have any Slashdot users successfully used any of the techniques mentioned in this article? And are there even other options not mentioned?

Submission + - Lead Generation Sites Challenge Google (nytimes.com)

Submitted by squideatingdough on Monday July 11, 2011 @04:44PM

squideatingdough writes: The NY Times consumer advocate, "The Haggler," has a very interesting story on how lead generation sites are making it difficult to find a service provider that is locally-based. It pays to be cautious when choosing firms from an on-line search.

Submission + - Slashdot Hall of Fame, Missing in Action? (slashdot.org)

Submitted by squideatingdough on Saturday March 12, 2011 @02:56PM

squideatingdough writes: The Slashdot Hall of Fame is now a blank page. Does anyone know why? I remember looking at it about a month or so ago.

Submission + - Japanese Reactor Doomed? (cringely.com)

Submitted by squideatingdough on Saturday March 12, 2011 @12:54PM

squideatingdough writes: Robert X. Cringely posts an interesting analysis of the state of one of Japan's nuclear reactors affected by the earthquake, saying that the assistance offered by the U.S. government hints that the reactor is most likely never to be used again.

Submission + - Facebook -- Less Private (Again)

Submitted by squideatingdough on Friday June 25, 2010 @04:41PM

squideatingdough writes: I don't have my phone number posted on Facebook, but several of my friends do. It appears that Facebook is now posting that information publicly. Can any Slashdotters confirm that this is (yet again) another privacy gaffe by the Facebook crew?

Submission + - ASCAP Declares War on Free Culture, EFF (zeropaid.com)

Submitted by Andorin on Friday June 25, 2010 @04:29PM

Andorin writes: According to Drew Wilson at ZeroPaid and Cory Doctorow, the ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), a US organization that aims to collect royalties for its members for the use of their copyrighted works, has began soliciting donations to fight key organizations of the free culture movement, such as Creative Commons, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Public Knowledge. According to a letter received by ASCAP member Mike Rugnetta, "Many forces including Creative Commons, Public Knowledge, Electronic Frontier Foundation and technology companies with deep pockets are mobilizing to promote “Copyleft” in order to undermine our “Copyright.” They say they are advocates of consumer rights, but the truth in these groups simply do not want to pay for the use of our music. Their mission is to spread the word that our music should be free." (Part 1 and part 2 of the letter.) The collecting agency is asking that its professional members donate to its Legislative Fund for the Arts, which appears to be a lobbying campaign meant to convince Congress that artists should not have the choice of licensing their works under a copyleft license.

Submission + - Warning: 3D Hazardous to Your Health (audioholics.com)

Submitted by SchlimpyChicken on Friday June 25, 2010 @03:13PM

SchlimpyChicken writes: Turns out 3D television can be inherently dangerous to your developing children — and adults as well. There's a malaise in children that can prevent full stereopsis (depth perception) from developing, called strabismus, or lazy-eye. It is an abnormal alignment of the eyes in which the eyes do not focus on the same object — kind of like when you watch a 3D movie. As a result, depth perception is compromised. Acting on a hunch, the guys over at Audioholics contacted Mark Pesce, who worked with Sega on its VR Headset over 15 years ago — you know, the headset that never made it to market. As it turns out, back then Sega uncovered serious health risks involved with children consuming 3D and quickly buried the reports — and the project. Unfortunately, the exact same dangers exist in today's 3D, and the electronics, movie and gaming industries seem to be ignoring this and pushing ahead with a technology. If fully realized, 3D just might affect the vision of millions of children and, according to the latest research, many adults, across the country.

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