Comment Deathbed Stories (Score -1) 679
Bill Gates has disallowed all Microsoft employees to use Apple products even on their death beds if their treatment is paid by company insurance.
RMS Robbed of Passport and Other Belongings In Argentina 386
New submitter Progman3K writes "Richard Stallman, father of the FSF, had his bag containing his laptop, medicine, money and passport stolen after his talk at the University of Buenos Aires on Friday, June 8." Adds reader jones_supa, excerpting from the same linked story: "As a result of this occurrence, he was forced to cancel his talk in Cordoba, and it's still unknown how this will impact the rest of his speaking engagements throughout the world."
History Will Revere Bill Gates and Forget Steve Jobs, Says Author 679
Hugh Pickens writes "PC Magazine reports that journalist Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Outliers, has stirred up quite a controversy in tech circles with his off-the-cuff remarks that history will remember Bill Gates fondly while Steve Jobs slips into obscurity. Gladwell likened Gates' charitable work to the German armaments maker Oskar Schindler's famous efforts to save his Jewish workers from the gas chambers during World War II, and added that because of Gates there's a reasonable shot we will cure malaria. 'Gates, sure, is the most ruthless capitalist. And then he decides, he wakes up one morning and he says, "Enough." And he steps down, he takes his money, takes it off the table ... and I think, I firmly believe that 50 years from now, he will be remembered for his charitable work,' said Gladwell. 'And of the great entrepreneurs of this era, people will have forgotten Steve Jobs. Who's Steve Jobs again?' For all his dismissal of Jobs' legacy, however, Gladwell remains utterly fascinated with him. 'He was an extraordinarily brilliant businessman and entrepreneur. He was also a self-promoter on a level that we have rarely seen,' said Gladwell. 'What was brilliant about Apple, he understood from the get-go that the key to success in that marketplace was creating a distinctive and powerful and seductive brand.' Gladwell concludes that the most extraordinary moment in the biography of Jobs is when Jobs is on his deathbed and it's over and he knows it. 'And on, I forget, three, four occasions, he refuses the mask because he is unhappy with its design. That's who he was. Right to the very end, he had a set of standards. If he was going to die, dammit, he's going to die with the right kind of oxygen mask. To him it was like making him send his final emails using Windows.'"
Materials From Tough-as-Nails Crustacean Could Inspire Better Body Armor 144
carmendrahl writes "The peacock mantis shrimp, a crustacean which is neither a mantis nor a shrimp, has hammer-like clubs for smashing the shells of its prey. They're so strong that regular glass aquariums can't hold them. But what's interested researchers for some time is how the clubs stand up to all that stress. Now, a team has figured out why: the mantis shrimp club's molecular structure is set up to resist fractures. That discovery could lead to stronger and lighter car frames or body armor."
Comment Re:The price sticker will probably say "Free". (Score -1) 110
The price sticker will probably say "Free".
Probably right, that is unless the upgrade is unavailable for your device (i.e. older iPhones), or breaks it. Under those circumstances, I contend the upgrade price will be the price of whatever phone Apple is pimping at the time of iOS 6's release.
Let me get this straight:you are an Android user complaining about the upgradability of Apple's phones. Good one.
Comment Re:Personal connection, apropos of nothing (Score -1) 63
22 years ago last December, Judge Posner presided over my marriage.
Yeah, right, a married Pope.
In Australia, Apple Fined $2.5 Million For '4G' Advertising Claims 154
Whiney Mac Fanboy writes "Apple has agreed to pay a $2.25 million (AUD) fine (along with 300k legal costs) to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission for misleading advertising. Apple misrepresented their iPad product as being a '4G' device, when in fact they're only compatible with a very small percentage of 4G networks around the world. The Age online has the full story."
Apple To Unveil iOS 6 At WWDC 2012 110
redletterdave writes "At next week's WWDC 2012 in San Francisco, Apple is expected to unveil new laptops, desktops, accessories, and software features for its Mac OS X platform. But on Friday afternoon, several pictures surfaced on Twitter showing banners released around Moscone West in San Francisco, saying 'iOS 6: The world's most advanced mobile operating system.'"
Apple Granted Broad Patent On Wedge-Shaped Laptops 326
Nick Fel writes "Apple has been granted a broad patent (PDF) on the wedge-shaped design of the MacBook Air. The design has been copied by most ultrabooks, and their manufacturers are likely starting to feel a little uneasy about the news."
Comment Re:MAD (Score -1) 160
Copy? Android is being developed since 2003, the T-Mobile G1 was released 2008 only a couple of months after the iPhone 3G (which was the first "smartphone" iPhone, the iPhone of 2007 not offering apps), so I guess Android was really quick at copying the stuff,
Nobody claimed that Android copied the iPhone from the start - first they copied Blackberry (notice the keyboard on that G1 - knew you could). Only after the iPhone was presented did Android suddenly have touch in mind from the start.
Comment Re:MAD (Score -1) 160
Compare the iPhone 1.0 to the LG Prada phone.
You really think these phones look alike, while these don't? And the Prada doesn't even have the slider keyboard out.
Space Shuttle Collides With Bridge In New York 157
First time accepted submitter AbrasiveCat writes "While transporting the space shuttle Enterprise to its new home at the Intrepid Museum, a gust of wind caught the shuttle and pushed a wing tip into the South Channel Subway Bridge. With any luck it was just the protective covering that was damaged. Ah, New York traffic."
Comment Re:"Extra box"? (Score -1) 264
> Except that X thousand people buy new TVs every year.
Other companies that actually make TVs are already seeing demand fall off. The big forced upgrade is over with now and people are generally resisting further attempts to create another one.
People arne't that rich and the economy isn't that good either.
Which is why Apple is on the brink of bankruptcy - oh, wait... Face it, if there is any company that could completely turn the TV set market on its head, it would be Apple.
Comment Re:Irony alert! (Score -1) 264
While DirecTV's Chairman is crowing about his viewers lacking an interest in paying for an "extra box" on top of what he provides? Viewers will continue to drop DirecTV service completely,
This is inevitable, broadcast services are dying a slow death as multi-cast and on-demand services become more prevalent.
once they use boxes like AppleTV
This made me laugh. Apple has had no success with AppleTV and for good reason, they are trying to follow the same "micropayment" model that is killing the other companies, when you look at it, paying $2 per episode is no different then pay-per-view. AppleTV has completely failed to take off and unlike Microsoft they are unable to bundle it with their other offering due to the fact it's a bit of hardware. This "Direct TV" guy (they don't exist in Oz) is right about that, people don't want another box, his or Apple's. They want this shit built into their TV sets and not have it controlled by someone else. This is why Napster and Bit Torrent is such a huge success, not because it's free but because it provides people with what they want. Apple TV is a failure. A successful on demand service will integrate with what people already have and provide access to what they want without asking for payment every single time.
Do you even have a clue what "Apple TV" is? [looks at posting history]. Quite obviously you don't have any clue about anything, so why should we be surprised. Here's someone with a clue.
DirecTV CEO Scoffs At Competition From Apple TV 264
theodp writes "In a move that evokes memories of Steve Ballmer's initial pooh-poohing of the iPhone threat, DirecTV Chairman Michael White downplayed the Apple TV hype, expressing doubts that 'Apple's interface will be so much better than DirecTVs' that people will be willing to pay for an extra box. So, will White's statement — 'It's hard to see (it) obsoleting our technology' — come back to haunt him?"
