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Microsoft

Submission + - Office Space II: Bill Lumbergh Takes Microsoft

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: 'Mmm, yeah, I'm going to have to go ahead and ask you to pay $6,120 to come in to work on Sunday.' In a move that would do Bill Lumbergh (YouTube homage) proud, Microsoft has been pulling in about $25 million a year through its unusual practice of charging its vendors for occupying office space on its campus while working on Microsoft projects, according to the real estate firm that manages the program. And that's before a planned July 1st rate increase that Microsoft informed vendors of earlier this week, which will boost the 'chargeback' rate for its 'shadow workforce' from $450 per month ($5,400 per year) for every workstation to $510 per month (or $6,120 per year). So, is there a discount if you're moved downstairs into Storage B?
DRM

Submission + - SimCity hacked to run offline (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by phaedrus5001
phaedrus5001 writes: The BBC has a story about a gamer who's hacked the new SimCity to run offline; this despite EA's claims that the always-on connection is necessary to take some of the load off of gamers' machines.
From the article: "By rewriting the game's code during "debug mode" AzzerUK turned off the game's disconnect timer so it never checked whether it was online or offline. He also fiddled with other values to almost convert it to an offline, single-player game."
The only downside, so far, is that it isn't possible to save a city except on EA's servers. For some details on how AzzerUK enabled SimCity's debug mode and made his modifications you can check out his Reddit post and for a more detailed explanation he has a post up on Pastie.

Comment The flying car (Score 5, Insightful) 317

by phaedrus5001 (#41046323) Attached to: Your Favorite Technology That Didn't Come To Pass
Ever since I was a little kid and saw "Back to the Future Part II", I used to dream of the day when I could have my own flying car (be it a DeLorean or not). Of course, as I got older and started actually driving, the idea has become much less appealing. Driving now is, for the most part, a two dimensional activity: you have forward, back, left, right, and all the angles in between. People (apparently) have a hard enough time with that as is. The flying car would just bring stupid into the third dimension.
Security

Submission + - Web exploit found that targets Windows, Mac, and Linux (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by phaedrus5001
phaedrus5001 writes: From the article: "Security researchers have found a live Web exploit that detects if the target is running Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux and drops a different trojan for each platform. The attack was spotted by researchers from antivirus provider F-Secure on a Columbian transport website, presumably after third-party attackers compromised it. The unidentified site then displayed a signed Java applet that checked if the user's computer is running Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux. Based on the outcome, the attack then downloads the appropriate files for each platform."
You can find the F-Secure teams original blog post here.

Comment Re:windows are for working with many things at onc (Score 1) 1134

by phaedrus5001 (#40513153) Attached to: Has the Command Line Outstayed Its Welcome?
Agreed. Just yesterday I had to change extensions for a bunch of files in a directory, and each of those files was in its own sub directory. Using a little for loop and the handy '*', everything was changed and I could continue on with my life.

The CLI is a tool like any other. Would I want to work with it as my sole means for using my computer? Most definitely not. But I couldn't image working without it, either.

Submission + - Army creates a directed lightning bolt weapon (army.mil)

Submitted by Sparticus789
Sparticus789 writes: Army researchers at Picatinny Labs in New Jersey have developed a prototype weapon which uses a directed lightning bolt to destroy vehicles and unexploded ordinance. The weapon works on the premise that "A target, an enemy vehicle or even some types of unexploded ordnance, would be a better conductor than the ground it sits on."

Are we one step closer to C&C:Red Alert Tesla coils?
Open Source

Submission + - Open Source Projects for Beginning Coders?

Submitted by pyrosoft
pyrosoft writes: After many years of using open-source software and system administration, I want to move from writing simple bash scripts to actually learning real programming skills and contributing back to the community. What are your suggestions for getting started? How do you pick a project that will welcome your (possibly amateurish) help? With a fairly limited skill set, how do you find a request that you can handle? What are common newbie mistakes to avoid?
Businesses

Submission + - Apple Fires Back At DoJ Over eBook Price Fixing (cnn.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: CNN takes a look at Apple's response to the Department of Justice's investigation into eBook price fixing. The filing 'cuts the government's case to shreds' while at the same time not bothering to defend the five publishers also under investigation. Apple said, 'The Government starts from the false premise (PDF) that an eBooks "market" was characterized by "robust price competition" prior to Apple's entry. This ignores a simple and incontrovertible fact: before 2010, there was no real competition, there was only Amazon. At the time Apple entered the market, Amazon sold nearly nine out of every ten eBooks, and its power over price and product selection was nearly absolute.'
Google

Submission + - What The Final Decision On Oracle v. Google Really Means (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
snydeq
snydeq writes: "The jury decided yesterday that Google did not infringe on Oracle's patents related to Android. Fantastic news — but the wider view offers little comfort, writes Simon Phipps. 'While the specific news of the patent phase verdict is good news for most people, the case still tells a sad story about software patents. The complexity found by the jury shows why software patents fail to deliver on the contract with society that they should represent. Unlike real patents, software patents contain little of value to the programmer: no sample code, only stylized algorithms. Instead, they consist mainly of a list of ways a lawyer can assert that the patent has been infringed. Even then, they are linguistically complex, leaving juries scratching their heads to interpret.'"
Security

Submission + - New Jersey Mayor and Son arrested for nuking recall website (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by phaedrus5001
phaedrus5001 writes: The mayor of West New York, New Jersey was arrested by the FBI after he and his son illegally took down a website that was calling for the recall of mayor Felix Roque (the site is currently down).
From the article: "According to the account of FBI Special Agent Ignace Ertilus, Felix and Joseph Roque took a keen interest in the recall site as early as February. In an attempt to learn the identity of the person behind the site, the younger Roque set up an e-mail account under a fictitious name and contacted an address listed on the website. He offered some "very good leads" if the person would agree to meet him. When the requests were repeatedly rebuffed, Joseph Rogue allegedly tried another route. He pointed his browser to Google and typed the search strings "hacking a Go Daddy Site," "recallroque log-in," and "html hacking tutorial.""
Facebook

Submission + - Facebook, Zuckerberg sued over IPO (cnet.com)

Submitted by mrquagmire
mrquagmire writes: Facebook shareholders have sued the social network, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and a number of banks, alleging that crucial information was concealed ahead of Facebook's IPO.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan this morning, charges the defendants with failing to disclose in the critical days leading up to Friday's initial public offering "a severe and pronounced reduction" in forecasts for Facebook's revenue growth, as users more and more access Facebook through mobile devices, according to Reuters, which cited a law firm for the plaintiffs.

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