Comment Cue, apple hate jokes in.... (Score 0) 149
BTW, I hate them too.
Submission + - User Backlash Causes Samsung to Consider Android 4 (theverge.com)
ghostoftiber writes: "The original SGH-T959 Galaxy S (AKA the T-Mobile Vibrant and others) was the redheaded step child of the Samsung device line. The device originally came with Eclair and was upgraded quietly to Frozen Yogurt not with an OTA update, but with Samsungs KIES software which required a download process and bricked more than a few phones. Users expected an OTA because patches had previously been delivered to the device Over The Air. Linux and Mac users were left out in the cold for the Froyo update. Finally Samsung announced over Christmas that the original Galaxy S was done, leaving it's faithful fans in a position of having another year on their contracts with no upgrade path. The reason? TouchWiz (Samsungs launcher) doesn't have enough memory to run in Ice Cream Sandwich. Users were predictably incensed, and it looks like Samsung changed their minds. There's always the Samsung Vibrant development forum if you need Ice Cream Sandwich running on your Vibrant right now."
Submission + - A Solution for Broken Patent Law?
minogully writes: After a patent is awarded to a person or company, that company must, within the following [perhaps 3?] years, either: 1) sell rights to use that patent to or 2) sell an object that applies the idea of the patent, and such an object must not include other features that are currently patented.
Either of these sales must be made to a third party (ie. not in some sort of agreement with the patent holder to circumvent this law). And the sale price must be consistent with all future sales.
If a sale is not made within the time period, the patent is revoked and the technology is considered public property.
This idea came to me the other day and I wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on it — and if it turns out to be good, perhaps some of the slashdot readers who have a capacity to affect change in this area could do so (as I do not).
I'm hoping this would give competitors the option of either waiting out the time period for the patent to expire, purchase the rights to build the object themselves, or purchase an object that they can, hopefully, plug into their technology. And I'm also hoping that the company that owns the patent would be motivated to keep the price for the sale reasonable to promote a sale.
So what do you think?
Either of these sales must be made to a third party (ie. not in some sort of agreement with the patent holder to circumvent this law). And the sale price must be consistent with all future sales.
If a sale is not made within the time period, the patent is revoked and the technology is considered public property.
This idea came to me the other day and I wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on it — and if it turns out to be good, perhaps some of the slashdot readers who have a capacity to affect change in this area could do so (as I do not).
I'm hoping this would give competitors the option of either waiting out the time period for the patent to expire, purchase the rights to build the object themselves, or purchase an object that they can, hopefully, plug into their technology. And I'm also hoping that the company that owns the patent would be motivated to keep the price for the sale reasonable to promote a sale.
So what do you think?
Submission + - Unsolicited robo-calls to cell phones to be legali
An anonymous reader writes: House Resolution 3035, the Mobile Informational Call Act, would legalize "informational" robo-calls to cell phones (currently legal only if you opt in.) This would preempt state laws against such cell spam.
If you ever had any doubts that we have the best legal system money can buy, the MFIC proposal should remove any such such doubts.
If you ever had any doubts that we have the best legal system money can buy, the MFIC proposal should remove any such such doubts.
Submission + - Prospects Darken for Solar Energy Companies
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Although global demand for solar power is still growing — about 8% more solar panels will be installed this year compared with 2010 — bankruptcies, plummeting stock prices and crushing debt loads are calling into question the viability of the solar energy industry that since the 1970s has been counted on to advance the world into a new energy age. Only a handful of manufacturers are now profitable in the face of too much capacity, which has contributed to a plunge in prices as government subsidies have been curbed. Prices for solar panels started 2011 near $1.60 per watt, but a buildup of inventory forced manufacturers into a fire sale toward the end of the second quarter that has pushed prices to near $1 per watt now. "The prices that we're seeing today are likely not covering manufacturing costs in many cases," says Ralph Romero, director in management consulting for Black & Veatch, which provides engineering and due diligence consulting services to solar manufacturers. With at least seven solar-panel manufacturers filing for bankruptcy or insolvency in the last several months and six of the 10 largest publicly traded companies making solar components reporting losses in the third quarter, public-market investors are punishing the solar sector, sending shares down nearly 57% this year and although winners are expected to emerge eventually, the question is how much more carnage there will be before that happens. "The fact of the matter is, nobody really knows which solar companies will be pushed out of business or be forced to merge," writes industry analyst Rodolfo Avalos. "Nobody also knows how long it will take for the solar industry to improve even when the forecasted solar global demand for the next 5-10 years is quite promising.""
Comment Re:Unity3D (Score 1) 237
So, even the name for that horrible Unity3D of Ubuntu, was stolen? Doh, and I used ubuntu for so long, and miss it so much.
Comment Re:Why only iDevices? (Score 4, Funny) 320
Haven't you figured it out?
Mentioning iAnything causes Nerd Rage.
Nerd Rage brings page views. Lots and lots of them.
Page views bring profit!
Who cares if the summaries are misleading or don't tell the whole story?
You mean iNerd, don't you?
Comment That is so common, that its really not news (Score 2) 192
Its actually just sensationalism, as usual.
Look here at types and descriptions of reentered objects.
How many 'spheres' do you count?
Comment Siren voice.... (Score 5, Funny) 105
Attention! We need you, all you COBOL programmers!.
Comment It looks awesome. (Score 5, Insightful) 241
I for one welcome new razor-qt overlords.
Seriously though, completion is the best, and its really time to teach Gnome folks the lesson.
Comment Meh (Score 5, Insightful) 518
World has now one asshole less.
Comment Re:Qt (Score 1) 90
No, as in hottie
Comment Re:So they are uploading the movie? (Score 1) 284
Fair point.
Comment Re:So they are uploading the movie? (Score 2) 284
True. But point is that media companies can trivially know the IP and time it was used to download/upload.
And yes most peoples upload, 'cause its too slow otherwise.
Then you are one subpoena away from being IDed.
Yes, I know that currently not much was done against torrent users since there are just too much of them, but that slowly changes.
Besides as a Linux user that also doesn't like much ether music nor movies, I don't have any reason to pirate anything.
Comment Re:So they are uploading the movie? (Score 1) 284
Lemme, turn on my ADSL modem we have here at my $BIG BUCKS HOLYWOOD COMPANY. Yep got you. Expect lawsuit any minute now....
Really, seriously, your IP is available to everyone. YOU are broadcasting it to the whole world. Thats the bad thing about torrents that always scared me.
Nothing prevents them to connect to me as a regular user and then no peerblock could save me.
