Comment Basic seamanship (Score 1) 236
Not much of a sailor on the cruiser. According to TFA he saw the sub 100-200 yds ahead and ordered "all back". Should have been hard a port or starboard
Submission + - Michael Dell: Mobile Gadgets No Threat To PCs (itworld.com)
jfruhlinger writes: "In a pitch that might qualify as "no duh" news, Michael Dell, CEO of a company that makes lots of money from PCs and has tried and largely failed to break into the smartphone and tablet market, told an audience in India that smartphones and tablets don't threaten PC sales. It's a particularly important question in India, where many users buy smartphones rather than PCs because they're cheaper; Dell believes that such users will eventually switch to PCs for a fuller Internet experience."
Submission + - 2012: The end of the world of Web as we know it (blogspot.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Today we may confidently declare that Web (or namely hyperreference) potential is already exhausted, Web applications still cannot reach the level of desktop ones, multimedia progress is not specific to the Web, search does not advance because cannot handle complex queries, XML did not fulfill expectations of its designers, Semantic Web is too expensive and awkward to influence the Web. Is it the time for changes?
Submission + - Force Colorado Woman to Decrypt Her Computer (denverpost.com)
An anonymous reader writes: From the SANS NewsBites:
Federal Prosecutors Seek Order to Force Colorado Woman to Decrypt Computer (January 4, 2012) Federal prosecutors in Denver, Colorado are seeking a court order that would force Ramona Fricosu to enter the password to decrypt her laptop computer. They believe that the machine contains evidence that would help convict Fricosu and her former husband in a bank fraud case. The pair was allegedly involved in a complex mortgage fraud scheme that stole more than US $900,000 from banks in the Colorado Springs area.
Prosecutors say that Fricosu does not have to divulge her password; she can enter the password without it being noted as long as they eventually gain access to the information on the computer.
http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_19669803
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/01/can-a-court-make-you-give-up-your-password/
[Editor's Note (Murray): The court is entitled to the best evidence. It cannot force one to make a record. However, once a record is made, one may not conceal it from the court. The intent of the 5th amendment was to prevent "witch trials," the conviction of one on only their own coerced testimony. The written or electronic record, on the other hand, says what it says.
Federal Prosecutors Seek Order to Force Colorado Woman to Decrypt Computer (January 4, 2012) Federal prosecutors in Denver, Colorado are seeking a court order that would force Ramona Fricosu to enter the password to decrypt her laptop computer. They believe that the machine contains evidence that would help convict Fricosu and her former husband in a bank fraud case. The pair was allegedly involved in a complex mortgage fraud scheme that stole more than US $900,000 from banks in the Colorado Springs area.
Prosecutors say that Fricosu does not have to divulge her password; she can enter the password without it being noted as long as they eventually gain access to the information on the computer.
http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_19669803
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/01/can-a-court-make-you-give-up-your-password/
[Editor's Note (Murray): The court is entitled to the best evidence. It cannot force one to make a record. However, once a record is made, one may not conceal it from the court. The intent of the 5th amendment was to prevent "witch trials," the conviction of one on only their own coerced testimony. The written or electronic record, on the other hand, says what it says.
Comment Re:WOW (Score 1) 116
Why would you consider that to be an example of "fair use"? Looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#Fair_use_under_United_States_law I get "purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright."
The band in question wouldn't be "forbidden" to make the cover, they would simply need to agree licensing terms with the copyright holder. That [licensing] sounds perfectly fair and reasonable to me, your "form of fair use" sounds like simple theft.
Comment Re:Coyne set up straw man arguments (Score 2) 717
This is certainly the way I read it. I watched the video and almost as soon as Coyne started I felt my hackles rise. For a "scientist" he made a pathetic and childish argument, a sneering rant in fact.
If Jerry Coyne's the best science can come up with I'm going back to worshipping trees.
Comment It really is time (Score 2) 622
that everyone's patent laws were brought sharply up to date by restricting the term to TWO YEARS instead of the hugely anachronistic 20.
Submission + - Immobile Slashdot 4
saphena writes: "This is the 21st century, why is Slashdot not yet mobile friendly?
I use a Palm TX running Blazer 5.3. Page load usually aborts with "page too big" but even if it doesn't I still need to scroll through acres of bumpf to get to any substantial content.
Can't we have a mobile.slashdot page, please?"
I use a Palm TX running Blazer 5.3. Page load usually aborts with "page too big" but even if it doesn't I still need to scroll through acres of bumpf to get to any substantial content.
Can't we have a mobile.slashdot page, please?"
