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Patents

Submission + - USPTO Calls BS on 1-Click Patent Claims

Submitted by
theodp
theodp writes: "Seeking to extend the reach of CEO Jeff Bezos' 1-Click patent, Amazon ran into a very unimpressed USPTO examiner who rejected all 75 of the e-tailer's new claims, repeatedly invoking terms like 'obvious' and 'old and well known' to dismiss the purported inventions. Amazon has taken the unusual step of requesting an Oral Appeal to plead its case and also canceled and refiled its 1-Click claims in a continuation application, not unlike a popular stalling tactic employed by skilled lawyers. As it touted the novelty of 1-Click to Congress (PDF) last fall, Amazon didn't mention the examiner's rejection as it insisted that 'still no [1-Click] prior art has surfaced' to a Committee whose members included Rick Boucher (VA) and Howard Berman (CA), recipients of campaign contributions from a PAC funded by Amazon execs and their families."
Enlightenment

Submission + - 7 Things the boss should know about telecommuting

Submitted by
Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: "In this article, CIO.com presents input from several telecommuting IT professionals about the benefits the practice brings to the enterprise, processes that help remote workers interact with other team members, and the irritations that twist telecommuters' shorts in a knot. Here's what your employees truly want the boss to know about telecommuting. Two sidebars also discuss tips for telecommuters who don't want their careers to stall because they're "out of sight, out of mind," and the out of pocket expenses that the company and telecommuter need to divvy up (who pays for toner or the ISP?)."
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Starcraft MMO confirmed by CVG Sources?

Submitted by
Quintessant
Quintessant writes: "http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?i d=163207 CVG announces today that their sources have confirmed a Starcraft MMO. Now, this is unconfirmed by Blizzard as of yet, but I think we all saw it coming. Now, keeping this in mind, what do I see as coming next? Turf battles in Korea and China, with geeks and gamers battling it out for the dominance of available bandwidth. The apocalypse? No friends, we call this a zurg rush."
Microsoft

Why Doesn't Microsoft Have A Cult Religion? 535

Posted by Zonk from the hats-would-be-really-weird-looking dept.
rs232 writes "'Apple has one. So does the Java community, Oracle, IBM, and Google. Lord knows anyone who uses Linux or free and open source software is dedicated to spreading the gospel of St. Linus Torvalds and St. Richard Stallman. But does anyone really worship the Gods of Redmond?' While many Microsoft employees are pumped to work there, article author Michael Singer explores why even enthusiastic Microsoft-watchers acknowledge that customers and product developers are unenthusiastic about the software giant. He theorizes that it comes down to passion: Microsoft lost that a long time ago, he says, and so passionate people gravitate to other projects and products."
Software

Submission + - Could we live without open source?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Of the 118,023,363 sites surveyed by NetCraft so far in the month of May, just over 70 million of them wouldn't work if open source software were to disappear. A Day Without Open Source gives several examples of what would break [and pokes fun at MSN]. However, this got me to thinking. The real question should be: Could we live without open source? All of the proprietary companies that bitch about open source should read this and think about how stupid some of the statements they make are.
The Internet

Submission + - CIRA Trashes ICANN Over Public Consultation

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Canadian Internet Registration Authority, which manages the dot-ca domain, has issued a rare public rebuke of ICANN, the Internet governance agency. Just days after ICANN issued a public consultation on its performance, CIRA responded by stating that "due to the poor design and implementation of this Request for Public Comments we, as most serious stakeholders should, see few — if any — advantages to contributing to this effort which cannot produce any usable results while potentially further alienating constituents."
Programming

Submission + - Which is better, job title or experience?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: I am a developer with less than 2 years experience. Due to being at the right place at the right time I am the only developer for a start up that is getting bought by a multi-million dollar established company (we plan on hiring at least one more person to work under me soon). My current boss will become a VP/COO and his boss will be the owner of the company. I am well respected at my current company, but feel as if I am missing out on some good experience by not working with other developers. A friend of mine has recently contacted me about a job at the company he works at that is all developers (they do contract work) and wants me to interview there. Assuming money is not the issue which is better experience, being the lead software developer of a very small team, or being one of many developers?
United States

Submission + - Taleban Frees French Hostage

Submitted by
reporter
reporter writes: "In an earlier Slashdot discussion, several participants worried that the Taleban might kill its French hostages upon the election of Nicolas Sarkozy. Well, the BBC reports that the Taleban has released the hostages. This situation parallels the one with the American hostages in Iran 26 years ago. Then, after Ronald Reagan was sworn into the office of the presidency, Teheran promptly released all 52 American hostages. So, is Sarkozy the Reagan of France? Does Sarkozy strike the same fear into the hearts of terrorists?"
Editorial

Submission + - Do We Have To Legislate Everything? State Bans Tex

Submitted by mrneutron2004
mrneutron2004 writes: Stuff like this just smacks of utter absurdity. Is there really a rampant national danger of people text messaging behind the wheel? If so, maybe these people deserve to have traffic accidents for being STUPID. Still, can we really legislate "everything" that is remotely not safe? It's a mistaken assumption to think we can. If so, why hasn't touching up your makeup or drinking a can of cola while driving required the attention of state legislatures. This is a knee-jerk reaction to technology by people that think it's somehow worse than any other dumb thing people do merely because it's a technology issue. This sets a very dangerous precedent in our eyes. http://www.fastsilicon.com/latest-news/do-we-have- to-legislate-everything-state-bans-text-messaging- while-dr.html?Itemid=60
The Media

Submission + - A new weapon against tsunamis

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "A new mooring system has been developed by U.S. researchers to install a seismic monitoring station on the top of an active underwater volcano in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. According to the researchers who installed the underwater earthquake monitoring system on top of Kick'em Jenny volcano, their Real Time Offshore Seismic Station (RTOSS) will significantly improve the ability of natural hazard managers to notify and protect the island of Granada's residents from volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. Read more for additional details and illustrations about the RTOSS."
The Internet

Submission + - Are Flash Websites Dying?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: This controversial article which has caused quite a stir in the design world discusses three compelling reasons why complete Flash websites are dying, being replaced by AJAX and PHP platforms. The article also talks about how Flash is now used more for elements on site, instead of for the backbone of the site itself. From the article "People in the design world eat Flash sites up, because from a design aspect it can produce incredible results. With that said however, from a technical and business perspective, if a website is built with Flash incorrectly it can be a nightmare, and ultimately lead to the downfall of a site. As we all know, form follows function." Read More Here
Programming

Submission + - Virgin America asking for in-flight Linux Games ?

Submitted by Ageing Metalhead
Ageing Metalhead writes: Virgin America (http://www.virginamerica.com) is asking for the Open Source community to contribute to their in-flight entertainment offerings.

Seats will include 110v power, USB and RJ45 (Hopefully connected to some net connection on the other end) Open source video games (and an invitation for savvy linux game developers to participate in Red)"

Virgin softening the pain for all and not just First class, the main cabin has all the toys as well.

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