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Comment Get What Works Best For You (Score 0) 993

by chia_monkey (#27596975) Attached to: "Apple Tax" Report Backfires On Microsoft
Sometimes these arguments just get old. Other times they're funny as hell. I do get tired of seeing the same damn "justifications" that I've seen over the past decade though (ie, "Macs don't get viruses because nobody uses Macs" or "Macs are just more expensive").

I've done tech support on both Macs and PCs. Each has its place. For my trusty "I just need to get sh*t done" machine I use a Mac. After work I just want to come home, turn on the computer, use it, and be done for my next thing (eating? drinking?). However, a cheap PC and its plethora of available surplus parts can come in handy. I've got one that I'm using as a home theater PC (granted, the damn thing crapped out on me and I don't know what its deal is yet).

Keep on fighting fanboys...just make sure you back it up with some factual justifications instead of "oh yeah? You're just a dumb poopyhead".
Linux Business

Journal Journal: Best OS for Apple PowerBook G3 (Lombard)? 1

Journal by chia_monkey
I just inherited an Apple Powerbook G3 (Lombard) and am trying to figure out how to get the best use out of it. Initially I thought I'd cram Mac OS 10.4 on there but then realized that poor machine would be about as fast as a herd of turtles trampling through molasses. Then I pondered Linux and from what I read in my searches Xubuntu may be the best fit.

Hardware:
G3 PowerBook (Lombard)
333 MHz
4 GB HD
512K RAM
GNU is Not Unix

Torvalds "Pretty Pleased" With Latest GPLv3 295

Posted by kdawson from the with-sugar-on-top dept.
Novus Ordo Seclorum writes "According to CNet, Linus Torvalds is 'pretty pleased' with the current GPL v3 draft. He said, 'Unlike the earlier drafts, it at least seems to not sully the good name of the GPL any more.' After his earlier criticism, some had questioned whether such controversies would lead to rifts in the community, especially if the kernel ended up under a different license than the GNU tools. But with the latest revisions, Linus will entertain moving the kernel over to the GPL v3."
Businesses

Submission + - Cuban v. EFF lawyer on YouTube, DMCA

Submitted by hamtaro
hamtaro writes: Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, exchanged some words with an EFF lawyer at this year's EFF "Pioneer Awards" this week. What about? YouTube. Apparently Cuban feels that "everyone knows" that YouTube is host to tons of infringing content and therefore it should be exempt from DMCA protections. You read that right: the EFF, defending the DMCA against Mark Cuban.

Cuban is an interesting spokesman for copyright concerns since he has a broad perspective; as the owner of HDNet, he worries about having his content given away for free without his consent, but he's also someone who has funded EFF campaigns in the past, especially when the group defended Grokster's claim to legality.
...
One of the strangest aspects of the debate was seeing an EFF lawyer defend the DMCA, which usually comes in for a drubbing due to its anticircumvention provision. But von Lohmann told Ars Technica after the debate that the safe harbor section has actually allowed plenty of businesses to flourish that might otherwise have been mired in legal problems, and that it has generally worked well.
Music

Submission + - Does DRM Enable Online Music Innovation?

Submitted by chia_monkey
chia_monkey writes: Here's an interesting article on "Does DRM Enable Online Music Innovation?" from Tech Law Forum that looks "at the range of legitimate online music distributors to see just how much the presence or lack of DRM affected business models." It's a rather interesting read as the author breaks down seven online music stores (iTunes, Napster, Yahoo! Music, Zune, eMusic, Amie Street, and Magnatune...four of which use DRM and three that don't). The article mainly focuses on the ownership and "renting" of the music (which can be seen with the "buy the condo downtown" and "rent a mansion in the slums" analogies) and how it applies to innovation and perceived business models.

The numbers don't lie...price-per-download is the clean winner while DRM-based models also take the lead. Will the market shift toward subscription based models in the future or DRM go the way of the dodo bird (as Steve Jobs has already proclaimed his preference for)?
GNU is Not Unix

Submission + - Torvalds 'Pretty Pleased' with GPLv3

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "Linus Torvalds has announced that he's 'pretty pleased' with the latest release of the GPLv3. He seemed to be pleased that it "reads better, and some of the worst horrors have been removed entirely." His GPLv3 concerns arose from the Free Software Foundations fears of companies using software under this license along with DRM which caused earlier drafts of the GPLv3 to be structured so that some GPLv2 licensed software would not be compatible with the new version. Torvalds still did not confirm whether he would move the Linux kernel to GPLv3 however, he did say that "The 'we control not just the software, but also the hardware it runs on' parts still drive me up the wall because I think they are so fundamentally broken. But the new draft at least limits it to a much saner subset and makes it clearer too. Unlike the earlier drafts, it at least seems to not sully the good name of the GPL any more.""
Security

Submission + - TJX: biggest data breach ever

Submitted by jcatcw
jcatcw writes: Jaikumar Vijayan says that TJX is finally offering more details about the extent of the compromise, which at 45.6M cards,is the biggest ever. He's has been following the story for Computerworld since it started. The systems that were broken into processed payment card, check and returns for customers of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods and A.J Wright stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and customers of Winners and HomeSense stores in Canada and T.K. Maxx in the U.K. Customer names and addresses were not included in the stolen data. So far the company has so far spent about $5 million in connection with the breach, and several lawsuits that have been filed against it. It was sued recently by the Arkansas Carpenters Pension Fund, one of its shareholders, for failure to divulge more details about the breach.
Businesses

Submission + - AT&T/Cingular Blocks FreeConferenceCall Number

Submitted by
Lambert
Lambert writes: "I am an employee of a small start-up and we depend on the freeconferencecall.com service to interface with customers on a weekly business. Obviously this service is one that could be considered "disruptive" for the big telco's like Cingular/ATT, Sprint, and Quest because conference call services traditionally are VERY expensive. Anyway, here's the email that I recieved today: "As we know many of you have seen, the news media and bloggers have been covering the fact that Cingular/AT&T, Sprint and Qwest have been blocking some of our FreeConferenceCall numbers. Our goal with this month's newsletter is to separate fact from fiction, and, more importantly, set the record straight with the answers that you so richly deserve. We have spoken extensively with customers, competitors and lawyers to fully assess the situation and the implications for FreeConferenceCall users. Last week, some of our Cingular and Sprint customers began calling into customer service with issues surrounding their connections to our service. After speaking with Cingular's customer service group, our customers were given numerous, and unfounded, reasons for the call blockage. Reasons cited included fraud, international forwarding, fee disputes and, to our astonishment, that we were blocking our own FreeConferenceCall numbers. We cannot corroborate or justify any of these reasons. FreeConferenceCall would never knowingly impede our customers from using our services. For now, we can tell you that a Cingular spokesperson has gone on record and stated that their terms of service gives them the right to block any number they wish and also said that AT&T's wireless service is "between one person and another person, not between one person and many." Cingular and Sprint have chosen to block service to our shared customers regardless of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules and regulations. Neither carrier has ever directly complained, filed suit or even contacted FreeConferenceCall. The upshot is that carriers are basically telling you that a cell phone is not intended for use on conference calls of any type. As a total commitment to our customers, we have quickly ramped up to help them deal with this issue. If you are experiencing connectivity problems, please call us directly at 877-482-5838. We promise to give you unparalleled technical support and will treat every customer with immediate, personalized attention. We have also created a blog and information center to help customers get details and resources for continuing their communications. You can find articles, links and comments at blog.freeconferencecall.com.""
Security

Submission + - Telco glitch lets others listen in to phone calls

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Talk about an invasion of privacy. Australia's second largest telecom vendor Optus is currently struggling to correct a fault in its network that lets customers to eavesdrop on others' phone calls.Initial reports said the glitch was limited to Optus' pre-paid mobile service, but smh.com.au readers have described the problem occurring in Optus' landline network as well. Reports describing the glitch first appeared on the popular online broadband community, Whirlpool in its Optusnet community. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1307 4"
Music

Musicians Demand the Internet Stay Neutral 203

Posted by kdawson from the bits-is-bits-man dept.
eldavojohn writes "124 bands — including R.E.M., Sarah McLachlan, and Pearl Jam — and 24 music labels are sending a clear message to keep Net traffic neutral. The Rock the Net campaign wants all traffic to be equal instead of allowing providers to charge a fee for certain pages to load faster than others. These musicians are the latest to join the Save the Internet campaign, which has the chair of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet in its camp. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., spoke at the campaign's kickoff. I think it's obvious that musicians (especially independents and small labels) will find themselves with the short end of the stick if they are asked to pay a fee to have their music streamed as fast as larger bands or even corporations."
Space

Submission + - The Red Expedition to the Red Planet

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "After a three day meeting in Russia, a space agreement was signed by the China National Space Administration head Sun Laiyan and Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) chief Anatoly Perminov and witnessed by the two countries' presidents. From the article, "After entering orbit around the Red Planet, the Chinese micro-satellite will detach from the Russian spacecraft, and probe the Martian space environment, according to the statement. The Russian spacecraft will touch down on the Martian moon Phobos and collect soil samples for return to Earth. There was no mention of a timetable in the Chinese space agency statement. But earlier Russian reports said the launch window for the 10-11 month voyage to Phobos, Mars' largest moon, will be in October 2009." Will the cooperation of these two countries outdo the United States' plan for a mission to Mars?"
The Internet

Submission + - Do Online Petitions Matter?

Submitted by cybermage
cybermage writes: Snopes.com, the resource for ferreting out urban legends, has engaged in a bit of editorializing about the ineffectiveness of online petitions. Many petitions sites have sprung up that seem to be mostly geared toward attracting traffic to ads more than having any tangible effect; but, at the same time, efforts like DraftGore.com and petitions from moveon.org seem to be having some effect — at least some of the time. Is snopes right? Are online petitions a counter-productive waste of time? What have you experienced?
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Infrared, The New Communications Frequency?

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "Scientists at the University of Utah have figured out how to make super fast wireless internet and, with the same technology, detect biological and chemical weapons. The new idea uses far-infrared light (terahertz electromagnetic radiation). From the article, "The researchers shined far-infrared light on metal foils punctured with holes arranged in what are known as quasicrystal and quasicrystal-approximate patterns. Even though the holes make up only a portion of each foil's surface, almost all the radiation passed through the metal foils with these patterns.""

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