gokeln - Slashdot User

Submission + - Get Sued for Linking to Cingular.com

Submitted by

Desktop Nexus

on Monday April 30, 2007 @04:44PM

Desktop Nexus writes: "The official Terms and Conditions of Cingular now restrict the anchor text you can use to link to Cingular's homepage. Harry Maugans discovered a paragraph of the TOS that states:

You are granted a limited, nonexclusive right to create a hypertext link to the homepage of the Sites, provided such link does not portray Cingular Wireless or any of its products and services in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise defamatory manner. [...] This limited right may be revoked at any time.
I'm sure this is not legally standing, however it is amusing they'd attempt to restrict your links."

Submission + - UPS' Unlabeled Liability Forms: 'Just sign it!'

Submitted by

Rich

on Monday April 30, 2007 @01:47PM

Rich writes: "A popular blogger on LiveJournal recently posted a hilarious but scary story about UPS' very real practices of sending uninformed drivers to people's doors with unmarked damage liability forms after packages are damaged or lost in transit. You sign this form, and you've just accepted responsibility for the loss. I work at a Geek Squad, and they've tried to do this to me at least twice. Another friend of mine was almost put out of business after he absentmindedly signed one of these and ended up having to pay for two of the same $10K item. This is ridiculous, considering that UPS' insurance deductible is tiny, and they're worth more than $45B. Anyway, here it is: UPS' Form of Mystery"

Submission + - Many Guantanamo practices illegal

Submitted by

Cleveguru

on Monday April 30, 2007 @01:25PM

Cleveguru writes: "The U.N. Commission on Human Rights basically states in it's report that the United States isn't fulfilling it's legal obligations under treaties it has signed, and also violates practices of other treaties it has signed. In other words, the United States government is breaking it's own laws. View the Report It's interesting to note that the response from the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. at the end mentions checks and balances! This is just a prime example of when our checks and balances fail to work. In the end, it is the duty of the people to check the government itself as stated in our declaration of independence."

Submission + - Quantum Cryptography Hacked

Submitted by mrbluze on Monday April 30, 2007 @06:45AM

mrbluze writes: Nature reports on a eavesdropping technique developed by researchers at MIT for intercepting quantum-encrypted messages:

To listen in, the team used a quantum-mechanical principle known as entanglement, which can link together two different traits of a particle. Using an optical setup, the team was able to entangle the transmitted photon's polarization with its momentum. The eavesdropper could then measure the momentum in order to get information about the polarization, without affecting the original polarization.
This stuff is beyond me, but I can't wait to read Slashdot's explanation!

Submission + - GnuCash now available for Windows

Submitted by keeblerelf on Monday April 30, 2007 @02:51AM

keeblerelf writes: Open source personal and small-business financial accounting software GnuCash (http://www.gnucash.org/) used to be one of the most difficult programs to install on Linux. If it wasn't included in your distribution of choice, installation probably required compiling and installing around 20 different dependencies... not fun.

Until recently, a Windows version seemed unlikely...

But with beta version 2.1.0, GnuCash is now available in a Windows self-installing executable. I installed it on my wife's Windows laptop yesterday and it seems quite stable for a beta version.

The current stable version (2.0.5) can be installed on Mac OSX using the Fink installer (http://finkproject.org/) or on Debian Linux with "aptitude install gnucash gnucash-docs" (as root of course). GnuCash can also be installed on Ubuntu fairly easily ( http://www.ubuntugeek.com/install-gnucash-financia l-accounting-software-in-ubuntu.html).

GnuCash is a great free program with features that rival its ad-infested, monopoly-owned rivals. Why not try it out?

PS — It looks like now there is a complete suite of open source software that runs on both Windows and Linux. There is OpenOffice.org for an office suite (sans Outlook), Evolution (or Thunderbird with Lightning) for an Outlook replacement, Firefox for a web browser, the GIMP for photo editing, PidginIM for instant messaging (formerly called Gaim, but renamed to avoid a trademark dispute), and now GnuCash for accounting.

If you're thinking about switching to Linux, switching to these applications first could be a great way to prepare yourself and your data for the move.

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