Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Recomendation to dissidents (Score 3, Interesting) 155

by StankDawg (#21492389) Attached to: Google Plans Service to Store Users' Data Online
The RIAA wouldn't need to send the police for your computers since they can subpoena Google to get the evidence that they need. They do that for search queries now. Uploading your personal data gives law enforcement one stop shopping to your information. A "portal" to all of your personal information. How convenient...
Privacy

Rick Rubin Discloses Sony Rootkit Called Home 249

Posted by kdawson from the curiouser-and-curiouser dept.
caffeinemessiah writes "Rick Rubin, the legendary music producer, recently signed on as co-head of Columbia Records, which is owned by Sony BMG. In a recent New York Times interview (on pg. 4 of the online version), he discloses, possibly accidentally: 'It was the highest debut of Neil [Diamond]'s career, off to a great start. But Columbia — it was some kind of corporate thing — had put spyware on the CD. That kept people from copying it, but it also somehow recorded information about whoever bought the record...' Seems like the rootkit might have been a little more than your vanilla invade-your-rights-DRM scheme."
Microsoft

Vista SP1 Coming In Q1 2008 254

Posted by kdawson from the quicker-than-XP's dept.
Many readers sent in word of Microsoft's announcement of the schedule for Vista SP1. The Beskerming blog has a good summary. Up to 15,000 people will get access to a beta of SP1 by the end of September; general release is targeted (not promised in stone) for early 2008. The service pack is said to improve performance and stability, not to add features.
United States

Pirate Banned From Using Linux 698

Posted by samzenpus from the take-that dept.
dsinc writes "A guy who uploaded the latest Star Wars movie got arrested, pleaded guilty to 'conspiracy to commit copyright infringement' and 'criminal copyright infringement' and got jail and home confinement. As part of his home confinement, he agreed to install some tracking software on his computer. The problem is He's an Ubuntu Linux user and the gov't doesn't have any tracking software for Linux. So he's been told that he must use Windows for the term of his confinement. Looks like a case of cruel and unusual punishment to me"
Linux Business

Turns Out Ubuntu Dell Costs $225 More 361

Posted by kdawson from the implemented-and-reneged dept.
An anonymous reader writes "One week ago this community discussed the apparent price advantage of Ubuntu Dell over Vista. The article linked to a Dell IdeaStorm page with the status: 'Implemented.' Today the status has changed on that page to 'Reneged: Ubuntu Dell is $225 More Than Windows Dell.' The full price of a Ubuntu Inspiron 1420N is indeed $50 cheaper than the identical hardware configuration with Vista — except that a $275 free upgrade to 2GB memory and a 160-GB hard drive is available for Windows only."
Google

Submission + - Microsoft, IBM, admit feelin heat from Google Apps (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
jbrodkin
jbrodkin writes: "Microsoft and IBM executives admitted they are feeling pressure from Google now that the Web search giant is targeting the business market with a set of communication and collaboration tools. The statements reflect Google's growing influence beyond the consumer market. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/062007-micro soft-ibm-google-apps.html?page=1"
Printer

InkJet Printers Lying, Or Just Wrong? 461

Posted by kdawson from the running-on-empty dept.
akkarin writes in about a study reported at Ars Technica on how accurate ink-jet printers are when they report that cartridges are empty. Not very, it turns out. Epson came out on top of the study (and Ars rightly questions how objective it was, given that Epson paid for it), but even they waste 20% of the ink if users take the printers' word for when to get a new cartridge. On average, the printers in the study wasted more than half the ink that users bought.
Google

Submission + - Google to build $600M data center in Western Iowa (siouxcityjournal.com)

Submitted by
wlandman
wlandman writes: "Google will build a $600 million data center in western Iowa, Gov. Chet Culver announced Tuesday. The Internet leader has already begun construction on a 55-acre site in Council Bluffs, across the Missouri River from Omaha, Neb. The center is expected to create about 200 jobs with an average salary of about $50,000."

Feed AT&T preps landlords for iPhone campers (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Cellphones

Those who've started taking notes in order to keep track of all the iPhone launch details still floating in can add one more, and thankfully for those worried about their own safety come next Friday, you'll be relieved to know that this one involves crowd control. Two documents outlining how managers should "prepare landlords for the iPhone launch" explain that stanchions (you know, those annoying cattle herders that keep you in order whilst waiting in the airport) should be made available at almost any cost, so it's pretty safe to say they know you (and your posse) are coming. Additionally, it's noted that AT&T stores will be staying open only until 10:00PM unless individual managers choose to keep the overtime clocks a-rollin', and venues located within enclosed malls will be closing at their normal times. Guess we can't blame 'em for trying to make us all happy campers.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Software

OSI To Crack Down On "Open Source" Abusers 379

Posted by kdawson from the opening-a-can-of-whup-ass dept.
munchola sends us word that the Open Source Initiative is getting tough on any vendors who claim to be open source despite not actually using a license approved by the OSI. In his blog post, OSI president Michael Tiemann writes: "Enough is enough. Open Source has grown up. Now it is time for us to stand up. I believe that when we do, the vendors who ignore our norms will suddenly recognize that they really do need to make a choice: to label their software correctly and honestly, or to license it with an OSI-approved license that matches their open source label."
The Courts

The Privacy of Email 133

Posted by samzenpus from the stop-reading-that dept.
An Anonymous Coward writes "A U.S. appeals court in Ohio has ruled that e-mail messages stored on Internet servers are protected by the Constitution as are telephone conversations and that a federal law permitting warrantless secret searches of e-mail violates the Fourth Amendment. 'The Stored Communications Act is very important,' former federal prosecutor and counter-terrorism specialist Andrew McCarthy told United Press International. But the future of the law now hangs in the balance."
Software

Submission + - IRC+ plans to revolutionise IRC with Services RFC (irc-plus.org)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: "IRC is dying... the biggest nets are losing their users. Why? Because there are lots of other chats: the messengers, jabber, ICQ, MSN... The clock is ticking, but IRC is still in a good position. It is still a kind of command-line application. You have to remember the commands to register nicks, channels, whilst writing many complex commands to auto-identify. There are lots of channels and user modes, etc — it is too complex for new users."

"IRC+ is a new standard for IRC services. Services will be forced to use similar replies, easy to parse by a script, IRC client developer or botmaker."

Slashdot Top Deals

If all else fails, lower your standards.

Close