nadolph - Slashdot User

Submission + - Windows Media Center restricts cable TV viewings

Submitted by PrescriptionWarning on Sunday May 20, 2007 @05:58PM

PrescriptionWarning writes: With the latest Media Center Edition update from Microsoft, many other users and myself are finding that content available on Television are now completely unwatchable from Media Center, with a message that simply states "Restricted Content: Restrictions set by the broadcaster and/or originator of the content prohibit playback of the program on this computer."

A simple search on the subject reveals that HBO programming and, in my case Braveheart on AMC, are among the many selections now restricted for playback or recording by Windows Media Center Edition. What's next, restricting every piece of programming on television? One thing is for sure, there won't be much left to watch.

Submission + - Microsoft briefly reveals online storage service

Submitted by

Lucas123

on Monday May 14, 2007 @05:45PM

Lucas123 writes: "This past weekend, Microsoft briefly revealed the online backup service they've been talking about for two years, according to a story on Computerworld. 'The hosted backup service, now called Window Live Folders, will initially offer users 500MB of free storage that they can organize into personal, shared and private folders to separate content and limit access. "Password-protected online file storage. Always available where you need it," the site's tagline read before it went offline.'"

Submission + - Goolgle Indexes Links Found Only in Gmail?

Submitted by on Monday May 14, 2007 @05:13PM

An anonymous reader writes: Recently, I purchased a domain to use for a pro bono website I'm building for a local, annual event. I put up a placeholder site, pointed the domain at it, and mailed my contact at the organization (using my Gmail account) to tell her about the domain. This is the only place that the domain was ever mentioned — neither of us have mentioned it to anyone else or any any other website, and have sent no traffic there by any other means than typing the URL into our browsers or clicking on the links in the email. We didn't want anyone to see it yet, since it's not done (or even yet begun, for that matter). When I registered it (several weeks ago), numerous relevant Google keyword searches as well as an explicit search for the domain turned up no results. Now any of these searches brings up this site as the first hit.

From the Gmail Privacy Policy:

When you use Gmail, Google's servers automatically record certain information about your use of Gmail. Similar to other web services, Google records information such as account activity (including storage usage, number of log-ins), data displayed or clicked on (including UI elements, ads, links); and other log information (including browser type, IP-address, date and time of access, cookie ID, and referrer URL).
So my hypothesis is that Google gleaned address out of my email via its URL-tracking voodoo and then indexed it, and this possibility does seem covered by their privacy policy. But I still find this pretty disturbing: can't I email someone a URL without the whole world finding out about it? What if the contents of this site fell into what the broader Google Privacy FAQ classifes as "sensitive information"?

..information we know to be related to confidential medical information, racial or ethnic origins, political or religious beliefs or sexuality and tied to personal information.

Japanese Government to Move to OSS 128

Posted by Zonk on Monday May 14, 2007 @04:31AM from the a-little-less-time-on-hold dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Linuxworld has up an article on the Japanese government's plan to reduce its reliance on a single IT vendor by moving to open source software. 'Oracle, NEC, IBM, HP, Hitachi and Dell are among 10 IT equipment and software vendors that are forming a consortium to develop and sell Linux-based servers and computers for the Japanese market. The move by the vendors to collaborate on Linux in Japan comes from a edict from the country's government to make Linux and open source a priority for all IT procurements, starting this July.' The government has said explicitly it wants to decrease its reliance on Microsoft as a server operating system platform."

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