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Submission + - When Reporting On Piracy Becomes Ethically Irresponsible, If Not Illegal (celluloidjunkie.com)

Submitted by sperlingreich
sperlingreich writes: The leak of "Expendables 3" more than three weeks before its theatrical release made me question whether reporting on the news was the right thing to do.

Freedom of the press laws may "allow" media outlets and journalists to report on pirated titles without becoming financially culpable for a producer's losses, though doesn't such activity actually publicize the availability of specific content, thus increasing illegal downloading and ultimately the economic damage it causes?

Submission + - Rightscorp's new plan: Pay our copyright fees, or we take your browser (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by mpicpp
mpicpp writes: Online copyright cop charging $20 per song explains 2014 strategy to investors.

Internet copyright enforcer Rightscorp has told investors some revelatory details about its strategy in its second-quarter earnings call, as reported by TorrentFreak.

Rightscorp was founded to be a kind of RIAA-lite, getting online pirates to pay record companies and other rights-holders without the need to resort to high-stakes litigation. Instead, it creates e-mail notices demanding $20 per song from users it deems "repeat infringers" and insists that ISPs forward those notices.

The company is growing fast, but is still way, way in the red. Last year it earned $324,000 in revenue, while spending more than $2.1 million to run its operations. This year it's earning more revenue: $440,414 in the first six months of the year. However, operating costs during the same period have already hit $1.8 million.

Rightscorp's two marquee clients are BMG and Warner Music. Together, those two clients account for around one-third of Rightscorp's income.

The company is now working with more than 140 Internet service providers, although they provide differing levels of cooperation. Rightscorp's pitch to these ISPs is that since it has ironclad evidence of which users are "repeat infringers," they're obligated under copyright law to forward the notices; otherwise the ISPs become liable to a high-stakes copyright suit.

Submission + - Linux Kernel Git Repositories Add 2-Factor Authentication (linux.com)

Submitted by LibbyMC
LibbyMC writes: For a few years now Linux kernel developers have followed a fairly strict authentication policy for those who commit directly to the git repositories housing the Linux kernel. Each is issued their own ssh private key, which then becomes the sole way for them to push code changes to the git repositories hosted at kernel.org. While using ssh keys is much more secure than just passwords, there are still a number of ways for ssh private keys to fall into malicious hands. So they've further tightened access requirements with two-factor authentication using yubikeys.

Submission + - Microsoft's Windows 8 App Store is Full of Scamware and It Doesn't Seem to Care

Submitted by Deathspawner
Deathspawner writes: Windows 8 brought a lot to the table, with one of its most major features being its app store. However, it's not a feature that Microsoft seems too intent on keeping clean. As it is today, the store is completely littered with misleading apps and outright scamware. The unfortunate thing is that to find any of it, all you have to do is simply open the store and peruse the main sections. Not so surprisingly, no Microsoft software seems to be affected by this, but many open-source apps can be found at the store from unofficial sources that have a cost, or will lead the user to download a third-party installer. It's only a matter of time before malware sneaks its way in, if it's not there already.

Submission + - City of Munich is considering to switch back from Linux to Windows (golem.de)

Submitted by Golem.de
Golem.de writes: The vice-mayor of Munich Josef Schmid wants a group of experts to analyse the use of Linux in the municipality. According to Schmid, there have been multiple complaints about the lack of interoperability with other city and government administrations. There have also been doubts that the city is lowering costs by using FOSS. Munichs project Limux was started ten years ago. The city wanted to reduce its budget by switching to Linux and FOSS intead of upgrading to newer versions of Microsoft's Windows and Office products. At the end of last year almost all of the 15000 workstations in the municipality were using OSS.

Submission + - Xiaomi's Next OS Is The Most Shameless iOS Rip-Off You Will Ever See (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by stephendavion
stephendavion writes: Looks like Chinese device maker, Xiaomi, is taking its "Apple of the East" tag too literally. First, their CEO brazenly copies Steve Jobs' signature look, sitting cross-legged on the floor and everything. And now, Xiaomi's latest version of Android shamelessly rips off iOS 7. MIUI 6, which is Xiaomi's upcoming edition of Android for its latest phones and tablets, looks almost exactly like Apple's operating system for iPhones, iPads and the iPod Touch. It features the same bright color palette and a flat design. Heck, it even does away with Google's "app drawer" and puts all apps on your home screen. It's like the CEO handed iPhones to the design team and barked: "Here, copy this!"

Comment Re:That reminds me... (Score 1) 146

by UnknownSoldier (#47679957) Attached to: World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Launches Nov. 13th

Depending on your "definition", no. Every MMO sucks ass today ... WoW was cool when it came out in 2004. Every expansion = more pointless grinding for gear I don't care about.

* Guild Wars 2
  +no monthly fee
  +dynamic group events
  - automatic level downgrade = annoying;
  - massive farming required
  - lame story
  - empty world

* Warframe - http://store.steampowered.com/...
  +free
  -massive grind fest

* Defiance - http://store.steampowered.com/...
  + free
  - massive grind fest

* Runes of Magic
  + Free
  - massive grind fest

Best games to play are with friends:

* Terraria
* Borderlands 1 & 2
* Path of Exile (free)

Submission + - Object Storage versus Block Storage: Understanding the Technology Differences 2

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: Even very technical people scratch their heads over the business value of object storage. In other words, what problems does it solve? What are its drawbacks and limitations? Which types of applications run better, what breaks, and what do you need to completely redesign to take advantage of the storage technology?

Ultimately every IT admin wants to know if object storage is a good fit for certain workloads. This article defines object storage, compares it to alternatives, and gives an overview of where it can make a performance difference for enterprise computing.

Comment Re:Multiple Return Types? (Score 1) 427

by UnknownSoldier (#47679073) Attached to: Interviews: Ask Bjarne Stroustrup About Programming and C++

> Does still not make sense. The cost for a particular function is the exact same regardless where you call it.

Do you even understand what an Instruction Cache is?? And the importance of locality?? Too -much- inlining can be worse then not enough inlining. If had actually worked on a C++ compiler on consoles then you would understand.

On PS3 some games can have a performance delta upto ~10% depending on a) the DISTANCE away non-inlined functions are, and b) HOW MANY functions are inlined. I'm talking from real world experience not from your theoretical clueless assumptions of how CPUs work.

In theory every memory access has the same cost (time), in practice the 3 levels of cache show a wildly varying performance difference.

You really should read: "What every programmer should know about memory"

http://www.akkadia.org/drepper...

Before continuing to spout off your ignorance.

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