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Microsoft

Microsoft Marketing to OS Pirates, Just Agree to Audits! 197

Posted by CmdrTaco from the isn't-that-wacky dept.
Stony Stevenson writes "In the latest sign that Microsoft expects to support its Windows XP operating system for the foreseeable future, the company has introduced a new licensing program designed to let users of fake or pirated copies of the business version of the OS upgrade to fully licensed copies. To qualify, users of illegitimate versions of Windows XP Pro must pledge to use only genuine Microsoft software going forward and agree to have their software infrastructure audited. Resellers who push the Get Genuine Windows Agreement to customers will get a cut of any new license fees they generate, Microsoft said."
Communications

Submission + - What to do when broadband is not an option 6

Submitted by
professorguy
professorguy writes: "I've been on the internet since 1984 (back before email addresses had @'s). But it looks like we're coming to the end of an era. From my home, I have 26.4 kbps dial-up access to the internet (you read that right). Since I am a hospital network administrator, it would be nice to do some stuff remotely when I am on 24/7 call. However, no cable or DSL comes anywhere near my house and because of the particular topography of my property (I'm on a heavily-forested, north-facing hillside), satellite is also not available. Heck, cell phones didn't even work here until January.

So far, the technical people I've asked all have the same advice for reasonable connectivity: MOVE OUT of the house my wife and I built and lived in for 20 years. Has it really come to this? Am I doomed to be an internet refugee? Is this really my only option? What is the best solution here?"
Input Devices

Headband Gives Wearer "Sixth-Sense" 234

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the use-the-force dept.
An anonymous reader writes "New Scientist reports on a headband developed at the University of Tokyo that allows the wearer to feel their surroundings at a distance — as if they had cats whiskers. Infrared sensors positioned around the headband vibrate to signal when and where an object is close. There are also a few great videos of people using it to dodge stuff while blindfolded."
Privacy

Pay-For-Visit Advertising 176

Posted by kdawson from the maybe-the-fbi-will-have-to-pay-royalties dept.
theodp writes "US patent office documents released Thursday show that a startup named Pelago is seeking a patent covering Pay-For-Visit Advertising, which uses GPS, Bluetooth, or RFID on your mobile devices to track your travels to see if you wander into a place of business that appeared in an ad shown earlier on your cellphone, PDA, or laptop. To maximize ad revenue, phone calls are also tracked to see if you dial a number associated with an ad, and financial transactions are examined to see if you make a purchase from an advertiser. The application goes on to note that the system may be of interest to government agencies. Pelago just raised $7.4M from the likes of KPCB and Jeff Bezos."
The Almighty Buck

Get Ready For the High-tech Beach 247

Posted by samzenpus from the natures-friends-electricity-and-water dept.
coondoggie writes "Ocean City, New Jersey is a nice, family-oriented beach that will apparently soon be the high-tech model for seashore lovers and now perhaps geeks everywhere. The city has on its plate a $3 million plan for myriad public services and Internet access using radio-frequency identification chips (RFID) and Wi-Fi wireless technology. A wireless network will let Ocean City expand economic development and control the cost of local services. Wireless allows the City to save on cell phone usage, T-1 lines, and it adds efficiency. The city is looking to replace its ubiquitous but mostly annoying beach tags — which indicate you paid to get on the beach $5 per day, $10 for a week, or $20 for the whole summer — with wristbands that contain an RFID chip. Yet another cool feature of the high-tech beach will be the ability to track beachgoers — an application that is being touted by parents."
IBM

Submission + - IBM to layoff half of Global Services division

Submitted by Rolgar
Rolgar writes: Cringely says that IBM has begun massive layoffs in a quiet manner, starting with 1300 employees, but by the end of the year, the total will rise to at least 100,000 and probably closer to 150,000 employees, nearly 40% of their U.S. workforce. Some people will be temporarily retained as contractors at a fraction of their salary, and eventually, IBM will also dump many of the unprofitable customer contracts worked on by Global Services or outsource the work to Asia. If these people are looking for work, that could seriously drop wages for technical workers in the US since they will have to compete with these people for available jobs.
The Internet

Submission + - Thousands Call For Impeachment: Time To Speak Out!

Submitted by
J-Ro
J-Ro writes: "Thousands of people have called Speaker Pelosi's office yesterday asking that Bush and Cheney be impeached. Now, other leading Democrats and Republicans in Congress have been targeted and people are filling up their voicemail with a simple message: "I Support the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney." Now is the time to pick up the phone and take a stand!"
Privacy

Some States Say National ID Cards 'Make Life Easier' 287

Posted by Zonk from the that's-one-opinion dept.
VE3OGG writes "Some places, like Maine, have outright rejected the idea of a nationally mandated ID card amid privacy, legal and security concerns. On the other side of the fence some states, such as California and New Jersey, have said that they welcome the National ID card and that it will make 'life easier'. One New Jersey official said 'All you are getting in e-government for the most part are things that don't require strong two-factor identification,' the official said referring to security that requires something beyond a user name and password. 'But as we move forward and start to deliver more and more complicated services, I think that people for the most part will want to know their government has implemented strong measures [with National ID cards]'."
The Internet

Vista a Threat to Internet Freedom? 479

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the leave-it-to-business-to-ruin-a-good-time dept.
BBC columnist Bill Thompson warns readers that new DRM technology, especially that found in Vista, is damaging the freedoms that the internet was based on. "The freedom of expression that was once available to users of the Internet Protocol is being stripped away. Our freedom to play, experiment, share and seek inspiration from the creative works of others is increasingly restricted so that large companies can lock our culture down for their own profit. [...] governments and corporations around the world are making a concerted effort to dismantle the open internet and replace it with a regulated and regulable one that will allow them to impose an 'architecture of control.'"
Portables

Submission + - BlackBerry Orphans

Submitted by
theodp
theodp writes: "The WSJ reports that the growing use of email gadgets is spawning a generation of resentful children. In addition to feeling neglected, kids say BlackBerrys and Treos can put their lives in jeopardy as Mom and Dad type away while driving. The chairman of Research In Motion will have nothing of the whining, saying children should ask themselves, 'Would you rather have your parents 20% not there or 100% not there?'"
Networking

Submission + - Who do you test your network dns with?

Submitted by robinvanleeuwen
robinvanleeuwen writes: Idea for poll...

Who do you use to test is your internet connection/DNS is working correctly?

ping www.yahoo.com
ping www.google.com
ping www.slashdot.org
cowboyneal's homepage
other
It's funny. Laugh.

Journal Journal: Soylent Diesel is made of people! 2

Journal by ncc74656
Liposuctioned fat could be biodiesel fuel

One person's liposuction is another person's biodiesel fuel, as a Norwegian businessman wants to use suctioned fat to develop an alternative fuel source.

Biodiesel can be produced from either plant oils or animal fat, and Lauri Venoy sees the product from liposuction procedures as a renewable energy source, Aftenposten said.

Math

Submission + - Verizon Can't Do Basic Arithmetic

Submitted by
airencracken
airencracken writes: "George was quoted a rate of .002 cents per kilobyte of data transmission, but they billed him for .002 dollars per kilobyte. What ensues in this call made me very sad. The call is 29 min long and it's worth listening to every second. How can Verizon reps not understand that $0.002!=$0.00002? These are grown adults who can't understand basic arithmetic. What does that say about the state of education? Ugh."

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