vomviersen - Slashdot User

Submission + - Al Franken Blasts Apple Over Location Data (ibtimes.com)

Submitted by RedEaredSlider on Thursday April 21, 2011 @09:12AM

RedEaredSlider writes: Minnesota Senator Al Franken has called out Apple after reports emerged that the company's products were keeping detailed records of the location data of their users.

In a two-page letter sent to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Franken discusses what he calls the "worrisome" existence of data that presents the user's location in such detail. But the biggest risk, he says, is what can happen if that data, much of which is unencrypted, falls into the wrong hands.

Franken ends the letter by asking Jobs a nine key questions, many of which touch on the same issues and concerns raised by the initial reports. Among them are whether the conduct is permissible under the terms of Apple's own privacy policy.

Submission + - Microsoft counts down to XP death (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk on Thursday April 21, 2011 @08:57AM

mikejuk writes: Microsoft have just released an end-of-support countdown gadget that ticks off the days until XP is no longer supported — but it only runs under Vista or Windows 7!
It focuses the mind on the fact that XP is being forcibly retired. It is a wake-up call to think hard about the unpleasant situation and consider the alternatives.So as you watch the count down to XP's death tick by think about the problems created by using software that actually belongs to someone else...

Submission + - Cisco to Close Flip Camera Unit

Submitted by necro81 on Tuesday April 12, 2011 @12:41PM

necro81 writes: When the Flip video camera arrived on the scene a few years ago, it made a splash. Compared to its camcorder brethren, it was smaller, lighter, easier, and cheaper. It was a much ballyhooed touchstone of the Good Enough Revolution. Competitors rushed in; the Flip evolved. Now the Flip is seeing its last days. Cisco, which bought Flip for more than $500 million just two years ago, will close Flip down as part of a money-saving restructuring. The ubiquity video-capable smartphones and pocket cameras has largely eliminated the Flip's niche market.

New Medical Camera the Size of a Grain of Salt 132

Posted by Soulskill on Monday April 11, 2011 @04:42PM from the unlocking-the-mysteries-of-your-salt-shaker dept.

kkleiner writes "The German Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration recently reported the development of a camera with a lens attached that is 1 x 1 x 1.5 millimeters in size, which is roughly as big as a grain of salt. At about a cubic millimeter in size, this camera is right at the size limit that the human eye can see unaided. The camera not only produces decent images but is also very cheap to manufacture — so cheap, in fact, that it is considered disposable."

Submission + - Google employees harass others for "social" bonus (it-reporter.com)

Submitted by

it_reporter

on Monday April 11, 2011 @04:13PM

it_reporter writes: "Larry Page, Google's new CEO, has tied 25% of everyone's bonus to the company success in "social", urging them to promote Google's social products and features as much as possible, which has led to some unforeseen events."

Submission + - Since Paywall went up, NYT Android app is unusable (android.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 11, 2011 @03:57PM

An anonymous reader writes: I'm surprised that the media hasn't seemed to have picked up on this.

Though the New York Times apparently spent $25 million on its paywall, they probably should have spent a few bucks on improving their Android app.

When it was free, the app was relatively stable and functional. Now that it costs just over $15 a month, it has become unusable. For me, it crashed several times a day, runs constantly, and uses an enormous amount of battery. The best part is when you try to send an error report, it crashes even more frequently. I love the Times, and would gladly pay for the app (though more like $10 a month) if they could get the app working. Countless users in the Android Market are experiencing the same issue.

It's not often that a company's paid product is of far inferior quality to the free app. Here's hoping if they can't fix it, they go back to the old version soon. There has to be thousands of potential paying customers who are finding other news sources right now because they can stand how bad the latest version of the NYT app is. It amazes me they could have overlooked this issue considering they apparently spent a very long time (and lots of money) prepping they paywall,

The End of Content Ownership 247

Posted by Soulskill on Monday April 11, 2011 @03:17PM from the provisionally-renting-a-license-to-borrow-transient-ephemera dept.

adeelarshad82 writes "In recent weeks companies like Amazon, Sony, Google, Verizon, 24symbols and others have started to roll out 'cloud-based' content streaming and on-demand services (or plans) for movies, music and even books. Video on demand is nothing new, nor is streaming. The difference now, though, is that companies like Amazon want you to stream your own content. This article sheds some light on how the cloud, along with subscription and on-demand services, will transform our perception of content access and ownership."

NYPD Anti-Terrorism Cameras Used For Much More 400

Posted by Soulskill on Monday April 11, 2011 @01:51PM from the donut-location-devices dept.

An anonymous reader writes with an excerpt from the NY Times: "The Police Department's growing web of license-plate-reading cameras has been transforming investigative work. Though the imaging technology was conceived primarily as a counterterrorism tool, the cameras' presence — all those sets of watchful eyes that never seem to blink — has aided in all sorts of traditional criminal investigations. ... 'We knew going into it that they would have other obvious benefits,' Mr. Browne said about the use of the readers in the initiative. 'Obviously, conventional crime is far more common than terrorism, so it is not surprising that they would have benefits, more frequently, in conventional crime fighting than in terrorism.'"

Submission + - What the Helvetica is Going on With Game Fonts? (goozernation.com) 2

Submitted by

RyanDJ

on Saturday April 09, 2011 @09:06AM

RyanDJ writes: "Ryan Johnson | GoozerNation

Are game companies forgetting the SDTV owners? Fonts are getting smaller and smaller, and Ryan Johnson of GoozerNation hasn't upgraded to HD yet. Why do the developers feel the need to shrink it so? Read in for his editorial."

Submission + - No U.S. Government Shutdown This Week (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by Roblimo on Saturday April 09, 2011 @08:50AM

Roblimo writes: If you were hoping for a government shutdown, it looks like you are going to be disappointed. In a last-hour cliffhanger, Democrats and Republicans managed to agree with each other enough to keep the government funded for the rest of the current fiscal year. Since the budget bill that finally passed was a compromise, no one is happy with it. So it goes. That's how things work in a representative government.

Submission + - ALS sufferer used legs to contribute last patch (gnome.org) 1

Submitted by

krkhan

on Saturday April 09, 2011 @06:17AM

krkhan writes: "This is a little old but seeing as it didn't make it to /. at the time I think it deserves a headline now. Adrian Hands was suffering from ALS and had lost motor skills when he used his legs to type in Morse code and fix a 9 year old bug in Gnome. The patch was submitted three days before he passed away."

Submission + - Scientists wipe out a single memory

Submitted by ZonkerWilliam on Monday March 12, 2007 @01:37PM

ZonkerWilliam writes: Drug can clear away one fearful memory while leaving another intact. http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070305/full/070305 -17.html I don't know about you, but I'm scared...

Feed Film Reveals Moore's Tactics (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed on Monday March 12, 2007 @01:32PM

Manufacturing Dissent, a documentary about Michael Moore premiers at SXSW. Made by Moore fans, it shows the filmmaker's clay feet as he stone walls the filmmakers. By the Associated Press.

Submission + - What Programming Languages Should You Know?

Submitted by nitsudima on Monday March 12, 2007 @01:31PM

nitsudima writes: David Chisnall posits that the more programming languages you know, the better. The point is not to stuff your head with language rules. Rather, he explains how being able to read multiple languages, even if you never code in them, can help you to select the best possible tool for each coding need — and understand the limitations of the tools you're using.

Submission + - Own more than one cell phone? Are you a terrorist?

Submitted by PLaXman on Monday March 12, 2007 @11:44AM

PLaXman writes: According to a blog written by Andrew Lim, Cnet UK's mobile phone editor, UK police are warning people to look out for anyone that owns more than one cell phone. "Terrorists need communication. Anonymous, pay-as-you-go and stolen mobiles are typical. Have you seen someone with large quantities of mobile phones? Has it made you suspicious?" The problem, as Andrew points out, is that almost everyone these days owns more than a few cell phones, so how do you aptly distinguish between a law abiding gadget fan and a potential terrorist? The other issue that's highlighted is what to do with the growing number of old cell phones that are accumulating in our homes. With wireless carriers making it easier and easier to upgrade our handsets, how do we responsibly deal with this mountain of electronic waste that we leave behind us every time we get a new phone?

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