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Security

Submission + - dealing with online merchants who don't use SSL?

Unprotected Coward writes: I was just about to make an online purchase for a hardware product when I discovered the vendor (a self-titled "leading" seller for the US university market) does not even use SSL to encrypt the credit card form data (yes, I checked the HTML source, the form POST is to a non https URL). I am angry and frustrated that in 2007 this still happens with big stores (and I don't even want to imagine what application-level vulnerabilities they may have).

Besides writing them, should I call Visa or Mastercard? I thought it was mandatory for online merchants to use SSL and other basic security measures. Is it all hopeless?
It's funny.  Laugh.

Submission + - Penny Arcade launches Print-on-Demand Comics (penny-arcade.com)

Irreducibly writes: Not to be outdone by Marvel's recent announcement, Gabe over at Penny Arcade recently announced that they've made virtually every Penny Arcade comic ever published available for purchase. Marvel "rents access" to its archives but like so many old media plays, it just begs for fans to pirate images and circulate them for free. PA makes their archives free and just relies on the true fans and Comic Book guys to send them money for what they want. Time to start building my Itchy and, er, Twisp and Catsby collection!

Feed Teachers left blubbing by cyber abuse (theregister.com)

Forum posts devastate beak's self-image

Cyber bullying has been perceived for some time as a growing problem in British classrooms. An increasingly tech-savvy yoof generation are using the web to ridicule and harass their hapless victims. Self-esteem is being crushed, once confident personalities left tearful in the lavs. The human cost is high.


Operating Systems

Submission + - It's official: Zeta-OS has been pirated!

blob writes: Bernd Korz pirated BeOS's source code and has released it as Zeta-OS in USA, Germany and Australia for several years. Mr Korz has been trying to open source Zeta, as the Zeta company YellowTabs went bankrupt and his house of cards collapsed.
Mr Schlesinger (Director at Access Co., Ltd.) said: "Mr Korz nor Zeta had no legal rights to distribute the BeOS software, much less open source any of it, as the rumours had it. We have sent "cease and desist" letters to YellowTab on a number of occasions, which have been uniformly ignored."

Feed Arctic Monkeys Apparently Forget What Made The Band Successful In The First Plac (techdirt.com)

When people talk about how file sharing and giving away music for free can help promote a small time band into the big time, a common example is the band The Arctic Monkeys. The band was a true internet wonder, using file sharing to help boost attention and making the band a huge success. That's why it's quite surprising to hear that the band and its backers are now doing everything possible to prevent file sharing for its latest album. Reader Sal points us to an article saying that they're so afraid of songs being released early that music writers have to go to the band's "headquarters" to hear a preview of the album, rather than sending out copies. The article, from the Times Online, is a bit strange. It basically reads like a press release for some company that tries to monitor and stop online file sharing -- though, it's not clear if the Arctic Monkeys are using that particular service (it's implied, but the wording is written in a way that suggest they may not be). Either way, it may be a bit surprising that a band like the Arctic Monkeys would suddenly be against file sharing -- but as some have pointed out, rather than encouraging new and innovative works, intellectual property protection often comes after some have had some successes, as a way of protecting that success, rather than working hard on new efforts.
Television

Submission + - Is iTunes changing the way 20-somethings watch TV?

Handsome B. Wonderful writes: http://macenstein.com/default/archives/573

A quick look at the top TV programs sold on iTunes shows quite a disparity between America's top shows according to Nielsen and what the average iTunes user is watching. For instance, the TV show LOST, once a media darling, has struggled this season, and often does not make it into the top 20 shows of the week. However, LOST does consistently well in the iTunes rankings, and this week occupies slots 1, 4, and 17 as of this writing. Battlestar Galactica (iTunes ranked 3, and 11) and South Park (iTunes ranked 7, 8, and 12) both fail to crack the Top 20 cable shows each week, and consistently lose out to shows such as The Fairly Odd Parents and reruns of House and Spongebob Squarepants. The FOX shows 24 (iTunes ranked 2, and 10) and Prison Break (iTunes ranked 6) do not appear in Nielsen's Top 10 either.

So why are these shows huge hits on iTunes at $1.99 an episode when many of these shows can't attract viewers for FREE on broadcast TV? Simple. Younger viewers, college students, largely, are finding iTunes' "On-Demand" style of television viewing fits their hectic schedule better than appointment television.
Be

Submission + - ACCESS claims Zeta has no rights to BeOS

atezun writes: After continual unabated doubts of the legality of Zeta, (formerly distributed by Yellowtab and a short while by Magnussoft) ACCESS, formerly PalmSource and the current holder of BeOS's IP has claimed Bernd Korz, the lead developer of Zeta, has no rights to either develope or distribute BeOS.

From the article: http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/5498/44/

A comment was left on our article yesterday covering this development by David "Lefty" Schlesinger, the Director of Open Source Technologies at ACCESS Co., Ltd., saying in no uncertain terms that Zeta had no legal rights to distribute the BeOS software, much less open source any of it, as the rumours had it:



Zeta is not, nor has it ever been, a licensee of PalmSource (or ACCESS, the company which acquired PalmSource year before last) in any way, shape or form. If Zeta or magnussoft has claimed that they have a license with us, that's a complete falsehood.

As the legitimate owners of the intellectual property formerly belonging to Be, our position is that the product marketed by YellowTab and then by magnussoft represents a pirated version of BeOS, done without our permission or approval.

Magnussoft is thus in no position to open source anything, since their product, in its entirety, represents a derivative work of our intellectual property.
GNOME

Submission + - Does GNOME interface need overhaul?

mutebargee writes: Although GNOME seems to be incrementally improved, Jono Bacon writes: "For a while I had been mulling over different concepts and ideas about how GNOME should work, and trying to distill them into core interactions for a desktop". "The problem with current desktops is that they are largely artificial. We have created modes of interaction that the user has to learn to understand the computer, instead of the computer trying to understand the user.""The next-gen GNOME needs to change this. It really, really does. What I want to see is an organic environment; one that is designed around human interactions, tasks and concepts that we find natural, intuitive and repeatable."

Is necessary for GNOME to re-invent the term desktop? Will KDE 4.0 give to GNOME a hard time?
Operating Systems

Submission + - ACCESS Confirms Zeta BeOS Version Infringing!

bornagainpenguin writes: ACCESS, (current owners of the BeOS Codebase) confirmed Bernd Korz (YellowTab, Magnussoft) never received a license from them to create the derivative Zeta from the BeOS codebase. David "Lefty" Schlesinger, the Director of Open Source Technologies at ACCESS Co., Ltd. claimed ACCESS had sent numerous cease and desist letters to Korz, all of which had been ignored and said: "If Herr Korz feels that he holds a legitimate license to the BeOS code he's been using, we're completely unaware of it, and I'd be fascinated to see him produce any substantiation for that claim."

Schlesinger had nothing but positive words to say regarding Haiku, the open source clone of BeOS which is even now nearing its 1.0 release and which hopes in that release to be fully compatible with BeOS R5: "I believe Haiku _does_ represent original work. In fact, I have recently — at Jorge's behest — released "The Be Book" and several Be-generated newletters under a Creative Commons deed — specifying "no derivative works, no commercial use, must attribute — so as to allow the Haiku Project to make those more widely available. Koki did the proper thing: he _asked_ me first."

He did say a few things that were troubling though, for users of Vasper's BeOS Max Edition, (a customized version of the BeOS Personal Edition, )something many BeOS fans have seen as a source of continuity while the community awaits the release of Haiku: "I haven't looked into BeOS Max, but if it represents original work, then I wouldn't see it as being an issue. If it's derivative of works on which we control the copyright, i.e. if it includes substantial and recognizable portions of such works, then it's a problem."

What does this mean for those who paid in excess of hundreds of dollars for Korz's infringing version of BeOS? Should ACCESS have made a public statement before this, warning people from buying spending money on an illegal OS?

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