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Announcements

Submission + - Superconducting heat spreader to obsolete CPU fans

Submitted by vinsci
vinsci writes: R&D company Novel Concepts, Inc. has announced its new IsoSkin heat spreader material that dissipates heat 20 times more effectively than copper, according to the company. The thin (down to 500 microns) IsoSkin spreaders could eventually be used to replace the outer "skin" of portable electronics, thereby eliminating the need for heat sinks and fans that cool notebooks and PCs, ExtremeTech reports.
Announcements

Submission + - Pirate Bay permanantly quits plans for own nation

Submitted by
Jared
Jared writes: "The world's most famous BitTorrent pirates decide to permanently drop anchor in their home country of Sweden, saying the whole affair was really for them to be able to "look on Google Maps and find ourselves there." In a response from an ADMIN over at The Free Nation Foundation, which split from BuySealand to form a group of the truly committed, he writes that "Personally, I'd like to say I 'saw it coming', but truthfully, I can't. What I can say, though, is that I'm not all that surprised, especially after the roller coaster ride their forums took." — Now I just wonder what the guys who donated a share of the $25,000 bucks The Pirate Bay has in collected in donations so far think about the fact that their money was simply a big Google Earth ad. Refunds anyone?"
Editorial

Submission + - The Bane of Forced Obsolescence

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Everyone hates being forced to upgrade when they don't want to. Especially when it's the hardware or software company forcing them to upgrade. This article discusses some of the reasons behind this, suggestions for changes, and calls for both hardware and software companies to start changing in ways that the customers want, not just what the investors and managers demand or dictate.
Desktops (Apple)

Submission + - Dell XPS 710 H2C Watercooled Desktop Tested

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "Dell's XPS 710 H2C Edition is touted as a top-of-the-line, ultra-performance machine built with performance enthusiasts in mind. Not only does the XPS 710 H2C hold the distinction of being Dell's first volume available, factory overclocked computer, but it also uses Dell's first in-house developed liquid cooling system to keep its quad-core power plant cool. This evaluation at HotHardware has plenty of performance data and goes into great detail on the technologies employed in the XPS 710 H2C Edition. It sure seems like a killer system if you can justify the investment."
The Courts

Couple Who Catch Cop Speeding Could Face Charges 876

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the turnabout-isn't-fair-play dept.
a_nonamiss writes "A Georgia couple, apparently tired of people speeding past their house, installed a camera and radar gun on their property. After it was installed, they caught a police office going 17MPH over the posted limit. They brought this to the attention of the local police department, and are now being forced to appear in front of a judge to answer to charges of stalking."
Microsoft

Submission + - Ballmer hints at Xbox 360 price cuts

Submitted by thefickler
thefickler writes: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has strongly hinted that the company will look at cutting the price of its Xbox 360 in a recent financial analyst briefing in New York. Ballmer said that the company would review the price of the Xbox 360 to ensure that it remains competitive as well as profitable:
The Internet

Submission + - What Do Geeks Want Out Of Social Networking?

Submitted by
Praedon
Praedon writes: "I run a Social Networking site called Geekalize, which is geared toward gamers, programmers, IT, etc. My goal here, is to bring a GOOD name to social networking and raise the bar, where there are such low standards elsewhere at other sites. I have focused on integration using YouTube API, I have spent countless hours browsing the web for new and unique things, but creativity can only go so far.

So I am calling on you, Slashdot, to speak your mind about social networking for geeks (and nerds!), and to give all the constructive feedback that you possibly can on what the standards should REALLY be for a social networking site 100% driven by the members."
The Courts

Blizzard Officially Files Against WoW Glider 179

Posted by Zonk from the it-sorta-kinda-is-cheating dept.
Marcus Eikenberry writes "Blizzard and Vivendi today filed against MDY Industries, the makers of the 'WoW Glider' software. Glider allows World of Warcraft players to 'play' while away from the keyboard; the software moves the player's avatar along a set path, following a complex set of instructions dictated in advance. Blizzard is seeking injunctive relief and money damages against MDY. What that means is they want him to stop the production of WoW Glider and they want him to pay them damages. Blizzard believes that Glider infringes on their intellectual property. They believe Glider allows players to cheat, giving them an unfair advantage and that they believe Glider encourages Blizzard customers to breach their contracts for playing the game. Last they claim that Glider is designed to circumvent copyright protections."
Microsoft

Submission + - Vista to disable security in 'pirate' copies?

Submitted by Bearhouse
Bearhouse writes: Many places are reporting that MS's Steve Ballmer is 'blaming poor Vista sales on piracy'... This seems to be one of the sources (http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php/id;7680622;fp; 16;fpid;1) From the article, it seems that's not quite what he said. FTA "We have new technologies built into Windows Vista, something we call Windows Genuine Advantage [that] we've really dialed up in capabilities with the Vista release," he said. "I do think that will bring some revenue growth." and "Last fall, when Microsoft announced details of Windows Genuine Advantage in Vista — which included new counterfeit-sniffing software as well as the crippling or disabling of important features....the company took heat from both users and analysts." and We [will] really ferret through how far we can dial it up, and what that means for customer experience and customer satisfaction," Balmer also said that (outside analyst's) sales forecasts for Vista had been 'over optimistic'. So what's the real story here? Is poor takeup of Vista due to little added value and high resource consumption / patchy driver support or is it piracy? Will 'enhanced' WGA increase exiting concerns about upgrading and recovering Vista? Most important, what do people think about MS 'disabling' security features on 'pirate' software, especially in the light of recent posts about S. Korea and China being the source of many attacks? (High rate of piracy = high rate of malware)
The Almighty Buck

RIAA Hires Artists, Then Sends In the SWAT team 420

Posted by Zonk from the dirty-pool-riaa-dirty-pool dept.
cancan writes "The NY times is carrying an article about how the RIAA is hiring hip hop artists to make mix tapes, and then helping the police raid their studios. In the case of DJ Drama and DJ Don Cannon, they were raided by SWAT teams with their guns drawn. The local police chief said later that they were 'prepared for the worst.' Men in RIAA jackets helped cart away 'evidence'. Just the same, 'Record labels regularly hire mixtape D.J.'s to produce CDs featuring a specific artist. In many cases, these arrangements are conducted with a wink and a nod rather than with a contract; the label doesn't officially grant the D.J. the right to distribute the artist's songs or formally allow the artist to record work outside of his contract.' " This is more of the shenanigans that we've previously discussed on the site.
Businesses

Submission + - CompUSA Gives Customer 4+ Month Run-around

Submitted by
Andy
Andy writes: "I've had an ongoing...adventure...with CompUSA's repair and customer service departments for the last four months, the short version of which is that — two years in a row — they damaged my laptop while repairing it (this second time more than once!) and are dragging their feet in responding to me and replacing the computer their service center damaged. I've tried to handle it privately for four months, but at this point, I'm running out of options and hope that Slashdot can help bring some attention to my troubles and turn the heat up on CompUSA a bit so they'll do the right thing!

In October 2005 I brought my Sony laptop to them for service, and it came back with all the case screws in the wrong places, causing physical damage to the case and a big loose gap in the front edge. Then, a year later, they again returned my laptop to me with incorrect screws, and with a wad of tape wedged between the keyboard and the cooling fan!

That started a saga, still ongoing, with more missing screws, a heat-related video problem, a damaged hinge cover, missing protective covers for the LCD's screws, and four months of broken promises, abysmal customer disservice, and lack of returned calls on all levels from the local store's tech services manager, operations manager, and GM up to the corporate manager of customer service and chief of escalation.

I've posted my story on my blog at http://www.onefromtheroad.com/index.php?cat=11 (posts are in reverse order, since it's a blog!)

Please help me spread my story, and hold CompUSA responsible for mistreating their customers like this!

— Andy

P.S.-For futher episodes of CompUSA being involved in grossly mishandling repairs, see http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=28004 5"

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