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Graphics

Submission + - Open Graphics Round Table

Submitted by
cranos
cranos writes: "In this fortnights episode of Open Source On The Air, I sit down with three Graphic Artists who have based their entire work flow on Free and Open Source Software.

We talk about the state of the current FOSS graphics toolset, how this has affected things like barriers to entry, as well as discussing the growing interaction between the audience and the graphic artists.

You can find the full show here: http://localfoss.org/OSOTA/Episode_16"
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft not gaining ground in search

Submitted by klblastone
klblastone writes: Despite Microsoft's massive investment in promoting and improving web-based search, the company still has less than ten percent of search engine marketshare. By comparison, Google is hitting about 50 percent, and still growing. Obviously, gimmicks like the interactive Ms. Dewey aren't helping Microsoft compete with Google in the search arena. Microsoft's deep pockets don't seem to be of much use in the highly competitive and dynamic web services market. As the web 2.0 revolution pushes more and more software online where open standards dominate and Microsoft can't leverage its desktop software monopoly, will the company start lose relevance?
Media

Submission + - RIAA Prepares to Sue 400 College Students

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: The RIAA sent out "pre-litigation settlement notices" to 400 network users at 13 U.S. universities today, continuing a PR blitz that began last week with a much-publicized list of the 25 most notified universities for copyright infringement. Once again, Ohio University tops the list, with one out of every eight notifications. From the press release: "The RIAA will request that universities forward those letters to the appropriate network user. Under this new approach, a student (or other network user) can settle the record company claims against him or her at a discounted rate before a lawsuit is ever filed."
Communications

Submission + - Is statewide Wi-Max possible?

Submitted by Philetus
Philetus writes: While many politicians seem dead set on shutting down or locking off parts the Internet, is it possible that one Deep South state could provide broadband wireless access to all of its residents? That's the pledge of a new bill that was introduced in the South Carolina Statehouse this week.

From the article:
"Toward that end, (Dwight) Loftis, House Speaker Bobby Harrell and others have introduced a bill, H. 3569, that would create the S.C. Wireless Technology and Communications Commission, a body tasked with implementing a statewide wireless broadband network, possibly as early as late 2008."

Is this another case of politicians getting their tubes mixed up, or is a statewide wireless network possible?
Microsoft

Submission + - Ballmer To India: Cut Piracy, Create 50,000 Jobs

Submitted by Pranjal
Pranjal writes: In an interview in Tuesday's edition of the Times Of India, Ballmer says piracy is having "a huge negative impact" on economic growth in India. He also cites an unnamed study indicating that 70% of all software used in the country is pirated. Reducing that number by 10% would lead to the creation of 50,000 new jobs in India, Ballmer says in the interview. InformationWeek.com has a commentary on the news item — "The concern, of course, is that a larger Microsoft presence in India would come at the expense of programming jobs in the U.S. Microsoft employees in Redmond may be hoping that India doesn't take its piracy problem too seriously — it may be the best job protection they have."
Movies

Submission + - C-SPAN Takedown Notice to U.S. Congress

Submitted by
Carl Malamud
Carl Malamud writes: "The New York Times reported on a dustup between C-SPAN and the new Speaker of the House. Speaker Pelosi placed a minute of a congressional hearing on her blog, and C-SPAN sent her a takedown notice. Pelosi caved in and removed the offending video. I think she should have asserted her rights to fair use and told C-SPAN to f*ck off.

The issue of congressional hearings on-line is an important one. Many of the committees, as a matter of policy, refuse to provide archives and everything is streaming-only, low resolution, proprietary. As a partial solution, I've started ripping those streams and uploading them to Google Video and the Internet Archive. (BoingBoing story)

As to C-SPAN, I think they're wrong, and I sent a letter to Brian Lamb yesterday offering to purchase all 6,251 DVDs in his collection that are congressional hearings, and pointed him to >1 minute of C-SPAN video which I have on-line and asserted fair use. Here's my letter to Brian. He hasn't answered my offer, but if he does, I'll then be faced with a $1,059,544 question. :)"
United States

Submission + - FAIR USE Act the death toll for copyright reform?

Submitted by Peacemaker
Peacemaker writes: Response to Rep. Boucher's FAIR USE Act from around the web has been mostly positive, but the bill may become the biggest roadblock in the quest for meaningful copyright reform. 'Why would Boucher, traditionally a staunch supporter of real DMCA reform, choose to put it on the back burner this session in favor of reforming secondary liability rules? It's a pretty good guess that Boucher's allies in the consumer electronics industry had a big influence on his decision. Indeed, the legislation appears to be an attempt by the consumer electronics industry to make a separate peace with copyright interests, leaving the broader movement for balanced copyright policies to soldier on without its support.' While the bill would solve some real problems, 'Boucher should defend that proposal on the merits instead of pretending that his legislation would reform the DMCA or shore up fair use.'
Microsoft

Submission + - California mulls ODF -- hard times for MS ahead?

Submitted by PetManimal
PetManimal writes: The California state legislature will decide on a proposal about whether to have the state government use open, XML-based document file formats starting next January. The proposed bill, AB 1668, is similar to bills filed earlier this month in Minnesota and Texas. Such bills, if passed, would be a big win for the OpenDocument format, and a big loss for Microsoft and its Office suite. However, Microsoft hasn't been sitting on its laurels — besides lobbying Massachusetts legislators and officials to prevent the state government there from turning away from Office, it has also gained standards certification for Open XML from Ecma International and is seeking ISO approval as well.
Businesses

CompUSA Closing More Than 50 Percent of Stores 423

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the trouble-in-paradise dept.
Zurbrick writes to tell us that CompUSA hs announced that they are closing the doors on over half their stores over the next three months. "CompUSA said in a statement it would close 126 of its stores and would receive a $440 million cash capital infusion, but it was not specific as to the source of the cash. The company also said it would cut costs and restructure. The company operates 225 stores, which its Web site says are located in the United States and Puerto Rico. "
XBox (Games)

Submission + - Xbox 360 Can Be Hacked

Submitted by Rob
Rob writes: This was posted yesterday on Security Focus' BugTraq list and looks like a follow-up to the anonymous 23C3 Hacker Congress presentation held in December. Looks like some huge news (Unsigned Code Execution in Hypervisor Mode) even if it's already patched by Microsoft in the latest kernel release: http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEZkykVkkF mojzapEq.php and here it is explained in normal terms: http://www.xboxic.com/news/2485
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - UK gov response to Open Source ePetition

Submitted by mlk
mlk writes:
The [UK] Government will:
  • Consider OSS solutions alongside proprietary ones in IT procurements. Contracts will be awarded on a value for money basis;
  • Only use products for interoperability that support open standards and specifications in all future IT developments;
  • Seek to avoid lock-in to proprietary IT products and services; and
  • Consider obtaining full rights to bespoke software code or customisations of commercial off the shelf (COTS) software it procures wherever this achieves best value for money.
The UK Government champions open standards and interoperability through the e-government interoperability framework (e-gif).
For the full reply: Opensource — epetition reply

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