Comment Rare Weapons (Score 5, Funny) 598
I don't pirate, I ninja loot!
Submission + - Microsoft's 'Clippy' is also a security hole...
david.emery writes: "According to an article in extremetech, there's an (ActiveX, of course) vulnerability in Windows 2k 'Clippy': http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2182388,00.asp
Well, this just confirms what we always thought. Not only is "Clippy" annoying, he's actively evil :-)"
Well, this just confirms what we always thought. Not only is "Clippy" annoying, he's actively evil
Submission + - Steering probes through the body using magnets
Matthew Sparkes writes: "Microscopic medical devices could one day be steered through a patient's bloodstream using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, Canadian research suggests. In the study, researchers were able to move small magnetic beads through the arteries of live pigs using the magnetic coils inside an MRI device. Being able to move tiny working medical devices through the body this way could let doctors reach areas beyond the scope of keyhole surgery or other existing techniques. Software was written that uses the three coils to steer magnetic objects around, it checks on the object's progress twenty four times every second and continuously alters the strength of each coil to keep it on course."
Journal Journal: Alaska Loses Info on a $38 Billion Dollar Account
JUNEAU, Alaska -- Perhaps you know that sinking feeling when a single keystroke accidentally destroy hours of work. Now imagine wiping out a disc drive containing an account worth $38 billion.
Submission + - Store says DRM causes 3 of 4 support calls
Carter writes: Ars Technica reports that Musicload, one of Europe's largest movie stores, says that
75% of its customer support problems are caused by DRM. Users have frequent problems using the music that they have purchased, which has led Musicload to try selling
independent label music with DRM. The results? Artists choosing to abandon DRM have seen 40% growth in sales. Good to see someone in the business both "gets it" and is willing to do something about it.
Submission + - Our transportation fuel needs solved?
HoagieWan writes: The Energy Blog has a story detailing a more efficient biofuel production process that may solve the transportation fuel crisis! This sounds very promising!
http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/03/ hydrogen_inject.html
http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/03
Submission + - Learn to love Object-Oriented Databases again
BlueVoodoo writes: "It has been said that the database wars are over and the relational database won. However, anyone who believes this state of affairs has led to peace and prosperity among programmers hasn't tried using a relational database to back Java objects lately. Try the object-oriented alternative known as db4o."
Submission + - Will Microsoft Start Paying for Flaws?
Clint27 writes: Interesting discussion over at ZDNet about hackers are starting to agitate for Microsoft to start paying for information on security flaws found in its software products. The best comment from from Dan Geer: "Who's to say they aren't don't do it already? It's a fine line between deciding to buy vulns and paying protection, and if this really has become a game where the best business deal wins, then Microsoft could, if it chose, embrace the extortionists and buy them out."
Journal Journal: Reply to Washington Post "End of the Leftists"
Liberalism is philosophy of openness to change. It is hopeful. It serves broad needs.
The left/right split is artificial. Sociology has a school of thought called spiral dynamics theory, which posits that mindsets fall into several broad categories: nature-worship, authoritarian, oligarchic, consensus-seeking, etc.
Submission + - Activate Windows Vista in 30 days... or never!
jorgeleon writes: When you install windows Vista you need to activate it in 30 days... no, wait! in 60 days... no, in 90 days... no in... never mind.
Looks like it can be postponed forever as it is explained in: http://www.windowssecrets.com/comp/070315/#story1
From the article:
The feature that I've revealing today shows that Microsoft has built into Vista a function that allows anyone to extend the operating system's activation deadline not just three times, but many times. The same one-line command that postpones Vista's activation deadline to 120 days can be used an indefinite number of times by first changing a Registry key from 0 to 1.
Looks like it can be postponed forever as it is explained in: http://www.windowssecrets.com/comp/070315/#story1
From the article:
The feature that I've revealing today shows that Microsoft has built into Vista a function that allows anyone to extend the operating system's activation deadline not just three times, but many times. The same one-line command that postpones Vista's activation deadline to 120 days can be used an indefinite number of times by first changing a Registry key from 0 to 1.
Submission + - Peer-to-peer poisoners: A tour of MediaDefender
wwmedia writes: "When your company poisons peer-to-peer networks for a living, public relations usually takes a back seat to discretion; quiet is the rule in the P2P content-protection industry. That's why Jonathan Lee, the company's VP of business development, isn't worried that the corporate web site is down when I reach him in his Santa Monica office. "It's kind of ugly anyway," he says.
For a company like MediaDefender, the largest such firm in existence, privacy comes naturally, but a 2005 acquisition by ARTISTDirect has encouraged the firm to take its services public as it starts to look beyond its original client base — music labels and movie studios — and dives headfirst into the brave new world of providing legitimate P2P content for advertisers.
http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/mediadefen der.ars"
Submission + - AT&T/Cingular Blocks Calls to Some Numbers
jj writes: "Ars Technica reports that Cingular/AT&T has blocked their customers from calling various 'free' calling services, like FuturePhone and PartyLine Connect, in the 712 area code. Cingular representative Mark Siegel said, "We have to pay terminating access for every minute the person is on the line. Typically these companies run them through local exchange companies that charge high access rates, so we end up paying high access charges."
If Cingular/AT&T is allowed to unilaterally block their customers from calling specific telephone numbers, what will stop them from blocking calls to competing cell carriers or even worse growing VoIP Providers like SunRocket or NuFone?"
If Cingular/AT&T is allowed to unilaterally block their customers from calling specific telephone numbers, what will stop them from blocking calls to competing cell carriers or even worse growing VoIP Providers like SunRocket or NuFone?"
Submission + - Kaleidescape finally gets its day in court
Naviztirf writes: Kaleidescape, the maker of those $20,000 DVD servers, is being sued by the DVD CCA for "Breach of Contract". Today, Kaleidescape CEO Michael Malcolm will appear in court to defend his company. From the article: "The DVD CCA, which licenses the Content Scramble System (CSS) for copy-protecting DVDs, sued Kaleidescape in December 2004, claiming the maker of video servers breached a contract by building "a system to do precisely what the license and CSS are designed to prevent ... the wholesale copying of protected DVDs," according to a statement released by the DVD CCA back then."
Submission + - YouTube Video Awards, a legal defence?
An anonymous reader writes: ZDNet reports that later today YouTube will launch its 'YouTube Video Awards' for 2006. Nominees (which include big hitters such as Lonelygirl15 and Ask a Ninja) will be invited to upload new content over the next five days to promote themselves and canvas for votes. After which, we can expect a round of acceptance speeches. However, Don Dodge (an ex-VP of Product Development at Napster, during its good old P2P days) says the awards are a tactic by YouTube designed to deflect from their legal woes. The idea, he says, is to show the courts that there is "substantial non-infringing use" of the service.
Companies Asked to Donate Unused Patents 140
Radon360 writes "There are countless patents that are promising but sitting idle, stowed in the corporate file room. In fact, about 90 percent to 95 percent of all patents are idle. Countless patents sit unused when companies decide not to develop them into products. Now, not-for-profit groups and state governments are asking companies to donate dormant patents so they can be passed to local entrepreneurs who try to build businesses out of them. "
