jcrousedotcom - Slashdot User

Submission + - BlackBerry Outage (getmyblackberry.com)

Submitted by jcrousedotcom on Tuesday December 22, 2009 @07:59PM

jcrousedotcom writes: I just got off the phone with my carrier, Sprint, as the Crackberry that my girlfriend on my account uses was connecting to the EVDO network but not so much to the BlackBerry network. They advised me there is an outage and sent me up to a CrackBerry Supervisor who advised 72 hours before the service would again be available. He then followed up by saying "The best bet is to just take the battery out if the device. . ." The phone still works just not the BlackBerry services.

I found a blog that also referenced it....

Submission + - Apple Looks To Deliver 'Coup De Grace' To Psystar (crn.com)

Submitted by jcrousedotcom on Wednesday November 25, 2009 @04:28PM

jcrousedotcom writes: According to the article Apple is seeking a to make permanent the injunction against Pystar installing OS X on close equipment.

"A week and a half after winning a crucial legal victory against Psystar, Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) is seeking an injunction against the Mac clone maker in a move that could shut Psystar down permanently.

Tuesday Apple asked a California district judge to issue the permanent injunction that would prevent Psystar from infringing Apple's copyrights. Such an injunction would likely force Psystar to close its doors.

Apple also said Psystar owes it $2.1 million in damages, according to the filing, although Apple is unlikely to ever collect on that given that Psystar has less than $50,000 in assets, according to a story posted on the Daily Tech Web site.

Apple sued Psystar in July 2008 claiming that Psystar's computers, which ran on a modified, unauthorized version of the OS X operating system, violated Apple copyrights. Apple also charged Psystar with breach of contract, unfair competition, and trade and trademark infringement. "

Submission + - Tests of Time Warner broadband cap rescheduled, de (betanews.com)

Submitted by

jcrousedotcom

on Wednesday April 15, 2009 @03:18PM

jcrousedotcom writes: "Time Warner cable apparently has heard that folks aren't too happy with their plan to meter their unlimited connections. From the first paragraph of the article:

"Time Warner Cable's proposed trials of consumption-based billing were originally slated to begin in several markets this summer, where customers would be a part of a tiered pricing scheme. Pricing would have started at 1 GB per month for $15, and go up to 100 GB per month for $75, and include a per-gigabyte overage fee.

The public's reaction was less than favorable, and the trials in Texas have been rescheduled.""

Submission + - Wii Fit tells 10-year-old she's fat (gamespot.com)

Submitted by

jcrousedotcom

on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @11:24AM

jcrousedotcom writes: "From the Gamespot article:

The reason is that an unnamed 10-year-old girl from South East England was told by the game, during its Body Mass Index test, that she was "fat." (Wii Fit actually puts users into a variety of categories, the two heaviest of which are "overweight" and "obese.")

The stepfather of the girl, who didn't want to be named for her sake, said, "She is a perfectly healthy, 4-feet-9-inch-tall 10-year-old who swims, dances, and weighs only six stone. She is solidly built but not fat. She was devastated to be called fat and we had to work hard to convince her she isn't.""

Submission + - Phone from recycled bottles (computerworld.com)

Submitted by

jcrousedotcom

on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @11:15AM

jcrousedotcom writes: "Computerworld article:

The Moto W233 Renew is described by Motorola as the "world's first carbon neutral mobile phone." Because it is based on recycled plastics, Motorola said today that 20% less energy is needed to produce the phone, compared to the standard plastic process.

To further the green theme, the Renew will come to customers in a box that is reduced in size, and with brochures printed using vegetable-based inks on 100% post-consumer recycled paper."

Submission + - Windows 7 Beta leaked (internetnews.com)

Submitted by

jcrousedotcom

on Tuesday December 30, 2008 @10:25AM

jcrousedotcom writes: "Internet News article reveals "The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is rumored to be the launch pad for Microsoft's one and only public beta test of Windows 7, but it seems a few people couldn't wait until next week. Build 7000, the version planned for use in the beta test, leaked onto BitTorrent sites over the Christmas holiday. "

"While Microsoft would not confirm the rumors that Ballmer would announce a Windows 7 beta during his speech, it did acknowledge the leak.

"It is part of our normal testing process for testers to receive regular builds; however, the Windows 7 public beta is still expected in early 2009," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement e-mailed to InternetNews.com. ""

Submission + - End of an era (pcworld.com)

Submitted by

jcrousedotcom

on Tuesday December 23, 2008 @11:46AM

jcrousedotcom writes: "PC World Article tells us:

"The VHS format has finally died. Even though most of us probably thought it was already long gone, its death certificate was signed when Distribution Video Audio of Palm Harbor, Florida--the last major supplier of VHS tapes--shipped the last of its saleable stock.""

Submission + - XP more popular than Vista. . . With Pirates (computerworld.com)

Submitted by

jcrousedotcom

on Tuesday December 23, 2008 @11:38AM

jcrousedotcom writes: "Another Computerworld article shows Microsoft's ability to spin. This spin explains away why folks would want to pirate XP over Vista:

That pirates have stuck with XP — which retains the bulk of the Windows operating system's market share — is "very consistent with what we've seen in counterfeiting in the past," said MacNaughton. "There's usually a lag of between one and two years [before they can] figure out how to replicate those antipiracy and security features."

Counterfeiters currently copy Office 2003 rather than the newer Office 2007 for the same reasons, she said."

Submission + - Windows XP EOL extended (computerworld.com)

Submitted by

jcrousedotcom

on Tuesday December 23, 2008 @11:29AM

jcrousedotcom writes: "It looks like XP will be alive for a little (probably much) longer:

From the ComputerWorld article:

System builders — the smaller shops and computer dealers that build PCs to order — will now be able to obtain Windows XP Professional licenses through at least May 30 and likely long after, according to a Microsoft spokeswoman. Previously, Microsoft had set Jan. 31 as its deadline for selling new XP licensees to the distributors that supply system builders.

"Microsoft is making accommodations through a flexible inventory program that will allow distributors to place their final orders by January 31, 2009, and take delivery against those orders through May 30, 2009," said a company spokeswoman in an e-mail."

Submission + - Helping my grandpa (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by

jcrousedotcom

on Monday November 17, 2008 @02:42PM

jcrousedotcom writes: "I don't know how many times I a get involved in helping my folks or my grandparents with their technology.

From the ARSTechnica story:
"According to Pew, almost half of adults said they needed someone to help them set up or learn how to use their gadgets. Once they finally get them going, however, things aren't all smooth sailing--44 percent of adults with home Internet connections reported service failure sometime in the last 12 months. Similarly, 39 percent of those with home PCs or laptops, 29 percent of cell phone users, and 26 percent of those with BlackBerrys, Palm Pilots, or other PDAs said their devices stopped working sometime in the last year. Apparently, the most resilient gadget included in Pew's survey was the iPod/MP3 player--only 15 percent of those surveyed reported problems over the last year. "

Submission + - iPhone 2.0 already broken (pcworld.com)

Submitted by

jcrousedotcom

on Monday July 14, 2008 @09:05AM

jcrousedotcom writes: "Apparently, according to the PC World article — the iPhone 2.0 didn't take as long to hack as the 1.0:

Well that was fast. The iPhone 3G has only been available for a matter of hours — not days — but Gizmodo's iPhone Dev Team is already claiming the new software upgrade is unlocked and working just fine. An unlocked or "jailbroken" iPhone has meant you don't need to be an AT&T Wireless customer to get wireless service with an iPhone. The iPhone hack also has allows jailbroken iPhones to run a host of third-party iPhone applications that have not been approved by Apple."

Submission + - Peer Pressure (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by

jcrousedotcom

on Friday June 27, 2008 @04:09PM

jcrousedotcom writes: "Once in a while it is fun to stir the pot. I read the article and honestly agreed with a lot of things in there especially the bit about vista (last line).

I thought a little Window reflection might get the anti-M$ crowd stirred up a bit.

From the article:
There are over a dozen people working at our fair Gizmodo, but as a Windows user, I'm in a definite minority. I still rock XP, and I'm pretty happy with that. Why haven't I switched to Macs? Plenty of reasons, not least of which being that I'm just too smart to switch to a Mac. That's right, I'm too smart for Macs. As Bill Gates's retirement rapidly approaches I figured now is a good time to lay out why I'm loyal to his OS.

I love the ending:
I've made my choice, and I'm sticking by it. At least until I buy my next computer, because I sure as hell don't want to have to use Vista. I mean, I like Windows, but I'm not crazy."

Submission + - Hacking Vista's Smart Cards (darkreading.com)

Submitted by

jcrousedotcom

on Monday March 17, 2008 @08:54AM

jcrousedotcom writes: "DarkReading tells us: The recent wave of smart card hacks have been aimed mainly at the card's chip and bypassing physical security, but not this latest one: A former Microsoft security team member has demonstrated an attack that compromises the smart card's middleware plug-in for Vista machines. (See Black Hat Researcher Hacks Credit Cards and 'Gecko' Penetrates Building Access Systems.)

Researcher Dan Griffin, who previously worked for Microsoft on its smart card program, has developed a custom fuzzing tool that hacks smart card and third-party vendors' plug-in software that use Microsoft's Smart Card Minidriver Interface, which is built into Vista. "I'm not focusing on the smart card chip," Griffin says. "If I just attack a few specific parts [of the middleware], it will fall over.""

Slashdot Top Deals