Apu - Slashdot User

Amazon Gives in on Text-To-Speech 0

Submitted by Apu on Saturday February 28 2009, @02:11AM

Apu writes "CNET is reporting that Amazon "announced late Friday that the company is modifying systems to allow authors and publishers to decide whether to enable Kindle's text-to-speech function on a per-title basis." Slashdot previously covered the Authors Guild President who believes "royalty-free text-to-speech" on the Kindle creates a derivative work and Amazon has apparently decided its better to make the authors (or publishing houses) happy at the consumer's expense."

kernel.org goes FreeBSD 0

Submitted by Apu on Monday March 31 2008, @09:48PM

Apu writes "John 'Warthog9' Hawley sent an e-mail to various lists today: 'After much deliberation, research and argument in #korg (along with screaming matches between HPA and I over dinner) we are upgrading the kernel.org machines from Fedora Core 5 to FreeBSD 7.0. This decision does not come lightly to the Kernel.org admins, and we would like to point out several key things that helped us form our decision.'"

Verizon Details Open-Access Policy 0

Submitted by Apu on Wednesday March 19 2008, @12:42PM

Apu writes "The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Verizon Wireless has released details of how consumers would be able use handsets and services that the carrier doesn't offer. Any device will be acceptable "as long as it meets the carrier's minimum technical requirements" and end-users can have "a direct relationship with Verizon" or device-makers can "buy wholesale voice minutes and data capacity from the carrier and re-sell them to consumers under their own brands.""

FCC ends 700 MHz auction 0

Submitted by Apu on Wednesday March 19 2008, @02:54AM

Apu writes "Having received bids totaling $19.5 billion over 260 rounds of bidding, the FCC has announced the closing of Auction 73. The Chairman's statement notes that the auction has "raised more money than any [FCC] auction has ever raised" besting the 2006 Advanced Wireless Service-1 auction that raised $13.9 billion and topping the $10.6 billion Congress estimated it would receive for the 700 MHz spectrum. The New York Times reports that "the last bid in the auction was $91,000 for frequencies around Vieques, Pureto Rico."

According to the FCC, "eight unsold licenses [...] remain held by the FCC and will again be made available [...] in a future auction." This includes the "D block" which was to be shared by commercial and public safety users and only received a single $472 million bid, below the $1.3 billion reserve price. However, as previously reported, the open access provisions will apply to one-third of the auctioned spectrum as the minimum $4.6 billion bid for the "C" block was received.

The names of the winning bidders have not yet been made public."

Bank Asks to Drop WikiLeaks Case-> 0

Submitted by Apu on Wednesday March 05 2008, @11:45PM

Apu writes "The New York Times is reporting that Bank Julius Baer has asked a federal judge to drop its case against WikiLeaks. "In its court filing, lawyers for Bank Julius Baer wrote that the bank 'may, at their option, later pursue their claims, including in an alternate court, jurisdiction or venue.' But lawyers for the organizations that filed motions to intervene and friend-of-the-court briefs said they thought it unlikely that the bank would attempt to continue litigation elsewhere.""
Link to Original Source

ACLU of Ohio Files Suit to Block Paper Ballots 0

Submitted by Apu on Tuesday January 29 2008, @07:21AM

Apu writes "The New York Times is reporting on an Ohio Lawsuit Over Primary Ballots. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio is asking a federal judge for an injunction against any election in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, arguing that "the proposed paper-ballot system would violate voters' constitutional rights because it does not allow them to correct errors before the ballots are cast.""

iPhone reported vulnerable via WiFi 0

Submitted by Apu on Monday July 23 2007, @11:01PM

Apu writes "Reuters is reporting 'The iPhone and Apple Inc.'s desktop computers may be vulnerable to hackers due to a flaw in their Web browser, according to a security firm, which said it found a way to hack into the iPhone. Baltimore-based Independent Security Evaluators, which tests its clients' computer security by hacking it, said on Monday that three employees found a way to take control of iPhones through a Wi-Fi link or by tricking users into going to a Web site.'"