Blikkie - Slashdot User

Vacuum tube turns 100

Submitted by

wenko

on Sunday March 04 2007, @03:02AM

wenko writes "The device that heralded the beginning of the 20th century electronics industry first saw the light of day in late 1906, just over a century ago. This was the triode electron tube, or audion, as its inventor called it."

Apple and Cisco share iPhone name

Submitted by Verunks on Thursday February 22 2007, @04:20AM

Verunks writes "Apple and Cisco Systems over the iPhone brand, with both companies agreeing that each can use the name for their products.
In a joint statement, Cisco and Apple said both companies could use the word iPhone on their products worldwide. All lawsuits connected with dispute have been dismissed."

Fran Allen becomes first woman to win Turing award

Submitted by

shoemortgage

on Thursday February 22 2007, @01:22AM

shoemortgage writes "The Association for Computing Machinery, has named Frances E. Allen the recipient of the 2006 A.M. Turing Award for contributions that fundamentally improved the performance of computer programs in solving problems, and accelerated the use of high performance computing. This award marks the first time that a woman has received this honour."

YouTube bans video containing Qur'an quotes

Submitted by

skraps

on Saturday February 10 2007, @03:40AM

skraps writes "YouTube, in a move that has caused quite a reaction in the community, has censored popular atheist commentator NickGisburne. Mr. Gisburne has built a large following on YouTube by making simple and accessible logical arguments against Christian beliefs, and had recently decided to change the focus of his videos to the Qur'an, the central religious text of Islam. YouTube reacted by deleting his account, along with 60+ videos, after he posted a simple slide-show video with direct quotes from the English translation of the Qur'an, containing no commentary aside from the video's title "Islamic Teachings — Cruelty from the Qur'an". YouTube's explanation was "After being flagged by members of the YouTube community, and reviewed by YouTube staff, the video below has been removed due to its inappropriate nature. Due to your repeated attempts to upload inappropriate videos, your account now been permanently disabled, and your videos have been taken down."

Do "Web 2.0" sites like YouTube fit the legal definition of a "public commons", and if so, what will it take for corporations like YouTube to start honoring constitutionally protected speech?"