Slashdot

Barence writes "Nokia has revamped its E-series of business-oriented smartphones with two new models, including the 'world's thinnest' QWERTY device. The GPS-enabled E71 is the slimmer successor to the Nokia E61, with a thickness of only 1cm. It's HSDPA-enabled, offers switchable home screens, and gives a claimed 'two full days of heavy, heavy use.' The E66, on the other hand, is a slide-phone with a conventional numerical keypad and a built-in accelerometer. At the same event, Nokia also gave a tantalizing hint about its plans for an iPhone rival, with its senior vice president saying, 'we will have touchscreen devices coming this year.'"

Pity she ain't a human being.

A number of readers are sending word that the blogosphere and Twittersphere are alight with reports of Microsoft's new block on messages containing YouTube URLs. Both MSN Messenger and Windows Live Messenger reportedly implement the block. One blogger sniffed the network to discover that such messages receive a NAK from Microsoft's servers. Microsoft has been blocking messages by keyword, as an anti-phishing measure, for some time, but *.youtube.com would not seem to provoke much worry about phishing. Instead, as B.E.T.A Daily speculates, "This block seems to be related to the recent launch of Messenger TV in 20 countries which allows for sharing video clips from MSN Video on Messenger." Hard to get away with in an arena where you don't enjoy a monopoly.

timholman writes "According to Gizmodo, an investigation has shown that the $399 OpenMac is almost certainly vaporware, as is Psystar itself. The company's address has actually changed twice this week, according to its web page, and Psystar is no longer accepting credit card transactions. Too bad for those who may have already ordered an OpenMac."

Multiple readers have written to tell us of news that Pakistan has ordered its ISPs to block access to YouTube "for containing blasphemous web content/movies." This follows increasing unrest in Pakistan over a Danish newspaper's reprinting of cartoons which depict Islam in a less-than-favorable light. The cartoons also sparked controversy when they were first published a few years ago.

1shooter writes "news.com reports that Microsoft is withdrawing SP1 for Vista. Nick White, Microsoft product manager blogged 'We've heard a few reports about problems customers may be experiencing as a result of KB937287,' wrote White. 'Immediately after receiving reports of this error, we made the decision to temporarily suspend automatic distribution of the update to avoid further customer impact while we investigate possible causes.'"

This past Sunday members of the group "Anonymous" that has been running an attack on the church of Scientology took their battle from the tubes of the internet to the pavement of real life, staging a protest outside the central Phoenix Church of Scientology. "The protesters said they gathered Sunday in lieu of the birthday of Lisa McPherson, a Scientologist once cared for by church staffers. Her 1995 death sparked media attention and a civil wrongful death suit against a branch of the Church of Scientology. A wrongful death suit by her family was a public-relations nightmare for the church for years until it was settled in 2004. The Church of Scientology declined to comment on the Phoenix protests. It did provide a news release calling members of Anonymous cyber-terrorists."

"The other A. N. Other" writes "It seems that Microsoft has been unsuccessful with SP1 in preventing hackers from turning a pirated, non-genuine copy of Vista into genuine copies that pass activation. The article initially looked at two of the most popular hacks (OEM BIOS hack and the grace timer hack) but after a little digging ZDNet were able to transform a non-genuine install into a genuine one. 'After a few minutes of searching the darker corners of the Internet and a few seconds in the Command Prompt I was able to fool Windows into thinking that it was genuine.'"

The Court has ordered UMG Recordings, Warner Bros. Records, Interscope Records, Motown, and SONY BMG to disclose their expenses-per-download to the defendant's lawyers, in UMG v. Lindor, a case pending in Brooklyn. The Court held that the expense figures are relevant to the issue of whether the RIAA's attempt to recover damages of $750 or more per 99-cent song file, is an unconstitutional violation of due process.

From the article, "Portability is no longer any reason to stick with CDs, and neither is audio quality. Although vinyl purists are ripe for parody, they're right about one thing: Records can sound better than CDs." Without any reason to really buy a CD, vinyl may find a wider audience now. Of course, the RIAA is downplaying it and saying there is no rise. They probably don't want to admit a medium that can't carry DRM, can be on the rise.
http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/commentary/listeningpost/2007/10/listeningpost_1029

An anonymous reader writes "Mike Elgan argues in a PC World article if Apple is replacing Microsoft for the company everybody loves to hate. From the article: "Ten years ago, Microsoft was the company everyone loved to hate.

The most vociferous Microsoft haters slammed the company for being a greedy industry bully that used its monopolistic, clunky, copycat operating system to force software on users and coerce partners into unfair licensing deals.

Don't look now, but the role of the industry's biggest bully is increasingly played by Apple, not Microsoft. Here's a look at how Apple has shoved Microsoft aside as the company with the worst reputation as a monopolist, copycat and a bully."

I personally do not think Apple can replace Microsoft, but they are surely trying to get there, and fast."
http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,136949/printable.html

Spinnerbait writes "After HP's acquisition of Voodoo PC last year, many speculated that the company's entrance into the high-end gaming PC market was imminent. After all, why else would they have bought Voodoo in the first place? However, HP was also secretly working on their own gaming PC, and its codename was Blackbird. Blackbird wasn't being designed solely by the newly acquired engineers from Voodoo. In fact, the Blackbird project was well underway at HP before the acquisition was finalized. The two did collaborate on a design though, that ultimately became the product that is shown here at HotHardware — a high-end, fully customizable machine that's poised to do battle with the best gaming systems the industry has to offer. Benchmarks and a full design showcase are included in the article."
http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/HP_Blackbird_002_High_Performance_Gaming_System/

Lexi1989 writes "http://www.socyberty.com/Society/iPhone-Five-Thing s-You-Should-Know-About-Your-Future-Baby.43069"
http://www.socyberty.com/Society/iPhone-Five-Things-You-Should-Know-About-Your-Future-Baby.43069

fdmendez writes "Apple shows very little restraint when it comes to dishing it out with the competition.

Actually, Apple isn't dishing it out with Dell but rather dishing on Dell. Dell doesn't really dish on anybody. In fact Dell has even shown some admiration for Apple's OSX.

Regardless, a picture found deep within Apple's website (not so subtly) shows that Apple is a little bit (or a lot) better than Dell. The picture in question can be found here."
http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/08/07/fighting-words-apple-insults-dell/