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SPAM: FBI set to build big biometric database

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes "Published reports say the FBI is almost ready to award a $1 billion, 10 year services contract to expand a controversial biometric database of individual's physical characteristics all in the name of fighting crime and terrorists more efficiently. Privacy advocates and anyone else who is concerned about any government agencies collecting such private information say such a database is crossing the line and the use of it needs to be monitored closely, if the system is to be built at all. The FBI already maintains the largest biometric database in the world, containing the fingerprints and corresponding criminal history information for more than 47 million subjects in the Criminal Master File, according to the FBI Web site. The fingerprints and corresponding criminal history information are submitted voluntarily by state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies. [spam URL stripped]"
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Internet Explorer

IE8 now passes ACID2 - with caveats. 2

Submitted by
Sander
Sander writes "Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager of the Internet Explorer team, just announced that "IE8 now renders the "Acid2 Face" correctly in IE8 standards mode."
He does however not specify what this "IE8 standards mode" entails exactly, and most importantly, he doesn't specify how it is triggered. Given a remark such as "We must deliver improved standards support and backwards compatibility so that IE8 (1) continues to work with the billions of pages on the web today that already work in IE6 and IE7", it's unfortunately a likely possibility that no pages currently existing on the internet will be able to benefit of this new rendering mode out of the box, but that all will need some sort of "trigger" to gain access to this new mode."
KDE

Original KDE3 vs. KDE4 Memory Comparison Debunked->

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes "The author of the original KDE 3.5 vs KDE 4.0 memory comparison, which indicated that KDE 4.0 used less memory than the KDE 3.5 series, has come out with a more accurate benchmark. In reality, KDE 4.0 uses 110 MB more memory than KDE 3.5.8. This was no surprise to many KDE developers, who saw many mistakes in the way the original results were obtained. However, given the new composite window manager, Plasma/Oxygen bling, and numerous new features, the extra memory consumption is probably well worth it!"
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Internet Explorer

Opera Tells EU That Microsoft's IE Hurts the Web->

Submitted by
kastababy
kastababy writes "In yet another instance of up-and-coming browser developers fighting back against the Microsoft behemoth, the makers of Opera have filed a complaint with the European Union against Microsoft. In their complaint, they allege that IE's 77% market share abuses its dominant position by tying IE to Windows and its refusal to accept Web standards, causing significant interoperability issues. The complaint also requests that the EU's Antitrust Division force Microsoft to separate IE from Windows and accept several different standards, thereby resolving major interoperability issues and providing consumers more choice in the browser market."
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Microsoft

Dell: You cannot use MS Vol Lic. on Open Source PC-> 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Dell says you can't use your existing Microsoft Volume Licensing on its line of Open Source notebook computers. They go on to say, "Customers interested in a Microsoft® Windows® solution should purchase a Dell notebook pre-loaded with Windows XP Professional."

What good is volume licensing if you have to buy a computer that already has a license?"
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Digital

What to do with your old computer? 1

Submitted by
nilstar
nilstar writes "Just like many of you, I have way too many PCs cluttering my house. Some of them have pretty "reasonable" specs (e.g., Athlon XP 2200+). I've tried my hand at selling them on craigslist, ebay and kijiji. But it seems nobody wants them? I even looked at donating them. Charities accepting donated PCs are few and far between in Canada. I found one where I have to drive 100 clicks to their depot because they don't pickup.

What can I do with my old PC hardware?"
Networking

Cisco to Allow Third Parties to access IOS->

Submitted by MT628496
MT628496 writes "Cisco plans to build IOS on a UNIX kernel and allow third party developers to access certain parts of it. IOS has traditionally been a closely guarded piece of software without any way for anyone to add functionality. There is not a time frame for when this is to occur."
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Networking

Broadband isn't broadband unless its 2Mbps?

Submitted by quanticle
quanticle writes "According to House Democrats, broadband isn't broadband unless its at least 2Mbps.

From the article:

The Broadband Census of America Act, currently in draft form, asks the FCC to increase its broadband threshold speed from 200Kbps to 2Mbps and to stop claiming that a ZIP code has broadband access if even a single resident in that ZIP code does.
"

A shapely CATHOLIC SCHOOLGIRL is FIDGETING inside my costume..