Mard - Slashdot User

Numbers Are Out on How Rich the YouTube Deal Was->

From feed by nytfeed on Wednesday February 07 2007, @11:12PM

The biggest windfalls went to YouTube’s three founders and its main financial backer, Sequoia Capital.
Link to Original Source

Journal: Interviews + unqualified applicants = AAAAAAAARGH!!!! 1

Journal by djh101010 on Wednesday February 07 2007, @11:03PM

OK so we're trying to staff up. This is good. Looking for strong Unix guys with a very well defined job description handed out to headhunters. The market is apparently tight. That, is _not_ good, at least from our perspective. Yesterday, I lost an hour or so of my life that I'll never get back. Let's see.

Genes Linked to Teen Delinquency

Submitted by

sporkme

on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:39PM

sporkme writes "An Australian study has found a link between antisocial behavior and specific genes, independent of parents' emotional influence.

"Our data shows that marital conflict is not a major culprit," said epidemiologist Nick Martin, from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research. "Rows have often been blamed for ratbag behaviour but we've got no evidence to suggest that they are the problem." Researchers, including several from the US, studied 1,045 pairs of twins and their children to see whether the link between parental fighting and kids' conduct problems was genetic or environmental. They found that children of an identical twin had the same levels of behavioural problems regardless of whether it was their parent or their parent's identical sibling that had marital rows.
The study was published in the journal Child Development, which is available by subscription."

RIAA to Apple: Spread the DRM!

Submitted by Kalriath on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:23PM

Kalriath writes "Posted at The Register is the RIAA's official response to Steve Jobs open letter decrying DRM and asking the recording industry to seriously consider allowing DRM-free music. They have this to say about it:

The RIAA has seized on the weakest part of Steve Jobs' anti-DRM manifesto by banging on Apple to license its FairPlay technology to other companies.

"Apple's offer to license FairPlay to other technology companies is a welcome breakthrough and would be a real victory for fans, artists and labels," the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) said. "There have been many services seeking a licence to the Apple DRM. This would enable the interoperability that we have been urging for a very long time."
The section in question from Steves letter, which quite clearly states the problems with this approach reads:

The second alternative is for Apple to license its FairPlay DRM technology to current and future competitors with the goal of achieving interoperability between different company's players and music stores. On the surface, this seems like a good idea since it might offer customers increased choice now and in the future. And Apple might benefit by charging a small licensing fee for its FairPlay DRM.

However, when we look a bit deeper, problems begin to emerge. The most serious problem is that licensing a DRM involves disclosing some of its secrets to many people in many companies, and history tells us that inevitably these secrets will leak. The Internet has made such leaks far more damaging, since a single leak can be spread worldwide in less than a minute. Such leaks can rapidly result in software programs available as free downloads on the Internet which will disable the DRM protection so that formerly protected songs can be played on unauthorized players.
Jobs may be a smooth talker, but against such circular logic, even he can't win."

Microsoft Slugs Mac Users With Vista Tax 661

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:14PM
from the pay-up dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Mac users wanting to run Vista on their Macintosh, alongside Mac OS X programs, will have to buy an expensive version of Vista if they want to legally install it on their systems. The end-user license agreement for the cheaper versions of Vista (Home Basic and Home Premium) explicitly forbids the use of those versions on virtual machines (i.e., Macs pretending to be PCs)." Update: 02/08 17:50 GMT by KD : A number of readers have pointed out that the Vista EULA does not forbid installing it via Apple's Bootcamp; that is, the "tax" only applies to running Vista under virtualization.

Gmail becomes more widely available

Submitted by

jay2000

on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:12PM

jay2000 writes "Google Inc.'s e-mail service is almost ready to accept all comers, nearly three years after the online search leader shook up the Internet by offering users an unprecedented amount of free storage and displaying ads based on the content of the correspondence. Effective Wednesday, the Mountain View-based company removed the invitation-only restrictions on its Gmail service in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Brazil. Google opened up the service last year in several other parts of the world, including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and Egypt. http://jayed.us/2007/02/07/gmail-becomes-more-wide ly-available/"

Vote on the next great Linux application

Submitted by

Morel

on Wednesday February 07 2007, @09:09PM

Morel writes "Linux Format Magazine and Novell have launched a very interesting competition called Make it With Mono. Basically, we are being given the opportunity to finally have that Linux aplication we've always wanted. From the competition description: "On this site you can submit a description for a program you'd love to use, and if other users rate it to the top, your program idea will be written in Mono!" Predictably, some of the apps submitted are too vague, too specific to appeal to a wide audience or replicate existing programs, but there are some absolute jewels, too. Slashdotters of the globe, let's stop our complaining and choose the next killer app!"

Study Show Link Between IT Sabotage, Work Behavior 325

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday February 07 2007, @09:00PM
from the money-well-spent dept.

narramissic writes "According to recent research by the U.S. military and CERT, workers who sabotage corporate systems are almost always IT workers who are disgruntled, paranoid, generally show up late, argue with colleagues, and generally perform poorly."

EMC announces VMware IPO

Submitted by VirtualizationDork on Wednesday February 07 2007, @08:25PM

VirtualizationDork writes "EMC announced that it plans to spin out approximately 10% of its share of VMware — one of virtualization's leading vendors — in an initial public offering (IPO) that should close this summer.

From the article:

"Speaking from VMware's headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., Joe Tucci, EMC Chairman and CEO, said that "VMware's growth has been phenomenal," and that the IPO move was an attempt to "expose this value to EMC shareholders."

EMC purchased VMware in 2004 for $625 million. VMware reported revenues of $709 million in $2006, with Q4 revenue jumping 101% year-over-year. VMware is currently on a $900 million run rate."

Alex Barrett has the story at SearchServerVirtualization.com"

Valve Delays Half-Life 2 Black and Orange Again.

Submitted by Dr. Eggman on Wednesday February 07 2007, @08:20PM

Dr. Eggman writes "In a move surpising very few, Valve Corporation has announced that for the second time, Half-Life 2 Black and Orange boxes have been delayed. The new date is set for "Fall 2007." The previous target date was "late summer." No reason has been given for the delay, but Valve has reaffirmed that this will be a simultaneous worldwide release on all previously announced platforms."