Comment: Re:Masses reaction (Score 4, Insightful) 202
Of course, Faust's deal with the devil was signed too.
Comment: I Have A Soar Provider (Score 1) 334
Everything in my house is "solar" powered in the sense that I have elected a solar provider as my power supplier. (Through de-regulation, supply and delivery are de-coupled in NY and can be purchased separately).
Comment: Re:The tubers are almost certainly not salty. (Score 0) 117
(And no, I'm not exactly new here.)
Yes you are.
Eolas to sue Apple, Google and 23 more->
Submitted
by
vinodis
vinodis writes "Company that won $585M from Microsoft sues Apple, Google
The company that won a patent case against Microsoft in 2003 is now using the same patent to go after 23 other companies, including Apple and Google. The USPTO has upheld the patent several times now, so the case may not be as cut and dry as some other patent complaints."
Link to Original Source
The company that won a patent case against Microsoft in 2003 is now using the same patent to go after 23 other companies, including Apple and Google. The USPTO has upheld the patent several times now, so the case may not be as cut and dry as some other patent complaints."
Link to Original Source
Comment: What Possessed You ... (Score 1) 505
What possessed you to give your SSN to DirectTV?
What possible reason could they have to require that information in the first place, and why would you deal with a business that required it?
Comment: Re:Give spam some love! (Score 1) 284
HP sauce
Was that known as Compaq sauce before the merger?
Microsoft Rushes Internet Explorer Patch 376
Posted
by
CmdrTaco
from the open-source-is-faster dept.
from the open-source-is-faster dept.
drquoz writes "Last week, it was reported that a critical security flaw was found in Internet Explorer. On Tuesday, experts were advising users not to use IE until a patch could be released. On Wednesday, Microsoft released the patch. An interesting quote from the article: 'Kandek suggests that Microsoft is at a disadvantage in updating Internet Explorer because its browser doesn't have a built-in update mechanism like other browser makers. Mozilla, for instance, just released Firefox 3.05 to Firefox users through its auto-update system.'"
British Royal Navy Submarines Now Run Windows 725
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the deep-blue-screen dept.
from the deep-blue-screen dept.
meist3r writes "On his Government blog, Microsoft's Ian McKenzie announced today that the Royal Navy was ahead of schedule for switching their nuclear submarines to a customized Microsoft Windows solution dubbed 'Submarine Command System Next Generation (SMCS NG)' which apparently consists of Windows 2000 network servers and XP workstations. In the article, it is claimed that this decision will save UK taxpayers £22m over the next ten years. The installation of the new system apparently took just 18 days on the HMS Vigilant. According to the BAE Systems press release from 2005, the overall cost of the rollout was £24.5m for all eleven nuclear submarines of the Vanguard, Trafalgar and Swiftsure classes. Talk about staying with the sinking ship."
What Restrictions Should Student Laptops Have? 1117
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the the-less-you-know dept.
from the the-less-you-know dept.
An anonymous reader writes "We're a school district in the beginning phases of a laptop program which has the eventual goal of putting a Macbook in the hands of every student from 6th to 12th grade. The students will essentially own the computers, are expected to take them home every night, and will be able to purchase the laptops for a nominal fee upon graduation.
Here's the dilemma — how much freedom do you give to students? The state mandates web filtering on all machines. However, there is some flexibility on exactly what should be filtered. Are things like Facebook and Myspace a legitimate use of a school computer? What about games, forums, or blogs, all of which could be educational, distracting or obscene? We also have the ability to monitor any machine remotely, lock the machine down at certain hours, prevent the installation of any software by the user, and prevent the use of iChat. How far do we take this?
While on one hand we need to avoid legal problems and irresponsible behavior, there's a danger of going so far to minimize liability that we make the tool nearly useless. Equally concerning is the message sent to the students. Will a perceived lack of trust cripple the effectiveness of the program?"
Comment: Re:And a toddler wanders into your field of fire. (Score 1) 785
Is it ethical to kill the toddler?
One might argue that if you're picnicking in a war zone, you get what you deserve. Once the robot kills the toddler, I'm sure it will be forced to kill the irate parents that attack it. At that point, the robot might have preemptively done the toddler a favor by a) keeping it from being an orphan and b) not making it watch its parent's deaths.
All kidding aside, I'd like to presume that if we can build airport scanners so that TSA agents can look at naked people, we can make these robots determine whether to kill an intruder based not just on their presence, but on whether they pose a threat.