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Mattintosh (758112)

Mattintosh
  (email not shown publicly)
Just a guy who decided he'd lurked long enough...

Mattintosh (758112)

  Netflix confirms it, Blockbuster is dying[->] 2007-11-02 14:41 Mattintosh

Submitted by Mattintosh on Friday November 02 2007, @02:41PM
So maybe it's not Netflix, just some blogger from C|Net, but it's still an external pundit's assessment that Blockbuster is failing as a company. Some notable highlights include heavy losses ($35 million), job cuts ($45 million worth), store closings (526 of them), a stock price in freefall ($5.06 at the end of Thursday), and an executive with his head in the sand.
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13506_1-9809950-17.html?tag=blg.orig
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 [+] , movies

  Your Rights Online: FBI Coerced Confession Deemed "Classified" 2007-10-22 13:24

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday October 22 2007, @01:24PM
from the united-states-of-embarrassment dept.
Steve Bergstein is one of several who have blogged about a recent court ruling that reads like most any bestselling crime novel. Apparently, when the court originally posted their decision (complete with backstory) it detailed how a coerced confession was obtained by the FBI from Abdallah Higazy in relation to the 9/11 attacks. The details, however, were later removed and deemed "classified". "As I read the opinion I realized it was a 44 page epic, too long for me to print out. I blogged about the opinion while I read it online and then posted the blog as I ate lunch. Then something strange happened: a few minutes after I posted the blog, the opinion vanished from the Court of Appeals website! [...] The next day, the Court of Appeals reissued the Higazy opinion. With a redaction. The court simply omitted from the revised decision facts about how the FBI agent extracted the false confession from Higazy. For some reason, this information is classified."
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 [+] story, yro, court, torture, usa, fascist, gestapo

  Meta: A Brief History of Slashdot Part 2, Explosions 2007-10-10 12:00

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 10 2007, @12:00PM
from the are-we-there-yet dept.
When last we left off, Slashdot had grown beyond my ability to maintain it as a hobby, as well as beyond the simple DEC Alpha Multia 166 that had served it so well for the first week or two, and then immediately buckled under the traffic. Here in Part 2, we ride the wave of Slashdot's growth from early '98 until whenever my wrists get tired enough that I stop yakking until next week.
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 [+] story, meta, slashdot, navalgazing, slashd10t, negro, yakking

  It's not just software and bus. process patents 2007-08-14 14:23 greenbird

Submitted by greenbird on Tuesday August 14 2007, @02:23PM
greenbird writes "Does the US Patent Office even read the patents before granting them? Here's a patent for putting an LED in a recharger that was filed April 17, 2002 and granted June 22, 2004. Their first extortion victim is Apple who they have sued in every patent trolls favorite court in Marshall, Texas. A great quote via Techdirt from their patent lawyer: "They [Apple] pay us millions of dollars, that's the next step.". How on earth could this patent get approved? I can't recall seeing a recharger without an LED for the last 10 years."
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 [+] submission, yro, patents

  Not everyone is using lawyers. 2007-06-07 16:38 prelelat

Submitted by prelelat on Thursday June 07 2007, @04:38PM
prelelat writes "It seems that the NHL was initially upset about the use of sling box to transmit it's broacast but has learned from the RIAA's mistakes:

Sling Media is the company behind the Slingbox, a set-top box that lets people beam the cable or satellite TV channels they receive at home to their computer (think: laptop) via the Internet (e.g., to a hotel room or airport many miles from home). Under its deal with Sling, the NHL will be able to cash in on fans' enthusiasm for sharing highlights from the games they watch, rather than trying to stop them from uploading those clips.
MLB seems to have more problems with the technology, but have also decided suing would not be the answer."
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 [+] submission, yro, tv
  • Nothing More

  TJ Maxx breach compromises millions 2007-01-20 15:51 teslatug

Submitted by teslatug on Saturday January 20 2007, @03:51PM
teslatug writes "As many as 40 million credit and debit card numbers may have been compromised following a computer security breach at the retailer that operates T.J. Maxx and Marshall's stores. This could be the biggest such breach in the U.S., and it could go back as far as four years."
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 [+] submission, it, security
  • Nothing More

  Gonzales denies Americans have habeas rights 2007-01-20 15:42 TrumpetPower!

Submitted by TrumpetPower! on Saturday January 20 2007, @03:42PM
TrumpetPower! writes "This past Thursday, in response to questioning by Senator Arlen Specter (R, PA), US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary committee that ``The Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States or citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas corpus. '' The exchange between Mr. Gonzales and Senator Specter has received virtually no attention from the press; Google News currently has all of a dozen or so stories. Habeas corpus is the right, in America guaranteed by Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution, which ensures that people are not unjustly imprisoned and tried."
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 [+] submission, politics, usa
  • Nothing More

  Politics: Homeland Security Director Defends Real ID 2006-12-14 19:22

Posted by Zonk on Thursday December 14 2006, @07:22PM
from the fighting-the-fight dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff is defending the upcoming rollout of the national ID card as vital for the nation's security. Chertoff reminded reporters of the importance of the initiative after this week's uncovering of an ID-forging ring. The Real ID Act of May 2005 dictates the uses and requirements for the documentation, which by 2008 may be required for everything from travel to banking. Just the same, the HSD has yet to dictate how exactly the cards will work. " From the article: "The Homeland Security chief, who is nearing his two-year mark with the agency, was likely trying to quell rampant skepticism about the IDs voiced by some privacy advocates, immigrants and other groups. Some have said they fear that the IDs are a stepping stone to a veritable police state, complete with ready surveillance of individuals. Some have argued that the idea of creating more tamperproof IDs is only a marginally better way to screen out those intent on committing terrorist acts because ID cards don't even begin to tackle a core crime prevention challenge: determining a person's unspoken intentions. "

  Games: Gamers Divorced From Reality? 2006-11-21 13:34

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday November 21 2006, @01:34PM
from the only-as-much-as-you-are-bill dept.
nd01 writes "According to Gamepolitics.com, Bill OReilly has a few choice words for gamers and computer geeks in general. The well-known conservative pundit has harsh words for iPod owners, gamers, the PS3, and all of us 'disconnected from reality' by modern technological contrivances." From the article: "Basically what you have is a large portion of the population, mostly younger people under the age of 45, who don't deal with reality — ever. So they don't know what day it is; they don't know temperature it is; they don't know what their neighbor looks like. They don't know anything... because they are constantly diverted by a machine. Now what this does is it takes a person away from reality because they've created their own reality..." Bill ... how shall I put this? Jack Thompson has already learned a valuable lesson along these lines, and I think you would do well to keep it in mind. Don't mess with Texas.
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 [+] story, games, luddite, troll, flamebait, slashdotted, idiot

  Your Rights Online: Letter to European Commission Warns Against Open Source 2006-10-17 17:56

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday October 17 2006, @05:56PM
An anonymous reader writes "TechWorld is reporting that they have a leaked copy of a letter written to the European Commission detailing the extent of lobby pressure coming from proprietary software groups working against open source software. From the article: 'Lueders sent the letter [PDF] on 10 October to leaders of the Commission's Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry, in response to an EC-commissioned study into the role of open source software in the European economy (referred to by Lueders as Free/Libre/Open Source, or FLOSS). In the letter, he criticised the study as biased and warns that its policy recommendations, if carried out, could derail the European software economy.'"
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 [+] story, yro, software

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