Forgot your password?

Close
typodupeerror
Politics

+ - Texas Declares War on Robots-> 2

Submitted by Mr_Blank
Mr_Blank writes "Organizations like the EFF and ACLU have been raising the alarm over increased government surveillance of US citizens. Legislators haven't been quick to respond to concerns of government spying on citizens. But Texas legislators are apparently quite concerned that private citizens operating hobby drones might spot environmental violations by businesses. Representative Lance Gooden has introduced HB912 which proposes: "A person commits an offense if the person uses or authorizes the use of an unmanned vehicle or aircraft to capture an image without the express consent of the person who owns or lawfully occupies the real property captured in the image. ('Image' is defined as including any type of recorded telemetry from sensors that measure sound waves, thermal, infrared, ultraviolet, visible light, or other electromagnetic waves, odor, or other conditions.)" Can you foresee any unintended consequences if this proposal becomes law?"
Link to Original Source

+ - Batmobile Copyright Prevents Unauthorized Copies->

Submitted by Mr_Blank
Mr_Blank writes "A federal judge has ruled that Batmobile replicas built by Mark Towle, of Gotham Garage infringe on copyrights and trademarks held by Warner Bros. Towle's attorney argued that US copyright law doesn't allow "useful articles" to be copyrighted. Zerner, in court documents, insisted that Warner Brothers' lawsuit claimed the entire Batmobile was protected including doors, seats and tires. The judge agreed, but then ruled the law does allow copyrighting of unique design elements of useful articles. The judge said, "Defendant did not copy the design of a mere car; he copied the Batmobile character. The fact that the unauthorized Batmoble replicas that Defendant manufactured – which are derivative works – may be 'useful articles' is irrelevant. A derivative work can still infringe the underlying copyrighted work even if the derivative work is not independently entitled to copyright protection." Expect other car manufacturers to put their cars into copyrighted works soon!"
Link to Original Source

Comment: Re:So, Microsoft, you're saying just like Steam? (Score 1) 592

by Mr_Blank (#42819147) Attached to: Xbox 720 Could Require Always-On Connection, Lock Out Used Games

    Too right. If Xbox wants the profits from the Steam model then they will have reduce prices drastically.

    On the Xbox I buy new games for $50 ($60 minus pre-order discounts) and resell them quickly for $30 - $40. I buy 4 - 6 Xbox games per year.

    On Steam I buy games for $2 - $10, typically. I buy 15 - 30 Steam games per year. I never buy games for more than $30 on Steam.

    Also, Steam costs $0 per month to maintain my library. Xbox costs $5. If the Xbox locks me out of games that I own and that I can't sell then the Xbox will not be part of my gaming free time.

Comment: I LV TOFU (Score 1) 178

by Mr_Blank (#42746021) Attached to: DMVs Across the Country Learning Textspeak

2009 Story out of Denver, Colorodo:

Kelly Coffman-Lee wanted to tell the world about her love of tofu by picking the letters for her car's license plate. Her suggestion for the plate on her Suzuki: "ILVTOFU." Department of Revenue spokesman Mark Couch said the letters could be misinterpreted. Coffman-Lee, 38, said tofu is a staple of her family's diet because they are vegan and that the DMV misinterpreted her message.

2012 Story out of Virgina:

If the Department of Motor Vehicles is going to let people praise certain religions or ethnicities on their license plates, it also must let people denigrate individuals of those faiths and nationalities. That's the opinion of a Circuit Court judge, who ruled last week that part of the DMV's guidelines governing vanity tags is unconstitutional. The ruling stemmed from an appeal from an Iraq War veteran who disagreed with the state's decision last year to revoke his personalized plates, which read "ICUHAJI." "Haji" is a common and often derogatory term for Arabs used by U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The veteran's attorney, however, said his client did not intend to offend anyone.

Mars

Curiosity Spies Unidentified, Metallic Object On Mars 396

Posted by Soulskill
from the littering-on-another-planet dept.
MrSeb writes "A few hundred million miles away on the surface of the Red Planet, Mars rover Curiosity has photographed an unidentified, shiny, metallic object. Now, before you get too excited, the most likely explanation is that bright object is part of the rover that has fallen off — or perhaps some debris from MSL Curiosity's landing on Mars, nine weeks ago. There is the distinct possibility, however, that this object is actually native to Mars, which would be far more exciting. It could be the tip of a larger object, or perhaps some kind of exotic, metallic Martian pebble (a piece of metal ore, perhaps). Close-up imagery will now be captured and analyzed, and within the next few days we should know if it's simply a piece of Curiosity — or something a whole lot more exciting."
Businesses

+ - EA Is The Worst Company In America->

Submitted by Mr_Blank
Mr_Blank writes "After more than 250,000 votes, Consumerist readers ultimately decided that the type of greed exhibited by EA is worse than Bank of America's avarice. Game-players have voted to send a message to Electronic Arts and the gaming business as a whole: Stop treating your loyal customers like crap... There have even been numerous accusations that EA and its ilk deliberately hold back game content with the sole intent of charging a fee for it at a later date. It's one thing to support a game with new content that is worth the price. It's another to put out an inferior — and occasionally broken — product..."
Link to Original Source

Comment: Violence or Violence? (Score 5, Insightful) 402

by Mr_Blank (#39450411) Attached to: French President Proposes Jail For Terrorist Website Visitors

Anyone who regularly consults Internet sites which promote terror or hatred or violence will be sentenced to prison

Such a law would be a joy for military recruiters. Click the links below to be put onto a French terrorist watch list!
Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines!
Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines!

I suppose the French President meant violence he does not agree with should be prosecuted. That makes more sense.

Government

+ - CCTV to Stop Refueling for Uninsured Cars-> 1

Submitted by Mr_Blank
Mr_Blank writes ""Cameras at UK petrol stations will automatically stop uninsured or untaxed vehicles from being filled with fuel, under new government plans. Downing Street officials hope the hi-tech system will crack down on the 1.4million motorists who drive without insurance. Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras are already fitted in thousands of petrol station forecourts. Drivers can only fill their cars with fuel once the camera has captured and logged the vehicle’s number plate. Currently the system is designed to deter motorists from driving off without paying for petrol. But under the new plans, the cameras will automatically cross-refererence with the DVLA’s huge database.""
Link to Original Source

Comment: It just so happens (Score 1) 237

by Mr_Blank (#38504300) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Tools For Teaching High School Kids How To Make Games?

    I am teaching my nephews how to program during their week off from school. I went with a platform that all households had readily available: Excel. Excel VBA is robust enough to create fun games from the Atari generation, forgiving enough to keep new programmers from being frustrated quickly, and the skills learned will carry my wards into many business environments for years to come. Even if Excel goes away, learning to manipulate data, graphics, and data in a spreadsheet program will be useful some day.

     

Censorship

+ - Police ask Google to Remove Brutality Videos->

Submitted by Mr_Blank
Mr_Blank writes "Videos of police brutality at Occupy Oakland are all over the Internet.

A few local law enforcement agencies would like to get the videos off of YouTube, going so far as to submit a request.

The Internet giant refused.

Here's what Google said in a blog post explaining the decision:

We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove YouTube videos of police brutality, which we did not remove. Separately, we received requests from a different local law enforcement agency for removal of videos allegedly defaming law enforcement officials. We did not comply with those requests, which we have categorized in this Report as defamation requests."
Link to Original Source
Idle

+ - FBI agent who wrecked Ferrari F50 off the hook-> 1

Submitted by Mr_Blank
Mr_Blank writes "You might recall the tale of the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice being sued earlier this year for wrecking a Ferrari F50. The F50 was stolen from its owner in 2003. The feds then recovered the stolen scarlet screamer during a sting operation and held it in FBI custody in Kentucky. At some point, it needed to be moved out of its impound garage, but instead of making it safely to another garage, it got wrapped around a tree, with an FBI agent at the wheel. The insurance company that paid-out for the stolen vehicle sued the FBI. The judge has ruled against Motors Insurance, saying that law enforcement has immunity when it comes to property in its possession, and that even though "the object was to control and preserve relevant evidence," it apparently doesn't matter what happens to that evidence nor for what reason. This is bad news if your private property is taken by the DHS. Who is responsible when something goes wrong?"
Link to Original Source
Transportation

+ - NYC Mayor Wants Traffic Camera on Every Corner->

Submitted by Mr_Blank
Mr_Blank writes "New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made it clear that he wants to see more traffic light cameras in the Big Apple, saying that he'd have the devices on every street corner if possible. According to The New York Daily News, the city brought in $52 million in fines generated by red light cameras last year alone. Bloomberg doesn't just want a jump in the number of cameras, however. He also wants to publish the names of those who blow through the stop lights in local papers to help shame wrongdoers into changing their ways. What's more, the mayor wants to look into the possibility of adding speed cameras to the mix. Big brother is coming to NYC."
Link to Original Source

Try to get all of your posthumous medals in advance.

Close