Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror

Comment Re:The takeaway (Score 4, Informative) 56

Notable point: If you are a US citizen they might seize the device but you WILL be admitted into the country - a citizen cannot be denied entry. Additionally thanks to the 4th and 5th amendments, you will not be required to provide the passcode. If you are NOT a US citizen, you may be denied entry into the country (and the device might still be seized)

Submission + - I ordered vintage tech. Ebay deliberately destroyed it (ebay.com)

Submitted by ayjaym
ayjaym writes: The HP65. The world's first hand-held programmable calculator. One flew on the Apollo-Soyuz missions as a backup to the main computer system.
So when I saw one listed on eBay, I immediately purchased it from the US seller. It was to be dispatched via ebay's Global Fulfilment Program. From previous experience I knew this was a tortuous process; items can take a month to travel from the US to the UK.
What I didn't know is that there was a random chance of my item being deliberately destroyed by eBay. One moment it was at the 'inspection' stage, prior to being shipped, and then, just like that — like the 'lifesystems terminated' chilling message in 2001 — it was gone. "Item failed inspection". "Item liquidated".
I contacted eBay support. No, we can't tell you why. No, both parties will be refunded. No, the item won't be returned to the seller. It will be destroyed.
Why?. Well — who knows. There were no batteries, no toxic chemicals. Just a calculator. An irreplaceable piece of vintage tech, deliberately destroyed for reasons utterly unknown.
And this isn't an isolated incident. The opaque 'inspection' step apparently quite often triggers random rejection, usually with the destruction of the item. Antiques, coins, you name it. Nobody knows and few care because both parties get their money back. Except — an irreplaceable piece of tech history has now been destroyed, and I feel responsible. All I wanted to do was restore it, and now I've been the agent of its destruction. It's heartbreaking.

Submission + - An interactive-speed Linux computer made of only 3 8-pin chips (dmitry.gr)

Submitted by dmitrygr
dmitrygr writes: There was a time when one could order a kit and assemble a computer at home. It would do just about what a contemporary store-bought computer could do. This time is long gone. Modern computers are made of hundreds of huge complex chips, with no public datasheets, with many hundreds of watts of power supplied to them over complex power delivery topologies. It does not help that modern operating systems require gigabytes of RAM, terabytes of storage, and always-on internet connectivity to properly spy on you. But, what if one tried to fit a modern computer into a kit that one could easily assemble at home? What if the kit only had three chips, each with only 8 pins? Can it be done? Yes

Submission + - Firefox TOS change has an over reaching data grab license term (mozilla.org) 3

Submitted by agristin
agristin writes: Recent update to the Firefox license ( https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/... ) has this disturbing little TOS addition:

"When you upload or input information through Firefox, you hereby grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that information to help you navigate, experience, and interact with online content as you indicate with your use of Firefox."

Seems like an over reach.

Slashdot Top Deals

...though his invention worked superbly -- his theory was a crock of sewage from beginning to end. -- Vernor Vinge, "The Peace War"

Close