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Kligmond writes "Last week, Starbucks placed a video on YouTube responding to a video posted by the Oxfam Charity. The Oxfam video was launched in conjunction with 'Starbucks Day of Action,' held December 16th, when activists visited Starbucks locations across the world in protest of the coffee retailer's alleged mistreatment of Ethiopian farmers. The Starbucks video calmly addresses the Oxfam allegations, citing an impasse over Ethiopian trademark legalities. Starbucks claims the refusal to sign a trademark agreement with Ethiopia is a stumbling block they hope to resolve on behalf of the farmers. The coffee chain's representative goes on to refute the contention that Starbucks refuses to pay a fair price for its coffee reserves and, in fact, routinely pays well above commodity price, and above fair trade price. Unlike many recent ineffectual corporate reactions to social journalism and networking eruptions, Starbucks' response is unique in that the corporation managed Oxfam's unconventional assault in a very unconventional way, via YouTube. Regardless of the outcome of this particular incident, the move on Starbucks' part comes off as unmistakably in touch with today's communication modes and methods."

GameSpot is reporting on the announcement from IDG that they'll be putting on a new L.A.-area games expo, with the ESA's blessing. With that nod of the head, the "GamePro Expo" becomes the 'official successor' to the glitz and glamor of E3. From the article: "According to Michael Krouse, vice president of convention sales for the LA Convention and Visitors Bureau, IDG is estimating that the event will draw 30,000 attendees, and that long term, those numbers could grow. 'I am absolutely convinced this show will be as big as [the old] E3,' Krouse told GameSpot. The new show will be endorsed by the ESA — 'a very important element to the partnership,' says the memo, which goes on to say the event will take place at E3's former digs, the Los Angeles Convention Center, on October 18, 19, and 20, 2007." Given that GDC, Gen Con, and the rest have already planned for larger spaces IDG is going to have a fight on its hands next year. Should be interesting.

Cycloid Torus writes "IE7 is with us. It asked to be installed as a Critical Update this morning, so I decided to find out more about what was going on and if there are issues to this new and official piece of Windows XP. I found the following of use:

URL: http://www.ie-vista.com/known_issues.html#tsie

Are there other sites with solid information which can help the wary from getting charred with this upgrade?"

I'm currently working in a Help Desk - probably like most of the other readers here. Lately, I've decided I want more. What do I want? Well, I've been thinking about trying to get into writing for a tech site like Anandtech, or Engadget, or even Slashdot. I'm not completely inexperienced. I've written some articles for online magazines like zZine and done hardware reviews for CAAHP. But that was all just for free/fun. How does one actually break into this sort of field without on-resume experience? It seems like a natural progression for those of us techies with a reasonable command of the English language, but there dont seem to be a lot of resources to help. What do my fellow slashdotters think?

AgentPaper writes "A recent study from the Harvard Medical School indicates that resveratrol, an antioxidant compound found in red wine, significantly reduced the effects of a high-fat diet on mice, as well as significantly extended their lifespans. The catch? The mice were dosed with 24 milligrams per kilogram of the stuff — and since the average red wine contains 1.5-3 mg of resveratrol per liter, that equates to consuming 560-1120 liters of wine a day in the average 70-kg human. Bottoms up!"

smooth wombat writes "In the continuing saga of Patricia Santangelo vs. the RIAA, it now appears that the RIAA is going after her two kids. Michelle Santangelo has, supposedly, acknowledged downloading songs to the family computer while her brother, Robert, has been implicated by statements his best friend made.

The Santangelos' lawyer, Jordan Glass, disputed the recording industry's allegations and said he was at Michelle Santangelo's deposition and does not recall her "admitting or acknowledging downloading."

Patricia claims that she has no knowledge of her kids downloading songs and, if they did, the blame lays with the computer programs and not her kids."