Comment: They brought it onto themselves (Score 1, Insightful) 948
Companies are consciously creating incompatible platforms (Android, iOS, WP7, Flash, Silverlight,
B&N Responds to Microsoft's Android Suit->
Submitted
by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes "You're probably familiar with Microsoft's long running assault on Android but, as noticed by Groklaw, Barnes and Noble has fired back saying, 'Microsoft has asserted patents that extend only to arbitrary, outmoded, or non-essential design features, but uses these patents to demand that every manufacturer of an Android-based mobile device take a license from Microsoft and pay exorbitant licensing fees or face protracted and expensive patent infringement litigation.' Barnes and Noble goes on to assert that Microsoft violates 'antitrust laws, threatens competition for mobile device operating systems and is further evidence of Microsoft’s efforts to dominate and control Android and other open source operating systems.' The PDF of the filing from two days ago is rife with accusations including, 'Microsoft intends to utilize its patents to control the activities of and extract fees from the designers, developers, and manufacturers of devices, including tablets, eReaders, and other mobile devices, that employ the Android Operating System.' and 'Microsoft has falsely and without justification asserted that its patents somehow provide it with the right to prohibit device manufacturers from employing new versions of the Android Operating System, or third party software.' Barnes and Noble does not mince words when explaining Microsoft's FUD campaign to both the public and developers in its attempts to suppress Android. It's good to see PJ still digging through massive court briefs to bring us the details on IP court battles."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
Comment: What about Stumbleupon? (Score 1) 307
You can rate websites with "like" and "don't like" and then Stumbleupon starts to show you websites submitted by people with similar interest vectors. Stumbleupon also shows you the people with similar interest vectors so you can chat with them or just subscribe to their feeds.
Comment: First dive will be to the deepest place (Score 1) 37
That doesn't sound wise to me. I would recommend to leave the ambitious trips for later. Use a series of incrementally more challenging trips to test the design and gain experience with the controls of the vehicle. Chances are there is software involved and I don't want to see more bad news on Slashdot.
Comment: Re:Google doesn't get it (Score 1) 218
Actually it's not quite that easy. Once your browser loads the button, the website and your IP goes into Google's log. From there on it's just a matter of connecting the dots.
However for Firefox with Adblock Plus there is a list to prevent loading of "social" buttons: http://www.fanboy.co.nz/
Note that Google Chrome's ad-blocking only hides content but still loads it.
Comment: Re:In other news.. (Score 1) 413
I couldn't have said it better. I think Redhat is way more efficient than Microsoft or Apple. They deliver more value for a fraction of the cost. They are also less noise because they don't waste so much money on advertising and retail.
Comment: Why is this on Slashdot? (Score 0) 560
The last thing we need now is Intellectual Ventures and their toxic patents. Nuclear research already is crippled enough in the interest of national security.
Comment: Emergency Preparedness Checklist (Score 1) 562
It's important that the emergency services can rely on citizens to be autonomous in terms of food for a certain amount of time.
http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/epc.pdf
Comment: Re:this is good news (Score 1) 64
My laptop has an Intel Mobile Series 4 graphics card. KDE compositing rarely drops below 25 frames/second.
Comment: Re:this is good news (Score 2) 64
If you don't need cutting edge graphics, give Intel Graphics a go. The drivers are free software -> distributors are permitted to integrate them properly -> installation is a breeze.