GPL Successfully Defended in German Court 210

Posted by Zonk from the penguin-shoots-penguins-scores dept.
Philip Bailey writes "The GPL Violations Project, based in Germany, have won (subject to appeal) a court case against D-Link, who had allegedly distributed parts of the Linux kernel in a product in a way which contravened the GPL. D-Link had claimed that the GPL was not 'legally binding' but have now agreed to cease and desist, and refrain from distributing the infringing product, a network attached storage device. Expenses, including legal expenses, were received by the plaintiffs; they did not request any damages, consistent with their policy. They have previously won a number of out of court settlements against other companies. Slashdot has previously mentioned the GPL Violations Project."

Iwata Interviews Wii Developers 32

Posted by Zonk from the knights-who-say-wii dept.
Knuckles writes "On the Wii website, President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata conducts an extensive interview with the developers of the Wii. The interview comes in two volumes with three parts each. Iwata actually asks many tough questions, such as: 'In general, no engineer hates higher performance. As an engineer, didn't you experience any inner conflict when it was decided that we would not necessarily take Wii in the direction of sheer horsepower alone?' The interview is the start of a series according to the Wii website." More from the article: "Yes, it wouldn't look very natural beside a TV if it was too toy-like. And likewise, it wouldn't really be an amusing form of entertainment if it looked like some kind of AV equipment. With this in mind, we came up with 'A Design for Everyone', a concept created in order to allow as many people to use Wii as possible. Making Wii into a device that everyone likes is more important to us than a having fiercely individualistic design."

Content Owners to Charge Royalties for Searching? 203

Posted by CowboyNeal from the pieces-of-the-pie dept.
dwarfking writes in with a story that follows up on the impact of recent Google events: "Ok, maybe I'm a little dense here, but isn't this plan more of an impact to the content provider than to the search engines. From the article: 'In one example of how ACAP would work, a newspaper publisher could grant search engines permission to index its site, but specify that only select ones display articles for a limited time after paying a royalty.' So, ok, a search engine company decides it doesn't want to pay royalties and therefore doesn't index the provider's site. Now won't the provider actually lose readers since their articles won't be locatable by search anymore?"

Counter-Strike Opens Weapons Market 284

Posted by CowboyNeal from the arms-dealers dept.
kalpatin writes "The ever so popular game, Counter Strike:Source developed by Valve, has a new feature added to the game: A virtual marketplace for the weapons and equipment. According to Valve, every item's price will be updated on a weekly basis depending on the global market demand. Some users have posted their anger toward the new change on the Valve forums and have even started a petition to stop the change. Is Valve turning into Microsoft by introducing features that are not needed or wanted by the community, or are they merely spicing the game up?"

IM Worm Attack Cloaked in Virtual Card Hoax 31

Posted by CowboyNeal from the giving-props dept.
An anonymous reader writes "There's a new Instant Messaging Worm on the loose that is wrapped up in more than a few interesting twists. The people behind the infection lure users in with a message on a Russian hosted website claiming to have 'a virtual card for you' — a reference to the famous Email hoax listed on Snopes and numerous other web hoax sites. At the point of infection, the worm opens up a picture of a heart (from a site called Quatrocantos.com that tackles web scams on a daily basis) — this picture itself related to a different 'virtual card' hoax from 2002. Bearing in mind the people behind this attack are deliberately serving up an image from a 'good guy' website related to virtual card hoaxes, the question is — are they attempting to create a real life infection out of a web-based piece of lore, making a calculated move to tie this attack into numerous Web hoaxes, possibly to confuse infected users looking for help online or simply having a little fun at the good guy's expense?"

A Tidy, Maintainable Cabinet Wiring Methodology? 43

Posted by Cliff from the avoid-the-rat's-nest dept.
mawhin asks: "I've seen a couple of articles highlighting readers' favourite tidy/untidy cabling, and conversations along the lines of 'I always do my cabling *real* tidy' / 'yeah but how can you change stuff when everything is zip tied down'. 'Use velcro not zip ties' is obviously a good tip, but what I'd really like to know is how you all do it. My particular situation involves multiple racks of switches next to racks of patch panels. What methodology would you recommend for installation and ongoing change to ensure that stuff is tidy enough to be able to trace cable; isn't so tight the you can't re-patch without stripping big chunks of cabling out; and the arrangement doesn't inevitably deteriorate?"

Wal-Mart Threatens Studios Over iTunes Sales 415

Posted by Zonk from the how-dare-they dept.
Y-Crate writes "It seems Wal-Mart is threatening retaliation against studios who decide to offer movies on iTunes. The Bentonville, AR retailer seems a bit miffed that someone would dare to undercut their prices. This wouldn't be the first time they've turned on a supplier for dealing with Apple." From the article: "Last year when Disney announced it would begin offering episodes of the hit shows 'Lost' and 'Desperate Housewives' on Apple's iTunes, the reaction of the world's largest retailer sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry. Wal-Mart, worried that offering the shows for viewing on iPods would cut into DVD sales at its stores, sent 'cases and cases' of DVDs back to Disney, according to a source familiar with the matter."

MySpace for the Sandlot Set 49

Posted by Zonk from the because-every-eight-year-old-needs-a-myspace-page dept.
conq writes "BusinessWeek has a piece on social networking sites for kids." From the article: "Parents are paying more heed to the kiddie sites because they know their children will learn, work, and live online. Computer skills such as social networking are becoming as much a part of the success-in-life portfolio as addition and subtraction, says Herbert S. Lin, senior scientist at the National Research Council. Parents' support of these sites stems in part from the idea that it's better for their kids to get their online introductions in a controlled environment -- as many of these sites promise -- than venture into the cyberjungle alone."

Clinton to Start $1 Billion Renewable Energy Fund 177

Posted by Zonk from the that's-a-lot-of-batteries dept.
antifoidulus writes "ABC news is reporting that former President Bill Clinton has announced the creation of a $1 Billion investment fund devoted to renewable energy. This will be an investment fund as opposed to charity, and Clinton has said that 'The Green Fund would focus on reducing dependence on fossil fuels, creating jobs, lessening pollution and helping to reduce global warming, all while making a profit.' Former World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn will be managing the fund."

Anousheh Ansari Blogs From Space 67

Posted by Zonk from the where-no-blogger-has-gone-before dept.
gevmage writes "Anousheh Ansari, founder of the X Prize and the fourth 'space tourist' to the International Space Station is going to be writing a blog during her several day visit, which began this last Wednesday. She says in the current entry that her submissions are batched and she doesn't have a live browser to read comments." From the post: "The next morning when I woke up, I was so excited I slipped out of my bag quickly and flew head down to the Descent Module and flipped around and flew right back up to the Habitation Compartment. As soon as I stopped I realized that what I did was not a good idea! I felt my internal organs doing a cha-cha inside my belly ... I stopped and tried to minimize my movements. I basically become a mummy from that point forward. I only did very small slow movements and even that would make me feel really sick ..."

Microsoft Vista User Interface Guidelines Published 269

Posted by Zonk from the looks-better dept.
SEMW writes "Microsoft has published the preliminary Official User Interface Guidelines for Windows Vista. Highlights include Top 12 Rules for the Windows Vista User Experience — and the use of screenshots from Windows XP as examples of what not to do. The full guidelines are as yet incomplete, but what is there makes for interesting reading."

Data Theft Notifications - How Soon is Too Soon? 137

Posted by Cliff from the sooner-than-later dept.
bsdbigot asks: "I started getting a bunch of stock-tout spam in the last month or so. The other day, I happened to look and see it was coming in to an email address I had dedicated to my online trading account account. I've spoken to the online trading company, and I've given them the info on these spams. It turns out there is an 'ongoing investigation,' which includes 'outside agencies,' but they stop short of saying that there is any theft or breach. How soon should such a company let its customers know that their data has been compromised? Should they wait until they have all the details and have plugged the breach, or should they let customers know that there is a possible problem as soon as they recognize it?"

NASA Administrator Mike Griffin to visit China 70

Posted by Zonk from the final-frontier dept.
Maggie McKee writes "China has repeatedly extended a hand to the US to work together in space, but for military and political reasons the US has always refused. Now, New Scientist Space reports that NASA chief Mike Griffin and other bigwigs are about to head to China for a meet-and-greet. But Griffin says: 'This is a get-acquainted session, and it is nothing more, and to characterise it as anything more would be to create expectations that would be possibly embarrassing to us or embarrassing to China.'"

Thrust from Microwaves - The Relativity Drive 567

Posted by Zonk from the yay-for-science dept.
dfenstrate writes "The latest New Scientist has an article about an engine that exploits relativity and microwaves to generate thrust. There is a working prototype." From the article: "Roger Shawyer has developed an engine with no moving parts that he believes can replace rockets and make trains, planes and automobiles obsolete ... The device that has sparked their interest is an engine that generates thrust purely from electromagnetic radiation — microwaves to be precise — by exploiting the strange properties of relativity. It has no moving parts, and releases no exhaust or noxious emissions. Potentially, it could pack the punch of a rocket in a box the size of a suitcase. It could one day replace the engines on almost any spacecraft. More advanced versions might allow cars to lift from the ground and hover."

Design by Contract in C++? 114

Posted by Cliff from the take-from-one-language-for-use-in-another dept.
An anonymous reader asks: "I have read some of the stuff on Eiffel, watched their tutorial videos about design by contract, and the entire thing sounds like a pretty good idea. However, the problem is that we don't use Eiffel at work, and I highly doubt I could get people to come around to the idea of switching to it. Although we use a lot of C++, I can imagine that a lot of the ideas from Eiffel can be applied there. I have looked around on the net and found a few articles talking about different ways of applying design by contract using assert statements and the like. I also found the dlib C++ library on SourceForge which, among other things, puts a design by contract face on a lot of API calls. So, there are obviously people doing it. What is everyone's experience with Design by Contract in C++? What tools are there that help make it a workable system? Lastly, are there any pitfalls to taking this approach in C++?"

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