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The Internet

Will Books Be Napsterized? 350

Posted by Soulskill from the not-in-america,-we-don't-read-books dept.
langelgjm writes "An article from yesterday's New York Times asks the question: will books be Napsterized? So far, piracy of books has not reached the degree of music or movie piracy, in part due to the lack of good equipment on which to read and enjoy pirated books. The article points to the growing adoption of e-book readers as the publishing industry's newest nemesis. With ever-cheaper ways to conveniently use pirated books, authors and publishers may be facing serious changes ahead. This is something I wrote about three months ago in my journal, where I called the Kindle DX an 'iPod for books.'"

Comment Sidewiki (Score 2, Interesting) 454

by ziggy_az (#29635483) Attached to: Do Retailers Often Screen User Reviews?
The easy answer to this is http://www.google.com/support/toolbar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=157109 Google Sidewiki. *IF* users start using sidewiki for reviewing products on vendor sites, the vendor has no ability to moderate the reviews. Doesn't mean they won't start astroturfing the sidewiki but it would make it more expensive :)
Red Hat Software

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 Released 110

Posted by timothy from the progress-continues dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The fourth update in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 family is released. From the press release — this version includes kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) virtualization, alongside of Xen virtualization technology. The scalability of the Red Hat virtualization solution has been incremented to support 192 CPUs and 1GB hugepages. Other updates including GCC 4.4 and a new malloc(), clustered, high-availability filesystem to support Microsoft Windows storage needs on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This article covers the upgrade procedure for RHEL 5.4 from the previous version."

Comment Re:This "kid" is 27 (Score 1) 1016

by ziggy_az (#28948599) Attached to: California Student Arrested For Console Hacking

What he's doing does not hurt me. What does hurt me/us/the whole country is when a vendor welds their device closed so that it cannot be modified by the rightful owner *or their agent*. He has the wrong approach. IMO, if the product is locked down so that I don't have the rights to do whatever the hell I want with it, I'd rather not buy it.

Comment Re:From the original disgruntled developer (Score 4, Insightful) 782

by ziggy_az (#28911649) Attached to: The Ethics of Selling GPLed Software For the iPhone

The answer to this is simple: If you don't like the terms of the GPL V2, you should not have released your code under those terms. To quote the GPL "You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee."

Provided they are in compliance with every other part of the GPL, the fact that you don't think they are the appropriate vendor is irrelevant; get over yourself.
Medicine

Why Digital Medical Records Are No Panacea 367

Posted by timothy from the stop-shaking-the-bandwagon-you dept.
theodp writes "As GE, Google, Intel, IBM, Microsoft and others pile into the business of computerized medical files in a stimulus-fueled frenzy, BusinessWeek reminds us that electronic health records have a dubious history. Under the federal stimulus program, hospitals can get several million dollars apiece for tech purchases over the next five years, and individual doctors can receive up to $44,000. There's also a stick: The feds will cut Medicare reimbursement for hospitals and practices that don't go electronic by 2015. But does the high cost and questionable quality of products currently on the market explain why barely 1 in 50 hospitals have a comprehensive electronic records system, and why only 17% of physicians use any type of electronic records? Joe Bugajski's chilling The Data Model That Nearly Killed Me suggests that may be the case."
Google

Chrome EULA Reserves the Right To Filter Your Web 171

Posted by timothy from the here's-some-birdseed-for-you dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Recently, I decided to try out Google Chrome. With my usual mistrust of Google, I decided to carefully read the EULA before installing the software. I paused when I stumbled upon this section: '7.3 Google reserves the right (but shall have no obligation) to pre-screen, review, flag, filter, modify, refuse or remove any or all Content from any Service. For some of the Services, Google may provide tools to filter out explicit sexual content. These tools include the SafeSearch preference settings (see google.com/help/customize.html#safe). In addition, there are commercially available services and software to limit access to material that you may find objectionable.' Does this mean that Google reserves the right to filter my web browsing experience in Chrome (without my consent to boot)? Is this a carry-over from the EULAs of Google's other services (gmail, blogger etc), or is this something more significant? One would think that after the previous EULA affair with Chrome, Google would try to sound a little less draconian." Update: 04/05 21:14 GMT by T : Google's Gabriel Stricker alerted me to an informative followup: "We saw your Slashdot post and published the following clarification on the Google Chrome blog."
Software

Opera Launches Facial Gesture Capability 199

Posted by CmdrTaco from the because-they-can dept.
cstrep writes "Eight years ago, Opera introduced Mouse Gestures as a way to speed up your interaction with the browser, and focus on what's important: Content. In 2005, Voice Navigation was introduced, and more recently we've worked with Nintendo to create a browser that takes full advantage of the 'Wiimote' and later, the touchscreen in the DSi. Today Opera introduces Face Gestures, a revolutionary technology designed to make interacting with Opera easier on computers with cameras. Face Gestures lets you perform frequent browsing operations with natural and easy to make face gestures. By using an internal technology dubbed 'Face Observation Opera Language,' we are able to recognize pre-determined facial expressions and match them to commands on the Opera browser."
NASA

NASA In Colbert Conundrum Over Space Station 398

Posted by kdawson from the doing-the-right-thing dept.
After Stephen Colbert won the vote in NASA's contest to name a new module on the International Space Station, NASA found itself in a tough spot. According to Reuters, "Contest rules stipulate that the agency retains the right to basically do whatever it wants," but it may not be all that easy. At first NASA floated the idea of naming the new module's toilet "Colbert." But Last Thursday Congressman Chaka Fattah, D-Pa., urged the agency to respect the people's wishes. And Colbert turned up the heat on yesterday's weekly show: "So NASA, I urge you to heed Congressman Fattah's call for democracy in orbit. Either name that node after me, or I too will reject democracy and seize power as space's evil tyrant overlord. Ball's in your court."

Comment Re:Do it over (Score 1) 675

by ziggy_az (#26984719) Attached to: How To Handle Corporate Blackmail?

On the other hand... recording said conversation with full transparency and knowledge of all participants (note: knowledge, not permission) ensures that they are fully aware that all statements are "on the record" and should they fail to follow through on favorable statements or in fact attempt to press you into service beyond the customary two (three, in your case) weeks notice, then you will have been damaged as a result of false statements. IANAL, but I'd bet my last dollar that would be actionable even in an at-will employment state.

Comment Legal? We'll soon find out. (Score 2, Interesting) 931

by ziggy_az (#26588719) Attached to: A Teacher Asking Students To Destroy Notes?

A student here in Arizona was strip searched at a high school because the school administration got a tip that she might be carrying and distributing prescription strength ibuprofen. The legality of this strip search has been contested and the case has made it's way to the Supreme Court: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/01/16/20090116school-strip0116-ON.html

That is High School. If this original person involved is in higher education, then the law is pretty clear: Search and Seizure without reasonable suspicion of a crime is in fact a crime.

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