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Microsoft

Submission + - No IE In EU Windows 7 Threatens Free Upgrades (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
CWmike
CWmike writes: "Europeans who purchase Vista PCs starting Friday will have to do a 'clean install' of the free Windows 7 upgrade they'll receive later this year because Microsoft has yanked IE from the upcoming OS in the EU. 'The upgrade path from Windows Vista to the E or the N versions of Windows 7 will not support an 'in-place' upgrade,' TechARP said, quoting from a leaked Microsoft memo to computer makers. Why the change? Previously, Microsoft made it clear Vista users would be able to do in-place upgrades, but in deciding to remove IE8 from Windows 7 — which most analysts saw as an attempt to head off another option for complying with the EU, a ballot screen concept for browser selection — Microsoft made clean installs a must. But after saying in the memo that PC makers needed to include a browser for PCs to not be crippled once upgraded, Microsoft said they will also have the option to include IE with PCs sold in the EU. 'OEMs may use the IE pack to preinstall Internet Explorer 8 on E and N versions of Windows 7, including versions of those products installed on Program upgrade media,' TechARP cited."
Cellphones

Submission + - iPhone 3G 3.0 Carrier Unlock (Ultrasn0w) Released

Submitted by
MasJ
MasJ writes: "The iphone dev team has finally released the much awaited ultrans0w 3G unlock for the iPhone 3G. This hack can unlock any 3G iPhone (to be used on any carrier) on the new 3.0 firmware. This time, it also follow a simplified install process wherein a simple jailbreak is required and then you can just install ultrasn0w from Cydia [The jailbroken app-store]. More information is available at the Dev Team Blog."
The Internet

Submission + - Norwegian lawyers must stop chasing file sharers (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by Skapare
Skapare writes: TorrentFreak is reporting that Norway's Simonsen law firm has lost their license to chase after file sharers.

Just days after Norway's data protection department told ISPs they must delete all personal IP address-related data three weeks after collection, it's now become safer than ever to be a file-sharer in Norway. The only law firm with a license to track pirates has just seen it expire and it won't be renewed.

Sounds like Norway's government treats privacy seriously. Maybe they've been watching the abuses in the USA. More info on Norwegian perspective at Dagbladet.no.
Spam

Submission + - SORBS to close

Submitted by Mr. Roadkill
Mr. Roadkill writes: Love them or loathe them, SORBS is about to close.

The University of Queensland will not continue hosting them, so as of July 20 2009 SORBS will close — unless they can find someone else with enough spare power, cooling and bandwidth for a 42RU DDoS target. I'll be sad to see them go; I block directly using a few of their lists, but find some of the more aggressive ones very handy for giving a little extra nudge to get spam over my local SpamAssassin rejection threshold.
Government

Submission + - Database of all UK children launched (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: "A controversial database which holds the details of every child in England has now become available for childcare professionals to access. The government says it will enable more co-ordinated services for children and ensure none slips through the net. 390,000 people will have access to the database, but will have gone through stringent security training."
GNU is Not Unix

Submission + - Why Linux is not yet ready for the Desktop 1

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Every now and then a new old media journalist tries to explain everyone why Linux is not yet ready for the desktop. However all those men who graduated their engineering universities years ago have only superficial knowledge about operating systems and their inner works. An unknown author from Russia have decided to draw a list of technical reasons and limitations hampering Linux domination on the desktop. Slashdot crowd is invited for discussion of the list."
Security

Submission + - Biden Reveals Location of Secret VP Bunker

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Fox News reports that "Vice President Joe Biden, well-known for his verbal gaffes, may have finally outdone himself, divulging potentially classified information meant to save the life of a sitting vice president." According to the report, while recently attending the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, an annual event where powerful politicians and media elite get a chance to cozy up to one another, Biden told his dinnermates about the existence of a secret bunker under the old US Naval Observatory, which is now the home of the vice president. Although earlier reports had placed the Vice-Presidential hide-out in a highly secure complex of buildings inside Raven Rock Mountain near Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania, Fox News reports that the Naval Observatory bunker is believed to be the secure, undisclosed location former Vice President Dick Cheney remained under protection in secret after the 9/11 attacks. According to the report, Biden "said a young naval officer giving him a tour of the residence showed him the hideaway, which is behind a massive steel door secured by an elaborate lock with a narrow connecting hallway lined with shelves filled with communications equipment." According to Eleanor Clift, Newsweek magazine's Washington contributing editor "the officer explained that when Cheney was in lock down, this was where his most trusted aides were stationed, an image that Biden conveyed in a way that suggested we shouldn't be surprised that the policies that emerged were off the wall." In December 2002, neighbors complained of loud construction work being done at the Naval Observatory, which has been used as a residence by vice presidents since 1974. The upset neighbors were sent a letter by the observatory's superintendent, calling the work "sensitive in nature" and "classified" and that it was urgent it be completed on a highly accelerated schedule."
Announcements

Submission + - Swedish State-Owned Media Freeze Pirate Party Out

Submitted by Anonymous Swedish Pirate
Anonymous Swedish Pirate writes: Swedish state-owned SVT (Swedish Television) held a telecast this evening on the coming EU elections. The hot debate topic was file sharing and the repressive legislation passed this year by the current government. Yet strangely every major political party was invited except the Pirate Party. Rick Falkvinge is furious. People are writing to SVT to protest. Considering SVT is government owned it's not hard, according to some, to guess why the Pirate Party was excluded.
Biotech

Submission + - Top 10 disappointing technologies (pcauthority.com.au)

Submitted by Slatterz
Slatterz writes: Every once in a while, a product comes along that everyone from the executives to the analysts to even the crusty old reporters thinks will change the IT world. Sadly, they are often misguided. This article lists some of the top ten technology disappointments that failed to change the world, from the ludicrously priced Apple Lisa, to voice recognition, to Intel's ill-fated Itainum chip, and virtual reality, this article lists some of the top ten technology disappointments that failed to change the world.
Operating Systems

Submission + - Apple freezes Snow Leopard APIs as software nears (appleinsider.com)

Submitted by DJRumpy
DJRumpy writes:

Apple this past weekend distributed a new beta of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard that altered the programming methods used to optimize code for multi-core Macs, telling developers they were the last programming-oriented changes planned ahead of the software's release.

More specifically, Apple is said to have informed recipients of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard build 10A354 that it has simplified the application programming interfaces (APIs) for working with Grand Central, a new architecture that makes it easier for developers to take advantage of Macs with multiple processing cores.

This technology works by breaking complex tasks into smaller blocks, which are then routed — or dispatched — efficiently to a Mac's available cores for faster processing. This allows third-party developers to leverage more of a Mac's hardware resources without having to be well-versed in multithreaded programming.

I had a conversation in a thread earlier about the fact that Linux wasn't scaling well and I asked why the OS wasn't doing exactly what is stated above. I was told it wasn't feasable due to overhead. Seems that may not be the case. I'm psyched about this release. Rumor has it that it will also include read/write access to HFS+ partitions via boot camp.
The Almighty Buck

Legitimizing Real Money Trading In Games 158

Posted by Soulskill from the ni-hao dept.
MMOGamer interviewed Andy Schneider, co-founder of Live Gamer, a company working with several major game publishers (including Acclaim, Funcom, and SOE) to legitimize the real money trading (RMT) industry in online games. Schneider expects this method of customer service to grow much more popular in the West over the next few years, especially after the success it's had in Asia. "It started in the very earliest MMOs, if not back in the MUD days in a very grassroots sort of way, but then obviously got into a more opportunistic and nefarious industry. When I talk about legitimate RMT, it's about a publisher supporting the notion that people want to buy and sell virtual items for real money, and they have decided to proactively support that notion and give their player-base a way to do that. ... It takes the manual process out of the equation that most players are engaged in with the black market, and reduces the fraud considerably, which is good for players. ... The reason there are gold farmers out there, the reason why there is nearly a two billion dollar secondary market for virtual items, is because of consumer demand."
Windows

Submission + - PC Makers Say Vista Is Not a Seller

Submitted by TekkaDon
TekkaDon writes: According to computer and component manufacturers, Vista is not the hotcake that they were hoping for. Take Acer's president, Gianfranco Lanci, who has just said that "PC makers are really not counting on Vista to drive high demands for the industry." Or Samsung Electronics, who now says that DRAM demand has not matched anyone's predictions based on Vista's now failed projections, something that is being echoed by the industry as a whole. This seem to agree with Ars Technica article on the 20 million Vista copies sold as a "huge success" by Microsoft, which just can be accounted by the natural growth of PC sales over the years. (BTW, apparently, this story has been buried in Digg by a big group of MS-sponsored trolls)

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