Submission + - Missing CNet Editor Found Dead
kbell29 writes: From Game Freaks 365:
James Kim, a CNet.com editor that went missing, was found dead at 3:00 p.m. ET Wednesday. His family had been found alive after they went missing November 25, 2006. The Kim family went on vacation to the Pacific Northwest, but got lost when they were returning to Portland. Searchers found Kati Kim, 30, and their 4 year old and 7 month old daughters, Penelope and Sabine. The family was airlifted to a hospital in Grants Pass. All three were in good condition, but James Kim was still missing and found dead today.
Bookmark Article on Burnout (slashdot.org)
Submission + - PS3 already loosing popularity
Dan Miller writes: "Even though it can't be bought in stores, the hype around the PS3 is fading. Ebay prices have fallen close to the actual retail value and websites raffling them away aren't selling any tickets. A game trading community that I recently joined (www.GameTraderWorld.com) is raffling a 60gb PS3 and they are reporting a 30% chance to win for $20 because no one bought any tickets.
Here is the link to the story:
http://www.gametraderworld.com/news.php?id=21"
Submission + - Australia's Proposed Copyright Laws: Risk Analysis
Jacko writes: "As a follow-on from the issue raised in this previous Slashdot article, Australia's Internet Industry Association in conjunction with the QUT Intellectual Property Law Research Program has compiled risk analyses of how teenagers, families and small businesses could be liable under the proposed changes to Australia's copyright laws.
See the risk analysis for teenagers, the risk analysis for families, the risk analysis for small businesses and the risk analysis for industry (all in pdf format, approximately 3 pages each).
The full article is available here."
See the risk analysis for teenagers, the risk analysis for families, the risk analysis for small businesses and the risk analysis for industry (all in pdf format, approximately 3 pages each).
The full article is available here."
Submission + - Optimus 113 Keyboard continues to cut features
Jesterboy writes: It seems that the touted features of the Optimus 103 keyboard keep dropping out for the first version:
It will be black & white keys, not color ones: http://community.livejournal.com/optimus_project/1 1850.html
It will cost $1200, too: http://community.livejournal.com/optimus_project/1 2845.html
It will be black & white keys, not color ones: http://community.livejournal.com/optimus_project/
It will cost $1200, too: http://community.livejournal.com/optimus_project/
Submission + - Is PERL a dead end job?
jgoat writes: "So I am a going to graduate with a BSCS from Neumont University. I have recently received a job offer from Backcountry.com. Backcountries primary technology is PERL. At the school we have been learning Java and .NET. I have heard two sides to the argument, on one side I hear that the first job that you get out of college will be the one you do for the majority of your career and obviously it would seem like I would want to get a job using .NET or Java to keep my skill set. On the other hand I hear that the technology you use does not matter as much as learning how technology will help the business. What do you think, will doing PERL as my first job keep me stuck doing PERL? Or is the experience of learning how the business uses technology more important?"
Submission + - Stardock's Brad Wardell on game copy protection
An anonymous reader writes: In a recent interview with Gamasutra, Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock as well as a game developer, condemns the usual copy protection methods used for games and software in general. From the article:
BW: There were all kind of goofy things on all kinds of software, but they grew out of that. They realized that the goal of copy protection isn't to stop people from pirating but to increase sales. That's an important distinction. I don't like people pirating my game.
GS: Naturally.
BW: I find it annoying on principle. The question is "would they have bought the game anyway?" If they wouldn't have bought the game, then why should I be concentrating on them? I should be concentrating on maximizing my overall sales. Don't inconvenience legitimate users but inconvenience illegitimate users. Some percentage of them will buy the game.
GS: You don't waste that time and money stopping someone who won't buy your product anyway.
BW: Right. Did you hear that twenty eight percent of gamers won't even buy a game? This was a study put out by one of the copy protection companies as proof of why copy protection isn't negative. This study says that ONLY twenty eight percent of gamers won't buy a game with copy protection. I was thinking "HOLY COW, that's a disaster!"
Submission + - Charges dropped against Christopher Sogoian
An anonymous reader writes: Investigators have dropped the criminal case against Christopher Soghoian. Soghoian had created a web site capable of printing fake airline boarding passes.
"If they fix the airport security problems ... then this entire process has been worth it," Soghoian said. "If they don't fix airport security, then ... what was the purpose?"
"If they fix the airport security problems
Submission + - Hans Reiser pleads not guilty
lopgok writes: "Hans Reiser pleads not guilty to murdering his missing, estranged wife, Nina Reiser. Little or no effort seems to be spent looking for her or her body.
After appearing in court with Reiser on Tuesday, attorney Daniel Horowitz withdrew from the case, saying Reiser couldn't afford his services. "This is an incredibly complex case," Horowitz said in an interview. "It requires hundreds of hours of intense work and a major amount of staff involvement. He actually can't afford me. There's no money."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2 006/11/29/BAGUFMLORN1.DTL
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/l ocal/states/california/16121020.htm
http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews /ci_4738481"
Journal Journal: A new way to catch traffic offenders - Google's YouTube
I found this rather amusing. Traffic ticket from evidence of YouTube . So somebody out there wanted to test the speed limits in Norwegia, so they tapped themselves hit high speeds on the road and posted the video on YouTube. Guess what, a police officer sees that tape and nabs the guys doing it and uses YouTube as evidence. This is what you call the power of the Internet "Google".
Submission + - SCO's Objections Soundly Denied
Pinhead6969 writes: The judge in the SCO vs. IBM case has resoundingly rejected SCO's objections to a ruling from this summer throwing out the majority of their claims.
Groklaw Article
To quote Judge Kimball:
Having thoroughly reviewed and considered the briefing related to IBM's Motion to Limit SCO's Claims, the briefing related to SCO's objections, the underlying previous discovery orders, and the arguments made at the October 24 hearing, the court finds that, even under a de novo standard of review, the Magistrate Judge's June 28, 2006 Order is correct. The court finds that SCO failed to comply with the court's previous discovery-related Orders and Rule 26(e), that SCO acted willfully, that SCO's conduct has resulted in prejudice to IBM, and that this result-the inability of SCO to use the evidence at issue to prove its claims- should come as no surprise to SCO. In addition, the court finds that neither particularized findings on an item-by- item basis nor an evidentiary hearing is required to make these determinations. The court, therefore, affirms and adopts the Magistrate Judge's June 28, 2006 Order in its entirety.
Groklaw Article
To quote Judge Kimball:
Having thoroughly reviewed and considered the briefing related to IBM's Motion to Limit SCO's Claims, the briefing related to SCO's objections, the underlying previous discovery orders, and the arguments made at the October 24 hearing, the court finds that, even under a de novo standard of review, the Magistrate Judge's June 28, 2006 Order is correct. The court finds that SCO failed to comply with the court's previous discovery-related Orders and Rule 26(e), that SCO acted willfully, that SCO's conduct has resulted in prejudice to IBM, and that this result-the inability of SCO to use the evidence at issue to prove its claims- should come as no surprise to SCO. In addition, the court finds that neither particularized findings on an item-by- item basis nor an evidentiary hearing is required to make these determinations. The court, therefore, affirms and adopts the Magistrate Judge's June 28, 2006 Order in its entirety.
Submission + - Linux kernel 2.6.19 released
diegocgteleline.es writes: "After 2 months, 2.6.19 has been released. This release includes the clustering GFS2 filesystem, Ecryptfs , the first experimental version of EXT4 (aimed at developers), support for the Atmel AVR32 architecture, sleepable RCU, improvements for NUMA-based systems, a "-o flush" mount option aimed at FAT-based hotpluggable media devices (mp3), physical CPU hotplug and memory hot-add in x86-64, support for compiling x86 kernels with the GCC stack protection, vectored async I/O , the Netlabel subsystem , allow to disable compilation of the block layer, IDE Parallel-ATA drivers based in libata , Granular IPSec associations for use in MLS environments, Mobile IPv6, some new drivers, improved support for many already existing drivers...you can read the full changelog at LinuxChanges"
Submission + - PS3 or A Lifetime Of Tacos?
ACAx1985 writes: This site http://www.junkfoodblog.com/2006/11/taco-bell-offe rs-lifetime-tacos-for.html > is reporting that if you give Taco Bell a PS3 (which will be donated for charity), they will give you a lifetime supply of Tacos.
From the article:
"The lifetime of Taco Bell food is actually the equivalent of $12,500 in Taco Bell Bucks. It's not actually a lifetime of food, though, if you ate that much Taco Bell food, you just might die before you consume it all.
To participate in this, a Playstation 3 owner must contact Taco Bell via e-mail at: tacobellnews@tacobell.com
The first person to respond, based on the time the email is received, and then sends their PlayStation 3, will be awarded the Taco Bell Bucks. Offer expires December 1, 2006 at 6:00 p.m. PST."
From the article:
"The lifetime of Taco Bell food is actually the equivalent of $12,500 in Taco Bell Bucks. It's not actually a lifetime of food, though, if you ate that much Taco Bell food, you just might die before you consume it all.
To participate in this, a Playstation 3 owner must contact Taco Bell via e-mail at: tacobellnews@tacobell.com
The first person to respond, based on the time the email is received, and then sends their PlayStation 3, will be awarded the Taco Bell Bucks. Offer expires December 1, 2006 at 6:00 p.m. PST."
Submission + - Does Microsoft have an undisclosed IP liability?
cyphercell writes: If the deal between Microsoft and Novell proves that Novell is afraid of patent infringement in Linux, doesn't it also prove that Microsoft is afraid of patent infringement in Windows?
I ask because there's this concept in the agreement of mutual indemnification for the benefit of both companies. Described here http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?com mand=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9005462 it seems to me that this agreement fundamentally invalidates software patents, rather than invalidating the Open Source model.
Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like this agreement is being spun in the wrong direction. I read it as proof that software patents hurt both Microsoft and Novell. If patents hurt both of these companies doesn't it also follow that software patents hurt the industry as a whole, regardless of whether it's closed or open source software?
I ask because there's this concept in the agreement of mutual indemnification for the benefit of both companies. Described here http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?co
Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like this agreement is being spun in the wrong direction. I read it as proof that software patents hurt both Microsoft and Novell. If patents hurt both of these companies doesn't it also follow that software patents hurt the industry as a whole, regardless of whether it's closed or open source software?
