Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:WTF? (Score 1) 922

by Herr Brush (#39487405) Attached to: UK Man Jailed For 'Offensive Tweets'

Can you really be imprisoned in the UK for posting something racially insensitive? Just because he wrote something about a soccer player people liked doesn't mean he should be arrested and sent to jail. What kind of wacky police state does the UK have that this is acceptable legal policy? Don't the police there have better things to do than be made to chase down Twitter trolls?

While I don't support jailing people for this type of speech where no direct threat or incitement to violence was made, the US, in spite of the 1st amendment, has jailed people for producing material judged obscene.

Comment Re:Could make sense (Score 1) 217

by Herr Brush (#39173107) Attached to: Australia's Telstra Requires Fibre Customers To Use Copper Telephone
There are a few modern cordless units that have a function whereby a handset can be used to charge the base station during an outage. Then you can either place a call from the base station or use another handset. Panasonic does this on some of their higher end models. No need for a separate UPS.
Image

Florida Man Sues WikiLeaks For Scaring Him 340

Posted by samzenpus from the don't-watch-the-news dept.
Stoobalou writes "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been accused of 'treason' by a Florida man seeking damages for distress caused by the site's revelations about the US government. From the article: 'David Pitchford, a Florida trailer park resident, names Assange and WikiLeaks as defendants in a personal injury suit filed with the Florida Southern District Court in Miami. In the complaint filed on 6th January, Pitchford alleges that Assange's negligence has caused "hypertension," "depression" and "living in fear of being stricken by another heart attack and/or stroke" as a result of living "in fear of being on the brink of another nuclear [sic] WAR."' Just for good measure, it also alleges that Assange and WikiLeaks are guilty of 'terorism [sic], espionage and treason.'"
Patents

Zynga and Blizzard Sued Over Game Patent 179

Posted by Soulskill from the swinging-for-the-fences dept.
eldavojohn writes "Thinking about developing a game involving a 'database driven online distributed tournament system?' Well, you had better talk to Walker Digital or risk a lawsuit, because Walker Digital claims to have patented that 'invention' back in 2002. The patent in question has resulted in some legal matters for the makers of 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1 and 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: World at War, Blur, Wolfenstein, DJ Hero 2, Golden Eye 007, World of Warcraft and its expansions, Mafia Wars, and many others.' Walker Digital (parent company of Priceline.com) said it's not sure how much damages are going to be, and requested that through discovery in the court. If you think Walker Digital is not a patent troll, check out their lawsuit from two months ago against Facebook for using privacy controls Walker Digital claims to have patented. It would seem that any online competitive game that uses a database to select and reward contestants in a tournament could potentially fall under this patent — of course, those with the deepest coffers will be cherrypicked first."

Comment Re:Shoes a spy tool (Score 1) 215

by Herr Brush (#33483378) Attached to: Dubai's Police Chief Calls BlackBerry a Spy Tool
I dont think thats what the diagram is showing. It has the private key stored on the phone and on the Blackberry Enterprise Server sitting behind the company's firewall, not RIMs. Importantly, those servers can be located in jurisdictions where there are legal protections from the government's demands for data. Obviously if the US govt produces a warrant to get the key from your US based IT dept they are going to be successful but not so with Saudi or India govts. Also the duplicate key is a necessary evil as stuff does occasionally go wrong with handsets...
Power

Traffic-Flow Algorithm Can Reduce Fuel Consumption 328

Posted by timothy from the what-could-possibly-go-wrong dept.
thecarchik writes "New projects from German automakers Audi and BMW promise to ease congestion simply by looking at traffic signals and driving style, in an effort to smooth the flow of traffic. Through a test course in Munich, vehicles were able to post phenomenal fuel efficiency gains simply by adjusting the timing of traffic lights depending on traffic volume — to whatever speed provides a so-called 'green wave' of four or more synchronized signals."
Handhelds

Apple Reverses iPad "No Cash Purchase" Policy 377

Posted by timothy from the so-it's-free-now dept.
ZipK writes "After a few days of bad publicity, Apple has reversed its no cash purchase policy, explaining that the policy was originally implemented to limit the number of iPads an individual could buy during the introductory period of short supply. Now that supply has caught up with demand — and the story has hit front pages and gained national attention — Apple has reversed its policy, and taken the opportunity to put a bow on the story by giving the formerly scorned Diane Campbell a free iPad."

Slashdot Top Deals

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." -- Albert Einstein

Close