Submission + - The Panties Which Altered My Life (mydesiclub.org)
nik8853 writes: "My name is Priti and I am an 18 year old GUY. I am a short kid who does not have too much experience with dating because of my height. Girls tend to ignore me, calling me "cute" for the wrong reasons. I went to one of those "indian parties" with my parents during a break from college, and I was asked to talk with the others in the family room. A girl there, Hina Patel. was a family friend for a long time, as her parents and I have been friends for the longest of time. It was her parents that invited us for this party. I was always ignored by her, as I just knew she thought lowly of me. She was so gorgeous, yet I had no respect for her. She was a ****in' bitch liike the rest of them. I just could not stay in the same room as her, for i knew that I would go insane. Her beauty was too much to handle, and she was a childhood crush of mine since day one."
Submission + - DVD group proposes copy ban (eetimes.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The DVD Copy Control Association will vote today on an amendment to its bylaws that would explicitly forbid OEMs from selling systems that make copies of movies, even for secure internal storage on a hard disk or archival.
Submission + - DVD group proposes copy ban (eetimes.com)
wilsonjd writes: The DVD Copy Control Association will vote Wednesday (June 20) on an amendment to its bylaws that would explicitly forbid OEMs from selling systems that make copies of movies, even for secure internal storage on a hard disk. The move is seen as a reaction to the group's loss in a key civil suit it brought against startup Kaleidescape earlier this year.
Submission + - Kids can't hug anymore (cnn.com)
An anonymous reader writes: VIENNA, Virginia (AP) — A show of affection almost landed a teenage boy in detention.
Hugging was 13-year-old Hal Beaulieu's crime when he sat next to his girlfriend at lunch a few months ago and put his arm around her shoulder. He was let off with a warning, but the cost of a repeat offense could be detention.
A rule against physical contact at Kilmer Middle School, about 10 miles west of Washington, is so strict that students can be sent to the principal's office for hugging, holding hands or even high-fiving.
"I think hugging is a good thing," said Hal, a seventh-grader. "I put my arm around her. It was like for 15 seconds. I didn't think it would be a big deal."
Unlike some schools, which ban fighting or inappropriate touching, Kilmer Middle School bans all touching.
But that doesn't seem necessary to Hal and his parents. They've sent a letter asking the county school board to review the rule.
But at a school of 1,100 students that was meant to accommodate 850, school officials think touching can turn into a big deal. They've seen pokes lead to fights, gang signs in the form of handshakes and girls who are uncomfortable being hugged but embarrassed to say anything.
"You get into shades of gray," Kilmer Principal Deborah Hernandez said. "The kids say, 'If he can high-five, then I can do this.' "
Hernandez said the no-touching rule is meant to ensure that students are comfortable and that crowded hallways and lunchrooms stay safe. She said school officials are allowed to use their judgment in enforcing the rule. Typically, only repeat offenders are reprimanded.
Hugging was 13-year-old Hal Beaulieu's crime when he sat next to his girlfriend at lunch a few months ago and put his arm around her shoulder. He was let off with a warning, but the cost of a repeat offense could be detention.
A rule against physical contact at Kilmer Middle School, about 10 miles west of Washington, is so strict that students can be sent to the principal's office for hugging, holding hands or even high-fiving.
"I think hugging is a good thing," said Hal, a seventh-grader. "I put my arm around her. It was like for 15 seconds. I didn't think it would be a big deal."
Unlike some schools, which ban fighting or inappropriate touching, Kilmer Middle School bans all touching.
But that doesn't seem necessary to Hal and his parents. They've sent a letter asking the county school board to review the rule.
But at a school of 1,100 students that was meant to accommodate 850, school officials think touching can turn into a big deal. They've seen pokes lead to fights, gang signs in the form of handshakes and girls who are uncomfortable being hugged but embarrassed to say anything.
"You get into shades of gray," Kilmer Principal Deborah Hernandez said. "The kids say, 'If he can high-five, then I can do this.' "
Hernandez said the no-touching rule is meant to ensure that students are comfortable and that crowded hallways and lunchrooms stay safe. She said school officials are allowed to use their judgment in enforcing the rule. Typically, only repeat offenders are reprimanded.
Submission + - Keylogger Hardware Embedded in New Dell Laptop (virus.org.ua)
kendbluze writes: "Here's an EE who was doing a simple repair to a nearly-new Dell 600m laptop when he noticed something a bit curious. Turns out he found a hardware keylogger sitting between the keyboard and ethernet controllers! See what Homeland Security didn't have to say about it."
Submission + - AntiVirus kills PCs? Have some more, Symantec says (texyt.com)
Tort reformation writes: Dubious 'compensation' settlements from companies that have done wrong are nothing new (examples: 1,2,3). But Symantec may have hit a new low. After tens of thousands of PCs in China were crippled by Symantec's Norton AntiVirus when it went beserk last month and decided Windows XP was a virus, users demanded financial compensation for lost data, days of lost business, and repair fees. Symantec's counter-offer: a further year's free use of Norton Antivirus.
Submission + - How to Stop Pirates: Ask Nicely
BillGatesLoveChild writes: When Trey Harrison found his music lighting software 'Salvation' had been pirated, he was taken aback. Being an Independent Software Developer, there wasn't much he could do. So he contacted the Warez Group and asked them nicely. They wrote back and said sorry, that they at least hoped more people got to see it and that in accordance with his wishes, they wouldn't release it again.
But what of the Anti-Piracy tool "Armadillo Software Passport" that was supposed to have protected Trey's Software? Unlike the Pirates who responded straight away, Trey says he never heard a peep back from Armadillo. Seems the Pirates have better "customer support" than the Anti-piracy agents!
Of course, "Ask Nicely" may not work for the RIAA who as Orson Scott Card's famous essay pointed out have perhaps irreversible ill-will due to their history of ripping off artists and consumers and buying off Congressmen. But for smaller companies and independents, perhaps it's worth a try? There's even hope for the industry heavies. Mark Ishikawa of Anti-P2P Company BayTSP says 85% of people he sends a gentle warning on behalf of the MPAA "do not come back, with no headlines and no public relations blowups."
Could a softly-softly approach work better for IP owners that heavy-handed threats and lawyers?
But what of the Anti-Piracy tool "Armadillo Software Passport" that was supposed to have protected Trey's Software? Unlike the Pirates who responded straight away, Trey says he never heard a peep back from Armadillo. Seems the Pirates have better "customer support" than the Anti-piracy agents!
Of course, "Ask Nicely" may not work for the RIAA who as Orson Scott Card's famous essay pointed out have perhaps irreversible ill-will due to their history of ripping off artists and consumers and buying off Congressmen. But for smaller companies and independents, perhaps it's worth a try? There's even hope for the industry heavies. Mark Ishikawa of Anti-P2P Company BayTSP says 85% of people he sends a gentle warning on behalf of the MPAA "do not come back, with no headlines and no public relations blowups."
Could a softly-softly approach work better for IP owners that heavy-handed threats and lawyers?
Submission + - Outcry over Flickr's censorship in Germany (theregister.co.uk)
FraterNLST writes: "Once again everyone is up at arms about the enforced censorship of Flickr photo's in Germany, as some are in the United Arab Emirates and China. Are we lobbing blame at the wrong people however? Flickr and Yahoo aren't censoring photo's because they enjoy doing it (these same photos are available in the majority of countries) but to comply with local laws and regulations.
Perhaps it is the German government who should be held responsible for the censorship, those responsible for the laws in the first place?"
Perhaps it is the German government who should be held responsible for the censorship, those responsible for the laws in the first place?"
Submission + - wikipedia unblocked in china
An anonymous reader writes: wikipedia unblocked in china
Submission + - Wikipedia UNbanned in China !
An anonymous reader writes: Dear Slashdot,
Since this morning Wikipedia has been unbanned in Beijing,
Shanghai and many other cities.
So far only the English version is accessible
(en.wikipedia.org).
The other languages, chinese included, aren't
reachable at the moment but there's no more
the notorious "connection reset" error coming
from the Great Firewall of China.
Marco Polo,
Bejing,
China PRC
Since this morning Wikipedia has been unbanned in Beijing,
Shanghai and many other cities.
So far only the English version is accessible
(en.wikipedia.org).
The other languages, chinese included, aren't
reachable at the moment but there's no more
the notorious "connection reset" error coming
from the Great Firewall of China.
Marco Polo,
Bejing,
China PRC
Submission + - fsdfsdfsdfsdfsd
suspectqa writes: gfsdgfsdgdgdfg
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Submission + - NYT editorial on software patents (nytimes.com)
sbma44 writes: "Tim Lee has a great editorial in the New York Times providing an overview of the case against software patents. There's not much that the /. crowd won't have heard before, but it's great to see the issue being covered in the Paper Of Record."
Submission + - Microsoft demands developer withdraw free software
An anonymous reader writes: ZDNet reports : "Microsoft has demanded that a London-based Windows developer withdraws a version of his free debugging tool from distribution, and is claiming that the tool breaches its licensing conditions."
Submission + - Google likens Sweden to dictatorship
lobStar writes: Google criticizes the Swedish government heavily and does even go as far as liken it with dictatorship because of the proposed bill that would allow wiretapping of all data crossing the countries' borders. The proposal stems from a tradition begun by Saudia Arabia and China and simply has no place in a western democracy," says Peter Fleischer, Google spokesman. "Sometimes Google needs to take a clear stance and my impression is that everybody has listened very intently to what we have had to say," Although the bill has been delayed, not even a such strong statement from the search giant seems to make the government change it's mind.
