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GNU is Not Unix

Submission + - You can not reverse-engineer our GPL-violations... 6

Submitted by
phorm
phorm writes: "If appears that Monsoon Technology, the makers of the Hava media-transmission systems, don't quite understand the GPL. As some users pointed out in their forums, their systems appear to be based on Linux and various GPL'ed software, with the output of "strings" and other tests showing signs of running busybox and others. A monsoon spokesperson on the forum has indicated that they are aware it uses GPL'ed software, and are "working" on making source available, but at the same time are dropping various threats against supposed reverse-engineering of the software by those that determined the GPL violations.

A few snippets from the Monsoon rep include: I have a little secret to let you in on — HAVA runs Linux! Yes, much of the source is GPL and we should publish those sections which we have modified per the terms of GPL. A project is underway to pull this together. A couple of observations — some of you appear to be violating the terms of the End User License Agreement

You recognize and agree that the HAVA Software including its structure, source code and the design and structure of modules or programs, constitute valuable trade secrets owned by Snappymultimedia or its licensors. You will not copy or use the HAVA Software except as expressly permitted by this EULA and, specifically, you will not ...

(b) yourself or through any third party modify, reverse engineer, disassemble or decompile the HAVA Software in whole or part, except to the extent expressly permitted by applicable law, and then only after you have notified Snappymultimedia in writing of your intended activities; Seems to me that some of you have just come out blatantly admitting you are reverse engineering the firmware — or trying to. How should we handle this? As responses have indicated, the methods used to determine the violation do not seem to constitute reverse-engineering. Moreover, the initial friendliness of the rep is severely marred by the apparent hostility of the later message, as forum members have indicated. The overall message seems to be "we have not lived up to our obligations under the license of the software which we are using, but we'll get to it... sometime. Meanwhile, do not attempt to poke around our code yourself or things will get ugly."

The owners of BusyBox have been notified of this violation, however the response is still troubling. Is this the response we should come to expect as more and more commercial software uses and misuses GPL'ed components?"

PC Games (Games)

Submission + - The Much Dreaded Copy Protection In Most PC Games

Submitted by DCJW
DCJW writes: Copyright measures are increasingly becoming bothersome to some gamers. There would be no issues whatsoever with copyright protection, especially if it's minor like popping in a CD/DVD into the drive so that it can be verified. But when all manners of ridiculously imposing measures like activation servers, that's where the line is drawn. Obviously, such measures are not popular. A recent example of this was the recently launched game, BioShock. When do we as consumers draw the line? At what point does it become too much of a hassle. And how is it in our interests when all we are getting in return is even more inconvenience?
Music

Submission + - FOSS Audio Sampler Breaking Records (laptoprockers.eu)

Submitted by
Shameless-Self-Promoter
Shameless-Self-Promoter writes: "In a similar vein to GarageBand, Cubase and ACID Pro — OpenSebJ delivers similar high quality Audio Sample Mixing capabilities to the windows using public. Breaking the >110K download record, a recent interview at Laptop Rockers celebrates this achievement and covers the authors own desire and motivations to release the code using the GPL."
Security

Submission + - The 8 most dangerous consumer technologies (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: "Companies are responding to an increasing security threat from popular technologies with everything from bans and blocking to monitoring employee activity with sophisticated tracking software, according to Computerworld's Mary Brandel. "Consumerization will be a nightmare for IT departments, creating maintenance and support problems that will swiftly overwhelm IT resources, unless they embrace new approaches to managing the rogue employees," says one analyst. But end-users say their personal devices help with creativity and productivity."
The Media

Submission + - Universal to walk out on iTunes? (nytimes.com)

Submitted by
Bellum Aeternus
Bellum Aeternus writes: "Looks like the Universal Music Group of Vivendi is considering abandoning iTunes and the million of iPod owners that purchase music every year. Universal Music Group of Vivendi is demanding greater control and pricing power before it'll sign a new contract with Jobs and co. Who's more persuasive Steve Jobs or the world's biggest music corporation?"
Space

Submission + - Tracing the Universe Before the Big Bang, Possible (yahoo.com)

Submitted by
* * Beatles-Beatles
* * Beatles-Beatles writes: "It may be possible to glimpse before the supposed beginning of time into the universe prior to the Big Bang, researchers now say.

Unfortunately, any such picture will always be fuzzy at best due to a kind of "cosmic forgetfulness."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070701/sc_space/gl impseoftimebeforebigbangpossible"
Music

Submission + - Has allofmp3.com finally gone down for good?

Submitted by
adavidw
adavidw writes: "Allofmp3.com is down this weekend in both its English and Russian versions. Is this the end? The Moscow Times is reporting that it is. The site has been down for "maintenance" a few times before, each time leaving people to speculate that it was an actual shutdown. However, with legal options rapidly disappearing and virtually no payment options remaining perhaps this time really is the end for the beleaguered music site."
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - How the iPhone will Change the Mobile Industry (venturecake.com)

Submitted by Nailer
Nailer writes: The initial release of the iPod wasn't great. But its long-term effect were huge: a massive 10% (and rapidly growing) chunk of music is now sold digitally to the iPod and its competitors. So what will the iPhone's long-term effect on the cell phone industry be? VentureCake looks at why a 2G device will stir 3G adoption, the effects for Mobile Content providers, iPod clane manufacturers, Flash developers, Opera, Microsoft and Blackberry.
Security

Submission + - iPhone Users' Caller ID Hackable (oreillynet.com)

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "According to Nitesh Dhanjani, Cingular's voice mail has been known to be susceptible to Caller ID spoofing for more than a year. This hasn't been fixed yet, and so all new AT&T customers (iPhone users) are susceptible to this. The vulnerability allows someone to login to your voice mail without a password. Dhanjani states: "The purpose of this post is to alert new iPhone customers about a security vulnerability in AT&T/Cingular's Voicemail system that has not been fixed for more than a year. I first wrote about this on February 1, 2006.... I can't force AT&T / Cingular to fix this issue, but I can tell you about it so you know what to do to protect yourself from this vulnerability". He has posted instructions on how to exploit the vulnerability and how to protect yourself from it."
Linux Business

Submission + - GPLv3 poses a threat to interoperability (metrocorpcounsel.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Here's a Washington lawyer's perspective on GPLv3: By Francis M. Buono (in The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel): GPLv3 is living in the past. The modern IT industry and customer realities are predicated on a healthy coexistence of the OSS and proprietary software models and collaboration between each camp in response to customer demands for increased interoperability. http://www.metrocorpcounsel.com/current.php?artTyp e=view&EntryNo=6523
Mozilla

Submission + - Bounty to fix page or firefox

Submitted by higuita
higuita writes: In this blog post (yes, darkgreen text over black, just select it to read), the Portuguese government is paying 1000€ for someone to fix a problem with the https://private.eu2007.pt/ page/certificate. This page works fine in all other browsers, but in mozilla ones it fail to check the certificate, due a problem reported in bug 245609. Read the blog post for more information and start hacking!! Lets seen how long it takes. :)
Editorial

Submission + - Why Forza 2 is Not a Sim (gwn.com)

Submitted by
Richard Manley
Richard Manley writes: "If you thought Forza 2 was a hardcore racing sim, you'd be wrong. Sim expert Walter Hurdle explains why in GWN.com's latest feature:

"Every review I've read on Forza 2 has included at least one reference to the "S" word, if not an outright proclamation that Microsoft's second iteration of its answer to Sony's equally arcade GT4 is a legitimate racing simulation. Well, I'm here to tell you that despite a valiant effort, Forza 2 falls short of the mark for true sim-goodness, because the game commits too many of the seven deadly sins of arcade racing.

Here's how the sim-gods pass judgment on every virtual racing title. According to the Good Book of Sim-Geekdom, the first deadly sin is absolutely sacrosanct. Commit the first one and it doesn't matter how pious you are with respect to the other six. However, a racer can still fail to qualify for sim-salvation even if it does not commit the first deadly sin. Commit two or more of the last six deadly sins, and the punishment is arcade damnation for eternity.""
Biotech

Submission + - Alpha-male pheromones make brainier females

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Nature News: Female mice make new brain cells when they detect a dominant male's urine, researchers have found. The discovery gives a clue as to how the chemical messages shape their receiver's taste in mates. Urine is rich in the sex pheromones that many animals use to recognize and choose their mates. But how they work is unclear. So Samuel Weiss from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, and his colleagues looked at their effects on the brain. The team housed adult female mice with soiled litter for a week. Animals exposed to urine from dominant males showed around a 25% increase in new neurons in two brain regions. Those exposed to clean bedding, or urine from females or subordinate males showed no such increase.
The Internet

Submission + - A reprieve for Internet radio?

Submitted by
westlake
westlake writes: "In the wake of Internet Radio's Day of Silence, SoundExchange has proposed a temporary $2500 cap on advance payments "per channel/per station." The Digital Music Association responded immediately in its own press release that it would agree to this, but only if the term for the new arrangement were extended to 2010 — or, preferably, forever. SoundExchange and DiMA Negotiating New Minimum Online Radio Fees On another front, SoundExchange seems aware in its PR that it will have to concede something more to the non-profit webcaster, if it is to avoid Congressional action."

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