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Movies

Submission + - Redbox says NO to Warner Bros (tekgoblin.com)

Submitted by
tekgoblin
tekgoblin writes: "Nearly 2 years have passed since Redbox and many others had to deal with Warner Bros. Studio policy to delay new releases titles being rented for 28 days. Warner had a deal in place with Redbox where they would delay the release of their films for 28 days in exchange for lower acquisition costs and a steady flow of Blu-ray discs, but the rental company decided to draw the line when Warner wanted them to wait 56 days. Warner is clearly making this move to help bolster new release sales that are on decline when compared to rental figures. Warner maintains that longer delay windows will “encourage” more people to purchase discs and store them in UltraViolet’s cloud-based digital lockers or rent them on VOD. Redbox will now have to purchase movies at regular retail cost with no current reliable stream of supply and that could spell future price increases on their service. On the bright side, consumers will now be able to rent movies from Redbox when those titles go on sale without any delay, except for stock availability."

Submission + - 3,500 Year Old Tree Dies of Natural Causes (thedaily.com)

Submitted by hondo77
hondo77 writes: The Daily reports that "Mother Nature claimed one of her oldest living specimens (Monday) in a freak fire that destroyed a 3,500-year-old bald cypress tree towering over central Florida. Known as “The Senator,” or simply “The Big Tree,” the hollowed-out majestic timber, standing at 118 feet tall, ignited before dawn. Firefighters watched helplessly as the oldest tree east of the Mississippi — and the fifth oldest in the world — blazed and then collapsed in a heap of flaming embers." The fire likely started by "either a weeks- old lightning strike that smoldered until combustion occured, or friction caused by buffeting winds that ignited a spark and erupted in flames."
Government

Submission + - RIAA wants to scrap anti-piracy OPEN Act (arstechnica.com) 1

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: The Recording Industry Association of America found itself in an unusual position this week: opposing an anti-piracy bill that's gaining momentum in Congress. "The OPEN Act does nothing" to stop online infringement and "may even make the problem worse," the industry group says in a statement it is circulating on Capitol Hill this week. "It does not establish a workable framework, standards, or remedies. It is not supported by those it purports to protect."

The basic approach of OPEN, which is sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), is to shift enforcement against rogue sites to the International Trade Commission, which has become a popular venue for international patent disputes. The ITC would investigate claims that a foreign site is dedicated to infringement. If the ITC found a site was dedicated to infringement, the site would be cut off from American advertising and payment networks.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/02/shoe-on-the-other-foot-riaa-calls-for-open-act-to-be-scrapped.ars
Microsoft

Submission + - Office 15 Technical Preview Released (office.com)

Submitted by Kohenkatz
Kohenkatz writes: This week, Microsoft released a Preview build of Office 15 (which will likely be released as either Office 2012 or Office 2013) to the first group of testers. The public beta will likely be released later this summer and there are rumors that the final release is slated for just before the end of the year.

According to zdnet's Mary Jo Foley (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsoft-office-15-technical-preview-kicks-off/11753), Microsoft refuses to answer any questions at this time about the features of Office 15, such as how touch-centric (or not) this version will be.
Your Rights Online

Submission + - 'No Immediate Plans' to Delete Megaupload Data (datacenterknowledge.com)

Submitted by 1sockchuck
1sockchuck writes: Carpathia Hosting said today that it has “no immediate plans” to delete data stored on servers operated by Megaupload, and will provide advance notice before any deletions take place. The company, which hosted Megaupload's servers, is directing inquirers to MegaRetrieval.com, where they can connect with the Electronic Frontier Foundation to investigate their options.
Games

Submission + - Steam proves we don't own the games we buy (geek.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A recent decision to ban a user account has reminded us all we don’t technically own the games bought through the service. If your account is banned, you can’t login and play your games. All that money you spent on tens, or even hundreds of titles doesn’t count for anything.

The example that proves this is the story of a Russian gamer who goes by the name of gimperial. He has a Steam account with over 250 games stored on it that he paid for legitimately, spending over $1,500 purchasing them. However, Steam decided to ban his account for a terms of service violation. The problem is, they wouldn’t tell him what rule had been broken, and Steam’s support service refused to respond to his tickets after initially confirming the ban.

Submission + - How to do security research

Submitted by yakatz
yakatz writes: I am a CS student and I have been looking for a good security related research project.
The trouble is I am afraid of being sanctioned for uncovering security problems in a system. Other students have been threatened with criminal prosecution by University officials (which is stopped when a tenured professor steps in). It seems to be normal now that companies sue to cover up security research instead of fixing the problem.
This story from the Washington Post only deepens my concern.

So my question is: How do you do security research without the risks of ending up in court or in jail?

Comment More Changes (Score 0) 545

by Kohenkatz (#33102938) Attached to: Verizon Changing Users Router Passwords
Further inspection reveals that they also wiped the router's logs. The router is supposed to leg settings changes. The last stuff it has before my first login after the password change is from July 2007, even though there used to be stuff there from last time I went in.

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