Comment Atavism. (Score 1) 140
You mean "atavism" not "avatar". An avatar is something you masturbate to in Second Life.
Comment Except... (Score 2, Insightful) 185
Except on a Mac.
Comment World's first pause button? (Score 4, Informative) 185
On the bright side, the 5200 joysticks included the world's first on-controller pause button.
Er, the Intellivision had a system-wide pause function that would pause any game when you held the "1" and "9" keys (I believe "3" and "7" also worked) on the keypad simultaneously.
If you want to get picky there was not exactly a button marked "PAUSE", but it served the same function.
Comment Human rights complaint. (Score 3, Insightful) 241
If I was a student at Carleton I would file a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, if for nothing but the delicious irony.
As much as I hate human rights commissions, this is a perfect opportunity to throw some of the same destructive invective back at those so eager to label any and all things as racist and sexist.
Comment Population... (Score 1) 223
I agree with your argument that casting votes for multiple offices and legislative initiatives lends itself to electronic tabulation. Your argument that population is prohibitive to paper based voting is not, however, considering that the vote tallies from the major population centers of Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, etc. are available around the same time as the tallies from lesser populated areas in the same time zone.
Submission + - New DRM technologies setting up Vista for failure?
PetManimal writes: "Computerworld has picked apart the way Vista handles DRM in terms of hardware and software restrictions. Trusted Platform Module, Output Protection Management, Protected Video Path and various Windows Media software components are designed to "protect" copyrighted content against security breaches and unauthorized use. The article notes that many of the DRM technologies were forced upon Vista by the entertainment industry, but that may not garner Microsoft or Hollywood any sympathy with consumers: 'Matt Rosoff, lead analyst at research firm Directions On Microsoft, asserts that this process does not bode well for new content formats such as Blu-ray and HD-DVD, neither of which are likely to survive their association with DRM technology. "I could not be more skeptical about the viability of the DRM included with Vista, from either a technical or a business standpoint," Rosoff stated. "It's so consumer-unfriendly that I think it's bound to fail — and when it fails, it will sink whatever new formats content owners are trying to impose."'"
Submission + - DELL paid U.K user to uninstall Windows XP
hmart writes: "As seen on BBC News, CNET News: Dave Mitchell an U.K programmer and Linux user has won a refund from Dell for not installing Windows XP on a laptop he bought. From the article: "He encouraged other people to try to get a refund and wondered if Dell's policy on which operating systems it offered on laptops would change if enough people tried.""
Submission + - Zune incompatible with Windows Vista
An anonymous reader writes: According to AppleInsider, Microsoft has'nt gotten around to making sure that Zune is supported by Vista.
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2237
Submission + - Caritas defeated in attempt to patent VOIP
Grv writes: A patent infringement suit that could have meant bad news for Voice over IP has failed. Ars reports that Judge David Folsom called Caritas' attempt to claim a patent on VOIP "aburd," leaving Comcast victorious in the suit. An appeal is planned, however. From the article, "The patent in question, no. 6,661,779, describes a "dial up telephone conferencing system controlled by an online computer network." At first glance, the patent doesn't look at all relevant to VoIP. However, Caritas said that the patent could be interpreted to cover any call that travels over the Internet via VoIP."
Submission + - Australian Wireless Patent reaffirmed in US court
An anonymous reader writes: "The CSIRO has won a landmark US legal battle against Buffalo Technology, under which it could receive royalties from every producer of wireless local area network (WLAN) products worldwide."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/wireless — broadband/ csiro-wins-landmark-legal-battle/2006/11/15/116326 6614119.html
Submission + - CRTC Ruling in Canada for VoIP
Cdn Anonymous Coward writes: "Conservative government in Canada is stepping in to reverse the CRTC Ruling made in May.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM .20061115.wrtelecom15/BNStory/Business/home
Finally!"
Going Pink For October 352
Matthew Oliphant is inviting anyone and everyone to turn their Web sites pink during October, which is National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Nearly 150 sites have done so as of this writing. And by the way, guys can get breast cancer too.
Get Played. Get Paid. 78
vile8 writes "Bob Young, co-founder of Red Hat Software, is in the NY Times this morning
covering a new co-operative business plan for viral video makers. Just like his Self-publishing
site Lulu, the new plan provides 80% of the revenues back to the creators. It is
based on something quite common, Co-ops. In this plan, if there were
5000 users at 14.95 each there would be 59,800 that would get divvied up among those that brought
traffic to the site. The 'pro' users also get larger upload space, and longer cam captures. Other unique features of the site are the podcast generation per author, author vlog pages, and open-source-specific OGM video
format conversions."
Judge Calls SCO On Lack of Evidence 187
Rob writes to mention a CBR article on Judge Wells' assessment that SCO just hasn't made its case against IBM in the well-known and long-lasting legal battle. The magistrate called the lack of evidence inexcusable. She further likened their claims to a shoplifter being handed a catalog for a store after being stopped, and being told 'what you took is in there somewhere, figure it out.' From the article: "In the view of the court it is almost like SCO sought to hide its case until the ninth inning in hopes of gaining an unfair advantage despite being repeatedly told to put 'all the evidence... on the table' ... given SCO's own public statements... it would appear that SCO had more than enough evidence to comply with the court's orders." Groklaw has coverage of the decision, and the complete text from the judge. Update: 06/30 15:14 GMT by Z : This story bears more than a passing resemblance to this one from Wednesday. Sorry about that.
Amazon Asks Congress to Curb Patent Abusers 243
theodp writes "As Amazon urged Congress to change the law to protect the e-tailler from patent abusers, Rep. Lamar Smith had a question: 'Could not Amazon.com be accused of being a troll for patenting the one-click?' Smith asked, a wry smile on his face." While it's nice to see to see tech companies behind such legislation, it would seem there's some pots calling the kettle black, so to speak.
