ShinyBrowncoat - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Great. (Score 1) 337

by ShinyBrowncoat on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @02:31AM (#23567359) Attached to: Internet-Based Realtors Win Monster Settlement

I guess it depends on what the negotiated price would have been in the absence of the agents. As a buyer I would not pay for the service, so I will not consider that part of the value I am basing my offer on. Only in the absence of alternatives (and this is where anti-competitive practices really get you) would I be 'forced' to pay for the agent services I do not value, else to keep the price of the home competitive/reasonable, the seller will have to pay out of their gross. Of course it also depends on how hot the market is - having multiple offers for every property is very different than having a house sit on the market for months or being forced to sell due to financial problems, etc.

Submission + - Forensics Expert says Al-Qaeda Images Altered

Submitted by WerewolfOfVulcan on Thursday August 02, 2007 @04:33PM

WerewolfOfVulcan writes: Wired reports that researcher Neal Krawetz revealed some veeeeeery interesting things about the Al-Qaeda images that our government loves to show off.

From the article: "Krawetz was also able to determine that the writing on the banner behind al-Zawahiri's head was added to the image afterward. In the second picture above showing the results of the error level analysis, the light clusters on the image indicate areas of the image that were added or changed. The subtitles and logos in the upper right and lower left corners (IntelCenter is an organization that monitors terrorist activity and As-Sahab is the video production branch of al Qaeda) were all added at the same time, while the banner writing was added at a different time, likely around the same time that al-Zawahiri was added, Krawetz says." Why would Al-Qaeda add an IntelCenter logo to their video? Why would IntelCenter add an Al-Qaeda logo? Methinks we have bigger fish to fry than Gonzo and his fired attorneys... }:-) The article contains links to Krawetz's presentation and the source code he used to analyze the photos.

Submission + - SuprNova.org Transferred to The Pirate Bay (slyck.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02, 2007 @04:28PM

An anonymous reader writes: Andrej Preston, ex-administrator of legendary BitTorrent SuprNova.org, has turned over the keys to The Pirate Bay.

"My deal with [The Pirate Bay] was that the role of SuprNova can't change much," he tells Slyck.com. "It needs to be community orientated, but I hope they make some updates the SuprNova was sooo missing. But what they will do, it's not my thing to decide anymore. But I know they will do [well] and will try to keep the community spirit running."

Submission + - Dell begins their largest layoff ever. 3

Submitted by cyphercell on Thursday August 02, 2007 @02:59PM

cyphercell writes: Dell has begun their largest series of layoffs ever. This morning at about 10:00am more than two hundred employees at Dell's Roseburg Oregon Call center found out that they no longer had jobs. Sparking what appears to be the beginning of year long run of layoffs for the company. http://www.newsreview.info/article/20070802/NEWS/7 0802014

Refuting local suspicions of malice Dell spokesman David Frink states:

... the closure has nothing to do with a lawsuit filed by employees of the Roseburg center in February, claiming Dell violated federal and state wage and hour laws.
http://www.newsreview.info/article/20070213/NEWS/7 0213020

and later says

...plans to reduce employment worldwide by 10 percent at the end of May.

Their plans to reduce employment can be found here:
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business /stories/technology/06/01/1dell.html

Here are some highlights:

Dell set to shed 8,800 workers...

Dell has 82,200 permanent workers, including 18,000 in Central Texas, and 5,300 temporary workers worldwide. The layoffs are expected to affect both groups...

In its last large-scale layoffs, Dell cut more than 5,000 jobs in Austin after the high-tech bust in 2001.

...many of the layoffs could come in Central Texas, where Dell is headquartered. In a March 29 report to clients, Goldman Sachs analysts said Dell might reduce the work force at its test and assembly facilities in the U.S. and Malaysia.

Submission + - Do Not Call Registry gets wake-up call (networkworld.com) 2

Submitted by

coondoggie

on Thursday August 02, 2007 @01:58PM

coondoggie writes: "If you signed up for the federal or your state's Do Not Call Registry a few years ago, you might want to thing about refreshing it. Pennsylvanians this week got a wake up call, so to speak from the state's Attorney General Tom Corbett who kicked off a public awareness campaign designed to remind people what many have forgotten or never knew — that the 2002 law set registrations to expire after five years. That is of course unless you want to start hearing from those telemarketers as you sit down to dinner. Corbett said about 2 million people signed up in the immediate aftermath of the law taking effect and those who do not act by Sept. 15 will have their numbers dropped from the registry on Nov. 1. The Pennsylvania action is a reminder that the National Do Not Call Registry has a five year life span as well. The Federal Trade Commission is set to being a nation campaign in Spring 2008 to remind all US citizens to refresh their federal Do Not Call Registry standing. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/18066"

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