BadBrainDay - Slashdot User

Submission + - Microsoft deprecating some OOXML functionality (fanaticattack.com)

Submitted by

christian.einfeldt

on Thursday December 27, 2007 @10:36PM

christian.einfeldt writes: "According to open standards advocate Russell Ossendryver, Microsoft will be deprecating certain functionality in its Microsoft Office Open XML specification. Ossendryver says the move is an attempt to quiet critics of the specification in the run up to the crucial February vote as to whether Microsoft OOXML will be included as a second standard for e-documents, along with the existing ODF ISO standard. ECMA, the Microsoft-led industry standards group formally offering OOXML to ISO, confirms in a 21 December 2007 announcement that issues related to the "leap year bug", VML, compatibility settings such as "AutoSpaceLikeWord95" and others will be "extracted from the main specification and relocated to an independent annex in DIS 29500 for deprecated functionality." Ossendryver is not convinced that deprecation will work, calling the deprecation proposal a 'smoke screen' and a 'bomb disguised as a standard' because 'every application will need to support the deprecated features in order to read files with the deprecated features.' Ossendryver also points out that legacy formatted Microsoft Office documents will still remain non-standard under the new proposal for deprecation."

Submission + - PC Mag slams Everex gPC (pcmag.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27, 2007 @05:29PM

An anonymous reader writes: PC Magazine reviews the $200 Linux desktop wonder sold by Wal-Mart. This desktop sold out quickly and has been cited as proof that consumers are tired of the Windows tax and ready for Linux. Not so according to PC Magazine giving the gPC a 1.5 star rating. "The gPC is not the alternative to Windows or Mac OS X it's cracked up to be; it's very frustrating to use."

Submission + - Auto Mileage Standards Raised to 35 mpg

Submitted by

Ponca City, We Love You

on Friday December 14, 2007 @08:46AM

Ponca City, We Love You writes: "The Senate just passed a bill that will increase auto mileage standards for the first time in three decades. The auto industry's fleet of new cars, sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks and vans will have to average 35 mpg by 2020, a significant increase over the 2008 requirement of 27.5 mpg average for cars and 22.5 mpg for light trucks. For consumers, the legislation will mean that over the next dozen years auto companies will likely build more diesel-powered SUVs and gas-electric hybrid cars as well as vehicles that can run on 85 percent ethanol. Automakers had vehemently opposed legislation in June that contained the same mileage requirements and Fortune magazine reported that American automakers were starting the miles-per-gallon race far behind Japan and that the new standards could doom US automakers. At the time, Chrysler officially put the cost of meeting the proposed rules at $6,700 per vehicle. The White House announced the President will sign the bill if it comes to his desk."

Submission + - Canadian DMCA Won't Include Consumer Rights 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 07, 2007 @08:09AM

An anonymous reader writes: As protests mount over the Canadian DMCA, law professor Michael Geist is now reporting that the government plans to delay addressing fair use and consumer copyright concerns such as the blank media tax for years. While the U.S. copyright lobby get their DMCA, consumers will get a panel to eventually consider possible changes to the law. Many Canadians are responding today with a mass phone-in to Industry Minister Jim Prentice to protest the policy plans.

Submission + - Did SCO get Linux-mob justice? (cnn.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 05, 2007 @10:55AM

An anonymous reader writes: According to Fortune's legal blogger Roger Parloff, "once in awhile a judicial ruling comes down that's so wrong at such a basic level that you're just left scratching your head". He claims that Judge Kimball's "102-page ruling (about SCO) was greeted with widespread rejoicing and I-told-you-so's", but "the problem is not that Judge Kimball's view of the facts is wrong". Was the ruling unfair?

Submission + - Ham Radio Operators Are Heroes In Oregon (kptv.com) 1

Submitted by on Wednesday December 05, 2007 @03:21AM

An anonymous reader writes: We all know the impact that Ham radio can have in emergencies, but that often slips by the public and the authorities. Not so in Oregon, where a day after getting inundated with torrential rains and winds and suffering from the usually calamities those cause, Oregon's Governor called the local Ham radio operators heroes. When discussing how the storm affected communications, the governor stated: "I'm going to tell you who the heroes were from the very beginning of this...the ham radio operators." Kudos to the Oregon Ham operators for helping out in a bad situation, and getting the recognition they deserve.

Submission + - Protecting IM from the NSA, a Canadian's view 3

Submitted by

holden

on Thursday November 22, 2007 @05:58PM

holden writes: "Ian Goldberg, leading security researcher, professor at the university of waterloo, cypherpunk and co-creator of the Off-the-Record Messaging (OTR) protocol recently gave a talk on protecting your IM conversations. He discusses OTR and its importance in today's world with warrant-less wire tapping and all that bad stuff. With OTR users benefit from being able to have truly private conversations over IM, by using encryption to obtain authentication, deniability, and perfect forward secrecy, while working within their existing IM infrastructure. With the recent NSA wiretapping activities and increasing Big Brother presence, security and OTR are increasingly important. An avi of the talk is available by http as well as by bittorrent and a bunch of other formats."

Submission + - How do you find new non-RIAA music? 4

Submitted by burgundysizzle on Thursday November 22, 2007 @04:20AM

burgundysizzle writes: Hey this is /. (almost) everyone hates the RIAA and a lot of people say that they don't buy anything from the companies that are part of that trade group. What alternatives do you use or more importantly what methods do you use to discover alternative sources of music?

I use http://www.sellaband.com/ (some free legal music available) and http://www.amiestreet.com/ (new music is free and most music really cheap) to find new music, but I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting places to discover new music. Tell me about your experiences and any other interesting places you get new music from (that's inexpensive and legal).

Submission + - Microsoft face online fight with Hotmail Founder (timesonline.co.uk)

Submitted by

bharatm

on Thursday November 22, 2007 @03:47AM

bharatm writes: "Sabeer Bhatia(The co-founder of Hotmail, the web-based e-mail service bought by Microsoft for $400 million a decade ago), is challenging the American software giant's core $20 billion (£9.7 billion) office desktop business. Yesterday Sabeer Bhatia released a free online rival to the bestselling Office suite of applications that will allow users to view, share and edit documents from any computer. Click here for more details."

Submission + - Amazon Gives Thanks for Joke of a Patent System

Submitted by

theodp

on Thursday November 22, 2007 @01:41AM

theodp writes: "By changing the word 'a' to 'the' and adding the phrase 'purchasable through a shopping cart model,' lawyers for Amazon.com have apparently managed to reinstate two of CEO Jeff Bezos' 1-Click Patent claims that were rejected a month earlier. 'Patent Owner's Rep was informed that the proposed addition to the claims appear to place the claims in condition of patentability,' writes the USPTO in its Ex Parte Reexamination Interview Summary of the 11-15 conference call that was held with five representatives of the USPTO and patent reformer Amazon."

Submission + - Apple, Burst Reach Settlement

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 21, 2007 @11:46PM

An anonymous reader writes: In 2005, Microsoft settled Burst's lawsuit for infringements on media player patents for $60 million. Many thought that Apple would be a ripe target next. However, Apple successfully voided 14 out of 36 Burst.com's patent claims in iPod lawsuit. Apple would have gone after the remaining 22 claims. Today, Market Wire announced that the case was settled out of court: "Apple agreed to pay Burst a one-time payment of $10 million cash in exchange for a non-exclusive license to Burst's patent portfolio, not including one issued U.S. patent and 3 pending U.S. patent applications related to new DVR technology. Burst agreed not to sue Apple for any future infringement of the DVR patent and any patents that might issue from the pending DVR-related applications." The big winner would be the lawyers who reduced the settlement to approximately $4.6 million.

Journal SPAM: 70+ JavaScript Resources for Every Web Developer 2

Journal by stoolpigeon on Monday October 15, 2007 @12:51PM

This list of javascript links may come in handy.

Submission + - Xerox looks to protect documents from prying eyes (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by

coondoggie

on Monday October 15, 2007 @10:39AM

coondoggie writes: "Xerox today touted software it says can scan documents, understand their meaning and block access to those sensitive or secure areas so that prying eyes cannot read, copy or forward the information. Xerox and researchers from its Palo Alto Research Center debuted "Intelligent Redaction," new software that automates the process of removing confidential information from any document. The software includes a detection tool that uses content analysis and an intelligent user interface to protect sensitive information. It can encrypt only the sensitive sections or paragraphs of a document, a capability previously not available, Xerox said. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/20602"

Submission + - Canadian ISP co-op shows upside of line sharing (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Golden Gael on Friday October 12, 2007 @04:41PM

Golden Gael writes: The FCC got rid of mandatory line sharing in the US a few years ago, but it's alive and kicking in Canada, and an interesting article at Ars Technica looks at what can happen when there's vibrant broadband competition. 'Wireless Nomad does things a little differently. The company is subscriber-owned, volunteer-run, and open-source friendly. It offers a neutral Internet connection with no bandwidth caps or throttling, and it makes a point of creating wireless access points at the end of each DSL connection that can be used, for free, by the public. Bell Canada this is not.' The ISP has some ambitious plans for the future, including getting involved in WiMAX.

Submission + - Interview with the "Anti-Gamer" Senator Le (gamealmighty.com) 1

Submitted by

strwrsxprt

on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @04:19PM

strwrsxprt writes: "Game Almighty recently had the chance to speak with Senator Leland Yee about his views on the validity of California Assembly Bill 1179, which was designed to criminalize the sale of Mature rated games to minors and require retailers to keep Mature games separated from other games. He also shares his thoughts on everything from the effectiveness of the ESRB and the place AO games have in the market, to the movie industry and their rating standards in relation to games. His answers might just surprise you."

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