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DRM

Submission + - Amazon Blocks Arch Linux Handbook from Kindle Store (thepowerbase.com) 3

An anonymous reader writes: We've all heard the horror stories of Amazon swindling the user out of their content on the Kindle, but this time they've managed to do it preemptively: by blocking the GFDL licensed Arch Linux Handbook from the Kindle Store.

Comment One Simple Solution To Blindness By Drive Lights! (Score 1) 330

When lights are upgraded, retro-fitted, jammed into housings with tape and glue; have the damn lights aimed proper by a competent mechanic or a person with experience.

I have had to "adjust" quite a few lights for weekend light install festers. I cannot even fathom the amount of driver owners who upgrade their lights with or without headlamp housings that do not re-position their lamps.

There are many nights that I wish for a bazooka to fix these cross eyed headlamps or the ones that try to help the moon lunar surface with more light or both!!!

Comment Re:Are they -trying- to kill Firefox? (Score 1) 683

Sure, If you are dead set on using just the supplied version in a desktop enviroment. This has been resolved with this method:

http://mozilla.debian.net/

add this to your sources.list:

deb http://mozilla.debian.net/ squeeze-backports iceweasel-release

and this will keep it updated to the latest released version.

I understand that a lot of people are upset with Mozilla doing fast releases upon the community but I am also scarred from the IE6 clusterfuck. Having a browser sit with swiss cheese holes for many, many years and the banged up band-aid jobs I have seen in corporate enviroments really makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a #2 pencil and take cyanide, It has been a bitch. I do not want to see this happen again.

What I do see taking place here is added features being incorporated under the hood of Mozilla. The GUI interface can be argued by all of us until the Sun expands in about 4.5 billion years and kills us all. For you pedantics out there, I know that we just might possibly be wiped by other things by then. ;)

Software will always be in-motion and it will always require the "adapt or die mentality". Enterprise's will always demand stability where as, us, normal comp geeks want features. This can all be resolved by following a standard(s) for the core browser, better API for the browser and for addons; which Mozilla does an ok job and let the rapid release schedule add it's features.Mozilla needs to add fine grain control to the browser for enterprise usage. I'm well aware of the enterprise Mozilla comment stated by one half cocked developer.

I have 10 different addons that has worked since 4.0 and I'm using 6.0 right now with no issues.

Comment Re:What you can expect from a republican. (Score 1) 316

Oh Flumpping WHOOOOOSSSSSHHHH, No wonder Johnathen & Scott preached only on SUNdays......

                                                                                                          Alright, I'm going back into moms basement to read my SUNdial....................

Operating Systems

Submission + - GNU/Linux distro requires Windows to install 5

dgun writes: "I recently put together a new PC. When I purchased the motherboard, I noticed that it came with an instant on OS, a small GNU/Linux distro known as Splashtop. I assumed that the OS was on a ROM chip on the motherboard. To my great annoyance, when I try to boot to the OS there is a message that says it is not installed. It turns out that motherboard comes with an install disk for this GNU/Linux OS that you can only run from Windows (of course) that will install the OS on the hard drive. First of all, doesn't installing it on the hard drive defeat the point of having an instant on OS? If I wanted to duel boot a small GNU/Linux OS, I'm sure there are plenty to choose from that I could try. Secondly, if distributing GPL'd software by means that completely preclude it from being used without Windows is not a violation of the GPL, should it not be?"
Businesses

Submission + - If You Live by Free, You Will Die by Free

Hugh Pickens writes: "Internet entrepreneur Mark Cuban writes that the problem with companies who have built their business around free is that the more success you have in delivering free, the more expensive it is to stay at the top. "They will be Facebook to your Myspace, or Myspace to your Friendster or Google to your Yahoo," writes Cuban. "Someone out there with a better idea will raise a bunch of money, give it away for free, build scale and charge less to reach the audience." Cuban says that even Google, who lives and dies by free, knows that "at some point your Black Swan competitor will appear and they will kick your ass" and that is exactly why Google invests in everything and anything they possibly can that they believe can create another business they can depend on in the future searching for the "next big Google thing." Cuban says that for any company that lives by Free, their best choice is to run the company as profitably as possible, focusing only on those things that generate revenue and put cash in the bank. "When you succeed with Free, you are going to die by Free. Your best bet is to recognize where you are in your company's lifecycle and maximize your profits rather than try to extend your stay at the top," writes Cuban. "Like every company in the free space, your lifecycle has come to its conclusion. Don't fight it. Admit it. Profit from it.""
Television

Submission + - DRM Group Sets to Phase Out 'Analog Hole' (arstechnica.com)

eldavojohn writes: Our DRM overlords at the AACS Licensing Authority have released a whole bunch of paperwork in the new AACS Adopter Agreement. It's yet another bid for DRM to make your life a little more annoying. The riveting 188 page PDF will inform you that — in the name of Digital Rights Management — there will be limitations set on devices that decrypt Blu-Ray discs. You see, HDMI already has the awesome encryption of HDCP between the device and the display unit. DRM on Blu-Ray still has the Achilles heal of analog players that allow someone to merely re-encode the analog signal back to an unencrypted digital format. So if you have an analog HDTV, hang on to those analog decoders and hope they never break. Ars points out the inherent stupidity in this charade, 'Particularly puzzling is the fact that plugging the so-called "analog hole" won't stop direct digital ripping, enabled by software such as AnyDVD HD. And even the MPAA itself recommends using a camcorder pointed at a TV as a way to make fair use copies, creating another analog hole.' And so the cat and mouse game continues. If you're wondering what the mouse (or would that be cat?) of days of yore is up to, DVD Jon's legit company just bought out a billboard ad for his product doubleTwist next to Apple's San Fransisco store reading 'The Cure for iPhone Envy. Your iTunes library on any device. In seconds.' So he's busy taunting Apple but I'm certain there are others that might have some free time to look at Blu-Ray and the 'uncrackable' AACS.
Security

Submission + - Microsoft Preps Free AV App Beta -- Non-Starter? (computerworld.com) 1

CWmike writes: "Microsoft is preparing to launch a public beta of Morro, the free antimalware it announced last November, according to reports. Morro will use the same scanning engine as Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft's first consumer-grade antivirus package, and the software that the free software replaces. OneCare is to get the boot as of June 30 (Along with finance app Microsoft Money). John Pescatore, an analyst at Gartner, has questioned whether users would step up to Morro even if it was free. 'Consumers are hesitant to pay for a Microsoft security product that will remove problems in other Microsoft products,' he said. 'Think of it this way. What if you smelled a rotten egg odor in your water and the water company said, 'Sure, we can remove that, but it will cost you $50.' Would you buy it?' Not surprisingly, competitors have dismissed Morro's threat to their business. 'We like our chances,' Todd Gebhart, vice president in charge of McAfee's consumer line, said when it was announced OneCare was a goner. 'Consumers have already rejected OneCare,' added Rowan Trollope, senior vice president of consumer software at Symantec. 'Making that same substandard security technology free won't change that equation.'"
Windows

Submission + - Asus slaps Linux in the face (techgeist.net) 2

vigmeister writes: "Techgeist has an article about an 'It's better with Windows' website from Asus and MS. I think the article should've been title 'Asus stabs Linux in the back'. "Linux just got a major slap in the face today from Asus. One of the highlights of Linux going mainstream was the wildly popular Asus Eee PC preinstalled with a customized Linux distro geared towards web applications. While I personally never got what the big deal was, I was still happy for all the Linux people out there waiting for this day, but it looks like the cause for celebration won't be lasting much longer. Asus and Microsoft have teamed up and have made a site called It's Better With Windows. The page touts how easy it is to get up and ready with Windows on an Asus Eee PC, while slyly stating that you won't have to deal with an "unfamiliar environment" and "major compatibility issues." While it is silly to state such a thing since Asus built the Linux distribution specifically for the Eee PC, I give Microsoft two points for snarky comments.""

Comment Re:A Few Misunderstandings for Many (Score 1) 268

He's not referring to ISP backbone tech that is generally easy to upgrade due to it being above ground and easily accessible within a building. He is implying that it is the last mile to our home connections, is where the latency is awkward and flawed due to our crappy lines and equipment connections that they (Cable/Tel-COs) refuse to upgrade because that requires actual back breaking work, I.E: digging, cutting, splicing, many miles of cables into the trunk line.

They are milking it until the end of time or just waiting for competition--LOL!

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