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Submission + - Top 21 Tech Flops

Submitted by
PetManimal
PetManimal writes: "Whatever happened to Digital Audio Tape? Or Circuit City's DIVX program? Or IBM's PCjr. and the PS/1? Computerworld's list of 21 biggest tech flops is an amusing trip down the memory lane of tech failures. Some are obvious (Apple Newton), while others are obscure (Warner Communications' QUBE). Strangely, Y2K didn't make the list."
Robotics

DARPA Planning Liquid Robots 125

Posted by CmdrTaco from the where-is-sarah-conner dept.
moon_monkey writes "According to New Scientist, Darpa is soliciting proposals for so-called Chemical Robots (ChemBots) that would be soft, flexible and could manoeuvre through openings smaller than their static structural dimensions. They suggest that it could be made from shape-memory materials, electro- or magneto-rheological materials or even folding components."
Businesses

To Verizon, "Unlimited" Means 5 GB 743

Posted by kdawson from the sue-for-false-advertising dept.
Jason writes "For years there have been stories about people getting their unlimited Verizon EVDO Wireless accounts terminated because of excessive data usage, but Verizon never explicitly said that there is a limit. Now if you dive into the terms of the Unlimited Data Service plan they have put a section in that specifically states that anything over 5GB of data usage in a one month period is considered prima facie evidence that you must be downloading movies, and you will be cut off."
Music

Submission + - RIAA is out of control yet again.

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The RIAA is once again at their old tricks. The band Nine Inch Nails has intentionally 'leaked' songs via USB keys hidden at restrooms during their current European tour. Sites hosting the intentionally 'leaked' songs are now being sent cease and desist orders. The link is here: http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/ news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=69841 I found it via http://theninhotline.net/ When will this ever end? The RIAA is just plain out of control.

Do You Own Your Native Language? 472

Posted by Zonk from the they-don't-like-power-point-presentations-either dept.
l2718 writes "In a new take on the reach of 'Intellectual Property,' the Mapuche Indians of Chile are accusing Microsoft of linguistic piracy. Their lawsuit alleges that Microsoft needed permission from the tribal elders before translating its software into Mapuzugun, a project which was co-ordinated with the Chilean Ministry of Education." From the CNN Money article: "The Mapuche took their case to a court in the southern city of Temuco earlier this month but a judge ruled it should be considered in Santiago. A judge in the capital is due to decide in the next two weeks whether Microsoft has a case to answer. 'If they rule against us we will go to the Supreme Court and if they rule against us there we will take our case to a court of human rights,' said Lautaro Loncon, a Mapuche activist and coordinator of the Indigenous Network, an umbrella group for several ethnic groups in Chile."

Comment Re:Fundimental lack of understanding of databases (Score 1) 527

by Rasmus (#16118205) Attached to: PostgreSQL Slammed by PHP Creator
For the 37000th time. I never said a word about emulating any PostgreSQL features in PHP. The emulation comment was completely MySQL-related to get around a limitation that when you use prepared statements MySQL doesn't use the query cache. If you application can benefit from the query cache, then PHP has an option to emulate prepare/execute in PDO. You are reading a half-baked second-hand account of a talk I gave.

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