Torvalds: SteamOS Will 'Really Help' Linux On the Desktop 304

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday October 23, 2013 @02:14PM from the year-of-linux-on-the-steambox dept.

nk497 writes "Linus Torvalds has welcomed the arrival of Valve's Linux-based platform, SteamOS, and said it could boost Linux on desktops. The Linux creator praised Valve's 'vision' and suggested its momentum would force other manufacturers to take Linux seriously — especially if game developers start to ditch Windows. Should SteamOS gain traction among gamers and developers, that could force more hardware manufacturers to extend driver support beyond Windows. That's a sore point for Torvalds, who slammed Nvidia last year for failing to support open-source driver development for its graphics chips. Now that SteamOS is on the way, Nvidia has opened up to the Linux community, something Torvalds predicts is a sign of things to come. 'I'm not just saying it'll help us get traction with the graphics guys,' he said. 'It'll also force different distributors to realize if this is how Steam is going, they need to do the same thing because they can't afford to be different in this respect. They want people to play games on their platform too.'"

MPAA's Dodd Secretly Lobbied For a Canadian DMCA 79

Posted by Soulskill on Friday June 15, 2012 @03:17PM from the empire-must-feed dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Canadian government is expected to pass copyright reform next week. The bill's anti-circumvention rules are a mirror image of the DMCA, leading many to conclude that the government simply caved to U.S. led lobbying pressure. Now Michael Geist provides the evidence — a secret series of unreported meetings between MPAA head Christopher Dodd and Canada's foreign minister, heritage minister, and a senior industry official, just weeks after the bill was introduced and days before SOPA landed in the U.S."

Comment Re:aren't there already laws in place they can use (Score 1) 267

by Ilex on Friday January 20, 2012 @05:03PM (#38767404) Attached to: SOPA Goes Back To the Drawing Board, PIPA Postponed

The current laws are easy to circumvent because the US can't go after foreign websites like the Pirate Bay.

Tell that to the guys who ran Megaupload.com

The Arduino Project Gets a Core Memory Accessory 46

Posted by timothy on Saturday May 14, 2011 @09:31AM from the now-this-may-be-polarizing dept.

Stoobalou writes "A pair of mathematicians have created an electronics project that nostalgic computer buffs will likely recognize straight away: a magnetic-core memory shield for the Arduino electronics prototyping platform." The creators' web site has more, including schematics, if you'd like to make your own.

Comment Re:sigh (Score 1) 266

by Ilex on Tuesday January 18, 2011 @07:22PM (#34921888) Attached to: IT Management Always Blames the Worker Bees

Once again, an anti-anti-piracy screed misunderstands what a "customer" is. A "customer" buys something. The guy who sneaks into your bookstore with a portable scanner and makes a copy of a book and leaves without buying anything isn't a "customer."

Playing devils advocate. What if they buy the book scan and OCR the text then upload the text for everybody to share. Are they still a customer? Do you still sue?

Comment Re:Economy Class (Score 1) 365

by Ilex on Friday May 21, 2010 @08:59AM (#32291886) Attached to: I usually fly...

Emirates also has some pretty hot stewardesses.

I second this. For some reason their flights seem to arrive at the same time as mine and they have some smoking hot "hostesses"

I hope that's not because they're all suicide bombers. I'm due to fly with them late this year.

Pirate Bay Announces Sale to Swedish Company For $7.8 Million 406

Posted by timothy on Tuesday June 30, 2009 @08:56AM from the fully-support-new-overlords dept.

paulraps writes "The Pirate Bay is to be bought for $7.8 million by Global Gaming Factory X, a Swedish company specializing in internet café management software, the company has announced. As well as taking over the controversial brand, GGF has also bought Peerialism, a small IT company with roots at Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology, which has developed a new file sharing technology. The acquisitions mean that GGF will be at the heart of 'the international digital distribution market,' allowing it to introduce a new pay model for file sharing." Reader pyzondar adds "However, the press statement also states that the deal will only go through 'if GGF and its Board of Directors can use the asset in a legal and appropriate way.'"

Asus Slaps Linux In the Face 644

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday May 28, 2009 @07:57AM from the et-tu-asus dept.

vigmeister writes "From Techgeist, '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.'"

Soy-Based Toner Cartridges? 389

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday May 05, 2009 @01:02AM from the it's-green-they-say-on-the-far-side-of-the-hill dept.

Jon.Laslow writes "I'm getting a lot of pressure from managers to switch to soy-based toner cartridges for our laser printers because they are 'greener.' The problem is, the only information I can find on them is from sales pitches; and the reviews all seem to be user testimonials. Do you have any experience soy-based printing products? Did you have any issues with them, and how was the print quality?"

Phorm "Edited and Approved" UK Government Advice 126

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 28, 2009 @03:17PM from the odd-bedfellow dept.

Barence was one of several readers to send in word that the UK Home Office checked whether its interpretation of the law suited Phorm, before issuing advice on the legality of the controversial advertising service. The Home Office and Phorm entered a dialogue about the company's services back in August 2007, at Phorm's request. In an email sent to Phorm in January 2008, a Home Office official writes: 'I should be grateful if you would review the attached document, and let me know what you think.' After Phorm made deletions and amendments to the document, the Home Office sent another email to the company stating: 'If we agree this, and this becomes our position do you think your clients and their prospective partners will be comforted.' From the BBC: "Baroness Sue Miller, Liberal Democrat spokeswoman on Home Affairs, told BBC News: 'My jaw dropped when I saw the Freedom of Information exchanges. ... Anything the Home Office now says about Phorm is completely tainted.'"

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 Confirmed For the PS3, 360 83

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday April 28, 2009 @07:34AM from the hey-why-not dept.

RyuuzakiTetsuya writes "According to Kotaku, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is making its way to the PS3 and the Xbox 360. It's based on the Dreamcast code, and it includes Online play and widescreen support. A demo will be available Thursday on the Playstation Network, and the full game will retail for $15 on each of the respective online services. A gameplay trailer is available as well."

Choruss Pitching Bait and Switch On P2P Music Tax 119

Posted by timothy on Wednesday March 18, 2009 @04:11PM from the google-rent-seeking-in-quotes dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A few months back, Warner Music Group started pitching universities on the idea of a new program where they would pay a chunk of money to an organization named Choruss to provide 'covenants not to sue' those students for file sharing, leading many in the press to claim that the record labels are looking to license ISPs to let users file share. Even the EFF has called it a 'promising new approach.' However, the details are quite troubling and suggest that the plan is really a bait-and-switch idea." (More below.)

UK Gov't May Track All Facebook Traffic 204

Posted by timothy on Wednesday March 18, 2009 @03:20PM from the posted-before-curfew dept.

Jack Spine writes "The UK government, which is becoming increasingly Orwellian, has said that it is considering snooping on all social networking traffic including Facebook, MySpace, and bebo. This supposedly anti-terrorist measure may be proposed as part of the Intercept Modernisation Programme according to minister Vernon Coaker, and is exactly the sort of deep packet inspection web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee warned about last week. The measure would get around the inconvenience for the government of not being able to snoop on all UK web traffic."

New Laser System Targets Mosquitoes 354

Posted by samzenpus on Monday March 16, 2009 @02:37PM from the excessive-force dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In the Cold War the so-called 'Star Wars defense system' proposed using lasers to destroy incoming Soviet missiles. In a 2007 brainstorming session aimed at combating malaria, Dr. Lowell Wood, the architect of that system, proposed modifying his original idea to kill mosquitoes. The cover of today's Wall Street Journal contains an article that highlights this initiative as well as a few others, like using a giant flashlight to disrupt mosquitoes' vision and using the insects to vaccinate, in the war against malaria. The system is intelligent enough to avoid noncombatants like humans and butterflies and can even tell the difference between females, the blood-drinkers, and males. My favorite quote: 'We'd be delighted if we destabilize the human-mosquito balance of power.'"

RIAA To Stop Prosecuting Individual File Sharers 619

Posted by kdawson on Friday December 19, 2008 @09:16AM from the declare-victory-and-withdraw dept.

debatem1 writes "According to the Wall Street Journal, the RIAA has decided to abandon its current tactic of suing individuals for sharing copyrighted music. Ongoing lawsuits will be pursued to completion, but no new ones will be filed. The RIAA is going to try working with the ISPs to limit file-sharing services and cut off repeated users. This very surprising development apparently comes as a result of public distaste for the campaign." An RIAA spokesman is quoted as saying that the litigation campaign has been "successful in raising the public's awareness that file-sharing is illegal."