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Submission + - Canadian Government Steps in to Stop Misleading Infringement Notices (globalpost.com)

Submitted by Dangerous_Minds
Dangerous_Minds writes: Recently, misleading notices were spotted being sent out by Rightscorp. Michael Geist posted the letter which, among other things, cites US laws, the Canadians could be on the hook for $150,000 (does not actually exist in the recent copyright reforms now in force) and that payments should be made directly to the company. Apparently, the Canadian government was not amused and has announced that they will be speaking with rightsholders and ISPs to address the concerns that were raised. The government says, "These notices are misleading and companies cannot use them to demand money from Canadians"

Submission + - Samsung Sets New Guidelines for Alcoholic Beverages (wsj.com)

Submitted by
jones_supa
jones_supa writes: "To tame the vigorous drinking habits of the Koreans, the parent company, Samsung Group, implemented a strict code of conduct for staff dinners at Samsung. Deeply ingrained in South Korean business culture, hoesik is a hierarchical bonding experience which usually involves free-flowing alcohol, often forced upon lower-ranked staff who are expected to serve and entertain their superiors. The new rules banned rituals like beolju, or forcing drinks on others, and sabalju — the mixing of several different beverages to make a potent punch. An employee of nine years, said the company had implemented a rule known as '1-1-9', which restricts hoesik to one sitting, one type of alcohol and a cut-off point of 9pm in order to prevent excessive drinking. Samsung’s move comes as South Korea has more broadly made some steps towards tackling excessive alcohol consumption and drink-induced violence. South Koreans are by far the heaviest drinkers in Asia and the biggest consumers of spirits in the world, according to the World Health Organization."
IBM

Submission + - IBM PC designer says PC going way of vacuum tube (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by
jbrodkin
jbrodkin writes: "One of the original engineers of IBM's first PC says PCs are "going the way of the vacuum tube, typewriter, vinyl records, CRT and incandescent light bulbs." With the 30th anniversary of the IBM 5150 (running MS-DOS) coming this week, IBM CTO Mark Dean argues that the post-PC world is very much upon us, perhaps not surprising given that IBM sold its PC business in 2005. Microsoft, of course, weighed in as well, saying the PC era is nowhere near over. But perhaps in the future we will consider a personal computer anything a person does computing on — whether that be laptop, tablet, smartphone, or something that hasn't even been invented yet."

Submission + - The Code War - It's On (businessweek.com)

Submitted by pacopico
pacopico writes: A story in Bloomberg Businessweek gives the first in-depth look at a wave of new start-ups selling cyber weaponry. The story describes this as the evolution of the defense industry in response to a wave of brazen attacks against Google, the Pentagon, the IMF and thousands of companies. It's pretty scary stuff, especially considering that these new weapons are not regulated at all. Good times!
Power

Submission + - There Oughta Be a Standard: Laptop Power Supplies (hp.com)

Submitted by
Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: "Every mobile device you own has its own power supply and its own proprietary plug. There oughta be a better way, says Alfred Poor. Fortunately, he reports, the IEEE is coming to the rescue. "Their Universal Power Adapter for Mobile Devices (UPAMD) Working Group is developing a new standard that will not just address the needs of laptops and tablets, but will be intended to work with just about any electronics device that required between 10 and 240 watts of power," Poor writes. It's about darned time."

Submission + - Scientists afflict computers with schizophrenia (scienceblog.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Computer networks that can't forget fast enough can show symptoms of of virtual schizophrenia, giving researchers new clues to the inner workings of schizophrenic brains, say researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and Yale University. In their experiments, the scientists used a virtual neural network to simulate an excessive release of dopamine in the brain and found that the network recalled memories in a distinctly schizophrenic-like fashion. The results bolster a hypothesis known in schizophrenia circles as the hyperlearning hypothesis, which posits that people suffering from schizophrenia have brains that lose the ability to forget or ignore as much as they normally would. Without forgetting, they lose the ability to extract what’s meaningful out of the immensity of stimuli the brain encounters.
Idle

Submission + - Amazon Denies Skynet's Involvement In AWS Outage (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Amazon has officially denied that the recent outage of its EC2 and Elastic Block Storage cloud platforms was the result of an attack from Cyberdyne Systems' Skynet sentient computer system, declaring humanity safe after all. "From the information I have and to answer your questions," a spokesperson explained, "Skynet did not have anything to do with the service event at this time."
Android

Submission + - ASUS EeePad Transformer review | Android Central (androidcentral.com)

Submitted by timothy
timothy writes: Android Central has taken a close look at the new Transformer tablet from Asus, giving it an overall positive review, with minor points deducted for a "plasticy" feel. The Transformer joins the Motorola Xoom in the world of Honeycomb (Android 3.0), and has very similar, high-end specs (though it's Wi-Fi only) with one big difference: the Transformer is marketed with a not-included-in-the-price attachable keyboard that adds a battery. I wonder what other OSes will eventually be hacked onto this device; 16 hours of battery life in a netbook-sized computer sure sounds good to me, but I might want that to be with standard Linux apps instead of only with Android.

Comment Re:Which laptop? Here is your answer. (Score 1) 898

by Inversecow (#35634404) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How Do You Choose a Windows Laptop?

This is one of those questions that is asked frequently. This thread breaks down the differences and I agree with the poster as an owner of both. http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1886760&cid=34370614 Get an IBM Thinkpad T-Series. T61, T410 Backward compatible to Windows NT with intelligent hardware and a really, really good keyboard and trackstick. Good luck!

Yes! IBM T series are "rock solid". They really illustrate the difference between "consumer" & "commercial" grade hardware. *love* the T-42 & T-61

Comment Oldie == Goodie (Score 1) 898

by Inversecow (#35634374) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How Do You Choose a Windows Laptop?
Here is what I understand your requirements are based on the original post: "How would Slashdotters go about picking a solid, basic laptop for Web surfing and document editing that won't be obsolete in two years?" I would advocate buying used, and beefing it up in the "sweet spots" (EG: battery / RAM). Depending on what version of Windows you want to run, you could score a very sweet system online using the "recommended specs" for your target version of the OS. Since you did not indicate it would be used for gaming, most stuff you could get off of eBay (as an example) would give you years of service. Alternately, perhaps there is someone who refurbishes laptops (EG: off-lease units) in your general area which you could potentially get some support behind. Either way, you get the benefit of something with some mileage behind it, to see how the unit faired after the "new unit" shine wore off. Good hunting. :-)

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