Comment Not a meeting! (Score 1) 90
Obviously, this isn't the next XKCD meeting. This is the date, time and epicenter of the Big One! Runaway!
Comment Re:Firefox + NoScript + Adblock Plus + FlashBlocke (Score 2, Interesting) 223
We know that you don't have to be an expert - but if you are not into computers and/or technology in general, it's really hard to keep up with these things. Half my co-workers do not know Firefox, and 80% and we work with data processing, for God's sake. For some of them, it seems It's just more comfortable to keep using the browser you're used to.
And we must keep in mind that, among those who access the web, half of the demographic might not be computer-savvy. Take my aunt, for example: bought a laptop so she could do her work at home (she is a teacher), but that is pretty much the basics - word, excel, and a little internet on 'that program' that she don't even know the name.
Also, you must be new here! Welcome to Slashdot.
Comment In Other News... (Score 2, Interesting) 295
... car makers bundling radios, gps, air bags and brakes within vehicles. More at 11.
Feed news.com: Turf war between Microsoft's JPEG XR and Adobe's DNG? (com.com)
Blog: JPEG XR has features that appeal to advanced amateur photographers who use raw today and whom Adobe is courting for Digital Negative.
Feed Engadget: Nokia to launch iTunes-like download service? (engadget.com)
Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio
A standalone music download service which Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo hinted at in June is looking to be making its way out into the world sometime this August, according to a recent Fortune article. The mobile phone kingpin appears to be positioning itself as a direct competitor for Apple and iTunes before the iPhone makes its way into European markets sometime later this year. Sources rumor that the "worldwide" service will allow users to download and transfer songs to non-Nokia hardware, but will employ some form of DRM, and Nokia will be offering over a million songs at the outset -- a pittance when compared to Apple's five million and counting. Supposedly, news of the launch will be delivered on August 29th in London during a live music event at the Ministry of Sound. The company has sent out invitations to a mysterious "Go Play" event, which asks invitees to "Come and witness the next stage of the evolution of the internet and mobility," which we're pretty sure is code for "the president is announcing the biggest uphill battle ever."Read -- Can Nokia beat iPhone at its own tunes?
Read -- Nokia "Go Play" invite hints heavily towards music download service
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Feed Engadget: FCC approves rules for 700MHz frequency auction (engadget.com)
Filed under: Wireless
The FCC has just approved rules on the highly-sought after, Google-attracting 700MHz wireless frequency band auction which will take place sometime next year. The agency has decided that one-third of the soon-to-be-empty band will be available to consumers under FCC chairman Kevin Martin's "open access" plan, which forces the winning bidder to keep the band accessible to any wireless device or application regardless of the maker, opening up options heretofore unseen on established networks. The 700MHz range -- which is being vacated by television broadcasters going digital -- is desirable because of its ability to travel long distances and easily penetrate walls, and Martin feels it could provide a "third pipe" to US homes, circumventing the established stranglehold cable and telephone companies have on bandwidth. A total of 60 megahertz will be auctioned off, with twenty-two of them "open," and another 10 set aside for a "national public safety" network. The auctioning off of the frequency is expected to raise as much as $15 billion for the federal treasury.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Submission + - Ct Allows Dell To Kill Consumer Class Action Suit
An anonymous reader writes: Michael Geist reports
that the Supreme Court of Canada has just issued a new online
contracting decision that removes the ability for consumers to
challenge mandatory arbitration clauses found in e-commerce contracts.
The case involved a lawsuit against Dell Computer, which refused to
sell hundreds of mistakenly priced computers purchased on their
website. Dell tried to sidetrack a class action by claiming that
all consumers were required to enter arbitration due to a clause buried
in its contract via a hyperlink.
Feed Techdirt: German Court Says eBay Should Be Able To Tell A Fake Rolex From A Real One (techdirt.com)
For many years, various luxury brands have had problems with people selling counterfeit goods on eBay -- leading to a variety of lawsuits. Of course, most of these lawsuits are incorrectly targeted. They're usually filed against eBay, rather than the seller of the goods. eBay doesn't inspect the goods or make any claim to the authenticity of them. That should be up to the buyer and seller to work out. However, a few months ago, it appears that a German court felt differently, and told eBay that it may be liable for fake Rolexes being sold on the site, even if eBay has no real way of knowing what's real and what's fake. The court seemed to indicate that eBay should be able to tell from the price, but that's not necessarily true. In the meantime, it's not clear why this isn't a problem that the market will start to work out by itself. For many, many years you've been able to buy fake Rolexes on the streets of New York City, but Rolex doesn't sue the New York City government for letting this happen. It recognizes that most people know that the Rolex you buy from a street vendor probably isn't real. Along those very lines, Rolex has introduced programs to designate legitimate Rolexes on eBay already -- so this seems like the type of "problem" that could work itself out without making eBay liable, but apparently it's too late for that.
Retail Ads Hint At $50 360 Price Cut 113
Following closely on the heels of Sony's $100 cut in price for the PlayStation 3, retail ads seem to indicate an upcoming $50 price drop for the Xbox 360. Gamespot investigates the rumour: "It's clear that a number of retailers are expecting an Xbox 360 price cut next week, so much so that they're willing to buy print advertising for it. If that's the case, Microsoft almost certainly told them to expect a price cut, and when it would be fine to start promoting it. When Microsoft actually decides to announce it remains to be seen, although sources close to the software giant are grousing through back channels that the discounting's cover has already been blown." This comes right on time for the annual release of Madden, Bioshock, and Blue Dragon.
Mainstream Audience 'Noticing' Games Again 58
In an interview with the San Jose Mercury News, Shigeru Miyamoto makes it plain that he's extremely pleased with the way the Wii has changed the face of gaming. He says that he gets the feeling that 'because of the Wii, people ... are finally taking notice of videogames again.' The interview goes on to discuss some ways in which Miyamoto hopes to capitalize on that 'notice', including the possibility of introducing new Nintendo characters sometime next year: "For characters, we came up with the concept of the Miis and that allows people to come up with their own characters. Maybe next year sometime, we may have new characters in the same way we came up with Pikmin when we introduced the GameCube."
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