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Comment Re:What a great way to die (Score 1) 600

I would not be adverse to a law being passed banning this use of encryption to lock down what software can be run on a platform, mainly because of the fear that other companies might follow Motorola and we might end up unable to modify the firmware on most Android phones.

Also, it seems to me that voting with ones feet no longer has any appreciable effect on large companies.
Science

How Telescopes Deal With Earthquakes In Chile 82

Reader edgeofphysics provides a technical sidelight on the earthquake in Chile this morning — some details on how the European Southern Observatory protects the mirrors of the Very Large Telescope when an earthquake strikes. "Given that Chile is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, how do astronomers protect their giant telescopes that have been built or are being built in the Chilean Andes? This blog post discusses how Chile's most advanced facility protects its priceless 8.2-meter primary mirrors in the event of an earthquake."
It's funny.  Laugh.

Submission + - Dell thinks Ubuntu makes computers more fragile? (dellideastorm.com)

WolfWings writes: "Apparently Dell has decided that Ubuntu-based computers are ineligible for their famed CompleteCare service, or any form of hardware warranty what-so-ever. The news has only recently hit Dell's own IdeaStorm website, but after so recently decided to support Linux on their machines, including limited technical support, Dell seems to be squandering any possible good-will with this decision to leave purchasers of these machines high and dry for hardware warranty coverage."
Programming

Submission + - No Foolin': Morfik Patents AJAX Compiler

MikeyTheK writes: Sorry for the title, the subject can only take so many characters. No April Fools joke here. It appears that under the radar, the USPTO granted Morfik a patent for the "System and method for synthesizing object-oriented high-level code into browser-side javascript". Reading further, it appears that they have patented the compiling of high-level languages into AJAX apps. The high-level languages include "Ada, C, C++, C#, COBOL, ColdFusion, Common Lisp, Delphi, Fortran, Java, Object Pascal, SmallTalk, Visual Basic, and Visual Basic.NET".

It would appear that the application date is September, 2005.

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