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Comment Re:if you buy the software, it's a legal copy (Score 1) 865

Your analogy is wrong. When you purchase paint, you purchase paint. When you purchase software, you are purchasing a license to use the software and a handy CD that contains it. For your analogy to be accurate, it must be viewed this way: You do own the physical CD - you can use the CD as a coaster, or a frisbee, or as siding on your house, and Apple couldn't do a thing about it. As for the software ON the CD, you don't own that. You simply have a license to use it and even then just under the terms of the agreement. If you don't agree, you are under no obligation to purchase the license or install the software. You may, however, use the CD to level your table. Whether or not you "couldn't give two fucks" about anything is irrelevant.

Comment Re:What Psystar is forgetting about (Score 1) 865

No, they purchased a physical disc, and a license to use the software on that disc according to the license agreement. By spending the money for the license, they are bound by the agreement that comes with the software, period. Signed contract not required. For example, when you buy a ticket for a sporting event, you are merely purchasing a license to view the game. It is revokable for any reason (read the fine print). When was the last time you signed a contract for a game ticket? The law - I do not think it means what you think it means.

Comment More to the story? (Score 1) 675

Why didn't he just follow the orders, leave, then file a complaint? I'm not defending Amtrak here, since it sounds like they were in the wrong, but it's like getting pulled over by the police. The side of the road is not the place to argue your case. The officer is not a judge, and you aren't the jury. The bottom line is that arguing with the officer almost never results in you "winning", and can often hurt your chances of winning a lawsuit later on if the jury thinks you were provoking a response.

Feed Engadget: Dominos now accepting pizza orders via SMS... in the UK (engadget.com)

Filed under: Cellphones

If you thought ordering pizza online was the best thing since Deep Dish, you'll be delighted to know that the next logical step in getting pizza to your mouth with minimal effort is here... if you reside in the UK, that is. Reportedly, Dominos is now allowing customers surrounding its 470 UK-based locations to place their orders via SMS, and this move comes after "successful trials" that began in July. To utilize the service, you must first enter in your details online, but after that initial registration, pizza is simply a text away. Impulse eaters, rejoice.

[Via TechDigest]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!


Feed Engadget: Accused child killer's alibi busted thanks to GPS (engadget.com)

Filed under: GPS

GPS systems that end up helping the fuzz track down the baddies are nothing new, and a recent case involving a Piscataway man has an inconspicuous tracking system to thank for solving a gruesome mystery. Reportedly, the culprit had informed police that he had taken a 12-year old babysitter to view horses on their way back to her domicile, but "accidentally backed over her" during the outing. Closer inspection of the GPS system -- which was installed just days earlier by his suspicious wife -- revealed that the "horse stop" lasted three hours, which led police to believe that the girl was "ran down" after trying to escape. Needless to say, murder charges have since replaced the comparatively minor accusations of "reckless endangerment" that he had previously been dealt.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!


Feed Engadget: Lawsuit claims Apple, AT&T weren't forthright about iPhone batteries (engadget.com)

Filed under: Cellphones

Apple and its batteries just can't seem to catch a break, eh? This go 'round, Sydney Leung has filed a class-action complaint that reportedly accuses "both Apple and AT&T of fraud in neglecting to inform potential iPhone buyers of the costs involved in maintaining a working battery for the iPhone over the course of the handset's lifespan." The angered individual and his legal team are purporting that the iPhone's battery "lasts only 300 complete charges before depleting entirely," and also argue that Apple and AT&T didn't address this issue until after customers had made their purchase. Of course, Apple specs show that the battery in question is designed to hold a full charge for between 300 and 400 cycles, while still holding a majority of that charge afterwards, so unless Mr. Leung's (and a few others, too) battery mysteriously conked out after that oh-so-critical 300th charge, we're failing to see what ground he's standing on.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!


Feed Engadget: Navy gears up for unmanned combat aircraft (engadget.com)

While the idea of an autonomous flying military bot is far from new, the US Navy has taken a first step toward "developing an unmanned combat aircraft that some advocates say could compete with Lockheed Martin's F-35 joint strike fighter." Northrop Grumman was awarded a $636 million contract to design, build, and fly an Unmanned Combat Air System "that would operate from the decks of the Navy's giant nuclear-powered aircraft carriers," and if things goes as planned, we could see the gunners join our forces "within 10 to 15 years." And considering that we're already deploying land-based mechanical soldiers to fire our weapons, we'd say the full-fledged robotic army is certainly closing in.

[Image courtesy of DefenseTech, thanks Jason]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!


Feed Engadget: Ugobe defines its own Three Laws, dooms us all to future of robot oppression (engadget.com)

Filed under: Robots


You know, as anxious as we all are about our prospective (nay, inevitable) collective future as meatbags oppressed by some human-created supreme artificial intelligence, at least Isaac Asimov's (and to a lesser extent, Isaac Hayesimov's) Three Laws helped us sleep at night. So thanks a lot, Ugobe, for throwing those comforting laws right out the window and defining your own Three Laws of Ugobe Life Forms (as follows).
  • A (robot) life form must feel and convey emotions
  • A (robot) life form must be aware of itself and its environment
  • A (robot) life form must learn, develop, evolve over time
Great, wonderful, you basically just gave robots a blueprint for the foundation of the enslavement of the human race. While you're at it, why don't you guys just build up a trojan horse to get things going? We're thinking some cutesy, totally harmless looking character-bot every kid in the world absolutely must have, because if we wanted to overthrow civilization, that's totally the -- oh, wait.

[Via Robots Rule]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!


Feed Engadget: CE-Oh no he didn't! Part XL: AT&T CEO says no one wants $10 DSL (engadget.com)

Filed under: Networking

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson apparently subscribes to a different school of marketing and demand than most others -- speaking with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the telecom boss flatly denied that AT&T $10 DSL plan is hidden on the company's website, and went on to say that "customers haven't been clamoring for it," and that since the 768Kbps "user experience is not what I would consider really state of the art," he doesn't really want to sell it to anyone. Of course, customers don't usually clamor for a product that barely anyone knows is available and that requires absurd hoop-jumping just to get set up, but don't let them pesky facts get in your way, Randy.

[Via Techdirt]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!


PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Id Goes Full Steam Ahead

Dr. Eggman writes: Today, quite wisper and rumors became fact as two FPS giants, Id and Valve joined forces to bring Id games back catalog to Valve's Steam. This marks a huge influx of old classics as well as opening up the possibility of bringing some of the newest, most anticipated Id games to Steam. Expect to hear more from Valve's appearance at Quakecon soon.

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