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Man Sues Neighbor For Not Turning Off His Wi-Fi 428

Posted by samzenpus from the have-you-never-wondered-why-I-drink-only-distilled-water-or-rain-water-and-only-pure-grain-alcohol dept.
Scyth3 writes "A man is suing his neighbor for not turning off his cell phone or wireless router. He claims it affects his 'electromagnetic allergies,' and has resorted to being homeless. So, why doesn't he check into a hotel? Because hotels typically have wireless internet for free. I wonder if a tinfoil hat would help his cause?"
Image

Mexico Wants Payment For Aztec Images 325

Posted by samzenpus from the montezuma's-latest-revenge dept.
innocent_white_lamb writes "Starbucks brought out a line of cups with prehistoric Aztec images on them. Now the government of Mexico wants them to pay for the use of the images. Does the copyright on an image last hundreds of years?"
PC Games (Games)

EA Shutting Down Video Game Servers Prematurely 341

Posted by Soulskill from the sixty-dollar-yearly-fee dept.
Spacezilla writes "EA is dropping the bomb on a number of their video game servers, shutting down the online fun for many of their Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3 games. Not only is the inclusion of PS3 and Xbox 360 titles odd, the date the games were released is even more surprising. Yes, Madden 07 and 08 are included in the shutdown... but Madden 09 on all consoles as well?"
Image

Living In Tokyo's Capsule Hotels 269

Posted by samzenpus from the living-in-the-hive dept.
afabbro writes "Capsule Hotel Shinjuku 510 once offered a night’s refuge to salarymen who had missed the last train home. Now with Japan enduring its worst recession since World War II, it is becoming an affordable option for people with nowhere else to go. The Hotel 510’s capsules are only 6 1/2 feet long by 5 feet wide. Guests must keep possessions, like shirts and shaving cream, in lockers outside of the capsules. Atsushi Nakanishi, jobless since Christmas says, 'It’s just a place to crawl into and sleep. You get used to it.'”
Privacy

Net Users In Belarus May Soon Have To Register 89

Posted by timothy from the not-just-register-their-displeasure dept.
Cwix writes "A new law proposed in Belarus would require all net users and online publications to register with the state: 'Belarus' authoritarian leader is promising to toughen regulation of the Internet and its users in an apparent effort to exert control over the last fully free medium in the former Soviet state. He told journalists that a new Internet bill, proposed Tuesday, would require the registration and identification of all online publications and of each Web user, including visitors to Internet cafes. Web service providers would have to report this information to police, courts, and special services.'"
Censorship

Australian AvP Ban Reversed 71

Posted by Soulskill from the people-have-spoken dept.
Earlier this month, we discussed news that Sega's new Aliens vs. Predator video game had been refused classification in Australia, effectively banning it. After a scathing response from the developer saying they wouldn't censor the game, and later news that the classification scheme may be updated to include an R18+ rating, it now seems that the Classification Board has seen fit to give the game a green light after all. Sega's Darren Macbeth told Kotaku, "We are particularly proud that the game will be released in its original entirety, with no content altered or removed whatsoever. This is a big win for Australian gamers. We applaud the Classification Review Board on making a decision that clearly considers the context of the game, and is in line with the modern expectations of reasonable Australians."
Bug

Saboteur Launch Plagued By Problems With ATI Cards 230

Posted by Soulskill from the more-or-less-finished dept.
An anonymous reader writes "So far, there are over 35 pages of people posting about why EA released Pandemic Studios' final game, Saboteur, to first the EU on December 4th and then, after knowing full well it did not work properly, to the Americas on December 8th. They have been promising to work on a patch that is apparently now in the QA stage of testing. It is not a small bug; rather, if you have an ATI video card and either Windows 7 or Windows Vista, the majority (90%) of users have the game crash after the title screen. Since the marketshare for ATI is nearly equal to that of Nvidia, and the ATI logo is adorning the front page of the Saboteur website, it seems like quite a large mistake to release the game in its current state."
Mozilla

Mozilla Thunderbird 3 Released 272

Posted by kdawson from the hot-bits dept.
supersloshy writes Today Mozilla released Thunderbird 3. Many new features are available, including Tabs and enhanced search features, a message archive for emails you don't want to delete but still want to keep, Firefox 3's improved Add-ons Manager, Personas support, and many other improvements. Download here."
Censorship

Sharp Rise In Jailing of Online Journalists; Iran May Just Kill Them 233

Posted by timothy from the your-ethics-may-vary dept.
bckspc writes "The Committee to Protect Journalists has published their annual census of journalists in prison. Of the 136 reporters in prison around the world on December 1, 'At least 68 bloggers, Web-based reporters, and online editors are imprisoned, constituting half of all journalists now in jail.' Print was next with 51 cases. Also, 'Freelancers now make up nearly 45 percent of all journalists jailed worldwide, a dramatic recent increase that reflects the evolution of the global news business.' China, Iran, Cuba, Eritrea, and Burma were the top 5 jailers of journalists." rmdstudio writes, too, with word that after the last few days' protest there, largely organized online, the government of Iran is considering the death penalty for bloggers and webmasters whose reports offend it.

Comment Help Eliminate Software Piracy (Score 0, Troll) 291

by janhct (#29600619) Attached to: Microsoft Blocks Pirates From Security Essentials Software

The whole argument about software piracy is driving the world crazy. If Microsoft are serious about the elimination of piracy of their licensed software here are a few pointers they might consider:

1) Demand that all governments institute extremely severe penalties for every instance of copyright or license violation. At least that will ensure that the subject gets taken more seriously. (I can't advocate the death penalty, but something close to it would help make a resounding statement.)

Also, show zero mercy, otherwise the message will not be strong enough! (PS: The RIAA and MPAA should take hint also to help educate the public that use of proprietary copyrighted material is a VERY serious matter. Eliminate any concept or form of "fair use" - there is no room for it in a DRM locked up world.) It is only reasonable to make the consumer aware that organizations that pursue such controls really do not want customers, they want prisoners. Prisoners have no rights! It is time to come out of the woods and into the clear!

2) Eliminate the bundling of Microsoft products from all computer sales.

Microsoft should insist that the consumer must obtain duly licensed software (operating system and applications) and must comply with well published and clearly presented licensing terms. The current practice of bundling MS Windows with laptops and desktop systems is a source of endless confusion for the consumer. Microsoft are the primary cause of end-user confusion.

The purchase of a bundled system requires the consumer (or user) to enter into a compulsory contract (EULA) with a third-party who is NOT involved in the purchase transaction between the purchaser and the supplier of the hardware (laptop or desktop system). This is a patently unjust business practice because the user is coerced into a contract with a company that interferes with the purchase transaction between buyer and seller. Separating out the purchase of an operating system would clearly separate the business and licensing transactions, and thus will create greater awareness of the responsibility to comply with licensing terms.

3) Governments should insist that under freedom of information conditions all consumers must be made aware of the alternatives they can choose from when faced with a need to select an operating system and application software. The consumer should be made aware of the existence of free software so that the consumer is not coerced into an unnecessary financial or legally oppressive relationship.

4) Microsoft should educate their users that the original license to use a product they supplied applies only to the originally supplied product. In other words, all modifications made to the operating system, or to application software, as a result of a maintenance process is a sub-license of the original license and can not be severed from the original license. Please help loyal Microsoft users to keep the consumer honest.

Too often IT people are approached by someone who received a second-hand computer from which the original purchaser had erased the MS Windows operating system, but left the activation key sticker on the machine, only to be asked to install some version (any version) of MS Windows because they do not have original installation media, and yet believe that the activation key sticker is a license to any version of Windows since they can not use the computer without an operating system installed.

Microsoft, please help us to eliminate these myths! Why should Microsoft's loyal supporters make themselves out to be the bad guys? Gentlemen, the confusion does not belong to those of us who respect licensing terms. Most open source software advocates are zealous to ensure that the terms of use of open source software are fully complied with. With the right leadership from Microsoft they can be just as zealous to help educate Microsoft's customers of the importance of compliance with Micrsoft's EULAs. After all, this would be only reasonable. Right?

- A Concerned Licensing Advocate
The Courts

Visualizing the Ideological History of SCOTUS 151

Posted by timothy from the you're-just-objectifying-them dept.
langelgjm writes "An interesting exercise in quantifying and visualizing ideological shifts, the website ScotusScores.com tracks changes in the ideological history of the US Supreme Court from 1937 to 2007. Ideological positions are quantified using Martin-Quinn scores, and the chart highlights the often-bumpy transitions (Thurgood Marshall to Clarence Thomas), as well as tendencies within each Justice's career."
Image

Penguin Poop Seen From Space 86

Posted by samzenpus from the don't-eat-the-brown-ice dept.
Scientists have found ten new emperor penguin colonies by spotting their skid marks on the Antarctic ice from satellite images (video on page). The ice around the penguins gets very dirty because they congregate in a small area in very large colonies for months. Peter Fretwell, Mapping Expert, British Antarctic Survey says, "What we find is that we can see the guano (excrement) from space. They stay in the same space in very large colonies for eight months of the year and the ice around them gets very dirty, and it's that that we can see on the satellite images."
Education

Submission + - Masters or not? 2

Submitted by mx12
mx12 writes: With the semester finishing up, I have been thinking about my education future. I am currently an undergrad in computer engineering and I am thinking about getting my masters. I have a year left in school, and most of my professors seem to think that getting a masters is a great idea, but I wanted to hear from people out in the working world. If I could get my masters paid for by the lab I work in, is a masters in computer engineering better than two years of experience at a company?

Thanks everyone!
Businesses

Warner Bros. Acquires The Pirate Bay 348

Posted by Soulskill from the if-you-can't-beat-'em dept.
mlingojones writes "TorrentFreak breaks the news of The Pirate Bay's acquisition by Warner Bros: 'After years of hostility, lawsuits, police raids and heated invective between the two groups, the Pirate Bay has today announced they have settled their differences with US media conglomerate Warner Bros. The largest BitTorrent tracker has sold out to Hollywood and the two have agreed a deal.'"

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