Comment Re:Firefox 3.1? (Score 1) 181
And where is the add-ons folder? And there lies your problem
Submission + - Microsoft's Biggest Threat: Google? OSS? Both? (redmondmag.com)
Glyn Moody writes: "Google always plays down suggestions that there's any looming clash of the titans between itself and Microsoft. Meanwhile, it is pushing open source in every way it can: directly, by contributing code to projects and employing top hackers like Andrew Morton, Jeremy Allison and Guido van Rossum, and indirectly through the $60 million fees it pays Mozilla, its Summer of Code scheme and various open source summits held at its offices. Google+OSS: could this be the killer combination that finally breaks Microsoft?"
Submission + - OLPC CTO Quits to Commercialize OLPC Technology
theodp writes: "The One Laptop Per Child project suffered a blow Monday, with CTO Mary Lou Jepsen quitting the nonprofit to start a for-profit company to commercialize technology she invented with OLPC (the first of Jepsen's pending OLPC patents was published by the USPTO on Dec. 13). The OLPC project halted consumer sales of the cheap laptop at the end of November."
Submission + - Google going down the drain in China (commiepod.org)
gaz_hayes writes: "Want to know why US web companies never seem to make it in China? Successful US websites are targeted by Chinese government backed companies who copy the site, deploy it on a .cn domain, and then DNS poison or forcefully lower the bandwidth the US site. Just a few weeks ago google.com and google.cn were DNS poisoned accross the entire Chinese internet and were being redirected to their Chinese competitor Baidu. This probably explains Google's 3rd quarter market share in China."
Submission + - MLB Fans Who Bought DRM Videos Get Hosed
Billosaur writes: "Found via BoingBoing, Major League Baseball has just strengthened the case against DRM. If you downloaded videos of baseball games from MLB.com before 2006, apparently they no longer work and you are out of luck. MLB.com, sometime during 2006, changed their DRM system. Result: game videos purchased before that time will now no longer work, as the previous DRM system is no longer supported. When the video is played, apparently the MLB.com servers are contacted and a license obtained to verify the authenticity of the video; this is done by a web link. That link no longer exists, and so now the videos will no longer play, even though the MLB FAQ says that a license is only obtained once and will not need to be re-obtained. The blogger who is reporting this contacted MLB technical support, only to be told there are no refunds due to this problem."
Submission + - Verisign to sell DNS root server lookup data?
An anonymous reader writes: According to this article at Domain Name News, Verisign is considering selling partial access to DNS root server lookup data. The data would be made available to registrars, who in turn could use it for traffic tasting non-existent domains entered by any internet user.
Submission + - Microsoft Pledges Not To Sue Turbolinux Users (informationweek.com)
mytrip writes: "Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) said it will not pursue any legal action against Linux users who use a server distribution of the open-source operating system offered by Turbolinux.
The pledge is part of a "broad collaboration agreement" that Microsoft on Monday said it has struck with Turbolinux, which specializes in distributing open-source software in emerging markets like China, Japan, and India.
"The agreement will provide intellectual property assurance for Turbolinux customers who purchase Turbolinux Server," Microsoft said in a statement."
The pledge is part of a "broad collaboration agreement" that Microsoft on Monday said it has struck with Turbolinux, which specializes in distributing open-source software in emerging markets like China, Japan, and India.
"The agreement will provide intellectual property assurance for Turbolinux customers who purchase Turbolinux Server," Microsoft said in a statement."
Submission + - IFPI.* domain dispute likely to go to court (arstechnica.com)
fgaliegue writes: Ars Technica has a follow-up on the ifpi.com domain takeover by The Pirate Bay. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, ifpi.org, is quite unhappy that the .com is now a link to the (still not live) International Federation of Pirates Interests. The ifpi.com domain has been free as soon as March of this year, according to WebArchive. Nevertheless, the "real" IFPI wants to take it to the WIPO under the accusation of cybersquatting.
Submission + - Facebook Goes 64 Bit: Expects to Grow Quickly (idealog.us) 1
NewsCloud writes: "Facebook announced to developers today that they are moving to a 64 bit user ID in November (see below). At 32 bits, the current ID allows nearly 4.3 billion user accounts. Yet, despite having only 47 million users today, Facebook's move to 64 bits will allow it to have more than 18 quintillion (18,446,744,074,000,000,000) user accounts. Of course, there are currently only about 6.5 billion people in the world. Is Facebook setting their sights beyond Earth or just trying to avoid what happened when Slashdot ran out of space for comment IDs last year. Perhaps they are planning to implement personas. Anyway, do you have any idea how much Facebook would be worth with 18 quintillion user IDs? Sextillions..."
Submission + - EA Calls for 'Open Platform' for Games (bbc.co.uk)
eldavojohn writes: "EA's head of international publishing made some interesting comments on where EA would like platforms & PC gaming to move to. From his statement, "We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible." While the rest of his comments imply that he simply meant 'one' platform instead of removing development licenses, it is an interesting concept. This is obviously a move designed to cut their development time for a game into a fifth of what it is but could this have other implications like easier homebrew development for consoles? There are the obvious concerns about losing the security-through-obscurity that odd hardware gives consoles, lack of being able to take advantage of chip architecture and emulators springing up on PCs. However, maybe this move would benefit everyone involved in gaming?"
Submission + - British Intelligence Inserts Job Ads Into Games (cnn.com)
eldavojohn writes: "Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is taking a new approach to attracting the computer savvy youth today. From the article, "The monthlong ad campaign, which starts at the end of October, is being run by GCHQ, the recruitment firm TMP Worldwide and Microsoft-owned in-game ad agency Massive Inc. Ads headed "Careers in British Intelligence" will appear as billboards in scenes in "Splinter Cell" and other games including "Need for Speed Carbon" and "Enemy Territory: Quake Wars" when they are played on computers and Microsoft Xbox consoles in Britain." While this may sound like a glamorous career choice of James Bond-style killing and womanizing, it's anything but. Expect working requirements and developing software for intelligence analysts and the daily bore of an office setting."
Submission + - FCC Plan: Freedom OF or FROM the Press? (editorandpublisher.com) 1
macduffman writes: Kevin Martin, Chairman of the FCC, has fired a volley in the war against media moguls... or is it in the war against freedom of the press? An article in the Editor and Publisher describes the plan to ban cross-ownership in the same market (i.e., owning a newspaper and a broadcast station in the same city). Several waivers exist for some current ownerships, but would not be passed on to new owners.
The plan calls for public comment beginning in mid-November, and the FCC would vote on it a month later. Naturally, some people have heated opnions. From the full article:
The plan calls for public comment beginning in mid-November, and the FCC would vote on it a month later. Naturally, some people have heated opnions. From the full article:
Democratic Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein did not object specifically to the Dec. 18 date, but did say the commission has a lot of work yet[....] "We should first address the appalling lack of ownership of media outlets by women and people of color."
Gene Kimmelman, [VP at] Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, had harsh words [for the plan....] "We will demonstrate this is purely an ideological, politically motivated effort to allow media companies to consolidate and dominate local markets."
The proposed schedule calls for a public hearing in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 31; another hearing on Nov. 2 in Seattle; publication of the proposed rule on Nov. 13; and a commission vote on Dec. 18.
Gene Kimmelman, [VP at] Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, had harsh words [for the plan....] "We will demonstrate this is purely an ideological, politically motivated effort to allow media companies to consolidate and dominate local markets."
The proposed schedule calls for a public hearing in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 31; another hearing on Nov. 2 in Seattle; publication of the proposed rule on Nov. 13; and a commission vote on Dec. 18.
Submission + - Apple's Missed Opportunity With Leopard Delay (osweekly.com)
Anonymous writes: According to an article on OSWeekly.com, Apple missed a big opportunity by not releasing Leopard soon. They could've taken advantage of Vista's losing streak and one upped Microsoft, the author suggests. "It's not uncommon for Windows users and technology consumers in general to say that Microsoft missed out on making the most of Vista both before and after its launch. Longtime fans of Windows have changed their tone due to Vista's inadequacies, and regular users are in many cases stuck with trying to figure out why they still can't get certain things to work within the operating system. Granted, it's not a completely horrific OS, but is that even a compliment worth accepting?
Submission + - Ubuntu's Power Consumption Tested (phoronix.com)
RedDragon writes: "Ubuntu 7.10 is due out on Thursday, October 18, and in addition to desktop 3D effects, GNOME 2.20, and other features is the use of the Linux 2.6.22 kernel with the tick-less (CONFIG_NO_HZ) kernel feature. But does this mean enhanced power savings when compared to past Ubuntu releases? At Phoronix are Ubuntu power consumption tests looking back at the six Ubuntu releases from Ubuntu 5.04 to the yet-to-be-released Ubuntu 7.10. Testing was done when the system was idling and then under load and when the Lenovo notebook was powered via the battery and then again with the AC adapter. The Pentium M CPU temperature was also monitored. While Ubuntu 7.10 does include the tick-less kernel feature, more daemons and processes running by default on these modern Ubuntu releases is actually causing an increase in power consumption."
Journal SPAM: Asus eee pc Preorders
Looking over the forums at eeeuser.com it looks like a few different companies have been taking preorders on the Asus eee PC
