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Media (Apple)

Journal Journal: Brad Stone Ruins a near perfect blod

NY Times writer Brad Stone figured out the real identity of Fake Steve Jobs. With classic nick names like 'freetards' and 'beastmaster' Fake Steve captured an audience of 700,000 visitors to the site and around 50 emails a day. There is no definite plan for the future of FSJ, according to Daniel Lyons, a senior editor at Forbes magazine who maintained the blod himself....
Portables

Journal Journal: One Laptop Per Child...and porn

It turns out that children in Nigeria are using their One Laptop Per Child provided PC to look at porn, according to Yahoo! News.. A representitive from OLPC said that they will now fit the laptop with filters.... It might just be me but if you're going to be giving any child a computer, shouldn't there be limits preventing them from going to non-curicular web sites...like porn?
User Journal

Journal Journal: Nazi Documents Released to the public

According ot CBS News, 50 million pages detailing the lives of some 17 million victims of the holocaust have been released to the public. They detail everything from Gestopo warrants for arrest, to the movements of the victims from their homes to the death camps. It was chilling reading of how on Hitler's birthday, a prisoner was shot and killed every two minutes. Strange also was the intricate details they kept of the prisoner's health recording small things like lice.
Sadly, after a backlog of 400,000 requests to find information about loved ones, the archive was released to the public. For issues of privacy, it no one was allowed access to them.
I wonder two things: 1) Who in their right mind could think that a small staff maintaining these files could easily handle requests relating to 17 million people? and 2) will this finally silence the holocost deniers (ie Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)
Businesses

Journal Journal: The New Rules for Nanotech

According to the NY Times, Dupont and Environment Defense are coming out with a 87 page guideline to risks and hazards of nanotechnology. The report is expected to be released today (6/21/07) and will detail interesting ways to clean water and protect material from UV light with nanotubes. As great as the uses are for different nanotechnology, Dupont admits they still don't know what the risks and side affects are.
Sony

Journal Journal: Ken Kutaragi retires from Sony

Considered the father of the Playstation, Ken Kutaragi has announced that he will be retiring from Sony but will act as in an advisory role now with Sony Computer Entertainment, Incorporated. he has had a significant role in almost each generation of consoles starting the Nintendo's NES. With Sony posting billions of dollars in loss, what does this mean for the future of Sony's gaming consoles?
Communications

Journal Journal: Vonage still being put down by the Man

According to the NY Times, Vonage is again getting it rough in court. The FCC requires VOIP companies to contribute to a fund that through the Universal Service Fund, which aims at bringing a variety of services to lower income Americans. The issue Vonage brought up in court was the high price they had to pay in light of a last years posted loss of $286 million. Why can't the feds stop picking on the little guy and just come up with a fair telecommunication tax accross the board?
Technology (Apple)

Journal Journal: 100% DRM free, Personal ID still attached 2

According to My Way News, consumer watchdog and privacy groups have begun noticing the iTunes personal data that is being put into the songs consumers download off of iTunes. While these groups admit this had been prevalent with music with DRM, the information left in these higher quality, DRM-free songs could be used to track users who pirate songs. What's the big advantage or difference now if they take away the restrictions of DRM but still leave in features reminiscent of DRM?
Businesses

Journal Journal: Have IT background, will fix Health Care 570

I was surfing through my usual tech sites for the latest news when I came across this article on Wired News. It turns out Steve Case is not alone in the quest to fix the health care system. I guess I don't get what the big attraction for these guys are.... I know the US's health care system is messed up, but I'm not sure technology can fix all of the aches, pains and dysfunction in our current system. I don't get why they don't just join a major company's board or start a hip/trendy start-up....
Communications

Journal Journal: Vonage v. Verizon: Prepare for Round 2 49

According to the NY Times, Vonage is preparing to take it's case back down to the lower courts for a retrial of the lawsuit against them from Verizon. Their hope is that with newer approaches set forth by the supreme court that the lower courts will be able to decide whether Verizon's patent(s) are ordinary/obvious (*cough* yes) or deserve patent protection. I wonder if this time it will be more obvious to the courts that Verizon's patents aren't so original?
The Internet

Journal Journal: Google Responds to Viacom Lawsuit

According to a NY Times article, Google has responded to the Viacom Lawsuit unfounded and claims legal safe harbor in sections of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The 1998 law "balances the rights of copyright holders and the need to protect the Internet as an important new form of communication," Google said in its filing. "By seeking to make carriers and hosting providers liable for Internet communications, Viacom's complaint threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment, and political and artistic expression."

Viacom responded with:

"This response ignores the most important fact of the suit, which is that YouTube does not qualify for safe harbor protection under the D.M.C.A. It is obvious that YouTube has knowledge of infringing material on their site, and they are profiting from it."

Representives for Google have said they are ready to take this to court. I don't know about you, I can't wait 'till July 27 and see the rumble in the court room!

User Journal

Journal Journal: Early submissions....

I realize that I've not been part of /. for long, but I've come across a frustrating issue. I find an interesting article online, quickly go to submit it, wait for hours on end and watch as someone post a similiar link with extremely brief summary show up front and center on the front page after they submitted 2-3 hours after of me.... ah well....
Portables (Apple)

Journal Journal: Slippery iPhone

A brief article on Business 2.0 shed light on little known flaw of the iPhone's design: slipperyness. According to the article:

"Overall," he added, "our source found the iPhone awesome but he mentioned, as a sole negative point, that the material used on the device's case makes it feel even more slippery than the iPod and will probably require the purchase of a protective skin or case so as to avoid unintentionally dropping it."

I find it hard to imagine Apple would let a brand new product get anywhere near testing with a design flaw like that...make you wonder where they find their testers....

Power

Journal Journal: A truly inconvenient Truh 1

I received an interesting email from my mother-in-law, and then had it forwarded again by my wife. According to WorldNetDaily, Compact Flourescent lamps (or CFL's) contain a significant amount of Mercury. While you're saving the world from global warming, you're also putting yourself and other carbon based life forms at risk to mercury poisoning. One of the victims of a CFL's mercury found out the hard and high priced way that removing the mercury couldn't be done with a simple vacuum, but by a specialized enviremental cleanup firm for around $2000. You would think someone like Al Gore, father of the Internet, would think twice before pushing a technology like CFL, still in its infancy, on consumers who don't or didn't know the risks. I know that when I get home tonight, I'm taking out my CFL's and replacing them with good ol' incandescents.

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