Steve Jobs Patents "The Dock" 580

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 08, 2008 @09:43AM from the what's-next dept.

theodp writes "If you're a PC, you may be unfamiliar with The Dock, the bar of icons that sits at the bottom or side of a Mac and provides easy access to Apple applications. But don't count on it becoming a standard on the PC. On Tuesday, the USPTO awarded Apple — and inventor Steve Jobs — a patent for their User Interface for Providing Consolidation and Access, aka 'The Dock,' after a rather lengthy nine-year wait."

Comcast Targets Unlicensed Anime Torrenters 352

Posted by Zonk on Monday November 19, 2007 @02:23AM from the hard-to-get-your-jpop-fix-without-it dept.

SailorSpork writes "According to a thread on the forums of AnimeSuki, a popular anime bittorent index site, Comcast has begun sending DCMA letters to customers downloading unlicensed fan-subtitled anime shows via bittorrent. By 'unlicensed', they mean that no english language company has the rights to it. The letters are claiming that the copyright holder or an authorized agent are making the infringement claims, though usually these requests are also sent to the site itself rather that individual downloaders. My question is have they really been in contact with Japanese anime companies, or is this another scare tactic by Comcast to try and reduce the bandwidth use of their heavier customers now that their previous tactics have come under legal fire?"

Feed Techdirt: Cox Jamming Traffic Just Like Comcast (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed on Friday November 16, 2007 @07:52PM

You didn't think Comcast was the only company jamming certain types of traffic, did you? With all the heat on Comcast, it's no surprise that others are being discovered as well. For example, people are now noticing that cable provider Cox is using a very similar method to jam bittorrent uploads. It's too bad to hear this from a cable company that prided itself on actually being consumer friendly. Perhaps that means that Cox will actually admit to what it's doing, unlike Comcast. Of course, it also probably helps Cox that it wasn't the first one called out on this. Just like Sony took all the heat for the rootkit, even though the same rootkit was also found on CDs from other labels, it's likely that Comcast will take most of the heat for its bittorrent jamming.

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Comcast Sued Over P2P Blocking 268

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday November 14, 2007 @11:37PM from the let-us-pirate-music-at-a-reasonable-speed dept.

CRISTAROL writes "Comcast has been sued by a California resident for blocking BitTorrent and other traffic. 'John Hart describes himself as a Comcast customer who has seen performance hits when using "Blocked Applications" targeted by Comcast's traffic management application, Sandvine. In his complaint, Hart says that Comcast severely limits "the speed of certain internet applications such as peer-to-peer file sharing and lotus notes [sic]." Comcast accomplishes this by "transmitting unauthorized hidden messages" to the PCs of those using the applications.' The lawsuit comes on the heels of an FCC complaint over the same issue."

Feed Techdirt: Comcast Sued For Traffic Shaping (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed on Wednesday November 14, 2007 @10:52PM

Almost surprised it took this long, but following the widespread reports of Comcast jamming certain types of traffic, everyone pretty much expected someone to file a class action lawsuit. It just took a couple weeks (maybe the plaintiffs were jammed from uploading documents to their lawyers...). However, a lawsuit has now been filed in California, charging Comcast with violating federal computer fraud laws, their own user contracts and anti-fraudulent advertising statutes. The lawyers are (no surprise) hoping to turn this into a class action lawsuit. The computer fraud charges seem like a huge stretch, but misleading advertising could potentially stick. Comcast, for its part, maintains its ridiculous tightrope-walking corporate doubletalk on the issue, refusing to admit to anything: "Comcast does not, has not, and will not block any websites or online applications, including peer-to-peer services." Yes, that's nice and all... but it's not what people are accusing Comcast of doing. They're accusing Comcast of jamming certain types of traffic to make them not work as intended, and doing so without any indication or notice to the user. It still boggles the mind that Comcast won't come out and just say what it's doing. It's not as if it's a secret any more.

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Comment Re:Been downloading series off fansubs for years. (Score 1) 972

by thrgardinad on Tuesday February 01, 2005 @06:31PM (#11545514) Attached to: Fansubbers Under Fire

Honestly, I believe and know its bad to pirate stuff, but I do all of it anyways. I buy Anime series I like when they are finally out on DVD anyways, but most of the time the subs and dubs are horribly translated by companies in the USA, they leave out a lot of Japanese culture items, because an average american wouldn't know what it ment. Most fansubs will stick to Japanese themes and culture items in the translation. Also I like seeing anime that hasn't been censored on TV.