vwhead - Slashdot User

Apple Voiding Smokers' Warranties? 1078

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 21, 2009 @11:17AM from the a-what-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away dept.

Mr2001 writes "Consumerist reports that Apple is refusing to work on computers that have been used in smoking households. 'The Apple store called and informed me that due to the computer having been used in a house where there was smoking, [the warranty has been voided] and they refuse to work on the machine "due to health risks of second hand smoke,"' wrote one customer. Another said, 'When I asked for an explanation, she said [the owner of the iMac is] a smoker and it's contaminated with cigarette smoke, which they consider a bio-hazard! I checked my Applecare warranty and it says nothing about not honoring warranties if the owner is a smoker.' Apple claims that honoring the warranty would be an OSHA violation. (Remember when they claimed enabling 802.11n for free would be a Sarbanes-Oxley violation?)"

Canadian Pirates Sell Spurious Songs — In 1897 177

Posted by kdawson on Friday May 01, 2009 @08:45AM from the stopping-it-at-the-border dept.

Reservoir Hill writes "The NYTimes reported in their June 13, 1897 edition that 'Canadian pirates' were flooding the country with spurious editions of the latest copyrighted popular songs. 'They use the mails to reach purchasers, so members of the American Music Publishers Association assert, and as a result the legitimate music publishing business of the United States has fallen off 50 per cent in the past twelve months' while the pirates published 5,000,000 copies of songs in just one month. The Times added that pirates were publishing sheet music at 2 cents to 5 cents per copy although the original compositions sold for 20 to 40 cents per copy. But 'American publishers had held a conference' and a 'committee had been appointed to fight the pirates' by getting the 'Post Office authorities to stop such mail matter because it infringes the copyright law.' Interestingly enough the pirates of 1897 worked in league with Canadian newspapers that published lists of songs to be sold, with a post office box address belonging to the newspaper itself. Half the money went to pay the newspapers' advertising while the other half went to the pirates who sent the music by mail." The AMPA never dreamed of suing their customers, though.

US Says Canadian Copyright As Bad As China's, Russia's 323

Posted by timothy on Thursday April 30, 2009 @10:42PM from the but-very-courteous-just-the-same dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The US is blaming Canada in a new report that claims that Canadian copyright and intellectual property laws are as bad as those found in China and Russia. Michael Geist notes that Canadian officials have dismissed these findings in the past, arguing it 'does not recognize the Special 301 process due to its lacking of reliable and objective analysis.'" (Read more about the annual Special 301 report.)

Cornell Grad Students Go Ballooning (Again) 58

Posted by timothy on Sunday April 19, 2009 @08:16PM from the ithaca-is-gorges dept.

ballooner writes "A group of Cornell University graduate students are attempting to break the Amateur Radio Ballooning duration record this weekend. The project is a continuation from last year when some other Cornell grad students broke the altitude record. The progress of the team can be tracked via their Twitter feed or by monitoring their APRS beacons. For all the HAMs out there, downlinks are available on a 30m wavelength, too."

Comment Never to early (Score 1) 886

by vwhead on Monday January 03, 2005 @06:42PM (#11248952) Attached to: Introducing Children to Computers?

My first experience with computers was in the math lab in Jr. High. A huge grey box with flashing lights, no monitor and i/o through papertape, card, or keyboard. Spent weeks writing a basic program to perform basic calculations but I was hooked. Progressed through the years on the bleeding edge, TRS-80, IBM PCjr ... Somewhere in there I no longer got beat up going home from the math lab, and being a geek helped me to earn a living. I have three children, 2 have had there own personal computers since they were about 6 or 7. My oldest lived with his mother in a virtual computing desert, he was unable to accept his geekiness and is currently a beach bum in So Cal. My middle child has been computing for 6 years, and is beginning to embrace her geekiness, experimenting, learning what those little green city things are, and what they do. My youngest is just really starting to get going in computing, although she is comfortable connecting and disconnecting peripherals, and installing programs. I believe that computers are an excellent tool and in order to succeed children need an understanding of their capabilities. Not just be a "user" all of their life. I think having the computers and being attached to a network, Internet etc. has been an invaluable tool to my family, and would recommend it to anyone.

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