Comment Moving to the cloud... (Score 1) 443
... is it really a good idea?
Just sayin..
Submission + - Who Killed Spotify (bbc.co.uk)
An anonymous reader writes: The BBC reports that ad supported music service Spotify is bringing strict limits to its service, allowing users ten hours listening time per month and a lifetime total of five plays per track. Rory Cellan-Jones discusses how much their hand was forced by the labels, and how much it was down to their own desire to move more than the current 15% of users to their paid subscriptions. The overwhelming reaction from users seems to be straightforward disappointment at the loss of a service which managed to bridge the commercial radio business model and modern listening habits. As the first response to the announcement said: "So long Spotify. It was nice knowing you. Guess I'll go back to pirating music again then.".
Submission + - Where is the universal gesture navigation set?
dstates writes: As a mostly happy new iPad owner, I love having lots of apps, but I have got to ask, where is the universal set of gestures for navigation? Pinch and open mostly mean zoom out and in, but sometimes you tap to open, sometimes double tap. Sometimes right swipe is back, som times there is a back button, sometimes you just have to go to home and navigate back down. ... Reminds me of the early days of GUIs when every application had it's own menu set with differt top level menus and different placement of various functions. Made life chaos for users. We have been there, done that, and gestures are much worse. At least with a menu, you had a printed tag you could read. Gestures are all magic handshakes until you know them. Seems like the tablet community should not have to learn the value of consistency all over again.
Submission + - Why Google Should Buy the Music Industry (blogspot.com)
Glyn Moody writes: "According to this story about Google's attempts to launch its own music service, "the search giant is “disgusted” with the labels, so much so that they are seriously considering following Amazon’s lead and launching their music could service without label licenses." So here's a simple solution: Google should just buy the major record labels — all of them. It could afford them — people tend to forget that the music industry is actually relatively small in economic terms, but wields a disproportionate influence with policy makers. Buying them would solve that problem too."
Submission + - FTP is 40 years old (bit-tech.net)
An anonymous reader writes: FTP celebrates its 40th birthday tomorrow. Originally launched as the RFC 114 specification, which was published on 16 April 1971, FTP is arguably even more important today than when it was born. Frank Kenney, vice president of global strategy for US managed file transfer company Ipswitch, said that the protocol we know as FTP today is ‘a far cry from when Abhay Bushan, a student at MIT, wrote the original specifications for FTP.’
According to Kenney, the standard has grown from ‘a simple protocol to copy files over a TCP-based network [to] a sophisticated, integrated model that provides control, visibility, compliance and security in a variety of environments, including the cloud.’
According to Kenney, the standard has grown from ‘a simple protocol to copy files over a TCP-based network [to] a sophisticated, integrated model that provides control, visibility, compliance and security in a variety of environments, including the cloud.’
Submission + - Blogger Fined $60K For Telling The Truth (startribune.com)
jfruhlinger writes: ""Johnny Northside," a Minneapolis blogger with less than 500 readers a day revealed that a University of Minnesota researcher studying mortgage fraud had been involved in a fraudulent mortgage himself; the blog post was at least partially responsible for the researcher losing his job. The researcher then sued the blogger and won — despite the blogger having his facts straight. Johnny Northside plans to appeal the verdict."
Submission + - Angry Birds Exec: Console Games Are Dying (ibtimes.com) 3
RedEaredSlider writes: Angry Birds marketing lead Peter Vesterbacka went on the offensive today against his console counterparts, arguing that the model pursued by companies like Nintendo is "dying."
In a panel discussion at the South by Southwest Interact vice conference in Austin, Texas Vesterbacka said that innovation wasn't coming from large development firms like EA and Ubisoft, but from smaller, more nimble developers like his own.
Vesterbacka also pointed to the major concern over the price model for console games. Compared to mobile titles like Angry Birds that run for 99 cents, games on large consoles hover around fifty dollars. Still, the executive did admit that the business model for mobile games had yet to be completely figured out.
In a panel discussion at the South by Southwest Interact vice conference in Austin, Texas Vesterbacka said that innovation wasn't coming from large development firms like EA and Ubisoft, but from smaller, more nimble developers like his own.
Vesterbacka also pointed to the major concern over the price model for console games. Compared to mobile titles like Angry Birds that run for 99 cents, games on large consoles hover around fifty dollars. Still, the executive did admit that the business model for mobile games had yet to be completely figured out.
Submission + - Advance in PCM Memory Offers 100 Times the Storage (gizmag.com)
Zothecula writes: Researchers from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of the University of Illinois have developed a new low-power digital memory which uses much less power and is faster than other solutions currently available. The breakthrough could give future consumer devices like smartphones and laptops a much longer battery life, but might also benefit equipment used in telecommunications, science or by the military.
Submission + - Net sees earthquake damage, routes around it (renesys.com) 2
davidwr writes: Japanese internet outages mostly healed themselves within hours. While some cables remain out most computers that lost connectivity have it again. From James Cowie's blog linked below: 'The engineers who built Japan's Internet created a dense web of domestic and international connectivity that is among the richest and most diverse on earth, as befits a critical gateway for global connectivity in and out of East Asia. At this point, it looks like their work may have allowed the Internet to do what it does best: route around catastrophic damage and keep the packets flowing, despite terrible chaos and uncertainty.' Let's here it for redundancy and good planning.
Submission + - 40th Anniversary of the Computer Virus (net-security.org)
Orome1 writes: This year marks the 40th anniversary of Creeper, the world’s first computer virus. From Creeper to Stuxnet, the last four decades saw the number of malware instances boom from 1,300 in 1990, to 50,000 in 2000, to over 200 million in 2010. Besides sheer quantity, viruses, which were originally used as academic proof of concepts, quickly turned into geek pranks, then evolved into cybercriminal tools. By 2005, the virus scene had been monetized, and virtually all viruses were developed with the sole purpose of making money via more or less complex business models.
Submission + - New Attack Can Disable Phones Via SMS (threatpost.com)
Trailrunner7 writes: A pair of security researchers from Germany demonstrated several techniques at the CanSecWest conference here Wednesday that enable them to remotely reboot, shut down or even completely disable many popular mobile phones with SMS messages.
The technique that Nico Golde and Collin Mulliner discussed relies on setting up a GSM network and sending specially crafted SMS messages to handsets. The pair showed a video demonstration of phones from a wide range of manufacturers, including LG, Sony Ericsson, Nokia and others rebooting, freezing and generally acting flaky after receiving the crafted SMS messages they sent.
The technique that Nico Golde and Collin Mulliner discussed relies on setting up a GSM network and sending specially crafted SMS messages to handsets. The pair showed a video demonstration of phones from a wide range of manufacturers, including LG, Sony Ericsson, Nokia and others rebooting, freezing and generally acting flaky after receiving the crafted SMS messages they sent.
Submission + - EADS Airbike made of steel-strength nylon (gizmag.com)
Zothecula writes: Engineers from the Bristol wing of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) have announced the development of the first bicycle using Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) technology. The manufacturing process involves "growing" the components from a fine nylon powder, similar in concept to 3D printing. Said to be as strong as steel, the end product is claimed to contain only a fraction of the source material used by traditional machining, and the process results in much less waste. It also has the potential to take manufacture to precisely where the component or product is needed, instead of being confined to factories often located a great distance away.
Submission + - DIY laser pistol shoot 1MW blasts (hackaday.com)
Anonymous Coward writes: "It doesn't get cooler than this — a German hacker put together a 1MW laser pistol capable of shooting straight through a razor blade with a single pulse. Ask nicely and he'll help you build your own."
Comment Re:cut off nose to spite face (Score 0) 197
OK, I admit, fingers faster than brain.
Yes, it is Cignet
and yes it is HIPAA
Comment cut off nose to spite face (Score 2) 197
I just love it.
to send a large middle finger to the feds by burying them in discovery (this seems fairly common, more info than needed is sent in the hopes that it is too large a task), and in response to a HIPPA complaint about their non compliance with patient medical record access, Cigna violates nearly every portion of the privacy sections of HIPPA.
I think the fine should be 10X
