BillEGoat - Slashdot User

Has Microsoft's Patent War Against Linux Begun? 644

Posted by timothy on Wednesday February 25, 2009 @07:30PM from the begun-this-clone-war-has dept.

Glyn Moody writes "Microsoft has filed a suit against TomTom, 'alleging that the in-car navigation company's devices violate eight of its patents — including three that relate to TomTom's implementation of the Linux kernel.' What's interesting is that the intellectual property lawyer behind the move, Horacio Gutierrez, has just been promoted to the rank of corporate vice president at Microsoft. Is this his way of announcing that he intends going on the attack against Linux?"

EC Considering Removing Internet Explorer From Windows 827

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday January 19, 2009 @07:04PM from the epic-struggles dept.

Itsabouttime writes "In a preliminary ruling, the European Commission told Microsoft that linking Internet Explorer to its dominant Windows operating system violates EC rules. The EC's ruling was triggered by a complaint from IE rival Opera. Microsoft could seek to offer a Windows version without IE, as it did in the EC's 2004 ruling on Windows Media Player."

Touchscreen Netbooks To Shine At CES 2009 109

Posted by timothy on Saturday December 27, 2008 @06:31PM from the touchscreen-sans-tablet-seems-a-waste dept.

i4u writes "The new generation of netbooks debuting at CES 2009 will add touch and have twistable screens to use them in tablet or notebook style. Intel is set to introduce a new Classmate netbook with a twistable screen and touchscreen at the CES 2009. Back in October Asus said it was planning to introduce touchscreen Asus Eee netbooks in early 2009. Asus is exhibiting at the CES Unveiled pre-show that takes place on January 6th. Expect the Asus Eee Touch to be unveiled then. Gigabyte has outrun all of them with the Intel Atom-powered M912V that has been on the market for a while. Adding a touchscreen is rather easy. More difficult is to offer a touch-optimized UI. Let's see what the netbook vendors are going to invest on the software side."

Geoengineering To Cool the Earth Becoming Thinkable 419

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday October 22, 2008 @08:07AM from the well-less-unthinkable dept.

johkir writes "As early as 1965, when Al Gore was a freshman in college, a panel of distinguished environmental scientists warned President Lyndon B. Johnson that CO2 emissions from fossil fuels might cause 'marked changes in climate' that 'could be deleterious.' Yet the scientists did not so much as mention the possibility of reducing emissions. Instead they considered one idea: 'spreading very small reflective particles' over about five million square miles of ocean, so as to bounce about 1 percent more sunlight back to space — 'a wacky geoengineering solution.' In the decades since, geoengineering ideas never died, but they did get pushed to the fringe — they were widely perceived by scientists and environmentalists alike as silly and even immoral attempts to avoid addressing the root of the problem of global warming. Three recent developments have brought them back into the mainstream." We've discussed some pretty strange ideas in the geoengineering line over the last few years.

Comment Re:You have remote root? A few ideas :-) (Score 2, Informative) 482

by BillEGoat on Friday July 04, 2008 @09:30PM (#24063373) Attached to: Best Way To Get Back a Stolen Computer?

I had to deal with this myself once (tracked down a stolen laptop). The local ordinance is called "receipt of stolen property" and is a crime, but it requires knowledge that that the property is stolen or a preponderance of evidence that the individual should have reasonably known that the property was stolen.

But being in possession of stolen property is enough to give an officer probable cause and you'll probably be charged with something.

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