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Cellphones

Canadian Android Carrier Forcing Firmware Update 238

Posted by kdawson from the monopoly-rents dept.
Wolfier writes "For wireless carrier Rogers in Canada, it seems that 'Customer Safety' only becomes a concern after months of neglect. Rogers is the only GSM carrier in Canada and so the only choice for Android users. Months ago, a customer called Rogers to report a firmware bug that was preventing users from making 911 calls under certain circumstances, and informed the carrier that Google had fixed the bug (recording of that call). But Rogers is only doing something about it now — namely, cutting data access of paying customers until they accept a mandatory firmware upgrade that not only fixes the 911 problem, but also contains 'extra' features that prevent users from ever gaining root access to their phones — even non-subsidized ones. And some phones are also getting bricked by this 'official' update. The moral: we really need to open up the competition here up North."
The Courts

Supreme Court Declines Jack Thompson Appeal 100

Posted by Soulskill from the take-the-hint dept.
eldavojohn writes "Jack Thompson was disbarred last year in Florida, putting a halt to annoying lawsuits targeting game makers and the constitutional rights of gamers. Well, he had appealed to the United States Supreme Court (scheduled to be heard last Friday) to get this overturned, but instead they declined to even hear his appeal. They wouldn't even give him the time to review his appeal, so it appears his disbarment for life stands. Florida had declined to file a response to Thompson's appeal, and it turns out they didn't need to. Sad day for Jack Thompson, but a great day for gamers everywhere." This comes shortly after Thompson was frustrated by the vetoing of some legislation he promoted in Utah.
Windows

Draconian DRM Revealed In Windows 7 1127

Posted by kdawson from the just-who-did-you-think-owns-your-machine dept.
TechForensics writes "A few days' testing of Windows 7 has already disclosed some draconian DRM, some of it unrelated to media files. A legitimate copy of Photoshop CS4 stopped functioning after we clobbered a nagging registration screen by replacing a DLL with a hacked version. With regard to media files, the days of capturing an audio program on your PC seem to be over (if the program originated on that PC). The inputs of your sound card are severely degraded in software if the card is also playing an audio program (tested here with Grooveshark). This may be the tip of the iceberg. Being in bed with the RIAA is bad enough, but locking your own files away from you is a tactic so outrageous it may kill the OS for many persons. Many users will not want to experiment with a second sound card or computer just to record from online sources, or boot up under a Linux that supports ntfs-3g just to control their files." Read on for more details of this user's findings.
Windows

The Broken Design of Microsoft's "Fix it" Tool 165

Posted by kdawson from the teething-problems dept.
$luggo writes "Curious about MS Fix It, I recently went hunting in the MS knowledge base for articles that provide the new EZ-button. After locating on few, I decided to click the button to download the Microsoft Installer package containing the executable and/or files that automatically enable the DVD Library feature in Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate — on my XP Media Center. 'Surely, MS will use some scripting, HTTP User-Agent sniffing, or even Genuine Windows validation to verify that I am running Vista,' I thought. It did not and I canceled the download when I received the prompt to save the file. So, I wonder: is there a Fix-it for Fix it? Because I can easily imagine someone doing what I did without scrolling to the bottom of the KB article and verifying that the article applies to their OS/version. This is a great example poor design. Why not simply use the download approach that other articles / fixes / service packs use, whereby the user must select the appropriate OS?"
Businesses

How Long Should Companies Make E-Bills Available? 299

Posted by samzenpus from the forever-billed dept.
theodp writes "If you say goodbye to paper and hello to green, you may learn first-hand that no good deed goes unpunished. Try to pay your final Verizon Wireless bill online after switching carriers, for example, and don't be surprised if you get a sorry-Dave-I'm-afraid-I-can't-do-that reply. Other vendors may curtail e-Bill services 30 days after you end service. And a promise of access to up to seven years of paperless statements is somewhat empty if you'll be cutoff as soon as you no longer have an account. With more-and-more companies enticing consumers to go paperless, how long a period of time should the records be made available online? Should it extend beyond the life of an account?"

Comment Re:Easy Remedy for Those Looking to Avoid (Score 2, Insightful) 655

by electrictroy (#26158155) Attached to: New York State Budget Relies On Entertainment Tax

This is the REAL conflict in America.

It isn't Republicans versus Democrats. It's city versus countryside, and it's been going on since 1989. Most people in the country (and suburbs) want minimal taxation and government to "butt out" of their affairs. Meanwhile city folk what free handouts like subways, hospitals, new baseball stadiums - they want to be treated like children being cared for by daddy government.

Country - independent
City - dependent

That's what almost all politics in America boils down to.

Comment Re:Easy Remedy for Those Looking to Avoid (Score 1) 655

by electrictroy (#26158119) Attached to: New York State Budget Relies On Entertainment Tax

>>>>>PA national guard

>WTF, would someone please explain to an ignorant foreigner why a state has a national guard?

For the same reason why France, Germany, and Italy have national guards. I don't know if you've ever studied the American Civil War, but you'll probably note that the army is divided into State-based units, such as the Maryland 2nd regiment, or the Massachusetts 3rd, or the Georgian 5th.

The modern U.S. army has eliminated most of that to create a seamless whole, but the States still maintain their own private armies (national guard) and militias (their citizens).

Comment Re:Easy Remedy for Those Looking to Avoid (Score 1) 655

by electrictroy (#26158073) Attached to: New York State Budget Relies On Entertainment Tax

Okay here's the deal:

Amazon.com has a place for people like me to sell online. New York claims that because some of those persons are from NY, that makes amazon have a presence in NY, even though those people are completely independent from amazon. Same applies to Ebay. Therefore NY wants amazon/ebay to add a 7% tax to all NY sales.

My argument is that I'm not amazon's employee - I'm independent and represent no one but myself. Furthermore I'm not a New York citizen, therefore NY has no authority over me. Furthermore: "it's taxation without representation" - I'm being taxed by a foreign body who does not represent me & for whom I never voted.

I am not going to collect and submit sales tax forms to NY on April 15, 2009. If they want to sue me, or issue a warrant for my arrest, go right ahead. I'll throw the papers in the trash and make sure never to visit NY State.

Comment Re:Some people STILL think they should use IE (Score 1) 271

by electrictroy (#26150691) Attached to: A First Look At Internet Explorer 8 RC1

>>>Maybe you should stop installing every single thing that comes up on your screen.

I rarely install anything, ever. This was simply the result of scripts automagically changing the homepage in IE to www.porn.com (or what4ever) and taking advantage of exploits to save themselves to the c: drive (spybots). When I switched to Firefox, all those problems stopped.

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