Comment Eggs, Basket (Score 5, Funny) 552
That's all that Ballmer needs to stop Linux? Just find Torvald's SSD?
Comment The ownership of basic words and generic terms (Score 1) 2
is a crime against humanity. Remember when Microsoft owned the word "Windows" for a while?
Submission + - Airline Says It Owns The Word "Northwest" 2
Freshly Exhumed writes: "Northwest® Airlines, the major airline whose market branding is being phased out after it was acquired by Delta, charges that it has exclusive ownership of the common, geographically descriptive term northwest." The Minnesota-based airline is going after the operator of a small, Spokane Washington web site that provides tourist information for visitors to the Pacific Northwest. From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: '[the site's owner] said he has so far spent more than $4,000 in the past few months to defend his site, and he's looking at thousands more going forward as he faces battles in the U.S., U.K., and Australia.' Presumably the Government of Canada will be the next Northwest® target victim, what with their use of the term to name some of their Territories since 1870. I don't suppose Northwest® can sue the world's cartographers, geocachers, boy scouts, etc. can they?"
Comment Pseudo-Streisand effect (Score 1) 132
I could safely bet the next 10 stories will have the tag '11words'.
Comment *munch, munch* (Score 1) 11
Oh yeah, this is gonna be good. 4chan is officially too popular for AT&T's ridiculous stunt to go unnoticed.
*munch, munch*
Given all that obnoxious, hilarious crap that ensued over the Church of Scientology videos...*munch, munch* I can only imagine the blind, adolescent fury that will be aimed in AT&T's general direction.
Popcorn?
*munch, munch*
Given all that obnoxious, hilarious crap that ensued over the Church of Scientology videos...*munch, munch* I can only imagine the blind, adolescent fury that will be aimed in AT&T's general direction.
Popcorn?
Comment Lost in thought over the children again (Score 1) 206
You know, Using the "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!" argument to justify violating my privacy is a little old these days. Especially with Child Pornography, distributed by pedophile rings that "Think of the children" much more than you do, minister.
In Canada, No Expectation of Privacy On the Net 206
The_AV8R writes "In a recent interview, Peter Van Loan, the new Canadian Public Safety minister, says ISPs should be able to provide private user information without a warrant. (The only example he gave was cases of child pornography; the interviewer pointed out that in these cases ISPs are already at liberty to divulge customer information without a warrant, but that the proposed rules would make that mandatory whenever the police ask.) He was adamant that in regard to IP addresses, names, cell phone numbers, and email addresses: '...that is not the kind of information about which Canadians have a legitimate expectation of privacy.' The minister denied — even when presented with an audio clip proving otherwise — that his predecessor had promised never to allow the police to wiretap the Internet without a warrant."
Comment Shopping Wishlist for today... (Score 4, Funny) 305
Milk
Bread
Shitload of stamps
Ground Chuck
Vitamin Water
Carrots
Defense Attorney
Submission + - Sesame Street DVD Deemed Adult-Only Entertainment
theodp writes: "The earliest episodes of Sesame Street are being made available on DVD, but the NYT notes Volumes 1 and 2 carry a rather strange warning: 'These early 'Sesame Street' episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today's preschool child.' So why are they unsuitable for toddlers in 2007? Well, in the parody 'Monsterpiece Theater,' Alistair Cookie — played by Cookie Monster — used to appear with a pipe, which he later gobbled. 'That modeled the wrong behavior,' explained a Sesame Street executive producer, adding that 'we might not be able to create a character like Oscar [the Grouch] now.'"
Format Standards Committee "Grinds To a Halt" 271
Andy Updegrove writes "Microsoft's OOXML did not get enough votes to be approved the first time around in ISO/IEC — notwithstanding the fact that many countries joined the Document Format and Languages committee in the months before voting closed, almost all of them voting to approve OOXML. Unfortunately, many of these countries also traded up to 'P' level membership at the last minute to gain more influence. Now the collateral damage is setting in. At least 50% of P members must vote (up, down, or abstain) on every standard at each ballot — and none of the new members are bothering to vote, despite repeated pleas from the committee chair. Not a single ballot has passed since the OOXML vote closed. In the chairman's words, the committee has 'ground to a halt.' Sad to say, there's no end in sight for this (formerly) very busy and influential standards committee."
Journal Journal: Mouseovers - as bad as popups? 8
Is anyone else as annoyed as I am by words and phrases in web articles that pop up boxes because my mouse pointer happened to cross them, temporarily hiding the content I was reading in the first place? I didn't click on anything, and consequently, I don't want a context change. I find these annoying to the point of noting what the site is and not going back. Anyone else feel the same? Anyone have a defense of the practice?
Submission + - Red Cross sued for using... a red cross (iht.com) 4
Swampash writes: "Johnson & Johnson, the health-products giant that uses a red cross as its trademark, is suing the American Red Cross, demanding the charity halt its use of the red cross symbol on products it sells to the public."
Submission + - AA dumps Open Office in favour of MS Office
(Score.5, Interestin writes: The NZ Automobile Association has just announced that it's dropping Open Office and switching back to MS Office. According to their CIO, "Microsoft Office is not any cheaper, but it was almost impossible to work out what open-source was actually costing because of issues such as incompatibility and training". In addition "you have no idea where open-source products are going, whereas vendors like Microsoft provide a roadmap for the future".
"Tubes" Senator Being Investigated For Corruption 613
DragonTHC writes "Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, is being investigated in a federal corruption probe that has implicated his son Ben. Part of the case involves a fishing co-op whose members allegedly paid Ben Stevens $500,000 to get a federal bailout from his father." The other Alaskan senator, also a Republican, is under a cloud as well.
Submission + - Moebius strip riddle solved at last (abc.net.au) 2
BigLug writes: "In a study to appear in Nature Materials, two experts in non-linear dynamics, Gert van der Heijden and Eugene Starostin of University College London, resolve the Moebius Strip algebraically.
From the ABC (Australia):
From the ABC (Australia):
"
What determines the strip's shape is its differing areas of "energy density," they say.
"Energy density" means the stored, elastic energy that is contained in the strip as a result of the folding. Places where the strip is most bent have the highest energy density; conversely, places that are flat and unstressed by a fold have the least energy density.
Slashdot Top Deals
Build a system that even a fool can use and only a fool will want to use it.
