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Bug

Outlook 2010 Bug Creates Monster Email Files 126

Posted by timothy from the rodents-of-unusual-size dept.
Julie188 writes with this snippet from Network World "Office 2010 is still in beta and a patch is already out. Microsoft is trying to fix a bug in the email program Outlook 2010 Beta that creates unusually large e-mail files that take up too much space. The Outlook product team has offered a bug fix for both 32-bit and 64-bit systems that fixes the problem going forward, although previous emails will remain super-sized. This could be a problem for email programs that limit message sizes, such as Gmail or BlackBerry."

Comment Re:Accuracy (Score 5, Interesting) 316

by ivan_w (#30745730) Attached to: US Coast Guard Intends To Kill LORAN-C

SA made GPS accurate to 10m.. With the "SA" feature disabled, you're down to 2m... And with Satelite enhancements, it's more like 20cm !

But that's irrelevant.. Because SA was intended to disable any enemy force from using GPS for accurate positioning - until they realized D-GPS (Differential GPS) made the whole point moot (you take a reference point - you send the signal to the receiver - And therefore - the receiver can deduce the SA introduced clock error - because now you have a ref point .. And believe it or not - it is a United Stated Uniform service - the US Coast Gard - that came up with it to overcome the artificially introduced uncertainty).

However, the military still keep exclusive use of the 1Mhz band (with the 10Mhz being public) - for the only purpose of being able to make real time measurements on tropospheric distortions - so - what happens - is that the military can make 1m accurate reading WITHOUT sat aids.
Earth

CIA Teams Up With Scientists To Monitor Climate 417

Posted by kdawson from the with-my-little-eye dept.
MikeChino writes "The CIA has just joined up with climate researchers to re-launch a data-sharing initiative that will use spy satellites and other CIA asets to help scientists figure out what climate change is doing to cloud cover, forests, deserts, and more. The collaboration is an extension of the Measurements of Earth Data for Environmental Analysis program, which President Bush canceled in 2001, and it will use reconnaissance satellites to track ice floes moving through the Arctic basin, creating data that could be used for ice forecasts." Even though the program is "basically free" in terms of CIA involvement, the Times notes: "Controversy has often dogged the use of federal intelligence gear for environmental monitoring. In October, days after the CIA opened a small unit to assess the security implications of climate change, Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, said the agency should be fighting terrorists, 'not spying on sea lions.'"

Comment Re:Approve them all and let the courts sort em out (Score 1) 144

by paladin217 (#30654950) Attached to: HP Patents Bignum Implementation From 1912

Unfortunately, it is. The general thinking among some examiners is that the bigger companies mostly get patents defensively (i.e. to stop others from suing them with the threat of a big patent portfolio). They see it as harmless to let something like this out because a patent like this would likely be used against another company with enough money to shoot it down.

Comment Re:Put down the pitchforks. (Score 1) 144

by paladin217 (#30654844) Attached to: HP Patents Bignum Implementation From 1912

Yeah, HP shouldn't try patenting this...

In my time at the USPTO, I noticed that HP took the phrase "anything under the sun made by man" to the extreme and tried to patent everything under the sun made by man in every patent app filed. Each case was an absolute battle to get them to claim what they really invented. If the examiner wasn't willing to fight it out on the case, he or she could have just easily said "Screw it! They won't try to enforce it anyway..." and just allowed the case.
Open Source

Linux Kernel 2.6.32 Released 195

Posted by CmdrTaco from the download-compile-reboot-repeat dept.
diegocg writes "Linus Torvalds has officially released the version 2.6.32 of the Linux kernel. New features include virtualization memory de-duplication, a rewrite of the writeback code faster and more scalable, many important Btrfs improvements and speedups, ATI R600/R700 3D and KMS support and other graphic improvements, a CFQ low latency mode, tracing improvements including a 'perf timechart' tool that tries to be a better bootchart, soft limits in the memory controller, support for the S+Core architecture, support for Intel Moorestown and its new firmware interface, run-time power management support, and many other improvements and new drivers. See the full changelog for more details."

Comment Not necessarily a patent trap (Score 1) 1008

by paladin217 (#28498331) Attached to: Richard Stallman Says No To Mono

By MS helping to implement parts of Mono, they have, at a minimum, given up their rights to sue over those portions with which it helped. IANAL, but I have worked in the world of IP for a few years and from what I understand, MS has surrendered its rights to sue over those portions of Mono because of promissory estoppel. That is, since Mono was being implemented with help from MS, thereby giving the project its blessing to continue, MS has essentially given the developers of Mono a promise that it is OK for them to continue on.

What remains to be seen is whether or not MS would be allowed to sue for those portions of Mono that were implemented without help from MS. As usual, software development makes established IP law far more interesting to apply...

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