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Actually, this is much less likely to happen in the US. See 17 USC 105 and a post on Bricoleur http://www.bricoleur.org/2007/10/ip-in-canadian-penny-47k-usd.html.
Howard Knopf also has a great post on the Canadian situation http://excesscopyright.blogspot.com/2007/10/excessive-nonsense-about-one-cent.html

It looks like Ubuntu has one available in .deb, but I haven't had time to look at the licensing. Was going to install the .rpm using Alien, but I guess I don't need to.

Sounds like you worked there!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com/

Actually, it's both the phrase and the image, and both claims are bogus. Won't stop the lawyers on both sides from making a living, though.

The overheating issues are occuring on far far far more than 3% of units, I've seen results from several sources at least 5 forum polls at different sites, EB store employees tallying up a sold / return ratio, journolists (sp?) reporting how many have failed at their offices etc.

Yay reading comprehension! I said my DVD-ROM failure fit into the standard 1-3% category. I said nothing about the percentage of overheating, only that measures have been taken to prevent it in the future.

I don't want to be without my console for 2-6 weeks multiple times over the course of 3 years.

The hope is that Microsoft solves the problem, after which you'll get a fully-fixed console on your next replacement. If that doesn't happen, I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft opened new repair centers and hired more staff to deal with the influx of boxes. I suspect Microsoft simply got overwhelmed this summer after the announcement of the extended warranty, when a bunch of people who were sitting on dead out-of-warranty consoles suddenly were able to send theirs in for free.

Secondly due to DRM you have to sign in to Xbox live to be able to play your downloaded Xbox games because they are signed to the hardware of your DEAD console see : http://brokenxblm.blogspot.com/

Old news. Microsoft has put a process in place by which all of your content is flagged for re-keying when your console is replaced. This fix was put in place last spring, and I know this first-hand because I was able to re-key all of my content after receiving my second replacement (first RROD, second dead DVD drive). Simply re-download your content to re-key it. If you kept your hard drive like you were supposed to, you won't actually re-download the content but just receive a new key. Use your account history to go back through and download everything you care about. It took me less than 30 minutes to refresh a year and a half worth of content (XBLA games, themes, pictures, game expansions, etc).

Of course if you use one of the store warranties like from Best Buy where they just swap you a new console off the shelf, your content won't be rekeyed. In this case you're much better off using the Microsoft warranty repair instead.

Why should I support a company releasing shit hardware, can't they get their act together, it's been 2 fucking years! and finally and I believe by far most importantly,..

That's not quite fair. It was only 1.5 years old when the new GPU heatsink and extended warranty were put into place this past spring/early summer. Unfortunately there were already 10+ million consoles in the channel at that point, which means that a huge backlog needs to clear before you stop hearing about console failures. As for why you should support such a company, that's up to you to decide. For me, it's pretty easy -- the Xbox 360 has the games I want, and Microsoft has shown that they stand behind the hardware with their extended warranty support. You're free to buy a Wii or PS3, both, all, or none. Nobody's holding a gun to your head and saying, "Buy an Xbox or you die."

3 Years? big fucking deal, there's still gamers playing 5 year old PS2's, 8 year old PS1's, 10 year old N64's and older, sure some old hardware breaks down, I won't deny that but at least you have a chance,...... why should I or anyone else purchase a product which is actually LIKELY to break down, forcing me to have to buy a new one in 3.01 years time or 4 years etc?

There are plenty of dead PS1 and PS2 consoles out there. Early-run PS2s had major laser problems. While the Xbox 360 is a bit of an extreme case, it's not the only console to ever have major hardware issues. At least Microsoft is supporting it. Did Sony ever increase the warranty on PS2s for laser issues?

Also there's rumours there'

The overheating issues are occuring on far far far more than 3% of units, I've seen results from several sources at least 5 forum polls at different sites, EB store employees tallying up a sold / return ratio, journolists (sp?) reporting how many have failed at their offices etc.

The chaps at UPS actually know what the Xbox is when returning it bwefore you return it, based on the box you bring it in with..... the failure rate is rumoured to be as high as 30% - I'd be very comfortable believing 15% for sure.

The 3 year warranty for the RROD is absoloutely FUCKING useless as far as I and several console gamers are concerned.
A>I don't want to be without my console for 2-6 weeks multiple times over the course of 3 years.
B>Secondly due to DRM you have to sign in to Xbox live to be able to play your downloaded Xbox games because they are signed to the hardware of your DEAD console see : http://brokenxblm.blogspot.com/
C>Why should I support a company releasing shit hardware, can't they get their act together, it's been 2 fucking years!
and finally and I believe by far most importantly,..
D>3 Years? big fucking deal, there's still gamers playing 5 year old PS2's, 8 year old PS1's, 10 year old N64's and older, sure some old hardware breaks down, I won't deny that but at least you have a chance,...... why should I or anyone else purchase a product which is actually LIKELY to break down, forcing me to have to buy a new one in 3.01 years time or 4 years etc?
No! I'm enjoying cheap Xbox 1 and PS2 games and I plan to keep enjoying them, I'd like to do the same with a 360, maybe pull it out in 4 or 5 years to play Gears of war etc,.....so in that case, I can't see waiting for a more reliable edition being a bad thing.

Also there's rumours there's a fixed model out, the die appears to be approximately 15% smaller, which doesn't correlate with 90nm to 65nm but no one knows for sure, so we're waiting for more info - but either way the thing is still bloody noisy.

Nope, I'm waiting for confirmation on forums like Xbox-scene.com that there's a more reliable one out there in the wild.

In regard to the difference between the Tolkien and Jackson version of the Entmoot and their decision to go to war (or lack thereof), read this:
http://bourgeoisburglars.blogspot.com/2007/05/another-difference-between-tolkiens-and.html

It's not about content length or page count. I think most people here have read long articles or other works online before. The key is that they have to be *interesting*.

While it most certainly has its faults, the most important purpose of the publishing industry today is that it acts like a filter. There are a hundred times more people who want to be published than actually will be, and this is a sad reality of the industry and anyone who wants to write. On the other hand, it's also a benefit; publishers filter out stuff that, for the most part, simply isn't that good -- derivative, written with third-grade grammar, tedious, unrealistic, unimaginative, etc. Even the "filters" sometimes need filters; that's what agents are for. While a given publisher may accept a small fraction of one percent of what is submitted to them, your average agent may end up selling perhaps half of what they acquire. This works because it's now the agent who accepts a fraction of one percent of what they get. Many big publishers don't take unagented submissions; they use agents as a "filter" to reduce the drivel that they have to sift through to find what's good out there. Often, even the agents will use their own "filters" -- say, grad students, paid slave wages to read the incoming queries . Like this person, for example.

That said, the internet does have some developing "filtering" mechanisms -- even if nothing more than an email from a friend saying, "Hey, I read this and it was great! You have to read it!" What the internet doesn't have, currently, is a particularly effective profit mechanism for writers, even those who do have some level of popular success. And translating online success to print success is not as easy as it may at first appear. If you have a relevant website that gets tens of thousands of unique hits per day, you might be able to get a little further by citing it as "platform" (esp. important in nonfiction) in your query, but beyond that, what agents and publishers want to see is some direct "filtering" mechanism on your work -- have you won presigious contests with thousands of entrants and recognized judges, have you been published in magazines or major newspapers, have you had a book published before (and how did it sell?), and so on. They want hard evidence that someone besides your friends and family thinks that you're good. Of course, even if you don't have any worthwhile credits, you can still be published based on the merits of your writing at hand.

At least, that's how it's supposed to work. ;)

My biggest gripe with the publishing industry is the "inventing" of best-sellers. At regular intervals, they'll buy what they (a relatively small number of people) consider the best sales potential work out on the market by a new author in their particular field for a huge advance (6-7 figures, compared to the usual 4-5). This starts the ball rolling; the very fact that they paid a huge advance gets the critics buzzing about the work before they even know anything about it. When it comes out, they review the heck out of it. Good or bad reviews, it gets a ton of publicity. Meanwhile, the publisher plugs the heck out of it, everywhere they can. Altogether, they create enough buzz about the work that anyone who reads books in the field feels they have to read it, if only just to know what other people are talking about. The work may, in fact, be pretty lousy, but that's not the important aspect. They could sell almost anything in this manner. The same thing applies to authors who, by virtue of their name, will get published no matter what. Someone like Tom Clancy could practically write a proposal for a diatribe against tube socks on a coffee napkin and get a deal out of it before he pens a word. Simply having the author's name on the side will ensure enough sales to be worth it.

That said, there are inherent benefits to new authors in the industry. Let's say you land a deal with

"Charging royalties for unwanted intrusions of music is the most absurd damn thing I've ever heard of, and tries to claim economic value where none exists."

Here is an angle to push:

Putting copyrighted, non-Free licensed music in public spaces should be considered pollution. Keep performances of your copyrighted works out of public spaces or license them under Free licenses. Anything else pollutes creators' minds causing them to run the risk of unconscious copyright infringement.

Let's clean up the public spaces. STOP THE POLLUTION NOW!

~;-)

all the best,

drew

http://rukiddinmez.blogspot.com/
RUKiddinMe?

http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2006/11/judge-grants-marie-lindors-motion-to_09.html is pretty close to that. ...Furthermore, Lindor provides a sworn affidavit asserting that plaintiffs' actual damages are 70 cents per recording and that plaintiffs seek statutory damages under the Copyright Act that are 1,071 times the actual damages suffered.

http://csueu9.blogspot.com/2007/08/peoplesoft-no-pay-for-arizona-state.html

"The move to PeopleSoft at Arizona State has left hundreds of employees high and dry with smaller or empty paychecks. Employees are bouncing checks and having to scramble for loans to pay bills."

One defendant, in UMG v. Lindor, has actually raised this defense, and the judge accepted that it can be added to the case, rejecting the RIAA's arguments that it was implausible or inapplicable. In particular, the judge wrote in support of the defense's plausibility: "...Lindor cites to case law and to law review articles suggesting that, in a proper case, a court may extend its current due process jurisprudence prohibiting grossly excessive punitive jury awards to prohibit the award of statutory damages mandated under the Copyright Act if they are grossly in excess of the actual damages suffered."

I followed the case through the press (and your blog) and was curious whether the actual trial was available somewhere, for pay or for free. I'd like to get an idea of what the jury saw -- I guess while I thought it was a bit of a crap shoot whether they'd find her liable or not from the coverage in the press, I'm astonished at the size of the award and wonder just what happened in there.

I wish you better luck with your case, and thank you for keeping an online library on the matter. At some point it'd be nice to see more people aware of the fact that this is not simply about piracy but also about setting a reasonable standard of proof for any activity one might be (possibly wrongly) accused of on the Internet. Or concerned about the idea that maybe a law that can financially ruin a family over a handful (or a couple thousand, or even two) songs is ethically wrong. I know I'd be less frustrated if a particular jury happened to think along these lines, or put themselves in the position mentally of having one of their kids download enough to bankrupt the family without their knowledge, but I suppose they might have been overloaded by the technical nature of the subject and claims of billions of dollars of losses due to piracy, etc.

I don't know how to break this to you but
-copyright infringement is NOT a crime
-the RIAA, thankfully, doesn't have the power to "prosecute" anyone, and
-if the RIAA had the ability to get the prosecutors interested in prosecuting these ridiculous cases, they would have done so already.

The Department of Justice stated in its brief in Elektra v. Barker that it DOES NOT PROSECUTE PEOPLE FOR "MAKING AVAILABLE" and that the only internet copyright prosecutions it has prosecuted were piracy cases.

I don't remember where NYCL's comment was in the prior story, but here's some corroboration from his website, and here is the comment on his own blog where he points people to that information.

I don't blame you for wanting proof; I think it's smart to double-check things like that.

The National Retail Federation proposes the innovative solution of requiring merchants to store just "authorization code" and "truncated receipt". This is the kind of creative thinking the industry needs. However, this solution might be illegal under California's pending Assembly Bill 779. The words of AB 779 are unclear and poorly defined. For example, AB 779 would forbid a merchant from storing various data elements such as "payment verification code" and "payment verification value". The legislation does not define these terms, and my research finds no clear industry definitions for these terms. (Part of the issue is that different industry players use different words. Further, neither PCI version 1.1 nor its Glossary defines "payment verification code" and "payment verification value".) Therefore, AB 779, if the governor signs it into law, would cause confusion and roadblocks as the industry changes and technology evolves. Parties would not know whether the good data elements they want to store will later in court be interpreted as the data elements AB 779 bans from storage.

I don't know the details of the law, but it's been claimed that in (e.g.) Belgium, it's not legal to tie even an unlocked phone to a subscription:

http://mindthegeek.blogspot.com/2007/03/great-idea-from-belgium.html

http://www.ibert.be/2007/08/looks-like-iphone-wont-be-in-belgium.html

Sony owes Steve Popovich $5,000,000 and won't pay. Sony has lost the lawsuit and two appeals. Yeah, copyright law is working all right.

http://oneamericanagainstsonymusic2.blogspot.com/

Sony shouldn't be able to collect any money for copyright violations until they pay for their own copyright violationss.

GWB sticks up only for his friends in corporate America. That's how he got to be president, he's not going to change anytime soon.

For policy level (i.e., political) activities, check out the EFF or the FSF. These are likely to be tax deductible.

For actual cases, you'll need to send a check to the lawyer. See Ray's blog for many of the cases and other related information. The Lindor case is relatively important, and there's a link there for paypal donations. These are likely not tax deductible, but probably have more impact.

Regards,
Art

You have been caught uploading the files to ten million of your closest friends on Kazaa. You should expect to pay some significant fraction of the wholesale value of the distribution.

[Editorial opinion: I'm sorry to hear that Ms. Thomas lost, but I don't think the case is over by a long shot; the verdict -- based as it upon an entirely erroneous jury instruction going to the very heart of the case -- will almost definitely be set aside on appeal.-R.B.]

It's not an opinion. But hey, don't let that stop you from calling random people douche-bags anonymously... I know your balls grow 10x as big when you face no repercussion for your statements ;)

She owes $220,000

http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2007/10/riaa-wins-in-first-ever-jury-trial.html

> ... Somebody besides MediaSentry downloaded the songs in question.

The jury instructions included the "making available" argument. That is, that no, they didn't have to prove that someone other than MediaSentry downloaded the songs. ... and the jury has rendered a verdict, mentioned on http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/.

The forces of established capitalism won this round.

Games are available on Linux and it's a myth that they're not available.

A good place to start is the free games list that shows a wide variety of open source games.

Also available are commercial games with Linux binaries such as Americas Army, Enemy Territory, Unreal Tournament off the top of my head, so please stop with the "There are no games for linux" myth.

It is unused by default. Short of modifying the PGP Boot Guard's binary, you cannot disable the feature permanently, which means any user--not just an admin-- can use this feature.

Alky compatibility libraries for Microsoft DirectX 10 enabled games. These libraries allow the use of DirectX 10 games on platforms other than Windows Vista, and increase hardware compatibility even on Vista, by compiling Geometry Shaders down to native machine code for execution where hardware isn't capable of running it.

well the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was the worst movie ever, so they are doing some people a favor.

The feature is there. It's not turned off in the sense that at every boot, the PGP Boot Guard is checking for the existence of the ("backdoor" or whatever noun you wish to use) account and attempting to decrypt the Volume Master Key with a static passphrase of hex x01.

It would be "disabled by default" if that function call did not exist in every customer's installation, until enabled later.

Are we sure that there was any "past greatness" of Islamic scholars? I've heard that the great scholars and scientists within the Islamic world were kidnapped non-Muslims who were forced to convert. Knowing the history of Islam, it sounds entirely plausible.

The Truth About Islam
http://islamwatchers.blogspot.com/

labview

Was thinking of this as well. Good infornation here.

CC.

I have tried learning some courses from MIT courseware. I even create a site to write down what I can learn: http://learningocw.blogspot.com/. I'm force to abandon such attempt because I can't access many study materials. I live in a third world country and there is no good library here. Buying the study materials is really out of the question since the book price is very expensive relative to average salary here.

It's gonna be a great service for me (and people like me) if I can at least access all the lectures.

the UI has been significantly improved

In addition, if you'd care to offer more insight than "is just horrendous" you might consider the simple (and hopefully effective) GIMP UI brainstorming submission process.

You want Gimpshop:
http://gimpshopdotnet.blogspot.com/

It's the Gimp with the menu layout of Photoshop. It also has the user interface in one window. That's the unique but strange way that standard Gimp works, floating toolbars as separate programs. Give Gimpshop a try.

GimpShop is the answer.

http://gimpshop.blogspot.com/2005/10/what-is-gimpshop.html

It brings a more Photoshop-like interface to the Gimp.

All this new spaceship tech, or spaceship related tech really gets me wondering why now... I think we've got our collective eyes set on a destination, and for whatever reason, it just became critical...

You might be intrested in GIMPShop. I've never used it, but it is a modified version of GIMP designed to have an interface that is closer to that of Photoshop. There is some Photoshop fuctionality that is missing in GIMP, and this does change that, but it might help long-term Photoshop users become comfortable with GIMP faster, especially if you're in a situation where you need to use both. Again, I've never used it, so I can't speak as to how much it helps.

http://www.aftermath-technologies.blogspot.com/ cnn heroes I don't know how to do this but I disagree with those of you who are voting me up in the cnn poll. Of the four people there only one is dealing with extinction. Dead is dead, anything else is negotiable. Vote for the gorillas. 25 grand and fame that id probably just piss away anyway is not worth a specie. I don't know if it will help, but I'd feel like crap if I won and the gorillas went extinct. On the other hand there is nothing saying we can't get anything out of this. You could ask cnn to put all the other heroes videos into an open/at least not so closed codec so that everyone could see them. Being the guy who got a major media outlet to guit supporting a monopoly would be a more than adequate consolation prize.

more

She acts as a witness as well.

Of the four people there only one is dealing with extinction. Dead is dead, anything else is negotiable. Vote for the gorillas. 25 grand and fame that id probably just piss away anyway is not worth a specie.

I don't know if it will help, but I'd feel like crap if I won and the gorillas went extinct.

From the aftermath technologies blog:

I don't know how to do this but I disagree with those of you who are voting me up in the cnn poll.

Of the four people there only one is dealing with extinction. Dead is dead, anything else is negotiable. Vote for the gorillas. 25 grand and fame that id probably just piss away anyway is not worth a specie.

I don't know if it will help, but I'd feel like crap if I won and the gorillas went extinct.

He's right. I voted for the gorillas.

Interestingly, James is asking voters to vote for the other folks:

"Vote for the gorillas. 25 grand and fame that id probably just piss away anyway is not worth a specie.".

Nice honest opinion from the Hero.

AT&T claims to respect its subscribers' right to voice their opinions and says that the contract is aimed at stopping the exploitation of children, and other tangible wrongs. As the article notes, taking the company on faith after the spying scandal is asking maybe a little too much."

Not to belittle the problems with children being exploited, I feel much better when companies tell me to "think about the children."

Hell, if Comcast only said this is why they are terminating Internet accounts then I would never have started the blog in the first place ;-)

On second thought, Yeah, I probably would have anyway ;-)

"(c) tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries."

A company doesn't put this sort of thing into the TOS / AUP unless they intend to use it. I'm waiting for the first person who is critical of the company and AT&T takes it badly.

I guess AT&T wants their fair share. AT&T users may want to think twice about commenting if they value their internet service."

Just make sure there is another service in their area otherwise it's back to dial up you go. Been there, done that. Trust me... it sucks

AT&T has actively discouraged third-party developers for all phones since way back in the old Cingular days. Have you ever seen how locked-down the J2ME model is on Cingular/AT&T phones? One cannot connect to bluetooth (at all) unless the app is signed by a Cingular Preferred certificate. Guess how many third-party developers have a pre-existing relationship and/or can get one, to get their app signed? If you guessed that even Google doesn't sign their apps and pays the price in user functionality, you guessed correctly.

I'd have to agree with this guy:

http://taosecurity.blogspot.com/2007/10/someone-please-explain-threats-to.html

Jeez - how many times will people keep comparing Gears of War or Bioshock with Halo 3?

Bioshock never has more than 4 or 5 enemies onscreen at a time, and always in enclosed spaces. Yes, its a fabulous looking game, but it just doesn't have the same epic scale and scope as Halo 3!

Gears is also an amazing game (I have all 3), but again, it just doesn't have the same scale and scope as Halo 3. There are no real vehicle levels (the one where you drive the junkwagon doesn't really count, its just rolling around in a maze essentially), and there just aren't more than 4 "good guys" and maybe 5-10 "bad guys" on screen at once. The spaces are also generally quite enclosed.

I couldn't care less about the small difference in resolution. This is not the same as criticizing the Wii's graphics (which I won't do either - it fulfills its purpose and is a well-priced machine with a good focus on family-friendly casual titles). The 360 is a true Next-Gen system, with a nice amalgamation of various next-gen features. Halo 3 is certainly a flagship title, and so far (I'm about half-way through the game), worth every penny.

4 Player Legendary co-op over the net is a blast! I just wish there was a way to make it drop-in/drop-out like Lego Star Wars!

Lets list out the co-op games on the 360 so far:
- Crackdown
- Halo 3
- Gears of War
- Lego Star Wars 2
- ?

For those complaining about Microsoft "lying" or Halo not being "true HD", I bet most of you haven't even played the game. Give it a rental at least, and see if, about 4 hours later when you finally get up to take a piss, you've even noticed. Go on, I double-dare you! :)

Don't even get me started on the crazy multiplayer modding or the Theatre!

AoD
http://fablesoft.blogspot.com/

Here's a link that might help