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HP's TouchSmart is a good example of a first-generation Vista PC. If HP has the sense to upgrade the CPU and add a mid-line DX10 card it will look even better.

Windows users tend to like lots of options in hardware, long-term stability in software, and the down and dirty pricing of the OEM bundle of Vista and MS Office. Which is why the Geek wastes everyone's time when he talks retail list or rambles on incomprehensibly about the "Microsoft Tax."

Buzz. Have you ever noticed how well this works for movies, and music for that matter?

Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. Remember Snakes on a Plane?

H&R Block had a similar issue with their online tax prep software back in February:

news.com.com article
Businessweek article

For example, law enforcement officials talk about the spread of zombie "botnets" to support broader computer crime laws.

We know that the Superuser's power is often exaggerated for three reasons:
First, some statements of Superuser harm are so hyperbolic as to be self-disproving

Second, experience suggests that some online crimes are committed by ordinary users much more often than by Superusers.

The third way to dispel the Myth is through studies and statistics. As one very recent example, Phil Howard and Kris Erickson of the University of Washington released a study which found that sixty percent of reported incidents of the loss of personal records involved organizational mismanagement, while only thirty-one percent involved hackers.

There has never been a death reported from an attack on a computer network or system.

In stark contrast, experts in the field of computer crime and computer security are seemingly uninterested in probabilities.
The problem is that so-called computer experts tend to have neither the training nor inclination to approach problems statistically and empirically

It is hard to tell whether Palm, inc. announced that they are going to release a pda based on the Access Linux platform, or if they have gotten back into the software business and developed their own platform.

The latter, according to CNet:

http://news.com.com/Palm+touts+stability+of+Linux- based+Treos/2100-1041_3-6175171.html

Sony showed a 27" AMOLED TV display at the CES in January with a 1,000,000/1 contrast ratio. http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/sonys-1-000-000 -1-contrast-ratio-27-inch-oled-hdtv/ http://uk.gizmodo.com/2007/01/09/ces_2007_sony_ole d_tvs_make_lc.html/ http://news.com.com/2300-1041-6148309.html/ Un-substantiated rumors are that they will be on the market within 9 months...

Just Today.

Linux OS by the end of the year. Maybe they are serious.

"Our recommendation is for anyone using HD DVD or Blu-ray disc playback to download the update in order to ensure that both their existing titles and newly purchased titles will continue to play," Hughes said. "If someone inserts an HD or Blu-ray disc with the new licensing keys, it will result in HD/BD playback of previous titles being disabled until (users) install the free update."

I never said downloading was illegal in Canada. It's legal because the law assumes people will do it anyway, so EVERYONE is charged, in advance, for blank media and players (just like it was for blank tape in the past.)

This discussion came about because I wondered if the music on the USB keys was licensed for distribution on web sites. We've been discussing the specific case of Canadian law where Canadians are allowed to put files on to shared, accessible resources (although NOT to "distribute" them), and are also allowed to download files (on the basis that they've already paid for the right to do so) and in spite of more restrictive licenses promulgated by the record industry.

This applies only in Canada. So unless the USB keys were left in Canada, or physically transported to Canada and uploaded to servers there, then the files are still not necessarily legal there either. The upload AND download needs to occur inside Canada for it to be legal (as far as I can tell from the article.)

So when will institutions learn that times have changed?

The lesson is that there is no longer one Internet. There are multiple internets, filtered to suit the needs of national leaders. They've proven that they can control their own tidy filtered internets. Don't believe me? Just ask Yahoo! about what the French government can do. The irony with the Yahoo! case is that the suit was originally brought not by The Government in France, but by a well-meaning French anti-Nazi group.

I agree that the Canadian blank media and MP3 player levies are reprehensible.

I agree that the Canadian blank media and MP3 player levies are reprehensible.

IIRC, Torvalds said he's pleased with the changes, not that he's pleased with GPLv3 itself. The misunderstanding boils down to a poorly written CNET headline:

"I'm actually pretty pleased. Not because I think it's perfect, but simply because I think it's certainly a lot better than I really expected from the previous drafts," he said in an interview. "Whether it's actually a better license than the GPLv2, I'm still a bit skeptical, but at least it's now 'I'm skeptical' rather than 'Hell no!'"

Don't be surprised, its was completely expected. Heres a link to the Intel price drop http://news.com.com/2100-1001-923046.html and theres a comment in it about the pending AMD price drop in response.

http://news.com.com/2100-7345_3-6163015.html

As a publicly-traded company, it would be pretty hard to fudge these numbers and get away with it, but I guess anything is possible.

You think?

There's an editorial in the Detroit News, Wired news, and CNET news about this....
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2 007704060333
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/04/michigan_to_ buy.html
http://news.com.com/2061-10801_3-6174170.html

What's really sad is what little money the state of Michigan has to spend now.... In the past 5 years, the state has lost over 300,000 jobs which has drastically effected the amount of money for the state to operate. My father works in a state government position in Lansing where they can't afford to send state employees to check on out of state contractors and have talked about employees taking stints of unpaid leave due to the cash shortage. Anyone in the state government there should recognize the crisis the state of Michigan is in and put the approx $38 million to a good use!!!

"So if you accept Debian and Gentoo then its pretty idiotic to nto accept OpenSSH by the same logic, actually the later is more important to linux as a whole than the former two."

The card dons Tux the penguin, the Linux mascotte chosen by Linus himself, the linuxfund.org website has only one picture: The penguin. OpenSSH is developed by the OpenBSD Project.

That's the mismatch right there.

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-230345.html
http://www.openssh.org/

More important is debatable, OpenSSH is not the only ssh2 implementation used on Linux you know (dropbear comes to mind)...

Anyway, I'm not saying OpenSSH or Wikipedia don't deserve a lot of respect from the Linux community and probably can do very good for Linux with the donated money, but for "The Linux Fund" (sorry to be pedantic, but the fund chose "Linux" over many more generic terms and IMHO should stick to it) to favour OpenSSH over so many projects much closer to "Linux" that could use a donation is a smack in the face. And Wikipedia? Come on. While they deserve a lot of support, a fund that chooses to use the "Linux" trademark in its name should be true to it. Next the "Linux fund" start giving money to Mozilla, then OpenOffice.org, all under the name of "Linux"... When you give money to a fund called "The Linux Fund", the money should go to Linux.

partly...

Vonage: Appeals court says we can continue to sign up customers

http://news.com.com/2061-10804_3-6174148.html

"Vonage said late Friday that a federal appeals court has temporarily lifted an injunction granted earlier in the day that prohibited the Internet phone company from adding new customers."

As CNET and others are reporting, an Federal Appeals Court has issued a ruling allowing Vonage to continue adding new customers, at least until they get to hear further arguments. So, while all this can't be good for Vonage, they are at least allowed to go after new customers for now. Whether that will prove easy in the current climate is a different question.

FWIW, I am a very satisfied Vonage customer and also a moderately satisfied Verizon Wireless customer. Like some other commentators on this list, Verizon's actions in this case make me significantly less likely to renew my contract with them when the time comes. Now if Verizon were using those patents of theirs to offer a better and more economical VOIP service, that would be interesting to me as a customer. Just getting questionnably broad patents and using them to prevent others from providing valuable service does not make me a happy customer.

At the $1.29USD price, it is likely cheaper to just order the CD from Amazon or somewhere and convert it to a DRM-free file after you get the disc.

Did you not read the news releases?

Full albums in DRM-free form can be bought at the same price as standard iTunes albums.

More on CIGS, a new article published yesterday. http://news.com.com/Silicon+vs.+CIGS+With+solar+en ergy,+the+issue+is+material/2100-1008_3-6121488.ht ml The CIGS technology seems to have caught on. Shell just dumped their silicon PV unit in favor of investing in CIGS. :)

Unless, of course, Microsoft also offers DRM free WMA files in its Zune Marketplace.

But of course, that could never happen, right?

Its more likely that we will get DRM free WMA first.

I think we might as well just have everything play mp3,ogg (yes, yes thats the container not the codec I know),aac and wma and pick whatever bloody format you want. I think we should just have DAP players compete on price and actual features rather than artificially based on what formats they support (though it'd be fun to have a good DAP that only supported royalty free formats to bring down the price). This way you could get your DRM free music from iTunes, Yahoo, Napster, ZuneStore or EMusic or next big thing and use it on any player you like.

Even better, Allofmp3 allowe(d|s) you to select what bitrate and format you wanted and really that should be standard for any online music store.

Alternatively if they were just selling DRM free music and HAD to pick a format for some reason then I wish they'd just stick to mp3 because its compatible with everything sold thus far (except some Sony players IIRC) and at 256kpbs I (and I suspect most people) cannot hear the difference between the different formats, and I really wish Apple would do this - yes I know AAC is a great standard and if you can decode mp3 you can likely decode AAC but there are more players out there that support mp3 than AAC and I doubt that most of them are going to get a firmware upgrade (maybe w/ Rockbox). I do want DRM free music but my DAP doesn't support AAC and I hate iPods.

The InformationWeek article you cite, If You're Going To Steal Software, Steal From Us: Microsoft Exec, is from this year, 2007. However, it's been about a decade since Chairman Gates admitted encouraging piracy to gain market share. Hey, it works. Spread their proprietary file formats, protocols and digital restrictions technology. That's where the real lock is.

Whatever. I guess someone will have to update this image to reflect the look of the new desktop and his physical decline.

According to an almost two year old article:

"The base plan for Fios offers download speeds of up to 5mbps, with an upload speed of 2mbps for $39.95. For $49.95, consumers can get download speeds up to 15mbps, and for $199.95, users can download at 30mbps and upload at 5mbps."

2mbps is faster than most cable upload speeds as of two years ago.

http://news.com.com/Broadband+speed+war+emerges/21 00-1034_3-5772136.html

Again, if the music on the keys wasn't specifically licensed for fre distribution, that's it, the songs aren't legal to download.

Sun, who also have a vested interest in hurting Linux, also bought some "unspecified intellectual property" from SCO for millions of dollars just before they launched their lawsuit.

http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-1024633.html

Actually, it appears that the EU is really focused on the record labels rather than Apple. As an EU spokesman said today, "Our current view is that this is an arrangement which is imposed on Apple by the major record companies and we do not see a justification for it."

He also said, "Apple are the managers of the iTunes store. It's true that the focus is the major record companies."

Full story here: http://news.com.com/2100-1027-6173093.html?tag=tb

Remember, if I'm in France with a German issued credit card, I can buy from the German store. Why aren't they worried about that?

The copyright issue pertains to downloads, not physical sales, because it has to do with the legal right to download a song file and save it on your machine. Apple cannot by itself declare that you have the right to do this. That is up to the rights-holders.

if you can't do business legally, don't do business.

Your assumption here is that the law is clear, but the laws are in conflict so it was not so clear. The EU has decided the arrangment is illegal very recently. The record companies are vigorously disputing that. It seems obvious that laws have yet to adjust to technological change. This kind of thing happens all the time. Until the laws adjust, there are a lot of grey areas. Apple happens to be a pioneer in this area, but the same issues would arise regardless of which music retailer came first, and I think it would be silly to just sit on the sidelines and wait until the law gets clarified.

Today, there is a story on CNet that sheds some interesting light on this debate. It is clear from the story that the EU Commission sees the record labels as being the source of the problem and that the current situation is not one of Apple's doing. That makes sense. Here are some relevant quotes:

"Our current view is that this is an arrangement which is imposed on Apple by the major record companies and we do not see a justification for it," Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd told reporters.

"Apple are the managers of the iTunes store. It's true that the focus is the major record companies," Todd said.

Full story here: http://news.com.com/2100-1027-6173093.html?tag=tb

A little off-topic:
I've had a picture of a die for my desktop wallpaper for a while now, and I think it works well. I'd really like some larger pictures of the dies they give here. Does anyone know where I would find larger ones?

Provide an example of an independent label (i.e., not an individual) that iTunes hasn't accepted. You're making it sound like Apple is turning away independents left and right, when this is provably not the case. If Apple is biased against independent labels, why are there so many independent labels on iTunes?

"Drop DRM on iTunes for independent artists" Has Mr. Jobs done so? I'm sure the independent artists who are on iTunes "by Apple's good graces" would like their tracks DRM-free. I'm sure they've even asked Mr. Jobs & Co. to do just that. However, AFAIK, nothing has still been done about this.

"Jobs [..] called EMI's move "the next big step forward in the digital-music revolution--the movement to completely interoperable DRM-free music." He added that "Apple will reach out to all the major and independent labels to give them the same opportunity."

In case you need it spelled out: it will become an option in May. In all probability, all an independent label will have to do is log into iTunes' label area and uncheck a box.

IMHO, he escaped by the skin of his teeth, and did the bare minimum to back up his words.

Which words are those? The man says "we'll go DRM-free when they agree to license the music to us that way", and now at least one label has, so that's what they're doing. It's getting harder by the minute to make a case that the "Thoughts on Music" thing was a big lie.

What's sad about this is that it's being called an "upgrade", when in actuality it amounts to little more than another way to make extra money on goods that people have already paid for.

Nobody has already paid for a 256kbps DRM-free track on iTunes. You're making it sound as though you're forced to pay twice for the same thing, which is plainly not true. You are not forced by any stretch of the imagination, and you aren't getting the same thing that you originally paid for.

If I ever bought a defective product in any other industry,

You're confusing rhetoric with reality. "Defective" does not mean what you think it does.

Call me a zealot if you want, it doesn't phase me. If being angered by scams masked as good-faith efforts amounts to nothing more than zealotry in your mind, then I feel sorry for you. (Attn Moderators: I care not about /. karma, so mod me as you will. I refuse to let fear of others' opinions of my views inhibit me from expressing them freely.)

Oh, come off it. Leave your persecution complex at home. Nobody is preventing you from expressing your views -- it's the friggin internet. That said, "expressing your views" doesn't mean you get to toss about half-truths and misinformation rooted in ignorance without anyone trying to correct you.

The most impressive ai of all!! The ai's work in teams, go look for you, take cover, go heal, run for ammo, can drive cars, fly planes , fly choppers, drive tanks. Most FPS shooters use massively scripted ai, Armed Assault is one where you can script ai AND just let it do it's stuff. When they engage you they split up squads in subsquads trying to flank you, different squads communicate and pass your location, the ai reacts to sound, danger (eg friendlies getting shot), injuries, vision, the whole lot. A great example is: just put ai's on a map in editor and watch, you'll c a battle unfold that's never the same. It's a pity this is a relatively unknown game, it beats the crap out of all other shooters in terms of scale and ai. The military even uses it in a special form, known as VBS. Check it out, you'll be amazed. http://www.armedassault.com.com/Go to website

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-208562.html

Exactly. The main reason apple needs to be feared by micro$oft is that its products are for creatives, and we're growing in number.

Apple computers are about self-expression. We have to pay a premium for that but so what - its a choice we make. would you honestly expect the worlds most powerful personal computer to cost the same as an equivalently priced pc? http://news.com.com/2100-1042_3-5180251.html Far from being items of jewellewry they are 'simply the best'(tm) Call it elitism but that is human nature for you- some people can afford to have the best and always will- its about excellence.

" I think Apple sell some iPhones, but they are dreaming if they think that they could be the next SonyEricsson let alone the next Nokia, Moto or Samsung. "

According to this cnet news article, everyone's favorite CEO had this to say on the subject; "This is exactly what we're going to try to do in 2008, is grab 1 percent market share."

It doesn't exactly sound like they're aiming to be a major player in the phone industry any time soon. Still, I can't see them shifting ten million units by the end of 2008.

if you had any creativity in your being you would realise that apple computers are about self-expression. if we have to pay a premium for that then so be it - its a choice we make. would you honestly expect the worlds most powerful personal computer to cost the same as an equivalently priced pc? http://news.com.com/2100-1042_3-5180251.html call it elitism but that is human nature for you- some people can afford to have the best and always will- its about excellence.

(btw have you noticed that all the people who moan about the fact that apple products cost a little bit more cannot afford to buy them? lol)

You're just upset because it does not come in brown. Now that's innovation!

http://news.com.com/2061-10795_3-6171300.html/

Now whether this draft is worth the time it'll take for a changeover is another question entirely...

The companys still have some offices here, and some may still have their headquarters here, but much less "innovation" is done in the bay area anymore. When Texas started offering companys incentives such as no corporate taxes for x number of years and lower utility and land costs, many either moved entirely or large portions of their establishments there. There was an article awhile back that I just feel like looking for about how the IT field in North Carolina was growing at a faster rate than Sillicon Valley as well. Many people I use to work with left to either take better jobs or follow their jobs to other places with lower costs of living.

Just because a company is Headquartered in an area doesnt mean thats where its main research and development are taking place. Many of the companys in the bay area either outsource or have setup offices in other states and countries where costs of operating are much cheeper. India's IT base is growing by leaps and bounds.

Even as far back as 2004 India was set to over take Silicon Valley in importance in the IT Field.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/35443.html
http://www.paulinaborsook.com/Doco/disappearedSV.p df
http://news.com.com/Is+Bangalore+bigger+than+Silic on+Valley%3F/2100-1022_3-5287616.html

As for it being illegal to harvest stem cells, I wasnt clear enough I suppose. Yes you can harvest new Stem Cells if you are NOT receiving Federal Grant money. There are companys out there that are putting money into research. But not as many as there would be if there were matching availble grants from the Government. The Government has hampered innovation in the field by not supporting it. Granted these problems aren't all from Bush. Ironically Clinton signed the initial rules in 1996 that said they could not be used at all. Bush relaxed those rules by saying non-destructive and only if they were from before 2001. That still limits the availble pool for university and other organizations that rely on grants from the government to support their programs and endevors.

If you ever actually need a lawyer, I sincerely hope you look somewhere other than wikipedia.
If not, I have a business opportunity in Nigeria you might be interested in...

Exporting surplus elephants, perchance?

proponents of proprietary OSes would then immediately cite the case as an example of the "dangers" of using Linux

Stop imagining conspiracies of collusion between cutthroat competitors.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2002-09-30 -cd-settlement_x.htm
http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/sony-others-nam ed-in-video-tape-price-fixing-scheme/
http://news.com.com/Samsung+to+pay+300+million+for +price+fixing/2100-1004_3-5894862.html
http://illinoisissuesblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/pri ce-fixing.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/ch ronicle/archive/2002/05/10/MN24643.DTL
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2002/May-08 -Wed-2002/business/18699104.html
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=28734&cgi=produc t&isbn=0767903277

What's more, you don't have to spend long in today's business culture before it becomes *obvious* that there's enough of a critical mass of actors who believe in getting ahead by amassing control over channels and perception (rather than producing/adding value) that the emergence of price-fixing behavior is practically inevitable.

No, there doesn't. The RIAA has also recently sued XM radio... wait for it... OMG there exists a device from pioneer that lets you tape radio and save as MP3. Because OMG someone might actually record a song on the radio and OMG they aren't getting paid extra for it! ZOMG!
http://news.com.com/2100-1047_3-6169844.html?part= rss&tag=2547-1040_3-0-5&subj=news

Apple's customers are like no others--a rich blend of the most sociologically elite with those seeking elegant, simple computing... Unlike users of Intel/Windows computers, a significant portion of Apple's users are active , exploratory , avant-garde and early adopters . The activities they enjoy are unique in the way that they more often incorporate rich media such as video and music as well as more active prosumer behavior than many more passive Windows [and Linux] users.
                                          — MetaFacts, Inc.

With above-average household income and education levels, the Mac population [is] very attractive [ intellectually as well as physically .]
                                          — Nielsen/NetRatings (as quoted by C|NET)

The Gartner industry research group made an interesting prediction the other day that went largely unnoticed: The demand for information technology specialists, it said, could fall by 40 percent in the next five years.

Bitter indeed.

Tech-related jobs are growing incredibly fast http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2020986,00.as p , and some of them are considered to be some of the best jobs to be had (according to Money Magazine and Salary.com http://news.com.com/2061-11199_3-6060607.html).

Does this mean everyone has a job? Not necessarily; one has to examine geography, skill, and working habits. Is it like the dot-con (poor spelling pun intentional) boom, where you could spit and get an offer for 50% more than you were making currently, even if you knew nothing? No.

Have the last two places I've worked had trouble finding qualified applicants who can actually produce production-quality code product on a schedule? Yes. Have they had trouble filling roles? Yes. Are both reasonable places to work, with decent hours, great pay, interesting work, and wonderful benefits? Yes. (Since someone will wonder, I left one because I wanted to move to another city).

Am I fortunate? Yes. Am I unique? No.

Not sure where you're getting your information - and I'm sure it's valid for you - but the endless dour outlook just because things aren't like they were during the 90's doesn't mean things are bad.

My personal experience is that the people who whine most about their circumstance are often the ones most unwilling to do anything to change or fix it. I was stuck for a number of years in what I decided was a dead-end marketing career. I got off my posterior side and went back to school, got a CS degree, and hit the pavement. If IT is for you, continue learning and growing - perhaps learn how to be a great employee in addition to a great IT person. If it isn't for you, expand your skills and leave. Whining brings everyone down.

"Your complaint is the first information we have received about this clip. We have reviewed our takedown notices, and have found no record of a takedown notice with respect to this clip," Michael Fricklas, general counsel at Viacom, wrote in a letter to the EFF. "We maintain careful records of all of our takedown notices, so any takedown notice most likely did not come from us."

Viacom reviewed the clip on the "Stop the Falsiness" Web site and has no problem with having it viewed on YouTube or anywhere else, Fricklas said.

McSherry of the EFF said YouTube confirmed that Viacom sent the takedown notice on the clip before the lawsuit was filed. "It may be that (Viacom's) records are confused" given the vast number of takedown notices that they have sent, she said. "I am pleased that Viacom recognizes that MoveOn.org and Brave New Films are allowed to do exactly the same thing that Stephen Colbert does every night, which is engage in parody."