Slashdot Mirror

EngrBohn writes " A Federal judge has ruled that anonymous "defamation" on the Internet is not covered under Free Speech". This relates to the case of an anonymous user on Yahoo!, who was making claims about Xircom in chat boards, referring to their products as "faulty" and poorly designed. Recently, Raytheon went through a similar situation. (Link is NY Times: Free Login required).

EngrBohn writes " A Federal judge has ruled that anonymous "defamation" on the Internet is not covered under Free Speech". This relates to the case of an anonymous user on Yahoo!, who was making claims about Xircom in chat boards, referring to their products as "faulty" and poorly designed. Recently, Raytheon went through a similar situation. (Link is NY Times: Free Login required).

robobabe writes "The NY Times today (free login) has a front page article on viruses. The article has a history of the origins of the terms in science fiction, and ends with an interview of Danny Hillis (Connection Machine founder). Hillis argues that the current vulnerability to attacks is due to running a single OS and that a solution is "no government agency should be allowed to run more than 34% of its personal computers on one proprietary operating system."

Henry Pang writes "The New York Times has this interesting article. It seems like people of China will not be able to buy Playstation 2 next year. " It's The Times, so you need a free account to read it, but it talks about the Playstation being a supercomputer by US standards. Also notes that within 12 months, a $1200 Merced based PC would also be illegal.

Henry Pang writes "The New York Times has this interesting article. It seems like people of China will not be able to buy Playstation 2 next year. " It's The Times, so you need a free account to read it, but it talks about the Playstation being a supercomputer by US standards. Also notes that within 12 months, a $1200 Merced based PC would also be illegal.

Manuka was one of the first to send the news that DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy) of Star Trek has died. He was my favorite, too (sigh).

ITR writes "Another blow against the cyber-constitutional separation of 'Internet and Geography', a Virginia court rules that an AOL user in Texas can be forced to appear in a Virginia court to answer a defamation lawsuit. 'The upshot, said the judge, is that the defendant's use of the server to facilitate the alleged libel was sufficient to warrant jurisdiction under Virginia's long-arm statute -- the state law that gives courts power over out-of-state defendants.' "

technophile writes "This article indicates that Lotus is dropping support for NetWare in favor of Linux support. They expect to have a Linux Domino server out by end-of-year. " This came from comments from the CEO of Lotus this morning in an interview. They are "bullish" about having a version for Linux out by end of year. Excellent.

TwoSticks writes "This NY Times article (CT:required annoying but free registration) and one at Yahoo talk about the Enron corporation working to set up a market for bandwidth, similar to the existing markets for buying and selling gas and electricity, but with transaction times in seconds. They claim this is essential for next generation network management, and I'm inclined to agree. "

whiteprints writes "The New York Times has a great article about John Romero and John Carmack. Talks about the school shooting connection " It's getting on my nerves that so many people want to connect Doom and Quake to the shootings, and aren't willing to connect that simple fact that for millions of years, humans were hunters. And this is the NYT so you need to login to read the article.

redbeard writes "The NYTimes (requires free login) has an interesting write up on "ruggedized" laptops, these things can withstand tornados, being run over by trucks and being submerged in water, among other things. Panasonic is planing on a scaled-down line for consumer use, kind of like the Hummer vs. HUMVEE." If it lasts more than 6 mos in my hands, I consider it rugged...

redbeard writes "The NYTimes (requires free login) has an interesting write up on "ruggedized" laptops, these things can withstand tornados, being run over by trucks and being submerged in water, among other things. Panasonic is planing on a scaled-down line for consumer use, kind of like the Hummer vs. HUMVEE." If it lasts more than 6 mos in my hands, I consider it rugged...

MattJ writes "At the end of this NYT story about a scavenger hunt at UofChicago, you discover two physics students got points for building a working nuclear reactor, in a day, from scratch. It's a bit scary how easy it was for them to actually produce plutonium. " Reminds me of some of things we did in Biochem. But the lawyer says I'm not supposed to talk about that.

v8s4ever writes "This story at the New York Times gives a clearly thought-out view of Internet music `piracy' and the record companies' purpose. (Registration is required, but free). "

ghibli writes "A New York Times article on the Sony PlayStation II describes it as a high-tech computer that will rival Wintel PCs. It's virtual reality CPU, dubbed the "Emotion Engine", claims to be more powerful (and expensive) than anything on the market. "

An anonymous reader wrote in to send us For Coders, a Code of Conduct (from the NYT so free registration is required). It says that an engineer needs a license to work on a bridge, but programmers work unlicensed all the time. What do you think?

ccshan writes "Adi Shamir, the "S" in "RSA", discovers a factorization method that renders 512-bit keys vulnerable to cryptoanalysis today. " (its at the NYT:you know what that means)

tomreagan writes "The San Francisco Ninth Court of Appeals has ruled that it is illegal to use someone else's trademarks in your META tags. A company called Brookfield Entertainment sued West Coast Video for putting "moviebuff" in their META tags, a term which it Brookfield has copyrighted. The court ruled that WestCoast video had to remove the word from its pages META tags. The really scary thing is that West Coast Video and Brookfield are in totally different businesses - it would seem that this means anyone can be sued for any infringement. Webmasters everywhere should be quaking in their boots on this one. The original story can be found here on the NYTimes website and the judgment can be found here on a Villanova website.

Numeric writes " You know a thumb has more usefullness than just for hitchiking...A Stanford Univ. professor is developeing an all-thumb keyboard. A user will wear a glove that reads data by the user depressing "hot spots" on a glove's finger. Of course, the wearer will have to learn "thumbcode". "

tomreagan writes "Unbelievable - Compaq CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer just resigned out of the blue on Sunday and took the CFO with him. There's a story at the New York Times (CT:Requires free login) and the official press release can be be found here. "

NeoTron writes "An interesting story about AOL's "volunteers", and how some people are getting the Labor Department to investigate whether using volunteer labor by AOL is violating the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act. With coverage like this I'm just wondering if/how this could affect Slashdot and other online communities that use volunteers... "

rmcd sent us a link to a New York Times article that talks about Circuit City is being financially hurt by DIVX. Apparently they are really making a mess over there. So lets get rid of divx, standardize on HDTV, and merge THX & Dolby. That'll happen around the same time as the whole world agrees on the same OS.

Jag sent us a link to a story about Geeks and Their Gadgest. Its at the NY Times so ya need to register to read it, but it includes some esr quotes, as well as just the interesting commentary on something that I suspect many of us are all to familiar with. I've gave up cell phones and my Palm Pilot stays in my drawer. My only real gadget is a Leatherman Wave. I think I need a VAIO-- if only they had built in knives and screw drivers.

slambo writes "The New York Times is reporting today that a flood of emails caused the FDIC to drop a proposal for banks to monitor transactions over a long term. While it's not quite a /. effect, government is learning of the power of email - they aren't used to getting such an overwhelming response from such a wide swath of the US. (NYT requires a registration to view the article, but registration is free). "

slambo writes "The New York Times is reporting today that a flood of emails caused the FDIC to drop a proposal for banks to monitor transactions over a long term. While it's not quite a /. effect, government is learning of the power of email - they aren't used to getting such an overwhelming response from such a wide swath of the US. (NYT requires a registration to view the article, but registration is free). "

Lazy sunday Afternoon? Not for me. I'm fixing and scrubbing code clean (it almost doesn't look like a certain italian dinner in parts now). But If you need a break, (I do!) check out the link that desslok sent us: its a nifty Star Wars Retrospective over at the NY Times. Its quite excellent. Articles all the way back to 1971. Worth a read for any self respecting SW fan.

First off, some star wars: kit sent us a link to Star Wars Pez and Bartman sent us a link to a cheesy Redneck Jedi joke page. Next, JoshH sent us a link to a page tracking the Stock of Linux companies. rde sent us proof (albeit somewhat flimsy) that ancient Slashdot readers Lived on Mars (requires registration). d sent us a link to superbad which is at least as bad as you might think. Super too. Finally, Marc Merlin sent us a link to his LWCE Picture Page which includes a peak at the Slashdot Booth. Oh, and if you can see this and are logged in to your Slashdot account, check out this page to beta test some stuff that should be finished by monday.

papertiger was the first one to write-in and tell us about the latest issue of the New York Times magazine. The major tech article just happens to be about an OS we're a bit familar with-in this case, Linux, The Rebel Code, as titled here. The link does not require registration but will only be live for the next week.

slambo writes "Today's New York Times is reporting that everyone's favorite lyrics site, the International Lyrics Server and the NMPA have reached an agreement that would put the site back online more or less intact. " How about OLGA? Please?

slambo writes "Today's New York Times is reporting that everyone's favorite lyrics site, the International Lyrics Server and the NMPA have reached an agreement that would put the site back online more or less intact. " How about OLGA? Please?

the-empty-string writes "A Danish physicyst and her team managed to slow down a beam of light to an astonishing speed of only 38 miles per hour. It's on the front page of the New York Times." Update: 02/18 12:20 by H :One of our more scientifically inclined readers sent in a better explanation-click below to read it. Mike Schiraldi writes "There has been so much misinformation and confusion on /. regarding slowing down the speed of light.. So many comments are along the lines of "Wow, i thought the speed of light was constant. I can get a car with slow headlights and drive faster than the beams!"

You can't let so many people be misinformed. Please let them know:

The speed of light IN A VACUUM is the constant c.

Science has been able to slow light down for centuries by making it travel through a different medium. The speed of light in air is less than c. The speed of light in water or glass or plastic is less than c. This is what makes lenses work. (check your encyclopedia for more information)

The reason this is a breakthrough is simply because they've been able to slow light down to a much lower speed than anyone else has ever been able to do. They have not changed c, the speed of light in a vacuum. The beam of light is only slowed down when it's in the condensate. Once it leaves the condensate and is travelling through air again, it returns to a speed of 186,000 miles per second. This does not contradict any law of physics. "

There are lots of stories about Windows Refund Day. As I predicted, nobody got refunds, as referenced in this ZDNet Story. Chris is quoted near the end. Here's a Nando Times story, a wired story, an MSNBC Story, a San Jose Mercury Story, and a Washington Post story. (All sent in by anonymous readers). Macerick sent us A front Pager from the NY times. And finally, Marc Merlin sent us his own report which features the Story and Pictures.

VinceV sent us a link to a new site he's started up called Control-Escape.com which aims to be a help site for novice linux users making the migration from those less known alternative OSs from Redmond. jedgar wrote in to announce the Feb. Edition of DaemonNews and FreeBSD 'zine, and Squeezer wrote in to say that the feb. issue of Ext2 is out. (Mention one, ya gotta mention 9 more. Sheesh *grin*) Several other folks wrote in to note that The GNOME Project has released 0.99.5. Justin Clarke wrote in to show us Rioport.com which is Diamond's new site to connect Rio owners with legal MP3s. danmil noted another Slashdot reference in the mainstream- this one is in a NY times story. Now we have a few funny bits not for the Moral and Pure: the_gimp sent us a link to what is probably the most amusing patent in recent memory. Glad that's patented. Don't want that technology uncontrolled. Somewhat related, behhl sent us a site that was bound to happen- AdultLinux. You can guess what it's for. And lastly, for the strangest bit of the day, Hans sent us a link to Furniture Porn. Fear. And hide your children.

Secret Asian Man writes "In this New York Times article, entitled Lyrics Site in Copyright Dispute May Go Commercial" it appears that the International Lyrics Server might go commercial in order to reopen, and share the profits with the music industry. Rather strange story. Even mentions Linux, as an aside. " The NYT Article requires a free login. Hope this all works out, else I'll never get the words right to any of the songs I sing loudly and offkey. Now what about OLGA?

Hasdi R Hashim writes "The searchable lyrics site has been shut down by local authorities today believe it or not. Once again, the big megalomaniac company goes after non-profit little fish." With over a million hits a day, one would think the music industry would know better than to irritate that many consumers.

Clay writes "Shuji Nakamura at Nichia Chemical Industries, the company that brought us the first blue Light Emitting Diode (LED) has now developed a short wave-length violet laser. You need to register with their site before you can access the article. " As every school kid knows, shorter wave length lasers will let us squish bits tighter together.

Oopy writes "There's an article in Monday's NYT all about WINE. Seems pretty good. " Comments on application compatibility (and mentions that Star Craft has a 4.6). How many apps do you need besides that anyway?

Josh Baugher wrote in telling us that the Supreme Court on Monday left intact a decision saying that mathematical algorithms used in computer programs can be patented The judges were actually refering to a formula used in a particular domain. Am I the only one that worries about everything becoming owned by the wealthy 2 percent of people?

sean dreilinger sent in a link to a NY Times article that praises open source software and marks it as an unpredicted computing change of 1998.

Courtesy the uberinformed David Lesher. Sun has won their Java suit against Microsoft. The most obvious ramification is that Microsoft must stop shipping Windows 98 and IE immediatley. Hopefully, more information will come in later. H:For those of you who don't want to go to the NY Times, read about the victory over here. J: To clarify - my original post was very poorly worded.They did not win in the legal sense, but they did win in the sense they have succeeded in making MS either comply or lose. S: Hey you're all famous! we're mentionned on news.com.

Anonymous Coward writes "Apparently, a company in Austin TX is hiring a significant number of Linux-aware people. They will be announcing a technical support agreement with Red Hat (for RedHat software) at Comdex.Could this be the enterprise support structure that will finally push Linux into mainstream corporate culture? " Can anyone confirm this? Perhaps that is what CMPnet article is refering to. Update PC week is also refering to a Red Hat support announcement. Yes... the logo needs to be updated... Rob?

This is an amusing article which suggests the computing industry should not use its customers as a paying quality-assurance lab. Instead a "computer user's bill of rights" could be put into the hands of a Software Quality Administration, similar to the FDA. Indeed one person went so far as to say "We have been voting environmental laws and urban-planning schemes to which architects conform. Shouldn't we also have the right to cast a ballot to decide in which way and within what limits software architects will be allowed to shape our mental environment?"

Over 30 of you wrote in to tell us that Jon Postel, died of complications after heart surgery at the age of 55. For those who don't know who Postel, he's the DNS admin (as head of the IANA), controlling the root name server setup and being a guiding force in the current government domain name wrangling. He was the voice of reason against many of the government's less-than-intelligent proposals for restructuring DNS. He was also editor of most of the 2500 RFCs. His PhD thesis adviser and his friend Vint Cerf sum up the feelings of the Internet community in this DejaNews post. The New York Times' obituary is here. You can also find an interview with Jon Postel from July. His homepage is simple and to the point.

I'd like to thank Idcmp, Claude Johnson, and Jeff Garzik whose material was used to compile this report.

just testing wrote to tell us of a leaked Microsoft memo which proudly announces that Microsoft is at its most powerful ever. However it admits failings in the useability department (Uninstallers are very popular in WinLand) and suggests enforcing certain standards on third party software (somewhat like Apple did I believe). It also names IBM, Oracle, Sun, Netscape as its enemies, but neither the DOJ nor Linux. Finally -- run for cover! -- Bill is starting to code again.

Kai Haberzettl writes "There's a very good article at the NYTimes-website about MS's business-practice with regards to Internet-software. You need a free account to read this. "

Ken Miller was one of the first to send in the notice that the Gray Lady of Journalism herself had noticed Linux. On the down side, you will need a free account to login for this story. But this definitly shows that Linux has made it in the Old Media world.

David Fred wrote in to send us a link to a New York Times article telling us that the amazingly stupid lawsuit where a photographer was suing people who linked to pages containing copyrighted images has been dismissed. There is sanity in the world. Return to business as usual.

Jeff writes "Encryption expert Vince Cate has another approach to get around stupid US crypto export laws - stop being a US citizen. " It's the nytimes, so you need to register to read (And you moan about Slashdot requiring an account to post!) but it's a pretty decent article.

The New York Times discusses the reactions of most of the media about the recent security flaws in Browsers and Email clients: "You can get a patch here". But this attitude does not cut it for large companies that fear losing their trade secrets. Software developers who keep their software proprietary protect their IP at the expense of their customers' IP. This simple fact, once the large companies realise it, may change the software landscape for ever. Thanks to D.S. for this one. For those that don't know, usually try cypherpunks as name and password to get in. You'll need cookies enabled though. And no, we cannot post copyrighted material on slashdot.

Danny Kumamoto writes "NYTimes has a good overview of the two encryption SW cases before the appeal courts in the US: link Junger vs. US link where the judge (Gwin) rules that encryption SW is like a device (i.e., can opener) and is not a protectable speech. Bernstein vs. US link on the other hand considers SW to be like a foreign speech and is protectable. One collateral effect: If Judge Gwin's reasoning wins, then any SW will become patentable not protected merely by copyright... "