Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: GPLv3, Firefly, iTunes
Richard Stallman speaks on GPLv3 and patents. Elton J. Won writes "A public forum on the updated GPL was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Although Stallman solicited comments from forum attendees. he made clear that the GPL version 3 will not alter the license's basic stance on software patents. From the article: 'the GPL version 3 is explicitly meant to discourage litigation based on software patents. "This is not a placeholder. This is the text we currently plan to go with unless we're surprised by seeing a better idea," Stallman said.'" Relatedly RMS also recently expounded on some of these thoughts in an interview with PCPro.
Firefly fans refuse to go quietly into the night. CMGaretJax writes "The Browncoats, a fan group based around the hit cult TV show Firefly, and the more recent movie, Serenity, have set up a website for donations from people who want to see another season of Firefly. So far they have raised $840 dollars against an estimated cost of 1 million per episode. An admirable attempt, and one that will hopefully pick up steam, the show really is too pretty to die."
Student receives sentence for felony web-page charge. EMB Numbers writes to tell us that Michael Stone, the student who was recently charged with a felony for encouraging others to bog down a school server with web page refreshes, has cut a deal with the prosecutor for a lesser misdemeanor offense -- criminal mischief. Stone was given a suspended sentence of 60 days in jail along with 20 hours of community service. Although he declined to comment on camera Stone's mother stated that she appreciate all the support he received from the online community.
GP2X GPL issues resolved. gizmateer writes to tell us that after quite a bit of noise from the online community it appears that Gamepark has bowed to the pressure and will be releasing the source for the most recent version of the GP2X firmware. From the article: "Please stop posting to this board about GPL. Dignsys will post up the sources to the new firmware version 1.3.0 next week on http://source.gp2x.de. They intend to release it once the binaries to said firmware have been released."
Korean cloning scientist may get to keep his patents. Billosaur writes "According to an article on the New Scientist web site, disgraced Korean cloning researcher Hwang Woo-Suk may get to keep his patents for the process of creating embryonic stem cells via cloning human embryos. Already the UK patent office is looking into the validity of the patents in Europe. From the article: 'As long as an invention is not clearly contrary to scientific laws - like time travel - research has no bearing on the grant of a patent.'"
Apple changes their tune for iTunes mini store. jjbelsky writes "Apple has modified the iTunes MiniStore in response to the anger caused by its release of personal information. All users of iTunes, whether or not the music store is enabled, are now presented with a page informing them that when a song is selected 'information about that item is sent to Apple.' Users who do not click on the 'Turn on MiniStore' button will not have their privacy invaded."
Targets of RIAA lawsuit turn on i2hub operator. Doros writes "After being forced to fork over thousands of dollars to the RIAA, students want i2hub operator Wayne Chang to cover their losses. From the article: 'At least 42 students have been named as defendants in John Doe lawsuits filed by the recording industry. The industry trade group has offered to settle each case for $3,750, lawyers for the students said Tuesday. "Had the students known that they were exposing themselves to copyright infringement liability by using the i2hub service, they likely would not have used the service," the legal group wrote.'"
Adults exempt from Chinese online limits. Dotnaught writes "The Chinese government has yielded to pressure from adult online gamers and exempted them from its online gaming addiction policy. The rules, which went into effect last October, require that after five hours of consecutive play, players cease earning any virtual rewards such as experience points or beneficial items. To avail themselves of the exemption, some 26 million gamers will have to register their real names and identity card numbers with the authorities. The system hasn't proven particularly effective -- minors reportedly skirt the limits by logging onto different accounts or switching to another game after reaching the time limit."
Bill Thompson follows up Mac security remarks. Bralkein writes to tell us that in response to the overwhelming amount of feedback Bill Thompson received on his recent Mac security article, he has penned a response to his critics. In his reply, he admits that there were a few flaws in his article, and he acknowledges the high level of security provided by OS X's UNIX foundations. However, he stands by his assertion that the Mac cannot boast complete immunity to all security problems. As a Mac user himself, he still believes that the Mac community needs to remember that security is still an issue for them, too.
Firefly fans refuse to go quietly into the night. CMGaretJax writes "The Browncoats, a fan group based around the hit cult TV show Firefly, and the more recent movie, Serenity, have set up a website for donations from people who want to see another season of Firefly. So far they have raised $840 dollars against an estimated cost of 1 million per episode. An admirable attempt, and one that will hopefully pick up steam, the show really is too pretty to die."
From the site: We are in the process of returning all donations received. We came up against insurmountable odds and legal issues launching our fund-raising drive
A nice idea, and god I'd love a second series, but it was admitedly reaching for the stars, literally!
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
Recall, also, the attempt to "Save Enterprise" the same way. The money was raised (much more than $840!) & it was still axed.
Turns out that what they thought was hope was just a candle flame and they all died.
I think the following site sums up my opinion of iTunes mini store "issue"....
iTunes MiniStore Is Now Opt-In
- Greg
Start a happiness pandemic
That's a pity. If there's no money to be made from inventing a time machine I don't think I'll bother working on mine any more. I'll just get back to my perpetual moction machine then.
-- SIGFPE
Good deal. This should never have been charged as a felony to begin with, but I agree he needed a reality slap. I haven't looked far enough into the case to have a strong opinion on the sentence, but 60 days, even suspended, sounds a little heavy. Then again, if there's more to it than I've caught from the news, maybe it's fine.
I loved the series, but was a bit disappointed with the movie. (Well done, but tried to wrap up / kill off too much stuff that should have been used to tittilate us for a couple of years.) In principle it could go on, but I can't see the magic ever being recaptured at this date.
I wish Joss would give up on the dead horse and turn his attention to something new - on a different network.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Gorram it.
You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake -- but you could be if you got off your ass.
Apple has modified the iTunes MiniStore in response to the anger caused by its release of personal information.
This is why I like Apple. And it's also the difference between Apple and MS. Users matter.
Per Square Mile, a blog about density
They may be able to raise 1 million, but if nothing eventuates out of it who gets the money??
As much as I would love to see more firefly, I really don't want to put my money into reviving a tv show when I don't know where the money is going, i'd much prefer to increase my current donations to more needy causes like Oxfam.
"The Chinese government has yielded to pressure from adult online gamers and exempted them from its online gaming addiction policy. The rules, which went into effect last October, require that after five hours of consecutive play, players cease earning any virtual rewards such as experience points or beneficial items. To avail themselves of the exemption, some 26 million gamers will have to register their real names and identity card numbers with the authorities. The system hasn't proven particularly effective -- minors reportedly skirt the limits by logging onto different accounts or switching to another game after reaching the time limit."
And people were wondering why Chinese players prefer not to frequent Chinese servers. There were the recent (slashdot story) accusations of gold farming, which is possible. Or, the Chinese players of WoW perhaps want to circumvent this limit by playing on an outside server...
Note, I don't know anything about WoW servers within China, and whether they acutally conform to this 5 hour limit or not, but then again, I don't play WoW on Chinese servers either.
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
If they ressurect both Firefly and Arrested Development then my subscription is pretty much a done deal.
Well, as long as they keep them two seperate shows, that is...
This isn't a hard concept to understand. Really, it isn't. If you're downloading music that you see on CDs in stores, for free, it's illegal.
Blaming the i2hub's operators is a diversionary tactic. It's pretty obvious that they chose to connect to a file sharing network, and IANAL, but I'm pretty sure that shows intent on their part.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
It's a show that grows on you over time. I found the concept and the first episode pretty lame. Then I kept watching and fell in love with all the characters. I think this is probably why it had such a hard time picking up viewers. If you just randomly tuned in and saw one episode, it wouldn't be very interesting.
The more you know, the less you understand.
It's not wrong to dislike something just because the groupthink says you should like it (prepare to be moderated into oblivion though, as this post probably will be).
I thought it was pretty damn awful too.... but then I'm not American (it was clearly in the 'Western' style to appeal to am american audience).
OTOH the TV execs seemed to agree with us as it was canned pretty quickly...
can't have been getting any decent viewing figures.
In thinking about patents resulting from illegal behavior (I don't know if what the Korean guy did was illegal -- possibly fraud if nothing else), it would be interesting for a gov't to issue the patent, but assign it to the public domain.
That'd keep people from profiting from the illegal behavior, and also not allow someone else to come in and profit from it just because they're "clean".
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
For what it is worth, I don't care if Apple is tracking what I am listening to. If it helps iTunes to recommend new music that I didn't know about, great (which it already has)! Should they have done things differently? Could they have? Sure. Whatever. I don't care! Its a fucking song.
I'm amazed at how outranged people will get over one thing, but let another go into the night.
http://www.lakelocal.k12.oh.us/lhshome.htm
>Users who do not click on the 'Turn on MiniStore' button will not have their privacy invaded.
how the fuck is it an invasion of privacy?
no personal data is collected or sent, or ever was. it's a feature that turns your library into iTMS links, basically just a tabbed version of the little arrows that have been there for ages. oh noes! hyperlinks and tabbed browsing! teh interweb is stealing my identity!
and even though it was blown way out of proportion, Apple still responded quickly and as desired.
It's not wrong to dislike something just because the groupthink says you should like it
No, it just mean you're sooooooo much better than everyone! Since you don't like something because others like it, by rejecting something popular, you set yourself appart! You're special!
You can't take the sky from me...
It's the characters.
After a while, you don't even care what they're doing or where they are, you care about them.
yeah, I've already seen posts along the lines of "omg Apple updated iTunes without me knowing! spyware! hax! internet content changing without downloading an installer? that's unpossible!"
I wish Apple had tried to patent the ministore, because then we'd have had a million posts about how it's the simplest and most obvious feature ever instead of the insane FUD.
> It's the characters. After a while, you don't even care what they're doing or where they are, you care about them.
And their guns, which also have names!
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
'As long as an invention is not clearly contrary to scientific laws - like time travel - research has no bearing on the grant of a patent.'
I think Einstein would say otherwise. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/time/think.html and http://www.iit.edu/~bosabri/time.html
I love humanity, it is people I hate
That's the name of the license.
I am trolling
Really? Wow. I thought it was the Gnu Public Lisence.
[goes to look it up on Wikipedia...]
Well, this might explain it:
"GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL)"
...because "hacker" sounds way sexier than "code drone."
Vivid characterization, snappy, quotable, and witty dialog, a more human scale than many other shows, and a plausibly complex society as a background to the stories. If you're genuinely curious, try the TV episodes "Out of Gas" and "Serenity" and see whether it's more to your taste after you've been properly introduced to the crew. If you still don't like it, the answer to your question is "It's a matter of taste".
If what you're after in sf tv is good old fashioned sense of wonder, well, this is a dry period for that.
Stone was given a suspended sentence of 60 days in jail along with 20 hours of community service. Although he declined to comment on camera Stone's mother stated that she appreciate all the support he received from the online community.
oh ya, only 60 days in jail... that makes about as much sense as throwing a person 5 years in federal prison for growing their own marijuana. This country is done for, whoever has to mop up this mess has their work cut out for them.
Users who do not click on the 'Turn on MiniStore' button will not have their privacy invaded
It's just doing a WebObjects query for related albums. Jesus Christ, my privacy isn't being invaded over that. There's more information stored via the Google cookie, and where is the Slashdot outrage over that? That information has been confirmed to be stored indefinitely, along with your email in Gmail. Oh no, Slashdot is storing your IP in its weblogs! In fact, every server does!
Non-issue, in my opinion.
"Sufferin' succotash."
GOB finds it difficult to gain re-entry in the Alliance when he performs his illusions in front of River, who immediately knows all of the tricks.
Michael is mistaken for Mal, and has to fight a duel to defend Inara, who is being stalked by Carl Weathers.
Tobias is jealous of Lindsay's attraction to a "real doctor" like Simon, and hatches a plan to win back his wife by going to Boston to renew his medical license. He gets on the wrong bus, heading toward Canada.
Mal, mistaken for Michael, is arrested for another George Sr. crime, and escapes prison with the help of Jayne, using GOB's Segway as a getaway vehicle. They hit an inordinately fortified sand castle on the beach, and break it.
GOB, devestated at the loss of his Segway, and no company funds to buy another, begins to drink heavily with Jayne. They visit George Sr. in prison, and the three sing "The Hero of Canton" and the two are escorted out by guards.
Kaylee finds it difficult to fight off the affections of GOB after she fixes his Segway.
River is arrested after the Bluth Company's Mr. BananaGrabber commercial triggers another "incident," this time in Klimpy's Family Style Restaurant.
Wash buys the Bluth company jet back, and before GOB can take it to South America, he and Zoe fly off for a vacation. Unfortunately, Maeby is hiding in the bathroom, and is left there while the couple goes to their resort.
Simon, misunderstanding Kaylee's behavior with GOB as flirting, embarks to seduce Lindsay to get revenge. He later realizes that Lindsay is the type of woman that his father would have wanted him to marry, and breaks up with her by saying, "I've made a huge mistake."
George Michael is infatuated with River, but is slightly frightened of her after she looks at Ann and "fixes" her Bible in front of her parents.
Pastor Veal, on a flight back to California from a conference, is mistaken for Wash, and is left in the cockpit to land a plane safely after both the pilot and co-pilot have panic attacks.
Buster thinks Kaylee is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, and tries to fight GOB and Simon for her affections. He looks online for doctorate programs, believing Kaylee is attracted to doctors, and mistakenly signs up to be a guest on the show of popular television counselor, Dr. Phil, after he submits what he believes to be an admissions essay answering the question "Do you have a family member you believe is living a double life?"
Mr. Universe becomes a public relations agent for the Bluths, holding press conferences from his ion cloud (now relocated to the smog air of California), and using Lenore as a spokeswoman, launches a pro-Bluth campaign, with great success. When an interrupted video feed reveals Mr. Universe to be the real public relations agent, and Lenore revealed to be fake, the Jewish community celebrates, and they all hire Mr. Universe to be their consultant. Women across the country, relieved to see that Lenore has perfect makeup because the makeup is permanently on her skin, also hire Mr. Universe.
George Sr. and Book discuss religion, and Book finds insight in George Sr.'s "Caged Wisdom" tapes.
"Curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal!"
I'm very fond of Apple, but I was incensed by the disregard for privacy that itunes 6.0.2 seemed to indicate. I used their feedback web form to convey my alarm, made some grumpy posts to their discussion forum, and generally tried to express to them that this was a serious transgression.
Apparently they heard and reacted to me and the presumed lots of other people saying the same thing, and reacted in precisely the right way. I never much cared about the mini-store one way or the other, I was only bothered by the transmission of personal data without my very explicit knowledge and consent. Defaulting to off with a prominent opt-in dialog is a perfectly good solution to this.
So it appears that it was just an oversight on their part, a concern that never crossed their minds, and that they were willing to make corrections as soon as the issue was brought to their attention. That seems quite forgivable, and indeed I'm proud of Apple for reacting so quickly and correctly.
If the box office numbers for Serinity are any indication, not many.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.