Pirates, Web 2.0, and Hundred Dollar Laptop

A few quick updates on some recent Slashdot stories in Slashback tonight. We have some additional information on the ever-interesting hundred-dollar laptop, the ongoing flap over the trademarking of 'Web 2.0' for conferences, and the shutdown of the Pirate Bay site. Read on for details.

Update on the One Laptop per Child Project. dominique_cimafranca writes "Ethan Zuckerman gives a report on his visit to the headquarters of the One Laptop per Child project. Some details on practical design considerations such as the hinge, the rabbit ears, and why the hand crank was ultimately left out (apparently, Kofi Annan broke the crank on a prototype). Several pictures, and a look at the motherboard of the OLPC laptop."

TOR Calls Out Torvalds, Stallman on Web 2.0. theodp writes "In an unusual defense of partner CMP's trademarking of Web 2.0, Tim O'Reilly points a finger at Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman in his rebuttal posts. TOR also says the blogger who posted the O'Reilly-approved cease-and-desist letter from CMP 'owes us an apology for the way he responded' (he got one)."

Fallout from The Pirate Bay Raid. Tyler Too writes "The Swedish national police website has been taken offline by a denial of service attack which started Thursday night. That's not the only fallout from the raid on The Pirate Bay: there's a demonstration planned in Stockholm on Saturday."

U.S. Government Ordered The Pirate Bay Shutdown? mkro writes "According to the Swedish government sponsored tv channel SVT, U.S. government officials -- after being approached by the MPAA -- requested the Swedish justice department to take down The Pirate Bay. According to the story, the Swedish justice department asked police and prosecution to act, but when they explained the laws are too vague, they turned directly to the state attorney and the chief of the national police force."

Comments

Re:Sorry Tim, but - PISS OFF!

[pla]

Now sir, you might not be a shill, but in my humble opinion, certainly a troll

Neither, actually - I simply don't "suffer fools gladly". I also have a peeve regarding the trademarking of common or trivially-derived prases. I further don't accept an apology as "real" when it comes as a way to save face rather than as an expression of true regret.

Now, I do occasionally post very inflammatory comments as a result of my opinions. If you want to mod me down, have a ball. But I post how I really feel, and excepting a respondant demonstrating a post of mine as factually incorrect, I stand by what I write.


and a near inarticulate one. And I say that despite the fact that English is not my first language.

Heavy sarcasm doesn't translate well. Don't take it personally.

Re:Wrong

[Kuxman]

I've seen people appologize for things that they haven't done either. Just because he appologized, doesn't mean he's done wrong. Could just mean he's spineless...