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  1. High Frequency Traders... on Will Cloud Services One Day Be Traded Just Like Stocks and Bonds? · · Score: 1

    So, you have a FHT server farm, right in the exchange, because if you are across the street someone will take your lunch money (well technically your chance to steal someone else's lunch money). But because of the antiquated nature of the markets, they close down for two thirds of the day... Can't use those same servers to game the Nikkei - you have to be right on top of that too. So now you have a world wide set of servers which are 60% idle... Maybe you could sell that time.

    But you're someone who thinks FHT is a good idea, so you posit selling your spare cycles like a stock.

    I think I know where this idea came from...
    -Jeremy

  2. Move the people... on Transporting a 15-Meter-Wide, 600-Ton Magnet Cross Country · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't it be cheaper to move the people and the money? 90% of the time the people involved don't even have to be near the machine, with this newfangled internet thing that some people invented...

  3. Netflix and silverlight... on Mozilla To Enable Click-To-Play For All Firefox Plugins By Default · · Score: 1

    Hopefully there will be some way to enable silverlight automatically without clicking, otherwise Netflix on a PC is going to suck even worse...

    Regards,
    -Jeremy

  4. Sun/Oracle tried this and lost (to Google) on The Android SDK Is No Longer Free Software · · Score: 1

    This is exactly the type of clause that Sun put in the Java SDK and Oracle tried to argue gave them copyright on the Java APIs. Now they are trying to prevent someone else doing exactly what they did to Sun... It will look great in court when your primary defense is quotes from the offense's previous case. i.e. Ignore these terms - they have already been found to be unenforceable.

    Regards
    -Jeremy

  5. Pity about the robots on In the World of Big Stuff, the US Still Rules · · Score: 1

    I think the US should declare robots a munition subject to export control and extreme secrecy. With the increase in robotic soldiers, it will become important, and as the US learns to make better robots for the military, they will make better industrial robots. At some point the robots will be more cost effective than slaves in China... If they cannot be exported then manufacturing will return to the US. At least for a while Americans will be able to get high skill jobs building and fixing robots...

  6. Re:Apple also said... on Apple Suit Against Motorola Over FRAND Licensing Rates Dismissed · · Score: 1

    And "going forward". i.e. Apple don't want to pay for all of the phones they have already sold.

        -Jeremy

  7. Re:why ink? on Ask Slashdot: The Search For the Ultimate Engineer's Pen · · Score: 1

    Real mechanical pencils should only come in sizes 0.5mm, 0.35mm, 0.25mm, 0.18mm and 0.13mm...

  8. Exactly the opposite on Verizon Claims Net Neutrality Violates Their Free Speech Rights · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, the internet is a modern day microphone. But the network is not the microphone, it is the wire. The microphone is the content. Their argument supports exactly the opposite conclusion: Net netrality is required to protect the free speech rights of the people using the network.

    -Jeremy

  9. Re:Adblocking and Neflix on Targeted TV Ads: Silver Bullet Or Privacy Nightmare? · · Score: 2

    Found the same thing with my kids, although they've never really had much broadcast TV exposure. They just get irritated by this stuff interrupting what they were watching... Thankfully they'll live in a streaming world, because they find it difficult to understand that they can't chose the show, but have to watch whatever is on.

    However, don't be scared to teach your kids the truth about ads. There are two kinds of ads: Those that try to sell you something you don't need, and those that are offering you a good deal on something you might have been thinking of getting. For the first kind, label them truthfully - if they are advertising it means you don't need what they are selling (which is even more true for targeted ads). Purposefully eschew anything you saw in an ad. For the second type, teach them to comparison shop and never pay full price for anything. Teach them to read the $/oz numbers instead of the price tag...

  10. How about a California constitutional amendment on DVDs, Blu-Rays To Show 20-Second Unskippable Govt. Warnings · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wish someone would craft a carefully worded Proposition for California which would make any unskipable content on media which is sold or rented unconstitional... Something about not being allowed to accuse people of crimes without evidence that they are at least thinking of committing the crime.

    It would make for such a fun round of election ads - the more the studios argue that it is a good thing the more the population would be reminded just how irritating these warnings are.

    Regards,
    -Jeremy

  11. Re:Foot, meet bullet. on JavaFX Runs On Raspberry Pi · · Score: 1

    You're mixing the licenses of the GPL OpenJDK (the GPL does not allow "field of use" restictions), Oracle's binary JDK, and Oracle's Java specification.

    No, the OpenJDK and binary licenses have never been part of the actual case. The Java SE 1.4 and Java SE 5 versions of the license I quoted are the only licenses Oracle has entered into evidence (although I've not read all 1000+ documents).

    Did we red the same piece of text?

    includes (i) developing applications intended to run on an implementation of the Specification

    means exactly that you can develop all applications you want using the Java APIs, how do you interpret that as "they could advance a case against any Java developer"?

    Well, OK, anyone that has used Java externally, or has commercialized their use. This is a classic industry license which lets you look, but if you want to play you have to pay. You are allowed to determine if Java is right for you. Sure, Sun always interpreted this as meaning "Java is free for use" (and Oracle still claim that), but Oracle are showing that they can come up with some very interesting interpretations of the law. So, maybe Java is safe, maybe Oracle will need more cash and change their tune...

    No, Google
    1) did NOT use the GPL OpenJDK, and therefore they're not covered by the GPL license; and they expressly chose not to use the OpenJDK because they dislike the GPL, as Google said explicitly in their published emails;
    2) violated this part, of the license, that you omitted to quote:

    2. License for the Distribution of Compliant Implementations. Oracle also grants you a perpetual, non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide, fully paid-up, royalty free, limited license (without the right to sublicense) under any applicable copyrights or, subject to the provisions of subsection 4 below, patent rights it may have covering the Specification to create and/or distribute an Independent Implementation of the Specification that: (a) fully implements the Specification including all its required interfaces and functionality; (b) does not modify, subset, superset or otherwise extend the Licensor Name Space, or include any public or protected packages, classes, Java interfaces, fields or methods within the Licensor Name Space other than those required/authorized by the Specification or Specifications being implemented; and (c) passes the Technology Compatibility Kit (including satisfying the requirements of the applicable TCK Users Guide) for such Specification ("Compliant Implementation").

    In other words, Oracle claim that Google created a Java-based platform that is not compatible with Java, and called it Java. Which is what Microsoft did in the 90s (and has nothing to do with the developers of Java applications). A judge will decide if this is the case, but saying that every Java user could be sued for writing Java applications is frankly not true.

    This part of the license is irrelevant. Google do not claim to implement Java or a compliant implementation. They are therefore not entitled to patent protection (which is why they are being sued for patent infringement). This is why the case is split into two portions: a copyright portion, because Oracle claim Google have violated the first part of the license, by copying the APIs (and a bit of code). Google's defense is three part:

    1. That this license is invalid because the APIs are not subject to copyright (this is what the judge will decide),
    2. That even if they are subject to copyright, their use is fair (clause (ii) and (iii) of the Java SE 7 license I quoted are not in the older ones, but appear to be trying to define "fair use") and
    3. Even if the use was not fair, it was de minimus (minimal) and so they should be allowed to get away with it. (and the copied bits of code were copied but minimal).

    Usin

  12. Re:Foot, meet bullet. on JavaFX Runs On Raspberry Pi · · Score: 5, Informative

    >Please, the vast majority Java was open sourced in 2006 under the GPL

    The code was. But if you want to write any Java code you need to use Java APIs. Those are copyright and subject to Oracle's terms of use. Go to http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/index.html - see that link to a copyright statement at the bottom: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/legal/cpyr.html. That document says:

    1. 1. This software ... provided under a license agreement containing restrictions on use ...
    2. 2. Except as expressly permitted in your license agreement or allowed by law, you may not use, ... any part, in any form, or by any means.

    So what is the license agreement: Try to download the documentation (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/documentation/java-se-7-doc-download-435117.html). That has a click though agreement to http://download.oracle.com/otn-pub/java/licenses/java-se-7-spec-license.txt, which in turn says:

    1. License for Evaluation Purposes. Oracle hereby grants you a fully-paid, non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide, limited license (without the right to sublicense), under Oracle's applicable intellectual property rights to view, download, use and reproduce the Specification only for the purpose of internal evaluation. This includes (i) developing applications intended to run on an implementation of the Specification, provided that such applications do not themselves implement any portion(s) of the Specification, and (ii) discussing the Specification with any third party; and (iii) excerpting brief portions of the Specification in oral or written communications which discuss the Specification provided that such excerpts do not in the aggregate constitute a significant portion of the Specification.

    So - you can use the APIs for internal evaluation only. In other words - if you wish to use them for any other purpose you need another license from Oracle.

    This is exactly the case Oracle has advanced against Google (who violated clause (i) above by implementing the specification).

    But, they could advance a case against any Java developer, because no matter how they learned Java, these licenses do not extend third party rights, so each developer has to officially learn about Java through the Java specifications. And if you are using Java for any purpose other than evaluation, you are in violation.

    If you use something other Java SE, then you are even worse off, because the APIs are not actually published. The licenses for various versions of Java have changed slightly over the years (the one for Java 5 - which Google is being sued under - says that the license overrides all other statements from Sun, although Oracle's lawyers didn't read that far into the license else they would have used that clause to nullify the damaging testimony about Sun's approvals of Google's actions.

    Before you accuse people of astroturfing, learn the turf.

    Regards,
    -Jeremy

  13. Re:Mr. Wall, please sit down... on Oracle and the End of Programming As We Know It · · Score: 2

    And even worse is the implication for the real world, since the question is not one of software. It is much broader: can the selection, sequence and organization of items be copyright? Think questions like: Can McDonalds own the copyright on a burger, fries and a soda. Does someone own the copyright on the standard "from airport, to airport, date and time, no of passengers" form? Is the format of a check copyright? What about copyright on the track list on an album? If SSO can be copyrighted, the lawyers will have fun...

    On the flip side, the license which Oracle is claiming applies only grants "internal evaluation" rights for the Java APIs, so all 6.5 million Java programmers could be using those APIs illegally...

    Regards,
    -Jeremy

  14. Re:honestly Officer, on The Laws of Physics Trump Traffic Laws · · Score: 1

    But were the contact points on the surface of your tires always stationary relative to the road...

  15. Re:Money ? on Google Donating $11.5M To Fight Modern Slavery · · Score: 1

    I've personally met Gary Haugen, and know a number of people who work/have worked for IJM. Their main goal is to get laws passed in countries which do not have laws against slavery, and then to get those laws enforced. Often this involves using influence with first world countries to pressure these countries into applying their own laws.

    Their other role is to bring (generally US) trained law enforcement to these countries to train local law enforcement to collect evidence, etc. They then use lawyers to pursue individual cases, and train local lawyers in their own laws so they can effectively prosecute slave owners. When they loose cases (which are always cut and dried) they investigate how the judge was bribed and take legal action. They will keep this up until they get all the way to the top.

    My guess is that most of this money will go to getting law enforcement and lawyers on trips to India to do this. They will also use the money to change attitudes in the US, so that Congress can be coerced into doing the right thing (like adding anti-slavery clauses to trade agreements).

    Regards
    -Jeremy

  16. Re:The legitimate projection of force. on The Future of Protest In Panopticon Nation · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you watch the videos, you see that Lt Pike instructs the students (who are blocking his exit with detainees, i.e obstructing the police - but they were trying to get arrested because they wanted to force the cops to arrest everyone) that if they don't move when the police car which they are bringing gets there, then he will shoot them.

    That is not a legal order. He can only say "I will arrest you, and I might hurt you if you resist". He also doesn't keep his word: he pepper spays them instead of shooting them, and he does so before they have an opportunity to move out of the way of for the police car. Moreover, he prevents the other officers from trying to move/detain them.

    Regards
    -Jeremy

  17. Australia's SKA? on theSkyNet Wants Your Spare CPU Cycles · · Score: 1

    Looks like some people are jumping the gun a bit...

    Typical, like when the Aussie's volunteered to host the World Cup Soccer because they 'knew' that South Africa was not up to it.

  18. Richmond, CA on The End of Paper Books · · Score: 1

    Funnily enough, Richmond is where the University of California keeps one of their archives of books...

  19. Re:Oh no! on AT&T Lowers Data Access To Just $500/GB · · Score: 1

    I use prepaid on a smartphone because it is the best deal. I don't download movies on my phone, and it connects to wifi in it's most common locations. Hence I only use 15MB or so of data a month. Buying a 100MB ($20) package every now and then and a monthly 1MB ($5) package every month so the 100MB keeps rolling over, means I can go for about 6 months, at $20+6*$5=$50, or just under $10 per month. If I had a contract, that would be $30+ per month on top of my contract. Don't be fooled by Costco pricing - just because it is cheaper to buy in bulk doesn't mean it is cost effective. Although I'll definitely change to the new plan - my rate will be a around $6/month then.

  20. Re:No P.E. required. on N.C. Official Sics License Police On Computer Scientist For Too Good a Complaint · · Score: 2

    >P.E's are just something that at the end of the day are a legal check to sell engineering work.

    The point of a licensed professional engineer is that they take personal legal responsibility for their work. As in - if the building falls down and kills people, the government will charge them with manslaughter, and you can sue them personally for damages regardless of where they now work.

    The rest is just red tape so that the courts can find them.

    Regards,
        -Jeremy

  21. Re:Suing prospective clients? on Google Wins Injunction Against Agency Using Microsoft Cloud · · Score: 1

    Also, if they list the reasons for not choosing Google, and Google fixes those, then it is very difficult to list new reasons when rejecting them on another bid, or when this contact comes up for re-evaluation.

  22. Re:Government on Full Body Scanners Violate Child Porn Laws · · Score: 1

    Please think of the children!

    or should that be:

    Please! Think of the children.

  23. LLVM on New Binary Diffing Algorithm Announced By Google · · Score: 1

    If you're going to do this in the long run, it would make more sense to distribute LLVM byte code and compile that to native code on the host... That way you have small diffs to the byte code, and also you get targeted optimization (and maybe even custom profile guided optimization).

  24. Re:Sad code, sad article on The Exact Cause of the Zune Meltdown · · Score: 1

    I always wonder why C (and C like languages) don't have a loop like this:

    do {
    block1();
    } while (condition) {
    block2();
    }

    It seems easy to parse and would be quite useful since this kind of loop is all over the place... IMHO it's more readable than a while(1) loop with a break.

    Regards,
    -Jeremy

  25. Re:And Slashdot can fix it: on Troll Patents Lists In Databases, Sues Everyone · · Score: 1

    According to this CNN news article there were already a large number of retailers offering online wedding registries in 1999...

    Regards,
    -Jeremy