Several BILLION counts of stock manipulation...
on
Buy Low, Spam High
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
...should be able to trigger a rather thorough search for those responsible (who can hardly not leave quite a significant paper&data trail), and land them in jail for ages - so where's the prosecution? Their case can only be helped by identity theft typically additionally committed by many spammers.
Going after these subjects also beats confiscating Jaguars and digging for spam gold... especially if they're actually making 6% in a few days, per campaign.
Who cares that spam may not be a crime in some places - securities scams of these proportions certainly are, and no less if perpetrated by eMail.
Should we get rid of patent law because it creates a monoploy for a period of time?
We should fix it to the extent that it produces more harm than good.
Moreover, the (probably unintentional) answer is in your very telling spelling:;-)
One with a ploy should not persevere in court, not even if that ploy is (in) a patent (submarine, software, or both).
For it to be worthwhile for society to grant these "temporary monopolies", both sides of the deal have to be maintained.
I filed a few patents back when I was at IBM, and none of them seems to me to convey the know-how for a skilled programmer to be able to use the idea readily. They are patterns designed to help a patent attorney identify infringement. While the progress of the software industry's know-how was only being advanced by corporations, there was a (barely plausible) rationale for software patents; their lawyers could decode the patents. But now the individual developer acting in community is an equal source of progress, it is clear to me that the social contract is broken.
In this setting, it seems unlikely that asking the public, and software developers in particular, to verify (or do) the patent examiners' work can be of any use. It's a remedy that does not quite fit the problem, which is granting patents on matters that once were excluded for good reason.
Moreover, the articles also linked there indicate that in the field of software at least, quite probably there never even really was such a time when the "industry's know-how was only being advanced by corporations" (rather than e.g. academics and individual inventors).
it's another thing entirely to actively cheer on the introduction of DRM, which Torvalds has been doing now for a couple of years. Doesn't Linus realize that with strict hardware controls enforcing what may and may not be run, one's freedom to tinker may disappear?
Was he free to criticize platforms locked into Digital Restrictions Management while working for a company that helps build them (most recently FlexGo for Microsoft BTW) ?
Does he still have relevant ties to (t)his (former?) employer during/after "a leave-of-absense [sic]" ?
These are questions that any serious reporting on his stance needs to ask and answer - before questioning the merits of GPLv3 (that would make perfect sense for Linux anyway) just because the FSF cannot get Linus Torvalds to fully and openly agree with it (yet).
Did the Supreme Court ever actually say "steal" ?!
on
RIAA Goes after LimeWire
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that technology companies could be sued for copyright infringement on the grounds that they encouraged customers to steal music and movies over the Internet.
Someone must have been asleep at law school when they discussed the elements of theft/stealing/larceny and the meaning of notions such as "personal property" (AKA "things movable"), "taking and carrying away" and "to deprive the owner of the property".
Actually, the word "encouraged" suggests that may have been a rather extended nap which stretched into the class on aiding and abetting as well...
Re: "Linus" is wrong - and what about Transmeta?
on
Linus Speaks Out On GPLv3
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
It costs more money to include either an extra ROM or a bigger ROM that can contain restore code.
On the other hand, the GPLv3 provisions only apply where the manufacturer has tried to cut costs in the first place by choosing Linux etc. (or a future GPLv3 fork thereof) over proprietary products, and is shipping the hardware with it - i.e. couldn't ever expect to be allowed to take everyone else's work and lock it up "in crypto bottles" (as John Perry Barlow once wisely put it) without providing at least the GPL's freedom to modify in return (which by implication even under GPLv2 should be construed to include the possibility of actually running one's own modified versions if that right is to make any practical sense).
More interestingly, the question is what affiliations, if any, the "real" Linus (on "a leave-of-absense" in his own words?) still entertains with Transmeta, who reportedly just created the FlexGo hardware (which looks very much like what GPLv3 tries to prevent) for Microsoft - and what restrictions (e.g. on deservedly slamming DRM at least as applied to code rather than content -much rather than slamming the FSF!- in public) may result from that?
the refrigerant used in their independent calculation is R-22, a cloroflorocarbon that kills the ozone layer, implicated in crop failure due to high uv exposure.
This would only be an insurmountable problem if everyone considered disposing of it in irresponsible ways all the time. Collection of hazardous substances by responsible experts can be organised, and even paid for to an advance fund to make sure it will be used. The refrigerant supposed to circulate and only leak in case of malfunction, so compared to hundreds of casulties in each heat wave (many just because they can't afford the cooling), and to the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels (or using nuclear power) to drive air-conditionings instead the environment, I think we should be able to handle that.
The patent seems about to expire (unless they managed to hire an experienced attorney playing the more elaborate tricks in IP law - that do not usually grow in avocado groves, despite some similarity in name;-)), there are claims of a working prototype - so every tech school should get a team of budding and experienced engineers out there, have a real close look, and build a couple of these things, preferably creating detailed, open and reproducible documentation ASAP...
Vendors sign a pre-sale contract promising to do and refrain from doing certain things with the software they resell to customers.
So how do you call it when key players agree to exclude competitors and limit consumer choice?
A market economy wouldn't force Microsoft to sell their software except on their own terms.
It wouldn't give buyers no other option but to purchase "general-purpose computer"(!) hardware named after and made for one specific operating system only, as in "Windows computer". The mere use of such a term itself should raise some doubts.
(...) Microsoft (...) will allow vendors to set non-Microsoft applications as the default on Windows computers.
Quite a lot is wrong in a world (and "market[!] economy") where a phrase like this can actually be written&deemed to make sense.
Inorganic materials used by (first) DVD successors
on
Bacterial DVD Holds 50TB
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Manufacturers have moved to inorganic materials only, e.g. silicon-copper alloys, which seem to offer much better stability than organic dyes, for the first generation of the new 30-50 GB disks at least. Here's an article on a disk that stacks several different types, each of them inorganic: TDK develops 200GB recordable Blu-Ray disc with six layers
Woodcrest, yawn, yeah... Of course specialized publications have been abuzz with that for a while - the fact that I was pointing out how the Forbes article was regrettably short on details could have told you I'd heard about some of them.;-)
imminent product introductions from Intel that may be causing some consumers to hold off on purchases.
Not mentioning precisely which products and technologies they mean (with links to time scales, specifications, and first test results of actual samples, to turn this claim into actual pieces of information) this could always be said of pretty much every IT company, all the time.
The outputs are either Access databases or Excel spreadsheets
Maybe I don't see an obvious obstacle at that time of night, but what exactly is it that Access could not do?
With built-in SQL, macros and BASIC, it can nicely import most things into extra tables, call external programs and if all else fails, interact with them by sending keystrokes - which should allow you to extract through the clipboard anything they wouldn't readily disclose otherwise.
And with a bit of SQL again, generating reports from there is something it can do really well (despite not being FOSS just yet;-)).
Fortunately there seems to be no mention of actual patents except in the article flag.
If there really were any patents pending, the mere thought of the ethical implications should be a rallying cry for patent reform:
Breeding + examining the "results" = (still just) breeding, like it has been done for thousands of years (and for the religiously inclined, with the blessing of our Lord: Gen 1:28)
How should using a genetic test for a known gene (i.e. the obvious step to take, instead of looking e.g. at the color of the fur, or in this case, making their evaluation the Worst Job Ever for someone with an allergy) be able to impart any inventiveness, and hence patent-worthiness, on the process or "product"?
Many patents laws stipulate that at least on legal action by the patent owner, infringing products be destroyed.
Now consider this rule applied to "products" that reproduce, i.e. who have it in their nature (bio-engineered or not) to generate "infringing" offspring. While this is bad enough for plants on a planet where people are starving, the implications with respect to (or probably rather: in utter disrespect of) animals as fellow creatures are staggering.
Since they are knowingly creating a corrupt version of what is or should be a standard format (compact disc)...
...they should go to jail?
Unfortuately that's not disproportionate by their own standards: There are countries where (for several years already) one could not go (or take one's kids!) to the movies without being exposed to media companies' threats of detention and rape.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh well, in this case...
Going after these subjects also beats confiscating Jaguars and digging for spam gold... especially if they're actually making 6% in a few days, per campaign.
Who cares that spam may not be a crime in some places - securities scams of these proportions certainly are, and no less if perpetrated by eMail.
Moreover, the (probably unintentional) answer is in your very telling spelling: ;-)
One with a ploy should not persevere in court, not even if that ploy is (in) a patent (submarine, software, or both).
See e.g. http://www.webmink.net/2006/08/breach-of-contract. htm#115565138813415169.
Moreover, the articles also linked there indicate that in the field of software at least, quite probably there never even really was such a time when the "industry's know-how was only being advanced by corporations" (rather than e.g. academics and individual inventors).
Does he still have relevant ties to (t)his (former?) employer during/after "a leave-of-absense [sic]" ?
These are questions that any serious reporting on his stance needs to ask and answer - before questioning the merits of GPLv3 (that would make perfect sense for Linux anyway) just because the FSF cannot get Linus Torvalds to fully and openly agree with it (yet).
Actually, the word "encouraged" suggests that may have been a rather extended nap which stretched into the class on aiding and abetting as well...
More interestingly, the question is what affiliations, if any, the "real" Linus (on "a leave-of-absense" in his own words?) still entertains with Transmeta, who reportedly just created the FlexGo hardware (which looks very much like what GPLv3 tries to prevent) for Microsoft - and what restrictions (e.g. on deservedly slamming DRM at least as applied to code rather than content -much rather than slamming the FSF!- in public) may result from that?
The patent seems about to expire (unless they managed to hire an experienced attorney playing the more elaborate tricks in IP law - that do not usually grow in avocado groves, despite some similarity in name ;-)), there are claims of a working prototype - so every tech school should get a team of budding and experienced engineers out there, have a real close look, and build a couple of these things, preferably creating detailed, open and reproducible documentation ASAP...
Here's another "tiny, little-known building" that uses the method. Involved quite a bit of drilling, but then again we're talking several GigaWatt-hours of heat transfer per year... (Web site only partially in English)
There have to be elements called "demand" and "competition" as well to drive a market economy.
Manufacturers have moved to inorganic materials only, e.g. silicon-copper alloys, which seem to offer much better stability than organic dyes, for the first generation of the new 30-50 GB disks at least.
Here's an article on a disk that stacks several different types, each of them inorganic:
TDK develops 200GB recordable Blu-Ray disc with six layers
Woodcrest, yawn, yeah... Of course specialized publications have been abuzz with that for a while - the fact that I was pointing out how the Forbes article was regrettably short on details could have told you I'd heard about some of them. ;-)
With built-in SQL, macros and BASIC, it can nicely import most things into extra tables, call external programs and if all else fails, interact with them by sending keystrokes - which should allow you to extract through the clipboard anything they wouldn't readily disclose otherwise.
And with a bit of SQL again, generating reports from there is something it can do really well (despite not being FOSS just yet
...are Linux-based, have built-in image analysis, and should deserve a closer look in your scenario. HTH!
How should using a genetic test for a known gene (i.e. the obvious step to take, instead of looking e.g. at the color of the fur, or in this case, making their evaluation the Worst Job Ever for someone with an allergy) be able to impart any inventiveness, and hence patent-worthiness, on the process or "product"?
Now consider this rule applied to "products" that reproduce, i.e. who have it in their nature (bio-engineered or not) to generate "infringing" offspring. While this is bad enough for plants on a planet where people are starving, the implications with respect to (or probably rather: in utter disrespect of) animals as fellow creatures are staggering.
Of course, as we all know... ;-)
...though I'd probably prefer an e-Paper Psion.
Unfortuately that's not disproportionate by their own standards: There are countries where (for several years already) one could not go (or take one's kids!) to the movies without being exposed to media companies' threats of detention and rape.