The PRoC has apparently listened to the voice of its workers and decided to rethink its cunning plan to impose censorship on PCs.
The regime has announced it will delay the requirement that all computers sold in the country carry a specific software application known as "Green Dam Youth Escort".
The Green Dam software works like an Internet filter and spyware and is said to be capable of blocking access to any sites or information that the Chinese government doesn't like.
However the move has been about as popular in China as forgiving the late Japanese Emperor for war crimes. There were considerable objections voiced to the Chinese government by manufacturers and internal groups.
Part of the problem might have been that the software did not actually work all that well, and the part that did was nicked from a US company.
This reduced its ability to be spun to the public as a national effort to protect China's children and workers.
Source: L'Inq
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Microsoft and Yahoo! for search alliance: powered by Bing
Microsoft and Yahoo have reportedly signed a new deal, which will give the pair a third of the search market. Microsoft's Bing search engine will power Yahoo's search, reportedly, while Yahoo will switch to a supporting role, deploying Microsoft's advertising technology.
Source: TG Daily
Source: TG Daily
Friday, July 24, 2009
OLPC: "Sugar was a mistake" - Negroponte
The noble goal of a $100 laptop for developing nations has come to fruition -- but of course at a higher cost and later date than expected. One Laptop Per Child has succeeded in delivering 900,000 XO laptops into the hands of kids, but that's a far cry from the many millions expected and Chairman Nicholas Negroponte is pulling no punches in describing what went wrong. He's still bitter at Intel, claiming it worked to "spoil the market," and angry about many nations cutting back on large deals. But, he isn't just lashing outwardly, calling the custom Linux-based operating system that runs the XO, a "mistake," saying "Sugar should have been an application" of the sort it has now morphed to be with Sugar on a Stick. Too little too late? OLPC has already made massive staff cuts and sales from the Give One, Get One program dropped 90 percent last year. With machines like the EduBook selling for $160 to institutions and able to run common operating systems, we're not seeing the future get any more bright for this little green guy.
Source: ZDNet
Source: ZDNet
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Google announces Google Chrome OS
Designed for x86 and ARM architectures, Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year Google will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available in the second half of 2010.
Google Blog
Google Blog
Jammie Thomas challenges "monstrous" $1.92M P2P verdict
It was only a matter of time: Jammie Thomas-Rasset has asked the federal judge overseeing her file-sharing lawsuit to toss the $1.92 million damage award, reduce it to the statutory minimum of $18,000, or grant her a new trial.
The motion, filed today in Minnesota federal court, is blunt. "The verdict in this case was shocking," it begins. "For 24 songs, available for $1.29 on iTunes, the jury assessed statutory damages of $80,000 per song—a ratio of 1:62,015. For 24 albums, available for no more than $15 at the store, the jury assessed statutory damages of $80,000 per album—a ratio of 1:5,333. For a single mother's noncommercial use of KaZaA, and upon neither finding nor evidence of actual injury to the plaintiffs, the judgment fines Jammie Thomas $1.92 million. Such a judgment is grossly excessive and, therefore, subject to remittitur as a matter of federal common law."
Source: Ars Technica
The motion, filed today in Minnesota federal court, is blunt. "The verdict in this case was shocking," it begins. "For 24 songs, available for $1.29 on iTunes, the jury assessed statutory damages of $80,000 per song—a ratio of 1:62,015. For 24 albums, available for no more than $15 at the store, the jury assessed statutory damages of $80,000 per album—a ratio of 1:5,333. For a single mother's noncommercial use of KaZaA, and upon neither finding nor evidence of actual injury to the plaintiffs, the judgment fines Jammie Thomas $1.92 million. Such a judgment is grossly excessive and, therefore, subject to remittitur as a matter of federal common law."
Source: Ars Technica
Goldman's black box trading source code is out
A Russian programmer named Sergey Aleynikov was picked up this past Friday by the FBI for allegedly stealing and passing along code that, if circulating out in the wild, could expose US markets to manipulation and cost Aleynikov's former employer, Goldman Sachs, millions.
If you have your hands on the code that runs on Goldman's trading platform—again, one of the largest in the world—then you know with 100 percent accuracy which trades Goldman's computers are going to make in response to a given set of inputs. All you need then is even faster hardware so that you can get to those trades just a few milliseconds before Goldman, and you'll always beat the bank and therefore be able to sell to Goldman at a slight premium. Goldman will therefore make less on every trade, since you'll essentially be usurping their place in the pecking order.
The NYSE puts out a weekly list of the top program traders by volume, and Goldman typically tops this list by a country mile. Then last week's list came out, and Goldman's name was shockingly absent. And today, now that the code theft story is out, the NYSE has put out a statement claiming that Goldman's absence on the list was the result of a "system error;" it has also released a revised list showing Goldman once again dominating program trading activity.
Source: Ars Technica
If you have your hands on the code that runs on Goldman's trading platform—again, one of the largest in the world—then you know with 100 percent accuracy which trades Goldman's computers are going to make in response to a given set of inputs. All you need then is even faster hardware so that you can get to those trades just a few milliseconds before Goldman, and you'll always beat the bank and therefore be able to sell to Goldman at a slight premium. Goldman will therefore make less on every trade, since you'll essentially be usurping their place in the pecking order.
The NYSE puts out a weekly list of the top program traders by volume, and Goldman typically tops this list by a country mile. Then last week's list came out, and Goldman's name was shockingly absent. And today, now that the code theft story is out, the NYSE has put out a statement claiming that Goldman's absence on the list was the result of a "system error;" it has also released a revised list showing Goldman once again dominating program trading activity.
Source: Ars Technica
Monday, July 6, 2009
CompuServe Classic shut down
Another chapter in internet history closed on 30 June, 2009.
Online shopping? Stock quotes? Worldwide weather forecasts? CompuServe was providing all of that in the 1980s. Who needs color graphics, music and streaming videos? CompuServe could provide users with what they needed with plain text on a slow dial-up connection.
Source: Paper PC
Online shopping? Stock quotes? Worldwide weather forecasts? CompuServe was providing all of that in the 1980s. Who needs color graphics, music and streaming videos? CompuServe could provide users with what they needed with plain text on a slow dial-up connection.
Source: Paper PC
Australian gamer blackballed over virtual world 'fraud'
Facing real world debts, a trusted figure in a popular online game stole money from the virtual bank he ran and exchanged it for cash through the black market.
It happened in EVE Online, where more than 300,000 subscribers pay $US15 a month to play. They gain wealth through hard work, manipulating the market, or killing rivals in a distant future where humans have colonised the stars in an online game similar to World of Warcraft and Second Life.
"I'm not proud of it at all, that's why I didn't brag about it. But you know, if I had to do it again, I probably would've chosen the same path based on the same situation," he said. EBank survived the crisis. But Richard will not be returning to EVE anytime soon.
Source: The Age
Just goes to show human nature reflects similarly in the virtual world (EVE) as it does in the real (Wall St). Perhaps the problem is not just people but also the governing systems, the "game rules", which create unbalanced power and incentives which does not deter its abuse. Trust cannot exist in a monetary society therefore we need another solution - any comments?
It happened in EVE Online, where more than 300,000 subscribers pay $US15 a month to play. They gain wealth through hard work, manipulating the market, or killing rivals in a distant future where humans have colonised the stars in an online game similar to World of Warcraft and Second Life.
"I'm not proud of it at all, that's why I didn't brag about it. But you know, if I had to do it again, I probably would've chosen the same path based on the same situation," he said. EBank survived the crisis. But Richard will not be returning to EVE anytime soon.
Source: The Age
Just goes to show human nature reflects similarly in the virtual world (EVE) as it does in the real (Wall St). Perhaps the problem is not just people but also the governing systems, the "game rules", which create unbalanced power and incentives which does not deter its abuse. Trust cannot exist in a monetary society therefore we need another solution - any comments?
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