Mar 20 2009

Google Designer Leaves, Blaming Data-Centrism

Douglas Bowman, Google’s visual design leader, is leaving the company after finding the company’s reliance on detailed Web page performance data too confining.

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Mar 20 2009

China Mobile says it’s still in iPhone talks

Despite prior negotiations repeatedly breaking down, the world’s largest mobile phone network operator says it’s still negotiating with Apple to bring the iPhone to China.

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Mar 20 2009

This is the way the Internet ends: not with a bang, but DPI

Free Press claims that deep packet inspection could bring about the end of the Internet “as we know it.” But the rest of the world knows it all to well already.

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Mar 20 2009

eBay Describes the Scale of Its Counterfeit Goods Problem

Ian Lamont writes “As the Tiffany vs. eBay lawsuit winds its way through a federal appeals court, eBay has trotted out some numbers that show how many sellers attempt to sell fake goods on the auction site. Millions of auctions were delisted last year, and tens of thousands of accounts were suspended after reports were made to eBay’s Verified Rights Owner program, which lets trademark owners notify eBay of fake goods being sold on the site. eBay says 100% of reported listings were removed from the site last year, most within 12 hours, and the company uses sellers’ background information to make sure that they don’t create new accounts to sell delisted items. Tiffany brought the suit against eBay in 2004, alleging that eBay was turning a blind eye to counterfeit luxury goods and demanding that eBay police its listings for bogus goods. Tiffany lost the case last July and will shortly present its arguments to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York. A similar case in France cost eBay million.”

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Mar 20 2009

Oracle’s Take On Red Hat Linux

darthcamaro writes “For nearly three years, Oracle has had its own version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, claiming the two versions are essentially the same thing. But are they really? As it turns out, there are a few things on which Oracle and Red Hat do not see eye-to-eye, including file systems and virtualization. The article quotes Wim Coekaerts, Oracle’s director of Linux engineering, saying, ‘A lot of people think Oracle is doing Enterprise Linux as just basically a rip off of Red Hat but that’s not what this is about. … This is about a support program, and wanting to offer quality Linux OS support to customers that need it. The Linux distribution part is there just to make sure people can get a freely available Linux operating system that is fully supported.'”

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Mar 20 2009

FSF Files Amicus Brief In RIAA Case

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes “The Free Software Foundation has requested permission to file an amicus curiae brief in an RIAA case, SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, defending the defendant’s Due Process defense to the RIAA’s claim for statutory damages. In the brief [PDF], FSF cites some of the leading authorities for the defense, including the 2003 decision of the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in Parker v. Time Warner, which held that excessive statutory damages are subject to the same due process test applicable to punitive damage awards by juries. Additionally, the brief cites three district court decisions, including UMG v. Lindor, and two law review articles — all of which deal specifically with Copyright Act statutory damages applicable to infringement of an MP3 file — to like effect.”

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Mar 20 2009

OWFS: a Linux application targeted for 1-Wire

1-Wire bus is a communication system which uses just one wire. It is quite similar to I2C, except for the data rate, which is lower, the costs, which are very low, and the range, which is higher. The 1-Wire protocol allows the communication among several devices such as: temperature, humidity, and pressure sensors, thermocouples etc

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Mar 20 2009

I Stole My Friend’s Identity

If you think online safety stems from anonymity, guess what: Stealing your online identity is even easier if you don’t have one.

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Mar 20 2009

TomTom countersues tyrannical monopolist Microsoft

“TomTom has responded to Microsoft’s patent suit by filing a patent claim of its own against the software maker”

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Mar 20 2009

Obama Administration Promises "Thorough Review" of USTR Policies

After all of the uproar surrounding some of the Obama administration’s recent decisions, trade officials have promised a thorough review of the USTR policies regarding transparency. In an effort to ensure that the review includes all possible angles, the USTR is urging groups to make other proposals as well. “KEI is very impressed with the USTR decision to undertake a review of USTR transparency efforts. They are taking this much further than simply reviewing policies on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), or recent controversies over the secrecy surrounding the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations. The review offers the possibility of more transformative changes, including pro-active measures to enhance transparency, covering all aspects of USTR operations, including multilateral, plurilateral, regional, bilateral and unilateral trade policies and negotiations. We are also grateful that USTR is offering to have a continuing dialogue on this issues. KEI will offer additional suggestions on transparency to USTR, and we encourage others to do so also.”

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