[Slashdot-mailer] Slashdot Daily Report (11/19/2000)
David Jacoby
jacoby@ecn.purdue.edu
Sun, 19 Nov 2000 11:00:03 -0500 (EST)
Slashdot Daily Report ( http://slashdot.org/ )
News for Nerds. Stuff That Matters.
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Rambus to Attempt to Collect Royalties on Chipsets
A articles article from the "you-gotta-be-kidding-me" department
sent by CmdrTaco
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/18/1458206
Datafage writes "According to this article,
RAMBUS is going to go after the manufacturers of
all chipsets that interface with RAM, including
Intel, AMD, Via, and presumably video chipset
manufacturers in their relentless pursuit of
royalties for their ill-gotten patents. This begs
the question: Will they ever stop?"
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Kaplan on DeCSS, DMCA, Hackers, and More
A articles article from the "stuff-to-read" department
sent by CmdrTaco
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/18/154222
AltGrendel writes "Wired has a story about Judge
Kaplan of DVD Piracy trials fame. He has an
interesting view of hackers, to say the least."
Doesn't say really anything we haven't heard
elsewhere, but it does make a few interesting
points. He's a smart guy, no doubt about it. I
just wish he wasn't wrong.
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Rounding Out your IDE Cables
A articles article from the "allright-thats-clever" department
sent by CmdrTaco
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/18/157236
BrookHarty sent us a story that proves that
sometimes it's the little things that are clever.
Are you as annoyed as I am that those pesky IDE
cables are big flat things that are hard to move
around? Well, here's a HOWTO that explains, well,
how to round them out! It won't solve global
warming or change the world. But dang it, that's
cool.
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Do Media Companies Have Copyright Wrong?
A askslashdot article from the "reanalyzing-the-basic-premise" department
sent by Cliff
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/18/1853254
Microsift asks: "I own the Beatles White Album on
vinyl, but I don't have a record player. If I want
to buy the CD new, I have to pay full price. This
begs the question, when I buy an album, what am I
buying. I don't own the music, I just own the
right to listen to it, so why do I have to pay the
same for the CD as someone who doesn't own the
album? As media become obsolete (Records,
videotapes, CDs?). Media companies receive a
windfall from people double paying for access to
the company's intellectual property. Of course,
obsolete media is not the only issue, there are
several movies that have been released in multiple
versions (Director's Cuts and the like). Someone
who bought the first version would have to pay for
the original content twice to get access to the
added content in the newer version (which is
clearly wrong). Compare this to a software model.
If you own a version of Microsoft Office,
Microsoft will sell you a copy of the latest
version for a reduced price. So who has it right
us or them?"
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AOL Seeks Cable Pact With MSN
A articles article from the "please-exercise-safe-bedfellowship" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/18/2041237
Daemosthenes points to this Washington Post
article, which reads in part: "America Online Inc.
is negotiating a deal to give its long-standing
nemesis Microsoft Corp. access to Time Warner
Inc.'s cable-television lines in a push to meet
government demands over AOL's pending takeover of
the media company, according to sources familiar
with the matter. The rapprochement between AOL and
MSN, Microsoft's online service, is a startling
reversal of form for two fierce competitors
offering rival online services and
instant-messaging systems." The entangling
alliances here are thicker than your average EULA,
too -- the story points out some of the other
tendrils which tie together several of the big
ISPs, including one of mine (Earthlink).
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ProcessTree Gets Its First (Paying) Client
A articles article from the "but-will-they-pay-bettter-than-the-aliens-from-seti?" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/19/0114227
myosin writes: "ProcessTree (sell your unused
cycles for $$$) will soon announce it has its
first paying client. Here's the [preliminary]
announcement :) From their site: 'The good news is
that as soon as the end of the month, some of the
suppliers of ProcessTree will be able to earn
money with their computers. The bad news is that
this only applies to a limited number of
participants that will be hand-picked according to
the requirements of the project.'" And joe points
out (from that same announcement) that "The job is
a quality-of-service monitoring system that allows
real-time checking on the performance and
availability of Web sites. We will initially start
with 25 locations, for each of which we plan to
have a number of suppliers to provide a 24/7
coverage from each location. Each such group in a
location we call an 'ideal machine.'" However,
they prefer to trade shekels only for cycles on
your permanently connected Windows-based machines
for now, thanks.
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Will New TLDs' Restrictions Negate Their Aims?
A articles article from the "guess-that-cuts-out-lemonadestand.biz-for-a-bit" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/19/0159220
Kyle writes: "According to this story on Wired,
most of the new TLDs selected by ICANN will be
restricted. For example, .biz will sport a $2000
price tag with an annual $150 fee, and will be
limited to verifiable, legitimate businesses with
specific commercial intent. The .pro TLD will be
used exclusively by certified "professionals,"
including doctors, lawyers, etc. If the point is
to introduce competition for .com, ICANN might
have missed the target. Might this exclusivity
limit the popularity of new domains? If almost no
one is allowed to use them, the general consumer
will likely be unaware that they exist, and
continue in their .com'ocentric mindset." Problem
is, who says what's bona fide? Would officious
rules like this allow eccentric, personal
Web-museums (like the online LED Museum)
into.museum?
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5 GHz Wireless Networking With CMOS Transceivers
A articles article from the "that's-not-a-wireless-transciever" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/19/066224
cthugha writes: "On the back of IPv6 and fat
pipes, we Aussies have been at it again. Radiata,
a company set up by a couple of Sydney-based
researchers, has achieved wireless networking for
LANs in the 5 GHz band using CMOS-based
transceivers. This means (i) low power
consumption, (ii) high bandwidth (currently, 54
Mbps with a view to getting up to 100 Mbps) and
(iii) low cost. Unfortunately, like most
Australian inventions, this one has only found
serious commercial backing overseas, specifically
from Cisco (government/big business over here has
no brain)." Products, please? For half a billion
dollars' investment, I hope Cisco plans to start
selling some toys, fast.
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What Does The Future Hold For Linux?
A askslashdot article from the "looking-ahead" department
sent by Cliff
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/18/192236
Nailer asks: "With kernel 2.4 in the final stages
of bug hunting, and on track for a December
release, I thought it might be pertinent to
discuss the future of Linux. What now? ReiserFS
will apparently be in 2.4.1, but there's very
little information about the mid to long term
available. Where do you think Linux [the OS, as
well as the kernel] will head in the future?
Personally, I'd really like to see POSIX ACLs as
the default permission system [allowing the fine
grained access control that many apps try and
implement themselves]. What do you think?"
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The info is Rob Malda's
The code is mine
MOTD: -----------------------------------
I am no longer associated with Purdue, except for being a former
student, former employee, and active member of the Linux Users Group.
As such, I'll either be moving this service to another server or
killing it entirely. Your input is requested as to what you'd like.
Then again, when was the last time I changed the MOTD? And when was
last time it was read?