August 2009
7 posts
4 tags
Auto Fail: Automatic Update Mechanisms and their... →
New update available! Click here to download now! From virus signature updates that identify competing products as a trojan, to operating system updates that break core functionality, there has been no shortage of quality control failures in updates released by vendors. Many of these updates are delivered to the user’s computer via automatic update mechanisms. That means these problematic...
4 tags
Why NPR.org Scrapped The Fees And Made Transcripts... →
One of the biggest changes we made with the launch of the new NPR.org was offering free transcripts on the site. Ever since NPR started transcribing its radio programs in 1990, we have been selling transcripts to help defray the costs of producing them. In the old days, we used to mail out copies of the transcripts, a time-consuming and expensive process for all involved. In 2002 we added...
5 tags
Licensed Memory in Windows Vista →
Though machines with 4GB are not yet the typical purchase for home or business use, they are readily available from major manufacturers and it won’t be long before they are the typical purchase. But there are problems. You don’t have to stand for long in a computer shop to hear a sales assistant talk of 4GB as some sort of limit for 32-bit operating systems, and it won’t be long before this...
5 tags
EFF's new lawsuit, and how the NSA is into social... →
A new lawsuit from the EFF seeks to shed light on the mysterious “Other Intelligence Activities” that the NSA was engaged in after 9/11, and that the DoJ eventually found to be illegal. Based Ars’ reporting of the government’s datamining efforts, we suggest that it probably looks a lot like social network crawling.
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1 tag
The Matrix, but with money: the world of... →
Supercomputers pitted against one another in a high-stakes battle of attack and counterattack over a global network where predatory algorithms trawl the information stream, competing every millisecond to gain an informational advantage over rivals. It sounds like Hollywood fiction, but it’s just an average trading day on the stock market.
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2 tags
Google Voice and you: what it is and how you can... →
Have you been hearing all the chatter about Google Voice but still haven’t caught up on what it is? Ars gives you the rundown on Google’s calling service and how you can use it to screen and forward calls, send free SMSs, and even get your voicemails transcribed and sent to your inbox.
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4 tags
Why Amazon went Big Brother on some Kindle e-books →
Customers were left puzzled as to why Amazon would reach out and delete e-books from their Kindle readers, and the situation was made ironic given that the books were Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm. Ars reports why this happened, and how the future will be different.
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