One fake URL and some detective work later, Adobe and Omniture’s run at customer privacy is at an end. Until the next time they get caught, that is. That’s right, Adobe was busted over the holidays for using a fake URL relay in its CS3 series of applications to gather data on its users.
In recent years, people have argued against solar energy as a main source of power because of the expense of setting it up and maintaining it. Thanks to a recent breakthrough by the Nanosolar company, solar power may soon be cheaper than our current number one source of energy, coal. What’s the cost savings? A huge drop from $3 USD per watt to less than 30 cents per watt.
This week a federal appeals court in the United States dealt a blow to online behemoth Google, Inc. In a lawsuit brought against Google by Hyperphrase Technologies LLC, a summary judgement had been reached by a lesser court in Google’s favor regarding the use of technology behind their AdSense and AutoLink. The patent decision by the federal court reversed a portion of that summary judgement, dealing a blow to Google.
Learning from America’s mistake in enacting the Real ID Act that has American citizens in an uproar, Australia has wisely decided to abandon its own proposed National ID Act. Their version of the Act called on government to issue an Australian Access Card. This card would have then been required to use any state services, including Medicare and social security payments, to travel and get health care, among other things.
In the news today are two stories that should grab the attention of any analog cable and cell network user, including people who have OnStar and analog cable television (think rabbit ears, or television that works without a cable box). The analog network that has been in place for nearly 25 years is shutting down by order of the FCC in February 2008. What this means is a lot of unplanned expense for a significant segment of the population.
The University of Maine’s Law Clinic plans to tackle the RIAA on behalf of its students. This is a first in the long onslaught recently perpetrated by the RIAA against college students everywhere. With this unprecedented show of support, the University of Maine is making history.
It is the great debate: can Open Source products really do everything their proprietary brethren can do? The answer is yes, yes they can. Not only are they just as good (and often better) than their proprietary counterparts, they often address issues the proprietary software doesn’t.
The metropolis of Chicago is under fire from its citizens for cell phone tickets. The offenders that were caught are claiming that the city didn’t enact the law properly. In short, these people want to get off on a technicality.
Google has been hit by a trojan before, in 2005. That trojan targeted Google ads and inserted obscene ads in place of regular ads. This new trojan targets Google’s Adsense text ads.
Last week MOG, social music networking site, announced a collaboration with Rhapsody. This collaboration would place Rhapsody downloads on their site and make them available to MOG users. You’d think that was good news.
In the news today: Senator Chris Dodd is taking a stand against the recent possible Senate vote to grant Big TelComs immunity in a revision of FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act). Siding with the Internet community, he has planned to filibuster in a stand against the provisions. What do these provisions entail?
In a landmark decision, the Dutch government of The Netherlands will go completely Open Source in 2008. In an age bureaucracies still cling to proprietary software solutions like Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite and others, this decision is huge. A government going Open Source is a huge step in this time of increasing technological control measures being taken by other governments.
A few claims are floating around the internet this week examining the theory that the frequency emitted by your Wii will attract cockroaches. That’s right - nasty, vile, cockroaches. And we don’t mean the cockroaches you call friends that come over to scam time on your Wii and eat you out of house and home. We mean the creepy, crawly, insect creatures that many scientists think will one day outlive every life form on Earth.
Haven’t the boffins at Honda seen Battlestar Galactia or Terminator or The Matrix? Don’t they know what happens when you make robots too smart? Apparently not, as Honda’s ASIMO humanoid robot has received an update to give the advanced humanoid robot greater intelligence technology.
It’s the holidays, that time of year when there are family pictures and movies to send to all of your far-flung friends and family. We’ve all experienced the frustration that ensues when trying to teach someone who does not enjoy or understand computers how to use them to send and receive cards, photos and movies by email. If you’ve set up a family web site, it can be an even steeper learning curve.
While we’re no longer producing a print edition of FREE ACCESS, we are producing a special magazine on behalf of D-Link that focuses on networking.