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Monday, August 23, 2010
The Doctor Who Wee-Wee Conundrum
by (I am a teacher at a school in the North East of England. Before you start to moan and think “Oh my God, another loony lefty or liberal teacher who is about to spout forth a loud of nonsense in an, I know all the solutions to the worlds problems, type way”; before you think “I know exactly what kind of leftist tripe I’m going to hear from this guy”; before you flick back on to your own word press site or face book page and think to yourself Who the hell is this guy anyway ….)
by (I am a teacher at a school in the North East of England. Before you start to moan and think “Oh my God, another loony lefty or liberal teacher who is about to spout forth a loud of nonsense in an, I know all the solutions to the worlds problems, type way”; before you think “I know exactly what kind of leftist tripe I’m going to hear from this guy”; before you flick back on to your own word press site or face book page and think to yourself Who the hell is this guy anyway ….)
I guess this next entry is going to seem a little puerile but I can’t resist: On our day out on Thursday (sorry for a repeat performance of this Barney and Ruth), Laurence noticed that the small entrance to the public conveniences at Paulton’s Park led into a deceptively roomy toileting area.
“It’s like the TARDIS in here Dad.” He said.
“What do you mean son?”
“Its much bigger inside than it looks outside,” he observed.
This prompted a much bigger discussion around the issue of toilets on the TARDIS. Are there any toilets on the TARDIS? Does Dr. Who ever need to go to the toilet? Would his toileting habits be different from those of humans?
Read the full story here sometimes the bloggers tackle the big issues
Did Weak Copyright Laws Help Germany Outpace The British Empire?
There’s a new thesis making the rounds that has already stimulated plenty of discussion about the benefits and costs of copyright laws. It comes from the German economic historian Eckhard Höffner, his work summarized in a Der Spiegel review titled “No Copyright Law: The Real Reason for Germany’s Industrial Expansion.”
Höffner contends (according to the review) that the near absence of copyright law in eighteenth and nineteenth century Germany laid the groundwork for the “Gründerzeit”—the enormous wave of economic growth that Deutschland experienced in the middle and later nineteenth century.
Read More http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/copyright-germany-britain/#ixzz0xTV0JhAY
Pay Up in Philadelphia to Blog
Got a blog that makes no money? The city wants $300, thank you very much.
In May, the city sent Bess a letter demanding that she pay $300, the price of a business privilege license.
ViewSonic to show 10-inch dual-boot Windows tablet
Along with 7-inch Android tablet
By Patrick Goss
ViewSonic will show off a 7-inch Android tablet at IFA called the ViewPad 7, alongside an Intel-based 10-inch tablet that will dual-boot Windows and Android.
The Californian manufacturer is keen to resurrect the ViewPad brand, which was operating as far back as 2002, and hopes that its latest offerings can impress when they are shown off at IFA.
"The ViewPad 7, a 7" Android tablet with 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, access to thousands of applications and front and back-facing cameras will be previewed for the first time in Europe," said ViewSonic's release.
: http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/portable-computing/viewsonic-to-show-10-inch-dual-boot-windows-tablet-711783#ixzz0xTJJyRf5
New credit card restrictions take effect
New rules designed to protect credit card users from "unreasonable late payment and other penalty fees" went into effect Sunday as a result of the Credit Card Act of 2009.
The rules block credit card companies from charging more than $25 for late payments except in extreme circumstances, prevent them from charging customers for not using their cards, and requires them to reconsider rate increases imposed since January 1, 2009, according to the Federal Reserve, which approved the regulations
Video site Hulu prepping for IPO that values company at $2B?
Fast-growing online movie and TV hub Hulu plans to go public in an initial public offering that values the company at more than $2 billion, according to the New York Times.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the New York Times said that Hulu executives have talked to investment banks about doing an IPO as soon as this fall.
Hulu is one of the hottest companies in new media, since it can stream popular TV shows such as Glee. Users can watch the shows for free as long as they watch ads. Hulu is also adding a $9.99 a month subscription service, which could make it more competitive against rival services such as Netflix, YouTube andApple TV, which is expected to get a makeover from Apple
by Tom Krazit
Six months after its debut, it's becoming clear that Google Buzz has yet to become the social-media breakthrough that Google craves.
That's because if a Buzz falls on the Internet and nobody hears it, it never really happened. Popular tech podcaster and blogger Leo Laporte discovered over the weekend that two weeks' worth of Buzz posts set to be public never actually showed up in his public feed.
UK Anti-P2P Lawyer Faces Disciplinary Tribunal
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) decides to refer Andrew Crossley of ACS Law to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) following complaints over the firm’s practice of sending ‘bullying’ letters to people it accused of illegal file-sharing.
Back in May of last year a new law firm called ACS: Lawsprang up to take on the battle of illegal file-sharing, sending out P2P “settlement” letter en masse on behalf of a number of different copyright folders.
uTorrent’s New Privacy Settings Cause Confusion
Written by ErnestoA few days ago the uTorrent team updated the 3.0 release with several privacy features. Due to some unfortunate wording, the new feature caused confusion among users. One of the new options, “do not share your IP with peers”, led some to believe that uTorrent had implemented a new feature that makes BitTorrent transfers anonymous.
A day before we published an article on how BitTorrent users can hide their identities from the outside world , the uTorrent development team released build 21340 of the uTorrent 3.0 client.
California moves to outlaw online "e-personation"
Hoping to administer a powerful sockdolager to online fraudsters, the California legislature passed a bill earlier this month that makes it illegal to impersonate someone else online.
Its backer, state senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), says that the old laws against fraud or defamation just aren't cutting it anymore. "In the age of the Internet, pretending to be someone else is as easy as using their name to create a new e-mail account. When that is done to cause harm, folks need a law on the books they can turn to," he said. "New laws are needed to crack down on this form of harassment."
Samsung Blu-ray players won't play Warner, Universal movies after firmware update, require a rollback
As annoying as continuous Blu-ray player updates are, usually having the latest one is the best way to play more movies. Unfortunately the opposite was the case for Samsung (again) with the v2.09 update posted recently for its 2009 BD-Px600 line of players. Forum posters on CNETand AVSForum report the upgrade blocked them from playing Universal and Warner Bros.