Items tagged with 'aa'
Sony's High-Power Li-Ion Batteries Promise Fast Recharging, Long Lifecycles
Around here, there seems to be a never-ending debate surrounding batteries. You can't live with 'em, and you certainly can't live without 'em. Whether we're discussing just how disingenuous most battery life figures seem on modern day notebooks or just how great our lives would be if someone could develop an AA cell that... Read More
Do Zebras Get Less Spam Than Aardvarks?
Email spam got you down? Is your first name Aaron? A study by Cambridge University security expert Richard Clayton shows that the first letter of your email address has a lot to do with the amount of spam you receive. The study (.PDF), titled "Do Zebras get more Spam than Aardvarks?" analyzed traffic logs from the U.K.... Read More
Are OEMs Using RIAA-Based Sound Card Drivers?
An interesting new conspiracy theory has arisen today. It appears that several laptop OEMs have been having "issues" with their sound card drivers: specifically, the Stereo Mix option is missing from their drivers, which basically means you can't record audio (except from Mic In). Whoops! Is this a case of Dell and others... Read More
Microsoft Dips A Toe In The SaaS Pool
Microsoft only has a few cash cows, but they're enormous cash cows. Their suite of Office programs isn't cheap, and many users just root around for old discs or pirated versions when they're loading up a new PC. Microsoft is trying out offering the software as a service (SaaS) for a $70 per year subscription price, along... Read More
The RIAA Are Pikers Compared To ASCAP
The lawsuits that the RIAA bring against illegal downloaders garner most of the attention paid to online music royalties, but suing grandmas and college kids is never really about the money; it's about discouraging many by suing a few. The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, better known as ASCAP, took... Read More
Forget SaaS. How About Crimeware As A Service?
Security firm Finjan has uncovered a criminal online supermarket of usable FTP security credentials for some of the largest and most prominent companies in the world. Oh yes -- and some government agencies. The crime ring that holds the information is selling the information to DIY malware entrepreneurs who can upload all... Read More
MPAA Admits Mistake on Downloading Study
The Motion Picture Association of America has always claimed great financial, er, ruin based on illegal downloads, and even blamed as much as 44% of its losses on college students. Now it turns out that number was just a wee overinflated.In a 2005 study it commissioned, the Motion Picture Association of America claimed... Read More
RIAA Website Wiped Clean by Hackers
It's a weekend, and a holiday weekend to boot, so the site might stay this way for some time. Someone apparently used SQL injection to wipe, and we do mean wipe, the RIAA's website clean of content.Apparently the RIAA is so busy suing consumers that they forgot to hire a decent programmer. With a simple SQL injection, all... Read More
RIAA Still Busting Students
Not deterred by bad press, it seems that the RIAA is content to continue their latest campaign against piracy.Their latest group of lawsuits has included numerous institutes of higher education:“The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), on behalf of the major record companies, this week sent a new wave of 407... Read More
The RIAA Isn't Suing Over Ripping Purchased CDs
Let's all calm down, shall we? There are a lot of news reports about the RIAA suing Jeffery Howell for ripping copies of his legally purchased music CDs for his own use. But according to engadget, that's not the case at all; he's being sued for the plain old-fashioned crime of participating in illegal downloading.As... Read More
RIAA Goes After Fair Use
Ripping CDs that you own for your personal use should be OK, right? Not according to the RIAA.Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further:... Read More
No Appeal For RIAA Victory
The recent RIAA victory in Capitol v. Thomas garnered a lot of media attention, and HotHardware was certainly no exception. The end result of the case was that Jammie Thomas was ordered to pay $220,000 in damages. After announcing she wouldn't appeal the ruling, she promptly reconsidered and filed for an appeal... Read More
From The “They Did Whaaaaaaat?” File
The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) is dedicated to protecting open-source and free software, thus it comes as a bit of a surprise that they're filing suit against two U.S. Companies that are allegedly redistributing software in violation of the GNU General Public License (GPL). The two companies that are being... Read More
RIAA Threatening America's Economic Future
By now just about everyone has heard of the RIAA and their law suits against people who have allegedly pirated music over the Internet. The stories of the RIAA suing grandmothers, minors, and the deceased are common place, but it seems that the RIAA's latest step might have taken things too far: they're asking that... Read More
Not Satisfied with P2P, RIAA Targets Usenet
Long before P2P networks, Usenet was a popular way to share binary files, besides of course, conversations. What with the RIAA already targeting P2P networks, why should it forget the old standby?In a lawsuit filed on October 12, the RIAA says that Usenet newsgroups contain "millions of copyrighted sound recordings"... Read More
RIAA vs..Thomas: 2 Jurors Pushed For $3.6M Fine
We just can't get enough of the recent story about the RIAA's recent victory over Janie Thomas of Minnesota, and we know you can't either. It had everything from a defendant that told different and mutually exclusive stories while under oath (albeit she did so at seperate trials) to a rare-as-hen's-teeth guilty verdict... Read More
How Many P2P Users Are RIAA Agents?
For years there has been concern over just who has been using peer to peer networks that offer illicit copies of copyrighted material. Not all of those concerns come from copyright holders or their agents.In fact it seems that there is, and has been, a large concern from those using P2P networks. It might seem... Read More
$220,000 RIAA Victory To Be Appealed?
Minnesotan Jammie Thomas was recently found guilty of file-sharing and ordered to pay $220,000 in restitution, but has decided that she's going to appeal the verdict instead. This probably isn't surprising considering the amount of the fine compared to her stated annual salary of $36,000 and because like everything... Read More
First RIAA Lawsuit to Reach Court to Begin
The first RIAA court case against an accused "music downloader" begins today. Jammie Thomas will become the first of 26,000 people who have been sued by the RIAA to have their case reach trial. The rest of those sued have settled out of court.The Brainerd, Minn., resident is accused of illegally sharing 1,702... Read More
USB Three Point Wooaaahhhh!
USB 3.0 is right around the corner, and rather than a minor speed boost, it looks like a serious technology reworking that could help USB 3.0 last well into the next decade.The major features of USB 3.0 are a tenfold speed increase and the obligatory lower power consumption."USB 3.0 is the next logical step for the PC's... Read More
Your Opinion Of Apple's Windows 7 FUD Ads?