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Archive for the 'Technology' Category

Where Orwell Got It Wrong

by Doug Mataconis @ Wednesday, June 9th, 2010. Filed under Individual Liberty, Privacy, Technology

Cory Doctrow, author of the new book Little Brother, talks about how George Orwell was wrong about the role of technology in personal liberty:

H/T: United Liberty

Justices Scalia, Breyer Not Quite Familiar With Twitter

by Doug Mataconis @ Saturday, May 22nd, 2010. Filed under Antonin Scalia, Internet, Supreme Court, Technology, Twitter

From a Congressional committee hearing today about technology in the Court system:

Justice Scalia: “I don’t know even what it is . . . I’ve heard it talked about”
Justice Breyer: “remember when they had that disturbance in Iran . . . there were some Twitters as I call them . . . but there were people [...]

How To Fix Your Facebook Privacy Settings In Two Minutes

by Doug Mataconis @ Saturday, May 15th, 2010. Filed under Facebook, Internet, Technology

There’s been plenty of discussion over the past few weeks about the new privacy settings that Facebook has established.
This video explains everything you need to know about them, and how to change the privacy settings on your account if you want to:

H/T: HuffPo

Sean Hannity Gives Free Airtime To Website That Facilitates Adulterous Affairs

by Doug Mataconis @ Thursday, May 13th, 2010. Filed under Dumbasses, Internet, Politicos & Pundits, Politics, Sean Hannity, Technology

Sean called it an examination of American morals, but Sean Hannity essentially gave eight minutes of free airtime on America’s highest rated cable network to the founder of AshleyMadison.com:
Watch the latest news video at video.foxnews.com
Sean, if you were so outraged, why have the guy on the air to begin with ?

Your Copy Machine Is A Security Risk

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, May 9th, 2010. Filed under In The News, Technology

This CBS News report reveals a surprising, and rather alarming, security risk in modern copy machines:
Watch CBS News Videos Online
H/T: Melissa Clouthier

The Beginning Of The End Of The White Pages

by Doug Mataconis @ Saturday, May 8th, 2010. Filed under In The News, Technology

Verizon is taking the first steps toward what is likely to be the end of printed phone directories:
The residential White Pages, those inches-thick tomes of fine-print telephone listings that may be most useful as doorstops, could stop landing with a thud on doorsteps across New York later this year.
Verizon, the dominant local phone company in [...]

Why YouTube Shouldn’t Censor The Hitler Parody Videos

by Doug Mataconis @ Thursday, May 6th, 2010. Filed under Individual Liberty, Internet, Technology

Reason’s Nick Gillespie makes the case:

1. It’s fair use! The parodies, which transform a few minutes of a three-hour movie, are clearly legit under existing copyright laws. Because they clearly transform the original and have no possibility of confusing viewers, the parodies are clearly protected speech.
2. This is free promotion! As George Lucas could tell the [...]

One Month, One Million iPads

by Doug Mataconis @ Monday, May 3rd, 2010. Filed under Technology, iPad

In one month, Apple says it has sold one million iPads:
CUPERTINO, California—May 3, 2010—Apple® today announced that it sold its one millionth iPad™ on Friday, just 28 days after its introduction on April 3. iPad users have already downloaded over 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new [...]

The Floppy Disk 1967-2010

by Doug Mataconis @ Tuesday, April 27th, 2010. Filed under Technology

Yesterday, Sony announced that it would stop selling the 3.5 inch floppy disk in Japan:
Sony announced on April 23rd that they will be discontinuing sales of the classic 3.5 inch floppy disk in Japan in 2011. The news marks a major end to a nearly three decade history of the disk type that the company [...]

Supreme Court To Hear Appeal Of California Video Game Law

by Doug Mataconis @ Monday, April 26th, 2010. Filed under Freedom of Speech, Individual Liberty, Supreme Court, Technology, U.S. Constitution

Last year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a California law that made it illegal to sell “violent” video games to minors. Today, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the State of California’s appeal in that case:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will decide whether free speech rights are more important than helping [...]

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