The new Microsoft WAT [Windows Activation Technologies] regime relies upon a series of autonomous "cradle to grave" authentication verification connections to a central and ever-expanding Microsoft piracy signature database, even in the absence of major hardware changes or other significant configuration alterations that might otherwise cause the OS or local applications to query the user for explicit permission to reauthenticate.

Microsoft will trigger forced downgrading to non-genuine status if they believe a Windows 7 system is potentially pirated based on their "phone home" checks that will occur at (for now) 90 day intervals during the entire life of Windows 7 on a given PC, even months or years after purchase.

En av dessa saker är argumentet om att den som har rent mjöl i påsen inte har något att frukta. Det är ett sånt där argument som 'vanligt hederligt' folk går med på, och kanske till och med använder själva lite då och då. Problemet med det här argumentet är dock att det inte är ett argument. Det är inte heller ett pseudoargument. Det är - och jag gör här ett noggrant och väl avvägt urval av de många begrepp jag har lärt mig använda under mina år på universitetet - ett skitargument.

På denna blogg kommer juristerna på Antipiratbyrån; Henrik Pontén och Sara Lindbäck att i mån av tid och behov ge mer personliga kommenterar till händelser som berör oss. Detta är en sida som välkomnar alla som vill delta i en seriös debatt men man ska våga stå för sina åsikter och skriva under sina inlägg med sitt riktiga namn. För er som inte vill göra detta finns det ett otal andra forum på internet. Välkomna!

The ubiquity of frustrating, unhelpful software interfaces has motivated decades of research into “Human-Computer Interaction.” In this paper, I suggest that the long-standing focus on “interaction” may be misguided. For a majority subset of software, called “information software,” I argue that interactivity is actually a curse for users and a crutch for designers, and users’ goals can be better satisfied through other means.

Apple is marketing the iPad as a computer, when really it's nothing more than a media-consumption device - a convergence television, if you will. Think of it this way: One of the fundamental attributes of computers is that they are interactive and reconfigurable. You can change the way a computer behaves at a very deep level. Interactivity on the iPad consists of touching icons on the screen to change which application you're using. Hardly more interactive than changing channels on a TV.

Let's bring back barratry, maintenance, and champerty for patent lawsuits.

Combine that with a limitation on the assignment of patents and a lot of patent trolls would be out of business.

I pinged a few of my freelancer friends and asked them if they thought independent consulting was dead or if they agreed with the ICCA’s moribund description of the industry. While none of them thought it was “dead”, we all seem to agree that the situation isn’t very healthy either. Independents will need more and better ways to distinguish themselves and with unique services if they are to survive. And even if the economy does “come back”, we all agree that the good ‘ol days are long gone for the independent consultant, as a species.

13. Be mindful about Facebook tagging

People differ on how open they want to be about their private lives on social networks like Facebook. They also vary in how wide their social circle is. Some only "friend" people who actually are their close friends. Others "friend" everyone, from co-workers and grandparents to strangers.

When you snap a photo with your phone and "tag" someone in it, you're showing the picture to all of his Facebook friends, and you don't know how open or selective he's been about "friending" people. Compromising pictures involving weird haircuts, drunkenness, partial nudity or silly behavior might not bother you, but you don't know how others feel about such things.

A good rule of thumb is to get permission to tag someone else's photo -- or at least never tag a photo unless you're sure that person wouldn't mind showing it to his mother, boss and children.

I think there are serious opportunities for evolution available to the Microsofts, Apples and Ubuntus of the world, but they involve embracing new technologies in new ways. And stealing a ton of ideas from phones. A finger on a screen is not a mouse on a pad, an internet browser is not the end-all be-all of the internet, and playing Crysis in a quad HD resolution at 60 fps is not the ultimate expression of gaming for 95% of the population. Join me as I explore a few bits of legacy cruft that need to be addressed before the desktop OS can become as important to this decade as it was to the last one.

I have a major pet peeve that I need to confess. I go insane when I hear programmers talking about statistics like they know shit when it’s clearly obvious they do not. I’ve been studying it for years and years and still don’t think I know anything. This article is my call for all programmers to finally learn enough about statistics to at least know they don’t know shit. I have no idea why, but their confidence in their lacking knowledge is only surpassed by their lack of confidence in their personal appearance.