Sort of funny that Microsoft made a big show of handing over the Windows 7 RTM code to Lenovo and other manufacturers last week — the first activation crack for the OS has just appeared, and it’s based on Lenovo’s OEM license key. Oops. The crack apparently works with 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 Ultimate, and it apparently passes Genuine Advantage, so things are looking good for all you wannabe pirates out there. You did buy an upgrade disc, though, right?
They obviously have learned a lot about security. No, not Microsoft. The folks who cracked the license.
Thanks, Joe T
You can visit the website behind this video here. Listen carefully for the Wilhelm scream in the video.
 That’s the noise it makes? “Bing?” |
Microsoft and Yahoo have reached an agreement on a 10-year search deal. The agreement will allow both companies to focus on their core strengths: Microsoft’s Bing will become the default search engine on Yahoo.com, and Yahoo will eventually take over the ad inventory on all Bing search results, eliminating complexity for advertisers (and internal overhead).
The Department of Justice still needs to sign off on the deal, but executives of Microsoft and Yahoo are reportedly confident that will ultimately happen. The agreement will probably take months to finalize, but since Google currently claims 65 percent of U.S. searches, and Yahoo and Microsoft 19.6 and 8.4 percent, respectively, the sooner they can start to catch up, the better.
From Microsoft’s press release, some of the key terms of the agreement:
The term of the agreement is 10 years; Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10 year license to Yahoo!’s core search technologies, and Microsoft will have the ability to integrate Yahoo! search technologies into its existing web search platforms;
Microsoft’s Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo! sites. Yahoo! will continue to use its technology and data in other areas of its business such as enhancing display advertising technology.
Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers. Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft’s AdCenter platform, and prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter’s automated auction process.
RTFA for details.
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A Broward father lost all rights to his daughter after being declared an unfit dad. Now he is dead, and a court is reconsidering whether to restore his parental rights.
In life, he was a lousy father. His love for the crack pipe was mightier than the love for his children, a Broward judge decided, and ended his parental rights to his pre-teen daughter.
But before his appeal of the judge’s order was final, the father known in court records as C.A. died when he was hit by a car. And now, an appeals court is wondering: perhaps the little girl should keep her father, after all.
A Broward County court is set to consider restoring a dead man’s parental rights to his now 13-year-old daughter, so she might be able to receive part of a possible payout from a lawsuit over his death…
Child welfare legal experts…say the ruling appears to be the first time a Florida judge has been asked to restore a parent’s rights after death.
“Obviously, this case presents challenges that we haven’t dealt with yet,” Judge Frusciante said.
Where is Solomon when you really need him?
The “flat-rate sex” promotions, which are based on all-you-can-eat restaurants, have been introduced by brothel owners in a bid to revive trade that has fallen around 30 per cent in the economic downturn. Other imaginative offers include rebates for pensioners and people on benefits, 10 per cent discounts for men who arrive by bicycle or public transport, and free shoe-polishing for customers who stay overnight.
But it is the flat-rate deals – which are priced as low as £60 (€70) – that have attracted particular controversy in a country where prostitution is legal and generally well-tolerated.
The promotion is popular which brothel owners who have to pay their sex workers a fixed daily wage whether or not they have any clients.
Is “shoe-polishing” a euphemism for something?
In other brothel-related news, a New Zealand Olympic champion is going to fund his next trip by starting his own brothel.
Well, you’ve gotta get their attention, right?
A driver, now identified as an Asheville [NC] firefighter, shot a bicycle rider because he was angry the man was riding with his child on a busy road, Asheville police said.
[…]Officers said the victim was riding with his wife and had his 3-year-old son in a child seat attached to his bicycle when a driver approached him.
Police said the driver, Charles Diez, claimed he was upset that the victim was bike riding with his child on the heavily traveled Tunnel Road.
Diez pulled a gun and opened fire, hitting the victim in his bicycle helmet, according to police. They said the bullet penetrated the outer lining of the helmet but did not actually hit the victim’s head.
Police arrested Diez and charged him with attempted first degree murder.
Remember when discussions of gun control were all the rage?
The map is from two years ago. While the Senator’s positions (and Senators) may have changed, it’s unlikely any of the costs listed have gone down.
Is the public option dead? Liberals fear losing it. The White House is pushing ‘curve bending,’ whatever the hell that means. Republicans, on the other hand, are trying to scare the elderly and spouting other blatantly false crap which hurts their credibility. And then, out in the far reaches of the galaxy that even Hubble can’t see, is Glenn Beck.
SEATTLE – A local man returning from a trip to Central America was dumbfounded when military officials had him arrested for being a deserter – even though he was never in the military. “To one day just be arrested, and like – here you go, you’re detained, and not have any idea why …” says Chris Parks of Seattle, his voice trailing off.
For Parks, 27, the incredible headache began a few weeks ago as he and some friends were coming back to the United States after a trip to Mexico and Central America. As he went through customs at the Charlotte airport in North Carolina, his name caught the attention of Homeland Security personnel. Parks’ name was flagged as being a deserter from the military.
“I’ve been in the Army for 10 years, and didn’t even know it,” he says. “Just seems kind of odd.”
He was tossed into the county jail in Charlotte and locked up for one week. When told he was a fugitive, he was floored. Parks was then ordered to report to Fort Knox in Kentucky – where he sat and waited and waited some more with actual military deserters.
His head was shaved, he was issued fatigues. He was afraid he would be court-martialed. Parks says when he was 18, he nearly joined the Army. But at the last minute, he backed out. Army records showed that Parks had gone through basic training in South Carolina, then went AWOL from a base in Georgia. He says being detained cost him about $1,500 – plus lost time at work.
Ha! He’s just damn lucky he didn’t get deployed… and then re-deployed.
Actually, it’s worse than I thought.
It isn’t exactly breaking news that texting while driving is a bad idea. But a study released Monday night reveals just how dangerous it really can be.
After examining the behavior of truck drivers covering more than 6 million miles of road, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute concluded that people who send text messages while driving are 23 times more likely to be in a crash (or what they call a near-crash event) than nondistracted drivers.To conduct the study, researchers mounted cameras inside drivers’ vehicles. They studied where drivers’ eyes were looking as they did various things, such as texting, dialing a cell phone, talking on a phone, and reaching for an object. Not surprisingly, the numbers (PDF) showed that the tasks that took people’s eyes off the road caused the greatest amount of danger.
In crashes or near-crashes, texting took a driver’s focus away from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds–enough time, the report point out, to travel the length of a football field at 55 mph.
By contrast, talking on a cell phone, which allows drivers to keep their eyes on the road, represented an increased risk of only 1.3 times that of a nondistracted driver.
A Swedish couple in search of the isle of Capri drove to Carpi, an industrial town in northern Italy, because they misspelt the name in their car’s GPS.
Italian officials say the couple asked at Carpi’s tourist office where they could find Capri’s famous Blue Grotto.
The car’s sat nav system had sent them 650km off course to Carpi.
“Capri is an island. They did not even wonder why they didn’t cross any bridge or take any boat,” said a bemused tourism official in Carpi.
Once they realised their mistake, the couple got back in their car and headed south, the official added.
Har!
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Here is what Gary Shapiro CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said: Dvorak's writing sings with insight and clarity. Whether or not you agree with John's views, he will get you thinking and is never boring. These essays are worth the read!
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