Microsoft to reimburse for damage caused by their faulty software

So you download the new anti-spyware tool from Microsoft cause your wife has installed every bargain hunting spyware, pop-up ad, get rich scheme application on the family computer.

You run the application and it destroys your files, including the collection of mp3s you bought from allofmp3.com for 10 billion rubles.

Fear not, Microsoft will reimburse you for the damage. Up to $5 USD.

Oh my god, I'm, like, so going to install that application. Awesome!

-TPP

T-Mobile - more holes than in swiss cheese

The scorecard so far:

Paris Hilton cracks: 2
Fred Durst cracks: 1

T-Mobile customers lost: ???

I wouldn't choose T-Mobile as my cellphone provider, if I was a celebrity.

Incidentally I did switch from T-Mobile over their handling of the big cracking incident late last year. They had known the cracker had access to their customer information for months, yet failed to plug the hole and notify impacted customers, except Paris Hilton, who apparently was important enough.

-TPP

Come uppance is a biatch

The article describes Mr. Stewart Woodworth's battle against Sprint, whose collection department's phone number is one digit off of his business cellphone number. People get calling to beg him from disconnecting their Sprint service for unpaid bills. Sprint refused to take care of changing his or their number and the costs of all those misdialed incoming calls. Read the article to find out what he did to "expedite" the issue.

Wouldn't it just have been easier for Sprint to do what's right instead of what's cheaper (short term)?

Greed is good?

-TPP

allofmp3.com is legal...no illegal...no, wait, legal....oh crap, let's make it illegal

So, allofmp3.com, a Russian music download site, claims they're legit and are paying royalties to what they say is the Russian authority that collects royalty payments for musicians.

Well, looks like Russian IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) thought otherwise and asked the Moscow City Police Computer Crimes Division to investigate allofmp3.com. The police concluded their investigation earlier this month and are recommending the prosecutors charge allofmp3.com for criminal copyright infringement.

Let's see what happens next. Will the operators pack their bags and skip town, will they just shut it down and play quiet or will they fight it.

It's also interesting to see what the copyright stormtroopers in other countries will want to do with the customer list. I'm 100% sure the Russian IFPI will politely ask the Moscow City Police to confiscate the customer list and forget it at IFPI's mailbox.

-TPP

Searchable javadoc archives

I hate making sure the javadocs for all the third party libraries I'm using are uptodate and trying to remember which directory did I install them into. This is why the emergence of searchable javadoc archives is really helpful.

JDocs.com
docjar

Both of these have been around for quite some time, but I just finished playing around with them a little bit.

Both also have Eclipse plugins and JDocs also has a FireFox plugin. The docjar Eclipse plugin has a free for non-commercial use license, which pretty much excludes me from using it, especially since JDocs Eclipse plugin is free.

The Eclipse plugin for JDocs is extremely nice, and surprisingly fast. A great addition to any developer's toolkit.

-TPP

subtle vs. grandiose

My friend Kim spotted this one.

Hey, it was almost $30M cheaper, what do you expect!

-TPP

Cats are cute, and sometimes useful

Don't try that at home though.

-TPP