As we say in Dutch, de kogel is door de kerk: Think Secret will cease all activities after reaching a settlement with Apple in a lawsuit Apple had filed against the website. In exchange for closing down Think Secret, Nick DePlume, its owner, will not have to reveal its sources to Apple. The press release on the Think Secret website reads: "Apple and Think Secret have settled their lawsuit, reaching an agreement that results in a positive solution for both sides. As part of the confidential settlement, no sources were revealed and Think Secret will no longer be published." My take: I have respect for the way DePlume protected his sources; very commendable. I have, however, little respect for Apple in this case (I have written, rather controversially, about it before), and it just scares the living daylights out of me that a company can exert this much power over independent websites.
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Member since:2006-01-25
I don't always agree with your views on technology and such, but on this one I whole-heartedly commend you. Trying to placate net brats is an exercise in futility.
I REALLY hate the mentality that is developing on the net as of late (or maybe its always been this way - I might just be getting older and crankier)... People are so spoiled by the something-for-nothing state of things that they start demanding they get it THEIR way - and screw everyone else. I have had thoughts of starting websites in the past but have always decided not to for no other reason than I didn't want to deal with people like this. Its sad really.
To the previous poster - if you don't like the way this website is run find one more to your liking or better yet GO MAKE ONE! This is stating the obvious but this site exists for those who like it - if your not in that group why are you here?
Member since:2006-04-18
I don't always agree with your views on technology and such, but on this one I whole-heartedly commend you. Trying to placate net brats is an exercise in futility.
Hear hear! To the original poster, your submitted Java 6 article may have been intensely interesting to you, but all Java 6 means to me is the IBM HMC management tools stop working when I use it. This article is much more interesting to me, and based on the comments, most other people.
As for Apple and this case, I see it as:
- Apple sues ThinkSecret to get the identities of people who have breached a contract (NDA) with Apple.
- Think Secret refuses to divulge those sources.
- Apple and ThinkSecret come to an mutually acceptable agreement.
There are no 'laws' involved per se, since this is all civil court stuff. It doesn't seem to qualify as whistle-blower status since there isn't a law being broken (or even something evil-but-legal going on). I have a tough time believing this stuff is in the public interest, since the public interest isn't necessarily something the public is interested in, but something that affects the *welfare* of the public.
Edited 2007-12-20 19:36
Member since:2005-09-13
Member since:2006-01-25
Member since:2006-05-26
How is it that I can't vote to mod down the parent post, because it very clearly is a personal attack with foul language?
Thom, you need to take a chill pill when it comes to debating things 
I'd suggest you take a vacation with no interaction at all with the computer: you'll be much happier if you do so, if you do so for a long enough period of time.
All work and no play makes Jack go postal
(Oh, I could also easily state that the post in question was way off-topic as well 
)
Sure, the parent to the parent post of this post was getting a bit snippy and stepping out of bounds, but, two Wongs don't make a Wright: genetics don't work that way 
That's also why the whole debate of why you maintain that what Apple did is wrong and Think Secret is right is wrong: you can't have it both ways, where a corporation that's otherwise obeying legal and moral guides as defined by the country they operate in isn't subject to the same rights as well as responsibilities of an individual, or more than one, in this case, when it comes to privacy issues. As soon as a corporation starts violating the privacy of individual citizens, there's a cry of how foul that is, and yet, when individual citizens violate the privacy of corporations, because there's clearly a body of people that desire that information, makes it valid morally and legally? Especially when the information is truly of a sensitive nature, that should others outside the corporation know it and have reasonable expectations that it's accurate (not merely a rumor that someone says "Hey, I'm betting Apple does this!") can't use it against the corporation towards their own ends?
There are laws regarding trade secrets, and those apply here, as well as other moral issues that you're conveniently glossing over, and also you're making the mistake of mixing up assertions about Dutch privacy laws, of which I'd be incredibly surprised if a Dutch court saw this situation in such a manner as to rule in favor of the individuals, because if they did, that'd rule the area under that manifestation of law enforcement as being untenable to most corporations/employers, because privacy is (at least!) a two-way street.
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues.""Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently.
"In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies.
"The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing."The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One. It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession." I really hope HTC pulls it together.
"It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release." Important note: 75% of Debian packages are supported bu Debian GNU/Hurd. Impressive.
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run."There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
Member since:
2005-06-29
MY LIFE?
In case you haven't noticed, contrary to you, possibly, I have a LIFE to run, a job to go to, a social life to manage, a university study to complete, parents to help, a home to maintain and keep clean, an ass and a couch to sit on, tea to drink, a cat to pet, a car to maintain, a party at my place saturday eve to organise, ..., ....
I don't sit behind my computer all day long just to please YOU, I do it to PLEASE MYSELF.
I'm sorry for the snappage, other people, but I can't help it. This morning, I emptied the submissions queue by removing those I don't want to publish, and by publishing the remainder (two in this case). After clearing the queue, I did a quick round along my favourite few websites, including the Dutch Mac website I visit daily, where I encountered this story. I posted it because not only is it a follow up to an earlier story I wrote, but also because people are clearly interested in this stuff.
There is no conspiracy here, you annoying little Apple fanboy, just what I always do: clear the queue, post whatever's worthy, and then do a round to see what other stuff you readers missed/did not submit. I've had it up to HERE with your nonsense, meianeriogn, just go get a goddamn life instead of annoying me with your pointless little "oh-my-god-Thom-is-anti-apple-and-eats-babies" nancying around. Conspiracy idiot. Go spot black helicopters or get abducted by aliens or something.
Glad I got that off my chest. Sorry to everybody else.