30 Apr 2003
This Cart will Self-Destruct

This carries the concept of 'planned obsolescence' to new heights - or should that be depths? On the one hand, I can see the companies arguments, as inks do degrade over time. On the other hand, I believe a printed warning would be more appropiate than simply shutting down the printer. Incidentially, if you try to reverse engineer these things, that'll get you all kinds of grief via the DMCA.

Ink Cartridges with Built-In Self-Destruct Dates [Slashdot]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Helping Telemarketers

Sprint to cash in on telemarketers. A new service from the company helps telemarketers avoid steep fines by preventing them from calling people who have signed a "do not call" list. [CNET News.com]

This could've been done years ago - I know, because I did it years ago. Of course, years ago, without legal backing for do not call lists, there were no users (it was bundled) for my little product.

Sometimes laws can actually be a good thing - something the libertarian in me was always loathe to admit, but which is becoming increasingly apparent as my age increases....

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link