ballot

EU fines Microsoft $731M over Windows 7 browser foul

Microsoft is to learn the hard way that "a deal is a deal," at least in the eyes of the European Union, by being forced to swallow a massive fine for breaching earlier promises made with the 27-nation bloc.

The software giant has been fined 561 million euros ($731 million) by European authorities for falling foul of previous antitrust settlement conditions.

The software giant breached a settlement that it signed with the European Commission in 2009, which mandated that it display a "browser choice" screen on all existing and new PCs in the region.

Europe's … Read more

Mom crowdsources baby name for $5,000

Some decisions in life are very hard.

Which flavor of ice cream truly is your favorite? Should you eat goat's cheese rather than cow cheese because goats have beards? If you buy shoes with skulls on them, will someone think you're a necrophiliac?

And then there's naming your baby.

Some choose the easy way out. There are names handed down through their family, saving the need to buy baby-name books. Some try -- and even succeed -- to be creative, as was the case with my favorite Starbucks barista's mom who decided to name her little girl Kurshina.

Then there are those for whom it's all too much -- or something. They just wish someone else would take the decision and give them, say, $5,000.

That seems to be the case with 26-year-old Natasha Hill. She won a competition on the baby-naming site Belly Ballot for the privilege of having complete strangers choose her little one's name. (The little one is due in September.) … Read more

Microsoft's Surface a balloting device in one precinct in Virginia

Microsoft's Surface tablet is now a voting machine in Virginia.

Democracy Live, a company based in Washington, works with several states to offer electronic ballots through its software, LiveBallot. According to GeekWire, which spoke with Democracy Live CEO Bryan Finney, a single Surface tablet is being used in a precinct in Charlottesville, Va., allowing voters to mark their ballots from the device.… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1189: Slide to explode (podcast)

Google and China's war heats up a bit. Amazon is apparently not going to war against the iPad. But the most compelling news of the day? Swipe to unlock existed long before Apple ever thought of it. It involved Aliens. And Predators. And self-destruction.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1189

Chinese Media: Google Is Tied to U.S. Intelligence http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/chinese-media-calls-google-arrogant-alleges-ties-to-us-intell/19407888/

And China could care less about a Google pull out http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62L14V20100322

UK announces online site for … Read more

Microsoft tweaks browser ballot code

Microsoft's latest tweak to its browser ballot screen seems to have fixed a key programming flaw.

In response to antitrust concerns by European regulators, the company recently unveiled its browser ballot page to give European users a choice of browsers to install. But the company was criticized for using sloppy code that didn't adequately randomize the order in which each browser's icon and link displays.

The algorithm used is supposed to change the order of the browsers from left to right each time the page opens. That change occurred, but apparently not randomly enough. The code often … Read more