8 Ways to Sunday

Since printer manufacturers began putting special chips into their ink cartridges that were required to make them work properly, companies making after-market and off-brand inkjet cartridges have been in a bit of a bind. Enter SCC, which makes chips that mimic the functionality of those used by the printer makers.

It was only a matter of time before a printer manufacturer tried to buldgeon SCC with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and Lexmark was the one to step up to the plate. Fortunately for those who don’t feel like paying the printer makers’ high prices for their ink cartridges, the US Copyright Office has ruled in favor of SCC.

Update: Lance Ulanoff points PC Magazine readers to online dealers of affordable ink cartridges in this article.

eWeek has a report from Microsoft’s Professional Developer’s Conference about some of the new features to be found in Redmond’s forthcoming OS, codenamed Longhorn. Most of the background is old news, but info on new features — like popup blocking and a download manager for IE — make it a worthwhile read. Slick new screenshots as well.

A bunch of Russian gamers with too much time on their hands has started to compile and exhaustive library of in-game screenshots featuring toilets.

A massive solar flare that has been the cause of much anxiety hit Great Britain early this morning, and New Scientist reports that the effects are not as bad as had been feared due to the magnetic polarity of particles in the flare. The kinds of massive power outtages and communications disruptions that were initially predicted have not been seen so far.

Rumors that the solar flare will still cause you to hit more red lights on your way back from your lunch break and drastically increase static cling in dryers around the world are presently unconfirmed.