Sorry about that! Read the post below!

I forgot I signed up online to recieve notices in the mail, because this issue must not have got much coverage. I just recieved the document, entitled “NOTICE OF PARTIAL CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENTS“. (Note, OK, I just remembered I saw this in the local paper…I’m suprized I haven’t seen information online, like I do with the ongoing SCO crap.)

Several plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit against several sellers of various types of DRAM and also DDR Semiconductor Devices. It is a lawsuit regarding violation of antitrust laws, including allegations of price fixing and allocate major customers and accounts among themselves between April 1, 1999, and June 30, 2002. The document points out that the Defendants deny any wrongdoing, but that Elpida and certain employees have pleaded guilty to criminal violations of federal antitrust laws.

Overview of How Class-Action Lawsuits Work:

(Note: I am not a lawyer. This is just a rough outline of how it works.)

• One or more plaintiffs file a class-action lawsuit. Class-actions are, by definition, files on behalf of affected consumers or entities, not just the ones who filed.
• The counsel hired by the plaintiffs extensively investigate the claims.
• The court gives the class-action lawsuit permission to proceed.
• Public notices of the class-action lawsuit are taken out.
• Because this is a system by which lawsuits are able to be filed on behalf of the general public, anyone effected cannot pursue their own seperate actions, now or later, without excluding themselves from “the class” (people who will be able to collect money if the class-action is successful).
• To remain in the class, you do nothing (except, sign up to recieve notices or notify the “Class Administrator” if, perhaps, you recieved notification at an incorrect address).
• Defendants may decide to settle with the plaintiffs based on their chances of winning or losing, or how costly it will be to defend themselves, especially if they are not sure of the outcome.
• If defendants decide not to settle, a judge will eventually decide the case. If defendants decide to settle, the process is shortened.
• Once a settlement is proposed, a court hearing is held to determine if the settlement is fair for both parties (the Defendants and the Class).
• Any Class member may appear and be heard at the hearing; Class members may also file written objections to the proposed settlement in writing to the court (and members who wish to actually appear must still file a written objection).
• Settlements often include an agreement to make installment payments to start being made even before the hearing, and held in escrow, as in this case.
• If the settlements are approved by the court, members of the Class (consumers or other affected parties) must file their claims to recieve restitution.
• Lawyers for the Class are allowed to cover costs plus attorney’s fees up to 25% of the settlement claim (i.e., the get filthy rich), the Plaintiffs who filed recieve some “incentive benefits” (no idea what they are) for filing, and the rest is distributed to Class members who file d claims.

Or, the short explaination…save your reciepts!

What the Lawsuit is Regarding:

This Class-action lawsuit is on behalf of anyone who directly purchased from the Defendants the following items (not purchased a product containing such a device):

• DDR (double data rate) synchronous dynamic random access memory semiconductor devices and (memory?) modules
• SDRAM (synchronous dynamic random access memory)
• RDRAM (Rambus dynamic random access memory)
• ASYNC (asynchronous dynamic random access memory)
• FPM DRAM
• EDO DRAM
• BEDO DRAM
• in short, all types of DRAM

The Defendants (from whom you may have purchased the items):

Micron

Includes Micron Technologies, Inc., and Micron Semiconductor Products, Inc. (through Crucial Technology, i.e., http://www.crucial.com)

Elpida

Includes Elpida Memory, Inc., and Elpida Memory (USA), Inc.

NEC

NEC Electronics America, Inc.

Winbond

Includes Winbond Electronics Corporation and Winbond Electronics Corporation America

Previous Settlements Were Also Reached With:

The document also mentions some settlements were already reached with other companies, in the total amount of $160,750,000 (one hundred sixty million, seven hundred fifty thousand dollars). It says that these companies and certain of their employees have pleaded guilty to criminal violations of federal antitrust laws.

• Infineon Technologies AG
• Infineon Technologies NOrth America Corp.
• Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.
• Hynix Semiconductor, Inc.
• Nynix Semiconductor America, Inc.

Amount of Proposed Settlements:

Amounts are in United States Dollars (USD).

• Elpida: $14,750,000 (fourteen million seven hundred fifty thousand dollars)
• NEC: $35,960,000 (thirty-five million nine hundred sixty thousand dollars)
• Winbond: $2,000,000 (two million dollars)
• Micron: $90,537,000 (ninety million five hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred dollars)

That all totals a whopping $222,513,700 (two hundred twenty-two million, five hundred thirteen thousand, seven hundred dollars).

To Benefit From the Settlement:

You need to have bought the mentioned products directly from one of the Defendants (including those who have already settled).

Save your proof of purchase (reciept, etc.)

To recieve notices or correct your address, send a letter with your correct address to:

DRAM Antitrust Litigation
c/o Rust consulting, Inc.
P.O. Fox 24657
West Palm Beach, FL 33416

To (optionally appear) and Object to the Proposed Settlement at the Fairness Hearing:

You must file your objection in writing, no later than March 26, 2007, to 8 places — the Clerk of the court, the 3 counsel for the Class, and the 4 counsel for the Defense:

Clerk
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
450 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102

Class Counsel

Guido Saveri
R. Alexander Saveri
Saveri & Saveri, Inc.
111 Pine St, Suite 1700
San Francisco, CA 94111

Anthony D. Shapiro
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP
1301 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2900
Seattle, WA 98101

Fred Taylor Isquith
Wolf, Haldenstein, Adler, Freeman & Herz
270 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016

Counsel for the Settling Defendants

James G. Kreissman
Harrison J. Frahn IV
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
2550 Hanover St
Palo Alto, CA 94304

Steven H. Morrissett
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP
Stanford Research Park
700 Hansen Way
Palo Alto, CA 94304

Robert B. Pringle
Paul R. Griffin
Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP
101 Second St, Suite 1800
San Francisco, CA 94105

Joel S. Sanders
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP
One Montgomery St, Suite 3100
San Francisco, CA 94104

To collect money when final settlement is reached, instructions come after the decision. You need to sign up to get the legal notices to guarantee you recieve the information in a timely manner.

Exclusion:

You cannot exclude yourself from the Class now, that date has already passed. Exclusion allows you to not be a party to the class-action lawsuit, but reserve your right to pursue relief on your own. Remaining in the class only waives your right to take legal action relating to these allegations, it does not affect, for example, getting a refund for a faulty product.

Related Inquiries and Info:

Written Inquiries:

You may contact the Class Administrator (Rust Consulting) and any of the Class Counsel. (See addresses above.)

Phone Inquiries:

You may contact the Class Administrator by phone at (866) 483-9938.

To Inspect Court Documens:

You may visit the Clerk of the Court at the address above during normal business hours.

Online Copies of Settlement Agreements:

http://www.DRAMantitrustsettlement.com

The About FulLife page sums it up better than I ever could say it myself.

Thanks to Mark, here is a link to a Map Challenge, an online puzzle where you drag the “pieces” (states) to their proper location on the map. Good fun!

My stats:

Also, it’s a great example of the appropriate use of Flash, and Flash that is optimized.

I don’t know the story behind this, and to be honest I don’t want to. I’m not one of those who gets thrills from being a voyeur when regards the lives of others.

Just the briefing in the basics here is enough to drive the point home 10 times over. Nothing you post on line is ever private…nothing! If anyone has read it or copied it, they have the ability to crack you over the head with it later.

I kid you not. Think twice before using hotel-room coffe pots. It just may save your life!

Internationalization Issues

“International Sites: Minimum Requirements” is a beginning but essential introduction to the issues you must address when designing a website that attracts international viewers.

“<FONT FACE> considered harmful” is the classic article about what can go wrong when you do not design websites with accessibility and usability in mind. This article is must reading for everyone, not just those who have international readers. Some basic technical explanation is included in the various scenarios. Frankly, I’m of the opinion that browsers shouldn’t be backwards-compatible with the <FONT> tag at all and should totally ignore it. As long as browsers interpret it, the ignorant and just uncaring will continue to use it!

“What’s Wrong With FONT” doesn’t quite cover the totality of horrifying results from use of the <FONT> tag the way the classic “<FONT FACE> considered harmful” does…but it’s warning enough.

Even Microsoft has got on the bandwagon (everyone trying to siphon users searching for the original artilcle?), with “What’s Wrong with FONT FACE“. Just an overview of why it takes browser-based control out of the viewer’s hands.

Technical Aspects of Multilingual (or any) Websites: Doctype Declarations, Meta Tags, XML Prologs, and Media Types

Babel: Towards communicating on the Internet in any language will explain the issues of encoding, character sets, and software. Absolutely required reading if you acutally plan to have a multilingual website, as opposed to one that is just, shall we say, “compatible” with people of various nationalities.

W3C article: “Serving XHTML 1.0″ is must reading unless you already have a comprehensive understanding of doctype switching, quirks mode, XML prologs, and browser support for all 3.

W3C article: “Character encodings”W3C article: “HTML Document Representation” (in HTML 4.01) — This is the actual documentation of the W3C standard for HTML 4.01

W3C article by editor: “Authoring Techniques for XHTML & HTML Internationalization: Characters and Encodings 1.0″ Excellent analysis of what to do based on your sitution.

W3C article: “HTTP and meta for language information” Explains the difference between declaring the charset and the encoding (suggest reading the last 2 paragraphs first), as well, as how to decide what to use where.

W3C article: “Setting charset information in .htaccess” — Note: ‘.htaccess’ is a file for configuring individual directories and virtual websites running under the same Apache webserver. The same settings mentioned here can be used in your overall ‘httpd.conf’ file, too. (If using per-directory configuration on Windows, you must use a different filename than ‘.htaccess’ because this is not a legal Windows filename, and also set this filename in ‘httpd.conf’ so Apache knows what filename it should look for to determine individual configurations.) You also must configure Apache as to whether you will allow this on your server or not. To learn how to configure Apache, see http://httpd.apache.org.

W3C article: “Apache MultiViews language negotiation set up” — This is a feature that allows Apache to automatically choose how to serve websites in multiple languages.

If you plan to use language negotiation (more often called content negotiation), you need to read W3C article: “When to use language negotiation” first to understand its bugs and how it should be applied.

W3C article: “Unexpected characters or blank lines” — Refers to the undesirable display of the byte-order mark in some user-agents (e.g., web browsers, text-editors, etc.) and how to get rid of it. Only applicable with files that are in UTF-8.

“Doctypes and their respective layout mode” is a reference table for browsers regarding doctype-switching and when a browser may be triggered into Quirks Mode. (If you have no clue what that is, I suggest a visit to “CSS – Quirks mode and strict mode“. In fact, I would make the entire site recommended reading!)

If You Intend to Write in Another Language

W3C article: “What you need to know about the bidi algorithm and inline markup” is neccessary reading if you will type a document in mixed language where one language is read right-to-left and the other is left-to-right.

W3C article: “W3C article: CSS vs. markup for bidi support” necessary reading if you will mix directional languages!

W3C article: “An Introduction to Multilingual Web Addresses” Very important now that we can have Internationalized Domain Names, and to use native-language directory and file names. Covers browser support, too.

Software-Related Reading

I haven’t even had the chance to read through the info yet, but this mini-website, Unicode and Multilingual Support in HTML, Fonts, Web Browsers and Other Applications has much information about Unicode support and the computing environment, as well as links to other sources of information.

W3C article: “Setting encoding in web-authoring applications” shows you how to automate the inclusion of code in various editing software.

Especially, added links regarding accessibility and internationalization. Excellent articles!

“Life-Long Computer Skills” is an excellent article and jumping-off point for what should be an in-depth public discussion in every community and in state and local governments.

The 8 skill-areas mentioned are excellent choices, though there are a few important omissions. To that list, I would add the following:

The Basics of Internet Security

Children must be taught the common types of malware and what types of software can protect them. They must know that a firewall is useless unless it is 2-way (can block both incoming and outgoing connections) and has port-stealthing. They must know that antivirus is useless unless it is an on-demand (always-on) scanner that runs in the background, waiting to recognize bad behavior by programs and automatically scanning all file downloads, email downloads, and webpages to prevent malware infections. They must know that all users who connect to the Internet must run a 2-way, port-stealthing firewall, an on-demand/always-on anti-virus scanner, a spyware blocker (unless included in the anti-virus product), a pop-up blocker (whether the browser has one built in or not, and besides some popups happen on a desktop thanks to malware, not just on the Internet from a website).

They must be taught not to give out identifying information about themselves to anyone online. Not just their name, address, and phone number, but also where they go to school, descriptions of themselves, their pet’s names, their families names, medical information, or any combination of information that, when combined, has the ability to identify them.

Children should be taught how social engineering is used to trick people into reading malicious email, clicking links to malicious websites, authorizing malicious file downloads, and giving out personal information. Children should be taught not to post their email address anywhere in plain text, and not to sign up for services that do so, or that allow others to email them with the default settings.

Children must be taught how to identify predatory behavior and report it to their parents and/or law enforcement, school officials, etc. Children should be taught to use only email clients (readers) and browsers that support content-filtering, spam-filtering, etc. Children should learn how to report spam to their ISP and to uce@ftc.gov. They should be taught not to save passwords, to always deselect “remember me” at websites that provide that option, to do “disk cleanup” (if using Windows), or similar task on a regular basis. They should know how to use things like MD5 to check downloaded files or files copied from a friend. They should know how to encrypt files, folders, and the entire filesystem.

The Basics of Operating Systems

Children should be taught that the operating system is seperate from the computer and is a matter of choice. They should know the core ways that operating systems differ from one another (filesystems, security settings, account administration, open-vs-closed-source, text-file-based configuration, installers, ability of user to change behaviors, encryption, run modes), what an operating system is and isn’t (BIOS, hardware, firmware, volatile vs. nonvolatile memory, types of storage), and general theory about how the operating system allows the user to communicate with hardware

Choosing and Installing an Operating System

Children should be taught how to evaluate the functionality, security, customizability, software availability, and suitability of various operating systems, the difference between out-of-the-box and OEM installs, how to research hardware compatibility and find needed drivers, how to research backwards-compatibility for currently-installed software, and how each operating system may protect or compromize their privacy, and how to search for updates and/or research security vulnerabilities.

Children should learn to install at least a few operating systems, with the pupose being to become familiar with various install approaches and methods. They should be able to install a dula-boot system. They should be able to do automated and semi-automated installs. They should know how to find, download, and check the integrity of ISO files and burn them to CD. They should be able to do installs via text menus. They should be able to do a command-line install, at least of an OS whose command-line install is fairly straight-forward. They should be able to install from a bootable CD and a non-bootable CD (or DVD).

Computer Adminstration and Maintenance

Children should know how to back up files, folders, and disks. They should know how to find and apply security patches. They should know how to “defrag” (if using Windows). They should know how to create different types of accounts and when to use them. They should know how to backup, restore, upgrade, or roll back their systems. They should know how to read help menus, how to read online help. They should know how to check their computer’s performance and check their security logs. They should know how to use text-based configuration files.

They should be taught the correct meanings of various computer- and Internet-related terminology, and how such terminology is misused. They should know how to find documentation and manuals where such material is not provided with the computer, operating system, or application software. They should know how to upgrade some basic hardware components, like memory, magnetic drives, and optical drives, and how to find the drivers for them. They should know how to find updated drivers and the best online sources for driver information (currently DriverGuide.com)

I’m sure some people (maybe a lot of technical bloggers) will recognize the pictures of these people. But I did not know any of them. So, then, is this “humor” page a reliable test of a person’s ability to judge the basic character of people?

I think so.

I’m sure most people find the “Programming Language Inventor or Serial Killer?” quiz just a silly diversion. But I have had a very few, specific experiences where, unarmed with any knowledge about a person, I have had startling insights based on nothing more than the most casual contact. Is it just a coincidence that I got an “8 out of 10″ on this quiz?

How about when you consider, the only 2 I got wrong, I hesitated and felt I was making the wrong choice even as I made it? All the other 8 choices were very easy…I just went by my instant, gut feeling from looking at the picture, and you will notice that some of the “bad guys” do not even look creepy. I assure you, I did not know who any of these people were in the photos!