Gizmodo Australia » illegal

DIY Car Laptop Stand Will Probably Get You Fined

Nick Broughall — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 03:40:35 +0000

Considering both talking on your mobile phone and texting on your mobile phone are illegal in this country, I can’t imagine any police officer who spots you checking out Tweetdeck at the traffic lights is going to go too easy on you…

Also, I think I have the exact same old Dell laptop at home. There’s no way I’d build anything for mine – it deserves to die a slow, painful death…

[MDPub via Lifehacker]

Laser Pointers Banned In NSW, Users Face $5,000 Fine

Nick Broughall — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:44:04 +0000

Unless you have a really good reason to own a laser pointer (being a Giz-loving geek doesn’t count, apparently), you should probably avoid using / carrying / showing off anything that points a laser beam if you live in NSW (or WA).

Yesterday the NSW government passed legislation making it possible for police to search anyone the believe may be carrying a laser pointer, and unless you have it for a legitimate reason (you’re a teacher, an architect or ~~a bounty hunter~~ something similar), you could face fines of up to $5,000.

What’s more, class three and four laser pointers are now classified as prohibited weapons, and if you’re found with one of those babies, you could be rattling chains in your very own orange jumpsuit for up to 14 years.

The crackdown has happened because of a recent spate of jackasses pointing the lasers at commercial aeroplanes. As the NSW Premiere, Morris Iemma put it:

“It only takes a fraction of a second for a pilot to become
temporarily blinded and that could have catastrophic consequences.”

Every gadget nut knows that lasers can be fun. But there’s nothing fun about potentially bringing down a 747 (or any other flying vehicle, for that matter). If you know one of the assholes doing this (or you’re doing it yourself), give them (or yourself) a swift punch to the crotch for being so stupid.

[SMH]

Mac Clone Maker Psystar Says Apple’s EULA Violates Monopoly Laws, Wants to Challenge it in Court

Jason Chen — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:41:25 +0000

Psystar, who’s just announced that they’re going to sell a US$399.99 Mac clone called Open Mac, doesn’t care that Apple’s EULA prohibits using OS X on any machine not made by Apple. In fact, they say that Apple’s terms “violate U.S. monopoly laws“, posing the example of Microsoft theoretically saying you could only install Windows on Dell machines.

They also told Information Week that they weren’t breaking any laws, and that they were going to continue to sell this system no matter what Apple says. Another example the employee gave was this: “What if Honda said that, after you buy their car, you could only drive it on the roads they said you could?” Even if Psystar’s machines aren’t anything spectacular, if they can set a legal precedent for third-party manufacturers selling OS X-bundled machines, that would be a win for everybody. [InformationWeek - Thanks Achal!]