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Submission + - Improbable announce massive distributed simulations OS (alphr.com)

Submitted by ggambett
ggambett writes: From the article: It's not really an operating system, so much as a software layer running on distributed hardware that lets you build scalable data simulations and worlds that are persistent. If this sounds complex, it’s because it is. In gaming parlance, the concept is best explained in the context of massively multiplayer worlds – up until now, the available technology has placed hard limits on how many players can co-exist in a virtual world at any one time. SpatialOS is designed to change all that.

SpatialOS could, for instance, let us build digital sandboxes to simulate the complex impact of driverless cars on a city, or build huge worlds to explore in virtual reality, or let a small development company build an epic MMO game with a landscape the size of Wales that evolves whether you're in it or not.
NASA

NASA Looking To Build 'Gas' Stations In Space 201

Posted by CmdrTaco from the hope-they-have-pay-at-pump dept.
coondoggie writes "Fuel is a major issue when it comes to long-duration spaceflights — its weight is a problem for launch and once a spacecraft runs out of fuel there's no place to get more. That's where in-space 'gas' stations located at strategic spots along a route would be a boon to spaceflight. Which is exactly what NASA is looking to do by beginning to solicit proposals for what it calls an In-Space Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer Demonstration that will lay the groundwork for humans to safely reach multiple destinations, including the Moon, asteroids, Lagrange points and Mars."
GUI

Microsoft Shows Off Radical New UI, Could Be Used In Windows 8 403

Posted by timothy from the trial-balloon dept.
autospa writes "In a three and a half minute video, Microsoft may have shown the world what it has in store for the eagerly awaited Windows 8. In the video Microsoft showed a radically different interface from past versions of Windows — even Windows 7. Running on Surface 2, the touch-screen successor to the original Microsoft Surface, the device accepts input from a Windows Phone 7 handset (HTC HD7). Gone are the icons that drive Windows, OS X, and Linux operating systems of past and present. In their place are 'bubbles' that interact with files and post streaming information off the internet."
Music

Activision Axes Guitar Hero 160

Posted by Soulskill from the death-of-a-genre dept.
jtillots writes "Activision Blizzard has canceled the Guitar Hero franchise, citing 'declining revenue of the music game genre.' Also on the chopping block was DJ Hero and True Crime. Fat_bot put it best — it's the new Day the Music Died." This comes only a few months after Viacom dropped Rock Band developer Harmonix for similar reasons, and less than a week after they closed MTV Games altogether.

Comment Re:I agree (Score 1) 596

by ggambett (#35091926) Attached to: Microsoft Vehemently Denies Google's "Bing Sting"

What happens is even if that customer data is only weighted as 0.001% as important as their other metrics, if that customer data is the ONLY data they have for these bogus search terms, this would happen

Or they could say "we're so far below the confidence threshold that we should report no results found"...
Image

Spam Text Prematurely Blows Up Suicide Bomber Screenshot-sm 573

Posted by samzenpus from the spam-redeems-itself dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "A suicide bomber's plan to detonate explosives in Central Moscow on New Year's Eve was foiled when she received an unexpected spam text message that caused her deadly payload to blow up too early. A message wishing her a happy new year came hours before the unnamed woman was to set off her suicide belt near Red Square, an act of terrorism that could have killed hundreds of people. Islamist terrorists in Russia often use mobile phones as detonators. The bomber's handler, who is usually watching his charge, sends the bomber a text message to set off the explosive belt at the moment when it is thought they can inflict maximum casualties."
Android

Trend Micro Chairman Says Open Source Is a Security Risk 258

Posted by Soulskill from the with-friends-like-these dept.
dkd903 writes "Steve Chang, the Chairman of Trend Micro, has kicked up a controversy by claiming that open source software is inherently less secure than closed source. When talking about the security of smartphones, Chang claimed that the iPhone is more secure than Android because being an open-source platform lets attackers know more about the underlying architecture." This comes a week after Trend Micro released a mobile security app for Android.
Networking

Thin Client, Or Fat Client? That Is the Question 450

Posted by timothy from the you've-got-vdi dept.
theodp writes "If virtual desktops are so great, asks Jonathan Eunice, then why isn't everyone using them? However encouraged folks are by the progress virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) has made, and however enthused they may be about extending the wins of server virtualization over into the desktop realm, you don't see analysts and developers eating the virtual desktop dog food. And even the folks you meet from Citrix, Microsoft, Quest, VMware, and Wyse — the people selling VDI — use traditional 'fat' notebooks. So, are you using virtual desktops? Why, or why not?" I wonder how long the abbreviation VDI will stick around.
Movies

Why Video Game Movie Adaptations Need New Respect 283

Posted by Soulskill from the no-more-fighting-game-movies-please dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Hollywood has yet to find any video game property it is willing to treat with the same respect as J.R.R. Tolkien or J.K.Rowling, arguably still following the principles that led to the appalling Super Mario Bros. movie in 1992: 'A game lacks the complexity that a movie requires.' Yet a modern gaming masterpiece such as Mass Effect has the depth and breadth to deserve better treatment in the proposed trilogy. Is Hollywood again going to disrespect fans who, in this case, have as much right to see a good plot respected as the readers of Lord Of The Rings? This article discusses why and how Hollywood should grow up regarding these adaptations."
The Military

Sarah Palin 'Target WikiLeaks Like Taliban' 1425

Posted by CmdrTaco from the name-calling dept.
DMandPenfold writes "Sarah Palin, who is widely tipped as a possible Republican candidate for president in 2012, has said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be hunted down in the way armed forces are targeting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda." So that means we should spend billions of dollars and not catch him? Good plan.

Comment Dark Sun (SSI Gold Box) (Score 1) 89

by ggambett (#33213244) Attached to: How <em>Death Rally</em> Got Ported
For years I've wanted to port Dark Sun I and II to modern architectures. Since the games have been released as freeware a few years ago, I don't think there's any good reason to avoid such a port; however, I've been unable to track down someone who can give me access to the source code (and I have good reasons to believe it does exist somewhere).

If anyone happens to know who may be contacted regarding this, please let me know...

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