Comment Re:Obligatory.. (Score 1) 74
One of the best episodes ever, in my opinion. After reading this summary, I could hear Cartman saying, "you're about to get pwned".
Submission + - The Golden Age of CRPGs: 1985-1993
Matt Barton writes: "I thought that Slashdot readers might like to know that Gamasutra has published the second installment of my comprehensive history of CRPGs: The Golden Age of CRPGs (1985-1993). This installment covers such venerated classics as The Bard's Tale, Wasteland, Pool of Radiance, Quest for Glory, Phantasie, Autoduel, The Legend of the Red Dragon, and Dungeon Master, as well as dozens of lesser known (but not less loved!) CRPGs. I've also included dozens of screen shots of these classics for those who haven't played them. GamaSutra has also re-posted the first installment on their site for anyone who missed it on Armchair Arcade. Thanks!"
Feed Scanner Sees Through Clothes (wired.com)
Submission + - Surfing Covertly in the Plain Sight
jazzu writes: "Are you working in one of those annoying open floor plan offices, where the Boss can observe anything and anyone without you noticing it? Need to check the latest gossip on Slashdot, but he's hovering over you because of the approaching TPS report deadline? Well, here's a solution: hide it in the plain open masked as a Word 2003 document. Nothing discourages curious onlookers like reams of text in a plain old word processor."
Submission + - Einstein's twin paradox resolved
slashthedot writes: "An Indian American scientist Subhash Kak from Louisiana State University has resolved the 100+ years old Einstein's twin paradox.
"The fact that time slows down on moving objects has been documented and verified over the years through repeated experimentation. But, in the previous scenario, the paradox is that the earthbound twin is the one who would be considered to be in motion — in relation to the sibling — and therefore should be the one aging more slowly. Einstein and other scientists have attempted to resolve this problem before, but none of the formulas they presented proved satisfactory.
Kak's findings were published online in the International Journal of Theoretical Science, and will appear in the upcoming print version of the publication."
"The implications of this resolution will be widespread, generally enhancing the scientific community's comprehension of relativity. It may eventually even have some impact on quantum communications and computers, potentially making it possible to design more efficient and reliable communication systems for space applications."
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-02/lsu -lpr021407.php"
"The implications of this resolution will be widespread, generally enhancing the scientific community's comprehension of relativity. It may eventually even have some impact on quantum communications and computers, potentially making it possible to design more efficient and reliable communication systems for space applications."
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-02/ls
Submission + - Zink Imaging to launch inkless printer
Vinit writes: "Zink Imaging has developed a unique technology which can print pictures without ink! The innovation could be applied to make hand-held printers that can be integrated into mobile phones and digital cameras. While printing one only needs a paper, I mean Zink paper which is initially colorless, looks and feels like ordinary white photograph paper and is not light sensitive. You can get a copy of picture (5 cm x 7.5 cm) in 30 seconds and the photos are are very durable — they cannot be torn and are also water resistant. The firm plans to launch two products by the end of the year: a small battery-operated, pocket-sized printer for camera-phones and a digital camera with a 2 inch x 3 inch (5 cm by 7.5 cm) printer built in. The company recently demonstrated a working prototype of the camera phone printer at the DEMO 2007 technology conference in California, US. The printer is expected to cost $200 while 100 sheets of paper will cost $20.
http://www.pclaunches.com/optical_media/zink_imagi ng_to_launch_inkless_printer.php"
Submission + - Co-Inventor of the TV Remote Dies
poorting writes: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBIT_REMOTE _CONTROL?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Co-Inventor of the TV Remote Dies
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Hit the mute button for a moment of silence: The co-inventor of the TV remote, Robert Adler, has died. Adler, who won an Emmy Award along with fellow engineer Eugene Polley for the device that made the couch potato possible, died Thursday of heart failure at a Boise nursing home at 93, Zenith Electronics Corp. said Friday.
In his six-decade career with Zenith, Adler was a prolific inventor, earning more than 180 U.S. patents. He was best known for his 1956 Zenith Space Command remote control, which helped make TV a truly sedentary pastime.
In a May 2004 interview with The Associated Press, Adler recalled being among two dozen engineers at Zenith given the mission to find a new way for television viewers to change channels without getting out of their chairs or tripping over a cable.
But he downplayed his role when asked if he felt his invention helped raise a new generation of couch potatoes.
"People ask me all the time — 'Don't you feel guilty for it?' And I say that's ridiculous," he said. "It seems reasonable and rational to control the TV from where you normally sit and watch television."
Various sources have credited either Polley, another Zenith engineer, or Adler as the inventor of the device. Polley created the "Flashmatic," a wireless remote introduced in 1955 that operated on photo cells. Adler introduced ultrasonics, or high-frequency sound, to make the device more efficient in 1956.
Zenith credits them as co-inventors, and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded both Adler and Polley an Emmy in 1997 for the landmark invention.
"He was part of a project that changed the world," Polley said from his home in Lombard, Ill.
Adler joined Zenith's research division in 1941 after earning a doctorate in physics from the University of Vienna. He retired as research vice president in 1979, and served as a technical consultant until 1999, when Zenith merged with LG Electronics Inc.
During World War II, Adler specialized in military communications equipment. He later helped develop sensitive amplifiers for ultra high frequency signals used by radio astronomers and by the U.S. Air Force for long-range missile detection.
Adler also was considered a pioneer in SAW technology, or surface acoustic waves, in color television sets and touch screens. The technology has also been used in cellular telephones.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published his most recent patent application, for advances in touch screen technology, on Feb. 1.
His wife, Ingrid, said Adler wouldn't have chosen the remote control as his favorite invention. In fact, he didn't even watch much television.
"He was more of a reader," she said. "He was a man who would dream in the night and wake up and say, 'I just solved a problem.' He was always thinking science."
Adler wished he had been recognized for more of his broad-ranging applications that were useful in the war and in space and were building blocks of other technology, she said, "but then the remote control changed the life of every man."
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
Co-Inventor of the TV Remote Dies
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Hit the mute button for a moment of silence: The co-inventor of the TV remote, Robert Adler, has died. Adler, who won an Emmy Award along with fellow engineer Eugene Polley for the device that made the couch potato possible, died Thursday of heart failure at a Boise nursing home at 93, Zenith Electronics Corp. said Friday.
In his six-decade career with Zenith, Adler was a prolific inventor, earning more than 180 U.S. patents. He was best known for his 1956 Zenith Space Command remote control, which helped make TV a truly sedentary pastime.
In a May 2004 interview with The Associated Press, Adler recalled being among two dozen engineers at Zenith given the mission to find a new way for television viewers to change channels without getting out of their chairs or tripping over a cable.
But he downplayed his role when asked if he felt his invention helped raise a new generation of couch potatoes.
"People ask me all the time — 'Don't you feel guilty for it?' And I say that's ridiculous," he said. "It seems reasonable and rational to control the TV from where you normally sit and watch television."
Various sources have credited either Polley, another Zenith engineer, or Adler as the inventor of the device. Polley created the "Flashmatic," a wireless remote introduced in 1955 that operated on photo cells. Adler introduced ultrasonics, or high-frequency sound, to make the device more efficient in 1956.
Zenith credits them as co-inventors, and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded both Adler and Polley an Emmy in 1997 for the landmark invention.
"He was part of a project that changed the world," Polley said from his home in Lombard, Ill.
Adler joined Zenith's research division in 1941 after earning a doctorate in physics from the University of Vienna. He retired as research vice president in 1979, and served as a technical consultant until 1999, when Zenith merged with LG Electronics Inc.
During World War II, Adler specialized in military communications equipment. He later helped develop sensitive amplifiers for ultra high frequency signals used by radio astronomers and by the U.S. Air Force for long-range missile detection.
Adler also was considered a pioneer in SAW technology, or surface acoustic waves, in color television sets and touch screens. The technology has also been used in cellular telephones.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published his most recent patent application, for advances in touch screen technology, on Feb. 1.
His wife, Ingrid, said Adler wouldn't have chosen the remote control as his favorite invention. In fact, he didn't even watch much television.
"He was more of a reader," she said. "He was a man who would dream in the night and wake up and say, 'I just solved a problem.' He was always thinking science."
Adler wished he had been recognized for more of his broad-ranging applications that were useful in the war and in space and were building blocks of other technology, she said, "but then the remote control changed the life of every man."
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
Submission + - GPLv3 is DRM
An anonymous reader writes: This post says:
"Imagine: some software/music, say GCC, is released/distributed under GPLv2. People can do whatever they want with it: redistribute it, reuse it in their own source code/music, or whatever. Then GPLv3 comes out. Suddenly the software/music won't work on/play in your hardware/software."
Please comment, I hope I'm wrong.
"Imagine: some software/music, say GCC, is released/distributed under GPLv2. People can do whatever they want with it: redistribute it, reuse it in their own source code/music, or whatever. Then GPLv3 comes out. Suddenly the software/music won't work on/play in your hardware/software."
Please comment, I hope I'm wrong.
Submission + - The Paravirtualization Top Ten
BL08N0883N writes: Paravirtualization Is...
10) The chute that would have saved you if you were skydiving in a videogame instead of real life
9) The thing that safely brings a soldier from the aircraft to the ground after freefall, if we were in a pretend war
8) The feeling you get when you're dreaming about your last vacation to Tahoe in the summer when you were attached to a large kite being pulled through the air by a boat
7) An error in the space-time continuum that will ultimately lead to the end of all virtual life as we know it
6) When someone's health is improved by, not an emergency medic, but a mirror image of one that appears when the server goes down
5) When you can't even afford to speak to an attorney's assistant, so you consult a virtual one instead
4) When someone dies and comes back to haunt you in virtual realities
3) Virtualization without the use of its legs
2) The psychological investigation into the phenomena that is Tron
And Number One in the Paravirtualization Countdown is...
1) When a vicious website (unnamed) attaches itself to a host and sucks the life out of it
10) The chute that would have saved you if you were skydiving in a videogame instead of real life
9) The thing that safely brings a soldier from the aircraft to the ground after freefall, if we were in a pretend war
8) The feeling you get when you're dreaming about your last vacation to Tahoe in the summer when you were attached to a large kite being pulled through the air by a boat
7) An error in the space-time continuum that will ultimately lead to the end of all virtual life as we know it
6) When someone's health is improved by, not an emergency medic, but a mirror image of one that appears when the server goes down
5) When you can't even afford to speak to an attorney's assistant, so you consult a virtual one instead
4) When someone dies and comes back to haunt you in virtual realities
3) Virtualization without the use of its legs
2) The psychological investigation into the phenomena that is Tron
And Number One in the Paravirtualization Countdown is...
1) When a vicious website (unnamed) attaches itself to a host and sucks the life out of it
