basil64 - Slashdot User

Submission + - 5 Things I Learned from Playing MMO's (mmocker.com)

Submitted by

lumio

on Monday June 29, 2009 @02:27PM

lumio writes: "http://mmocker.com/2009/06/5-things-i-learned-from-playing-mmo-games/
Let's face it MMO's and gaming for that matter have this bad reputation for being time wasters and meaningless accomplishments. While I don't 100% disagree, I would like to submit that MMO's are the one of the best, and most productive forms of entertainment out there..."

Submission + - Steve Jobbs is back to work (cnn.com)

Submitted by

gubers33

on Monday June 29, 2009 @01:56PM

gubers33 writes: ""Steve Jobs is back to work. He is at Apple a few days a week and working from home the other days," Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said. "We're glad to have him back." Dowling would not comment further on specifics. Jobs's return may do little to quell the tech community's obsession with his health and future role at the hip tech company. Bloggers and tech-news writers are asking many questions about Jobs' return, including: Would Apple be fine without its famous chief executive? What does Jobs' health mean for Apple stock? And why has Jobs' health been such a drooled-over story? Jobs, a 54-year-old pancreatic cancer survivor, had a liver transplant about two months ago. Apple, maker of the iPhone, iPods and Mac computers, had remained mum on Jobs' status except to repeat, over and over, that Jobs would return to work by the end of June."

Submission + - prevent www infringements effective?

Submitted by MRspeed on Monday June 29, 2009 @01:46PM

MRspeed writes: One of the two big german parties the CDU published their manifesto for the next election, which is this year.
The new principal theme in the manifesto is security and rights violation in the world wide web, which is one topic of discussion in the moment in germany.
One aim of the CDU is: "Rechtsverletzungen effektiv unterbinden". Which means: "prevent infringements effective" which should be done in better association with the european union.
So will the internet soon be full of policemen watching you?

Submission + - PortableApps.com: Java Portable Launcher 1.0 Relea (sourceforge.net)

Submitted by SF:critternyc on Monday June 29, 2009 @01:45PM

SF:critternyc writes: Java Portable Launcher 1.0 has been released by PortableApps.com. Java Portable Launcher allows you to easily run Java JARs from your PortableApps.com-enabled device with Java Portable installed. While it doesn\'t portablize their settings directly, it does work with any self-contained JAR that stores settings alongside itself or allows its settings to be saved to a portable location. It\'s packaged in PortableApps.com Format for easy use from any portable device and integration with the PortableApps.com Suite. And it\'s open source and completely free. More About Java Portable Launcher: http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/java_portable_launcher SourceForge.net Project Page: http://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps What is a portable app? http://portableapps.com/about/what_is_a_portable_app

Submission + - Toyota develops brain-controlled wheelchair (pcworld.com)

Submitted by Hotawa Hawk-eye on Monday June 29, 2009 @01:41PM

Hotawa Hawk-eye writes: Toyota researchers have developed a brain-machine interface (BMI) that allows patients to control their wheelchair with a response time of a fraction of a second. Imagine if they gave one of these units to Stephen Hawking ...

Submission + - Hulu is now blocking Skyfire (mpsharp.com)

Submitted by

ydodger

on Monday June 29, 2009 @01:41PM

ydodger writes: "Hulu has shutdown Skyfire, which was proxying Hulu content to their mobile browser. I suspect the lawyers are involved at this point and it ain't coming back until Hulu gets some money..."

Submission + - Tim Berners-Lee on e-Government (cioinsight.com)

Submitted by

Ned Nederlander

on Monday June 29, 2009 @01:34PM

Ned Nederlander writes: "The WWW inventor is helping the British government determine its path for posting government data online, and his efforts could have significant implications for a similar effort in the United States."

Submission + - Advanced GWT Components 1.4.7 Released (sourceforge.net)

Submitted by SF:skls79 on Monday June 29, 2009 @01:32PM

SF:skls79 writes: Release 1.4.6 includes: Bug fixes: 1. Grid Resize Does Not Collapse Properly 2. SimpleGrid resizing issues 3. Issues with GWT embedded browser New features: 1. Implement basic borders API 2. Implement advanced tab panel 3. Columns resizing feature must be implemented in the SimpleGrid 4. Add setDate() to DatePicker 5. New demo application required 6. Add grid methods to provide an ability to get grid rows, columns, etc 7. Make user manual

Submission + - FairPoint Telecom could face bankruptcy (timesargus.com)

Submitted by some vermonter on Monday June 29, 2009 @12:48PM

some vermonter writes: Did FairPoint Communications bite off more than it could chew? An article reveals a looming financial crisis:

MONTPELIER — FairPoint Communications could file for bankruptcy by the end of 2009 if the companies it owes money to don't agree to delay interest payments on its debts, according to documents filed with the federal government this week.

The North Carolina company, which purchased Verizon's landlines and Internet services in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine for $2.3 billion last year, told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it is strapped for cash.

FairPoint asked bond-holders with more than $500 million invested in the company to consider delaying interest payments on those funds to give FairPoint a little more breathing room to get back on its feet."

The news comes as little surprise in the affected areas:
FairPoint's financial problems have been no secret. Since taking over Verizon's systems, the company has experienced a slew of problems — including poor service to customers, confusing billing and lost e-mail addresses.

Submission + - Translating flags in API calls (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Source Code Adventures on Monday June 29, 2009 @12:45PM

Source Code Adventures writes: Windows API calls often include flags, which are just combinations of various constants that you then need to go find in the documentation. Delphi allows you to create type-safe imports of these functions that are safer and much more intuitive to use.

Submission + - Bacterial Shells Make Cancer More Vulnerable (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by

Al

on Monday June 29, 2009 @12:31PM

Al writes: "Empty bacterial cells can deliver key anti-tumor substances with high precision, according to a team from the biotech firm EnGeneIC and the University of New South Wales, in Australia. Genetic changes in rapidly dividing and mutating tumor cells allow them to eventually shrug off drugs that are initially effective. Mutations that affect a tumor cell's ability to metabolize, take up, or, more commonly, pump out cancer drugs can cause resistance. To combat this the researchers placed small strands of RNA designed to block expression of the gene responsible for resisitance in "minicells"--bacteria emptied of their DNA. They then attached antibodies to the surface of the minicells that enabled them to stick to cell markers found only on the tumor cells that they were seeking to treat. The approach could help overcome the problem of resistance to cancer drugs."

Submission + - Google, Facebook, Twitter, Others Miss Big Picture (bnet.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29, 2009 @12:23PM

An anonymous reader writes: You hear a lot of comparison between companies. Google will beat Microsoft, or Microsoft will devastate Google. Twitter will become the New Google, or the New Facebook, or the New Media. Yahoo will become the New Yahoo. You get the idea. But there are two things that become obvious when you think a moment. One is that all these companies are juggling for a future business landscape dominated by communications. The other is that they're all trying to fit a complex issue into their own undersized boxes. No one tool solves all communications needs, and to pretend they do is to ignore what really needs to be done.

Submission + - Wikipedia Censored To Protect Captive Reporter (nytimes.com)

Submitted by AI on Monday June 29, 2009 @12:16PM

AI writes: For seven months, The New York Times managed to keep out of the news the fact that one of its reporters, David Rohde, had been kidnapped by the Taliban. But that was pretty straightforward compared with keeping it off Wikipedia....A dozen times, user-editors posted word of the kidnapping on Wikipedia's page on Mr. Rohde, only to have it erased. Several times the page was frozen, preventing further editing — a convoluted game of cat-and-mouse that clearly angered the people who were trying to spread the information of the kidnapping....The sanitizing was a team effort, led by Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, along with Wikipedia administrators and people at The Times.

Submission + - An Eclipse Galileo flyby

Submitted by IndioMan on Monday June 29, 2009 @12:11PM

IndioMan writes: The Eclipse Galileo release of 33 major projects showcases diversity and innovation. The goal of this article is to take you through the Galileo release train and showcase some of the projects that are part of the release. It accomplished this by giving a tour of some Galileo projects, including quotes from project leaders along the way.

Submission + - Being Overweight May Lead to Longer Life 3

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens

on Monday June 29, 2009 @12:04PM

Hugh Pickens writes: "Findings of a new study show that underweight people and those who are extremely obese die earlier than people of normal weight — but those who are overweight actually live longer than people of normal weight. "It's not surprising that extreme underweight and extreme obesity increase the risk of dying, but it is surprising that carrying a little extra weight may give people a longevity advantage," said one of the coauthors of the study. "It may be that a few extra pounds actually protect older people as their health declines, but that doesn't mean that people in the normal weight range should try to put on a few pounds." The study examined the relationship between body mass index and death among 11,326 adults in Canada over a 12-year period. The study showed that underweight people were 70 percent more likely than people of normal weight to die, and extremely obese people were 36 percent more likely to die. But overweight individuals defined as a body mass index of 25 to 29.9 were 17 percent less likely to die than people of a normal weight defined as a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9. The relative risk for obese people was nearly the same as for people of normal weight. The authors controlled for factors such as age, sex, physical activity, and smoking. "Overweight may not be the problem we thought it was," said Dr. David H. Feeny, a senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research. "Overweight was protective.""

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