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Stats

Average Gamer Is 37 Years Old 295

Posted by Soulskill from the get-off-my-sim-lawn dept.
kolbe writes "A new study from the Entertainment Software Association suggests that the average age of today's gamers is between the 37 and 41 years old. If true, does this mean that game studios should be adjusting their demographics accordingly? Is Generation X the next 'baby boomer' market for the gaming industry?"

Comment Re:Robots Randroids? (Score 1) 360

by Reibisch (#36028314) Attached to: Robots 'Evolve' Altruism

Assume my income is high enough that I'm not only paying for the services I receive but that I'm also paying extra. Please explain to me how I'm not being forced to be charitable - and while you're at it, explain to me what ultimately happens if I refuse to 'donate' this extra amount. You've got the most creative use of the word 'disincentivized' of anyone I've ever seen. :)

Semantics aside, this report is actually pretty cool.
Privacy

Apple: "We must Have Comprehensive Location Data" 556

Posted by samzenpus from the I-always-feel-like-somebody's-watching-me dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Apple's iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4, and iPad models are keeping track of consumers whereabouts. Mac computers running Snow Leopard and even Windows computers running Safari 5 are being watched. But the question is why? 'To provide the high quality products and services that its customers demand, Apple must have access to the comprehensive location-based information,' Apple says."
Google

Google Crowd-Sources Maps 151

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i'm-adding-moats dept.
Wamoc writes "Google has invited 'citizen cartographers' to refine the US map for Google Maps and Google Earth. 'Today we're opening the map of the United States in Google Map Maker for you to add your expert local knowledge directly. You know your neighborhood or hometown best, and with Google Map Maker you can ensure the places you care about are richly represented on the map. For example, you can fix the name of your local pizza parlor, or add a description of your favorite book store.'"

Comment Re:And that (Score 1) 203

by Reibisch (#35186596) Attached to: <em>Crysis 2</em> Leaked Over a Month Before Launch
Define 'good money' and someone will still decide that they're worth more. Besides, there's no evidence that a developer leaked it intentionally. If that were the case, I would have expected to see the source code likewise leaked. Rather, my guess would be that it was leaked by someone who was given a dev copy. Now whether this leak was intentional or inadvertent is another matter altogether.
PC Games (Games)

Witcher 2 Torrents Could Net You a Fine 724

Posted by Soulskill from the dodging-legal-threats-now-a-valid-gameplay-mechanic dept.
An anonymous reader writes with this quote from Eurogamer: "Gamers who download upcoming PC exclusive The Witcher 2 illegally could receive a letter demanding they pay a fine or face legal action. If gamers refuse to pay the fine, which will be more than the cost of the game, they could end up in court, developer CD Projekt told Eurogamer. 'Of course we're not happy when people are pirating our games, so we are signing with legal firms and torrent sneaking companies,' CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwiski said. 'In quite a few big countries, when people are downloading it illegally they can expect a letter from a legal firm saying, "Hey, you downloaded it illegally and right now you have to pay a fine." We are totally fair, but if you decide you will not buy it legally there is a chance you'll get a letter. We are talking about it right now.' Interestingly, The Witcher 2 will be released free of digital rights management – but only through the CD Projekt-owned digital download shop GOG.com. That means owners will be able to install it as many times as they like on any number of computers – and it will not requite an internet connection to run."
Biotech

First 'Malaria-Proof' Mosquito Created 261

Posted by timothy from the what-about-a-really-good-egg-cream dept.
Gisg writes "The University of Arizona team reported that their genetically modified mosquitoes are immune to the malaria-causing parasite, a single-cell organism called Plasmodium. Riehle and his colleagues tested their genetically-altered mosquitoes by feeding them malaria-infested blood. Not even one mosquito became infected with the malaria parasite."
Supercomputing

'Telecommuting' In Formula 1 90

Posted by kdawson from the telemetry-at-a-distance dept.
flewp writes "This New York Times article on Formula 1 racing gives some insight into the workings of one of the most high-tech sports on the planet — consider that a few years ago, Sauber's supercomputer ranked toward the top of all the supercomputers in Europe. The teams bring to each race dozens of mechanics, support personnel, etc.; but back at their home bases, perhaps thousands of miles away, countless more engineers work (with the help of gobs of computing power) to give each team that extra edge."

Comment Re:openFOAM (Score 1) 105

by Reibisch (#32671998) Attached to: Best OSS CFD Package For High School Physics?
openFOAM is far too advanced for a basic intro to CFD. If you're hell-bent on introducing CFD in software form, you might be best off writing a simple fluid simulator and wrapping it with OpenGL or something. If you do incompressible flow with a simple structured mesh and a few editable parameters, you could probably be done in a few hours. And if you can't.. well, perhaps you aren't the right person to introduce such an advanced topic to highschoolers :)
Government

California's Santa Clara County Bans Happy Meal Toys 756

Posted by timothy from the when-self-righteousness-attacks dept.
WrongSizeGlass writes "The L.A. Times is reporting that Santa Clara County officials have voted to ban toys and other promotions that restaurants offer with high-calorie children's meals. 'This ordinance prevents restaurants from preying on children's love of toys' to sell high-calorie, unhealthful food, said Supervisor Ken Yeager, who sponsored the measure. 'This ordinance breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes.' Supervisor Donald Gage, who voted against the measure, said, 'If you can't control a 3-year-old child for a toy, God save you when they get to be teenagers.' The vote was 3 - 2 in favor of the ban."

Comment Re:EBay does this all the time (Score 1) 1204

by Reibisch (#31997460) Attached to: Police Seize Computers From Gizmodo Editor
The volume of transactions on eBay makes it difficult for police to prosecute specific cases for a variety of reasons, but the most common is manpower and the issue of jurisdiction. However, when police have a well-publicized instance a crime occurring in a specific area with already known suspects (in your case, the police would have needed to attempt to find the person whose phone was lost before proceeding) with key details being admitted by the suspect prior to the involvement of police, then you can damn well bet that there's going to be action. To think otherwise is simply naive.

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