ztexas - Slashdot User

Comment Cognitive dissonance (Score 1) 556

by ztexas on Sunday January 15, 2012 @05:40PM (#38708130) Attached to: Can NASA Warm Cold Fusion?

He's a fraudster. Name one other case where an invention or useful implement has preceded the theoretical framework to explain it. Oh wait...
I don't know whether Rossi has found something novel and commercialized it. Neither do you. Time will tell. AFAIK he hasn't been taking prepayment for delivery of the devices, even though it would be rather trivial to setup the infrastructure to accept $100 payments to be "first in line" for later delivery of home units. If/when he does this, I will be first to suspect fraud.

Comment Prepaid (Score 1) 367

by ztexas on Monday March 21, 2011 @07:38PM (#35566486) Attached to: Why the AT&T and T-Mobile Merger Is Bad For Consumers

How long before T-Mobile's reasonably-priced prepaid plans vanish? I give it 6-12 months.

The Ethics of Social Games 75

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday November 25, 2010 @08:02AM from the push-button-for-endorphins dept.

Gamespot is running a story about the ethics and morality of the social games market, which in recent years has exploded to involve hundreds of millions of players. Between micro-transactions, getting players to recruit friends, and the thin line between compelling games and addictive games, there are plenty of opportunities for developers to stray into shady practices. Quoting: "The most successful social games to date have used very simple gameplay mechanics, encouraging neither strategy nor dexterity but regular interaction with the game ... Although undeniably successful, the existing social game framework has been the subject of much debate among game developers from every corner of the game industry, from the mainstream to the indie community. Some, like Super Meat Boy creator Edmund McMillen, are particularly strident in their assessment. 'Social games tend to have a really seedy and abusive means of manipulation that they use to rope people in and keep them in,' McMillen said. 'People are so tricked into that that they'll actually spend real money on something that does absolutely nothing, nothing at all.'

Comment Does it work like this? (Score 1) 245

by ztexas on Monday October 26, 2009 @07:35PM (#29879061) Attached to: Companies To Invade Your Retinas As Soon As Next Year?

Demo 20 seconds into this vid: http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=095290d81130331d905bbdf900ab219a

Scientists Create RNA From Primordial Soup 369

Posted by timothy on Wednesday May 13, 2009 @05:21PM from the that's-notional-primordial-soup-to-you dept.

Kristina at Science News writes "The RNA world hypothesis proposed 40 years ago suggested that life on Earth started not with DNA but with RNA. Now a team of scientists bolsters this hypothesis, having assembled RNA in the lab from a mixture that resembles what was likely the primordial soup. 'Until now,' Science News reports, 'scientists couldn't figure out the chemical reactions that created the earliest RNA molecules.' The new work started the RNA assembly chemistry from a different angle than what earlier work had tried."

Comment Noteworthy curiosity (Score 1) 553

by ztexas on Friday February 06, 2009 @06:24PM (#26758635) Attached to: Phantom OS, the 21st Century OS?

I commend their bravado in creating an OS from scratch, but can't see what need is addressed by this endeavor. Just how often does a truly novel OS gain a significant foothold in the desktop/server market? It took Linux many years, and its feet were firmly planted in Unix tradition. If nothing else, it's an effective way of generating traffic to their consulting site.

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