Comment UI Update? (Score 1) 282
Well' I'm still waiting for tabs in the title bar on linux/gtk
Comment Bad marketing (Score 2) 68
They reach 1.0 and they don't bother to post even a single screenshot? Now, that's Meego successor for sure
Comment Re:Sony's war on their customers (Score 3, Interesting) 290
Quite surprising their mobile department is quite open. They published many driver source code and also they published an alpha and beta version of android ICS for some models. I guess the mobile department is still more Ericsson than Sony
Comment Structured Programming (Score 1) 624
Even if it's somehow outdated (and no longer in print), every single program we write today is highly influenced by "Structured Programming" by Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, C. A. R. Hoare and Ole-Johan Dahl. Before this book, programs used to be a mess of spaghetti code and the familiar constructs like if-then-else or while loops did not exist.
Comment Not very reassuring slides (Score 1) 479
"Qt will continue to be the development framework for Symbian and Nokia will use Symbian for further devices"
Yes, but they also say this:
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/02/nokiawebcast-4.pdf-page-30-of-38.jpg
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/02/nokiawebcast-4.pdf-page-32-of-38.jpg
Comment Re:Goodbye Moto (Score 1) 757
Simply because different phone models only differ in their software. Android is a big PITA for all the marketing guys, because it makes all phones the same.
Comment Hypocrite (Score 3, Insightful) 192
Well, they are remaking the same exact game since Knight of the Old Republic. Take a look at KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect. Always the same mechanics, always the same basic plot. While they are very good at it, they are not very "creative".
Comment Re:According to the latest article in "Duh" Magazi (Score 3, Insightful) 534
No, actually pretty everyone in the world is better than native english speakers at spelling, because they learn English mostly by reading it, instead of learning it by listening and speaking it...
Comment Re:Nice Demo... (Score 1) 378
This is pretty old stuff, see http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/69211/siggraph05_0265_final.pdf for example (but I'm sure I've read older articles on similar techniques).
At one point there was even a gimp plugin that worked decently well. Here: http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/resynthesizer/removal
Comment Re:It's true (Score 1) 965
It should be said that their SDK and their documentation are *very good*, especially the documentation, and especially if you compare them to what windows or linux have to offer...
Comment Re:Ironic (Score 4, Interesting) 197
I don't know where you found this info, and I never heard anything about it (and I actually have born and live in Torino). Also there are no "cliffs" around Torino, and Torino has nevere been a citystate in ancient times: in fact it was born as a Roman military camp.
New Graphics Firm Promises Real-Time Ray Tracing 136
arcticstoat writes "A new graphics company called Caustic Graphics reckons it's uncovered the secret of real-time ray tracing with a chip that 'enables your CPU/GPU to shade with rasterization-like efficiency.' The new chip basically off-loads ray tracing calculations and then sends the data to your GPU and CPU, enabling your PC to shade a ray-traced scene much more quickly. Caustic's management team isn't afraid to rubbish the efforts of other graphics companies when it comes to ray tracing. 'Some technology vendors claim to have solved the accelerated ray tracing problem by using traditional algorithms along with GPU hardware,' says Caustic. However, the company adds that 'if you've ever seen them demo their solutions you'll notice that while results may be fast — the image quality is underwhelming, far below the quality that ray tracing is known for.' According to Caustic, this is because the advanced shading and lighting effects usually seen in ray-traced scenes, such as caustics and refraction, can't be accelerated on a standard GPU because it can't process incoherent rays in hardware. Conversely, Caustic claims that the CausticOne 'thrives in incoherent ray tracing situations: encouraging the use of multiple secondary rays per pixel.' The company is also introducing its own API, called CausticGL, which is based on OpenGL/GLSL, which will feature Caustic's unique ray tracing extensions."
Building a Successful "Open" Game World 104
M3rk sends an excerpt from an opinion piece on Gametopius discussing what it takes for an open game world to be successful. Interesting stories and characters are important, but they must be balanced by varied and entertaining gameplay. The lack of either will be a limiting factor in how many people return to play once the primary plot is completed. Quoting:
"A game like GTA IV takes itself and its fiction very seriously. It spends a lot of time, effort, and gameplay resources convincing you that the world you are traveling through is the same world that the story and cutscenes take place in. It may not be a game that allows you to own or control property to the degree seen in Burnout Paradise or Saints Row II, but it wants its world to be cohesive, not divided. ... While GTA IV's game systems almost serve its plot, Saints Row II and Burnout Paradise live for their game mechanics. Sure, these worlds are fun to look at and explore, but any exploration and discovery that the player enjoys merely drives them to these games' raison d'être: fun systems to play with."
Linked In Or Out? 474
Mr_Whoopass writes "I am the IT Administrator for a regional restaurant chain, and as of late I am noticing more and more people sending me invitations to sites like LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc. Mother always taught me to be a skeptic, and, knowing more than the average Joe about how information can be used in this digital era, I am reticent to say the least about posting such personal details as my full name and where I work on the net for all to see. I have thus far managed to stay completely below the radar, and a search on Google has nothing on my real persona. However, now times are tough, and I see sales dropping in the industry I work in as it is a discretionary spending market to be sure. I wonder if I should loosen up on the paranoia a bit and start networking with some of these folks in case of the all too common layoff scenario that seems to be happening lately. What do other folks here think about this? I am specifically interested in what people who work in IT think (since I know that just about every moron who has 'Vice President' or sits on the 'Executive Team' is already on LinkedIn and has no clue about why they should be trying to protect their identity)."
Is Flash Really On 99% of Net Devices? 383
Barence writes "Adobe claims that its Flash platform reaches '99% of internet viewers,' but a closer look at those statistics suggests it's not exactly all-encompassing. Adobe puts Flash player penetration at 947 million users out of a total 956 million internet-connected devices, but the total number of PCs is based on a forecast made two years ago. What's more, the number of Flash users is based on a questionable internet survey of just 4,600 people — around 0.0005% of the suggested 956,000,000 total. Is it really possible that 99% penetration could have been reached? Including Linux users? Including users at work? Including brand-new systems?"
