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Apple

Submission + - Board Game Geek launches iOS Board Games State of (boardgamegeek.com)

bcummingsiOS writes: "Hello Readers, Developers, and Board Game Publishers,

In order to provide a clearer picture of the board game app industry and its trends, we conducted a survey of board game app developers for Quarter 3, 2011. The results of this survey can be found in the iOS Board Games State of the Industry Report. It takes a look at the trends and state of the industry. This report is 17 pages in length and paints a good picture of the board game app industry. It contains charts and figures that show a breakdown of the metrics for the industry. Thank you to all developers who responded to our survey, which made this report possible.

You can read the report below or view a PDF here: http://iosbgreports.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/iosbg-state-...

In addition, we have created the iOS Board Games Best Practices Report aimed at developers, board game publishers, and industry professionals. The iOS Board Games Best Practices Report contains nearly 40 pages of additional content, featuring breakdowns, charts, and analyses of the best practices and choices when developing iOS board game apps. This document will be a key in understanding and implementing correct decisions in iOS board game apps.

This initial Best Practices report can be purchased by going here: http://iosbgreports.wordpress.com/

We are excited to have finally completed this massive undertaking and we hope that developers and users will find this information interesting and useful. Also if you are a developer and interested in us taking a closer look at your app in particular and how it compares to the market in general, as well as provide advice for improvement, feel free to contact us at iosboardgames@gmail.com.

Thank you all and I hope you enjoy the report,

Bradley Cummings
iOS Board Games"

Facebook

Submission + - Web App Scans Facebook for Ugly Mugs (itworld.com)

itwbennett writes: "Go ahead and get sloshed at the company holiday party. A German company is working on a web app that, among other privacy/security features, will help you track down any unflattering photos that get posted to Facebook. The software uses facial recognition technology to scan photos in a user's friend circle to see if the user is present."
Science

Submission + - New cell structures make textbook drawings look da (nature.com)

ananyo writes: It's life Jim but not as we know it! Forget what you learned at school about the structure of the cell. New imaging techniques have exposed weird and wonderful structures that make the textbook drawings of cell structures seem a little dated... There's also a slideshow and audio.

Submission + - Targeted attacks steal credit cards from hospitali (sophos.com)

Em Adespoton writes: "SophosLabs, the security research division of Sophos, Inc, has been tracking an increase in targeted attacks against hospitality and educational organizations. Active malware has been discovered that steals credit card data directly from memory for later retrieval by the criminals involved. This activity appears to go back as far as 2009, just like the Stuxnet/Duqu threat."
Robotics

Submission + - Tiny guided bomb for tiny planes (suasnews.com)

garymortimer writes: "Coming soon, one man target, one air dropped bomb. Drones get smaller weapons.

STM Phase II is a new 12-pound, 22-inch long, precision-guided, gravity-dropped bomb specifically designed for employment from manned and unmanned aircraft systems. Has both GPS and semiactive laser guidance"

Submission + - Free Apps to Turn Your iPhone into a Mobile Office (fodors.com) 1

MikeCapone writes: "For many professionals, tending to business while on vacation is a requirement. But don'(TM)t let that reality derail your trip. These days, you can do everything from scanning and signing documents to sending hands-free texts while driving--"all from your iPhone. We’ve rounded up the best office apps that let you take your show on the road, so you can spend more time sunbathing, and less time searching for the nearest fax machine. Did we mention that they're all free?"
Science

Submission + - Stephen Wolfram Bets on Singularity (fastcoexist.com)

kodiaktau writes: This week the Lifeboat foundation announced that Stephen Wolfram would be joining its organization. The purpose of the group is to think through scientific solutions to existential problems that might be used to save humanity from such risks as asteroids hitting the earth or some other diabolical disaster. Wolfram brings computational science to the table and has posited that the earth and universe can be understood as a computer program that can be significantly altered as we continue to advance in technology.
Apple

Submission + - Siri: Coming Soon to Apple TV? (ibtimes.com)

redletterdave writes: "Apple's new TV set-top, revealed by code found within the iOS 5.1 update, will reportedly feature the newest version of Bluetooth, called Bluetooth Smart (4.0). With this technology, Apple could potentially implement motion-sensitive controls and even Siri onto its TV platform. With the ability for Bluetooth 4.0 to connect with a greater number of wireless devices faster and more reliably, it's likely Apple will use Siri to help users control and navigate the Apple TV interface, especially for finding and discovering content. With the addition of Bluetooth, sources also say the next-gen Apple TV could become a gaming port. Bluetooth 4.0 can leverage the gyroscopes and accelerometers within the iOS devices to make any iOS handheld into a motion-sensitive game controller, which could potentially help Apple compete with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii."
Security

Submission + - Why Password Wisdom Is All Wrong (internetevolution.com)

hapworth writes: Contrary to popular wisdom, using complex passwords with varying letters and numbers is all wrong and far from secure, says Stephen Gallagher, a Red Hat Linux Software Engineer. The truth about creating safe passwords is three-fold, he says, requiring a second form of authentication, such as a smartcard or time-based authentication token; a "physical device on your person"; and, lastly and most importantly, creating long passwords with letters and spaces (e.g., "vagrant pizza mouse garden pick"). Says the developer, this approach "has effectively zero cost to a corporate environment while providing a significant gain in security."

Comment Re:Market already taken (Score 1) 120

You have to think brand name, NASA as a brand is a big plus. They could initially have just the space-food, then they could branch out to camping food as well, where they could basically sell the food you are used to, but with the NASA brand, they would probably make more money.

The only down side I can see is that many would object to the federal government going into business, and competing against private companies. So what they could do instead is to license the NASA brand. I'm sure NASA could make some money off of this. It might reduce our taxes (although minimally). I think licensing a brand like NASA is akin to other licensing agreements the feds are already doing. As long as they don't dilute the brand, or put it on bad products, we may as well make some money off of it as it is a national resource.

Comment Not the first 3D version of Mario (Score 1) 83

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario's_Tennis

"Mario's Tennis (, Mariozu Tenisu?) is a game for Nintendo's Virtual Boy video game console."

The Virtual Boy video game console provided true 3D display for its games, although in monochrome. It did not require glasses either. It had two displays one for each eye, and you had to look through a neoprene coated eyepiece to see the displays. It didn't do very well, so is not well-known. It was one of the few flops for Nintendo.

Comment Re:News for nerds (Score 1) 317

I went one better, I used a telescope to burn all sorts of things. It has a somewhat adjustable focus by using different eye pieces, and I could burn wood, and paper, and many other things on a sunny day. The telescope was readily available, so I didn't need to build anything. It was only a 2" refractor, but had plenty of power, much more than a magnifying glass, with a MUCH sharper focus. I did manage to melt metal with it as well.

I always meant to revisit these experiments with something like a 10" or larger scope. I would imagine some really high temperatures would be possible, the optics count for a lot in efficiency.

Comment Re:All you need to know, from TFA (Score 1) 815

Many times the reason for a rejection of a paper like this is failure to properly control for possible anomalous conditions. If you don't have an explanation, the minimum you should do is to control for every possible other explanation. If you haven't fully tested whether the phenomenon you observe might be due to something else, then a reviewer must reject the paper.

It is equivalent to the famous Sherlock Holmes quote, “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”

If you haven't eliminated the impossible, you can't conclude you have found improbable physics.

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