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Comment Not a new idea (Score 1) 1

by catherder_finleyd (#30201438) Attached to: Western Union Proposed Computing on Tap in 1965

People forget that remote computing, and even rudimentary "Cloud Computing", was started back in the 1960's. I can remember in the 1970's doing work on GEISCO computers. At a time when the smaller "mini-computers" cost over $100K (1970's dollars), it was common for smaller companies to make use of GEISCO and other computer time sharing services.
Space

Jumpgate Evolution Dev Talks Class Balance 86

Posted by Soulskill from the check-out-my-+1-laser dept.
Hermann Peterscheck recently made a post on the Jumpgate Evolution developer blog about NetDevil's strategy for balancing the various classes of ships in the game. They seem to be taking a different approach from most MMOs in letting the PvP side of the gameplay set the baseline, rather than allowing PvE concerns to override that. From the section titled Combating Combat: "Early on our lead systems designer, Jay Ambrosini, came to the correct conclusion that all of the preliminary balancing was best done in a PvP context. The reasoning is that in PvE, the player needs to feel powerful, but in PvP the fight needs to feel balanced. Once ship classes are balanced in PvP, its not as hard to make the player feel powerful in PvE, but the opposite is not true. We spent many weeks playing just the first class of ship, the light fighter, in teams of 5 or 6 in order to evaluate what it was that made those ships fun to fly and fight. After daily battles, you begin to see what makes those ships work. We also started with the mid level ships as opposed to the low or high level ships. This is primarily because you can find the center point and then work upwards and downwards from there. ... It's very tempting to just throw a bunch of classes of ships together in order to say things like "our game has 15 classes of ships!" but this, we believe, is the wrong direction. People want meaningful and strong choices and not lots of meaningless, empty choices. Currently we plan to have 4-6 classes, but they will each have nearly endless possible configurations within those groups."
Earth

Submission + - UFO Crashed Into Meteorite to Save Earth (takefreetime.com) 1

Submitted by
slreboy
slreboy writes: ""A SCIENTIST is claiming a UFO deliberately crashed into a meteor to save Earth from destruction 100 years ago. Dr Yuri Labvin, president of the Tunguska Spatial Phenomenon Foundation, insists an alien spacecraft SACRIFICED ITSELF to prevent a gigantic meteor from slamming into us above Siberia on June 30, 1908. He claims the result was the Tunguska event — a massive blast estimated at 15 megatons that downed 80 million trees over nearly 100 square miles." The Tunguska event is one of the world`s greatest mysteries, and the cause of the explosion is the subject of debate. But most scientists believe the explosion was caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet."

Comment Re:I'd go to Detroit. Seriously. (Score 1) 141

by catherder_finleyd (#28121537) Attached to: High-Tech Start-Ups Put Down Roots In New Soil

If you are considering Michigan, consider Ann Arbor or Lansing. Both areas have excellent Universities nearby (U of Michigan, Michigan State), which provide both labor pool of CS grads and a vibrant cultural environment. I would also suggest looking to Ohio, especially around Cincinnati (U of Cincinnati) and Columbus (Ohio State). All these areas also have a start-up culture, often engaged in by Professors at the local Universities.

Comment PGE not only potential Solaren client (Score 1) 392

by catherder_finleyd (#27569481) Attached to: PG&E Makes Deal For Solar Power From Space

I seem to remember discussion here on

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/25/1738239

where the National Security Space Office (NSSO) of the US DoD wanted to open discussion on Space-Based power generation. The NSSO published an interim assessment:

http://www.acq.osd.mil/nsso/solar/solar.htm

One of the points of the assessment is that the DoD is likely to be a big customer for Space-Based power, especially for powering remote facilities.
Security

Largest Hacking Scam in Canadian History 211

Posted by CmdrTaco from the stole-all-the-maple-syrup dept.
vieux schnock writes "Police raided several homes across Quebec on Wednesday and arrested 16 people in their investigation, which they say uncovered the largest hacking scam in Canadian history. (...) The hackers collaborated online to attack and take control of as many as one million computers around the world that were not equipped with anti-virus software or firewalls."

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