Jeff Archambeault - Slashdot User

Submission + - Fantasy Author David Eddings passes on (guardian.co.uk) 1

Submitted by

Daswolfen

on Friday June 05, 2009 @06:01PM

Daswolfen writes: "The man who started the craze for doorstopper-sized fantasy series, David Eddings, has died aged 77. Prolific and bestselling, Eddings was the author of more than 25 books, many of them written with his wife Leigh Eddings, who passed away in 2007. Best known for his Belgariad and Mallorean series, which follow the adventures of the orphaned farm boy Garion as he fulfils an ancient prophecy."

Submission + - NASA names space station treadmill after Colbert (sfgate.com)

Submitted by

willith

on Tuesday April 14, 2009 @11:01PM

willith writes: "Looks like the SF Chronicle is jumping the gun by an hour or so, but they've got an AP article up detailing the results of the International Space Station Node 3 naming contest (previously on Slashdot). Comedian and fake-pundit Stephen Colbert conducted a bombastic write-in campaign and repeatedly urged his show's fan base (the "Colbert Nation") to stuff the ballot box with his name, which resulted in "Colbert" coming in first in the write-in contest with almost a quarter-million votes. Although the Node 3 component will not be named "Colbert"--NASA has instead chosen to call it "Tranquility"--one of the Node 3 components will bear the honor: the second ISS treadmill, which will be installed in Node 3, will be named the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill. The formal announcement will be made on air tonight at 22:30 EDT on the Colbert Report on Comedy Central by astronaut Sunita Williams."

Submission + - Time Warner caps Austin TX at 40 GB/month (businessweek.com)

Submitted by Nate in Cambridge on Thursday April 02, 2009 @12:05AM

Nate in Cambridge writes: BusinessWeek reports Time Warner Cable will be introducing a tiered monthly transfer cap for Austin, TX. 40 GB of transfer per month is the top tier, and you'll pay top dollar for it. Lower tiers include 5, 10 and 20 GB/month. If you go over your monthly limit they will gleefully charge you $1/GB. For reference, season 4 of Battlestar Galactica on iTunes in HD is 30GB. There goes your family's monthly transfer budget...

Submission + - Memorable Game Explosions (gameplayer.com.au)

Submitted by

SlappingOysters

on Thursday April 02, 2009 @12:03AM

SlappingOysters writes: "Explosions are great, and we shudder to think how many millions of dollars have been spent over the years investing in technology that has enabled 'big booms' in video games to resonate well after the glow has stopped glaring and your sub has stopped shaking. This gameplayer article celebrates 17 of the most memorable explosions in gaming history, documented with video footage of each. For a laugh, there also a Memorable Nude Gaming Moments article."

Submission + - RIP SGI

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens

on Wednesday April 01, 2009 @11:07PM

Hugh Pickens writes: "A collective shudder rippled through Silicon Valley on Wednesday morning, as Rackable Systems announced the purchase for just $25 million in cash of Silicon Graphics Inc, a company that in 1997 was pulling in close to $4 billion in revenue a year producing some of the flashiest computers on the planet for handling tough graphics jobs. SGI was forced into bankruptcy a couple of years back and has been struggling ever since but in its day it was one of the nation's fastest-growing companies, best known for building extraordinary computers that helped create special effects for the "Jurassic Park" films. SGI used to thrive by selling computers based on its own chips and operating system but its technology was undercut by cheaper graphics products from companies like Nvidia and cheaper mainstream chips from Intel. In addition, SGI made a blunder by opting to move all of its computers over to Intel's lackluster Itanium chip. By buying SGI, Rackable takes on some engineers with expertise in building large, complex systems as well as some intellectual property around graphics and server technology but regrettably for SGI, the company sold off some of its key 3-D graphics technology to Microsoft several years ago."

Classic Shooters Heretic and Hexen Released Under GPL 74

Posted by Soulskill on Friday September 05, 2008 @09:13PM from the giblets-want-to-be-free dept.

phanboy_iv writes "Fans of both of the Raven classics, Heretic and Hexen, have been trying for almost a decade to convince Raven Software to release engine source code for the games under the GPL, much like the DOOM engine on which both of them are based. Well, they finally did it! Source code is available at Sourceforge. Both of these games have had the source available for a while, but under a restrictive license that hindered ports and modifications. Now, thanks to dedicated fans, that's no longer a problem."

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