Comment The giants (Score 5, Funny) 482
"Windfarm Sickness"? Lame.
"Don Quixote Syndrome"? Much better.
Comment Because why not? (Score 1) 117
Human teeth from mouse kidneys. Because why the hell not? Next week, we'll start on our project to make alligator spleens from parrot intestines. Time permitting, there's always the cheetah-bones-from-elephant-skin plan or the one where we make dog fur from jellyfish stingers. If we get enough funding, we might be able to complete our magnum opus, recreating the heart of a triceratops from the colon of a neanderthal!
Submission + - Ask Slashdot: What are the technology hurdles in a US to Canada move? 1
toupsz writes: Considering how many "geek" technologies are now tied to accounts and subscriptions, can anyone speak to the hurdles involved in a (potentially permanent) US to Canada move? Since, presumably, licensing rules, pricing structures, etc. will be different, should I wholesale change my accounts? Leave some of them with a US address (of a trusted family member)?
By "'geek' technologies tied to accounts", I am thinking about things such as Dropbox, Netflix, Hulu, smartphone plan, iTunes, iCloud, Xbox Live, etc., etc., etc. Will various forms of DRM on games, apps, music, and movies fail? How much is tied to where your account officially lies and where it shows up by IP address (say when streaming a movie)?
By "'geek' technologies tied to accounts", I am thinking about things such as Dropbox, Netflix, Hulu, smartphone plan, iTunes, iCloud, Xbox Live, etc., etc., etc. Will various forms of DRM on games, apps, music, and movies fail? How much is tied to where your account officially lies and where it shows up by IP address (say when streaming a movie)?
Submission + - Thousands of Publicly Addressable Printers Searchable on Google (port3000.co.uk)
Jeremiah Cornelius writes: Blogger Adam Howard, at Port3000, has a post about Google's exposure of thousands of publicly accessible printers. "A quick, well crafted Google search returns "About 86,800 results" for publically accessible HP printers." He continues, "There's something interesting about being able to print to a random location around the world, with no idea of the consequence." He also warns about these printers as a possible beachhead for deeper network intrusion and exploitation. With many of the HP printers in question containing a web listener and a highly vulnerable and unpatched JVM, I agree that this is not an exotic idea. In the meanwhile? I have an important memo for all Starbucks employees. ;-)
Comment Already been done (Score 1) 1
The rapid tumble of American arcades — the real arcades, the loud dark rooms with gross carpets and no parents — has left a hole where a piece of culture used to be. Rather than try and recreate that vintage arcade experience, Japanese video game maker Namco is rolling out a "restaurant-centered, destination entertainment concept."
So... they're "inventing" Dave & Buster's or Gameworks. That... is less than thrilling than what the headline led me to believe. Or than what the first paragraph's nostalgia trip prepared me for.
Comment WUXGA (Score 4, Insightful) 266
Okay, I know 1920x1200 8:5 (16:10) displays "lost" once everyone was tricked into drooling over "HD picture size zomg!", but damnit, I really don't feel right buying a NEW, supposedly top-of-the-line monitor that has worse resolution than my laptop from eight or so years ago in college. Sadly, my choices are dwindling...
Comment Re:Douglas Adams figured it out (Score 2) 3
We need a B-Ark.
So... we need to send the morons out to continue our species as the rest of us horribly die out due to them doing some minor task that we don't realize is vital to our survival?
Comment Re:Following instructions. (Score 1) 11
I have to wonder when the user's powering it off during this process. If it's being bricked when powered off during the download phase (before the firmware gets flashed), then it's a point of concern, since it should be stuffing that data into a holding area before it does a single thing with it.
However, if it's during the flashing phase, well, then that's the user's stupid fault. They DO throw warnings all over the place. But, knowing Nintendo, there's a nonzero chance that the download/update screen are one in the same and you get no indication which it's doing at a given moment. I mean, this IS a company that, last I knew, still didn't understand the basic OS concept of hardware abstraction...
Comment Breakneck indeed! (Score 3, Insightful) 153
He then went on to proclaim the 'absolutely breakneck pace' of innovation in the smartphone industry [...]
In that each smartphone manufacturer is using the patent system in new and innovative ways as a legal bludgeon to break each other's necks, right?
Comment Reverse the question (Score 1) 7
None for me. Linux is my default desktop OS of choice, and most of the non-console, non-portable games I play either run on Linux or are platform-agnostic (i.e. web-based games). For the rest, I use a Windows partition, but since shutting down everything and rebooting to Windows is a hassle, I tend to not play those as often.
Of course, the real question for me is "what games are keeping that Windows partition on your computer?". And for THAT, the answer comes down to "not many, the majority of which will be settled once Steam for Linux is finalized".
Submission + - Buckyballs Throws in the Towell
RenderSeven writes: As previously reported the immensely popular Buckyballs office toys have been targeted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Last week Maxfield and Oberton, the maker of Buckyballs gave up the battle and announced they would discontinue sales and close. However, being driven out of business is not enough for R Buckminster Fuller's estate, who has filed yet another lawsuit that they own all rights to the name "buckyballs" despite widespread use of the term. If you still haven't bought your own yet, a few thousand sets in stock are still available.
Comment Why not? (Score 1) 618
I voted for Pike. I felt there was sufficient reason given in the poll choice itself.
Comment Advanced Settings (Score 1) 2
That's why they're advanced settings. Duh.
Submission + - Valve blog announces dates for Steam Linux external beta (valvesoftware.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In the third post to the new Valve Linux Blog, the linux team have announced that starting next week they will begin their internal beta, with an external beta of 1000 users to begin mid "some time in october".
There will be an external beta sign up page made available "soon".
There will be an external beta sign up page made available "soon".
Comment A confusing evolution (Score 1) 867
For me, it went something like:
Red Hat* -> Slackware -> FreeBSD** -> Gentoo + Kubuntu
*: Before RHEL existed.
**: Okay, fine, that's not Linux, but that's still what replaced Slack on that particular box.
My current server and desktop are both Gentoo, while my laptop is Kubuntu (hence the +). No, there's no particular logical progression, really. Each just looked neat as I came across them.
