mdfst13 - Slashdot User

Submission + - Experiences with HTML5 for game programming? 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 16, 2012 @04:00AM

An anonymous reader writes: I'm a hobbiest who would like to get back into game programming, and I'm curious about people's experience making games with HTML5. It seems like it should be the ideal environment for what I'm going for (turn-based or simple real-time (think Diablo 1) rpg) in that my needs aren't hugely graphics intensive and it could be deployed on any platform that includes a web browser, which also suggests it might be able to stick around for a long time as well. The last time I tried game programming I was locked into a C & SDL combination that worked alright in both Windows and Linux, but deployment was a pain, as was constantly testing in multiple environments. Also, while I personally wouldn't mind dropping a couple of hundred bucks on an environment to develop in, maybe for the sake of argument it should be restricted to free/OSS solutions, just to broaden the scope of interest beyond my own circumstances.

So? What do you guys think? Does HTML5 have legs?

Submission + - Testing an Employee

Submitted by techreader99 on Tuesday October 16, 2012 @03:16AM

techreader99 writes: After the departure of my former boss, I have just been promoted from programmer to IT Manger at my company. Because we have such a small team (9 members), this leaves us a programmer down. Normally, I would simply post the job online, but a different member of my team is interested in switching from being a technician to being a programmer. The only problem is, I have no idea if they are capable. Sure he has a CS degree, but it is from 10 years ago and a degree is not a guarantee that he can keep with the times. Does anyone here have a way I can test this employee (taking less than 2 weeks to do so)? Any ideas are great and if it helps we mainly use HTML, PHP, JS, jQuery and MSSQL

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: How do SSDs die? 1

Submitted by kfsone on Tuesday October 16, 2012 @01:16AM

kfsone writes: I've experienced, first hand, some of the ways in which spindle disks die, but either I've yet to see an SSD die or I'm not looking in the right places. Most of my admin-type friends have theories on how an SSD dies but admit none of them has actually seen commercial grade drives die or deteriorate.

In particular, the failure process seems like it should be more clinical than spindle drives. If you have X many of the same SSD drive and none of them suffer manufacturing defects, if you repeat the same series of operations on them they should all die around the same time.

If that's correct, then what happens to SSDs in RAID? Either all your drives will start to fail together or at some point, your drives will become out of sync in-terms of volume sizing.

So, have any slashdotters had to deliberately EOL corporate grade SSDs? Do they die with dignity or go out with a bang?

Submission + - Symisc Systems Open Sourced its Embedded PHP Engine (symisc.net)

Submitted by xtremejames183 on Monday October 15, 2012 @07:38PM

xtremejames183 writes: You have never heard of it, but if you have a router or switch, then probably its web administration interface is powered by the PH7 scripting engine. The company who develop this have released it as open source project and the PH7 source code is made available to download to the public.
PH7 is a PHP engine that allow host-application typically written in C/C++ to compile and execute PHP scripts in-process.
The open source community is now entering the mysterious routers world.

Submission + - Real-time Twitter mood towards candidates (netbase.com)

Submitted by scsurfer on Monday October 15, 2012 @06:05PM

scsurfer writes: NetBase (http://www.netbase.com) is providing a real-time analysis of Twitter sentiment towards the US presidential and vice presidential candidates. It should be interesting to watch during the debates on October 16 and 22.

Submission + - Opensource Traffic Light Cufflinks (cuffelink.com)

Submitted by

bmsleight

on Monday October 15, 2012 @05:27PM

bmsleight writes: "Just finished my latest project. I have always liked cufflinks, apart from my wedding ring it is the only form of jewellery that I wear. Inside each cufflink, I have a ATTINY45, a Real Time Clock chip, a couple of resistors and three LEDs. Each cufflink can display a normal UK Traffic light Sequence, a normal UK Pelican Crossing Sequence, the current time, date and even the temperature. All the hardware and software is open source."

Submission + - These 19th Century Postcards Predicted Our Future (singularityhub.com)

Submitted by

kkleiner

on Monday October 15, 2012 @05:15PM

kkleiner writes: "Starting in 1899, a commercial artist named Jean-Marc Côté and other artists were hired to create a series of picture cards to depict how life in France would look in a century’s time. Sadly, they were never actually distributed. However, the only known set of cards to exist was discovered by Isaac Asimov, who wrote a book in 1986 called “Futuredays” in which he presented the illustrations with commentary. What’s amazing about this collection is how close their predictions were in a lot of cases, and how others are close at hand."

Submission + - Humans' Risk for Cancer May Be a Result of Our Large Brains (medicaldaily.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15, 2012 @04:09PM

An anonymous reader writes: What's the opposite of a silver lining? A hypothesis floating around in the scientific community, and published in PLoS One, argues that our big brain is the reason that humans are so prone to cancer.
The huge brains in humans are responsible for humans' long lives, which is why we are able to spend so much time lavishing attention on our children and learning new things.
But the downside is that the lack of apoptosis may put humans at risk for tumors, since the destruction of malfunctioning cells would lower the risk of cancer. "Reduced apoptotic function is well known to be associated with cancer onset,"

Submission + - Will EU Regulations Effectively Ban High-End Video Cards? (nordichardware.com)

Submitted by arun84h on Monday October 15, 2012 @03:52PM

arun84h writes: A new energy law, which will apply in the European Union, has the power to limit sale of discrete components deemed "energy inefficient". GPU maker AMD is worried this will affect future technology as it becomes available, as well as some current offerings. From TFA:

"According to data NordicHardware has seen from a high level employee at AMD, current graphics cards are unable to meet with these requirements. This includes "GPUs like Cape Verde and Tahiti", that is used in the HD 7700 and HD 7900 series, and can't meet with the new guidelines, the same goes for the older "Caicos" that is used in the HD 6500/6600 and HD 7500/7600 series. Also "Oland" is mentioned, which is a future performance circuit from AMD, that according to rumors will be used in the future HD 8800 series. What worries AMD the most is how this will affect future graphics cards since the changes in Lot 3 will go into effect soon. The changes will of course affect Nvidia as much as it will AMD."

Is this the beginning of the end for high-end GPU sales in the EU?

Submission + - Micron's P320h Native PCI Express SSD Tested (hothardware.com)

Submitted by

MojoKid

on Monday October 15, 2012 @03:20PM

MojoKid writes: "Most of the PCIe SSD cards on the market today, with the exception of products from Fusion-io, still rely on SATA or SAS-based NAND controllers to interface on the backend of the device to the NAND array. PCIe cards from OCZ, Intel, LSI and others use controllers from LSI SandForce or the like. Fusion-io was the first company to introduce a true native PCI Express to NAND Flash controller-processor, though Micron has also been cooking up their own native PCIe SSD technology for some time now. The Micron P320h is a PCI Express SSD that Micron partnered with IDT, a veteran semiconductor manufacturer out of San Jose that specializes in high speed serial switching and memory interface technology, for co-development of the product. The Micron P320h is a half height, half length design that employs a 32 channel NAND Flash storage processor with a native PCI Express X8 interface. Performance-wise, the card shows considerable strength in high IO queue depths, especially for Reads."

Submission + - Cancer-Detecting Smart Bra Could One Day Surpass Mammograms in Accuracy (ecouterre.com)

Submitted by fangmcgee on Monday October 15, 2012 @02:15PM

fangmcgee writes: Reno-based First Warning Systems is working on a new bra that could detect if you are developing breast cancer. Integrated sensors and a data controller regularly monitor your breasts and can watch for irregularities which may signal the growth of tumors. Tests so far are showing that the bra is far superior and may be able to detect cancerous growth up to 6 years sooner than self-exams or mammograms.

Submission + - CIA: Flying Skyhook wasn't just for James Bond, it actually rescued agents (networkworld.com)

Submitted by

coondoggie

on Monday October 15, 2012 @01:37PM

coondoggie writes: "This had to be one hell of a ride. The CIA today said it added a pretty cool item to its museum archives — the instruction card for officers being plucked off the ground by a contraption that would allow a person to be snatched off the ground by a flying aircraft without the plane actually landing."

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Best Book Or Game To Introduce Kids To Programming? 1

Submitted by connorblack on Monday October 15, 2012 @09:42AM

connorblack writes: My very gifted nephew is about to turn 9 this month and I would love to get him some sort of fun, engaging book or game to introduce him to the basic concepts of programming. I have a feeling if approached correctly he would absolutely devour the subject (he is already working through mathematics at an 8th grade level). What I first was looking at were the Lego Mindstorm programmable robots- which would have been perfect, if only they weren't around 300 dollars... So if there's anything similar (or completely new!) you've either heard praise about or used yourself with your kids, it would be great to get a recommendation. Also if possible I would want to stick to an under 100 dollar budget.

Submission + - From a Nand Gate To Tetris (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk on Monday October 15, 2012 @07:35AM

mikejuk writes: Long before the current crop of MOOCs there was a course that taught you all you needed to know about computers by starting from the Nand gate and working its way up through the logic circuits needed for a computer, on to an assembler, a compiler an operating system and finally Tetris. Recently one of the creators of the course, Shimon Schocken gave Ted talk explaining how it all happened and why it is still relevant today. Once you have seen what is on offer http://www.nand2tetris.org/ you will probably decide that it is not only still relevant but the only way to really understand what computers are all about.

Submission + - Commercial Mars mission planned (mars-one.com) 1

Submitted by

tsa

on Monday October 15, 2012 @07:23AM

tsa writes: "The Dutch entrepeneur Lars Benschop has started Mars-One. From his website:
"Mars One will take humanity to Mars in 2023, to establish the foundation of a permanent settlement from which we will prosper, learn, and grow. Before the first crew lands, Mars One will have established a habitable, sustainable settlement designed to receive new astronauts every two years. To accomplish this, Mars One has developed a precise, realistic plan based entirely upon existing technologies. It is both economically and logistically feasible, in motion through the integration of existing suppliers and experts in space exploration."
The idea is to form several groups of four space explorers, make a TV channel that follows them 24/7 while they prepare for the launch, and let the public choose the order in which the teams leave Earth."

Slashdot Top Deals