Comment Re:Half-Life with Aureal 3D sound (Score 1) 348
Because they bought, killed and buried Aureal.
Some say that A3D was also difficult to code for.
Comment Re:Bright Blue LED (Score 1) 351
Some modern BIOSes let you decide whether your USB ports get juice from +5vsb or not. Some even let you configure it on a port-by-port basis. You might want to check if your laptop permits you to disable the standby power from your USB ports.
Or you could just unsolder the blue led from your mouse. I doubt it's used for tracking.
Comment Re:"Steep" learning curve (Score 1) 246
Learning curve
X-axis: How useful the program/thing is to you.
Y-axis: Learning needed to reach that level of usefulness.
Questions?
Comment Re:stupid windows! (Score 1) 505
It is also possible to slipstream a Windows XP install CD with the correct drivers for your SATA controller. There are many good tools for that, but of course it takes some time and effort to do. Then again, considering you can easily slipstream all the latest service packs and hotfixes at the same time, it might actually save time since you don't have to do all those Windows Update cycles afterwards.
Still, it would be nice if Microsoft were to release an updated XP installer with the USB-drive support from Vista. It could be slipstreamed into a "final XP install disc" for future needs.
I guess it's too late for that.
Comment Re:An American (Score 1) 307
Just over a week ago I got an e-mail from Amazon.co.uk saying that they now deliver "thousands of additional products to Finland, including electronics, appliances, garden items and more..."
Amazon.de doesn't seem to be bitching anymore about not shipping electronics here either.
Which is nice.
Comment Re:wow... (Score 1) 541
That is the only major thing bothering me about Steam.
While "there should be a law against that" is a phrase I use very sparingly, I do believe this is something that should be taken into account in the legislation all over.
It should be required by law that ownership of and licenses and access to any digitally bought DRM protected items must be transferable. Period.
If it's not DRM protected, it's not really a problem, because you can just sell it, give your bits to someone and delete them from your computer, just like you've been able to do so far.
However, if a company claims that they use an effective means of protecting access to a work, then they should be required to facilitate transfer of that access to someone else to ensure the survival of the first sale doctrine.
If the company claims that people can break the DRM and sell a copy instead of the original, then supposedly the DRM isn't "effective" and can thus be legally broken under at least the EUCD terms.
The publishers' efforts to eliminate second hand market of video games, music and everything else copyrighted must not be allowed to succeed.
Submission + - Maemo and Moblin to merge into Meego
squish writes: Ari Jaaksi let's us know on his blog http://jaaksi.blogspot.com/2010/02/meego-time.html that Maemo and Moblin are to merge into Meego http://www.meego.com/. I've been impressed with Nokia and the way they seem to understand Free Software and Maemo5 on the N900 is nice. This sounds like more good news to me.
Submission + - Anonymous complaint closes FB page for indie movie (iltalehti.fi)
Flambergius writes: Today (Feb 2) Facebook closed http://www.facebook.com/IronSky, the page for Iron Sky (http://www.ironsky.net) an upcoming independent science fiction comedy by the Finnish film-makers Energia Productions, the makers of Star Wreck. The film-makers were given no warning or reason for the action. However, it's fairly safe to assume that reason of the anonymous complaint is somehow related to the fact that Iron Sky, set in the year 2018, is a comedy about a Nazi invasion from the Moon. While an independent movie, Iron Sky is a serious venture with a budget over a million dollars. Furthermore, Energia Productions have been extremely active in using internet and social media for marketing and communication with their fan base, to the extend that the previous movie, Star Wreck, was made with the active help from the community. FB is very important tool for film-makers like Energia Productions, but the abruptness of FB's action and the lack of clear process for seeking a remedy raises serious questions.
The issue has not hit the English-language media yet, but the major Finnish daily Iltasanomat reports the incident (in Finnish): http://www.iltalehti.fi/digi/2010020211041979_du.shtml . The film-makers blog http://www.ironsky.net/site/#blog and press releases http://www.ironsky.net/site/press/ have their side of the story.
The issue has not hit the English-language media yet, but the major Finnish daily Iltasanomat reports the incident (in Finnish): http://www.iltalehti.fi/digi/2010020211041979_du.shtml . The film-makers blog http://www.ironsky.net/site/#blog and press releases http://www.ironsky.net/site/press/ have their side of the story.
Comment Re:And I'll be the first to say: (Score 1) 256
Gesundheit!
Steve Fossett's Unfinished Project 97
MazzThePianoman writes "Steve Fossett left behind a secret vessel project called the Deep Flight Challenger. Fossett was funding the development of a winged submersible being designed by Hawkes Ocean Technologies in California. The intent was for the vehicle to be capable of travel to the very bottom of the ocean — the Mariana Trench, more than 11,000 meters beneath the surface. 'It would have dramatically, dramatically opened the oceans for exploration. It would have been a game changer,' said Graham Hawkes, the designer. Testing had been completed at Department of Defense facilities. Field testing was only four weeks away when Fossett's untimely death, a year ago, put the project on hold." Hawkes Ocean Technologies owns the design, but the vehicle itself is owned by Fossett's estate.
Submission + - Finnish censorship critic censored (wikinews.org)
An anonymous reader writes: Finnish hacker Matti Nikki who has loudly critized national childporn blacklist has been added to the very same blacklist (which should only contain foreign sites from countries where authorities are not interested in taking down those sites) he has been critizizing. According to police, the reason for blocking is that the site the site contained a list of the blocked sited, most of which contain legal porn and reside in EU or USA.
Intel Demos Software Defined WiFi/WiMAX/DVB-H Chip 97
Doc Ruby writes "Electronics Weekly is reporting that Intel has developed a new prototype chip for software defined radio. The new chip will be able to handle WiFi, WiMAX and DVB-H digital TV all on the same chip. 'This kind of chip would allow equipment to access the WiFi network in the home, automatically handover to a WiMAX network when you leave the house and also access digital TV on the move, all through one chip.' It's also a proof that the entire class of SW radios that could possibly converge CDMA, GSM and various other radio networks for opportunistic handoffs by a single device, a 'universal radio' that could use content formerly locked into a single radio type."
What If Yoda Ran IBM? 205
Esther Schindler writes to mention that one IT leader who came from big business found himself in quite another world when he transitioned into a smaller business, specifically with respect to the amount of attention from their vendors. He presents an amusing approach with a familiar twist. "Not only are the IBMs of the world leaving money on the table, they're also risking future sales. The IT leaders at small organizations will in many cases be employed by larger organizations someday. Why alienate them? Vendors could engage IT leaders in small organizations now and build brand loyalty. How could they make such a business model work? Let's imagine (with apologies to George Lucas) what Yoda might do if he were running a large consultancy."
Mark Cuban Calls on ISPs to Block P2P 463
boaz112358 writes "Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks owner, HDNet CEO, and noted gadfly is publishing on his blog that Comcast and other ISPs should block all P2P traffic, because as he says, "As a consumer, I want my internet experience to be as fast as possible. The last thing I want slowing my internet service down are P2P freeloaders." He complains that commercial content distributors instead of paying for their own bandwidth, are leeching off consumers who are paying for the bandwidth. As an alternative distribution method (at least for audio and video), he suggests Google video."
Samsung Unveils 64-Gbit Flash Memory Chip 150
Lucas123 writes "The chips can be combined to create a 128-GB flash storage device capable of holding up to 80 DVD movies or 32,000 MP3 music files. The chip was created using 30-nanometer processing technology that was developed with Samsung's self-aligned double patterning technology. Manufacturing will start in 2009; but the article quotes a Gartner analyst who reminds us, 'Samsung has had a difficult time adhering to its timelines for mass production due to the complexity of MLC architectures and ever shrinking process geometries.'"
