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Comment You can use it for TV if you want... (Score 2, Informative) 386

It's been awhile since I've worked in satellite communications but you can use it to pick up free Satellite TV.

Most satellites that broadcast TV have a few stations broadcasting in the clear i.e no encryption but you need a few things. A basic guide for sat TV here http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/satellite-tv.htm needs to be read. You will need an LMB (Low Noise Block) to filter out background noise. It's my understanding that mos satellite receivers now days already come with LMBs built in these days so check specs. The predominately used receiver is most likely a Scientific Atlanta DSR. Some of transponders still broadcast on VCII but I doubt you'll find much in North America. With Digital satellite TV you can fit 12 channels on a signal transponder while analog it's one transponder one channel. You'll probably be using analog signal to start with since it's just easier.

Now you need a list of satellites for North America (or wherever you're from) can be found here http://www.lyngsat.com/ which has a complete listing would over. They will also detail type of feed channels and transponders of the satellites as well as type of encryption encoding etc. Again check specs on potential receivers.

Next you need to point it at a bird. 5 seconds on Google gave me this guide. http://searchwarp.com/swa40134.htm one thing we used to do is look up a channel broadcasting in the clear on the satellite we were aiming at on the Lyngsat site and then tune the satellite receiver to that transponder, channel and polarity so we could see how close we were getting to it by looking at clairty of signal on a TV.

In other words it's a big pain in the ass. You are probably better off using it as a bird feeder.

The Almighty Buck

EA Says Game Development Budgets Have Peaked 157

Gamasutra reports on comments from Electronic Arts VP David Demartini indicating that the company thinks AAA game development budgets are not going to continue their skyward trend. "If [a developer] happens to make a lot of money based on that budget, great for them. If they come up short and have to cover some of it — y'know, they'll be smarter the next time they do it. That's kind of the approach that we take to it." Certainly this has something to do with a few major economic flops in the games industry lately, such as the cancellation of This Is Vegas after an estimated $50 million had been dumped into the project. Another example is the anemic response to APB, an MMO with a budget rumored to be as high as $100 million. Poor sales and reviews caused developer Realtime Worlds to enter insolvency and lay off a large portion of the development team.
Image

Justice Department Seeks Ebonics Experts 487

In addition to helping decipher their Lil Wayne albums, the Justice Department is seeking Ebonics experts to help monitor, translate and transcribe wire tapped conversations. The DEA wants to fill nine full time positions. From the article: "A maximum of nine Ebonics experts will work with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta field division, where the linguists, after obtaining a 'DEA Sensitive' security clearance, will help investigators decipher the results of 'telephonic monitoring of court ordered nonconsensual intercepts, consensual listening devices, and other media.'”

Comment Re:Wouldn't it be against the rules anyways? (Score 1) 390

I think the situation is that it's against the rules for soldiers to view those classified materials and that rule contains exceptions that would cover 90,000+ pages of documents leaked to the world. The thing about big government bureaucracies is that these are the places the phrase "none of us is as dumb as all of us" comes from.

Comment Re:Why ask? (Score 1) 437

From my understanding the fundamental definition of "Information wants to be free" doesn't mean free as in beer. Although value and economics play largely into the artificial restrictions on information the gist of the statement has more do freedom then free stuff. The process from restricted to free is practically a law of human nature. We evolved to share information. We survived as a species because we shared with our progeny the things we learned from better tool making and farming to better ways to interact with each other as human beings. The very idea of information being withheld for the perpetual profits of music cartels is abhorrent to our very biology. As a result it may be better to say that information tends to become free in the possession of human beings.

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