Comment Re:Myths of Security? (Score 1) 216
I think the OP meant to say "There are no myth is of security" =)
iPhone Shakes Up the Video Game Industry 325
Hugh Pickens writes "Troy Wolverton writes in the Mercury News that in less than a year, the iPhone has become a significant game platform, but its bigger impact could be to help change the way the game industry does business. 'It's got everything you need to be a game changer,' said Neil Young, co-founder and CEO of ngmoco, which develops games solely for the iPhone. With a year under its belt and an installed base of iPhone and iPod Touch owners at around forty million, the iPhone/iPod Touch platform has eclipsed next-gen console penetration numbers and started to catch up to the worldwide penetration of both Sony's (50 million) and Nintendo's (100 million) devices. Wolverton writes that not only is the iPhone one of the first widely successful gaming platforms in which games are completely digitally distributed, but on the iPhone, consumers can find more games updated more often, and at a cheaper cost per game than what they'd find on a typical dedicated game console. While an ordinary top-of-the-line game for Microsoft's Xbox 360 sells for about $60, and one for Nintendo's DS about $30, a top-of-the-line iPhone game typically sells for no more than $10. With traditional games, developers might wait a year or two between major releases; ngmoco is planning on releasing new versions of its games for the iPhone every four to five months. 'You have to think differently,' says Young. 'It's redefining what it means to be a publisher in this world.'"
Comment slashdotted after the first page (Score 1) 806
hmm, they must have been running the webserver on that Apple III and it burnt to a crisp
Comment Re:Reading comprehension (Score 1) 485
> This sort of thing isn't nearly as black and white as it is made to seem.
And yet you present it so black-and-white:
>
> DESIRE it need to be put into an asylum for psychological treatment.
6570 days old: high five!
6569 days old: castration and asylum!
Comment Re:-1 Troll (Score 1) 770
3) You are discussing replacing an $80 device when upgrading a $1500(+++) device, maybe you can find a deal.
4) Whole new battery system, hard to say one way or the other.
8) Apple servers have redundant power supplies. You clearly do not know what you are talking about:
# Output power: 750W
# Optional second load-sharing 750W power supply for redundancy
http://www.apple.com/xserve/specs.html
1,7,8) Who cares....I am sure if they had a valid comparison to make they would...Perhaps all of those companies would do better if they would take the time to contrast themselves with the competition....
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/Red-Hat-CEO-Tired-of-Microsoft-s-Linux-whining/0,139023166,120205505,00.htm
Comment Re:Fermilab... (Score 1) 250
I completely agree. Our department uses it too, and it's total garbage. Its based on old-and-busted RHEL4, and doesn't have half of the packages we need anyway. I'd be much happier with something with a scientific repository tacked on. But nooo, we have to use it because it has SCIENCE built in!
Ugh
Comment Re:On High Schools doing more... (Score 1) 538
Seconded. I had a damn similar experience. Mod parent up.
Cold Sore Virus May Be Alzheimer's Smoking Gun 285
Science Daily is reporting that the virus behind cold sores has been found to be a major cause of the insoluble protein plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's disease sufferers. Researchers believe the herpes simplex virus is a significant factor in developing the debilitating disease and could be treated by antiviral agents such as acyclovir, which is already used to treat cold sores and other diseases caused by the herpes virus. Another future possibility is vaccination against the virus to prevent the development of Alzheimer's in the first place. The research was just published in the Journal of Pathology (abstract).
What Happens To Code From Failed Projects? 225
Idzuna writes "With the somewhat recent announcement of Tabula Rasa shutting down, I have been thinking about what will happen to the Server/Client code. Does it get used as a guide for other projects? Does it get destroyed? Or does it just sit there on a hard drive somewhere in storage? The same question applies to many other failed creations. I know the likelihood of the code being distributed freely is next to nil, as most companies probably recycle code. If a vulnerability was found in old code, it could be applied to other products that the company has released. But wouldn't it help development of different projects if such a resource was available?"
Comment Re:Call your credit card company.... (Score 1) 593
For what it's worth, my job (IT at a University) uses Dell machines exclusively and we've had fantastic support from them for replacement parts. To skip the script, we usually just tell the CSR that we've swapped the bad part with one from a working machine and that the machine works fine. At that point, the drone will go ahead and ship us a replacement and we ship the broken one back. Works out pretty well.
Ethical Killing Machines 785
ubermiester writes "The New York Times reports on research to develop autonomous battlefield robots that would 'behave more ethically in the battlefield than humans.' The researchers claim that these real-life terminators 'can be designed without an instinct for self-preservation and, as a result, no tendency to lash out in fear. They can be built without anger or recklessness ... and they can be made invulnerable to ... "scenario fulfillment," which causes people to absorb new information more easily if it agrees with their pre-existing ideas.' Based on a recent report stating that 'fewer than half of soldiers and marines serving in Iraq said that noncombatants should be treated with dignity and respect, and 17 percent said all civilians should be treated as insurgents,' this might not be all that dumb an idea."
US Military 'Hacked' by Emails 141
An anonymous reader writes "Two of the US Military's most important science labs were apparently 'hacked'. Phishing mail was sent to a pair of research labs, where trojan programs allowed interlopers access to the otherwise secure networks. One of the sites was the infamous Los Alamos, which has been discussed many times here at Slashdot for its string of security breaches. 'Los Alamos has a checkered security history, having suffered a sequence of embarrassing breaches in recent years. In August of this year, it was revealed that the lab had released sensitive nuclear research data by email, while in 2006 a drug dealer was allegedly found with a USB stick containing data on nuclear weapons tests. "This appears to be a new low, even drug dealers can get classified information out of Los Alamos," Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), said at the time. Two years earlier, the lab was accused of having lost hard disks.'"
IBM to Regulate Employee Second Life Behavior 165
mytrip writes "In hopes of avoiding potentially embarrassing incidents, IBM is taking the unusual step of establishing official guidelines for its more than 5,000 employees who inhabit Second Life and other virtual worlds. 'IBM appears to be the first corporation to create rules governing virtual worlds. The move has critics, who say that mandating behavior for the so-called "metaverse" is unlikely to reform impish avatars. They also question why IBM would add a layer of buttoned-down bureaucracy to this relatively rollicking corner of the Internet. IBM executives counter that having a code of conduct is akin to a corporate stamp of approval, encouraging workers to explore more than 100 worlds IBM collectively calls the 3D Internet.'" This regulation may be coming from more than self-interest: IBM sees these environments as management training courses in some ways; working inter-personal skills via chat and human resources via guild activities.
Second Life To Open Source Server Code 221
mrspin writes "Having already taken the timid steps of open-sourcing the code for its client software, Linden Lab has confirmed that they'll be going the whole way, and will soon be opening up the server code for Second Life. This furthers Second Life's ambitions to be a fully distributed 3D network — built on interoperability and not owned by one company — a bit like the Internet itself. ZDNet's The Social Web asks: 'who will be the first to offer Second Life hosting or use the server code for their own internal purposes? IBM would be an obvious candidate, perhaps offering corporate Second Life services. And for the rest of us? GoogleLife, free virtual land — ad supported of course. It's certainly a possibility.'"
Behind the Scenes at MIT's Network 118
BobB writes "MIT's head of computer networks and security gives an inside look at how the techie school is fending off hackers, cranking up its network to handle voice over IP and become a fiber network operator to link to other research institutions. From the article: 'Q - How do you actually enforce security standards among MIT's departments and network users? A - Enforce is not a word you can use at MIT. We try to entice people to do the right thing. We've made a lot of progress. We've removed the financial incentive to run your own network, which used to be cheaper than having us do it. We've been a cost-recovery network since forever now though. At many universities the network is free and they just fund it out of operating costs.'"
