Comment Re:Color me not impressed (Score 1) 455
Yeah well we no longer have a Cold War to give us reason to be bold.
Submission + - "Logon" terminology poll suggestion (slashdot.org) 1
mangst writes: I have a suggestion for a poll. What word do you use to tell your user to "logon"? For example, "Click here to logon to your account."
1. logon
2. login
3. log on
4. log in
Similarly, how do you say "logoff"?
1. logoff
2. logout
3. log off
4. log out
1. logon
2. login
3. log on
4. log in
Similarly, how do you say "logoff"?
1. logoff
2. logout
3. log off
4. log out
Comment Sounds great... (Score 2, Insightful) 502
...but who is playing the piano in those sound samples? Does Emily Howell also say when to play louder and when to play softer? As a piano player myself, this is just as important as the musical notes when it comes to bring an emotional "feel" into the music.
Comment YouTube gameplay video (Score 1) 104
The gameplay video on his site doesn't appear to be working (at least for me). Here's a YouTube copy of the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc-MmieTyLQ
Comment Re:The problem is implementing his ideas (Score 1) 104
I actually RTFA and the guy is very well spoken. He seems to know what he's talking about and seems to have realistic expectations. The screenshots aren't half bad either.
Comment Re:Assumptions (Score 1) 642
This assumes a sufficiently advanced civilization could survive itself for a sufficient span...I don't see how its realistic to expect [human] survival into the "millions of years" range.
Crocodiles on the other hand - those bastards are believed to be around 200 million years old...If crocs could somehow work space travel into their lifestyle, this could lead to something...
I'm reading a really good book now called Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. It's a story about an alien race invading Earth, except the aliens hadn't developed their technology on their own. They learnt everything that they know from these stone tablets that another intelligent race, long since extinct, had left on their planet.
What if we end up being that exinct race? (which seems quite possible, given what we are doing to the environment) The dinosaurs left behind their dead bodies which we used for energy (fossil fuels). Maybe we will leave behind our knowledge which sentient crocodiles will use to colonize the galaxy?
Comment Re:Correctly? (Score 1) 895
The only reason he was "unbeatable" was because he built a character optimized to exploit a cheap trick that didn't rely on his own strength.
Sounds like the fault lies with the game designers who allowed for such a trick to exist in the first place--not with Myers.
If it was so unfair, then the designers should have nerfed the teleport skill or something.
Comment Re:Being an asshole makes people angry, film at 11 (Score 1) 895
The neighborhood that you live in is a "community". The purpose of communities is to ensure that everyone gets along. This includes written rules (like no murdering) and unspoken rules (like "no cussing at people from your front porch").
City of Heros, however, is a "game". With games, the purpose is to win, not make friends with your opponent. When you enter a chess tournament, you don't get threatened with death because you used your queen, which "no one uses because it's a totally overpowered and unfair piece".
City of Heros, however, is a "game". With games, the purpose is to win, not make friends with your opponent. When you enter a chess tournament, you don't get threatened with death because you used your queen, which "no one uses because it's a totally overpowered and unfair piece".
Comment Re:No, she is aging too (Score 1) 599
Anyway there is a rearrangement of the pharynx/larynx at the venerable age of 1/2 years old which is needed to be able to physically speak. Without it you can't.
They should try teaching her to use one of those speaking machines that Steven Hawking uses. Because of her underdeveloped brain, teaching her to read/write doesn't seem possible, but maybe in a number of years it will be. It's possible her brain development just hasn't started yet, since the growth of different parts of her body are out of sync.
Comment Re:Why are we deprived of this in North America? (Score 1) 578
I don't understand why people think it's a monopoly when Microsoft bundles IE with Windows. Doesn't Apple do the same thing with Safari? Why don't you hear anyone complaining about that??
Comment Re:Support Needed. (Score 1) 435
Given the nature of the corruption this process showed, I don't think sending email is going to do much good unless said email contains bank account numbers pointing to a few million dollars.
This kind of talk kills me. Just send a blasted email. Like with voting, it's not necessarily about making a difference...it's about expressing your opinions. The difference made becomes apparent when the sum total is taken into consideration. Indeed, one email will not make a difference, but 10,000 emails just might.
Submission + - Anonymity of Netflix Prize dataset broken (arxivblog.com)
KentuckyFC writes: "The anonymity of the Netflix Prize dataset has been broken by a pair of computer scientists from the University of Texas, according to a report from the physics arXivblog. It turns out that an individual's set of ratings and the dates on which they were made are pretty unique, particularly if the ratings involve films outside the most popular 100 movies. So it's straightforward to find a match by comparing the anonymized data against publicly available ratings on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) (abstract on the physics arxiv). The researchers used this method to find how individuals on the IMDb privately rated films on Netflix, in the process working out their political affiliation, sexual preferences and a number of other personal details"
Submission + - Florida Bar Association vs Jack Thompson
Farnite writes: "Anti-Violent-Video-Game Lawyer Jack Thompson is finally being brought before the Florida Bar Association today. From the article: "The Florida Bar is pursuing several complaints concerning Thompson's professional conduct in court cases against the video game industry." Is this the start of the end for the constant harassment of video game companies by Jack?"
Submission + - Net Radio Wins Partial Reprieve (wired.com)
Joren writes: Wired News is reporting that Internet radio broadcasters have won a temporary reprieve from the new rates, although apparently the details are still being worked out. Updates will be posted here.
A coalition of webcasters have worked out a deal with the recording industry that could temporarily stave off a portion of crippling net radio royalties set to take effect Sunday, according to people familiar with the negotiations. [...] For now, the parties involved in what's described as ongoing negotiations have agreed to waive at least temporarily the minimum charge of $6,000 per channel required under a scheme created by the Copyright Royalty Board, or CRB. The deal, brokered late Thursday, is not final and could change. One person involved in the talks described the situation as a reprieve, and said that "internet radio won't be saved until a workable royalty rate is set."
Submission + - Open Portable Gaming Platform Demonstrator (nyud.net)
An anonymous reader writes: The guys at Virtual Cogs have come out with a really neat application board to show off some of their other products. This daughter card for the VC21 system has a 4.3" LCD (same as used on the PSP), some joysticks, buttons, SD card, speakers, etc and runs Linux 2.6. This could be a lot of fun and have potential for a lot of cool applications even beyond gaming! Also, it looks like they are willing to do a limited production run if there is sufficient interest.
