Comment TF2 "demoman" (Score 0, Troll) 371
I never ran across racism in a video game until Team Fortress 2's Demoman. Some people really seem to have a problem with that character.
Tellme Founder Tells Yahoo Not to Worry Over Microsoft Takeover 117
Tellme founder and previous Yahoo co-founder, Mike McCue hasn't spoken to past-partner Jerry Yang since the Microsoft takeover bid for Yahoo, but he wanted to let his friend know that being acquired by Microsoft isn't such a terrible proposition. "After being assured that Tellme would be able to retain its Silicon Valley office, identity and quirky culture, McCue negotiated an $800 million sale to Microsoft and agreed to stay on as general manager. It's a decision that he says he doesn't regret 10 months into the marriage. 'We are pretty much doing everything we were doing before - just a lot more of it,' said McCue, 40. Because of the vast differences in size, the Tellme deal obviously isn't an apples-to-apples comparison to Microsoft's proposed $40 billion acquisition of Yahoo, which contends it's worth even more money despite a two-year earnings slump."
Another Man Dies After Marathon Gaming Session 486
loserMcloser writes "Another Chinese man has died after spending three days in an internet cafe for an online gaming marathon session. He apparently fainted and died at the cafe from exhaustion. 'The report did not say what the man, whose name was not given, was playing. The report said that about 100 other Web surfers "left the cafe in fear after witnessing the man's death."'"
Submission + - Fake Job Advertisements Used to Defraud Americans (joshmccormick.com)
AtariDatacenter writes: "The Programmers Guild creates a shocking video which demonstrates how companies advertise available positions in order to disqualify and not hire American workers. Fair use segments from the Seventh Annual Immigration Law Update, held in May, are used to demonstrate this claim in vivid detail."
Police Objecting to Tickets From Red-Light Cameras 807
caffiend666 writes "According to a Dallas Morning News article, any 'Dallas police officer in a marked squad car who is captured on the city's cameras running a red light will have to pay the $75 fine if the incident doesn't comply with state law ... Many police officers are angry about the proposed policy. The prevailing belief among officers has been that they can run red lights as they see fit.' Is this a case for or against governments relying on un-biased automated systems? Or, should anyone be able to control who is recorded on camera and who is held accountable?"
Submission + - Project aims to put 3D printer on every desktop
holy_calamity writes: Two Carnegie Mellon researchers have designed an open source 3D printer that costs just $2,400. The self-assembly kit is part of what they call the Fab@Home project — they hope it will spark development of 3D printing technology for the consumer market in the same way the Altair 8800 did for personal computing in seventies.
Submission + - Athlete Passes Gender Test, Then Fails
An anonymous reader writes: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6188775.stm
I'm not sure what this test actually tests. If it really tests gender, it should be fairly obvious why someone would fail it. If it tests estrogen or something, it should be called the 'Estrogen or Something Test'.
Journal Journal: Litvinenko's Murder Not Executed on the Cheap
The Times today reported that the street value of the polonium-210 dose used on Litvinenko was $10 million and 10 times the dose required to kill. From the story:
Submission + - Time's Person of the Year 2006 is... You
An anonymous reader writes: Time Magazine's Person of the Year selects the person (man, woman, group or idea) that, "for better or worse, has most influenced events in the preceding year". Previous recipients have included Charles Lindbergh (1927), Adolf Hitler (1938), the Generation Twenty-Five and Under (1966), the Computer (1982) and the Endangered Earth (1988). The Person of the Year for 2006 is you. Time believes that you are the most influential person in 2006, by using the "Web 2.0" (i.e. Wikipedia, YouTube, MySpace) to control the media and change the world. So give yourself a round of applause and a teary acceptance speech.
Submission + - China bought 4 nuclear reactors from Westinghouse
Pud writes: "http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/br eaking_news/16253343.htm
Westinghouse to build 4 nuclear reactors in China
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH — China and the United States on Saturday signed a deal meant to pave the way for Westinghouse Electric Co. to build four civilian nuclear reactors in China.
China is building scores of new nuclear power plants, seeking the latest technology from industry leaders while working to shore up its own expertise.
Westinghouse, the U.S. unit of British Nuclear Fuels PLC, had been vying with the French nuclear group AREVA and Russia's AtomStroyExport to win the lucrative contract for building facilities at Sanmen, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, and at Yangjiang in southern China's Guangdong province."
Submission + - Re-Stock Fees
zoomshorts writes: "How many times has THIS happened to you?
You arrange a RMA for some obviously defective
product you have purchased, and the manufacturer
tries to stick you with a restocking fee?
Do they really expect you to think that they
RESTOCK DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS? How do you deal with
this obvious scam? Buyer remorse, deserves a restock
fee, but DEFECTIVE product??? Let's Cuss and Discuss
this.
I know a lady who purchased an Alienware laptop
during the buyout period when they were purchased
by DELL. She was hit with restocking fees for a
unit that did not boot. What say you all? She was
charged a "re-stock" fee. Grrrrrr."
Submission + - Choosing a video codec that will work anywhere
bruguiea writes: "Hi all,
For a project, I need to distribute a 3 minute video to people who will not be able to contact me for feedback or help. It is a cartoon-like animation made of moving circles of various sizes and colors (800x600). I tried Google video, but the rendering is of poor quality. I also tried an AVI/XVID but it doesn't work on every Windows machine. Any suggestion about what codec to use? I would like it to run on the vast majority of MS and MacOS machines."
Submission + - Pulse no longer sure test for life
Timex writes: "On November 23, Gerard Langevin became the only living Canadian without a pulse. He was the recipient of the Heartmate II, a device about the size of a flashlight battery, and is powered by an external power supply. It works by providing a continuous flow of blood, which means there is no pulse. Though it is not yet approved for use, the "Heartmate II" is currently part of a clinical trial at several hospitals in Canada and the United States."
Submission + - In Defense of the Fanboy
An anonymous reader writes: Ran across a great article over at TV Squad regarding obsessive internet fanboys. It's funny and pretty dead on about how we all benefit from the monomania of the typical fanboy.
http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/12/15/in-defense-of-ob sessive-internet-fanboys/
http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/12/15/in-defense-of-o
Submission + - Running out of Steam
An anonymous reader writes: Valve's Steam is great for Valve, and its not so bad for the users when it works, but what happens when it doesn't work? Well now's the time to find out because Steam is down, and if like me you haven't set up offline use in advance you can't use any of the Steam assets you legally bought and paid for. What really hacks me off is that if I was running a cracked dodgy version without having paid etc.. I probably wouldn't have any problems... apart from finding my legit clanmates online...
It's DRM again, when things go wrong the legitimate users suffer, not the users the wrong side of the moral fence. How much inconvenience should legal users face when trying to use something they have paid for, when the dodgy crowd face no such penalty for being illegitimate? Maybe Valve are hoping by thier actions to entice a buyout bid from Sony. I would inculde a link to the Steam site, but its being DOSed by people who want to know why they can't play and a voulenteer admin is helping to calm things down and answer questions by locking every thread :(
On a side note I'm the IT admin for a small company, and if I had all my eggs in one basket in such a vulnerable way as Valve seem to do I'd expect to be looking for a new job....
