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Submission + - Comcast Customer Service Rep Just Won't Take No For An Answer

Submitted by RevWaldo
RevWaldo writes: The Verge and other sources post how AOL's Ryan Block ultimately succeeded in cancelling his Comcast account over the phone, but not before the customer service representative pressed him for eight solid minutes (audio) to explain his reasoning for leaving "the number one provider of TV and internet service in the country" in a manner that would cause a character in Glengarry Glen Ross to blanch. Comcast has as of now issued an apology.

Comment Overreach (Score 1) 749

by JesseMcDonald (#47451991) Attached to: Obama Administration Says the World's Servers Are Ours

A warrant should only mean that someone has been granted a legal right to search for and seize specific property. It should not mean that the owner has any obligation to do anything other than stay out of their way. In particular, if the property is not on the premises (or, as in this case, is entirely out of the court's jurisdiction), there is no reason the owner should feel obligated to say where it is or fetch it. Make them get a warrant for the correct place first—if they can. After all, a warrant is supposed to "particularly [describe] the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Submission + - Japanese Woman Arrested to Selling 3D Printable Files of Her Vagina (3dprint.com)

Submitted by jigmypig
jigmypig writes: A woman in Japan has been arrested for selling 3D printable files of her vagina to random men via the internet. The files included items such as 3D printable smartphone cases engraved with nothing else but her genitalia. To do this, she scanned her vagina and then put them into a 3D printable file. Men were then able to purchase the files directly from her, and she would deliver them via email. As you know, the rules in Japan concerning the exposure or depiction of female genitalia are very strict. There is already a petition being passed around trying to get her released.

Submission + - Dell's Chromebook sales go crazy, so company halts sales (pcworld.com)

Submitted by mpicpp
mpicpp writes: Dell’s only Chromebook is at least temporarily unavailable for online purchase through the company’s website, only seven months after the model started shipping.

Facing rising commercial demand for the devices, Dell has not been able to keep up with orders.

The Chromebook 11, which shipped in December, is listed as unavailable on Dell’s Chromebook website, and the company is asking potential buyers to call in orders.

“Due to strong demand, the Dell Chromebook 11 is currently not available for order on Dell.com. It continues to be available for our education customers and can be ordered through their sales representative,” said Ellen Murphy, a Dell spokeswoman, in an email.

The laptop will eventually come online again, though the company did not provide a specific date.

With Dell keeping Chromebook purchases open mainly to commercial customers, individual buyers may have to turn to competitive products from Samsung, Toshiba, Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard, which are available online starting at under $200.

Comment Re:Outside of Valve I don't think many developers. (Score 1) 86

by UnknownSoldier (#47449727) Attached to: What Happens When Gaming Auteurs Try To Go It Alone?

> Do you claim that hard win/lose conditions are required for a [successful] game?

You are conflating the issue. Remove the word successful.

A game by definition has a wining / losing condition, otherwise you have a digital toy.

Will Wright considers Sim City to be a toy.

"I have no mouth and I must design"
http://www.rpg.net/oracle/essa...

Comment Re:I'm not an anti sharing nazi... (Score 1) 214

> does not mean that Pacific Rim is just as bad /Oblg. Everything wrong with Pacific Rim 9 minutes.

But yeah, movies are independent of one another. Same lame-ass story, remakes, reboots, reimagining, refuse, year after year.

* 57 movie remakes and reboots currently in development
http://www.denofgeek.com/movie...

Submission + - Media Viewer: yet another Wikipedia scandal in the making 3

Submitted by metasonix
metasonix writes: As reported on Wikipediocracy today, the Wikimedia Foundation's software developers created a new "Media Viewer" feature to show high-resolution Wikipedia images in a pop-up window. It worked, but had many problems. Result: "One month after implementation, volunteer administrator Pete Forsyth unceremoniously switched the new feature off, only to find his change reverted by none other than the Wikimedia Foundation’s Deputy Director and VP of Engineering and Product Development, Erik Möller, who threatened to remove Forsyth’s administrative privileges. Möller in turn has now been hauled in front of Wikipedia’s arbitration committee, accused of overstepping his authority." This is roughly similar to a group of volunteer police cadets attempting to remove their chief of police, for changing department policy. The story is bizarre, and it perfectly underscores the dysfunctional and twisted internal culture of Wikipedia.

Comment Vote Them Off The Planet (Score 2) 77

by TheLink (#47436857) Attached to: Mars (One) Needs Payloads
1) Make a reality TV show: Vote Them Off The Planet
2) Vote people off the planet with one way and return categories. whether for real or not doesn't matter, but if for real you can have the option for people to only do the one way when they want to pay for the return leg.
3) Profit!

Comment Re:Outside of Valve I don't think many developers. (Score 1) 86

by UnknownSoldier (#47434973) Attached to: What Happens When Gaming Auteurs Try To Go It Alone?

> Outside of Valve I don't think many developers ... pay enough attention to game design to consistently produce quality games

That's because a game is too dependent on Art + Tech. You can have the world's greatest designer but if they don't understand how to capitalize on Tech & Art _tailored_ for their project you're dead in the water.

There are few Game Designers that are recognized as delivering the goods. Sid Meier, Shigeru Miyamoto, Will Wright, etc. How many of these game designers do the general public even know??
http://www.businesspundit.com/...

> Games are an awkward state of limbo these days,

AAA games maybe, but not indie. Content creation costs are spiraling out of control. People are getting fed up with grind-for-gear ooh shiny with shallow gameplay.

Minecraft just reach 54 million across all platforms.
https://twitter.com/pgeuder/st...

Comment Re:Daikatana failed because it was too Japanese. (Score 2) 86

by UnknownSoldier (#47434939) Attached to: What Happens When Gaming Auteurs Try To Go It Alone?

That is not telling the complete picture. I had dinner with Romero a few years back at one E3 and specifically asked him "Why did Daikatana fail?" not knowing how that would go.

He said 2 reasons:

* Hired people in the wrong order. He said you need to hire your most experienced people *first*.
* He messed up.

The design was only part of the problem.

Submission + - Police drop plans to photograph teen's erection in sexting case (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by mpicpp
mpicpp writes: Authorities planned to chemically induce an erection in a 17-year-old boy.

Local Virginia police have abandoned plans to photograph a 17-year-old boy's erection in connection with his felony prosecution for child pornography after he allegedly sexted his 15-year old girlfriend. The decision was made yesterday following a global outcry.

The brouhaha began earlier this week when Prince William County prosecutors obtained a search warrant from a juvenile court judge allowing them to photograph the boy's erection for evidentiary reasons (apparently to compare the photo with a video sent to the girlfriend's phone). The story, which included details that the authorities would chemically induce an erection in the boy, went viral.

In response, the Manassas City police department—which is investigating the case—said Thursday that it would let the search warrant expire.
In a statement, the department said, "It is not the policy of the Manassas City Police or the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office to authorize invasive search procedures of suspects in cases of this nature and no such procedures have been conducted in this case."

If found guilty, the teen could be jailed until his 21st birthday and be forced to register as a sex offender.

Submission + - The First Person Ever To Die In A Tesla Is A Guy Who Stole One

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: Elon Musk can no longer say that no one's ever died in a Tesla automobile crash. But few people will be pointing fingers at the electric car maker for this senseless tragedy. Earlier this month, 26-year-old Joshua Slot managed to successfully ride off with a Model S he'd stolen from a Tesla service center in Los Angeles, but police quickly spotted the luxury vehicle and gave chase. According to Park Labrea News, the high-speed pursuit was eventually called off after officers were involved in a fender bender of their own, leaving the police department strained for resources and without any feasible way of catching up to Slot. Reports claim he was traveling at speeds of "nearly 100 mph," but losing the police tail apparently didn't convince Slot to hit the brakes. Instead he sped on, eventually colliding with three other vehicles and a pair of street poles. The final impact was severe enough to "split the Tesla in half" and eject Slot from the car's remains. The Tesla's front section wound up in the middle of the road and caught fire. Its rear portion flew through the air with such force that it slammed into the side of a local Jewish community center and became wedged there.

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