Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Sony's Obsession with Proprietary Formats 491

Posted by Hemos from the repeating-the-mistakes-of-yore dept.
geoffrobinson writes "Jonathan Last, writing for a lay audience in the Philadelphia Inquirer, comments on Sony's push for the Blu-ray format: 'Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. One of life's more satisfying ironies, however, is that the same fate often befalls those who fixate on history... ...Obsessed with owning proprietary formats, Sony keeps picking fights. It keeps losing. And yet it keeps coming back for more, convinced that all it needs to do is push a bigger stack of chips to the center of the table.'"

FSF, Political Activism or Crossing the Line? 567

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the keeping-em-honest dept.
orbitor writes to tell us InfoWorld's Neil McAllister is calling into question some of the recent decisions by the Free Software Foundation. From the article: "All the more reason to be disappointed by the FSF's recent, regrettable spiral into misplaced neo-political activism, far removed from its own stated first principles. In particular, the FSF's moralistic opposition to DRM (digital rights management) technologies, which first manifested itself in early drafts of Version 3 of the GPL (Gnu General Public License), seems now to have been elevated to the point of evangelical dogma."

DRM Protest in Hazmat Suits 385

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the containing-the-drm-outbreak dept.
johnsu01 writes "The Free Software Foundation launched a new anti-DRM initiative today with a flash protest at Bill Gates's keynote speech to Microsoft developers in Seattle. They're calling the new campaign 'Defective by Design' and have named Big Media, device manufacturers and proprietary software companies as targets. CivicActions is participating as a coalition partner in the campaign. Protesters donned HazMat suits, apparently to emphasize the hazard Digital Restrictions Management poses to their rights." There are also a few pictures available over at Defectivebydesign.org.

Gonzales Says Publishing Leaks Is A Crime 889

Posted by Hemos from the battle-of-the-legal-wars dept.
loqi writes "The NY Times is reporting on a statement from US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales declaring that journalists may be prosecuted by the federal government for publishing classified information. On the 1st amendment ramifications: "'But it can't be the case that that right trumps over the right that Americans would like to see, the ability of the federal government to go after criminal activity,' he said. 'And so those two principles have to be accommodated.'" So our 1st amendment rights don't trump the right of the federal government to violate them?"
GNU is Not Unix

Wallace's Second Anti-GPL Suit Loses 303

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the e-for-effort dept.
Enterprise OpenSource Magazine is reporting that Daniel Wallace's second Anti-GPL lawsuit has gone down in flames. From the (short) article: "The judge wrote that 'Antitrust laws are for 'the protection of competition, not competitors.' In this case, the GPL benefits consumers by allowing for the distribution of software at no cost, other than the cost of the media on which the software is distributed. 'When the plaintiff is a poor champion of consumers, a court must be especially careful not to grant relief that may undercut the proper function of antitrust.' Because he has not identified an anticompetitive effect, Wallace has failed to allege a cognizable antitrust injury.'"

RIAA Sues XM Satellite Radio 402

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the everyday-evil dept.
skayell writes "The RIAA is suing XM Satellite radio contending that the ability to store songs in memory makes it similar to an iPod, but with no income involved for the RIAA." From the article: "XM said it will vigorously defend this lawsuit on behalf of consumers and also called the lawsuit a bargaining tactic. [...] The labels are currently in talks with XM and its rival Sirius Satellite Radio, to renegotiate digital royalty contracts for broadcasts."

Portable Server for On-the-Road Development? 82

Posted by Cliff from the code-fu-on-I81 dept.
DurnikBob asks: "I do a tremendous amount of development work sitting in hotel rooms while I'm on the road. While I've used Xen and VMware on my laptop, they come with limitations (memory usage, not 'real-life', interfere with my day job, and so on) that I'd like to move away from. I've looked at short depth 1U servers (the 19" wide makes it almost impossible to carry in the laptop bag), carrying a separate laptop (hate the weight penalty and cost of the not used keyboard and screen), the Mini-ITX field (each one I've looked at has the 1 DIMM, 1GB max limitation) and even the Mac-Mini (2" tall is a killer). Does anyone know if someone makes something along the lines of the following: small footprint (laptop size case 1" tall); Intel/AMD dual core capable; 2GB memory; space for 2.5" drives; on-board video (no need to fake it for headless operation); and on-board wireless?"

Metal Gear Solid Movie Confirmed 52

Posted by Zonk from the no-uwe-boll-thankfully dept.
Gamespot has word that the Metal Gear Solid movie project is a reality. All we really know is that Uwe Boll will not be directing. From the article: "After assuring readers at length that German director Uwe Boll will not have anything to do with the project, as rumored, Kojima talked about the film. 'I have received many offers to adapt Metal Gear Solid, It has taken a long time, but we have finally settled on an arrangement,' said the revered designer. 'False facts aside, a movie project is underway. I have finalized a Class-A contract with a party in Hollywood.' Kojima did not mention the name of the party, a release date, or any potential directors or stars."

Interviewing the Gamemakers (Day 1) 10

Posted by Zonk from the gamemakers dept.
All this week, Next Generation is interviewing some of the folks behind the industry's big players. In collaboration with Edge Magazine, they have Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto talking about the future of the gaming industry. From that article: "I think that by the end of the last year, DS was selling very well to all kinds of people - ladies in their 20s, people in their 50s - and for many of them the DS was the very first games console they had ever purchased in their lives. And actually, many people in the industry and in Nintendo thought that maybe these newcomers to the gaming world would be only interested in the games like Brain Training, that maybe they would not be purchasing any more games afterwards. However, the fact of the matter is that they are now buying a lot of the so-called traditional games, including Super Mario 64, so that was a big surprise for us." Additional interviewees below if you Read More.

Warhawk and The Dualshake Controller 72

Posted by Zonk from the pew-pew-vrooooooom dept.
You may recall Warhawk from the Sony conference demo, their flagship 'dualshake' controller product. A few of the news sites have gotten their hands on the game, and have impressions of what it's like to use the PS3 controller with the game. From the Gamespy article: "I was initially very skeptical of how this feature (which looked hastily tacked on to a regular joypad without a rumble) would work, but after a lengthy playtest of WarHawk's 30 percent complete single demo stage, I can safely attest to the excellent maneuverable quality possible from the very first moment you pick up and play. The slight delay at the Sony press conference between Phil Harrison's pivoting, and the on-screen tilting of his rendered joypad meant I was expecting the same problems during my WarHawk piloting. Not so. This works flawlessly, and immediately, and allayed any fears I had that this was a last-minute gimmick designed to tear interest away from the Wii."

PSP Hardware Review Site 71

Posted by CmdrTaco from the now-that's-some-strange-gadgetry dept.
Busshy writes "DCEmu have opened a new dedicated PSP review website featuring over 40 unbiased reviews of PSP accessories including Neuros MPEG4 Recorder 2, Neo-PSP Pad 8in1 & Intec Sound System."

Finding High Quality Videos from E3? 55

Posted by Cliff from the your-bleeding-edge-game-fix dept.
Alec T asks: "Seeing how E3 is fast approaching, I was wondering where Slashdot readers go for their E3 fix? Gamespot, IGN and 1UP all provide free low quality streams and downloads, however we are reduced to having to pay to access high quality trailers and press conference screenings. Why is this? Is there a site out there which caters to our high definition needs? If bandwidth is such a concern, maybe BitTorrent would be the best distribution method, particularly for the console press conferences?"

Colbert New Comic-in-Chief 939

Posted by Zonk from the that's-the-word dept.
scottzak writes "Hail to the Chief! Stephen Colbert addressed the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday (attended by the President, the elite of Washington politics, and the White House Press Corps) and told the truth. Jaws dropped. Eyes popped. The live audience gasped. Scalia laughed his ass off. You want to see a brilliant comic display some real courage? Look no further. Enjoy the reaction shots, and Colbert's audition for Press Secretary job." The BBC covers the act just prior to Mr. Colbert's, where the President and a look-alike took turns making fun of his speaking skills.

French Town Tests Cashless Society 302

Posted by Zonk from the didn't-know-you-could-drive-a-city dept.
SamiousHaze writes to mention a Silicon.com article about an attempt in a French tourist town, Caen, to do away with cash in some locales. From the article: "Among [the locations in the trial] is an underground car park; the town hall; a bus stop which can transmit timetable information; a cinema poster which downloads video trailers to users' mobiles; a local supermarket, where people can pay for their groceries with a mobile phone, and a tourist information sign outside the historic Abbaye des Hommes. By touching the mobile against the 'Flytag' logo at each of these locations, users can pay for services or receive information straight to their phone."

Slashdot Top Deals

I'd rather just believe that it's done by little elves running around.

Close