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Games

Tycho, Miyamoto, Talk to MTV Games 11

MTV's Stephen Totilo went to GDC last week and came back with a bag full of interesting interviews for faithful gamers. Speaking with Miyamoto early in the week, they had the chance to talk about Miis in the land of Hyrule, and playing Mario one-handed. Totilo also confirmed that the content-less keynote was due to a stock-related ban on future information. Bad timing, all around. At the end of last week, he had a chance to catch up with Penny Arcade's Jerry Holkins (Tycho). They chatted about the Rain-Slicked Precipice of Darkness, and the duo's high aspirations for the game: "If you're asking me whether or not I hope we make a good game, then yes, we are trying our best to make a game that is not annoying, that is not a pain in the ass, that can be played through in a reasonable time and is enjoyable from the beginning to the end."
The Internet

Researchers Scheming to Rebuild Internet From Scratch 254

BobB writes "Stanford University researchers have launched an initiative called the Clean Slate Design for the Internet. The project aims to make the network more secure, have higher throughput, and support better applications, all by essentially rebuilding the Internet from scratch. From the article: 'Among McKeown's cohorts on the effort is electrical engineering Professor Bernd Girod, a pioneer of Internet multimedia delivery. Vendors such as Cisco, Deutsche Telekom and NEC are also involved. The researchers already have projects underway to support their effort: Flow-level models for the future Internet; clean slate approach to wireless spectrum usage; fast dynamic optical light paths for the Internet core; and a clean slate approach to enterprise network security (Ethane).'"
Space

Submission + - Mars Express gauges water around south pole

thhamm writes: Using it's radar instrument, ESA's Mars Express Probe gauged the water quantity around the martian south pole: 'The amount of water trapped in frozen layers over Mars' south polar region is equivalent to a liquid layer about 11 metres deep covering the planet. This new estimate comes from mapping the thickness of the dusty ice by the Mars Express radar instrument that has made more than 300 virtual slices through layered deposits covering the pole.'
Space

Submission + - Kuiper Belt Collision Found; Possible Comet Source

siglercm writes: Astronomers have detected the remnants of an ancient collision in the Kuiper Belt, the region of bodies found outside of our solar system. The massive impact between a nearly Pluto-sized body and one half as large created a "collisional family" of objects; this is the first such family identified in the Kuiper Belt. The largest body produced may cross Neptune's orbit in the distant future, but it's possible that smaller objects created by the smash-up have already fallen into the inner solar system as comets.
United States

Submission + - Stolen Nobel Medal Returned

Gilraen writes: A Nobel medal swiped from the University of California, Berkeley, was returned to officials in a brief ceremony on 7 March. The solid gold medallion, awarded to physicist Ernest Lawrence in 1939 for the invention of the cyclotron, was stolen from its display case at the end of February. It has an estimated monetary value of $4,200. More on this story here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7133/fu ll/446243a.html
The Internet

Submission + - Cisco to aquire WebEx

jckrbbt writes: Network equipment maker Cisco Systems said on Thursday it would buy WebEx Communications Inc., which specializes in software that helps businesses collaborate, for $2.9 billion. Catch the full press release here on the Cisco Website
Microsoft

Submission + - MSN.com using fake content for stories

Denial writes: An article on MSN caught my attention. Some testimonial about how some guy lost so much wieght he's a body builder now, but when you take a look at the face in the photo's there is absolutely now question that these are not the 2 same people. You can tell bey looking at the nose. Sure this might make sense if for a product being sold or some wonder fitness program, but this was just a general health and fitness main page article. MSN.com is cleary faking their main content. How much else is just cut together from nothing? took screen caps just incase they took it down.
Role Playing (Games)

EVE Online Answers Your Questions 249

Last week at GDC I had the privilege of sitting down to speak with a representative from CCP, the folks who maintain EVE Online. The week before, we'd asked for questions to pass on. I had the chance to put them directly to Magnus Bergsson, CMO at CCP. He very directly tackles the recent scandal involving a CCP developer, the reason why EVE's hardcore gameplay is so appealing, the balance between casual and hardcore players, and some information on the future of the game. Read on for his answers to your questions in a transcript of the interview, as well as audio live from the GDC Expo floor.
Microsoft

Submission + - NIST May Reverse Vista Ban

An anonymous reader writes: Following the recent string of bad news for Microsoft, where both the U.S. DOT and the National Institute of Standards and Technology said they'd ban upgrades to Windows Vista, now comes a slight turnabout. IWeek reports that the chief information office at NIST is now saying that his agency will likely lift a moratorium on deployments of Vista if the OS passes a rigorous set of security and compatibility tests. Until then, however, NIST will continue to forbid its 4,700 computer users to install Windows Vista on agency desktops or laptops or on home computers that they intend to connect to the NIST network. "For the time being, Vista is not allowed," said NIST Simon Szykman. Do you think this indicates that Vista, like all things Microsoft, will inevitably become ubiquitous, or are there serious, long-term technical issues here which could prove a stumbling block to adoption.
Music

Submission + - Open Sound System v4.0 announced

Dev Mazumdar writes: "4Front Technologies has finally announced Open Sound System v4.0 — the first major release since OSS v3 was announced back in 1996. The new audio architecture has a new virtual mixer engine that will mix any any audio app — mix DVD 5.1 multichannel with MP3 stereo with full duplex voip with game audio like DoomIII or Quake. The new virtual mixer engine gives each app its own volume control. OSS v4.0 comes with ALSA compatibility and Flash audio support. More information is at http://www.opensound.com/press/2007/OSSv4.txt OSS v4.0 is available for Linux 2.6, Solaris 10, FreeBSD 6 and UnixWare 7. Best regards Dev Mazumdar"
Google

Summer of Code Student Applications Now Open 78

The accepted Google Summer of Code 2007 mentors list is now complete at the Summer of Code website — 131 projects could use your help. Student applications are open and the end date is March 24. Google has an application guide in the Summer of Code Announce discussion group that provides more information on the application process.
PlayStation (Games)

PS3 Owners To Simulate Gene Folding 74

fistfullast33l writes "According to IGN UK, the next version of Playstation firmware will include a joint venture from Stanford University and Sony called Folding@Home. Similar to the infamous SETI@Home project, Folding@Home will be an idle application that participates in a simulation that 'aims to map the way that genes change shape (or fold), so they can be studied by scientists and, potentially, cure illnesses such as Parkinson's or a variety of cancers.' The application will download a 'work unit' that it will unravel to completion, update Stanford's servers, and then download the next unit and continue." We've previously discussed the client; it will be available as an update at the end of the month, and should appear on your cross-media bar once installed.
Debian

Submission + - Debian Etch scheduled for an April 2nd release

Hero Zzyzzx writes: "This post to the debian-devel-announce list puts forth a schedule for Etch with an April 2nd, 2007 release. I've been using Etch for months now with nary a complaint. Gee — I wonder why they didn't pick April 1st as the release date? I'm excited, at least."
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - First Pictures and Specs of Commodore's New PCs

An anonymous reader writes: Following last week's announcement of the return of Commodore with a new line of gaming PCs comes the first specs and images of the new systems. The models, from entry-level to high-end, are the Commodore Cg, Cgs, Cgx, and Cxx. The initial hardware specifications for the 'extreme level' Cxx are as follows: Intel CoreT2 Extreme quad-core processor, an Asus P5N32-E nForce 680i SLI motherboard, two 150 GB 10,000 RPM SATA drives in RAID 0, with a spare 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA drive, 4GB (2 x 2048) Corsair Dominator memory at 1066 MHz, two nVidia 8800 GTX videocards, a Creatve Labs X-Fi, and Windows Vista Ultimate installed. Hell, it might even run Crysis.
Announcements

Submission + - Interview with Adrian Crook, Relic Entertainment

An anonymous reader writes: GameProducer.net published an interview with Adrian Crook, a game Producer at Relic Entertainment in Vancouver, Canada. Adrian shares his insight on the production of The Outfit for the Xbox 360, describes a "typical" day for game producer and gives tips that every game producer out there ought to know. "The Outfit had to be one of the riskiest projects ever. It was a new engine, new team, original IP, launch window title and Relic's first console project. For those reasons, every aspect of it is memorable. Every time we made progress despite the odds it was an incredible rush. Some big ones were our E3 demo, Leipzig demo, and the first time the game ran at 30fps. Incredibly, they happened in that order," Adrian replied when asked about the best experiences in The Outfit game production.

Link to The full interview

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