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Submission + - FreeRCT Calls for Contributors

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: There has been brewing an open source game in the spirit of RollerCoaster Tycoon 1 and 2: OpenRCT! If you are looking for an interesting game project to hop in to, here's your chance as the team is searching for new contributors. According to the documentation, there is need for both programmers and graphic artists: 'Anything that does not work or exist needs fixing. You need to know C++, and make patches using the code style of the project, and provide Doxygen comments with it. The code should build out of the box at a Linux system. For Windows, the build system first needs to be extended so we can build it at both platforms. If you need graphics that do not exist yet, just make some stub graphics. It does not matter how ugly they are. Submissions take the form of patches in unified diff format.'

Submission + - Gene Wolfe to be honored at Nebula awards weekend in San Jose -reading on Thurs (sfwa.org)

Submitted by hguorbray
hguorbray writes: One of my favorite Sci Fi authors of all time, Gene Wolfe, will honored with the Damon Night Grandmaster award at the Nebula Awards weekend in San Jose this weekend. This Thursday night he will be doing a reading and Q&A along with Connie Willis (author of the Doomsday book, etc) http://www.sfinsf.org/ at the San Jose hilton and there will be a mass book signing event Fri including these authors and many others presented by San Francisco's awesome Borderlands books: http://www.borderlands-books.com/about_events.html

Submission + - Data Center Operators Double as Energy Brokers (nytimes.com)

Submitted by mattOzan
mattOzan writes: When data centers first opened in the 1990s, the tenants paid for space to plug in their servers with a proviso that electricity would be available. As computing power has soared, so has the need for electricity, turning that relationship on its head: electrical capacity is often the central element of lease agreements, and space is secondary. While lease arrangements are often written in the language of real estate, they are essentially power deals.

Submission + - Scientist Warns against Bringing Mammoths Back from the Dead (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A renowned archaeologist has said people must start considering the ethical issues surrounding bringing extinct animals back to life as scientists are "on the brink" of doing so.

Dr Alice Roberts, an archaeologist and professor who has also appeared on several TV shows, says the dilemmas in bringing animals back from the dead should be "grappled with" as scientists begin to make further breakthroughs.

Submission + - A Pi in your face (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: The BBC, among others, is reporting on a new camera add-on for the popular Raspberry Pi.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Do You Trust When a Vendor Tells You to Buy New Parts? (slashdot.org)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: Roughly 85 percent of IT managers polled by Forrester said they would hold onto networking infrastructure longer, but vendors retire products prematurely in an effort to force customers to upgrade. In a response that may seem familiar to anyone who’s ever been pressured into buying a maintenance contract—either by an enterprise vendor or a major electronics retailer—over 80 percent of the 304 respondents said they don’t like the misrepresented cost savings, new fees, and inflexible pricing models—but buy the products anyway. One of the survey’s interesting points is that IT decision makers aren’t willing to contradict the vendor. The uncertainty seems to come from the fact that the vendor may in fact be right—and a customer who contradicts what they’re saying may end up shouldering the blame if the equipment goes south. It’s the “you never got fired for buying IBM” argument, applied to the networking space. The problem, of course, is that the vendor often works for its own agenda. Do you upgrade when the vendor (or reseller) suggests you do so? Or do you stick to your own way of doing things?

Submission + - Earthquake sensors track endangered whales (washington.edu)

Submitted by vinces99
vinces99 writes: The fin whale is the second-largest animal ever to live on Earth and its huge size and global range make its movements and behavior hard to study. University of Washington oceanographers are now using a growing number of seafloor seismometers to track these endangered "greyhounds of the sea."

Submission + - NVIDIA SHIELD Specs Finalized, Pre-Orders To Begin May 20 (hothardware.com)

Submitted by bigwophh
bigwophh writes: NVIDIA’s Android-based, portable gaming system and media streaming device, originally known as Project SHIELD, was a big hit at CES. NVIDA has since dropped "Project" from the name and it appears the device is about ready to ship. If you’re unfamiliar with SHIELD, it is essentially a game controller with a built-in, flip-up 5” multi-touch screen. It is powered by NVIDIA’s own Tegra 4 quad-core SoC (System-on-Chip) with ARM A15 CPU cores, 72 GPU cores, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 802.11n 2x2 MIMO Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, and GPS support, among a number of other features. In addition to offering an array of Tegra-optimized games, part of SHIELD’s allure is the ability to wirelessly stream games and other media from a GeForce GTX-powered PC to any TV connected to SHIELD. Pricing for the device is set at $349 and pre-sales begin on May 20.

Comment naive (Score 1) 614

by BenBoy (#43661093) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Why Won't Companies Upgrade Old Software?

Now, my question is: what happened to that money they saved? Even a small portion of the money saved over the years could be used to upgrade ancient systems to modern standards.

Yeah, or you could use it to hire a second pool-boy, no?

Now my question: What does upgrading IE have to do with enhancing shareholder value this quarter?

Comment Re:Immigration (Score 1) 484

by BenBoy (#43425879) Attached to: Zuckerberg Lobbies For More Liberal Immigration Policies
I think your outrage is appropriate, but your conclusion is I think a little off (if I'm understanding it). The problem, as I see it, is that we take people in for jobs who cannot reasonably quit -- cheap STEM labor. This drives down the price for labor in these fields both for the H1B holders and for US citizens in these fields as well. It is a system that is manifestly advantageous for the companies involved; but disadvantageous for their workers. I do think the missing piece here is a path to citizenship (yes, there already exists a narrow, winding, trap-laden path). I don't think the problem would be so vexing if the workers involved could leave their posts at the end of three to six years without leaving (and draining that talent from) this country. So, not "H1B's for all", so much as "green cards for all (or at least most) successful H1B holders as a brass ring.

Comment Vital (Score 1) 173

by BenBoy (#43324801) Attached to: I follow U.S. Supreme Court rulings ...
It's vital that we track and understand SCOTUS decision-making. How else can you decide who to vote for in the next Supreme Court election? Plus, where will I get my sense of righteous indignation from if not that wacky crew and their be-robed antics?

Comment plus ca change ... (Score 1) 209

by BenBoy (#43155231) Attached to: France Demands Skype Register As a Telco
This is pretty much how it went down all over western Europe (Italy, I'm lookin' at you) when cell phones did an end-run against heavily regulated landlines. Sure, you could wait 6 months for phone service ... or you can have this! Now it's euros, not time, but the song's more-or-less the same.

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