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Comment I hope BF4 is better than Battlefield 3 (Score 2, Interesting) 272

by dryriver (#45180011) Attached to: The Battle For the Game Industry's Soul
Battlefield 3 was no fun to play. It was a real system hog, had unacceptably long map load times, had an external HTML-based server browser that sucked, and the gameplay pretty much consisted of you entering the game, and being mowed down by a higher ranking player with more unlocked gadgets in the first 20 seconds. Battlefield 2 was a lot of fun. Battlefield 2142 was also great (Scifi-themed) fun. Battlefield 3 sucked bad in terms of simple things like "overall enjoyment" and "fun gameplay". As for Battlefield 4, I personally have little hope that EA has learned anything from Battlefield 3's gameplay problems. I'm guessing that it will suck on the gameplay side like BF3 did, but that it will have prettier graphics (which of course will require a bang-up-to-date PC or laptop to enjoy properly). My 2 Cents...ü

Submission + - Axiom - The Open-Source, Modular, Crowdfunded, 4K@150FPS Cinema Camera (redsharknews.com)

Submitted by dryriver
dryriver writes: Redsharknews.com reports: An outfit named Apertus (www.apertus.org) are working on a 4K raw capable cinema camera called the Axiom that will use open source software at its core — but they are also making the hardware it runs on as open as possible too. To get all this started, and as a kind of "proof of concept", they're building right now a much more limited prototype called the Axiom Alpha. It’s based on the same sensor as the full Axiom (the CMV12000) but it only shoots 1080p (downscaled from 4K) instead of the full 4K that the finished camera will provide. But it’s also based on FGPA technology just like the full 4K Axiom, so the idea is to use the Alpha prototype to get the basic software up and running before moving on to the final release camera. Apertus are not releasing full details of the full 4K Axiom camera yet (The Axiom Omega?) because much of it isn’t set in stone — as you might expect from a fully software updateable camera — but they have stated that it will be 4K, have a Super 35mm Global Shutter, have interchangeable lens mounts, be capable of 150fps at the full 4K resolution, and the biggest thing of all is that it will be fully modular! There will be lots of different modules for doing different things and as it’s open you will even be able to design your own modules! (Subject to time and ability constraints of course) As it is a fully modular system, it means you can strip the camera down to the basic functionality you will need to keep it light and small. For instance if you don’t need sync sound you can just leave the audio module out altogether. On the other hand, if you need the power of the full camera system, it’s just a matter of plugging all the modules together a bit like lego! Of course as new technology comes along, that means you can add new modules as they become available. Perhaps all kinds of metadata will be available from the new MEMS chips and there will be new modules for that ...or an anti-grav module! Who knows what the future will bring?

Submission + - Dyson Patents Hint At 'Silent' Hair Dryer (theguardian.com)

Submitted by dryriver
dryriver writes: The Guardian reports: Whisper it, but it looks like Sir James Dyson – creator of the bladeless fan and bagless vacuum cleaner – is building a silent hair dryer. When Dyson, now 66, became frustrated with his wheelbarrow, he invented the 'Ballbarrow' – replacing the wheel with a ball so it would turn more easily. When he had to vacuum the house, his annoyance at conventional bag cleaners led to the invention of the Dyson cyclone cleaner. Possibly Dyson has become annoyed at the time and especially noise involved in drying his full head of hair. Diagrams that have surfaced at the UK's patents office show that his company has filed patents for 'a hand-held blower with an insulating chamber' – in other words, a hairdryer, which is already being dubbed 'the Hairblade', playing on the name of its Airblade hand dryer. Crucially, he seems to be aiming to make it much quieter than current models – rather as the Dyson bladeless fan is almost silent. Standard hairdryers are extremely loud, reaching up to 75 decibels – as loud as a vacuum cleaner, but held beside your head. The patents, which become public earlier this week, are surprisingly detailed, and show what looks like a hairdryer with an air chamber linked by two smaller cylinders to a smaller base unit. The air would flow through the two cylinders and into the base. The patent publication is a rare slip-up by Dyson, which goes to extraordinary lengths to keep its new products secret. It shrouded the launch of its most recent product – a combined tap-and-hand-dryer – in secrecy, demanding journalists sign non-disclosure agreements. Key among the phrases used in the application in the 56-page application show that it would have 'sound absorbing' and 'vibration absorbing' properties 'tuned to the resonant frequencies of the appliance2. Dyson has also focused on the safety aspect of hairdryers, where anything that gets sucked into the air intake can come into contact with the electrically heated wires which warm up the incoming air and cause a short circuit. It moves the warming element away from the air intake: 'if something is inserted into the appliance, it cannot contact the heater directly,' it says.

Submission + - Samsung Offers To End Mobile Patent Wars (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by dryriver
dryriver writes: The BBC reports: Samsung has said that it will stop taking rivals to court over certain patent infringements for the next five years. The white flag in the patent battle has been raised because the South Korean electronics firm faces a huge fine for alleged abuses of the system. The move could help end a long-running patent war between the world's largest mobile makers. The EU said that a resolution would bring 'clarity to the industry'. 'Samsung has offered to abstain from seeking injunctions for mobile SEPs (standard essential patents) for a period of five years against any company that agrees to a particular licensing framework,' the European Commission said in a statement. Standard essential patents refer to inventions recognised as being critical to implementing an industry standard technology. Examples of such technologies include the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a cellular standard at the heart of 3G data; and H.264, a video compression format used by YouTube, Blu-ray disks and Adobe Flash Player among others. The EU had accused the Samsung of stifling competition by bringing a series of SEP lawsuits against Apple and other rivals. Google's Motorola Mobility has been charged with similar anti-competitive practice. Samsung faced a $18.3bn (£11.3bn) fine if it was found guilty of breaching anti-trust laws. 'Enforcing patents through injunctions can be perfectly legitimate,' said Joaquin Almunia, the European Commission's vice-president in charge of competition policy. 'However, when patents are standard-essential, abuses must be prevented so that standard-setting works properly and consumers do not have to suffer negative consequences from the so-called patent wars. If we reach a good solution in this case, it will bring clarity to the industry,' he added.

Submission + - LED Light Bulb Based 'Li-Fi' Closer, Say Chinese Scientists (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by dryriver
dryriver writes: The BBC reports: Wi-fi connectivity from a light bulb — or 'li-fi' — has come a step closer, according to Chinese scientists. A microchipped bulb can produce data speeds of up to 150 megabits per second (Mbps), Chi Nan, IT professor at Shanghai's Fudan University told Xinhua News. A one-watt LED light bulb would be enough to provide net connectivity to four computers, researchers say. But experts told the BBC more evidence was needed to back up the claims. There are no supporting video or photos showing the technology in action. Li-fi, also known as visible light communications (VLC), at these speeds would be faster — and cheaper — than the average Chinese broadband connection. In 2011, Prof Harald Haas, an expert in optical wireless communications at the University of Edinburgh, demonstrated how an LED bulb equipped with signal processing technology could stream a high-definition video to a computer. He coined the term 'light fidelity' or li-fi and set up a private company, PureVLC, to exploit the technology. 'We're just as surprised as everyone else by this announcement,' PureVLC spokesman Nikola Serafimovski told the BBC. 'But how valid this is we don't know without seeing more evidence. We remain sceptical.' This year, the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute claimed that data rates of up to 1Gbit/s per LED light frequency were possible in laboratory conditions, making one bulb with three colours potentially capable of transmitting data at up to 3Gbit/s.

Submission + - Ukraine-Discovered 400 Meter Asteroid 'May Impact Earth In 2032' (news.com.au)

Submitted by dryriver
dryriver writes: News.Com.Au reports: A LARGE asteroid has been discovered zipping passed Earth that astronomers say is dangerous and will return on August 26, 2032. 'A 400-metre asteroid is threatening to blow up the Earth,' Russian vice-premier Dmitry Rogozin, in charge of his nation's space research, wrote on his Twitter account. 'Here is a super target for the national cosmonautics.' The asteroid was discovered by astronomers in the Ukraine on Saturday who promptly named it 2013 TV135. The astronomers said they discovered the asteroid was approaching Earth at a potentially dangerous trajectory, RIA Novosti reported. They calculated the potential collision date — with a force as powerful as two thousand atomic bombs — but acknowledged that the odds of an impact are 1 in 63,000. NASA said in a statement, named 'A reality check', that it was 99.998 per cent certain that when it heads back around the planet in 2032 it will sail past again. 'This is a relatively new discovery,' said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's NEO Program. 'With more observations, I fully expect we will be able to significantly reduce, or rule out entirely, any impact probability for the foreseeable future.' Until further investigation by NASA, the asteroid has a danger rating of 1 out of a possible 10 on the Torino Impact Hazard Scale, the system that gauges the danger of impact destruction by asteroids, CNN reported The 1 rating means that it poses 'no unusual level of danger.' NASA said the asteroid 2013 TV135 'came within 6.7 million kilometres' of Earth — about 20 times as far away from Earth as the moon. On February 15, asteroid 2012 DA14, which was 50m long and weighed 200,000 tonnes, passed around 27,000 kilometres above the Earth.

Submission + - Redesigned Seats Let Airlines Squeeze in More Passengers

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: AP reports that US airlines are taking out old, bulky seats in favor of so-called slimline models that take up less space from front to back, allowing for five or six more seats on each plane giving airlines two of their favorite things: More paying passengers, and a smaller fuel bill because the seats are slightly lighter. Whether the new seats are really closer together depends on how you measure. By the usual measure, called "pitch," the new ones are generally an inch closer together from front to back as measured at the armrest. Southwest has put on nearly its entire fleet are 31 inches apart, about an inch less than before allowing them to to add an extra row of six seats to each plane. International passengers are feeling crowded, too. As recently as 2010, most airlines buying Boeing's big 777 opted for nine seats across. Now it's 10 across on 70 percent of newly-built 777s, Boeing says. American's newest 777s are set up 10-across in coach, with slightly narrower seats than on its older 777s. Airlines say you won't notice. And the new seats are designed to minimize this problem. Airplane seats from 30 years ago looked like your grandmother's BarcaLounger, says Jami Counter, senior director at SeatGuru.com, which tracks airline seats and amenities. "All that foam cushion and padding probably didn't add all that much comfort. All that's been taken out," he said. "You haven't really lost all that much if the airline does it right."

Submission + - New EU Rules To Curb Transfer Of European Data To The U.S. (theguardian.com)

Submitted by dryriver
dryriver writes: The Guardian reports: New European rules aimed at curbing questionable transfers of data from EU countries to the US are being finalised in Brussels in the first concrete reaction to the Edward Snowden disclosures on US and British mass surveillance of digital communications. Regulations on European data protection standards are expected to pass the European parliament committee stage on Monday after the various political groupings agreed on a new compromise draft following two years of gridlock on the issue. The draft would make it harder for the big US internet servers and social media providers to transfer European data to third countries, subject them to EU law rather than secret American court orders, and authorise swingeing fines possibly running into the billions for the first time for not complying with the new rules. 'As parliamentarians, as politicians, as governments we have lost control over our intelligence services. We have to get it back again,' said Jan Philipp Albrecht, the German Greens MEP who is steering the data protection regulation through the parliament. Data privacy in the EU is currently under the authority of national governments with standards varying enormously across the 28 countries, complicating efforts to arrive at satisfactory data transfer agreements with the US. The current rules are easily sidestepped by the big Silicon Valley companies, Brussels argues. The new rules, if agreed, would ban the transfer of data unless based on EU law or under a new transatlantic pact with the Americans complying with EU law. 'Without any concrete agreement there would be no data processing by telecommunications and internet companies allowed,' says a summary of the proposed new regime. Such bans were foreseen in initial wording two years ago but were dropped under the pressure of intense lobbying from Washington. The proposed ban has been revived directly as a result of the uproar over operations by the US's National Security Agency (NSA).

Submission + - How Science Goes Wrong (economist.com)

Submitted by dryriver
dryriver writes: The Economist reports: A SIMPLE idea underpins science: 'trust, but verify'. Results should always be subject to challenge from experiment. That simple but powerful idea has generated a vast body of knowledge. Since its birth in the 17th century, modern science has changed the world beyond recognition, and overwhelmingly for the better. But success can breed complacency. Modern scientists are doing too much trusting and not enough verifying—to the detriment of the whole of science, and of humanity. Too many of the findings that fill the academic ether are the result of shoddy experiments or poor analysis (see article). A rule of thumb among biotechnology venture-capitalists is that half of published research cannot be replicated. Even that may be optimistic. Last year researchers at one biotech firm, Amgen, found they could reproduce just six of 53 'landmark' studies in cancer research. Earlier, a group at Bayer, a drug company, managed to repeat just a quarter of 67 similarly important papers. A leading computer scientist frets that three-quarters of papers in his subfield are bunk. In 2000-10 roughly 80,000 patients took part in clinical trials based on research that was later retracted because of mistakes or improprieties. Even when flawed research does not put people’s lives at risk—and much of it is too far from the market to do so—it squanders money and the efforts of some of the world’s best minds. The opportunity costs of stymied progress are hard to quantify, but they are likely to be vast. And they could be rising.

Comment I recommend C#.NET (Score 1, Informative) 465

by dryriver (#45155327) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Best Language To Learn For Scientific Computing?
Not only is C# easy to learn, and easy to both read and write, it also runs at a fairly high speed when it is compiled. To make use of multiple CPU Cores, C# has a neat feature named PARALLEL.FOR. If your algorithm scans across a 2D Data Array using a FOR LOOP at all, Parallel.For will automatically break that array into smaller arrays, and have each calculated by a different CPU core, resulting in a much faster overall computation speed. I develop algorithms in C# and highly recommend it if you want a) a nice, readable code syntax and b) fast execution speed. I hope this helps...

Submission + - 570 Kg (1,255 lb) Meteor Fragment Pulled Out Of Russian Lake (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by dryriver
dryriver writes: The BBC reports: Divers working at a Russian lake have recovered a half-tonne chunk of the space rock that exploded over Chelyabinsk earlier this year. The object plunged into Lake Chebarkul in central Russia on 15 February, leaving a 6m-wide hole in the ice. Scientists say that it is the largest fragment of the meteorite yet found. More than 1,000 people were injured when a 17m, 10,000-tonne space rock burned up over Central Russia, breaking windows and rocking buildings. Live footage showed a team pull out a 1.5-metre-long (five-foot-long) rock from the lake after first wrapping it in a special covering and placing it on a metal sheet while it was still underwater. The fragment was then pulled ashore and placed on top of a scale for weighing, an operation that quickly went wrong. The rock broke up into at least three large pieces as it was lifted from the ground with the help of levers and ropes. Then the scale itself broke, the moment it hit the 570kg (1,255lb) mark. Dr Caroline Smith, curator of meteorites at London's Natural History Museum, confirmed that the object was a meteorite from characteristic features known as fusion crust and regmaglypts, which are obvious in images. She told BBC News: "Fusion crust forms as the meteoroid is travelling through the atmosphere as a fireball.

Submission + - UK PM David Cameron Wants Guardian Newspaper "Investigated" Over Snowden Stories (theguardian.com)

Submitted by dryriver
dryriver writes: The Guardian reports: British Prime Minister David Cameron has encouraged a Commons select committee to investigate whether the Guardian has broken the law or damaged national security by publishing secrets leaked by the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. He made his proposal in response to a question from former defence secretary Liam Fox, saying the Guardian had been guilty of double standards for exposing the scandal of phone hacking by newspapers and yet had gone on to publish secrets from the NSA taken by Snowden. Speaking at prime minister's questions on Wednesday, Cameron said: 'The plain fact is that what has happened has damaged national security and in many ways the Guardian themselves admitted that when they agreed, when asked politely by my national security adviser and cabinet secretary to destroy the files they had, they went ahead and destroyed those files. 'So they know that what they're dealing with is dangerous for national security. I think it's up to select committees in this house if they want to examine this issue and make further recommendations.' There are as many as four committees that might take up David Cameron's suggestion, including the culture select committee, the home affairs select committee, the defence select committee and the intelligence and security select committee.

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