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Submission + - MInecraft For Windows 10 Beta Release July 29th (windows.com) 1

Submitted by westlake
westlake writes: At Minecon 2015, Microsoft announced that Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta will be available for download in the Windows 10 Store beginning July 29, the same day Windows 10 is released.
Players who already have the PC edition of Minecraft will be able to download the Windows 10 beta version for free. Others can download Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition at a discounted price of $10 throughout the beta period.
Players who download Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition during the beta phase will still have the game when it comes out of beta, and receive all future updates to the game at no additional cost.
Operating Systems

Ask Slashdot: If You Could Assemble a "FrankenOS" What Parts Would You Use? 484

Posted by samzenpus from the bring-me-a-brain dept.
rnws writes: While commenting about log-structured file systems in relation to flash SSDs, I referenced Digital's Spiralog [pdf], released for OpenVMS in 1996. This got me thinking about how VMS to this day has some of, if not the best storage clustering (still) in use today. Many operating systems have come and gone over the years, particularly from the minicomputer era, and each usually had something unique it did really well. If you could stitch together your ideal OS, then which "body parts" would you use from today and reanimate from the past? I'd probably start with VMS's storage system, MPE's print handling, OS/2's Workplace Shell, AS/400's hardware abstraction and GNU's Bash shell. What would you choose?

Comment Re:Aww, that's a bummer. (Score 1) 140

by westlake (#50047785) Attached to: Microsoft Edge, HTML5, and DRM

Sadly, I'm not compatible with DRM so I guess I can't use that new browser.

It's not about you.

The mainstream browser that doesn't support protected media play is damn near extinct.

The browser itself is under threat of being eclipsed by the walled gardens of the mobile, app-oriented, world. Imagine if Netflix began adding live news and sports feeds to its streaming media content.
ISS

Russian Progress Cargo Ship Docks With Space Station 47

Posted by samzenpus from the have-some-supplies dept.
An anonymous reader writes: An unmanned Russian cargo ship has successfully docked with the International Space Station. The successful launch, rendezvous and docking came after two resupply failures. A Progress launched in April spun out of control and a week ago, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket disintegrated, destroying a supply ship loaded with supplies and equipment. "Crew reports, 'feels like Christmas in July,'" the International Space Station tweeted.
United States

Wired Cautions Would-Be Drone Photogs on the 4th 72

Posted by timothy from the lesson-is-to-just-build-fireworks dept.
Last year's spectacular but unauthorized you-are-there video from the inside of a fireworks display has probably inspired quite a few people to try getting their own bird's-eye view this year. Wired cautions photographers, though, that many municipalities have specifically banned (and some will be looking for) unauthorized airborne visitors, and that the FAA's guidelines for legal flight are tricky to comply with during a fireworks show. This is both because it's hard to maintain visual contact with a drone amid the dark and smoke of a show, and because of the altitude at which many commercial firework shells burst. In addition, even if a drone photo mission goes under the radar vis-a-vis local authorities, if resulting footage appears on an ad-supported site, like YouTube, the FAA may be a bit more interested than the pilot would like.

Comment Entitlement. (Score 0) 146

by westlake (#50042483) Attached to: In Response to Open Letter, France Rejects Asylum For Julian Assange

Assange's legal team says that Assange's letter has been mischaracterized, and that it is in fact not a request for asylum per se; instead, they assert, the letter merely expresses Assange's "willingness 'to be hosted in France if and only if an initiative was taken by the competent authorities.'"

"Hosted?"

How gracious of Assange to say he would willing to trade his Ecuadorian broom closet for a rent-free garden flat in Paris, if France would be kind enough to send him an engraved invitation.

There are two particularly flavorful Yiddish words that come to mind here, "chutzpah" being one of them.

Comment Re:Terrifying. (Score 1) 68

by MightyMartian (#50041573) Attached to: Clang Plays Tetris -- Tetris As a C++ Template Metaprogram

This is the most terrifying and ridiculous thing I've seen in my entire life.

No, the most terrifying and ridiculous thing would be if it was rewritten in JavaScript which outputted Java source that piped C# source that then, when compiled and executed, outputted as an x86 ASM program that produced a PHP script.
Medicine

Common Medications Sway Moral Judgment 132

Posted by Soulskill from the chemical-personality dept.
sciencehabit sends news that two commonly-prescribed drugs have been shown to influence how the human brain makes moral decisions. Citalopram is an SSRI used to treat depression, and levodopa is often used to combat Parkinson's disease. A new study (abstract) asked subjects to set a monetary value on receiving painful electric shocks — for themselves and for others (e.g. "Would you rather endure seven shocks to earn $10 or 10 shocks to earn $15?"). The study found that subjects on citalopram (which affects serotonin levels) were willing to give up more money to reduce shocks, both for themselves and others. Those on levodopa (which affects dopamine levels) made people just as willing to shock others as they were to shock themselves, when those on a placebo tended to be more reluctant to shock others. [Neuroscientist Molly] Crockett says those effects could suggests multiple underlying mechanisms. For example, excess dopamine might make our brain's reward system more responsive to the prospect of avoiding personal harm. Or it could tamp down our sense of uncertainty about what another person is experiencing, making us less hesitant to dole out pain. Serotonin, meanwhile, appeared to have a more general effect on aversion to harm, not just a heightened concern for another person. Such knowledge could eventually develop drugs that address disorders of social behavior, she says.
Firefox

Firefox 39 Released, Bringing Security Improvements and Social Sharing 172

Posted by Soulskill from the think-really-hard-to-share-this-on-friendface dept.
An anonymous reader writes: Today Mozilla announced the release of Firefox 39.0, which brings an number of minor improvements to the open source browser. (Full release notes.) They've integrated Firefox Share with Firefox Hello, which means that users will be able to open video calls through links sent over social media. Internally, the browser dropped support for the insecure SSLv3 and disabled use of RC4 except where explicitly whitelisted. The SafeBrowsing malware detection now works for downloads on OS X and Linux. (Full list of security changes.) The Mac OS X version of Firefox is now running Project Silk, which makes animations and scrolling noticeably smoother. Developers now have access to the powerful Fetch API, which should provide a better interface for grabbing things over a network.

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