Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Save the Franchise? (Score 1) 603

by Spudtrooper (#24584037) Attached to: LucasArts Embargoes "Clone Wars" Reviews
The midichlorians make perfect sense if you think about what happens to Vader. As a whole-body person, he was supreme. The Emperor turned him to the Dark Side because of his power with the Force. Then Obi-Wan laid the smack down on Mustafar, reducing his body mass (and, thus, his midichlorian count) by 50%. After that, Vader was a mechanical wretch, the Emperor's little whipping boy unable to live up to his full potential. That's why the Emperor wanted Luke. He wasn't stunted like Vader was. He had the potential to be far more powerful than Vader. Vader is a truly tragic character. He turned to the Dark Side due to the promise of power, then he lost it all. Also, Dooku and/or Palpatine arranged for his mother to be kidnapped and tortured by the sandpeople. Anakin's fall was set up right away from his introduction. The prequels aren't as ham-fisted as people like to make out. But Jar Jar still sucks.
Security

Submission + - DRM Scorecard: Hackers 1000, Industry Zero 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: InfoWeek blogger Alex Wolfe put together a scorecard which makes the obvious but interesting point that, when you list every major DRM technology implemented to "protect" music and video, they've all been cracked. This includes Apple's FairPlay, Microsoft's Windows Media DRM, the old-style Content Scrambling System (CSS) used on early DVDs and the new AACS for high-definition DVDs. And of course there was the Sony Rootkit disaster of 2005. Can anyone think of a DRM technology which hasn't been cracked, and of course this begs the obvious question: Why doesn't the industry just give up and go DRM-free?
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Man Watches Bra Bandit On Home Web Cam Feed

Submitted by Rio
Rio writes: A businessman in downtown Orlando, Fla., used a motion-detecting Web cam to watch and grab images of a thief inside his home stealing his wife's bras and other items, according to police. "That goes beyond a little bit past creepy," the victim said. "That goes past being a little bit weird. That goes to scary. Scary is what I call it."
Role Playing (Games)

Submission + - Babies starved while parents game (msn.com)

Submitted by AccioBrain
AccioBrain writes: A Reno couple has pleaded guilty to child neglect after their two children, both under the age of two, were found starving. Prosecutor Kelli Ann Viloria said,

"They had food; they just chose not to give it to their kids because they were too busy playing video games."
An online version of the RPG Dungeons & Dragons was cited as the couple's main distraction. This comes just a few weeks after the AMA decided to review its classification of gaming addiction as a mental disorder.
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA Accused of Extortion & Conspiracy

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The defendant in a Tampa, Florida, case, UMG v. Del Cid, has filed counterclaims accusing the RIAA record labels of conspiracy and extortion. The counterclaims (pdf) are for Trespass, Computer Fraud and Abuse (18 USC 1030), Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices (Fla. Stat. 501.201), Civil Extortion (CA Penal Code 519 & 523), and Civil Conspiracy involving (a) use of private investigators without license in violation of Fla. Stat. Chapter 493; (b) unauthorized access to a protected computer system, in interstate commerce, for the purpose of obtaining information in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1030 (a)(2)(C); (c) extortion in violation of Ca. Penal Code 519 and 523; and (d) knowingly collecting an unlawful consumer debt, and using abus[ive] means to do so, in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. 1692a et seq. and Fla. Stat. 559.72 et seq."
Announcements

Submission + - Tux Takes His Place On Racecar

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Tux, the cherubic penguin mascot of the Linux computer operating system has just taken up residence on the front nose of the Chastain Motorsports Panoz / Honda Indy car. Driver, Stephan Gregoire, and team owner, Tom Chastain, applied the ceremonial first decal yesterday to the distinctive two-tone blue, 225 mph Indy racer that Gregoire will pilot for this year's 91st running of the famed Indianapolis 500 mile race on May 27, 2007.
Wireless Networking

Submission + - New wireless chips boost transfer rate to 80Gbps

Submitted by toiletduck2
toiletduck2 writes: A group of CSIRO scientists have developed the world's best 200GHz millimetre-wave (mm-wave) chips that double wireless data transfer rates to 80 gigabits per second, while being more cost and power efficient than current wireless chips.

From the article: "Where current mm-wave chips base their architecture on frequencies from the first harmonic of a wave, the new chips tune into its fourth harmonic. This allows for a four-fold increase in frequency without the need for oscillators that may otherwise complicate the core architecture.
Biotech

Submission + - Do you clean your teeth?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A new Swedish study has shown there to be a very strong correlation between the loosening of teeth and the risk of disease. Even smoking is less significant.
United States

Submission + - EPA forced to defend the environment

Submitted by Nitack
Nitack writes: The NY Times is reporting that the US Supreme Court has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency is required by the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon emissions. Senator John Kerry is quoted as saying "It's an historic moment when the Supreme Court has to step in to protect the environment from the Bush administration."
Movies

Submission + - Homeland Security Seize TRON

Submitted by (y(list110
(y(list110 writes: It seems that the Department of Homeland Security want to take TRON off the shelves. According to the story "the Department of Homeland Security has designated the 1982 film TRON as 'sensitive', and ordered Walt Disney Studios to turn over all copies of the film", as some scenes in the film were shot at a Lawrence Livermore nuclear fusion facility known as Shiva. "the DHS declared the film 'sensitive' and demanded its surrender." I'm now concerned about the scenes that show WOPR in Wargames.
Programming

Submission + - Why slashdot doesn't work anymore

Submitted by cdn-programmer
cdn-programmer writes: When I go to the main menu I see I'm logged in. When I go to any story I'm logged out. Why? If I try to log in via the story links the web server displays the main page and shows me logged in. Your website is hopped. Why?
Music

Submission + - Why the RIAA doesn't want defendants exonerated

Submitted by RageAgainsttheBears
RageAgainsttheBears writes: The RIAA is slowly beginning to find itself in an awkward position when a few among its many, many lawsuits don't manage to follow through. Typically, when they decide a case isn't worth pursuing (due to targeting the wrong person or not having sufficient evidence), they simply move to drop the case and any counterclaims, and everyone goes separate ways. But recently, judges have been deciding to allow the RIAA to drop the case, but still allowing the counterclaim through. According to the Ars Technica article:

If Judge Miles-LaGrange issues a ruling exonerating Tallie Stubbs of infringement, it would be a worrisome trend for the RIAA. The music industry has become accustomed to having its way with those it accuses of file-sharing, quietly dropping cases it believes it can't win. It looks as though the courts may be ready to stop the record labels from just walking away from litigation when it doesn't like the direction it is taking and give defendants justice by fully exonerating them of any wrongdoing.

Slashdot Top Deals

When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle. - Edmund Burke

Close