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Comment Re:Old news? (Score 1) 157

Usually people write their work up and publish it after the research is done, or when it's reached a milestone of some kind. The date of publication might give an indication of when the reported research was finished but not how long it took to carry out. This work seems to have been published (i.e. placed in the public domain) some time ago. I'm wondering why it's only appearing on slashdot now.
OS X

Apple Patches Massive Holes In OS X 246

Trailrunner7 writes with this snippet from ThreatPost: "Apple's first Mac OS X security update for 2010 is out, providing cover for at least 12 serious vulnerabilities. The update, rated critical, plugs security holes that could lead to code execution vulnerabilities if a Mac user is tricked into opening audio files or surfing to a rigged Web site." Hit the link for a list of the highlights among these fixes.
Role Playing (Games)

Genre Wars — the Downside of the RPG Takeover 248

Phaethon360 writes "From Bioshock and Modern Warfare 2 to even Team Fortress 2, RPG elements are creeping into game genres that we never imagined they would. This change for the most part has managed to subtly improve upon genres that needed new life, but there's a cost that hasn't been tallied by the majority of game developers. 'The simple act of removing mod tools, along with the much discussed dedicated server issue, has made [MW2] a bit of a joke among competitive players. Gone are the days of "promod," and the only option you have is to play it their way. If Infinity Ward are so insistent on improving the variety of our experiences, they don’t have to do it at the expense of the experience that many of us already love. It really is that simple. If they don’t want to provide a good "back to basics experience," they could at least continue to provide the tools that allow us to do that for ourselves.'"
GUI

Augmented Reality To Help Mechanics Fix Vehicles 81

kkleiner writes "ARMAR, or Augmented Reality for Maintenance and Repair, is a head mounted display unit that provides graphic overlays to assist you in making repairs. An Android phone provides an interface to control the graphics you view during the process. Published in IEEE, and recently tested with the United States Marine Corps on an armored turret, ARMAR can cut maintenance times in half by guiding users to the damaged area and displaying 3D animations to demonstrate the appropriate tools and techniques."
Star Wars Prequels

BioWare Targeting Spring 2011 For Star Wars: The Old Republic Launch 82

MTV's Multiplayer blog reports on comments from BioWare employee Sean Dahlberg, which indicate that they are aiming to release the game in spring 2011. He said, "While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars: The Old Republic. We've got a lot of exciting updates and reveals planned throughout 2010, including the first-ever hands-on testing for the game. ... We can't wait to share more about the game with you as we progress through the year, so make sure you stay tuned to the official website for details." Recent posts to the game's developer blog provide details on the Imperial Agent and the Jedi Knight. They also released a video which gives insight into their design process for the Dark Side.

Comment Re:Long time coming (Score 1) 120

I think the problem of encoding the analog signal as midi data is pretty much solved for the guitar. I've found the terratec axon guitar->midi system great in terms of accuracy and latency between striking the note and hearing the MIDI sound. It (supposedly) uses a neural net to learn the sounds your pick makes hitting the different strings when depressed at different frets. These sounds are slightly different from each other, so it can tell from the attack alone (no waiting for complete cycles of the fundamental) what note you are playing. I
Quickies

Submission + - Sleepy?Spend less time on the internet/watching TV (dailymail.co.uk)

Ant writes: "The Daily Mail reports people, who spend time on the internet or watching television before they go to bed, are more likely to feel like they don't get enough sleep. Even though they sleep almost as long as people who spend fewer pre-bedtime hours in front of a computer or television screen, they will stil feel tired according to a new survey... Seen on Digg."

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