mazevedo - Slashdot User

Submission + - Minister says piracy is good for progress (publico.pt) 1

Submitted by mazevedo on Friday April 30, 2010 @07:19AM

mazevedo writes: Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and High Studies, Mariano Gago, says that "Piracy is a source of progress". Quoted by Spanish newspaper "El País", during a summit in Madrid, he says that the cultural industry should not look at piracy as an enemy, but as a source of progress and globalization.

http://www.publico.pt/Cultura/mariano-gago-diz-que-pirataria-e-fonte-de-progresso_1434797 (In Portuguese)
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/tecnologia/ministro/Tecnologia/portugues/afirma/pirateria/fuente/progreso/elpeputec/20100430elpeputec_2/Tes (in Spanish)

It's nice to see a politician with his eyes open!

Submission + - "Piracy as been a source of progress" (elpais.com) 1

Submitted by seasunset on Friday April 30, 2010 @06:39AM

seasunset writes: Jose Mariano Gago, minister for Science and Technology of Portugal said that Piracy and been a source of progress and globalization (Google translation). This senior official of the south western EU country also suggested that value of cultural products might sometimes be increased by piracy.

Regarding downloads, Gago stated that the Portuguese government is studying regulation, but that it "must be sensible" and that "The Internet is a matter of adding freedoms, not restricting them.

Comment Re:I think this is probably wrong and demented.... (Score 1) 940

by mazevedo on Sunday February 14, 2010 @04:13PM (#31136516) Attached to: Southwest Declares Kevin Smith Too Fat To Fly

"Being obese will shorten his lifespan."

And you are? His mother? Father? Wife? Even those people have no right to say that he must change his diet!
Anyway, as far as I know, and he describes it, his plane was not even full.
If things are as he said (there's always the version, of course - and I've read nothing about it) than I think it's discrimination. Period!

Comment Re:"from a European spaceport" (Score 0) 57

by mazevedo on Saturday July 04, 2009 @03:28PM (#28581995) Attached to: TerreStar Launches World's Largest Telecom Satellite

Touché!

Comment Re:"from a European spaceport" (Score 2, Interesting) 57

by mazevedo on Saturday July 04, 2009 @01:05PM (#28581089) Attached to: TerreStar Launches World's Largest Telecom Satellite

I think it was intended to sound like an European site (it's true, ESA is European, not just French), like when you refer to the American Base at Okinawa, and not the Japanese Base at Okinawa.

Comment Really? Not here (Score 1) 685

by mazevedo on Monday June 22, 2009 @09:57AM (#28421269) Attached to: Blu-ray Adoption Soft, More Still Own HD DVD

Really? Not here in Portugal. Sure you see a lot of computers (mainly HP) with HD-DVD drives (I have one myself), but although HD format has had a slow adoption, Blu-ray is definitely here - you can see them in any store and video rentals. Only trouble tough are the HIGH prices and crappy movies.

Contrasting User-Driven Play With Developer Vision 60

Posted by Soulskill on Friday April 24, 2009 @12:42AM from the dance,-puppets dept.

GameSetWatch is running an opinion piece (sparked by a lecture at NYU by Deus Ex developer Warren Spector) about the difference between game experiences that are specifically planned by the game's creators and experiences that are either constructed by players or arise unexpectedly. Quoting: "One thing Spector said during the NYU discussion was that he feels multiplayer games are 'lazy.' This is the designer in him talking, of course — his theory that in letting players build stories via Left 4 Dead-style happy accidents in open worlds, the designer doesn't have to tackle complex challenges like making choices meaningful, or making characters believable. Spector wants to take on those challenges, and he doesn't like the idea that user-driven play, from his standpoint, effectively allows game design to bypass them. It's actually an idea I relate to a lot as a writer — I was raised in an era of authoritative media, when individual voices drove culture, opinion and information. The internet's changed everything, of course; the authoritative voice has evolved into a conversation between writer and audience, and the writer now leads the community discussion rather than acting as a single determiner, a unilateral judge."

Comment Re:Summary (Score 1) 448

by mazevedo on Thursday February 12, 2009 @04:37AM (#26824597) Attached to: BeOS Successor Haiku Keeps the Faith

With Virtual Box mine booted in 23 seconds.

Submission + - Microsoft Replaces XBOX Steering Wheels (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by drewmoney on Friday August 24, 2007 @08:04PM

drewmoney writes: Another blow is dealt to Microsoft and its mighty XBOX. This time a faulty accessory is to blame. More than 200,000 steering wheel controllers for the console have been deemed unsafe when powered by A/C. Over 50 reports have been made of the units smoking and overheating. This comes after a reported $1bn repair cost of malfunctioning consoles. Will Microsoft recover, or just give up?

Submission + - Certifications versus master's degrees for newbies (networkworld.com)

Submitted by

Julie188

on Wednesday August 22, 2007 @04:52PM

Julie188 writes: "When you've got about three years of IT experience and you want to increase your paycheck should you go for a master's degree in IT or for a tough certification like Cisco's CCIE? A guy making $43,000 with a kid on the way asked. While almost every salary survey on the planet seems to say that a master's degree rules for higher pay, this panel of experts recommended the certification. The fact this guy is a relative newbie in the field, that he wants to spend more time with his family and that he didn't have any certifications were the reasons. They also say the subject matter of a degree — should he get one — pretty much doesn't matter."

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