Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Outdated? (Score 1) 468

by PCPackrat (#28270243) Attached to: California To Move To Online Textbooks
Alas history books have changed. We edit out the parts that might offend people. Mustn't hurt anyone's feelings etc... My kids haven't had a text book in 4 years. They get handouts of 4-7 pages a week and do their homework from that. This is just making those handouts accessible from home which is nice. Saves gas for the buss since the 100+ students wont be carrying the 65 pounds of books each.
First Person Shooters (Games)

First-Person Shooter Modified For Fire Drill Simulation 158

Posted by Soulskill from the crap-where's-a-medkit dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Researchers at Durham University have modified a video game and turned it into a fire drill simulator using the Source engine (the 3D game engine used to drive Half-Life 2), and created a virtual model of one of the university's departments. Dr. Shamus Smith said that although 3D modeling software was available, modifying a video game was faster, more cost effective, and had better special effects. 'We were interested in using game technology over a customized application and the Source Engine, from Half-Life, is very versatile,' said Smith. 'We used the simulation to see how people behaved in an actual fire situation and to train people in "good practice" in a fire.' The team says the virtual environment helped familiarize people with evacuation routines and could also help identify problems with a building's layout. One problem, however, was that while the simulation worked for most people, those who played a lot of video games did some unusual things when using the simulation. 'If a door was on fire, [the gamers] would try and run through it, rather than look for a different exit,' said Smith." This makes me wonder to what extent entertainment software will fill the role of non-entertainment software as the tools and engines become more and more powerful. Ars mentions related news that the US Dept. of Naval Research is dumping millions of dollars into "virtual reality-like simulations of small-scale urban conflicts." It's unclear whether this is related to the US Army's similar program.
Google

Google Search Flagging Everything As Potentially Harmful 407

Posted by Soulskill from the minor-problem dept.
dowlingw writes "It looks like for the moment at least, all Google results are failing the malware checks and being listed with a warning 'This site may harm your computer,' including all pages from Google themselves. Users trying to visit pages at search results will only be able to proceed via manual manipulation of the search result link to remove the Google click-through (which is also broken). Until Google fixes this bug, it looks Google web search is useless." Update: 01/31 at 15:16 GMT by SS: The problem now appears to be fixed.
Update: 01/31 at 22:01 GMT by KD : Google has now posted an explanation, apologizing and taking responsibility for the "human error" that led to the problem.
Image

Fundraiser For "White Male" Illness Dropped Screenshot-sm 241

Posted by samzenpus from the stop-the-penis-party dept.
gubachwa writes "The student association at Carleton University in Canada recently voted that Cystic Fibrosis was a charity unworthy of receiving money raised during orientation week fund-raising activities. The reason behind the decision, as given in the motion on which the student association voted, is that Cystic Fibrosis 'has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men.'" I'm speechless.
Star Wars Prequels

LucasArts, Bioware Announce Star Wars MMO 346

Posted by Soulskill from the in-a-galaxy-not-so-far-away-after-all dept.
LucasArts and Bioware held a press conference today to confirm what has been suspected for a long time: they're working on a Star Wars MMO. It will be called Star Wars: The Old Republic, and it will be a continuation of the Knights of the Old Republic franchise. Further coverage is available at Gamespot, and IGN has some of the concept art. An official website for the game was launched as well. "According to the game's official announcement, Star Wars: The Old Republic is set thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader, with the galaxy divided by war between the Empire and the Sith. That's about 300 years after the events of KotOR, a time frame that, according to Zeschuk, 'is completely unexplored in the lore.' Players can take the role of either a Jedi, a Sith or other classic Star Wars characters -- and, as perhaps can be expected from BioWare, Muzyka says story will be a major component, underlying and driving all of the player's actions."
Transportation

Feds Target "Mongols" Biker Club's Intellectual Property 393

Posted by kdawson from the shirt-off-your-back dept.
couchslug writes in with a Reuters account of a Federal raid on a California-based motorcycle club, the Mongols, on charges "ranging from murder and robbery to extortion, money laundering, gun trafficking and drug dealing." The interesting twist is that the authorities are asking the courts to seize the IP of the biker club — specifically, their trademarked name "Mongols." "Federal agents and police in seven states arrested more than 60 members of the Mongols motorcycle gang on Tuesday in a sweep that also targeted for the first time an outlaw group's 'intellectual property,' prosecutors said. The arrests cap a three-year undercover investigation in which US agents posed as gang members and their girlfriends to infiltrate the group, even submitting to polygraph tests administered by the bikers ... [T]he name 'Mongols,' which appears on the gang's arm patch insignia, was trademarked by the group. The indictment seeks a court order outlawing further use of the name, which would allow any police officer 'who sees a Mongol wearing this patch ... to stop that gang member and literally take the jacket right off his back' ..."

Comment The original idea of eBay is gone (Score 3, Interesting) 412

by PCPackrat (#25111675) Attached to: eBay To Disallow Checks and Money Orders In US
eBay has been going this route for a while. I don't see them backing down. I am in agreement that Craigslist is filling the void that eBay used to fill very well. Now it's just a bunch of 'PowerSellers' reselling product they don't even have. It was a nice flea market while it lasted, but they got big $$$ in their eyes and got greedy.

For example, I sold an item for $150, final value fee was $12.35 and paypal took another $4.82. That's a good chunk of the sale when you are the one designing the auction page and putting the items up for sale. All in hope that the buyer isn't going to rip you off by reversing the charges after pretending they never got the item and you can't leave them negative feedback anymore.

There is a need for a new auction site to open that is like eBay used to be.
Social Networks

Submission + - Man sued over postings from fake CL sex ad (komonews.com)

Submitted by
PCPackrat
PCPackrat writes: "KIRKLAND, Wash. — Jason Fortuny says it was all about curiosity and he never meant to get such graphic replies. But his 2006 social experiment has left him defending himself against a federal lawsuit.

At first glance, the posting looked like any number of online ads explicitly seeking sex. But the ad on Craigslist purporting to be from a 27-year-old woman with long brown hair was actually placed by Fortuny, who collected the replies and posted them online.

One of the respondents was a Microsoft employee who sent a picture that depicted him exposing himself in his cubicle. He was fired.

Of the 178 responses to the fake ad were 145 photos of men "in various states of undress." The replies included e-mail addresses, names and in some cases, instant-messaging accounts and phone numbers.

Fortuny, 32, posted all of the replies, including the photos, names and contact information.

"It was really a goof. It was a one-off," Fortuny said on Tuesday. "I wasn't something I was expecting to get news coverage.""

Slashdot Top Deals

"Experience has proved that some people indeed know everything." -- Russell Baker

Close