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Comment Not an intrustion (Score 1) 220

I actually find it hard to believe that this is an intrusion. I think that they were working on the upgrade to the new "PSN": http://kotaku.com/#!5785451/yes-your-playstation-network-account-is-changing-hands-sort-of. They screwed something up, lost their database, and didn't have proper backups. They are probably trying to rebuild the database and in the meantime use a convenient scapegoat to blame the outage on so they don't look quite as bad. In fact, all of the recent problems have been since this announced change of account management for PSN.

Comment I'm glad (Score 0) 221

I agree with the concept that you can't shape traffic to give priority to certain things over certain things, that helps everyone. What I don't agree with in the bill is the subsidizing of broadband and turning it into a "right" that all citizens should have. I enjoy working hard to pay for premium services like quality broadband. As soon as you start giving it away, the losses incurred by the providers of said service will jack up the prices to the people that pay, ala what will happen with health care if the current legislation isn't repealed. I also don't want my tax dollars going to that crap. They need to re-work that part of the bill then introduce it again.

Comment Re:show off your programming skills (Score 1) 441

When I went to the interview for my job, I brought source code and the compiled executables along. These were independent studies and small group projects where we weren't spoon fed like normal class projects, so it reflected well my coding abilities. The interviewers really liked the code and the fact that I provided it to them so I ended up getting the job and am now making over 50K a year at an "entry-level" position. I strongly recommend this route.
Games

On Realism and Virtual Murder 473

Gamasutra has an interesting article about how the push toward realistic graphics and extremely lifelike characters in modern games is making the term "murder simulator" — once laughed off for referring to pixelated dying Nazis — a concept to take more seriously. The author is careful to simply explore the issue, and not come to a specific conclusion; he doesn't say that we should or shouldn't prevent it from happening, only that it's worth consideration. (One section is even titled "Forget the kids," saying that decisions for what children play fall under parental responsibility.) Quoting: "We should start rethinking these issues now before we all slide down the slope together and can't pull ourselves back up again. Or, even worse, before governments step in and dictate what can and can't be depicted or simulated in video games via legislation. ... Obviously, what makes an acceptable game play experience for each player is a personal choice that should be judged on a person-by-person basis (or on a parent to child basis), and I believe it should stay that way. As for me, I'm already drawing the line at BioShock — I can barely stomach the game as it is. Sure, I could play it more and desensitize myself, but I don't want to. And that's just me. It's up to you and a million other adult gamers to decide what's best for yourselves and to draw the line on virtual violence where you feel most comfortable."
IBM

How IBM Plans To Win Jeopardy! 154

wjousts writes "Technology Review is reporting on IBM's plans to take on Trebek at his own game. The 'Watson' computer system uses natural-language processing techniques to break down questions into their structural components and then search its database for relevant answers. A televised matchup with Trebek is planned for next year. 'David Ferrucci, the IBM computer scientist leading the effort, explains that the system breaks a question into pieces, searches its own databases for "related knowledge," and then finally makes connections to assemble a result. Watson is not designed to search the Web, and IBM's end goal is a system that it can sell to its corporate customers who need to make large quantities of information more accessible.'"

Comment Who cares? (Score 1) 613

Piracy will never be stopped. Every possible security measure companies take will 100% be broken. They might as well save their money they'd use for implementing some nasty DRM and spend it on making a better game. The only way to make sure this doesn't happen is to do something like an MMO where you have to log in to a server with a legitimate account. Also, any heavy multiplayer game people will more than likely buy anyways so they can actually experience the fun of how the game is meant to be played.

Comment Re:How about DRM? (Score 5, Informative) 243

I used to work at Gamestop and we could only check out console games for obvious reasons. Everything else is true though, except my manager pushed that we check out used games as much as possible and he inspected new games when we brought them back. If it was scratched at all, you got the pleasure of buying it. It was a pretty sweet perk to have though. Obviously Gamestop's thinking is that they want a staff who knows what they are selling.

Comment Re:How about DRM? (Score 1) 243

You get what you pay for, what did you expect? Someone who can talk intelligible would be able to get a job that pays a dollar more. If he can write, two bucks more. If he can think past his next lunch, he's promoted to store manager.

Interesting since everyone I worked with when I worked at a Gamestop was in college at some stage including myself. If you don't want to do much except talk about games and ring people up for a few hours a week, it's a fantastic job.

GNU is Not Unix

FSFE Launches Free PDF Readers Campaign 198

FSFE Fellow writes "The Fellowship of the Free Software Foundation Europe is proud to announce its latest initiative: pdfreaders.org, a site providing information about PDF with links to Free Software PDF readers for all major operating systems. FSFE president Georg Greve says: 'Interoperability, competition and choice are primary benefits of Open Standards that translate into vendor-independence and better value for money for customers. Although many versions of PDF offer all these benefits for formatted text and documents, files in PDF formats typically come with information that users need to use a specific product. pdfreaders.org provides an alternative to highlight the strengths of PDF as an Open Standard.'"

Cryptol, Language of Cryptography, Now Available To the Public 140

solweil writes to mention that Cryptol, a 'domain specific language for the design, implementation and verification of cryptographic algorithms,' is now available to the public. Cryptol was originally designed for the NSA. It allows for a quick evaluation and continued revisions, and is available for Linux, OS X, and Windows.
Censorship

After Columbine, Eric Holder Advocated Internet "Restrictions" 430

ErikTheRed writes "In an audio clip discovered by NewsBusters, then-Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder advocated federal censorship of the Internet. This was in the aftermath of the Columbine High School shootings. From the clip: 'The court has really struck down every government effort to try to regulate it. We tried with regard to pornography. It is gonna be a difficult thing, but it seems to me that if we can come up with reasonable restrictions, reasonable regulations in how people interact on the Internet, that is something that the Supreme Court and the courts ought to favorably look at.'" Holder is reported to be Barack Obama's choice for Attorney General of the United States.

Comment If you're getting paid... (Score 5, Insightful) 231

then take it and be happy. I'm in a paying internship myself at roughly 12.50/hour for web application development. I have a lot of friends who are also in internships required for their major and earn zip, zilch, nada. I'm not aware of any listing of standard pay rates, but anything over $10 an hour should be more than you would make jockeying a register at Radioshack and you will be earning valuable work experience which is worth much, much more than any monetary compensation. When you go for that first job interview that work experience will shine through. I'm sure any employer would want someone with experience over someone without any day of the week.
Businesses

Circuit City Files For Bankruptcy 574

WillDraven is just one of many who writes to tell us that Circuit City, the United States' 2nd largest consumer electronics retailer, has filed for bankruptcy under chapter 11. This news comes as no surprise as the company has been in financial trouble, recently announcing that it will be closing over one fifth of its stores and laying off 17% of its US employees in the process. "Larger rival Best Buy, which is based in Minneapolis, has said it might take over stores that distressed rivals close. Yet a flood of discounted merchandise from liquidating Circuit City stores could hurt Best Buy during this holiday shopping season, said Jefferies & Co analyst Dan Binder."

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