Submission + - Ottawa physicist claims to generate truly random n (ottawacitizen.com)
ottdmk writes: An Ottawa physicist claims he can generate truly random numbers using laser light and diamonds.
Submission + - Bendable computer to debut at ACM's CHI 2011 (ottawacitizen.com)
ottdmk writes: A Queen's University researcher is set to debut a paper-thin, bendable computer at the Association of Computing Machinery's Computer Human Interaction conference in Vancouver.
Sony Joins the Offensive Against Pre-Owned Games 461
BanjoTed writes "In a move to counter sales of pre-owned games, EA recently revealed DLC perks for those who buy new copies of Mass Effect 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Now, PlayStation platform holder Sony has jumped on the bandwagon with similar plans for the PSP's SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 3. '[Players] will need to register their game online before they are able to access the multiplayer component of the title. UMD copies will use a redeemable code while the digital version will authenticate automatically in the background. Furthermore ... anyone buying a pre-owned copy of the game will be forced to cough up $20 to obtain a code to play online."
Comment Difference with FreeBSD? (Score 2, Interesting) 815
Hi all... FreeBSD user, not really a Linux guy. What's the difference between our sound system and Linux, anyways? IIRC we're based on Open Sound System, but I could be mistaken. Sound still isn't configured by default in FreeBSD, but it seems to work quite nicely once the right kernal module is loaded. I can have any number of sound-using apps open. They all open /dev/dsp and get their own sound channel.
Anyways, just curious is someone who's familiar with both OS's can fill me in. This conversation has been really interesting.
Inventor Builds Robot Wife
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Inventor Le Trung must really like the book "The Stepford Wives," because he has built the dream of every lonely man without hope, a robot wife. Le's wife, Aiko, starts the day by reading him the newspaper headlines and they go for a drives in the countryside. Le says his relationship with Aiko hasn't strayed into the bedroom, but a few tweaks could turn her into a sexual partner, even redesigning her to have a simulated orgasm. *Shudder*
Otherland MMO Announced 142
Eurogamer breaks news that German games publisher DTP Entertainment will be making an MMORPG based on Tad Williams' Otherland series of books. As anyone who has read the books will know, this could be an interesting new spin on virtual worlds. Quoting:
"For want of a better soundbite, let's call it the first cyberpunk MMO: a virtual world about virtual worlds, in which your avatar is an avatar, the NPCs play NPCs, and you explore a multiverse in which you might be in realistic historical surroundings one minute, and cartoon fantasy ones the next. Everything changes, even your own appearance, and nothing is even pretending to be real. ... You start the game as one of those consciousnesses in a place called the Land of the Lost, a nightmare scenario which you're trying to escape. You'll run, be killed, and reborn in a 'baby' state as a simple, low-rent sim (though we suspect the game won't be using that term, for obvious reasons) - a blank, featureless avatar that can be male, female or even neither."
