Comment Re:History backs this up... (Score 2) 120
I think your comment illustrates how people like you can "learn from Anonymous."
Comment History backs this up... (Score 2) 120
I remember a /. comment from a week or two back that mentioned a colleague/peer who was told he had to submit reports on the number of new lines of code produced every week. Through editing and refining the software, he ended up with a net loss of 20,000 lines of code (and submitted -20,000 in his report). Ultimately, he ended up submitting weekly reports that didn't really "mean" anything-- but was never questioned because his work was good and profitable.
Just this week my supervisor was gone on vacation. Our department ran more smoothly than it has for months because my peers and I took care of all our necessary duties and paperwork without having to deal with the stress of a boss fretting about reports getting submitted and said boss being fired for insufficient job performance.
However, while the principle holds true, I think there are guidelines required for it to be the most practical principle by which to run a company/department. For example, employees need to have firm directional guidance for their work-- just no heavy-handed iron-fistedness.
Comment Re:Eyes Do More Than See (Score 1) 1365
I didn't realize I was not signed in when I posted this. Oh well. Additionally, would The Hunger Games be considered Sci-fi? I wouldn't necessarily rate them (especially the latter two) as timeless or anything like that but the end was certainly bittersweet and also somewhat sad and depressing.
Comment Asimov? (Score 1) 78
Is anyone else reminded of Asimov's novel, Nemesis?
Here's to the discovered closeness of this red dwarf upsetting the gravitational stability of our solar system!
Blizzard Previews Revamped Battle.net 188
Blizzard updated the official StarCraft II site today with a preview of how the revamped Battle.net will function. They emphasize the social features, competitive matchmaking system, and the ease of sharing mods and maps. Quoting:
"When the legacy Battle.net service introduced support for user-created mods such as DotA, Tower Defense, and many others, these user-created game types became immensely popular. But while Battle.net supported mods at a basic level, integration with tools and the mod community wasn't where it needed to be for a game releasing in 2010. The new Battle.net service will see some major improvements in this area. StarCraft II will include a full-featured content-creation toolkit — the same tools used by the StarCraft II design team to create the single-player campaign. To fully harness the community's mapmaking prowess, Battle.net will introduce a feature called Map Publishing. Map Publishing will let users upload their maps to the service and share them with the rest of the community immediately on the service. This also ties in with the goal of making Battle.net an always-connected experience — you can publish, browse, and download maps directly via the Battle.net client. Finding games based on specific mods will also be much easier with our all-new custom game system, placing the full breadth of the modding community's efforts at your fingertips."
NVIDIA Shows Off "Optimus" Switchable Graphics For Notebooks 102
Vigile writes "Transformers jokes aside, NVIDIA's newest technology offering hopes to radically change the way notebook computers are built and how customers use them. The promise of both extended battery life and high performance mobile computing has seemed like a pipe dream, and even the most recent updates to 'switchable graphics' left much to be desired in terms of the user experience. Having both an integrated and discrete graphics chip in your notebook does little good if you never switch between the two. Optimus allows the system to seamlessly and instantly change between IGP and discrete NVIDIA GPUs based on the task being run, including games, GPU encoding or Flash video playback. Using new software and hardware technology, notebooks using Optimus can power on and pass control to the GPU in a matter of 300ms and power both the GPU and PCIe lanes completely off when not in use. This can be done without being forced to reboot or even close out your applications, making it a hands-free solution for the customer."
Comment Not sure but... (Score 1) 470
My girlfriend was in a bad mood the other day and as a result she started ranting about how much she hates Valentine's Day-- because it's something that's just become commercialized and a huge deal when it really shouldn't be. The best part of this is that I know women well enough to know that despite her protestations, she'd love it if I did something for her on Valentine's Day. Now if only I could decide on what to do...
Comment Re:cats also provide more (Score 1) 503
I do watch House. I think it's rather interesting that you're using a TV show (which is, by it's very nature, not necessarily indicative of reality) to make judgments about reality.
Furthermore, the cat in House did not lick specific areas of dying patients' bodies. It sat on/next them, and only because of the heated blanket. Whether the licking was because the area was saltier or because the cat knew, I don't know. But if you're going to crush someone's romantic ideals in a manner similar to the way House would, at least back it up with proof and an explanation like he does.
Furthermore, the cat in House did not lick specific areas of dying patients' bodies. It sat on/next them, and only because of the heated blanket. Whether the licking was because the area was saltier or because the cat knew, I don't know. But if you're going to crush someone's romantic ideals in a manner similar to the way House would, at least back it up with proof and an explanation like he does.
Universal Lands Rights To Asteroids Movie 194
It seems Universal Studios has won the highly sought-after movie rights to the 1979 Atari game Asteroids. Disney's Matthew Lopez will be writing the adaptation, having previously worked on the scripts for Bedtime Stories, The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Race to Witch Mountain. The NY Times is skeptical about Hollywood's ability to do right by the 30-year-old game, already imagining what a director like Michael Bay would do with it: "In this $300 million, three-and-a-half hour spectacle, loud and expensive computer simulations of large boulders crashing into one another are briefly interrupted by the hilarious antics of Chip and Gravel, two living rocks with gold teeth who speak in hip-hop slang, and the nonstop shouting of John Turturro."
Interview for Mytheon 32
Kheldon tips an interview with Petroglyph's Chuck Kroegel about an upcoming MMO called Mytheon, which will be free to play, but also involve micro-transactions. It's an action strategy game with RTS and RPG elements. He says, "The game starts in the Greco-Roman era, as well as Egypt, and as time goes on we'll expand throughout the whole world. Something everyone has in common is they all have their mythologies, these beasts and these stories that have come to us through legends and folklore. All the nations of the world, they all have their own. So in our game Mytheon, we can eventually fill the Earth in terms of being able to explore mythologies of all nations. It's an action/strategy game, with elements of RPG, and elements of RTS that people have to come to appreciate and enjoy."
Update — 4/30 at 17:30 by SS: The summary originally linked to an article stating that Petroglyph was working with Trion World Network on Mytheon. This is not the case; they are working together on a different game, which is the MMORTS previously referenced in the title.
Update — 4/30 at 17:30 by SS: The summary originally linked to an article stating that Petroglyph was working with Trion World Network on Mytheon. This is not the case; they are working together on a different game, which is the MMORTS previously referenced in the title.
Comment Sure, IE is a pain in the butt, but... (Score 1) 409
I do end up using it for about
And space is no excuse. IE8 takes up marginally more space than IE6/7 and with the cheap cost-per-gigabyte there's no reason to worry about running out of room for all your pron!
Comment Maybe I haven't been paying attention... (Score 4, Interesting) 554
But what's with all of the RIAA action all of a sudden? What's got a bee in their bonnet now as opposed to, say, five years ago?
Comment Not so bad, no... (Score 1) 695
"this doesn't seem like such a bad limitation"
Maybe not, but it means I'm never, ever going to buy a netbook with Windows 7 on it. Or recommend anyone else do so either.
Comment Re:Cost will fall flat... (Score 1) 461
You can tell most Open Source advocates have never had to make costing decisions in large businesses.
That may very well be true. But MSoft doesn't supply solely to businesses. So, while you may have a point, it does not negate the sentiment most people on here have (and will be) expressing.
I personally find getting almost anything done on Linux much more time consuming than either OS X or Windows...
I don't doubt you. But it's because you have a bias in your training/experience. I couldn't do very much at all in Ubuntu when I first installed it on my PC, but now (a few months later) I can do so much more than I would have ever imagined. I'm very close to being rid of Windows for good-- at which point, I'm sure I'll begin to consume less time using Linux than I would by using Windows (especially once Windows 7 becomes mainstream seeing as I haven't so much as looked at it yet).
Comment Re:Open Source Alternatives (Score 1) 252
Sounds like someone has a bit too much pride.
