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Games

Submission + - Will Wright, other gaming greats talk about the future of gaming (cnn.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: CNN has run a story interviewing Will Wright, Peter Molyneux, and other gaming luminaries talking about the future of gaming in a more mobile world. Among what they and other gaming insiders had to say:

* Multi-screen is starting to be designed into games from the start. Your big screen TV and game console, your smart phone, and your iPad will all participate in the gaming experience. You will be able to continue playing a game on your mobile device after you leave your living room, and you will be able to use your mobile device to enhance the gaming experience as you play on your large screen.

* There is an influx of new gaming experiences coming online as touch becomes integrated into the gaming experience.

* Younger gamers are more likely to adopt mobile devices as their primary gaming environment. "Smartphones, tablets and smart TVs are the first devices that the new generation will adopt rather than old PCs or gaming consoles."

* Console game makers are "aggressively expanding" their efforts to expand their offerings to include mobile devices.

* The graphics capability of tablets is quickly expanding to "equal current console offerings", and this will allow rich gaming experiences on mobile devices.

Submission + - Bank Robbing a terrible business (wsj.com)

Submitted by
isoloisti
isoloisti writes: "Three UK economists get access to national data on bank robberies. The conclusion is that robbing banks pays, but not very much. Average take is about $19k per person per robbery. But, there's a 20% chance of being caught per raid. To make a below average income a robber needs to do two jobs per year, and has greater than 50% chance to be in the slammer after 2 years."
China

Submission + - CNSA vs NASA: The new space race? (patexia.com)

Submitted by
sarfralogy
sarfralogy writes: "China, in matters both domestic and international, has always marched to the beat of its own drum. Part of this independence relates to the country's tumultuous relationship with the numerous western powers — by whom it was once occupied. A second factor is that China's governing party — namely the Chinese Communist Party — does not need to ask for the public's opinion. The leaders of China can declare goals, regardless of public support or dissent, even during times of economic uncertainty. So, to many, it comes as no surprise that the Chinese are pursuing their own plans toward space exploration. There are a number of reasons for this — some economic and some military — but the largest reason is because the United States has given them little choice but to forge their own path.
China decided to build its own space station after it was not invited to join the other 16 countries that make up the International Space Station, launched in 1998. The US had a large role in this exclusion due to concerns over sharing information and technology with a rival country, which is interesting considering it had no issues working with Russia. Regardless, despite this and other obstacles, China became the third country to send a man into space in 2003. As part of their "Five Year Plan" the Chinese have announced their intent to put a person on the moon by 2020. Of course, the United States accomplished this decades earlier, but China's landing would be the first in 40 years since the Apollo 17 in 1972."
Windows

Submission + - Adjusting your PC set-up to cope with sudden sight loss (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "PC Pro's Davey Winder has written a first-hand account of how he overhauled his PC workstation to cope with a sudden deterioration of his eyesight. Winder contracted wet macular degeneration, a progressive disease that strikes very quickly, and turns items in the field of vision into a grey smudge.

He explains how he continued his work as a journalist by changing his word processor, swapping his desktop monitor for a touchscreen, and by replacing his keyboard with an Accuratus Monster keyboard (or Big Freaky Yellow Keyboard, as he's renamed it).

He also explains why he had to swap his favourite Chrome browser for Internet Explorer, and how a £3.99 iPhone app saved him from spending hundreds of pounds on a dedicated hardware reader."
Security

Submission + - Israel demanding access to tourist email

Submitted by tick-tock-atona
tick-tock-atona writes: Israel's airport security has long been known for being among the most stringent in the world. However, in a disturbing new development passengers suspected of being involved in political activism are being asked to login to their webmail accounts so that security agents can rifle through personal correspondence. One US tourist with a history of involvement in the BDS movement was held overnight before being flown back home, after she refused to login to her gmail account at the border.
Is this just the action of paranoid state? Or a taste of what's to come in other parts of the world?
Censorship

Submission + - Swear in public? Pay $20 fine in Mass. town (google.com) 2

Submitted by PolygamousRanchKid
PolygamousRanchKid writes: Residents in Middleborough have voted to make the foul-mouthed among them pay fines for swearing in public. Officials insist the proposal was not intended to censor casual or private conversations, but instead to crack down on loud, profanity-laden language used by teens and other young people in the downtown area and public parks. The measure could raise questions about First Amendment rights, but state law does allow towns to enforce local laws that give police the power to arrest anyone who "addresses another person with profane or obscene language" in a public place.

Another local merchant, Robert Saquet, described himself as "ambivalent" about the no-swearing proposal, likening it to try to enforce a ban on the seven dirty words of George Carlin, a nod to a famous sketch by the late comedian. "In view of words commonly used in movies and cable TV, it's kind of hard to define exactly what is obscene," said Paquet, who owns a downtown furniture store.

What about if they say 'Jehovah' . . . ?

Submission + - Where to volunteer in an IT capacity in Michigan?

Submitted by Jazz-Masta
Jazz-Masta writes: I’ll be moving from Canada to the US (Lansing, Michigan) in a few months. My wife will be going over on a TN Visa, which means I can get TD status but cannot work. I can volunteer though. I was a sysadmin (Windows and Unix) for 5 years, and have been an IT manager for 1 (latest). The NAFTA list won’t get me anywhere (should have been an ‘analyst’), nor will an H1-B, and according to the immigration people, the specialist category typically requires 10 years experience in a field (which I don’t have). I would like to stay active in IT even if I cannot work. My question is: where should I start looking for volunteer opportunities in the Lansing/Detroit area in relation to IT? Anyone part of a volunteer organization that is looking for IT help? Thanks for your help!
Android

Submission + - Here we go again: Apple sues Samsung over Galaxy S III (theage.com.au)

Submitted by niftydude
niftydude writes: Apple has filed a motion in a California court to prevent Samsung selling its latest smartphone, the Galaxy S III in the US, according to court papers.

Apple claimed that the new phone, which is yet to go on sale in the US but went on sale in Australia last week, could cause it "irreparable harm," citing press reports that mobile companies had already sold more than nine million units in pre-orders.

"irreparable harm" is right — I played with one in-store yesterday, and it far surpasses any of last year's model smartphones.
Security

Submission + - 6.5 million unsalted LinkedIn passwords stolen (mashable.com)

Submitted by Clovert Agent
Clovert Agent writes: LinkedIn has confirmed a Russian hacker's claims of stealing 6.5m passwords from the social networking site. Many of the passwords have been posted online as SHA1 hashes including many with leading zeroes indicating cracked passwords.
The Internet

Submission + - EU Clean IT project considers terrorist content database (itnews.com.au) 3

Submitted by schliz
schliz writes: Internet users could contribute to an official blacklist of suspected terrorist content under a budding 'Clean IT' project, backed by the European Commission. Participating governments are putting together 13 proposals in a text that commits web hosts, search engines and ISPs to helping to weed out content that incites acts of terror.
Books

Submission + - Man Booted from Bookstore for Browsing Children's Section 5

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The LA Times reports that 73-year-old Dr. Amin, the director of a Scottsdale medical clinic, was looking for gifts for his two grandsons in an Arizona Barnes & Noble when he got a rude tap on the shoulder: It seems a female customer told store officials she was “uncomfortable” that a man was in the children’s section unaccompanied by any minor. Store employee Todd Voris told Amin to leave and escorted him out of the business. “He said that men alone are not supposed to be in the children's reading area by themselves,” says Amin. “I told him there were no signs, and then he said a woman complained.” When Amin asked if he could question the complaining shopper, the store declined. "The employee asked whether I’d heard about kids being molested in bookstores and I said I didn’t. Maybe I should have picked some strange kid to go to the store with me so they would leave me alone," says Amin. "I don’t know how that works.” Last week, Barnes & Noble issued a statement that it had "acted appropriately" in removing Amin from the children's section. Barnes & Noble has since issued this statement: "We want to apologize to Dr. Amin for a situation in which Dr. Amin was asked to leave the children's section of our Scottsdale, Arizona store. We should not have done so. It is not our policy to ask customers to leave any section of our stores without justification.""
Games

Submission + - Star Wars: 1313 To Offer M-Rated Gaming Adventure in a Galaxy Far, Far, Away (hothardware.com) 1

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "When it comes to Star Wars, the gaming industry has a long history of cranking out titles of uncertain quality. For every brilliant title like Knights of the Old Republic, we've seen several clunkers and a few outright failures like Republic Heroes. LucasArts demonstrated a new Star Wars game at E3 this week, Star Wars: 1313 and despite the brand's uneven history, folks are cautiously optimistic. The 1313 moniker refers to a specific level of Coruscant which is a haven for criminals, bounty hunters, and crime lords. You take on the role of a bounty hunter looking for information on an unspecified criminal conspiracy who descends to 1313 in search of data. This will be the first Star Wars game to be rated "M" for mature, and it focuses on the seedy underbelly of the universe."
EU

Submission + - EU Politicians Snub European Commission: Do Not See IP Protection As Key To Inte (techdirt.com)

Submitted by
TheGift73
TheGift73 writes: "One of the most dishonest aspects of ACTA was its attempt to equate genuinely dangerous products like fake medicines with totally harmless ones like unauthorized digital copies. Fortunately, that's such an absurd equivalence that more and more people have voiced their concerns over it — including the Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament, who cited it as one reason why they would be voting against ACTA:
ACTA wrongly bundles together too many different types of IPR enforcement under the same umbrella, treating physical goods and digital services in the same way. We believe they should be approached in separate sectoral agreements, and following a comprehensive and democratically debated mandate and impact assessment.
EDRI points out that the European Commission has just suffered a major defeat at the hands of the European Parliament thanks to this lazy kind of coupling in its proposed "Internal Security Strategy" (ISS) for Europe:
In a piece of what the Commission appears to have believed to be a piece of masterful political syllogism, it explained in its Internal Security Strategy (adopted at the end of 2010) that dangerous counterfeit goods are a threat for human health. These counterfeiting offences are infringements of intellectual property rights (IPR). "Piracy" is also an infringement of intellectual proprety rights. Consequently, the fight against "counterfeiting and piracy" must be included in the EU's Internal Security Strategy.

This is part of the wider strategy, as seen in ACTA, to treat all IPR as if it were the same, with dangerous medicines being considered as important as unauthorised downloading and vice versa. The obvious problem, as has become obvious in the ACTA, is that treating serious and trivial infringements as if they were of equal importance will inevitably result in either the serious infringement being treated as if it were trivial or vice versa.
But something that might have been simply waved through before ACTA has now been met with skepticism:
The European Parliament, however, far more sensitive now to the questionable approach of the European Commission to intellectual property rights as a result of the ACTA discussions, recognised this crude attempt to push its so far unsuccessful approach to an even higher level of hysteria. Whatever else one can say about downloading a song without authorisation, the number of deaths that it is likely to cause is, we believe, comparatively low.
As a result, and by a huge majority, the members of the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the ISS that includes the following major slap-down for the European Commission: ...it does not appear fully justified or appropriate to take action in the field of the enforcement of intellectual property rights – a matter which is part of a specific in-depth debate – within the framework of the ISS;
That is a noteworthy refusal, and suggests that ACTA's attempt to lump online sharing with counterfeit medicines, and to make them subject to the same severe civil and even criminal sanctions, has backfired badly. It might be too much to take this ISS snub as an indication of what will happen when the European Parliament votes on ACTA later this summer, but it certainly suggests a new-found wariness in this area."

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