Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Games

Roger Ebert Backs Down On Video Games As Art 265

Posted by Soulskill from the just-not-his-cup-of-tea dept.
Jhyrryl writes "Roger Ebert has again posted about video games. It's an apology of sorts, for having publicly said that games are not art. He wrote, 'I should not have written that entry without being more familiar with the actual experience of video games. ... My error in the first place was to think I could make a convincing argument on purely theoretical grounds. What I was saying is that video games could not in principle be Art. That was a foolish position to take, particularly as it seemed to apply to the entire unseen future of games. This was pointed out to me maybe hundreds of times.'"
Education

In UK, Computer Science Graduates the Least Employable 349

Posted by timothy from the double-major-next-time dept.
Rogerborg writes "The BBC reports that in the UK, computer science graduates are now the least employable of students leaving with a degree, 17% of them being unable to find a job within six months of graduation. Unsurprisingly, medics, educators and lawyers do better, but even much mocked communications and creative arts graduates are finding work more easily."
Medicine

Consumer Guide To Stem Cell Clinics 40

Posted by timothy from the and-such-small-portions dept.
Penguinsh- writes "Patients seeking stem cell treatments now have a guide to the various clinics purporting to offer such treatments. Not exactly a Zagat or Michelin, but much more objective information from qualified experts than was available before in one place. Created by the International Society for Stem Cell Research, the guide was the brainchild of a task force convened by former ISSCR President Irving Weissman of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine."
The Courts

RIAA Calls YouTube-Viacom Decision Bad Public Policy 260

Posted by timothy from the manufacturing-outrage dept.
adeelarshad82 writes "The Recording Industry Association of America voiced its opposition to the recent decision in the YouTube-Viacom copyright infringement case, stating that 'the district court's dangerously expansive reading of the liability immunity provisions of the [Digital Millennium Copyright Act] upsets the careful balance struck within the law and is bad public policy.' Cary Sherman, RIAA president, also wrote in a blog post, 'It will actually discourage service providers from taking steps to minimize the illegal exchange of copyrighted works on their sites.'"
Businesses

The Ignominious Fall of Dell 604

Posted by timothy from the at-least-they-now-use-standard-power-supplies dept.
snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Bill Snyder discusses the ignominious decline of Dell, one akin to that of Computer Associates, leaving the company forever tainted by scandal and a 'shocking breach of faith with customers.' Dell's pioneering business model and supply chain helped make desktop computing ubiquitous, affordable, and secure. But years of awful quality control and customer service have finally caught up to the company in a very public way that will do irreparable damage to the company for years to come. 'What we've learned about Dell recently doesn't qualify as an understandable mistake. Only a rotten company sells defective computers and lies about it.'"
Networking

HDBaseT Supporters Hope To Kiss HDMI Goodbye 336

Posted by timothy from the rj-45-rocks dept.
arcticstoat writes "HDMI's short-lived reign over the TV cable racks could soon be over, thanks to a new usurper that combines several connections into a standard Cat5e/6 network cable with an RJ-45 connector. Designed by a coalition of consumer electronics manufacturers called the HDBaseT Alliance, which includes Sony, Samsung, LG and Valens, HDBaseT promises to not only carry video and audio signals, but also provide a network connection, a USB signal and even electricity using a single cable. The Alliance predicts that we'll start seeing the first HDBaseT equipment creeping into the shops later this year, but says the bigger wave of adoption will occur later in 2011."
Internet Explorer

Microsoft Busting Its Own Browser+OS Myth 204

Posted by timothy from the in-sepa-rable dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Longtime Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley used her Redmond magazine column this month to point out that after years of arguing that the browser is 'inextricably linked' to the operating system, the company's current push to get users to drop IE 6 for newer versions, plus IE's separate release schedule, are disproving its own argument. From the article: 'Microsoft has insisted that its browser is part of Windows, and, ironically, that's coming back to haunt the company. Customers can mix and match different versions of IE with different versions of Windows. ... But Microsoft has done very little to get this message out there. I'd argue this is because it makes plain the absurdity of the company's claims that IE is part of Windows.'"
Advertising

Submission + - CA wants to put electronic ads on license plates 1

Submitted by techmuse
techmuse writes: The San Jose Mercury News reports that the California state legislature wants to put electronic advertising on your license plate. The plate would display standard plate information when the car is moving, but would also display ads when the car is stopped. Not distracting or annoying at all!
Movies

Submission + - Geek franchises that changed everything (pcauthority.com.au) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: With Avatar taking more than $2.7 billion in box office receipts, science fiction is one of the entertainment industry's biggest money earners. But it wasn't always that way. Since the 1982 release of Tron which was the first game that made more in auxiliary sales than in the film itself, entertainment franchises have become big business. This list of the top ten geek entertainment franchises includes some of the most groundbreaking and enduring, from movies (2001) to games (Halo, Warcraft) and TV (Red Dwarf). Amidst all of them, the influence of Star Trek is undeniable. The show broke many boundaries in TV, it was ground-breaking in its themes, and then followed up by some excellent spin-offs such as Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. It basically underwrote the slash fiction, created a language, Klingon, and has had eleven films based on the franchise.

Submission + - Verizon makes customer service a firing offense (consumerist.com)

Submitted by
Presto Vivace
Presto Vivace writes: "Verizon To Reprimand, Fire Employees Who Try To Save Customers Money

Internal Verizon memos reveal that the wireless ogre is eager to reprimand or fire customer service representatives who proactively recommend blocking access to the company's overpriced data services. The company is also going to be stingier about issuing back credits to customers who spot unnecessary and unwanted services littering their monthly bills.

"

Submission + - "We Don't Care, As Long as the U.S. Is Satisfied" (michaelgeist.ca)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: ...the decision to introduce U.S.-style DMCA rules in Canada in 2007 was strictly a political decision, the result of pressure from the Prime Minister's Office desire to meet U.S. demands. She states "the Prime Minister's Office's position was, move quickly, satisfy the United States." When Bernier and then-Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda protested, the PMO replied "we don't care what you do, as long as the U.S. is satisfied."

Comment Re:A few caveats... (Score 3, Interesting) 131

by Nurseman (#32305400) Attached to: Russian Man Aims To Reinvent "Taser" Technology


What about people with weak hearts... They would survive one hit, but what if some triggerhappy cop gives 10 shots to a big person with a weak heart? Not so non-lethal anymore..

The correct term for these weapons is "less lethal". There is no such thing as "non lethal", Even a paperclip can be lethal in some instances. Bean Bag guns, pepper spray, tasers, have all caused death in some instances. The idea is to use the "least lethal" form possible.
Security

Submission + - Kaminsky interview: DNS bug a year later, DNSSEC (techtarget.com)

Submitted by
L3sPau1
L3sPau1 writes: "Network security researcher Dan Kaminsky has had a year to reflect on the impact of the cache poisoning vulnerability he discovered in the Domain Name System (DNS). In the time since, Kaminsky has become an advocate for improving security in DNS, and ultimately, trust on the Internet. One way to do this is with the widespread use of DNSSEC (DNS Security Extensions), which essentially brings PKI to website requests. In this interview, Kaminsky talks about how the implementation of DNSSEC would enable greater security and trust on the Net and provide a platform for the development of new security products and services."
Biotech

Submission + - Electric Stimulation Helps Stroke Patients Recover (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by
Al
Al writes: "Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, have discovered that delivering an electric current through parts of the brain damaged by a stroke can help patients recover more motor ability. The team delivered "transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)"--in conjunction with physical therapy--to 20 patients who had suffered a stroke on average 2.5 years previously. While it's not yet clear exactly how tDCS improves motor function after stroke, one theory is that it helps repair an imbalance in the interactions between the two hemispheres of the brain. If one side is damaged by stroke, it can no longer effectively inhibit the healthy side, which in turn leads to increased inhibition of the stroke-damaged hemisphere. This is supported by the fact that they delivered stimulation to both hemispheres of the brain, using one direction of current to increase brain activity on the damaged side, and the reverse current to inhibit activity on the healthy side."

Slashdot Top Deals

Get hold of portable property. -- Charles Dickens, "Great Expectations"

Close