Comment Re:Not only FPS games. (Score 2, Interesting) 518
Amazing that you mention lba, I've been playing it again over the last couple of nights and been totally engrossed in it!
Comment Re:What we do/don't need in Calculus. (Score 2, Insightful) 1153
In theory that all sounds good, but what about money spent on rent before buying your home?
How would you factor that in? Surely that damages how much money you actually saved?
Submission + - Revealed: what music stores pay their artists (pcpro.co.uk)
Barence writes: There's a huge disparity in the royalties paid to independent musicians by online stores such as iTunes, Amazon and Spotify, according to a musician writing for PC Pro. While artists can earn $7 for a five-track album sold on iTunes US, that same album only commands a royalty of $3.50 on Amazon — because of Amazon's rigid insistence on charging per track rather than by album. Royalties accrued for streaming sites, meanwhile, are tiny. Artists receive $0.01 for each track played on sites such as Rhapsody and Napster — not enough to buy a cup of coffee for hundreds of downloads. "There has to be a point at which we decide music is worth paying for, that it's worth supporting the music makers," argues artist Robin Vincent. "Pursuing the lowest price, the cheapest consumer experience, will not, I believe, help us in the future."
Submission + - Build a $200 Linux PC (extremetech.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: Lots of us have built our own computers, even on budgets. But ExtremeTech has a story about one of the cheapest builds I've seen: a Linux system for under $200. It's not really decked out (obviously), but it shows how you can make smart buying decisions even during tough economic times. What's the lowest-priced system you've ever built, and could you build one for less than $200? If so, how?
Comment Re:Why the Tech industry sucks. (Score 1) 670
To receive SMS yeah. Tend to pay about 10p per message sent, its more to send overseas though, think its about 35p.
Paying to receive sms is just insane.
Comment Re:Why the Tech industry sucks. (Score 1) 670
You have to pay to receive SMS messages??
Wow, Don't think any of the UK operators are that bad...
SpaceX Eyeing June 4 Window For Falcon 9 Launch 67
PeterBrett writes "SpaceX has finally announced the window for its first much-awaited Falcon 9 launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral. Subject to good weather, the company plans to launch either on Friday, June 4, or Saturday, June 5, with the window opening at 12:00 UTC on each day. As usual, SpaceX will be broadcasting the launch live from its website."
Comment Re:wow (Score 1) 334
Actually, according to the bbc news they won't be valid in 100 days.
Tetris Clones Pulled From Android Market 396
sbrubblesman writes "The Tetris Company, LLC has notified Google to remove all Tetris clones from Android Market. I am one of the developers of FallingBlocks, a game with the same gameplay concepts as Tetris. I have received an email warning that my game was suspended from Android Market due to a violation of the Developer Content Policy. When I received the email, I already imagined that it had something to do with it being a Tetris clone, but besides having the same gameplay as Tetris, which I believe cannot be copyrighted, the game uses its own name, graphics and sounds. There's no reference to 'Tetris' in our game. I have emailed Google asking what is the reason for the application removal. Google promptly answered that The Tetris Company, LLC notified them under the DMCA (PDF) to remove various Tetris clones from Android Market. My app was removed together with 35 other Tetris clones. I checked online at various sources, and all of them say that there's no copyright on gameplay. There could be some sort of patent. But even if they had one, it would last 20 years, so it would have been over in 2005. It's a shame that The Tetris Company, LLC uses its power to stop developers from creating good and free games for Android users. Without resources for a legal fight, our application and many others will cease to exist, even knowing that they are legit. Users will be forced to buy the paid, official version, which is worse than many of the ones available for free on the market. Users from other countries, such as Brazil in my case, won't even be able to play the official Tetris, since Google Checkout doesn't exist in Brazil; you can't buy paid applications from Android Market in these countries."
Weird Exoplanet Orbits Could Screw Up Alien Life 161
astroengine writes "Life is good in the Solar System. We have Jupiter to thank for that. However, if the gas giant's orbit were a little more elliptical, there's every chance that Earth would become rather uncomfortable very quickly. Researchers looking at the zoo of exoplanets orbiting distant stars have simulated several scenarios of differing exoplanet orbits and find that many don't resemble our cozy Solar System. In fact, weird exoplanet orbits may be the deciding factor as to whether extraterrestrial life can form or not."
UK Newspaper Websites To Become Nearly Invisible 454
smooth wombat writes "Various websites have tried to make readers pay for access to select parts of their sites. Now, in a bid to counter what he claims is theft of his material, Rupert Murdoch's Times and Sunday Times sites will become essentially invisible to web users. Except for their home pages, no stories will show up on Google. Starting in late June, Google and other search engines will be prevented from indexing and linking to stories. Registered users will still get free access until the cut off date."
Mass Effect To Invade the Big Screen 142
UgLyPuNk writes "This could be a good thing or a bad thing: EA has just confirmed that it's making Mass Effect into a movie. The franchise has been acquired by Legendary Pictures, which is best known for its co-productions of The Dark Knight, Clash of the Titans, 300, Watchmen, and, um, The Hangover, as part of a co-financing agreement with Warner Bros."
Comment Re:Maybe I'm missing something (Score 1) 663
Wow thats depressing.
I just graduated last year and the area which I felt was most lacking was low level programming skills. For my OS class, it was all theory, no practical. So I'm now reading a book on the linux kernel to try and understand it a little more.
Our compilers class was a joke! Write a compiler based on c#! What! How does that make any sense?! I'm currently working in a company that writes web apps, which is fine, but I could learn this stuff any time.
Comment Re:Yeah... (Score 1) 158
I might be out of date, but isn't there still a big problem with write speeds? And is there not a limited life span of about 3-5 years for usage?
As I said, may be out of date!!
Comment V'Ger (Score 4, Informative) 874
The V'ger reference at the end annoyed me. It was given life by other beings, it didn't just become sentient!
