Comment Re:Free vs. free (Score 4, Informative) 185
I presume Free is "Free as in Freedom" Free and free is "free as in beer" free, which is how the FSF differentiates between the two.
Comment Re:A failure of conventional hack-ism ? (Score 1) 53
Bogus reports; either in the form of some hack trying to grub money or somebody reporting a bug that wasn't a bug at all, perchance? Considering the amount of money on offer, I can see both being pretty goddamn prevalent.
Comment Re:Trade-in prices (Score 1) 172
they'd give me maybe 13GBP for it, or 16 if it wasn't "scratched". They'd then sell it second hand for 30GBP (or 28 if it doesn't come with instructions or a box).
Funny that you mention that game. The GAME nearest to me is selling it second-hand for £39.99. A quick search on Zavvi tells me that they're selling the Xbox360 version, brand new, for £36.95
The other big game that they're not selling new, Mass Effect 3, is also £39.99 second-hand in my local GAME branch. I'd check prices for that, but I'm lazy, and can confirm seeing new copies being sold for somewhere in the £30 range.
As for price reductions for copies of games without boxes or manuals... you're a funny man. Another example from my local GAME branch - Lego Star Wars 2 on Nintendo DS. £15 with the original box and manual. The same game, minus manual and in a generic "we do not have the cover for this game" box... £15. Hell, that price tag is no guarantee of me getting a working cartridge/disc, either - they do reduce trade-in values if your disc is scratched, but it's a total crapshoot whether they'll, you know, clean the discs before putting them on the shelves. If they don't, it sets the eventual buyer back another £3. Or in the case of cartridge games, leaves the buyer with a paperweight. To be fair, they probably don't clean the discs deliberately - it's £3 of pure profit on top of the already ridiculous mark-up; and at one point, they actively rewarded sales assistants who managed to upsell disc cleaning for pre-owned games.
Comment Re:Oh wow. (Score 1) 343
Now, be fair. It's available for the low, low price of one thousand pounds or thereabouts, last time I checked. Bargain.
Comment Re:What about the Classic Menu? (Score 1) 81
I've given Cinnamon 1.2 a go over the course of a few hours. Sadly, the Mint Menu is mandatory, much to my own disappointment (it's usable, but I prefer the "proper" GNOME menu). That said, it's GNOME 3 done right - outside of a few incredibly minor gripes (the Super Key opens the menu rather than the activities pane; you have to move your mouse to the top left hand corner of the screen to open the activities pane though I'm sure it'll be easy enough to change that behaviour in a future version), I'm loving it so far, and can't wait to see what future releases will bring from both Clem and the wider mint community.
Comment Re:Future of Nintendo (Score 3, Interesting) 406
The Circle Pad Pro, as Nintendo have taken to calling it, is by no means required. Certain games (Ace Combat, Resident Evil Revelations, Metal Gear, Monster Hunter and many others I'm too lazy to name) use it as a second analogue stick (optional camera controls, basically), but none of them -require- it. In fact, I play Monster Hunter on my Japanese 3DS without the Circle Pad Pro; and it works just fine.
On top of this, none of the games announced to have support for the peripheral actually -require- it, yet. That might change over the next year or so, but until then, the Circle Pad Pro is far from a required add-on.
On top of this, none of the games announced to have support for the peripheral actually -require- it, yet. That might change over the next year or so, but until then, the Circle Pad Pro is far from a required add-on.
Comment Re:Window close/minimize/maximize buttons (Score 2) 241
Hell, why use computers at all? Let's go back to smoke signals!
Submission + - BlackBerry 10 could be 'too little, too late' (bgr.com)
zacharye writes: Research In Motion confirmed part of an exclusive BGR report Thursday night when its co-CEOs announced during an earnings call that its first BlackBerry 10 smartphone would not launch until the “latter part of 2012.” Despite RIM’s earlier statement that a QNX-powered smartphone would launch in the first half next year, we reported in November that RIM’s first next-generation smartphone would not launch until the third quarter. RIM co-Chief Mike Lazaridis blamed the delay on new dual-core processors that were not yet ready to be manufactured in bulk, but the fact remains that by the time RIM’s first QNX-based smartphone launches it will be competing against Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone, a horde of new Android phones with next-generation features and specs, a variety of Windows Phones from Nokia, and more...
Submission + - US watchdog bans Photoshop use in cosmetics ads (extremetech.com)
MrSeb writes: "In an interesting move that should finally bring the United States’ fast-and-loose advertising rules and regulations into line with the UK and EU, the National Advertising Division (NAD) — the advertising industry’s self-regulating watchdog — has moved to ban the misleading use of photoshopping and enhanced post-production in cosmetics adverts. The ban stems from a Procter & Gamble (P&G) CoverGirl ad that photoshopped a model’s eyelashes to exaggerate the effects of NatureLuxe Mousse Mascara. There was a footnote in the ad’s spiel about the photo being manipulated, but according to the director of the NAD, that simply isn’t enough: “You can’t use a photograph to demonstrate how a cosmetic will look after it is applied to a woman’s face and then — in the mice type — have a disclosure that says ‘okay, not really.’” The NAD ruled that the ad was unacceptable, and P&G has since discontinued it. The ruling goes one step further, though, and points out that "professional styling, make-up, photography and the product’s inherent covering and smoothing nature” should be enough, without adding Photoshop to the mix. The cosmetics industry is obviously a good starting point — but what if the ban leaks over to product photography (I'm looking at you, Burger King), video gameplay demos, or a photographer's own works?"
Submission + - Microsoft Moves Into iOS Ecosystem (But Not Androi (itworld.com)
jfruhlinger writes: "With the release of the SkyDrive app for iOS, Microsoft is showing that it isn't going to just focus its service offerings on Windows — particularly in the mobile realm, where Windows has almost zero market share. Getting its cloud services onto iPhones and iPads is a no-brainer — but the real question is, why no Android app yet?"
Submission + - GNOME launches campaign for accessibility (gnome.org)
An anonymous reader writes: We've launched a new campaign at GNOME today. We know that computing must be accessible to everyone and so we want to make 2012 the Year of Accessibility at GNOME. GNOME has been one of the most accessible desktops but with GNOME 3 we have a lot to catch up on in this area. I've been so inspired by the work of the GNOME a11y team and how they're committed to making sure that everyone has access to good computing regardless of disability or financial status. It's nonprofit free software development at its core — software for the public good! Karen Sandler, GNOME's Executive Director
Submission + - Ask slashdot -- Oracle: getting rid of the drug de
vikingpower writes: "Working with a software and consultancy firm, together with two colleagues I am in the process of trying to convince a major ( and I mean: major ) media corporation to free itself from Oracle's considerable grip. The problem is: the corporation in question is as "hooked" as any addict can be. Coming loose from Oracle, however, would make them realize an enormous saving, not to speak of liberating quite some human resources from tedious maintenance and troubleshooting tasks.
How do we convince this corporation of what is good for them ?"
How do we convince this corporation of what is good for them ?"
Submission + - Best "parental control" solution for a multi devic
Rsriram writes: I have a preteen child at home with a PC, iPod, PS3, Mobile and Internet TV all of which access the internet through a router. I have installed K9 on the PC but with the new devices accessing the internet, I need a router based solution. I know about OpenDNS, but what I have seen on the internet about OpenDNS does not seem to do what the regular Parental Control software seems to be doing. Please help with any solutions or suggestions.
Comment Re:One million! (Score 2) 159
As a fellow Linux user, I was tempted to try out Desura thanks to the fact that most (if not all) of the bundles so far have Desura keys for those who want 'em. Not all of the games have had Linux builds added to Desura just yet (understandable - Desura's Linux version is just an Open Beta for the time being), but getting 75% of the HIB games in a "click install and play with no hassle" format is a sight to behold, especially considering all the wrangling it took to make Crayon Physics work on Debian - in the end I gave up and "borrowed" packages from Ubuntu.
Comment Re:A lot of us Americans did play Elite, though (Score 3, Interesting) 208
And there's now an Open Source remake/re-imagining, OOlite. I'd post a link, but I'm at work and I'm sure you can all use your search engine or package manager of choice to obtain it.
