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Open Source

Linux Kernel 2.6.32 Released 195

Posted by CmdrTaco from the download-compile-reboot-repeat dept.
diegocg writes "Linus Torvalds has officially released the version 2.6.32 of the Linux kernel. New features include virtualization memory de-duplication, a rewrite of the writeback code faster and more scalable, many important Btrfs improvements and speedups, ATI R600/R700 3D and KMS support and other graphic improvements, a CFQ low latency mode, tracing improvements including a 'perf timechart' tool that tries to be a better bootchart, soft limits in the memory controller, support for the S+Core architecture, support for Intel Moorestown and its new firmware interface, run-time power management support, and many other improvements and new drivers. See the full changelog for more details."
Privacy

MIT Project "Gaydar" Shakes Privacy Assumptions 508

Posted by kdawson from the it's-who-you-know dept.
theodp writes "At MIT, an experiment that identifies which students are gay is raising new questions about online privacy. Using data from Facebook, two students in an MIT class on ethics and law on the electronic frontier made a striking discovery: just by looking at a person's online friends, they could predict whether the person was gay. The project, given the name 'Gaydar' by the students, is part of the fast-moving field of social network analysis, which examines what the connections between people can tell us, from predicting who might be a terrorist to the likelihood a person is happy, fat, liberal, or conservative." MIT professor Hal Abelson, who co-taught the course, is quoted: "That pulls the rug out from a whole policy and technology perspective that the point is to give you control over your information — because you don't have control over your information."

Comment Re:Projectors? (Score 4, Interesting) 249

by Snowspinner (#29300737) Attached to: Sony To Launch 3D TVs By Late 2010

Because you need a screen that will reflect the light back in a polarized fashion. In film terms, you're talking about a screen with silver crystals in it for reflectivity. But those screens are enormously fragile - which is part of why 3-D keeps flopping over in theaters - if one person throws their drink at the screen, or even touches it, the screen is wrecked for good and needs to be replaced.

That's not technology suitable for home usage. Which is why home systems have always been based on field sequential systems of 3-D.
The Matrix

How The Matrix Online Went Wrong 144

Posted by Soulskill from the not-like-this dept.
As the July 31st deadline for The Matrix Online's closure looms, Gamer Limit is running a story discussing the game's shortcomings, as well as some of the decisions that led to its failure. Quoting: "I honestly thought the writers must have absolutely hated the remaining cast of The Matrix Trilogy or something, because they constantly seemed to go out of their way to phase out existing characters in favor of newer ones. The cast overall basically made me, as a player, feel distant from the main storyline and made the entire game feel like a Matrix side story instead of the continuation it was meant to be. ... When MxO first launched there was an entire team dedicated to playing the game as Agents and other key characters as a means to further in-game events and directly interact with players, giving players the feeling that they truly were making a difference. After the SOE buyout of the game the LESIG team was reduced to playing minor characters before eventually being phased out and replaced with a Live Event Team (LET) comprised purely of volunteers."

Comment Nothing even related to idTech? (Score 3, Interesting) 113

by Snowspinner (#28708701) Attached to: The Best Game Engines

I'm surprised that the only engine on this list to derive from the Quake family is the Call of Duty engine. I'm not enough of a game engine expert to disagree with any given choice, but it's very, very surprising to me to see one of the major families of engines basically ignored. At the very least, some discussion of its omission seems in order.
Games

Left 4 Dead Update Will Bring Completed SDK, Content Sharing Tools 30

Posted by Soulskill from the no-word-on-left-4-dead-3 dept.
Valve has announced details of an update to Left 4 Dead that is due out next week. To start, the SDK open beta is over, and the final version is being released. They're also adding a framework for easily sharing player-created content, accessible through the menu system in-game. In addition to that, they're revamping the matchmaking system to accommodate custom campaigns (like this Resident Evil 3 mod). Quoting: "Content authors will be able to package up their new maps, along with new posters, models, and textures, into a single .VPK file. To install and activate this content in-game, players need simply download the .VPK and double click on it. ... When creating or searching for a lobby, a new option named 'Add-on campaign' will let you select from among the add-on campaigns that you have installed. You can then find games or lobbies as well as create a lobby for that campaign. You can invite your friends, too. If they do not have the campaign installed, they will automatically be offered and an option to download it."
Microsoft

Submission + - Download IE8 or Microsoft Will Let Children Starve 1

Submitted by
theodp
theodp writes: "Remember National Lampoon's famous If-You-Don't-Buy-This-Magazine-We'll-Shoot-This-Dog cover? As it kicked off its new 'Browser for the Better' campaign, Microsoft took a page from the Lampoon's playbook, announcing it will provide 8 meals to hungry children and adults for every completed download of Internet Explorer 8. CNET reports that Microsoft will donate $1 million to a food bank if 869,565 people in the U.S. use a special website to download IE8 by Aug. 8, 2009 (8-8, get it?). Microsoft adds that all meals must be claimed by June 30, 2010. How can something so right feel so wrong?"

Comment Re:Nothing to worry about (Score 1) 379

by Snowspinner (#28275523) Attached to: Pixar's Next Three Films Will Be Sequels

To be fair, by most accounts Disney has improved over the last year or two. Yes, the era where Home on the Range and Brother Bear were coming out was a bit of a trainwreck. But their most recent animated film, Bolt, did appreciable business and was generally well received. And the buzz they're getting for The Princess and the Frog, their return to traditional animation, is significant. Rapunzel is also getting generally good buzz.

The general sense seems to be that Disney bought Pixar in a large part to get John Lasseter to work on all of their films. And that he's been turning the ship around.

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