marphod - Slashdot User

Comment Speaking of German Games (Score 2, Informative) 153

by marphod on Wednesday April 04, 2007 @07:03PM (#18613467) Attached to: Busy Lives Prompt Speedier Board Games

This is especially interesting to me, given the US adoption of more serious, lengthy German board games in the last few years.

Well, first, it is more than the past few years. Settlers of Catan was one of the earliest BIG cross over games. I was playing it since college, means the cross over started about a decade ago.

Secondly, I get the distinct impression that the original audience doesn't take these games nearly as seriously as US players. Settlers says on the packaging that its running time is about 1-2 hours (If I recall correctly, my original packaging has been lost to the sands of time), yet my games regularly run 3 or more hours, as trades and debates and discussions of beat-the-current-leader happens. This ratio of about twice-as-long seems to be consistent with most of the German Board Games my group plays/played.

(On the other hand, it could just be false advertising. Witness the order of the Stick game that takes ages to play, despite the packaging).

And I STILL can't find anyonre to play Kingmaker with me, and very few who play Magic Realm.

Submission + - PCIe Cabling Spec Allows External Graphics Cards

Submitted by writertype on Wednesday February 07, 2007 @05:22PM

writertype writes: The PCI Express SIG released its Cabling 1.0 spec on Wednesday, which translates the PCI Express protocols found within motherboards into a cable that takes PCI Express outside the box, ExtremeTech reports. PCI SIG executives specifically mention that the spec was designed to allow external PC graphics solutions, making things like SLI cooling all that much easier. An important step forward for the PC, I think.

Submission + - Nay on DRM: The Economist agrees with Jobs

Submitted by redelm on Wednesday February 07, 2007 @05:18PM

redelm writes: The Economist, arguably the world leading business newspaper/magazine has picked up on Steve Jobs Appleblog for DRM-free Music. Also as discussed on /. This article agrees with Jobs and gives him much broader exposure beyond the technical community. Perhaps to influence some lego/politico decision makers who have no idea what DRM is!

Submission + - DVD jon on Job's "give up DRM if I could"

Submitted by

Whiney Mac Fanboy

on Wednesday February 07, 2007 @05:16PM

Whiney Mac Fanboy writes: ""Dvd" Jon Johansen has posted several sceptical blog entries reacting to Steve Job's blog posting about DRM. One post questions Job's misuse of statistics that attempts to prove consumers aren't tied to iPods through ITMS.

Many iPod owners have never bought anything from the iTunes Store. Some have bought hundreds of songs. Some have bought thousands. At the 2004 Macworld Expo, Steve revealed that one customer had bought $29,500 worth of music.
The other question's the DRM-free in a heartbeat claim. There are apparantly, many Indie artists who would love to sell DRM-free music on iTunes, but Apple will not allow them.

It should not take Apple's iTunes team more than 2-3 days to implement a solution for not wrapping content with FairPlay when the content owner does not mandate DRM. This could be done in a completely transparent way and would not be confusing to the users.
"

Submission + - New Cable Spec Allows for External Graphics Cards

Submitted by

ThinSkin

on Wednesday February 07, 2007 @05:00PM

ThinSkin writes: "The PCI Express Special Interest Group has brought the idea of external graphics cards closer to reality after their release of a cable spec that would extend PCIe channels outside the PC chassis. Ramin Neshati, chair of the PCI Express Technical Communication Working Group and a technology manager at Intel, adds: 'The reason why you would want to do that is that limitations of thermals, noise, and power delivery within the usual microATX chassis are very strict, in terms of airflow guidelines. If you wanted to build a gaming machine with two or three or some ridiculous number of graphics cards, there would be a restriction by the chassis. In the future, you could remove those graphics cards and place them in a separate block.'"

Submission + - iPods banned from pedestrian use?

Submitted by Nitack on Wednesday February 07, 2007 @04:38PM

Nitack writes: New York State Sen. Carl Kruger is trying to push through a bill that will ticket New Yorkers to the tune of $100 for listening to an iPod or talking on a phone while crossing the street. Sen. Kruger has had three people in his district die from crossing the street while distracted by personal electronics. According to Kruger it is the governments responsibility to protect his citizens from themselves. "This electronic gadgetry is reaching the point where it's becoming not only endemic but it's creating an atmosphere where we have a major public safety crisis at hand."

Submission + - Google opens Gmail to all

Submitted by

Russian Art Buyer

on Wednesday February 07, 2007 @04:26PM

Russian Art Buyer writes: "CNet is reporting that GMail is now open for all, no longer restricting to "invitees only." From the article: "Google on Wednesday said its Gmail service is now open to anyone who wants an account. Previously the service, which provides users with 2.8GB of e-mail storage space, has been by invitation only.""

Submission + - NY State Senator wants iPod crosswalk ban

Submitted by llamapalooza on Wednesday February 07, 2007 @04:15PM

llamapalooza writes: According to W-CBS TV, New York State Senator Carl Kruger has proposed banning the use of iPods and other portable players in "big cities" across New York State. He says that when people listening to iPods are crossing the street, they tend to ignore traffic, creating a hazard to not only the listener, but to drivers around them. Kruger claims that several people have been hurt or killed while crossing a crossing a street listen to music. Will this set a precedent for other states to begin regulating the use of headphones in cities, or will it simply die in the State Senate?

Submission + - Beer Goggles Explained!

Submitted by e4g4 on Wednesday February 07, 2007 @04:02PM

e4g4 writes: Researchers at Manchester University have apparently discovered the formula behind the well known "Beer Goggle" effect. The research, commissioned by Bausch and Lomb PureVision, has determined that the quantity of alcohol consumed isn't the only variable that contributes to the "Beer Goggle factor", smokiness of the room and a person's visual acuity also come into play. (Yeah, the article's a little over a year old, but Science + Beer == Fun).

Journal Journal: RIAA to Pay Debbie Foster's Attorneys Fees

Journal by NewYorkCountryLawyer on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @06:38PM

In an Oklahoma case, Capitol Records v. Debbie Foster, the Court has granted the defendant's motion for attorneys fees to be imposed against the RIAA, holding that Ms. Foster is to receive her "reasonable attorney's fees". Judge Lee R. West, in his

Submission + - Attorneys Fees To Be Awarded Against RIAA

Submitted by

NewYorkCountryLawyer

on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @06:37PM

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "In an Oklahoma case, Capitol Records v. Debbie Foster, the Court has granted the defendant's motion for attorneys fees to be imposed against the RIAA, holding that Ms. Foster is to receive her "reasonable attorney's fees". Judge Lee R. West, in his 9-page decision(pdf), did not specify the amount to be awarded, held that the RIAA can have "discovery" on the reasonableness issue, and also ruled that Ms. Foster can also later supplement her application for additional fees. Her initial application was for approximately $55,000 in legal fees and disbursements. This is the case in which the ACLU, Public Citizen, EFF, the American Association of Law Libraries, and the ACLU Oklahoma Foundation, all filed an amicus brief on Ms. Foster's behalf, arguing to the judge that a substantial attorneys fee award was needed to discourage the RIAA's "driftnet" litigation strategy."

Submission + - Man Gets Second Chance at Space

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @06:23PM

An anonymous reader writes: Brian Emmett, who gave up a free space ride from Oracle because he could not afford the taxes, was offered another free ride by the Benson Space Company. Benson's upstart has an agreement with his previous company, SpaceDev, to utilize its Dream Chaser orbital spacecraft. The Dream Chaser is a revival of NASA's HL-20 prototype, which itself is based upon the successful Soviet BOR-4 lifting body. SpaceDev had previously provided the hybrid rocket engines for Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne and intends on using similar technology in the Dream Chaser.

Feed Oldest Paper Ditches Newsprint (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @05:12PM

First distributed by courier in 1645, Sweden's Post-och Inrikes Tidningar makes the leap to online-only publication. In Furthermore.

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