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Comment Re:ditch windows? (Score 4, Interesting) 304

by ZackSchil (#45215257) Attached to: Torvalds: SteamOS Will 'Really Help' Linux On the Desktop

Why not? Increasingly games are using standard APIs and getting multi-platform releases. They're not tied to an OS anymore. A Windows license is a huge, unnecessary expense for PC gamers. Gamers worship hardware and entertainment software, not operating systems. They're going to go with whatever has support for the hardware they have and the games they want to play. With Valve pushing Linux and GPU makers joining them, all the pieces are in place to dethrone Windows or at the very least drum up some competition.
Handhelds

Submission + - 3DS XL is Out Now (dcemu.co.uk) 1

Submitted by
Busshy
Busshy writes: "A few months after the rather subdued release of the PSVita comes the release of the Larger screened 3DS XL, improvements are the obvious larger screens and much improved battery life, CVG report that the 3D effect has noticeably improved. As you'd expect with a larger display, the sweet spot in which you have to angle the device to consume your trio of dimensions is far easier to find on the XL. The console is shipping in 3 variations with sites such as Amazon offering different deals depending on where you live in europe. Those wanting the Transparent version of the 3DS XL are out of luck at this time. Slashdotters in the USA will have to wait till Mid August for the new console."
Facebook

Submission + - Facebook Abstainers could be labeled Suspicious 2

Submitted by bs0d3
bs0d3 writes: According to this article printed in tagesspiegel.de, not having a facebook account should be the first sign that you are a mass murderer. As examples they use Norwegian shooter Anders Breivik, who used myspace instead of facebook and the newer Aurora shooter who used adultfriendfinder instead of facebook. They already consider those with facebook accounts, who lack friends to be suspicious, but now they are suggesting that anyone who abstains from facebook altogether may be even more suspicious. While it is already established that sites like facebook and google+ are no good for political activists, abuse survivors, and people in the witness protection program; abuse survivors will have to take a back seat while more and more insane articles like this come out. This line of thinking could sure help facebook's stock value.
ISS

Submission + - Space Fish: ISS Aquatic Habitat Delivered by HTV-3 (discovery.com)

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes: "Yes, it's the moment we've all (secretly) been waiting for: Fish In Space! But before you go getting too excited and start asking the big questions — like: if there's a bubble in a microgravity aquarium, what happens if the fish falls into it? Let's ponder that for a minute... — it's worth pointing out that the fish aren't actually in space right now (their habitat has just been delivered to the space station by the unmanned Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle "Kounotori 3") and this fishy experiment isn't just to see how fish enjoy swimming upside down, there's some serious science behind it."

Comment Oh no. Please. Not Google+. (Score 3, Interesting) 602

by ZackSchil (#40737827) Attached to: Google Wants You to Use Your Real Name on YouTube

Is Google seriously trying to use the power of Google+ to twist people's arms on a real name policy? Google, you can't do that until the service is actually popular! My Google+ profile is just some bullshit I made to check out the service. I can delete it or fill it with fake info any time I want. It means nothing to me. If you insist on linking it to services I don't want it linked to, I'll just stop using the service I like less. Which is gonna be Google+!

Comment That's nice and all... (Score 4, Interesting) 396

by ZackSchil (#39884931) Attached to: Microsoft Using Linux To Optimize Skype Traffic

Good to hear that Skype will be a bit less fly-by-night and will have better call performance. But for two years now, the interface has been getting progressively worse and Skype credits have been exchanging for fewer and fewer minutes. The current version has no compact buddy list, requires a subscription for multiparty video, has giant ads on a useless "home" screen, and wants me to issue facebook updates of some shit. I have never uninstalled anything so fast in my life.

Balance the traffic all you want, Microsoft. Skype is a sinking ship if you don't make it lighter, prettier, and cheaper.

Comment Re:Common knowledge? (Score 4, Interesting) 188

by ZackSchil (#39691319) Attached to: Documentation As a Bug-Finding Tool

Just as often, while writing documentation on code I just wrote, I've thrown up my hands, and thought "this is so ridiculous and embarrassing that I can't be associated with it", and I went back and re-wrote it to do it the right way. The act of documenting it revealed you left too much undone, or too many situations un-handled.

This is by far more common for me as well. I'll find myself describing some really brittle setup process or some common operation that seems to take a thousand steps, get embarrassed over how bad it is, and then go fix the code. More than once, I've written sophisticated automatic parameter selection code because it was easier than finishing the documentation I had started explaining to the user how to set up parameters properly.

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