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Games

8-Year Fan-Made Game Project Shut Down By Activision 265

Posted by Soulskill from the of-doors-and-ways-out dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Activision, after acquiring Vivendi, became the new copyright holder of the classic King's Quest series of adventure game. They have now issued a cease and desist order to a team which has worked for eight years on a fan-made project initially dubbed a sequel to the last official installment, King's Quest 8. This stands against the fact that Vivendi granted a non-commercial license to the team, subject to Vivendi's approval of the game after submission. After the acquisition, key team members had indicated on the game's forums (now stripped of their original content by order of Activision) that Activision had given the indication that it intended to keep its current fan-game licenses, but was not interested in issuing new ones."
Idle

Hand Written Clock 86

Posted by samzenpus from the up-to-the-minute dept.
a3buster writes "This clock does not actually have a man inside, but a flatscreen that plays a 24-hour loop of this video by the artist watching his own clock somewhere and painstakingly erasing and re-writing each minute. This video was taken at Design Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach 2009."
Government

Two Senators Call For ACTA Transparency 214

Posted by kdawson from the we-got-more-senators-than-that dept.
angry tapir writes "Two US senators have asked President Barack Obama's administration to allow the public to review and comment on a controversial international copyright treaty being negotiated largely in secret. The public has a right to know what's being negotiated in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), Senators Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, and Bernard Sanders, a Vermont Independent, argue in the letter."
Businesses

EA Shuts Down Pandemic Studios, Cuts 200 Jobs 161

Posted by Soulskill from the say-goodnight-folks dept.
lbalbalba writes "Electronic Arts is shutting down its Westwood-based game developer Pandemic Studios just two years after acquiring it, putting nearly 200 people out of work. 'The struggling video game publisher informed employees Tuesday morning that it was closing the studio as part of a recently announced plan to eliminate 1,500 jobs, or 16% of its global workforce. Pandemic has about 220 employees, but an EA spokesman said that a core team, estimated by two people close to the studio to be about 25, will be integrated into the publisher's other Los Angeles studio, in Playa Vista.' An ex-developer for Pandemic attributed the studio's struggles to poor decisions from the management."
Medicine

Computer Activities for Those With Speech and Language Difficulties? 145

Posted by timothy from the yr-voice-is-yr-password dept.
An anonymous reader writes "My girlfriend is training to be a speech and language therapist here in the UK (speech pathologist in the US). A number of clients are guys who enjoy playing computer games, and for a variety of reasons some have no incentive to try and improve their speech. The issue is, this can obviously inhibit options for jobs and/or other aspects of life. I was trying to think of fun computer-based activities for those with speech and language difficulties that encourage individuals to speak, and furthermore to speak with greater clarity. Or games/activities that might encourage them to do more speech work. The first options that sprang to mind were the online games with team-speak / team-talk for those with mild difficulties. The sampling / accent issue might force them to speak with greater clarity or wish to have that ability. Obviously, they can just type. Any thoughts?"

Submission + - Malware and standards – is it possible? (avertlabs.com)

Submitted by Je$tie
Je$tie writes: I quote the Auditor ... " I am excited to be involved in the joint industry effort of defining an XML format which will allow for the rapid exchange of information between security companies. This work was done by the “Malware Working Group” operating as part of the “Industry Connections Security Group” (ICSG) and under the umbrella of the IEEE. If you Google for “IEEE” and “ICSG” you should have the link at the top of the list – IEEE ICSG .

There were about 20 people from multiple security companies who contributed to the development of the proposal for the standard and I am very pleased with the results. It is a simple, flexible and powerful format that is already being used by 4 anti-malware companies to transmit meta-data about the prevalence of malware in the field. Wider adoption of this meta-data sharing will replace the trivial malware sample exchange of the past with a real-time exchange of threat intelligence data. Communicating the relationships between malware samples, domains, IPs will open endless possibilities for improving the security of all Internet users."

With so many threats coming out ... will security companies start to excersize a unified consolidate security strategy ..with each other to combat the bad stuff ?
Movies

Submission + - Happy Halloween: Forbes.com Looks at Zombies (forbes.com)

Submitted by blackbearnh
blackbearnh writes: No doubt, there will be more than a few brain-munching glassy-eyed zombies showing up on the typical doorstep tomorrow night, demanding brains, brains, BRAINS, or at least some Milk Duds. But according to this essay over on Forbes.com, zombies are more than just the trendy monster on the block, they are to Americans what Godzilla is to Japan, a personification of our fear of science and technology. "It seems you can't throw a half-eaten cerebrum these days without hitting a posse of zombies brought to life by some kind of biological mishap (28 Days Later, Resident Evil, Planet Terror, Quarantine). Like Godzilla, zombies keep up with the times, always ready to mirror whatever aspect of science and technology people feel most uncertain about at the moment."
Medicine

Submission + - How Terahertz Waves Tear Apart DNA (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by KentuckyFC
KentuckyFC writes: Great things are expected of terahertz waves, the radiation that fills the slot in the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and the infrared. Terahertz waves pass through non-conducting materials such as clothes , paper, wood and brick and so cameras sensitive to them can peer inside envelopes, into living rooms and "frisk" people at distance. That's not to mention the great potential they have in medical imaging. Because terahertz photons are not energetic enough to break chemical bonds or ionise electrons, it's easy to dismiss fears over their health effects. And yet the evidence is mixed: some studies have reported significant genetic damage while others, although similar, have reported none. Now a team led by Los Alamos National Labs thinks it knows why. They say that although the forces that terahertz waves exert on double-stranded DNA are tiny, in certain circumstances resonant effects can unzip the DNA strands, tearing them apart. This creates bubbles in the strands that can significantly interfere with processes such as gene expression and DNA replication. With terahertz scanners already appearing in airports and hospitals, the question that now urgently needs answering is what level of exposure is safe.
Security

Submission + - ATM Machines Increasing Attractive to Hackers

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Ken Munro writes in SC Magzine that in England, at least, used versions of ATM Machines can be bought on the open market for trivial amounts, they're poorly secured and cache card data locally. "We found a used one for £400, the ‘1.5%' fee type, complete with keys, instructions and credentials to hook it up to a service provider," writes Munro. "Playing around with the admin interface, it didn't take long to convince the machine to dump a list of all the card numbers it had cached – over 200 of them. Too easy. It also held detailed logs of the amounts of cash requested, and whether the transaction was successful or not. It looked to us as if this machine had been used to test out the validity of stolen cards, as a significant proportion of the failed transactions were for significant amounts." In the US there are plenty of used machines available on ebay and Munro says that there's little to stop anyone placing ‘back-doored' ATMs anywhere he wants including the foyer at the Defcon hacking conference in Las Vegas where several delegates fell for it. "I for one won't be using standalone ATMs," concludes Munro. "Even cash machines physically located in banks, however, have had skimmers installed in the past. I guess I'll have to buy everything online in future; it's safer...""
Moon

Submission + - LRO Takes Closer Look at Apollo 17 Landing Site (spacefellowship.com)

Submitted by Matt_dk
Matt_dk writes: The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter maneuvered into its 50-km mapping orbit on September 15, which enables it to take a closer look at the Moon than any previous orbiter. This also allows for comparing previous images taken by LRO when it was at its higher orbit. These images of the Apollo 17 landing site have more than two times better resolution than the previously acquired images.

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