Comment Re:Wait... what? (Score 4, Funny) 204
They've probably bought the rock you're hiding under too!
Lost Online Games From the Pre-Web Era 186
harrymcc writes "Long before the Web came along, people were playing online games — on BBSes, on services such as Prodigy and CompuServe, and elsewhere. Gaming historian Benj Edwards has rounded up a dozen RPGs, MUDs, and other fascinating curiosities from the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s — and the cool part is: they're all playable on the Web today."
What old games were good enough for you to watch them scroll by on your 300 baud modem?
Deodorant Sought to Save New Zealand's Native Birds
102
New Zealand researchers have received a NZ$600,000 grant to develop a deodorant for native birds whose strong odors make them easy targets for introduced predators. Since the birds evolved without any mammal predators they emit a very strong odor compared to birds in other parts of the world. Canterbury University researcher Jim Briskie says kiwis smell like mushrooms or ammonia, while kakapo parrots have a hint of "musty violin case."
Comment Contradiction Anyone? (Score 1) 352
'Surface will become no thicker than a sheet of glass. It's not going to have any cameras or projectors because the cameras will be embedded in the device itself.'
So it does have a camera but it doesn't have a camera...wtf?
Comment What? Collect Data to Fight FUD? (Score 1) 48
Those cables are for sending that pr0n to me, high speed from the USA, land of the free - not for proving anything scientific; besides I can lookup 'climate change' on Google or Bing or even Slashdot and hey presto - all the pros and cons are already there including lots of data (which paradoxically I could download but that would use more electricity which would probably come from a coal fired or gas fired electricity station nearby)?
Who do these scientists think they are, telling me that their scientific experiments and data collecting might tell the truth with careful analysis; I believe what I read on the Internet!
Submission + - Is Slashdotting Slashdot Possible? 1
lloy0076 writes: On the understanding that 'to be slashdotted' means 'to have an article posted on Slashdot and then your infrastructure crashes/slows to a halt for more than 1/2 an hour in one contiguous block because readers or followers of Slashdot are visiting that article', I wonder if it's at all possible to Slashdot Slashdot? Or is this somehow recursive...surely the fact that, well, Slashdot crashed and wasn't available would mean the tech team could get the site back up and running again long enough (say 5 mins, for argument's sake) to reset the magical, timer.
Thus, is it at all possible to Slashdot Slashdot and under what conditions? Are my conditions the 'right' conditions? It seems that Slashdotting Slashdot could be tricky as the more you crash Slashdot, the less readers reading it to crash it and the more likely it's going to appear again and break that magical continuous outage that happens when one's infrastructure has been Slashdotted?
It seems that this could devolve into one of those mathematical equations (optimisation theory maybe)!
Thus, is it at all possible to Slashdot Slashdot and under what conditions? Are my conditions the 'right' conditions? It seems that Slashdotting Slashdot could be tricky as the more you crash Slashdot, the less readers reading it to crash it and the more likely it's going to appear again and break that magical continuous outage that happens when one's infrastructure has been Slashdotted?
It seems that this could devolve into one of those mathematical equations (optimisation theory maybe)!
Comment RoboJaws...Here We Come... (Score 1) 57
Well, won't that guy who pretended to be Jaws with that fin be PISSED now...he could have done it for real!
Comment What About OpenSocial? (Score 1) 363
Yes, I know it was created by Google but it does give a standard API for social networks? It seems that Facebook, which is probably the right thing from their perspective, are the biggest player not implementing it.
DSL
Comment I Wish... (Score 1) 123
I would have loved the opportunity to try out my game skills against my peers instead of having my canoe oar stolen by some arse hole of a kid canoeing up the river. Health isn't just physical, it's social health too and as others have pointed out, 3 hrs of video games a day leaves plenty of time to socialise.
Nokia Releases Qt SDK For Mobile Development 76
An anonymous reader writes "Nokia has released its unified Qt-based SDK for cross-platform development for Symbian and MeeGo (plus Maemo) devices. The blurb reads: 'Today sees the release of the Nokia Qt SDK, a single easy-to-use software development kit (SDK) for Symbian and Meego application development. Developers can now develop, test, and deploy native applications for Nokia smartphones and mobile computers. The beta version of the SDK is available for download from today, ready for developers to kick off development for new devices, including the just-announced Nokia N8.'"
The Big Technical Mistakes of History 244
An anonymous reader tips a PC Authority review of some of the biggest technical goofs of all time. "As any computer programmer will tell you, some of the most confusing and complex issues can stem from the simplest of errors. This article looking back at history's big technical mistakes includes some interesting trivia, such as NASA's failure to convert measurements to metric, resulting in the Mars Climate Orbiter being torn apart by the Martian atmosphere. Then there is the infamous Intel Pentium floating point fiasco, which cost the company $450m in direct costs, a battering on the world's stock exchanges, and a huge black mark on its reputation. Also on the list is Iridium, the global satellite phone network that promised to make phones work anywhere on the planet, but required 77 satellites to be launched into space."
Submission + - Apple to buy ARM? (thisislondon.co.uk)
gyrogeerloose writes: An article in the London Evening Standard claims that Apple has made an $8 billion offer to acquire ARM Holdings. For those few Slashdotters who don't already know, ARM makes the processor chips that power Apple's iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. However, ARM processors are also used by other manufacturers, including Palm and, perhaps most significantly, companies building Android phones. This explains why Apple might be willing to spend so much on the deal--almost 20% of it's cash reserves. Being able to control who gets to use the processors (and, more importantly, who doesn't) would give Apple a huge advantage over it's competitors.
Comment It's an IFO! (Score 1) 163
An Identified Flying Object...FLEE!
Comment Re:"APPLE BANS OPERA ON THE IPHONE AND IPAD" (Score 1) 664
I meant to say, "Opera enables people to view sites that ridicule public figures."
Comment "APPLE BANS OPERA ON THE IPHONE AND IPAD" (Score 1) 664
In a surprise move, Apple bans Opera on the iPhone and iPad. When questioned company spokesmen would not say why, although an unnamed source says that it is because, "Safari enables people to view sites that ridicule public figures."
Safari, Apple says, is allowed because it uses Apple's iCensor.
