DoktorSeven - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Oh Noes! (Score 0, Flamebait) 583

by DoktorSeven on Tuesday December 16, 2008 @01:23PM (#26134229) Attached to: Microsoft Knew About Xbox 360 Damaging Discs

Except that such a thing would protect against accidental shifts, bumps, and any other problems that might happen, as well as any necessary adjustment of the position of the console for any known reason while playing. It's called "quality", and Microsoft doesn't give a shit about it, or they'd have fixed the goddamn RROD problem by now instead of just sending people new XBoxes (and likely counting that as a new sale) every time it happens. And yes, the problem has not been fixed, despite rumors to the contrary, new XBoxes still get the RROD.

Microsoft only cares about its bottom line, and not its products. People who support them are bad consumers. If this were any other industry, Microsoft would be out of business.

Submission + - NPR Takes First Step To Reverse Internet Royalty

Submitted by jmcharry on Thursday March 15, 2007 @06:13PM

jmcharry writes: After the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) decided to drastically increase the royalties paid to musicians and record labels for streaming songs online, National Public Radio (NPR) will begin fighting the decision on Friday, March 16 by filing a petition for reconsideration with the CRB panel. http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=370346

Submission + - String-nets may be a new state of matter

Submitted by Charmed, I'm sure on Thursday March 15, 2007 @06:05PM

Charmed, I'm sure writes: Researchers have discovered what may be a new state of matter. Physicists Xiao-Gang Wen at MIT and Michael Levin at Harvard have postulated that "string-nets" are a new state of matter and that electrons are not 'true' fundamental particles as physicists have believed. Using the idea of quantum entanglement as a basic property, Wen and Levin wondered whether electrons 'were not fundamental particles, but merely the ends of long strings of other "true" fundamental particles? With this idea, the pair developed a new model for matter, where it was made up of these strings, woven together to form what they dubbed "string-nets." Developing and running computer simulations of this model showed that it gave rise to both conventional particles as well as the quasi-particles, those which carried a fractional charge that began this whole adventure.' The structure of herbertsmithite, a mineral discovered in Chile in the early 1970s, supports their theory.

Submission + - RSS Security Threats With Financial Services

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11, 2007 @08:01PM

An anonymous reader writes: RSS comes with its own security issues that assume critical significance with regard to financial services. HNS is running an article that showcases some of the security concerns around RSS security and attack vectors.

Submission + - Linux.com | Joe Barr rips proprietary software ven

Submitted by Graabein on Sunday March 11, 2007 @07:22PM

Graabein writes: On a slow newsday like today, this article should be good for a laugh: Joe Barr rips proprietary software vendor a new one. Quote: It seems to be a trend among some proprietary software vendors: attacking open source with lies. The latest appears in this week's Network World's Face-off, which features a slop-bucket full of self-serving hogwash by Ipswitch's Roger Greene entitled "Don't trust your network to open source." If ignorance were a crime, Greene would be swinging from the gallows. His pathetically malinformed drivel is enough to make even hardened PR flacks cringe with embarrassment. Greene's marketing agenda is based on what he claims are three myths about open source. Just for the fun of it, let's take a look at his claims."

Submission + - Windows Vista keygen is a hoax

Submitted by on Saturday March 03, 2007 @01:32AM

An anonymous reader writes: The author of the Windows Vista keygen that was reported yesterday on Slashdot has admitted that the program does not actually work. Here is the initial announcement of the original release of the keygen, and here is the followup post in which the same author acknowledges that the program is fake. Apparently, the keygen program does legitimately attack Windows Vista keys via brute force, but the chances of success are too low for this to be a practical method. Quote from the author: "everyone who said they got a key a probably lying or mistaken!"

Submission + - Video Games Improve Surgical Skills

Submitted by

denmarkw00t

on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @01:00AM

denmarkw00t writes: "From this CNN article: "There was a strong correlation between video game skills and a surgeon's capabilities performing laparoscopic surgery in the study published in the February issue of Archives of Surgery. Out of 33 surgeons...that participated in the study, the nine doctors who had at some point played video games at least three hours per week made 37 percent fewer errors, performed 27 percent faster, and scored 42 percent better in the test of surgical skills than the 15 surgeons who had never played video games before."

And I haven't even gotten my copy of Trauma Center for the Wii yet"

Submission + - Bethesda Laments the PS3 Controller

Submitted by

Richard Manley

on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @01:00AM

Richard Manley writes: "Gameworld Network writes that Pete Hines of Bethesda Softworks has commented on the SIXAXIS controller. When asked what he thought of the SIXAXIS in general, he replied:

"I think that its value depends upon the game. It didn't make sense on Oblivion but I'm sure there are some games it does make sense on. To be honest I would rather have the rumble instead of the SIXAXIS motion stuff. When you're playing Oblivion it's nice to feel the weapons connecting with an opponent, so the absence of the rumble is notable when playing Elder Scrolls."

When asked if he has ever thought of including SIXAXIS motion support in the PS3 version of Oblivion, he stated:

"We didn't think about doing anything with the SIXAXIS stuff. We just wanted to make sure it played well and doing something new with the SIXAXIS just wasn't even necessary. Obviously if we ever have a game that would work well with the SIXAXIS then we would consider using it... but that wasn't an option for Oblivion.""

Submission + - TekTime Interview with WowWee's Mark Tilden

Submitted by

robotsrule

on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @12:48AM

robotsrule writes: "The good people at TekTime bring us a new Podcast interview with the charismatic and hilarious Mark Tilden, inventor of the WowWee Robosapien robot and a host of other robots.

In this 42 minute interview Mark Tilden talks about:
His history as a robotics physicist including his time at NASA.

Funny and interesting stories relating to the original Robosapien robot which has now sold over 6 million units.

His upcoming new robots which will further increase the total number of toy robots sold by WowWee beyond the current 20 million mark such as the Roboquad and Roboboa

His opinion on the Japanese style of building robots compared to his style which is based on nature, a style which he likes to call "analog".

Why the robotics industry has not taken off yet and what needs to happen for it to do so

And a lot more
The interview is peppered with interesting anecdotes and truly funny quips by Mr. Tilden. My favorite is his comment on the method he uses to gauge a new robot's success; by rounding up a bunch of kids and seeing how many fights break out when he shows them the new bot. You can download the interview in MP3 format from the TekTime web site."

Submission + - World of Warcraft on Your Cell Phone

Submitted by

Mes

on Monday February 19, 2007 @11:49PM

Mes writes: "When you just cant get the needle out of your arm and you gotta eat, live, sleep and breath World of Warcraft, you can finally now do so on your Cell Phone. Yep, you read that correctly, on your Cell Phone! You can now access a huge database of WoW info from http://mobile.ampwow.com/ directly from your cell phone. You can read about items, dungeons, quests, and even reputation info."

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