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Comment takes me back (Score 3, Interesting) 244

Back in 1997, I was playing a character on the old TrekMoo, when the Q (the admins) were in the process of moving to new servers. They decided to all scorched universe on the remaining players and I have to say, that was a heck of lot of fun. The Borg invaded, the Romulans and Klingons got their ass kicked and we intrepid few in the federation were forced to make some tough choices that included sacrificing our ship. It was a small community of text based adventurers, but the collaborative effort made it a hell of a lot of fun.

I'm surprised there aren't more scorched earth games, where we build up communities just to have them torn down. I hope the loyal players of playing Tabula Rasa get to have the same kind of experience. I know it influenced me as to what good collaborative theaterical improvisation was all about.
Censorship

Submission + - EU Commissioner Calls For Censorship Of Web Search (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader writes: According to the Reuters, "Internet searches for bomb-making instructions should be blocked across the European Union, the bloc's top security official said on Monday". Franco Frattini, the EU Justice and Security commissioner, "intend[s] to carry out a clear exploring exercise with the private sector ... on how it is possible to use technology to prevent people from using or searching dangerous words like bomb, kill, genocide or terrorism ..." So, how long before the tech companies in USA are being investigated for assisting the evil EU to curb free speech of their citizens? And what chances there are for the Europeans among us to kick Mr. Frattini out of his office before it's too late to even talk about it in the Internets?
Censorship

Submission + - Law students sue anonymous message board posters (wsj.com)

The Xoxo Reader writes: "The Wall Street Journal reports that two female students at Yale Law School have filed suit for defamation and infliction of emotional distress against an administrator and several anonymous posters (identified only by their pseudoynms) at the popular law student discussion board AutoAdmit (a.k.a. Xoxohth). One of the claims is that the posters have violated copyright laws by reposting pictures of the women without their permission. Since AutoAdmit's administrators have previously said that they do not retain IP logs of posters, it is unclear how the plaintiffs will ultimately be able to identify the actual people behind the pseudonyms named in the complaint. Apparently, one method was to post the summons on the message board itself and ask the posters to step forward. The controversy leading to this lawsuit was previously discussed on Slashdot here."
Software

Submission + - Bush names anti-open source lobbyist as counselor (pressesc.com)

Citizen Pain writes: "President Bush today appointed as his counselor a man who received $820,000 from Microsoft to lobby during negotiations over its antitrust settlement as well as to oppose the use, especially within the government, of "open source" systems such as Linux. Enron also paid him $700,000 in 2001 alone to lobby on the "California energy crisis" and thwart efforts to re-regulate the Western electricity market through price controls."
Intel

Submission + - Intel in graphics partnership with Nvidia?

An anonymous reader writes: Intel may get some help building its upcoming floating point accelerator Larrabee. Following some rumors earlier this month, which claimed that Intel and Nvidia will be trading technologies, TG Daily now says that it has received information that the two companies will be announcing a "graphics partnership". An acquisition of Nvidia is a bit unlikely right now, but if Intel has access to Nvidia GPU technology, what exactly does that mean for AMD/ATI? Looks like Intel is catching up with AMD's ideas much faster than we thought.
Businesses

Submission + - Computer Nerds being sued over Trademark

An anonymous reader writes: This Guy is trying to claim exclusive rights to use the term "Computer Nerds" " Computer Nerds® 3301 East Rancier #G101 Killeen, Texas 76543 (254) 690-6373 — Killeen Texas (850) 244-6373 — Fort Walton Beach Florida (239) 226-0014 — Fort Myers Florida (416) 630-6373 — Toronto Canada (866) 451-0588 — Fax www.computernerds.net www.690-nerd.com www.clickanerd.com www.livepcrepairtechs.com You are currently advertising a registered trademark Computer Nerds. (USPTO) You have not obtained our permission to utilize said mark. Please be advised that you are in violation of California, Texas and Federal Laws. You are hereby ordered to cease and desist immediately with the use of our trade mark. You are hereby noticed to seek legal representation. If you fail to remove our trademark immediately, we will enforce our rights under the law. Respectfully, Computer Nerds By: S.A. Richeson — Trademark Owner"

Feed European robots assist children in forming relationships (engadget.com)

Filed under: Robots

We've seen robots that help humans diagnose autism, but a team of researchers at the University of Hertfordshire have developed a number of robots and humanoids that can help autistic children cope and form relationships. The €3.22 million ($4.33 million) Interactive Robotic Social Mediators as Companions (IROMEC) project is being funded by the European Sixth Framework, and seeks to "investigate the use of robotic toys to enable children with disabilities to develop social skills." A number of creations have been concocted in order to help youngsters with learning disabilities interact more normally, and KASPAR (Kinesics and Synchronisation in Personal Assistant Robotics) has emerged as the latest android to come to the rescue. The team isn't satisfied just yet, however, as it purportedly plans to further "investigate how robotic toys can become social mediators" within the next three years.

[Via Physorg]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!


Security

Submission + - Is your PC virus-free? Get it infected here!

Underholdning writes: "As part of an experiment security researcher Didier Stevens bought a Google ad six months ago that said, "Is your PC virus-free? Get it infected here!" 409 people clicked on the ad. Didier writes that during those six months, the ad was displayed 259,723 times and clicked on 409 times. 98% of the machines ran Windows. Now that's a pretty cheap way of acquiring zombies."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Patents Disclosed (somewhat)!

CptRevelation writes: Just recently Microsoft announced a list of the most detailed info yet against the open-source community. Even though they accuse companies of infringement, they state they would rather do licensing deals instead of any legal action. Microsoft states that the free Linux software violates 42 patents. Graphical user interfaces, the way menus and windows look on the screen, breach 65. E-mail programs step on 15, and other programs touch 68 other patents. As well as accusing Open Office of 45 patent infringements. "Microsoft can't drive a company out of business and make Linux go away," said Al Gillen, an analyst at the technology research group IDC.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft claims Linux violates over 200 patents

An anonymous reader writes: Fortune Magazine has an article which states that FOSS developers and distributors could soon face a patent litigation blitzkrieg from Microsoft, which holds over 200 patents that the company claims Linux violates. The article further states that the recent Novell-Microsoft patent deal is a de facto admission of infringement — is anybody surprised?
Quickies

Submission + - Which Countries Have An IT Skills Shortage?

bugg_tb writes: "I am a programmer based in England and after a few years in the same job have finally got itchy feet. I don't want to leave the industry but I would like a change in scenery.
So my question is, if the destination really isn't an issue(I've done some contract work in Afghanistan), which countries have an IT skill shortage where I could put my skills to good use?"
Quickies

Submission + - The face, not the body, attracts a mate.

Ant writes: "New Scientist reports that it appears that the opposite sex is much more interested in human's face than their bulging biceps or elegant figure, especially if you're a man. At least that's the upshot of the first study to assess how much faces and bodies contribute to someone's overall attractiveness... Seen on Blue's News."

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