Comment Re:Modern Women (Score 1) 305
Underaged at 16? Depends where you are matey (heck, even japan varies by prefecture, let alone the rest of the world.)
Comment Do unto them as they do unto you, but better... (Score 1) 1
I got one at work, to my desk phone, trying to sell me a mobile phone. He seemed rather confused when I tried to sell him broadband right back. (I work in the sales department for a major telecoms company. I found the irony amusing.)
Submission + - Blizzard Backs Down On Forum Real Names (wow-europe.com) 1
Ashe Tyrael writes: Earlier this week, Blizzard announced that they were going to be implementing changes inthe World of Warcraft (and the Starcraft 2 forums when they were opened) that would require users to post under their real names, as part of the realID system. 14000 european and nearlky 50000 use forum posts later, the majority of which decried this move in various levels of vehemence, it looks like Blizzard gave in to pressure. From the official statement:
"We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.
Not that this doesn't leave room to re-implement this at a later date, but that's a pretty definite no. it's clear that they were going to take a pasting, but the size of the response was impressive. It seems likely that Blizzard simply weren't expecting that level of antipathy towards their new baby.
From TFA:
Hello everyone,
I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.
It's important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as conversation threading, the ability to rate posts up or down, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name.
I want to make sure it's clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II. We believe that the powerful communications functionality enabled by Real ID, such as cross-game and cross-realm chat, make Battle.net a great place for players to stay connected to real-life friends and family while playing Blizzard games. And of course, you'll still be able to keep your relationships at the anonymous, character level if you so choose when you communicate with other players in game. Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.
In closing, I want to point out that our connection with our community has always been and will always be extremely important to us. We strongly believe that Every Voice Matters (http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/about/mission.html), and we feel fortunate to have a community that cares so passionately about our games. We will always appreciate the feedback and support of our players, which has been a key to Blizzard's success from the beginning.
Mike Morhaime
CEO & Cofounder
Blizzard Entertainment
"We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.
Not that this doesn't leave room to re-implement this at a later date, but that's a pretty definite no. it's clear that they were going to take a pasting, but the size of the response was impressive. It seems likely that Blizzard simply weren't expecting that level of antipathy towards their new baby.
From TFA:
Hello everyone,
I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.
It's important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as conversation threading, the ability to rate posts up or down, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name.
I want to make sure it's clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II. We believe that the powerful communications functionality enabled by Real ID, such as cross-game and cross-realm chat, make Battle.net a great place for players to stay connected to real-life friends and family while playing Blizzard games. And of course, you'll still be able to keep your relationships at the anonymous, character level if you so choose when you communicate with other players in game. Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.
In closing, I want to point out that our connection with our community has always been and will always be extremely important to us. We strongly believe that Every Voice Matters (http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/about/mission.html), and we feel fortunate to have a community that cares so passionately about our games. We will always appreciate the feedback and support of our players, which has been a key to Blizzard's success from the beginning.
Mike Morhaime
CEO & Cofounder
Blizzard Entertainment
Outsourcing Unit To Be Set Up In Indian Jail
249
littlekorea writes "Indian outsourcing firm Radiant Info Systems has found yet another way to lower wages — hiring data entry clerks from a local prison. Some 200 inmates will be paid $2.20 a day to handle manual data entry tasks for Radiant's BPO deals in a pilot for the scheme. Radiant execs told the BBC that the deal will provide skills to inmates when they are released from prison. No doubt they would also be due for a pay raise." They're going to need to cut wages if they want to be competitive with the 100,000 US prisoners who work for 25 cents an hour.
Comment Re:Prodigious rush (Score 1) 90
Or the classic "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun"
NASA Solar Probe Blasts Toward Rendezvous With Sun 90
coondoggie writes "NASA this morning used a United Launch Alliance Atlas rocket to blast its 6,800lb Solar Dynamics Observatory into an orbit 22,300 miles above Earth. The $808 million spacecraft will ultimately study the Sun and send back what NASA called a prodigious rush of pictures about sunspots, solar flares and a variety of other never-before-seen solar events. The idea is to get a better idea of how the Sun works and let scientists better forecast the space weather to offer earlier warnings to protect astronauts and satellites, NASA said."
Comment The important question (Score 1) 360
If they do this, are they also going to place legal limits on the volume with which Ethel, sitting on the tram across from me, is going to talk about whichever soap or celebirty show has her attention this week? If I can't drown out their pathetic and often obnoxious ramblings, what the heck is a sane, rational person supposed to do?
Turning a Cell Phone Into a Microscope 50
stupendou writes with this excerpt from the New York Times: "Microscopes are invaluable tools to identify blood and other cells when screening for diseases like anemia, tuberculosis and malaria. But they are also bulky and expensive. Now an engineer, using software that he developed and about $10 worth of off-the-shelf hardware, has adapted cellphones to substitute for microscopes." But not based on optical magnification: the article explains that Aydogan Ozcan, a UCLA assistant professor of electrical engineering, has combined the wireless transmission abilities and imaging sensors now typical in wireless phones to make the phones capable of detecting cell abnormalities and more by capturing wave interference patterns from body fluids — like blood — and sending them on for analysis.
Update 20091108 15:03 GMT by timothy: Dave Bullock mentions this gallery he shot last year for Wired showing how a phone is hacked to add microscope abilities. "The new version looks a bit more polished, to say the least," he writes.
Update 20091108 15:03 GMT by timothy: Dave Bullock mentions this gallery he shot last year for Wired showing how a phone is hacked to add microscope abilities. "The new version looks a bit more polished, to say the least," he writes.
Comment Re:not everyone is a computer expert (Score 1) 876
This is my bane, really. It's not the people who don't know the terms, or the difference between the different bits. They're OK. Not being familiar with the jargon, I can relate to. It's the people who seem to think that wilfull ignorance is the best policy. the people who, no matter how many times you explain something, will just answer with "sorry, I don't know much about computers" or "I'm too old/young/stupid/busy" rather than actually try and listen to, or understand the concepts involved.
A lot of this is probably fear, they're already afraid they won't understand, so they take refuge in that predetermined state, but some people actually seem to be proud of their ignorance, and refuse to have their store of knowledge increased. Alsthough, i think what really gets my goat is
Of course, the irony of this is that this problem applies to practically everything these days that requires a modicum of learning.
The debate is, should we be pandering to wilful and prideful ignorance?
Comment Re:It's pretty standard these days (Score 1) 329
Most metal bands that use orchestral or other backing work use these too. At that point, it's a matter of synchronising the live performers with that stuff you's spent a goood deal of money getting that choir or orchestra to record. Thankfully, with the best bands of this type, they tend to try and do as much as possible within the live performance.
To be honest, I think the sheer amount of badly-done artifical pap err pop music has really soured very many people to the concept of backing tapes, and any aid that keeps tempo. Queen used a fair amount of backing tape, and nobody ever said they were fake. Sometimes, you just need a degree of synchronisation, especially when your songs are more compositions than out and out songs (Nightwish, Dream Theatre, et al) which mean that there have to be moments where the band knows, to the instant, where to come in, or back in after a gap, without being able to hear exactly where they are on the tape itself.
As an aid to lousy drummers, I can see why they'd draw ire, but a lot of these drummers are very very good. They just need to keep a lot of things synched up to make their soundscapes work as they should.
US Army To Develop "Thought Helmets" 226
Hugh Pickens writes "Time Magazine reports on a $4 million US Army contract to begin developing 'thought helmets' to harness silent brain waves for secure communication among troops that the Army hopes will 'lead to direct mental control of military systems by thought alone.' The Army's initial goal is to capture brain waves with software that translates the waves into audible radio messages for other troops in the field. 'It'd be radio without a microphone,' says Dr. Elmar Schmeisser, the Army neuroscientist overseeing the program. 'Because soldiers are already trained to talk in clean, clear and formulaic ways, it would be a very small step to have them think that way.' The key challenge will be to develop software able to pinpoint speech-related brain waves and pick them up with a 128-sensor array that ultimately will be buried inside a helmet. Scientists deny charges that they're messing with soldiers' minds. 'A lot of people interpret wires coming out of the head as some sort of mind reading,' says Dr. Mike D'Zmura. 'But there's no way you can get there from here.' One potential civilian spin-off: a Bluetooth Helmet so people nearby can't hear you when you talk on your cell phone."
Comment Re:Not the first member in his family... (Score 1) 692
Like the Mitch Benn song says "He's evolutions top banana, and he's married to Romana and that kind of makes him King of the Nerds."
