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Businesses

Respected Developers Begin Fleeing the App Store 485

Posted by Soulskill from the also-known-as-the-french-rush dept.
wiedzmin writes "Facebook's Joe Hewitt, Second Gear's Justin Williams, the long-time Mac software developer known as 'Rogue Amoeba' and other respected App Store developers have recently decided to discontinue their work on the platform, citing their frustration with Apple's opaque approval process. Continued issues with erroneous and snap rejections of applications and APIs are prompting more and more developers to shun the platform entirely. Though there are tens of thousands of other developers who have pumped out over 100,000 apps for the platform, continued migration away from iPhone development will most likely result in lower quality software."
Apple

Apple Patents "Enforceable" Ad Viewing On Devices 439

Posted by CmdrTaco from the touch-the-lizard dept.
Rexdude writes "Apple has filed a patent that forces users to interact with an ad. FTFA: 'Its distinctive feature is a design that doesn't simply invite a user to pay attention to an ad — it also compels attention. The technology can freeze the device until the user clicks a button or answers a test question to demonstrate that he or she has dutifully noticed the commercial message. Because this technology would be embedded in the innermost core of the device, the ads could appear on the screen at any time, no matter what one is doing.'" We've been following this story for awhile now but it seems to have broken into the mainstream.
Science

Element 114 Verified 142

Posted by kdawson from the cento-do-deco-quaternium dept.
ExRex writes "A team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has observed the production of superheavy element 114, confirming the results of researchers at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia. Those researchers first reported producing element 114 in 1999. Such independent verification is important, particularly given the evidence of fabricated results for other superheavy elements. If you're a subscriber to Physical Review Letters, you can download the full article."
Space

Astronomers Find the Calmest Place On Earth 231

Posted by Soulskill from the i-can-see-clearly-now dept.
The Narrative Fallacy writes "Live Science reports that astronomers in search of the perfect site to take pictures of the heavens have combined data from satellites, ground stations and climate models in a study to assess the many factors that affect image quality — cloud cover, temperature, sky-brightness, water vapor, wind speeds and atmospheric turbulence. They have pinpointed the coldest, driest, calmest place on earth, known simply as Ridge A, 13,297 feet high on the Antarctic Plateau. 'It's so calm that there's almost no wind or weather there at all,' says study leader Will Saunders, of the Anglo-Australian Observatory. 'The astronomical images taken at Ridge A should be at least three times sharper than at the best sites currently used by astronomers.' Located within the Australian Antarctic Territory, the site is 89 miles from the PLATO (PLATeau Observatory) international robotic observatory. The new site would be superior to the best existing observatories on high mountain tops in Hawaii and Chile, Saunders says. 'Because the sky there is so much darker and drier, it means that a modestly-sized telescope would be as powerful as the largest telescopes anywhere else on earth.'"
Cellphones

PS3-Compatible Phone Coming In October 92

Posted by Soulskill from the wonder-if-you-can-use-home-away-from-home dept.
SpuriousLogic sends along this quote from CVG: 'You may remember reports of Sony's flashy Aino phone earlier this year which can, among other things, connect to a PS3 via Remote Play, giving you full access to your XMB through its tiny screen. Well, Sony's revealed that the Aino is now just weeks away from release in October, and spewed all the details prospective buyers need to know about the device. ... Remote Play with Aino lets you turn your PS3 on and off, browse and control the XMB and access the internet browser from anywhere in the world. Remote Play also lets you control and access the hard drive's media content on the PS3 using the built-in WiFi or 3G connections via Aino. You can also access the PlayStation Store via Remote Play or chat with friends via the PlayStation Network. It is also possible to buy and download a new game from the Store via Aino so it is ready and waiting for you when you get home.'
Medicine

Augmented Reality In a Contact Lens 196

Posted by CmdrTaco from the lookit-them-wires-in-there dept.
Toe, The writes "Bionanotechnology researcher Babak A Parviz writes about his research toward producing a computer interface in a contact lens. At the moment, they have only embedded a single LED, but they foresee a much more complex interface such as detailed in Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End. Such lenses potentially could also read human bio-information from the eye, providing medical information on the order of what is now taken from blood tests, but on a continuous basis. An example would be monitoring glucose levels for diabetics. The author states that, 'All the basic technologies needed to build functional contact lenses are in place,' and details what refinements and advances will be necessary to bring this technology to reality."
Sci-Fi

Cameron's Avatar Trailer Posted 278

Posted by CmdrTaco from the costs-a-little-more-than-district-9 dept.
graviplana was one of several people to submit that Avatar, James Cameron's 3D Sci-Fi epic has released a trailer to whet your appetite. There's a lot of very cool visual elements in there but no indication of any actual story. Here's hoping there is one.
It's funny. Laugh.

Researcher Trolls MMO, Surprised When Players Hate Him 895

Posted by Soulskill from the match-made-in-heaven dept.
D1gital_Prob3 writes with this excerpt from a story about David Myers, a Loyola professor who spent some time studying superhero MMO City of Heroes/Villains: "... he aimed the pointer at his opponent, the virtual comic book villain 'Syphris.' Myers, 55, flicked the buttons on his mouse and magically transported his opponent to the front of a cartoon robot execution squad. In an instant, the squad pulverized the player. Syphris fired an instant message at Myers moments later. 'If you kill me one more time I will come and kill you for real and I am not kidding.' ... As part of his experiment, Myers decided to play the game by the designers' rules — disregarding any customs set by the players. His character soon became very unpopular. At first, players tried to beat him in the game to make him quit. Myers was too skilled to be run off, however. They then made him an outcast, a World Wide Web pariah that the creator of Syphris — along with hundreds of other faceless gamers — detested."

Comment Re:Feeling a huge sense of meh towards starcraft 2 (Score 1) 737

by FloodSpectre (#28557073) Attached to: Blizzard Confirms No LAN Support For <em>Starcraft 2</em>
I'll agree with your opinion on the AI, but unfortunately most games have pretty laughable AI. The best I've seen thus far are all custom AIs used in both Total Annihilation and the Spring engine. They can be downloaded just like new units, maps and mods. It's a pretty cool mod concept, really, and makes playing skirmishes against the computer much more enjoyable.

Comment Re:Feeling a huge sense of meh towards starcraft 2 (Score 1) 737

by FloodSpectre (#28551525) Attached to: Blizzard Confirms No LAN Support For <em>Starcraft 2</em>

"Supreme Commander has abysmal AI, and neither it nor the latest C&C features formations."

Wrong. In Supreme Commander, you hold the right mouse button and left click when units are selected. This cycles through the many available formations. Furthermore, in SupCom the units do not move in a straight line as the parent noted about SC1, instead they will by default spread out and move forward in a sort of wall formation with artillery and weaker but longer ranged units staying behind the front line.

Maybe you tried out Supreme Commander, but it seems you didn't check the manual at all, or perhaps just watched the intro and gave up on it.

You also forgot about Homeworld. There is no RTS that plays quite like it in full 3d space. With formations.
Privacy

Senators Want To Punish Nokia, Siemens Over Iran 392

Posted by kdawson from the no-cookies-for-you dept.
fast66 writes "After hearing about Nokia-Siemens sale of Internet-monitoring software to Iran, US Senators Schumer and Graham want to bar them from receiving federal contracts. They planned the action after hearing about a joint venture of Nokia Corp. of Finland and Siemens AG of Germany that sold a sophisticated Internet-monitoring system to Iran in 2008. According to Nextgov.com, Schumer and Graham's bill would require the Obama administration to identify foreign companies that export sensitive technology to Iran and ban them from bidding on federal contracts, or renew expiring ones, unless they first stop exports to Iran."

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