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Games

New WoW Patch Brings Cross-Server Instances 342

Posted by Soulskill from the new-and-shiny dept.
ajs writes "World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King expansion was staggered into 4 phases. The fourth and final phase, patch 3.3, was released on Tuesday. This patch is significant in that it will be the first introduction of one of the most anticipated new features in the game since PvP arenas: the cross-realm random dungeon, as well as the release of new end-game dungeons for 5, 10 and 25-player groups. The patch notes have been posted, and so has a trailer. The ultimate fight against the expansion's antagonist, the Lich King a.k.a. Arthas, will be gated as each of the four wings of the final dungeon are opened in turn — a process that may take several months. The next major patch after 3.3 (presumably 4.0) will be the release of Cataclysm, the next expansion."
Government

Submission + - AT&T Askes Employees to Fake it (savetheinternet.com)

Submitted by oracle_of_power
oracle_of_power writes: Apparently AT&T Senior Executive Vice President James Cicconi sent a message to the peons asking them to "fake it" in the fight for net neutrality. So what does one of the peons do? Forward it to the press of course.

From the article:
For example: Cicconi suggests that employees write that Net Neutrality will “jeopardize efforts to deliver high-speed Internet services to every American.” Yet he’s unable to provide any rationale for this claim, other than saying that universal access is a goal that “can't be met with rules that halt private investment in broadband infrastructure.”

Submission + - Open Source: 'World should follow France' (i-cio.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: One of Europe's leading open source experts, Roberto Di Cosmo — Italian professor of computer science in Paris and former head of French government's open source policy group — talks in this interview with i-cio.com about the massive returns and control the French government got from various open source projects and why the rest of the world will have to follow the French example. There's also a video of the interview.
PHP

Submission + - Zend ushers PHP onto cloud of clouds â The Re (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by rivetrider
rivetrider writes: Zend calls it the Simple API for Cloud Application Services. The idea is to provide a single programming interface for file storage, document database, simple queue, and other application services offered by the likes of Amazon, Rackspace, and, yes, Microsoft.
Click here to find out more!

"This project allows developers to get all of the scalability and high-availability and other advantages of the cloud while maintaining portability," Wil Sinclair, the Zend man who oversees the project, tells The Reg.
Science

Submission + - Scientist Says CO2 Doesn't Cause Global Warming (usnews.com)

Submitted by oracle_of_power
oracle_of_power writes: Geologist Leighton Steward believes that the earth needs more CO2 and that it does not cause global warming.

Worse, if CO2 levels are cut, he warns, food production will slow because plants grown at higher CO2 levels make larger fruit and vegetables and also use less water. He also said that higher CO2 levels are not harmful to humans. As an example, he said that Earth's atmosphere currently has about 338 parts per million of CO2 and that in Navy subs, the danger level for carbon dioxide isn't reached until the air has 8,000 parts per million of CO2.

Submission + - Terrorism at LHC 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Apparently an Algerian contract physicist working for LHCb ( one of the four experiments at LHC) was arrest based on suspicion on terrorist links:

"GENEVA (BNO NEWS) – A person working on the Large Hadron Collider beneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland has been arrested on suspicion of links to terrorist organizations, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) said on Friday.

The suspect was arrested in Vienne, France on Thursday, according to CERN, who said he was arrested on suspicion of having links to terrorist organizations. The suspect is a physicist who was working on analysis projects with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN since 2003."

http://news.bnonews.com/vk8d
PC Games (Games)

The Future of Indie MMOGs 69

Posted by Soulskill from the don't-have-to-have-ten-million-subs-to-succeed dept.
Karen Hertzberg writes "Ask any 10 gamers what constitutes an 'indie MMO' and you'll probably get 10 different answers. But one definition that most can agree on is that an indie game lacks the financial support of a well-funded publisher. But do smaller budgets mean greater freedom? Ten Ton Hammer asked Nathan Richardsson, Executive Producer for CCP (developers of EVE Online), and Todd Harris, Executive Producer of Global Agenda, to share their thoughts on the bright future of independent MMOG development. 'By definition a niche market is a segment that is currently underserved by the mainstream providers. So, to serve that audience a developer typically needs to deliver something really different and innovative vs. just more of the same thing available elsewhere,' says Harris. 'With a big budget there could be a temptation to cover up stale gameplay by shoveling out more content or simply pumping up the marketing hype. However, for an indie developer such as Hi-Rez Studios, the game must stand on its own merits and we find that liberating.'"
Image

Verizon Sued After Tech Punches Customer In Face 493

Posted by samzenpus from the can-you-hit-me-now dept.
suraj.sun writes "A Verizon customer filed a lawsuit after the tech the company sent out got a little punchy. Instead of fixing the customer's problem, the tech allegedly hit him in the face. The New York Post says the tech attacked the customer after he asked to see some ID before allowing access to the apartment. From the article, '"You want to know my name? Here's my name," Benjamin snarled, slapping his ID card into Isakson's face, according to Isakson's account of the December 2008 confrontation. "The guy essentially snapped. He cold-cocked me, hit me two or three solid shots to the head while my hands were down," said Isakson, a limo driver. He said the pounding bloodied his face and broke his glasses. But things got uglier, Isakson said, when Benjamin squeezed him around the neck and pressed him up against the wall. "He's prepared to kill me," Isakson said. "That's all I could think of." The customer broke free and ran away. The Verizon tech then chased the customer until he was subdued by a neighbor who was an off-duty cop.'"
IBM

Submission + - IBM Scientists Build Computer Chips From DNA (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
snydeq
snydeq writes: "Scientists at IBM are experimenting with using DNA molecules as a way to create tiny circuits that could form the basis of smaller, more powerful computer chips. The technique builds on work done by Cal Tech's Paul Rothemund, who found that DNA molecules can be made to 'self-assemble' into tiny forms [PDF] such as triangles, squares and stars. 'To make a chip, the scientists first create lithographic templates using traditional chip making techniques. After, they pour a DNA solution over the surface of the silicon and the tiny triangles and squares — what the scientists call DNA origami — line themselves up to the patterns etched out using lithography.' DNA-based chips may sound like crackpot tech, but those involved believe the methodology could lead to a new way of fabricating features on the surface of chips that allows semiconductors to be made even smaller, faster and more power-efficient than they are today."

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