Lotharjade - Slashdot User

Submission + - Microsoft blames their customers for poor sales

Submitted by

coderpath

on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @08:41PM

coderpath writes: "Are you an Asian gamer? Have you bought your XBox 360 yet? Well Microsoft wants to know Whats Wrong With U?. Targeted at Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Singapore (not sure why they excluded Japan) it seems Microsoft is fed up with poor sales in Asian markets and is out to find out why. Is this a clever marketing ploy, or will it backfire?"

Submission + - Will Vista Run Your Games: The Final Word

Submitted by Sexy Commando on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @08:35PM

Sexy Commando writes: extremetech.com has an article on testing the compatibility of games on Windows Vista. They tested varieties of Steam-based games and OpenGL-base games like Doom3, and even some games that involves anti-cheating programs like PunkBuster and the dreaded copy-protection software, StarForce. Most games runs smoothly except some video driver hiccups. Notable quotes: 'Prey worked fine in a window, with the Aero glass effects still going on, Flip3D still worked, etc. So much for all those conspiracy theories about Vista somehow killing off OpenGL.' 'So let's break it down: Has Vista got game? The basic answer is that yes, Vista is a pretty great OS for gamers. Great, but not perfect.'

Journal SPAM: Mind Games 1

Journal by Jeremiah Cornelius on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @08:26PM

Mind Games
New on the Internet: a community of people who believe the government is beaming voices into their minds. They may be crazy, but the Pentagon has pursued a weapon that can do just that.

Submission + - Action Video Games Improve Eyesight

Submitted by

Dotnaught

on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @08:22PM

Dotnaught writes: "Gamers who play action video games such as Unreal Tournament or Quake for a few hours a day over the course of a month improved their ability to identify cluttered letters — a common vision test — according to new research from the University of Rochester, by way of InformationWeek. Tetris players, however, saw no such benefit. The research paper posits, "As video-game playing has become a ubiquitous activity in today's society, it is worth considering its potential consequences on perceptual and motor skills.""

Submission + - Steve Jobs' "Thoughts on Music"

Submitted by mikvo on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @08:18PM

mikvo writes: Steve Jobs has weighed in on the subject of online music and DRM. He provides an overview of the current state of affairs in online music distribution and outlines the possible future options. "The first alternative is to continue on the current course [and the] second alternative is for Apple to license its FairPlay DRM technology [and the] third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely." What do you think — is he right, or is he over-simplifying?

Submission + - Gift Guide for your Nerdy Valentine

Submitted by

TonyB

on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @08:13PM

TonyB writes: "about a guide for purchasing "Nerdy" gifts for your "Nerdy" valentine... Sapphire runs down ThinkGeek, JinX, and more for various gift ideas for valentines day. If you haven't got him/her something already — you might want to take a peak, or setup the pullout."

Submission + - Open letter from Steve Jobs regarding DRM

Submitted by on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @08:00PM

An anonymous reader writes: Apple has posted an online open letter from Steve Jobs regarding his thoughts on DRM and where we are headed. In it, Steve sees three choices on where we go from here. Either things continue as they are with each vendor using DRM to protect against music piracy, Apple opens its DRM to all competitors (and attempts to deal with the ensuing headaches resulting from the likely compromise of the DRM that would eventually follow), or the big 4 labels endorse selling music online without copy protection. Jobs also notes that approximately 22 billion songs were sold last year — 2 billion with online DRM, and 20 billion with no DRM on the standard CD format. He goes on to say that Apple would welcome getting rid of all DRM should the record labels allow it. Is this just a PR move by Apple or an indication of where they would like to see online music sales go in the future?

Submission + - Steve Jobs speaks out against DRM on music

Submitted by

ruiner13

on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @07:59PM

ruiner13 writes: "CNN/Money is running an article which quotes Steve Jobs as believing, as many Slashdot users do, that DRM is bad for their business.

Jobs said there appeared to be no benefit to the record companies to continue to sell more than 90 percent of their music without DRM on compact discs while selling the remaining small percentage of their music encumbered with a DRM system. "If such requirements were removed, the music industry might experience an influx of new companies willing to invest in innovative new stores and players. This can only be seen as a positive by the music companies."
The article also goes on to mention that Apple will be renegotiating the contracts with the major labels next month. Especially considering the legal action Apple is facing in Europe to make the iTunes music inter operable with other players, does this signal the end of FairPlay and the RIAA forcing DRM down people's throats?

The full text of Jobs' thoughts on the matter are posted on Apple's website."

Submission + - Microsoft SPURNED Gorbachev's appeal

Submitted by

sceptic-007

on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @07:59PM

sceptic-007 writes: "Today's news in Russia — as well as sources in English see a CNews.com article announced that Microsoft spurned appeal for clemency in one of the "anti-piracy" cases against a principal of a poor school pushed by Microsoft in rural Russia.

Disingeniously claiming that they have no part in this "criminal case initiated by .. public prosecutor's office in Russia" — a representative of the company was participating in prosecution and described by witnesses as "a fat bold man" — MS is "sure that the Russian courts will make a fair decision". (Read more.. ) "

Submission + - Big Macs More Deadly than HIV from Unprotected Sex

Submitted by LeDopore on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @07:53PM

LeDopore writes: My blog has an article showing that, according to CDC data, eating a fast food meal is between 5 and 50 times more deadly to Americans than the risk of contracting HIV through unprotected sex with a randomly-chosen American.

Psychoanalyzing Resident Evil and Silent Hill 67

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @07:47PM from the that's-some-seriously-screwed-up-stuff-there dept.

The Game Career Guide site has up a piece doing a psychological examination of horror games. The uber-successful series Resident Evil and Silent Hill go under the microscope, giving readers a look at the psychological archetypes the games elicit, while also discussing the titles from a gameplay standpoint. It is the author's contention that the RE series is the 'standard' for the genre, while Silent Hill games shake up the gamer's viewpoint with 'avant-garde' elements. An interesting, and thoroughly academic look, at the modern face of gaming horror.

Submission + - Microsoft's Vista antivirus fails certification

Submitted by on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @07:46PM

An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft's much-hyped anti-virus solution, Live OneCare, as well as McAfee's VirusScan Enterprise, G DATA's AntiVirusKit 2007, and Norman's VirusControl all failed to pass a series of tests that are required to achieve the Virus Bulletin's VB100 certification, according to this report. "With the number of delays that we've seen in Vista's release, there's no excuse for security vendors not to have got their products right by now,' said John Hawes, technical consultant at Virus Bulletin.

Submission + - Salami Slicing comes of Age

Submitted by

Shimes

on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @07:39PM

Shimes writes: "A UK Bank has come of age and we finally have a salami slice system worthy of geeks everywhere (or at least in the good ol' UK).

Lloyds TSB are proposing a new saving's account where every transaction is rounded upto the next pound, and the resultant pennies are dropped into a savings account — and its all legal. Richard Pryor eat your heart our!"

Submission + - Freedom of speach or lawyers reputation?

Submitted by

lenart

on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @07:36PM

lenart writes: "A dutch litigator who devends the 'big fish' in Holland was accused by a journalist of the magazine Quote to play a dubious role in the criminal ciruit in Holland. After remarking that he found it strange that the litigator (Bram Moszkowicz) devended criminals who seemed to be on opposing sides in the criminal world (a.k.a. planned to kill eachother). The litigator proceded to do what they do best. Sue the guy. To smooth things over the journalist proceeded to close the forum on which readers were post comments about the subject. This however does not seem to be enough for our dear litigator as the trail went ahead as planned today. As it seems dutch people are allowed to voice their oppinion unless it is something bad about someone who has a lot of money and the right friends. In that case the law will shut us up. See here for the reaction of the journalist. (Sorry for the dutch, babelfish will clear up most)"

Submission + - Microsoft Locking-up Educators ...

Submitted by trendadue on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @07:26PM

trendadue writes: Published in the New York Times — Microsoft is letting the boom drop on a teacher that purchased Microsoft's OS, claiming that the software was not legally licensed:

"The case of the teacher, Aleksandr Ponosov, has drawn wide public attention in Russia, in part because the principal says he innocently purchased computers with the unauthorized Windows software already installed." (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/06/technology/06pi rate.html).

Maybe they should be using Linux and related open-source software — this would probably reduce the chances of getting hauled off to Siberia over a misunderstanding.

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