Comment Re:Because His Book Tells Us So... (Score 1) 473
Well, to be fair, he has his degrees in astronomy and physics, and has worked for NASA.
Dead Space 2 Announced 56
Electronic Arts announced on Monday that their popular survival-horror game Dead Space is officially getting a sequel. According to the press release, it's being developed for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. There's speculation that Dead Space 2 may include some form of multiplayer, after an EA job opening was spotted on LinkedIn that mentioned multiplayer level design for the franchise.
Infinity Ward Fights Against Modern Warfare 2 Cheaters 203
Faithbleed writes "IW's Robert Bowling reports on his twitter account that Infinity Ward is giving 2,500 Modern Warfare 2 cheaters the boot. The news comes as the war between IW and MW2's fans rages over the decision to go with IWnet hosting instead of dedicated servers. Unhappy players were quick to come up with hacks that would allow their own servers and various other changes."
Despite the dedicated-server complaints, Modern Warfare 2 has sold ridiculously well.
Proton Beams Sent Around the LHC 115
feldhaus writes "The BBC reports that the first beams for over one year have been successfully sent around the complete circumference of the Large Hadron Collider. Engineers do not yet have a stable circulating beam but they hope to by 0600 GMT on Saturday."
Submission + - Europeans Protest Direct Assult On Net Neutrality
ouphie writes: From Blackout Europe: 'The internet as we know it is at risk because of proposed new EU rules going through end of April. Under the proposed new rules, broadband providers will be legally able to limit the number of websites you can look at, and to tell you whether or not you are allowed to use particular services. It will be dressed up as 'new consumer options' which people can choose from. People will be offered TV-like packages — with a limited number of options for you to access.'
The EU Parliament will be voting May 5th on whether or not to abolish the concept of net neutrality in Europe.
The EU Parliament will be voting May 5th on whether or not to abolish the concept of net neutrality in Europe.
Submission + - Lose Your Amazon Account And Your Kindle Dies (mobileread.com)
Mike writes: "If you buy a Kindle and some Kindle ebooks from Amazon, be careful of returning items. Amazon decided that one person had returned too many things, so they suspended his Amazon account, which meant that he could no longer buy any Kindle books, and any Kindle subscriptions he's paid for stop working. After some phone calls, Amazon granted him a one-time exception and reactivated his account again. How many people know that when you buy a Kindle, you are really buying a service, and that service can be turned off at a whim? Is it reasonable that the Kindle is so closely tethered to Amazon this way, and that they can invalidate purchases made after the fact?"
Submission + - Battlefield Heroes - Impressions, Screen Shots and (testfreaks.com)
dampeal writes: "EA was kind enough to send me over an invite for the closed beta of Battlefield Heroes, and I was told to keep tight-lipped about it until 9am Eastern Time April 16th, which is today, or right now, or whatever time it is you're reading this! So I've got a ton of screen shots for you, along with some of my impressions and a few HD in-game movies as well.. Read more HERE"
Submission + - First Canadian company FINALLY certified ISO 27001 (gardienvirtuel.com)
Marco Estrela writes: "Gardien Virtuel, First Canadian Company Certified ISO 27001
Laval (Quebec), April 15th, 2009. Gardien Virtuel Inc., leading IT security consultancy firm, announced today that it has received the ISO/CEI 27001 certification, becoming the first such company in Canada to receive the distinction. The certification audit was performed by the Canadian branch of Swiss organization SGS S.A. (Société Générale de Surveillance).
"Gardien Virtuel had to review its business practices to ensure compliance with the SGS's strict expectations. This distinction is the fruit of several months of hard work but the result is well worth it. Receiving the highest IT security level of certification in the world is something that I am very proud of," said Patrick Boucher, Gardien Virtuel's President and Founder."
Submission + - Microsoft outsouces KB (unionvoice.org)
An anonymous reader writes: Techsunite announces that Microsoft has used a poll result showing general dissatisfaction with their Knowledge Base as an excuse to outsource to China.
Submission + - SanDisk Sansa Fuze 2 GB Video MP3 Player (shoppingreviewer.com)
John writes: "I did quite a bit of research before buying this MP3 player. I'd gotten burned buying a cheapy previously and wanted something better. As far as I can tell, I made a great choice. The Fuze has a very sturdy construction compared to some others on the market. I've looked at the players of people at work and found them to be rather flimsily made in comparison. The sound quality is excellent, especially when you tweak the settings for particular styles of music. It's easy to use. The battery life is pretty good: 24 to 28 hours per charge usually. It charges pretty fast,too (about 30 to 45 minutes in my estimation. Another plus is that, with certain reusable battery chargers with a USB port on them, you can charge and listen at the same time. You can't do that when it's hooked up to the computer.
It's best feature, though, is the expandable memory slot. You can make a "mix card" featuring a specific type or mood of music or just continue adding an ever-changeable array of music to your player and you will never run out of space and never get bored with hearing the same batch of music all the time. Another good thing about it is the fact that the lock feature really locks it. On my old player, if you barely pushed any button while it was locked, it wasted battery power lighting up and telling you it was locked. The Fuze isn't nearly as sensitive and I tend to have to actually turn the wheel to get it to light up and activate. That really saves on the battery consumption!
I think it really only has a few drawbacks:
1. there's no clip built in to hook it onto your pocket or anything
2. if you get the silicon sleeve to get the clip on it, it makes the power button really hard to manipulate
3. the ear buds that come with it aren't my favorite (I replaced them with a pair of Sony headphones with the over-ear stabilizing hook so they don't fall out)
4. You can't go pick a particular artist or album to start on and still have it randomly play music from everything on the player. You have to play from either the "recently added" or "play all" menu to get it to randomly play from the whole catalog
5. The earphone plug really would be better if it was on the top, rather than the bottom of the player.
With the prices WAY down from when I originally purchased mine, the Fuze is an even more awesome deal now! I highly recommend it."
Comment Re:What's worse - the article or the summary? (Score 1) 113
Seriously, read some of the information about Horizons from the pre-blackout era if you can find it. You'll salivate, and wonder what the fuck happened, and why nobody is doing it today.
Actually, If you followed Vanguard throught it's development you'd have at least part of the answer to your question. So much of what was being pitched sounded so much like early Horizons. Right down to each races putting down their diferences to fight an encroaching army of undead, and regrouping in a rebuilt capital of New Tazoon, err New Targanor. The probelm is, pre-blackout Horizons was incredibly huge in scope. There is no way without major backing they could have got it out. Vanguard had the backing and one of the biggest names in the industry behind it, but they ran out of money twice: once when Microsoft let them go, and once again last month when SoE pulled the plug on Beta funding. That's the problem with creating huge and innovative MMO's they require so much development time and resources. Heck, the only truly polished MMO at launch was WoW and that's because it is a relatively small world and a simple rehash of what had gone before. Even then it still spent ages in development.