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Comment Re:Depends on the guild, I guess (Score 1) 54

by WreathOfBarbs (#21675815) Attached to: How They 3D Print Your WoW Character
I agree. I tried the Raiding Guild business and ended up feeling like a slave to the DKP grind, always having to stay on top of the DKP pile just in case that special epic dropped. I finally just walked away from the loot drama and my DKP and went back to my old guild of friends. We don't raid 25 mans, but I can grind like nobody's business so I have my epics, but they are all crafted, world drops or Arena pieces. I feel good about the fact that my characters still kick ass even without being in a 'leet raiding guild. And yeah, for the most part, my guildies are my friends since the ones that are only concerned about loot left a long time ago for more progressed guilds.
Supercomputing

Submission + - NVIDIA Tesla High Performance Computing Products (pcper.com)

Submitted by
SuperComPute
SuperComPute writes: "NVIDIA is taking the wraps off a new product line dubbed Tesla comprising of desktop, deskside and rack mount server based hardware solutions for high-performance supercomputing. They are offering up add-in cards that will install in existing systems, a "deskside" solution that is really dual add-in cards in an external case and 1U rack mount systems featuring up to four of these cards. Basically rebranded G80 graphics cores, the Tesla line up will not have monitor connections and will still use SLI connections for some data communication. Claiming up to 2 Teraflops per 1U server, NVIDIA is hoping that this will make a big impact in the HPC world. PC Perspective has a nice summary of the products being launched today with photos, specs and prices starting at $1500."
Biotech

Submission + - Bush Vetoes Popular Stem Cell Research Bill (lawbean.com)

Submitted by Spamicles
Spamicles writes: President George W. Bush has vetoed legislation to expand federally funded embryonic stem cell research, triggering an uphill battle in the Democratic-led Congress to override him. Critics called the presidential order a sham and said he should have signed into law the stem-cell bill, which polls show is backed by more than 60 percent of American voters who see the measure as a way combat a host of illnesses. Backers note the legislation would only permit scientists to use embryos left over from fertility treatments that would otherwise be discarded.
Software

Submission + - How can we keep software from being lost forever?

Submitted by TheRealMindChild
TheRealMindChild writes: Recently, I obtained a contract who ran some system critical applications on Windows NT 4.0 Embedded machines. They have been having problems with the system crashing and the application failing. Inspecting the machine, core DLL files were corrupt enough that they weren't even recognized as executables by utilities like depends.exe. It was pretty obvious that the system image needed rebuilt (no backup... how lucky). The client INSISTS that we not upgrade the system to a more recent Windows Embedded product. The previous contractor who set up the systems took all of the software with him, and convieniently, he can't be located. So I start my search for a copy of Windows NT 4.0 Embedded, somewhere... anywhere. Simply put, it can not be found, legally or otherwise. Contract issues aside, it started really getting me down that software can actually be lost in time. It is a sad state of affairs, as such things can be learning tools for the future, if even only about the history of how things progressed. Is there some sane manner of which we can keep this from happening? What are some solutions?

On a similar note, Magnussoft Zeta 1.5, released this year, seems also as impossible to find anymore. Ignoring the legal implications, this bit of BeOS history is quite a milestone for so many reasons. I went through contacting everyone that has even reviewed this operating system, and they all either threw it away or gave it to a friend (who convieniently doesn't have it anymore either). Something needs to preserve our software history, but I am completely lost on what I/we can do.
Google

Submission + - Google's new lobbying power in Washington

Submitted by *SECADM
*SECADM writes: Learning from Microsoft's error, Google is builds a lobbying power house in Washington. "... Two years ago, Google was on the verge of making that Microsoft-like error. Davidson, then a 37-year-old former deputy director of the Center for Democracy & Technology, was the search-engine company's sole staff lobbyist in Washington. As recently as last year, Google co-founder Sergey Brin had trouble getting meetings with members of Congress. To change that, Google went on a hiring spree and now has 12 lobbyists and lobbying-related professionals on staff here — more than double the size of the standard corporate lobbying office — and is continuing to add people."
Biotech

Submission + - FAA plan looks to clean up the skies (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "On top of its recently announced plan to reduce flight delays, Federal Aviation Administration officials today launched what they hope will be pan U.S. and European Union joint action plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft. Specifically the group announced the Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions or AIRE — the first large-scale environmental plan aimed at uniting aviation players from both sides of the Atlantic.A couple things the alliance will work on: -Trajectory-based operations on the ground to minimize aircraft flight time. -Collaborative oceanic trajectory optimization, which promises major fuel reduction at cruise. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1652 7"
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - New Duke Nukem Screen?

Submitted by Conception
Conception writes: They really mean business this time. Yesterday a new and crappy scan of Duke Nukem Forever appeared on the 3D Realms forums. The image shows a dark room filled with stuff that can't be expressed properly by a non-hardcore fan like me. After various scan and photoshop jobs however, the first better quality images were uploaded and ... I still can't make out what the hell is going on. Maybe this is a Chinese myth dragon or something, I don't know. Hopefully a high resolution picture will be released soon.
Google

Submission + - Google and other Ajaxy sites sabotaging IE?

Submitted by Joe Latone
Joe Latone writes: Remember when MS was accused of doing dirty things with IE that would cause it not to work properly on other (competitors') sites? As a Web site owner, you had to make sure IE worked with your site, otherwise people wouldn't visit it. I'm starting to wonder if the opposite is starting to happen, with sites perhaps sabotaging IE now that we have a viable alternative browser, and if others are experiencing anything similar: I often run into a problem with Ajax-heavy sites eating up my CPU in the background, and these are sites I need to visit, e.g., Gmail, Google Reader. I cannot just stop visiting the site, and it's so annoying, I downloaded Firefix and started using it to see if it will fix my problem. OK, I'll stop reading conspiracy novels.
Robotics

Submission + - Nasa Frees Their Robotics Software (mrfuture.com)

Submitted by kremvax
kremvax writes: It's a field day for robotics hackers everywhere, as NASA releases the first installment of their CLARAty reusable robotic software framework to the public. According to the JPL press release, these modules contain everything from math infrastructure to device drivers for common motors and cameras, and computer vision, image, and 3D processing.
User Journal

Submission + - Nanostructured materials empower energy advances

Submitted by
eeJones
eeJones writes: "Recent developments at the Center for Nanostructure Characterization and Fabrication at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Georgia aim to change the face of energy generation at both a micro and macro level. Both technology advancesone for hydrogen converters and the other for energy harvestinginvolve use of nanofabricated materials whose structure is critical to improved energy efficiency. http://www.electronicproducts.com/ShowPage.asp?Fil eName=olrc01.jun2007.html"
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft flip-flops on Vista virtualization

Submitted by
Geeky Gal
Geeky Gal writes: "Microsoft's Windows Vista team is eating crow after flip-flopping on its on-again, off-again decision to allow cheaper versions of Vista to be used in virtualized machines. The company was all set to announce June 20 that the lower-cost Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium could be used in virtual machines, and that it had lifted its prohibition on the use of information rights management, digital rights management and its BitLocker data encryption service in a virtual machine. A spokesman for the Vista team even told eWeek in a prebrief (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2148526,00.a sp) that: "We are responding to virtualization enthusiast, partner, press and analyst feedback that end users should be able to make educated choices on security rather than Microsoft making those choices for them via the End User License Agreement." But then something happened that resulted in a 180-degree turnaround in Microsoft's position, with a company spokesperson telling eWEEK late on June 19 that "Microsoft has reassessed the Windows virtualization policy and decided that we will maintain the original policy announced last fall.""
Enlightenment

Submission + - Ray Kurzweil: The smartest futurist on Earth

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: From the Fortune article: Kurzweil, however, has something bigger on his mind than just making money — after half a lifetime studying trends in technological change, he believes he's found a pattern that allows him to see into the future with a high degree of accuracy. The secret is something he calls the Law of Accelerating Returns, and the basic idea is that the power of technology is expanding at an exponential rate. Mankind is on the cusp of a radically accelerating era of change unlike anything we have ever seen, he says, and almost more extreme than we can imagine. (The full story >> )
Privacy

Submission + - Phone Tracker To Keep Pupils Safe?

Submitted by Crisp
Crisp writes: The BBC has an article on a new system that tracks students locations via their mobile phones. From the article:

"A system that tracks students through their mobile phones is among the new technologies being developed to help improve security at America's universities — something increasingly of concern since the tragic events at Virginia Tech in April. College officials are increasingly looking to technology, from automated building lockdowns to campus-wide text messaging, to respond to campus emergencies."

This smells like a knee jerk reaction which could be abused with very little effort, under the front of safety. Is this genuinely for the safety of students or a stealth surveillance infrastructure setup?

NVIDIA's 8800 Ultra Provides Performance at a Price 88

Posted by CmdrTaco from the pixels-and-vectors-and-shading-oh-my dept.
Mighty Mouse writes "Hardware review sites across the web have published reviews on NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 Ultra. The response appears to be fairly lukewarm at the moment, mainly thanks to its incredibly high asking price. Bit-tech tested the 8800 Ultra in eight different games at three resolutions, finding it to be on average about 10% faster. TechReport's Scott Wasson reviewed the card using another good selection of games, while HotHardware had the chance to check out SLI performance."

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