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Bot-avatar Pesters Second Life Users (For Science!) 124

Posted by CmdrTaco from the yeah-sure-it-is dept.
holy_calamity writes "A bot-controlled avatar that tracks down lone avatars in Second Life and purposely invades their personal space has been created by UK researchers. The idea was to see if users value their virtual personal space. Bots avatars are not encouraged by Linden Labs — although this one is being deployed by academics, presumably spam-avatars (spavatars?) won't be far behind."
Books

Submission + - Orson Scott Card Confirms Ender's Game Video Games (filefront.com)

Submitted by lymeca
lymeca writes: In an interview over at Gaming Today, Orson Scott Card confirms the development of an Ender's Game video game and elaborates on the multitude of potential future games in the Ender universe. He also talks about his experiences writing for and playing games, as well as why he believes games inherently never have the potential for storytelling on the level of novels and films. From the interview: "What makes a game work is the opposite of what makes a story work. In a story, you are seeking to find out what really happened — why people do what they do, what the results of their choices are. You identify with the character(s) but you do not control them. Instead, the author has the ultimate authority. ... In a game, the opposite illusion must be created. Even though most games absolutely force you to follow preset paths, the gamewrights try to give you the illusion that you are making free choices."
Music

RIAA Says Accused Students Are Settling 345

Posted by kdawson from the cheap-at-half-the-price dept.
As we've been reporting, the RIAA has been offering settlements to college students suspected of sharing music online. Reader Weather Storm notes that more than a quarter of the alleged music pirates have accepted the RIAA's offer. Quoting: "...an attorney Ohio University arranged to meet with its students... said $3,000 is the standard settlement offer, though cases have settled for as much as $5,000."
Games

Videogame Decency Act in Congress 73

Posted by Zonk from the and-there-it-shall-stay-forever-more dept.
GamePolitics reports on yet another attempt by lawmakers to make the world safe from the dangers of electronic entertainment. Entered by Representative Fred Upton, the bill spells out penalties for game companies that try to 'sneak' something past ESRB raters. Says Upton, "I guess I thought the FTC would have had some more teeth than they apparently have... I'm not at all happy... In essence there are no consequences. None... I would like to have thought that (Take-Two and Rockstar) would have been able to be fined for millions of dollars for the trash they put out across this country. I am going to be looking to write legislation giving the FTC the authority to impose civil penalties."
United States

Submission + - The Top 25 inventions of 2007

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Ever wonder where the next great idea will com from? Well, seems likely it could come from this group: The History Channel and Invent Now, a subsidiary of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, today named the Top 25 Inventions of 2007. These top 25 creators come from 17 states across the U.S. and their inventions cover a myriad categories, ranging from medical advancements such as a modular, information technology platform for motorized wheelchairs called the Gryphon Shield to environmental breakthroughs such as a green home powered by solar and geothermal energy. Other inventions include a shield designed to protect windows during hurricanes to a method that forces diesel engines to take in and re-use their own exhaust, reducing pollution. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1274 1"
Privacy

Subliminal Messages Might Actually Work 172

Posted by kdawson from the buy-popcorn-now dept.
GrumpySimon writes "New research indicates that subliminal messages may actually work. In a paper titled Attentional Load Modulates Responses of Human Primary Visual Cortex to Invisible Stimuli, Bahrani et al. demonstrate that even though stimuli may not be available to consciousness, they are processed by the visual cortex. While I'm sure that marketing agencies all over the world are rubbing their hands in glee at this news, the authors report that there's no evidence that this can make people buy things against their will. So with any luck the use of subliminal messages in advertising will remain an urban legend."

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