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Games

Submission + - EA Editor Criticizes Command & Conquer 4 DRM (cpureview.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Green wrote on his Twitter account late last week: "Booted twice — and progress lost — on my single-player C&C4 game because my DSL connection blinked. DRM fail. We need new solutions," continuing later, "Well. I've tried to be open-minded. But my 'net connection is finicky — and the constant disruption of my C&C4 SP game makes this unplayable. The story is fun, the gameplay is interesting and different at least — but if you suffer from shaky/unreliable DSL — you've been warned."

Additional source URL: http://www.neoseeker.com/news/13423-ea-editor-criticizes-command-conquer-4-drm/

Piracy

Submission + - New Ubisoft DRM Cracked Within One Day Of Release (rlslog.net)

DemonBeaver writes: There has been a great uproar about Ubisoft's new DRM scheme lately, deemed uncrackable by the company, draconian and user-unfriendly by many gamers, since it requires a constant connection to their servers at any time, and boots you out of the game in case that connection drops.
One day after the release of Silent Hunter 5, the first game to implement the new scheme, it has been cracked.

Image

Scientists Discover Booze That Won't Give You a Hangover Screenshot-sm 334

Kwang-il Kwon and Hye Gwang Jeong of Chungnam National University have discovered that drinking alcohol with oxygen bubbles added leads to fewer hangovers and a shorter sobering up time. People drinking the bubbly booze sobered up 20-30 minutes faster and had less severe and fewer hangovers than people who drank the non-fizzy stuff. Kwon said: "The oxygen-enriched alcohol beverage reduces plasma alcohol concentrations faster than a normal dissolved-oxygen alcohol beverage does. This could provide both clinical and real-life significance. The oxygen-enriched alcohol beverage would allow individuals to become sober faster, and reduce the side effects of acetaldehyde without a significant difference in alcohol's effects. Furthermore, the reduced time to a lower BAC may reduce alcohol-related accidents."
Google

Submission + - Mozilla exec urges users ditch Google for Bing (arstechnica.com)

Garabito writes: Asa Dotzler, Mozilla's director of community development, saw Google CEO Eric Schmidt's recent comments about privacy and quickly posted his thoughts on his blog. His solution is a link to the Bing add-on for Firefox.
Television

Submission + - Hulu to Start Charging for Content in 2010 (broadcastingcable.com)

suraj.sun writes: News Corp. Deputy Chairman Chase Carey opened the B&C OnScreen summit to discuss where he sees the business going. “It’s time to start getting paid for broadcast content online,” he said.

“I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value,” Carey said. “Hulu concurs with that, it needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of its business.”

Carey says that while throwing up a pay-wall around all content is not the answer, it doesn’t mean there wont be fees for some specially-created content and TV previews. Mobile Hulu is another potential way of making money.

Broadcasting & Cable : http://www.broadcastingcable.com/blog/ADverse_Atkinson_on_Advertising/23941-Chase_Carey_Hulu_to_Charge_in_2010.php?nid=2228&source=title&rid=6454445

Spam

Submission + - Nigeria shuts down scam websites (breitbart.com)

mi writes: "Nigeria's anti-corruption police said Friday they had shut down some 800 scam websites and busted 18 syndicates of email fraudsters in a drive to curb cyber-crime the country is notorious for. 18 arrests were made. Maybe, the amount of "From the Desk of Dr. Foo Bar" e-mails will drop for a while."

Submission + - Windows 7 Demands Removal of Competitors Software (theregister.co.uk)

Foofoobar writes: Due to a strike with the UK's postal system, people in Great Britain are getting copies of Windows 7 early and have already posted their experiences about the install process. Some have an easy time but others post installs taking 3 hours including Windows asking them to remove iTunes and Google toolbar prior to installation.
The Internet

Submission + - How Would You Monitor Internet Access in the Home? 2

gwn writes: I googled this problem only to learn that I really need the help of folks who have a clue. I need your help Slashdot. I have been charged with the task of setting up a system to covertly monitor the internet use of some relatively tech savvy teenagers. The environment consists of a basic home network with each user accessing the internet with their machines through a common shared dsl connection. I am looking for suggestions on how to accomplish this. If you have had success with software installed on the client, proxy servers installed on the network, or sniffing software, etc., please let me know the details. The adults in this situation are simply concerned for the teens. And yes, they have talked to them, but know they are not getting the whole story.
The Internet

Submission + - Canadian Ruling on Traffic Shaping Practices (crtc.gc.ca)

An anonymous reader writes: "The CRTC today introduced a new framework to guide Internet service providers in their use of Internet traffic management practices. ISPs will be required to inform retail customers at least 30 days, and wholesale customers at least 60 days, before an Internet traffic management practice takes effect. At that time, ISPs will need to describe how the practice will affect their customers' service. The Commission encourages ISPs to make investments to increase network capacity as much as possible. However, the Commission realizes that ISPs may need other measures to manage the traffic on their networks at certain times. Technical means to manage traffic, such as traffic shaping, should only be employed as a last resort."

Submission + - Hacker blackmails ISP for unlimited Bandwitdh (adsl-bc.org)

abelchemoul writes: In Belgium, the biggest ISP (Belgacom/Skynet) is still capping the traffic on most of their offer (mine is 25Go a month), and most of other ISP do the same. Not for long? A hacker named Vendetta has published today login data from 1000 users. Apparently abusing an exploit from the router Skynet give to their clients, he threatens to release 1000 account data a week until end of november if the quotas aren't abolished.
From his post : "Be warned shitty ISPs, if you don\'t want me to share the exploit along with over 285.000 ADSL logins just stop this shitty bandwidth capping"

Transportation

Can Urine Rescue Hydrogen-Powered Cars? 313

thecarchik writes with this interesting excerpt: "It takes a lot of energy to split hydrogen out from the other atoms to which it binds, either in natural gas or water. Which means energy analysts are skeptical about the overall energy balance of cars fueled by hydrogen. Ohio University researcher Geraldine Botte has come up with a nickel-based electrode to oxidize (NH2)2CO, otherwise known as urea, the major component of animal urine. Because urea's four hydrogen atoms are less tightly bound to nitrogen than the hydrogen bound to oxygen in water molecules, it takes less energy to break them apart."

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