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Submission + - What happens when gaming auteurs try to go it alone? (redbull.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: As news that Cliff Bleszkinski, Epic Games' legendary former creative, sets off to found his own studio, a new article takes a look at how six other gaming auteurs have fared after leaving a major developer or publisher to go it alone. The results, surprisingly, are mixed: while some, such as Double Fine's Tim Schafer, have gone on to far greater success, it doesn't always work out that way: just look at John Romero's Daikatana. The article also makes a good point that Peter Molyneux is striking out with a start-up for the third in his career now, but it may not be third time the charm: Godus has been far less well received than Black & White or Fable. Can Cliffy B avoid making the same mistakes?

Submission + - Unattended maintenance windows

Submitted by grahamsaa
grahamsaa writes: Like many others in IT, I sometimes have to do server maintenance at unfortunate times. 6AM is the norm for us, but in some cases we're expected to do it as early as 2AM, which isn't exactly optimal. I understand that critical services can't be taken down during business hours, and most of our products are used 24 hours a day, but for some things it seems like it would be possible to automate maintenance (and downtime).

I have a maintenance window at about 5AM tomorrow. It's fairly simple — upgrade CentOS, remove a package, install a package, reboot. Downtime shouldn't be more than 5 minutes. While I don't think it would be wise to automate this window, I think with sufficient testing we might be able to automate future maintenance windows so I or someone else can sleep in. Aside from the benefit of getting a bit more sleep, automating this kind of thing means that it can be written, reviewed and tested well in advance. Of course, if something goes horribly wrong having a live body keeping watch is probably helpful. That said, we do have people on call 24/7 and they could probably respond capably in an emergency. Have any of you tried to do something like this? What's your experience been like?

Submission + - Germany's glut of electricity causing prices to plummet

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Germany is headed for its biggest electricity glut since 2011 as new coal-fired plants start and generation of wind and solar energy increases, weighing on power prices that have already dropped for three years. From December capacity will be at 117% of peak demand. The benchmark German electricity contract has slumped 36% since the end of 2010.

“The new plants will run at current prices, but they won’t cover their costs” said Ricardo Klimaschka, a power trader at Energieunion GmbH. Lower prices “leave a trail of blood in our balance sheet” according to Bernhard Guenther, CFO at RWE, Germany’s biggest power producer. Wind and solar’s share of installed German power capacity will rise to 42% by next year from 30% in 2010. The share of hard coal and lignite plant capacity will drop to 28% from 32%.

Submission + - Google admits tax laws need to change (afr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The managing director of Googleâ(TM)s Australia and New Zealand operations has called on governments to clarify grey areas in the global tax system and put an end to a blame game of shaming individual companies over transfer pricing practices. She said Google contributed to the economy in many areas, but the company supported the idea of changes in tax law.

Comment Re:intel and power efficiency (Score 1) 230

by aczisny (#47181163) Attached to: Intel Confronts a Big Mobile Challenge: Native Compatibility

The "ultra-low power" 2 core Haswell has a 35 w power budget.

There are many Haswell processors below 25W TDP, in fact that list is made up of most of the actual "ultra-low power" ones (U and Y branded). ARK will list every Haswell processor for you. Do they make lots of processors that draw more than 25W? Sure, but the trend has been flat or downward since the Core 2 release while providing more processing power (so regularly improving performance per watt). If they were binning to throw away anything over 25W they'd just end up with a lot of waste throwing away "bad" parts that work just fine in an environment that isn't that power constrained, like my local desktop. I know my processor is 84W because I wanted good performance when needed and for a desktop that level of power draw just isn't that relevant. When it's not working, it idles about the same as one of the better power bins.

Submission + - AMD, Nvidia, and developers weigh in on GameWorks controversy (extremetech.com)

Submitted by Dputiger
Dputiger writes: Since Nvidia debuted its GameWorks libraries there's been allegations that they unfairly disadvantaged AMD users or prevented developers from optimizing code. We've taken these questions to developers themselves and asked them to weigh in on how games get optimized, why Nvidia built this program, and whether its an attempt to harm AMD customers.

Submission + - QA Testing at EA and Netflix (acm.org)

Submitted by CowboyRobot
CowboyRobot writes: To millions of gamers, the position of QA (quality assurance) tester at Electronic Arts must seem like a dream job. But from the company's perspective, the overhead associated with QA can look downright frightening, particularly in an era of massively multi-player games. Hence the appeal of automated QA testing, which has the potential to be faster, more cost-effective, more efficient, and more scalable than manual testing. While automation cannot mimic everything human testers can do, it can be very useful for many types of basic testing. Still, it turns out the transition to automated testing is not nearly as straightforward as it might at first appear. Joining the discussion is Jafar Husain, a lead software developer for Netflix. Previously he worked at Microsoft, where one of his tasks involved creating the test environment for the Silverlight development platform.

Submission + - Ford's Bringing Adaptive Steering To The Masses

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: Most automakers have made the jump from hydraulic power steering to electronic power steering to help conserve fuel. By using an electric motor instead of a hydraulic system, less energy is drawn from the engine. Many luxury automakers have also introduced adaptive steering with the electronic power steering systems, but now Ford is looking to bring this feature to the masses. Adaptive steering builds on the existing speed-sensitive function of the electronic power steering system by altering the steering ratio and effort based on driver inputs and settings. The system uses a precision-controlled actuator placed inside the steering wheel. It's an electric motor and gearing system that can essentially add or subtract from the driver's steering inputs. This will make the vehicle easier to maneuver at low speeds, and make a vehicle feel more stable at high speeds. The system will be offered on certain Ford vehicles within the next 12 months.

Submission + - Oregon vs. Oracle: The Battle of Blame Heats Up

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: The ongoing efforts to assign responsibility for the disastrous attempts to create the Cover Oregon health exchange, the primary contractor for which was Oracle Corporation, have entered a new round, with Governor John Kitzhaber calling on State Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to initiate legal action against the firm. Kitzhaber has also sought the help of Washington D.C. in sanctioning Oracle, though Oregon's own management of the project and the terms of their contract with Oracle muddy the waters, considerably. Although the AG's office hasn't committed to filing suit, yet, AG Rosenblum has said, 'I share your determination to recover every dollar to which Oregon is entitled.' Although the outcome of this is uncertain, it is likely heads, both corporate and political, will roll.

Submission + - Google discriminates in favour of Asian employees - or what? 2

Submitted by Bruce66423
Bruce66423 writes: http://www.theguardian.com/tec...
The Guardian — a left wing newspaper — has a headline to this article that focuses on the absence of women and especially blacks. But given the 30% Asian headcount, it's dubious this is a function of discrimination against blacks, but that's how the left likes to portray it.

It's easy when you know how to spot the biases...

Submission + - President Said to Be Planning to Use Executive Authority on Carbon Rule (nytimes.com) 1

Submitted by Lasrick
Lasrick writes: This is pretty significant: President Obama will use his executive authority to cut carbon emissions from the nation’s coal-fired power plants by up to 20 percent, according to people familiar with his plans, and will force industry to pay for the pollution it creates through cap-and-trade programs across the country.

Submission + - What games can you no longer complete? (redbull.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Games are longer than ever — after all, storage and memory are no longer real issues — and that's perhaps why we've seen such a change in game difficulty over the years. Now games like Dark Souls are the exceptions that prove the rule — and as a group of games journalists reveal in a new confessional article, they\'re no longer able to complete the games they once had the patience and dexterity to power through when they were younger. From Donkey Kong Country to Revenge Of The Shinobi, this list is a brutal reminder of just how challenging, and sometimes repetitive, early games were.

Submission + - EIA Trillion Dollar Monterey Shale Estimate Cut By 96%, US Shale Oil Cut By 2/3

Submitted by steam_cannon
steam_cannon writes: The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA.gov) is planning to release a major 96% reserve downgrade to the amount of oil and gas recoverable from the Monterey Shale formation, one of the largest oil/gas reserves in the United States. After several years of intensified exploration the Monterey oil shale play seems to have much less recoverable oil and gas then previously hoped. This is due to multiple factors such as the more complex rippled geology of the shale and over-hyped recovery estimates by investors. By official estimates the Monterey Shale formation makes up 2/3 of the shale reserves in the US and by some estimates 1/3 of all crude reserves in the US. Not a drop in the bucket. Next Month the EIA.gov will be announcing cutting it's estimates for Monterey by 96%. That's a huge blow to the US energy portfolio, trillions of dollars, oil and gas the US might have used for itself or exported. Presently the White House is evaluating making changes to US oil export restrictions so this downgrade may result in changes to US energy policy. As well as have a significant impact on US economy and the economy of California.

News Sources:
http://www.latimes.com/busines...
http://www.businessinsider.com...

Discussions:
http://peakoil.com/forums/mont...

Additional References:
"Monterey Shale...Comprising two-thirds of the United States’s total estimated shale oil reserves" (2013)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02...

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