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PlayStation (Games)

Submission + - EA to charge for game demos (allegedly-speaking.com)

Submitted by Kohato
Kohato writes: Electronic Arts wants you to start paying for your demos. That's not how they would word it of course, they're calling it "premium downloadable content" that will launch before the game is released.
The always controversial Michael Pachter sat in on a Electronic Arts investor meeting today in which the world's second largest publisher laid out this diabolical plot...
Education

Submission + - Lie-in for teenagers sees drop in absenteeism (bbc.co.uk) 1

Submitted by krou
krou writes: Monkseaton High School in North Tyneside, UK, began an experiment in October that saw its 800 pupils ranging in age from 13-19 attend school an hour later than normal at 10am. Early results indicate that 'general absence has dropped by 8% and persistent absenteeism by 27%'. Head teacher Paul Kelley supported the idea because he believed that 'it was now medically established that it was better for teenagers to start their school day later in terms of their mental and physical health and how they learn better in the afternoon', and he now claims that the children are becoming 'happier better educated teenagers' as a result of the experiment. The experiment is being overseen by Oxford neuroscience professor Russell Foster. 'He performed memory tests on pupils at the school which suggested the more difficult lessons should take place in the afternoon. He said young people's body clocks may shift as they reach their teenage years — meaning they want to get up later not because they are lazy but because they are biologically programmed to do.'

Comment Re:anyone know of an evolutionary purpose to owl-i (Score 2, Insightful) 234

by halsver (#31398682) Attached to: Insomniacs, the Phantoms of the Internet

IANAD, but your example of the appendix is not a clear cut case. How most of the human body actually functions on a microbial level is not understood. The appendix could serve a function that is perhaps redundant, but helpful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermiform_appendix#Possible_secondary_functions

Comment Re:In a bind (Score 5, Insightful) 865

by halsver (#28547817) Attached to: Staying In Shape vs. a Busy IT Job Schedule?

At the bare minimum, you need to move closer to where you work. Your commute is costing you your health and is eating your paycheck. Looking at the money you are making versus the costs, you might be better off working at the 7-11 down the street.

Where does your social life fit in to this? I know when I work a 60+ hour week I need the weekend just to unwind, let alone see friends or do things I enjoy.

My solution, get an apartment within 5 miles of your work and then ride a bicycle there.
Communications

Submission + - Verizon Sells Phone Lines in 14 States (wsj.com)

Submitted by gmagill
gmagill writes: Quoted from article: "Verizon Communications Inc. agreed to sell local phone businesses in 14 states to Frontier Communications Corp. in a deal valued at $8.6 billion, the latest move by Verizon to focus on markets that are better tailored to its fiber-optic services."
The Courts

Submission + - Judge in Pirate Bay case formally scrutinized 2

Submitted by metacell
metacell writes: The judge in the Pirate Bay case, who was accused of being partial due to being a member of pro-IP organizations and having several connections to the prosecution's lawyers, will be formally scrutinized. The appeals court has selected Anders Eka to perform the scrutiny. Anders Eka is himself a member of a research team at Stockholm University, together with the prosecution's two lawyers, Monique Wadsted and Peter Danowsky.
Article in Swedish, sorry!
http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/musik/the-pirate-bay-nya-turer-i-javsfragan-1.870677
The Courts

Submission + - Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor's Cyberlaw Record

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Thomas O'Toole writes that President Obama's choice for Associate Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, authored several cyberlaw opinions regarding online contracting law, domain names, and computer privacy while on the Second Circuit. Judge Sotomayor wrote the court's 2002 opinion in Specht v. Netscape Communications Corp., an important online contracting case. In Specht, the Second Circuit declined to enforce contract terms that were available behind a hyperlink that could only be seen by scrolling down on a Web page (pdf). "We are not persuaded that a reasonably prudent offeree in these circumstances would have known of the existence of license terms," wrote Sotomayor. Judge Sotomayor wrote an opinion in a domain name case, Storey v. Cello Holdings LLC in 2003 that held that an adverse outcome in an administrative proceeding under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy did not preclude a later-initiated federal suit (pdf) brought under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA). In Leventhal v. Knapek, a privacy case, Judge Sotomayor wrote for the Second Circuit that New York state agency officials and investigators did not violate a state employee's Fourth Amendment rights when they searched the contents of his office computer for evidence of unauthorized use of state equipment. While none of these cases may mean much as far as what Judge Sotomayor will do as an Associate Supreme Court Justice "if confirmed, she will be the first justice who has written cyberlaw-related opinions before joining the court," writes O'Toole."
The Military

Submission + - Pentagon Plans New Arm to Wage CyberWars 3

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "The NY Times reports that the Pentagon plans to create a new military command for cyberspace, administration officials say, stepping up preparations by the armed forces to conduct both offensive and defensive computer warfare. Obama is expected to sign a classified order in coming weeks that will create the military cybercommand, The decision to create a cybercommand is a major step beyond the actions taken by the Bush administration, which authorized several computer-based attacks but never resolved the question of how the government would prepare for a new era of warfare fought over digital networks. The main dispute has been over whether the Pentagon or the National Security Agency should take the lead in preparing for and fighting cyberbattles. Under one proposal still being debated, parts of the NSA would be integrated into the military command so they could operate jointly. Officials declined to describe potential offensive operations, but said they now viewed cyberspace as comparable to more traditional battlefields. "We are not comfortable discussing the question of offensive cyberoperations, but we consider cyberspace a war-fighting domain," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. "We need to be able to operate within that domain just like on any battlefield, which includes protecting our freedom of movement and preserving our capability to perform in that environment.""
Sci-Fi

Half-Life Short Film Grabs Attention 72

Posted by Soulskill from the also-grabs-a-crowbar dept.
switchfeet writes "For any of you Half-Life fans out there, this new short film based on the game by The Purchase Brothers is really garnering some attention on pretty much every gaming site out there. 'It's a mixture of live action and game footage, and makes smart use of in-game sound effects, and some really fantastic location hunting. ... The Purchase Bros describe the production as 'guerilla style with no money, no time, no crew, no script, the first two episodes were made from beginning to end on a budget of $500.'"
Businesses

Submission + - Valve now sells in Euro, USD to EURO rates: 1:1

Submitted by nautsch
nautsch writes: The online distribution platform of valve, Steam (Steampowered.com), has just introduce new pricing for big parts of the rest of the world outside of the US. Steam News. The funny thing is, that the rates between Euro and USD are 1:1, which is kind of a price increase of up to 50%. European customers feel ripped of and theres a thread in their forum which got 1000 replies in under two days (Steam forum thread.

Anyone else thinks, that valve has made a horrible mistake?

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