Comment Re:7 or 9 inch iPhones (Score 2, Informative) 197
They already do through iTunes, there just aren't a ton of them yet.
Comment Re:Mod parent down (Score 1) 507
Not true, I watched a review online and read the critique on Wired.
Comment Re:If you can't fail, why bother playing? (Score 1) 507
So were the original X-Wing and Tie Fighter games. Either way, you can make a great game but at the end of the day there has to be a hook to keep you engaged. You can do this with a really compelling story or just fun game play. I just think that making it so it's harder to die doesn't really tackle the real problem i.e. hitting the sweet-spot difficulty wise, or coming up with something new or fun.
Comment If you can't fail, why bother playing? (Score 5, Insightful) 507
I haven't played the game, but that said, how much of the heart of great games was the thrill of just squeaking by? If you know that there isn't any way to loose, what you're left with is a empty shell. Nice to look at, and shows you some neat tricks, but nothing else later. Putting training wheels on a game isn't the future, it's just a gimmick to try and make a bland game that offends no one, and doesn't really try to solve the problem of playability. My 2c.
Comment Re:They built a tuple store. (Score 2, Interesting) 178
I believe that there's some clever tricks you can use when generating tuple keys to make things fuzzier. Not easy, but if you customize your approach and know enough about the data, it should be possible
You're right about the key space splits, there's an addon to memcached called libketama that uses consistent hashing to do exactly that.
You're right about the key space splits, there's an addon to memcached called libketama that uses consistent hashing to do exactly that.
Submission + - OiNK is taken down by Interpol, admin arrested 2
QuietR10t writes: Scott Gilbertson from Wired raises an interesting point: "However, there is one interesting quote in the IFPI's press release. Jeremy Banks, head of the IFPI's Internet Anti-Piracy Unit, says in the press release: "OiNK was central to the illegal distribution of pre-release music online. This was not a case of friends sharing music for pleasure. This was a worldwide network that got hold of music they did not own the rights to and posted it online." (emphasis mine)
The IFPI seems to be making a distinction of scale between professional piracy groups and friends sharing files, even if, so far as I know, copyright laws in Britain (and the U.S.) make no such distinctions."
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/10/oink-is-the-lat.html
There are also rumors of investigation into users, but with 180k users I'm not sure they would know where to start.
The IFPI seems to be making a distinction of scale between professional piracy groups and friends sharing files, even if, so far as I know, copyright laws in Britain (and the U.S.) make no such distinctions."
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/10/oink-is-the-lat.html
There are also rumors of investigation into users, but with 180k users I'm not sure they would know where to start.
Submission + - Pigs say, no more OiNK!
tMav writes: Today, eager music lovers all over the world woke up to discover that the popular BitTorrent tracker OiNK has been shut down. The BBC News is reporting the raid and the site now responds only with the increasingly familiar message:
"This site has been closed as a result of a criminal investigation by IFPI, BPI, Cleveland Police and the Fiscal Investigation Unit of the Dutch Police (FIOD ECD) into suspected illegal music distribution.
A criminal investigation continues into the identities and activities of the site's users.
"This site has been closed as a result of a criminal investigation by IFPI, BPI, Cleveland Police and the Fiscal Investigation Unit of the Dutch Police (FIOD ECD) into suspected illegal music distribution.
A criminal investigation continues into the identities and activities of the site's users.
Submission + - TD Ameritrade pwned by Spammers
An anonymous reader writes: Today TD Ameritrade confirmed what anyone with an account there already knew: Their databases have been compromised, not once, but in an ongoing manner over a period of several years. As previously noted on Slashdot, this has resulted in hundreds of spam emails sent per week to account holders, mostly for penny stock pump-and-dump scams. What's especially troubling is that TD Ameritrade also admits that the compromised database contained not just email accounts, but names, physical addresses, phone numbers, account numbers, date of birth, and Social Security Numbers. However, according to a press release issued by the CEO of TD Ameritrade, "While more sensitive information like account numbers, date of birth and Social Security Numbers is stored in this database, there is no evidence that it was taken". Riiiight. The full press release and a FAQ related to the matter is available at their website.
Submission + - SCO Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy 1
RocketJeff writes: According to a press release The SCO Group Files Chapter 11 to Protect Assets as It Addresses Potential Financial and Legal Challenges.
This comes on the same day that Trial Briefs are due for the Novell v/s SCO trial (scheduled to start on Monday). Groklaw has an article on Novell's Trial Brief
This comes on the same day that Trial Briefs are due for the Novell v/s SCO trial (scheduled to start on Monday). Groklaw has an article on Novell's Trial Brief
Submission + - SCO files for Chapter 11 protection (yahoo.com)
dominator writes: FTA: "SCO announced that it filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. SCO's subsidiary, SCO Operations, Inc., has also filed a petition for reorganization. The Board of Directors of The SCO Group have unanimously determined that Chapter 11 reorganization is in the best long-term interest of SCO and its subsidiaries, as well as its customers, shareholders, and employees."
Submission + - Study: Martian Soil Has Signs of Life (geoffrobinson.net)
geoffrobinson writes: "Reuters is reporting that a scientist from Germany believes Viking probe data shows signs of life. From the article: "But Joop Houtkooper of the University of Giessen, Germany, said on Friday the spacecraft may in fact have found signs of a weird life form based on hydrogen peroxide on the subfreezing, arid Martian surface. His analysis of one of the experiments carried out by the Viking spacecraft suggests that 0.1 percent of the Martian soil could be of biological origin."
Houtkooper adds
"We will have to find confirmatory evidence and see what kind of microbes these are and whether they are related to terrestrial microbes. It is a possibility that life has been transported from Earth to Mars or vice versa a long time ago.
Submission + - Have you seen this soundcard?
Yvan256 writes: "I've been looking for over 15 years for the Innovation SSI 2001 soundcard. It's a very old and extremely rare ISA card, based on the SID 6581 chip of the Commodore 64. Yes, I am aware of the HardSID (I've got one), but it's not hardware compatible with the SSI 2001 (different method of accessing the SID registers).
The SSI 2001 is about the only card missing from my soundcards collection. I am aware of the IBM Music Feature, I have one. It's just not on the webpage yet. Please note, this collection is about the different technologies that came out at the beginning of the soundcards era, not the thousands of SoundBlaster clones that were available (including the Pro Audio Spectrum series).
So, if anyone has an Innovation SSI 2001, or know where I could get one, please tell me."
The SSI 2001 is about the only card missing from my soundcards collection. I am aware of the IBM Music Feature, I have one. It's just not on the webpage yet. Please note, this collection is about the different technologies that came out at the beginning of the soundcards era, not the thousands of SoundBlaster clones that were available (including the Pro Audio Spectrum series).
So, if anyone has an Innovation SSI 2001, or know where I could get one, please tell me."
Submission + - Texas Dems Sue to Fix eSlate
orgelspieler writes: "As mentioned in several articles, the Texas Democratic Party filed a suit alleging flaws in the eSlate electronic voting machine. The Democrats claim that the chief election official was aware of the problems, but chose to ignore them. From the press release:
Another straight-ticket problem was mentioned by the Travis County Clerk back in 2004. There have been other glitches as well."On the eSlate machines, when a voter chooses a straight-ticket vote and then continues to select candidates of the same political party to "emphasize" their vote, the machine actually records the vote for that race as a no vote.... Additionally, the Secretary of State's office is required to test all voting machines used in Texas elections and knew of the irregularities related to the eSlate machines, which are manufactured by Hart Intercivic. Yet Secretary Williams allowed the machines to be used anyway.
Submission + - Where are all the Ferrari Acer/Vista reviews?
An anonymous reader writes: What happend to all the Ferrari Acer/Vista reviews that Microsoft had hoped for? This is what ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley Hughes is wondering.
So where did all the notebooks go?The funny thing it, nearly two months on, I've yet to see a single review. Now, there's a chance that an odd review or two has slipped past me under the radar, but given the number of bloggers who got their hands on Acers, I'm surprised that I've managed to miss ALL the reviews (I have well over 1,000 RSS feeds in my reader). Even after a quick Google I can't find a single review (the only story that I can find is that of Scott Beale who auctioned his off on eBay and sent the proceeds to the EFF).
Submission + - FTC Amputates Rambus
An anonymous reader writes: According to an article by "Businessweek", the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has just set the maximum royalty that Rambus can charge on key DDR-SDRAM technologies. Also, the FTC states that, after 3 years, Rambus must license the disputed technologies without charging any royalty. Will Samsung get a refund on all the money that it has already paid to Rambus? Samsung lawyers want to know.
