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Halo Elite Cosplay Puts Others To Shame 115

Posted by samzenpus from the using-your-time-wisely dept.
AndrewGOO9 writes "Pete Mander, a special effects artist from Ontario, Canada seems like he might have either had way too much time on his hands or just really enjoys Halo. Either way, this is one of those costumes that makes all of the cosplayers at a con feel like their best efforts just weren't quite up to par."
Image

The "King of All Computer Mice" Finally Ships 207

Posted by samzenpus from the there's-a-button-for-that dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The much-anticipated, much-mocked 18-button joystick mouse from WarMouse is now shipping. The press release features an impressive set of user quotes from game designer Chris Taylor, new SFWA president John Scalzi, and a doctor who runs a medical software company. Crazy or not, it's obviously more than just a gaming mouse."
Space

Astronomers Solve the Mystery of 'Hanny's Voorwerp' 123

Posted by kdawson from the do-not-look-directly-into-the-quasar dept.
KentuckyFC writes "In 2007, a Dutch school teacher named Hanny van Arkel discovered a huge blob of green-glowing gas while combing though images to classify galaxies. Hanny's Voorwerp (meaning Hanny's object in Dutch) is astounding because astronomers have never seen anything like it. Although galactic in scale, it is clearly not a galaxy because it does not contain any stars. That raises an obvious question: what is causing the gas to glow? Now a new survey of the region of sky seems to have solved the problem. The Voorwerp lies close to a spiral galaxy which astronomers now say hides a massive black hole at its center. The infall of matter into the black hole generates a cone of radiation emitted in a specific direction. The great cloud of gas that is Hanny's Voorwerp just happens to be in the firing line, ionizing the gas and causing it to glow green. That lays to rest an earlier theory that the cloud was reflecting an echo of light from a short galactic flare up that occurred 10,000 years ago. It also explains why Voorwerps are so rare: these radiation cones are highly directional so only occasionally do unlucky gas clouds get caught in the crossfire."

Comment Re:Perfect for a chemistry class (Score 3, Interesting) 154

by cychem1 (#30970820) Attached to: Chemistry Tasks For the Computer Lab?

I used to use a program called ACD sketch I see its still around http://www.freechemsketch.com/ its was fun to play with for molecular modeling.FTA I kinda had to chuckle at the accounting reference, I am a chemist and that is how I see chemistry as "electron accounting". In my experience as a tutor students need to be shown how spreadsheets can be used to interpolate data for everything from balancing equations to plotting curves for kinetics, spectroscopy, pH titration ect. and even for keeping notes formally scribbled on paper towels.."shudder as my former profs heads spin"
Education

Chemistry Tasks For the Computer Lab? 154

Posted by timothy from the just-the-basics dept.
soupman55 writes "I teach Chemistry to students completing their last two years of high school. Basically it's a 'teach and test' course with a few experiments thrown in. I want to jazz up the course using computer and internet resources. For instance, I could set some tasks that require Excel spreadsheet calculations. Or I could set some web quests where students search for information online. One of the decisions to be made is: Do I use computer/internet tasks to help the students grasp the material that is already in the course, or do I help them become aware of ideas that are extensions to their course? Also, when I compare Chemistry classes with Accounting classes, it strikes me that unlike Accounting where learning to use software like Quick Books is an integral part of the course, that there is no particular software that a chemistry student must learn to use. Or is there? What in terms of chemistry and computers worked for you? Or what is there computer-wise that wasn't in your high school chemistry course but should have been?"
Games

The Most Influential Games In History? 254

Posted by Soulskill from the aside-from-duke-nuken-forever dept.
Kotaku reports on a list published recently by Guinness World Records which credits Super Mario Kart as the most influential console game in history. "Tetris ranks in at number two, according to the list, and the original Grand Theft Auto is in the number three spot. Where does Super Mario Bros. turn up? Way down at number 17, beneath Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." Several other franchises have multiple entries on the list, such as Final Fantasy and Resident Evil. What console games have influenced you the most?
Books

Multiple Upcoming Games, Movies Based On Jordan's Wheel of Time 217

Posted by Soulskill from the dragon:-the-rand-al'thor-story dept.
Today film studio Red Eagle Entertainment announced plans to establish Red Eagle Games, a studio that will produce games based on Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. The games will be developed alongside movie adaptations of the series, which Red Eagle announced a few months ago. They'll be working with Universal on the films. "[Red Eagle producer Rick] Selvage said in an interview that the game company will make a series of games that will be co-launched with the movies. In addition, Red Eagle Games will make a massively multiplayer online game based on the Wheel of Time universe." Wheel of Time fan site 'Dragonmount' recently spoke with Selvage about the movie plans.
Google

Submission + - Google's Viral Marketing Campaign for Its IME

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: It appears admitting guilt is not the end of it. The criticism for Google Pinyin's plagiarism of Sogou Pinyin had yet to wear off, a new scandal already broke out for the young IME. Posts such as this one are now appearing on almost all major Chinese forums and blogs, with the exact same content, despite many of them being tagged as "original". Searching for "I decisively uninstalled Sogou Pinyin IME, which I used for the last half year" on Baidu shows all the repeated postings, which attempt to smear Sohu with words such as
  • "Google Pinyin's quality is actually quite good, but people no longer pay attention to its functionalities ever since the 'dictionary-gate' incident broke out. Their focus is now only on the war of words between Google and Sohu.",
  • "It's not that (Sogou Pinyin) is bad, it's just I can't stand the shameless actions of Sohu.",
  • "Everyone with clear eyes would know that this is all a publicity stunt pulled by Sohu.",
  • "Truly unfortunately, Sohu seized this tiny flaw, and attempts to use this opportunity to increase media explosure for its own product.",
  • or "Compared to (Sohu's) disgusting attention-grabbing behavior, I repect Google more for its honest and pragmatic approach."


The posts earned comments ranging from "I blush with shame for you" to less polite responses involving female reproductive organs. There are reports that Google hired Ogilvy & Mather for this viral marketing campaign.
Security

Submission + - Comcast is Easy to Social Engineer

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Here's a clip showing how someone armed with only a phone number and address can social engineer your personal information out of Comcast. Like many companies, Comcast doesn't train its customer service reps enough in security verification. The result is that anyone can call up, pretend to be a service tech, and get your info.
Microsoft

Submission + - The end is nigh for XP

Submitted by
SlinkySausage
SlinkySausage writes: "Computer makers have been told they'll no longer be able to get Windows XP OEM by the end of this year, despite strong ongoing demand for the OS. Analysts and computer makers are wondering if the move is premature given Vista's ongoing performance and compatibility issues. Dell recently said it would reintroduce XP on a range of machines due to customer demand but Microsoft will only allow this until the end of the year."

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