Comment I wonder what the DOJ will have to say... (Score 1) 695
Hmmm... antitrust fun and hilarity will surely ensue.
Comment Re:Auto Stereoscopy... (Score 1) 419
Even so... who is going to go to the expense to produce 3DTV programs? Selling a few early adopters 3D TV sets, regardless of their usability, isn't going to sell 3D cameras and post-production tech to all the TV studios. This "feature" has years to mature or wither on the vine... because there's not going to be content that uses it for a long time to come.
Whatever Happened To Second Life? 209
Barence writes "It's desolate, dirty, and sex is outcast to a separate island. In this article, PC Pro's Barry Collins returns to Second Life to find out what went wrong, and why it's raking in more cash than ever before. It's a follow-up to a feature written three years ago, in which Collins spent a week living inside Second Life to see what the huge fuss at the time was all about. The difference three years can make is eye-opening."
Copyright and the Games Industry 94
A recent post at the Press Start To Drink blog examined the relationship the games industry has with copyright laws. More so than in some other creative industries, the reactions of game companies to derivative works are widely varied and often unpredictable, ranging anywhere from active support to situations like the Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes debacle. Quoting:
"... even within the gaming industry, there is a tension between IP holders and fan producers/poachers. Some companies, such as Epic and Square Enix, remain incredibly protective of their Intellectual Property, threatening those that use their creations, even for non-profit, cultural reasons, with legal suits. Other companies, like Valve, seem to, if not embrace, at least tolerate, and perhaps even tacitly encourage this kind of fan engagement with their work. Lessig suggests, 'The opportunity to create and transform becomes weakened in a world in which creation requires permission and creativity must check with a lawyer.' Indeed, the more developers and publishers that take up Valve's position, the more creativity and innovation will emerge out of video game fan communities, already known for their intense fandom and desire to add to, alter, and re-imagine their favorite gaming universes."
Comment Re:GBPVR (Score 1) 536
Agreed... GBPVR is a great package, and has a great community of devs.
Programmable Quantum Computer Created 132
An anonymous reader writes "A team at NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology) used berylium ions, lasers and electrodes to develop a quantum system that performed 160 randomly chosen routines. Other quantum systems to date have only been able to perform single, prescribed tasks. Other researchers say the system could be scaled up. 'The researchers ran each program 900 times. On average, the quantum computer operated accurately 79 percent of the time, the team reported in their paper.'"
Verizon Asks Court To Affirm 'Most Reliable' Claim 111
suraj.sun writes "Verizon has asked a court to affirm its claim to be 'America's Most Reliable 3G Network.' From the article, 'Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon and Vodafone Group PLC, asked a US court for a judgment that its advertising claims to be "America's Most Reliable 3G Network" were truthful, which rival AT&T called "misleading" on Monday. In papers filed in US District Court in Manhattan, Verizon said assertions on July 1 by AT&T Mobility LLC, a unit of AT&T, that its advertising was false could not be supported. AT&T, which has its principal business in Atlanta, had filed the challenge with the National Advertising Division of the Council for Better Business Bureaus. Verizon Wireless said its claims of having "America's Most Reliable 3G Network" and "America's Best 3G Network" and "America's Most Reliable Wireless Network" are "truthful, accurate and substantiated" and do not violate the trademark law known as the Lanham Act. It said that AT&T's challenge "relies on the incorrect premise that speed is an essential element of the standard for measuring network reliability.'" I can only hope that at some future date a court will decide which light beer truly is the best tasting.
The Hard Drive Is Inside the Computer 876
davidmwilliams writes "Those of us who work in technology have a jargon all of our very own. We know the difference between CPUs and GPUs, between SSD and HD, let alone HD and SDTV! Yet, our users are flat out calling everything 'the hard drive.' Why is it so?" As much as I hate to admit it, this particular thing drives me nuts. You don't call the auto shop and tell them that your engine is broken when your radio breaks!
Comment Re:google running our government IT? (Score 1) 208
It's not like the government contracts out most of its operations to private companies now, or anything unthinkable like that, right?
Comment Remember what you're licensing (Score 1) 173
Licensing software is a copyright concept (unless you've patented it). Folks only need a license (and can only be bound by one) if they're infinging on one of the copyright monopolies: making copies, distributing copies, and making derivative works.
So you can only attach conditions of any sort if your proposed licensees will be doing any of those acts. It doesn't sound to me like you could build a license to covers your desire to get credit in papers when somebody has simply used your software. Use of software is not (under most reasonable interpretations of the law, MAI vs. Peak notwithstanding) something that triggers the need for a copyright license.
Submission + - MIT's SAT Math Error
theodp writes: "The Wall Street Journal reports that for years now, MIT wasn't properly calculating the average freshmen SAT scores (reg.) used to determine U.S. News & World Report's influential annual rankings. In response to an inquiry made by The Tech regarding the school's recent drop in the rankings, MIT revealed that in past years it had excluded the test scores of foreign students as well as those who fared better on the ACT than the SAT, both violations of the U.S. News rules. MIT's reported first-quartile SAT verbal and math scores for the 2006 incoming class totaled 1380, a drop of 50 points from 2005."
Submission + - Mark Helprin in NYT pushes for copyrights forever
Maximalist writes: "Author Mark Helprin is using this Sunday's NY Times Op-Ed page to whine about just how unjust a confiscation of private property it is when the government allows a copyright to expire. This argument is a crock for any number reasons. Let's compile them all, and compose a letter to the NYT editor from Slashdot laying the smackdown on this agitprop."
Submission + - Police don't like the police state
quiberon2 writes: Police chief's 'Orwellian' fears on BBC News is my local police force bemoaning the excessive provision of surveillance cameras.
If even the police don't want the privacy invasion, should we roll it back ?
And how ?
If even the police don't want the privacy invasion, should we roll it back ?
And how ?
Submission + - A bad Idea Lives Forever. Shouldn't Its Copyrigh?
Arevazi writes: April's fool Opinion article at the New York Times, arguing that Copyright should last forever. It's main point: real and intellectual property should be treated the same, because no good case can exist for treating with special disfavor the work of the spirit and the mind...
Journal Journal: Is Microsoft actively astroturfing slashdot? 3
Could Microsoft be actively astroturfing slashdot? When a discussion starts with an offhand comment laughing at an MS Products' supposed security and ends with attacks on Apache and Linux you really start to wonder.
